Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you had a great day. I definitely did!


Sam and I went to Carol and Elton's. (CAROL GOT ROSES!!) (I'll buy my chocolate tomorrow.) Sam and Elton went to the gun and knife show at Maude Cobb Center in Longview while Carol and I went to the trade day at the fair grounds in Longview. Four people. Two cars. Same town. Just a couple of blocks apart. LOL But that way they didn't have to wait on us, and we could sneak in a teeny tiny bit of shopping. I also got to see some friends of mine. They don't live far from us. Charles mentioned that and we never see each other. But, if any of us need help, we know who to call. His youngest grandson is 22 now and an LVN. I counted the years and probably haven't seen Justin since he was 9 years old. shaking head

The four of us met up at Olive Garden for lunch. I ordered the Spinach and Artichoke dip to share. Oh my! I've heard it was good, but it was ridiculously good! I know that there are some recipes trying to copy this on the internet. I will be searching for it!

We saved room for dessert, but not at Olive Garden. Last night I baked a strawberry pie. I've never had one before. Sam has mentioned (several times) that his mother made strawberry pie. I did a bit of searching on the internet but didn't really come up with anything that sounded like he described. It was either fresh strawberries in a baked pie shell covered with thickened strawberry syrup or cooked strawberries poured into a baking dish on top of a batter...when baked, the batter rose to the top covering the strawberries. Not what I had pictured in my mind.

So, I grabbed my personal cookbook (a binder full of my very own favorite tried and true recipes) and turned to Apple Pie and Cherry Pie recipes. This is what's left. We ate some. I cut a large slice for Carol and Elton to enjoy later. Yep, folks. This is what was left after four people who could all stand to lose a pound or two got into it. ;o) Did I mention that it was good?


The recipe? Weeelllllll.... I guess this is an original for me. I took a bag of strawberries I froze last season from the freezer. A quart of halved strawberries with 1 cup of sugar. So...if I were to start from the beginning:

Sassy Sherry's Simply Sweet Strawberry Pie ;o)


Or...to shorten it...


Strawberry Pie


1 quart of fresh beautiful sweet strawberries
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
butter (I do not use margarine!)


Wash, cap and halve your strawberries. Mix flour into sugar; pour over strawberries. Stir in water and let sit for a while to make more juice. If you don't think it's juicy enough, add a little more water. (My frozen strawberries were juicy enough with just a minimum amount of added water.)


Make your very own pie crust. It's worth it! Here's the link to my recipe: http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-baked-pie.html
To quote Emeril Lagasse, "Pork fat rules!" (You can halve the recipe.)


Take out enough dough for 1 crust. Roll it out, place in pan. Let all the extra dough flow out over the rim. Fill with strawberries. Dot with butter. Pull the excess dough up over the strawberries. (This is easier that making a two crust, crimped or lattice top fancy pie.)


Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
Lower heat to 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crust is brown...I always have to bake longer for not only browner crust, but also to make certain the bottom crust bakes and is not gooey.


And to finish today...Friday night's sunset.

And this is all that's left...

I get to start all over next time I sit in the living room. I ribbeted it last night while Sam and I watched Hunt for Red October...we have it on DVD.

I've done some quilting today...just about ready to roll the frame to the last row. Yippee!

Rainy Days and Mondays

We desperately need the rain. It's been so dry. Temps aren't bad either...just a bit coolish. So, I'm not complaining about the rain. (to hear Rainy Days and Mondays, you need to go to the bottom first and stop the "juke box.")



I am working on a pair of socks, tackling a more complicated pattern than I've done before. I think I dropped a yarn over (knitters know what I'm talking about). On the next row, I saw a hole. So I started unknitting...got past the hole and noticed it was bigger. Unknitted another row...bigger hole. Unknitted one more row...not only was that hole getting bigger, but I had another hole on another needle. Jerked the needles out and started ribbetting it. Threw the whole she-bang down on the ottoman and walked off.

When I cool down, I'll go cook supper.

Beautiful Saturday

What a beautiful sky this morning. With temps predicted to be in the low to mid-70s, the local motorcycle riders planned a trip to Powderly Texas. We at at a little restaurant called Borderline. They had an 18 ounce hamburger on the menu. 18 ounces! One couple ordered it to share. One man ate it all by hisself. (That's a funny word - probably grammatically incorrect...but, What the hey! I'm from northeast Texas!) The meat hung out all around the large bun by a good two inches. Forgot to whip my camera out.

After we ate, we stopped in Paris (Texas!) at the Harley shop and scanned the bikes and clothing.

Seems that we had ten bikes and 13 people.

I rode with Sam. It's been two months since I last rode my own bike and I didn't want to be in a group of people when I got back on it. I need to go to a parking lot and ride it, turns, stopping, starting. Besides, the wind was blowing terribly! And it was blowing from the side. If I'd known it was going to be that bad, I probably would've stayed at home.

This morning - I am so sore. I feel as though I rode a horse all day long! That pillon/pillion seat for the passenger is really not made for butts. And it is a better (term loosely used) replacement seat than the stock seat.

CQ Anyone?

Crazy Quilt - that is. I started several blocks sometime last summer I think. A few wonderfully talented women over on the HGTV quilting forum started sharing their knowledge. I haven't done anything in a while. BUT...while shopping with Carol today (Sam and Elton were once again out of town - hope they don't "learn better" and stop going off together) I ran across a couple of Leisure Art books at Hancock's Fabrics. And they were half price. How could I pass up a deal like that?

Then. We went to the mall and I found several things at Dillards that I had to have. All were on sale and I think I did very well indeed.

Of course, before all that, we ate Chicken and Gnocchi at Olive Garden. Yummy!

Life Goes On

The busy weekend continued for me today. I attended a meeting with our librarian and Friends of the Library secretary. Another long day following Monday - an all day drive home. Tomorrow...nothing is scheduled. I plan to sleep as late as possible but will probably wake around 6:30 or so.

I don't think I've mentioned this...I bought a line-dancing instructional DVD after we got back from our Alaskan cruise in August. I looked up during one of the on-board classes, and there sat Sam with the camera. One thing I can say about the class...it was a work-out!

Now...over five months later...I'm just working on learning dance #2. Yep. I'm that slow! LOL You can't learn it, if you don't put the DVD in the player. I have 'Slappin' Leather' down and am now working on 'Boot Scootin' Boogie.'

I found some videos from YouTube. There seems to be several variations of 'Slappin' Leather.' This one is similar to the DVD. I just figured out how to imbed a YouTube video! Applause!!!

Here's 'Boot Scootin' Boogie.' But not the variation I'm learning...looks like I need to try this one too.

Tomorrow

We are expecting a long day tomorrow. Everything is going to be ... tomorrow. Visitation and the funeral. A bit different from the norm.

On the way to Bay City, we had to stop to buy me something to wear. In 2001 or 2002, Sam told me that he would be retiring in 2003...I stopped buying office clothes. I haven't anything new since then except for jeans, shorts, and t-shirts. Besides that. I had a wonderfully delicious - and I do mean DELICIOUS - December.

I started eating while we were on our trip to south Texas the end of November/first of December. And I ate all month long. Especially dessert EVERY time we ate out at a decent restaurant which was waaaayyyy too often.

The result. Nothing fits. The one dress that I thought appropriate for a funeral we attended last week - and with its elastic waist, did fit - I realized I hadn't had it cleaned when I hung it the guest room closet - out of my way - I don't know how long ago. It's navy blue and had salty looking underarm stains. WHY didn't I have it cleaned? I daubed at the stains which didn't do much good. Thank goodness it was cold enough that I wore a sweater with it but still didn't raise my arms.

Afterwards, I laid it aside with great intentions to get it to the cleaners. I promptly forgot about it. Feeling I had nothing to lose, I put it in my washing machine on the 'hand-wash' cycle with hand-wash detergent. I didn't ruin the dress, but...I should've cleaned it a long time ago, because of the rings a shade lighter than the dress under the arms. I brought it - and the sweater - just in case.

At the third stop today... what's with these dresses nowadays?! Sam thought I was in the teenage section. He pointed to the "missy" sign. I said, "That's me." So I went through the categories: juniors - teenagers, misses/missy - adults, womens - where I'm heading fast! Petites, he understood.

I couldn't even find a decent skirt. Even if I had...I couldn't find a decent top. So...I headed to the slacks/jackets. Found three outfits. All three fit. I want either long-sleeves or short-sleeves. I abhor sleeves in between...they look as if you've had a growth spurt and the sleeves are too short, so the black with pink trim set went back on the rack. Of the other two, the long-sleeve brown/black/taupe set was on the 12 times reduced rack. I liked it, but I also liked the short-sleeve navy pinstripe set. So I bought both of them. Have I mentioned that I haven't purchased anything but jeans, shorts, and t-shirts for the last six/seven/or so years?

Tomorrow...sigh...

Traveling South

We'll be heading south on Saturday. Unfortunately not for pleasure. Sam's mother died early this evening. An Alzheimer's patient, she'd been in the hospital with pneumonia for a few days.

Born December 2, 1913 - she made it to 95.

Her sweetheart of a husband died in 1996.

Once again, they are strolling along hand in hand.

Hey, BABY!

It's cold outside!! I didn't even stick my head out the door today. Oh, wait. Yes I did. I threw three slices of stale bread out the front door for the birds. Didn't take long though. Brrrrr!

We vegged today. I didn't quilt any. Rats. We've tried to hook the laptop to the new TV and can't get it to work. Sam wants to be able to do a photo slideshow on the TV - larger screen. He hooked his old PC to the TV...it worked. I got online with a Sony tech. He gave me the link for a new driver. That didn't work. Samsung's site suggested a new BIO. Back to the tech next chance I get.

Every time I turn around, Sam's putting a movie in to watch. Between that, reading a bit, computer way too much, cooking - don't worry, I don't strain myself. Sam's reached the point to where he'd rather go to town to eat. When I set out stuff for a good meal, he says he'd rather go to town to get a hamburger. *shoulder shrug*

I made scones this morning! Yummy. Hold on...I'll go setup for a photo shoot.

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I'm, back. Let me brush the crumbs off my shirt. What? You expected me to be around food and not take a nibble? OKAY!! A bite. I'll fess up. I took a real bite. Off the top AND the bottom (I slit the scone in half.) What? What marmalade. Oh. Yeah. I took a bite or two of that too. Yep! It was good!

I've already posted the recipe:

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/2008/06/gone-again.html

A Tale of Two Freddies

Jonathan's very first friend was Freddie, a gift from a friend. The poor dear is in storage right now, but soon to be released. When 'they' were infants, I would hear Jonathan cooing and gurgling only to peek into his room and see him with his head turned toward Freddie. At 3 months old, they had some extremely serious conversations.

Fast forward 25 years. Here is Freddie the 2nd. I had to lift this photo off Jonathan's MySpace. Jonathan recently adopted him. His name came with him.

While scanning the photo of baby Jonathan in his crib, I scanned a few photos my mother wanted.

This is my cousin (on the right) with his son and grandson. The older gentleman is his former father-in-law. Cousin has maintained an extremely good relationship with the man.

Isn't my niece just precious?! Oh, she is my grand-niece. She is an only child so far, but one of 8 total grand nieces and nephews that I have.This next photo is from about 1945. My mother is the older (approximately 10-years old) of the two girls. The other is her only sister (approximately 6). They married brothers many years later.

Our weather is nasty. We have freeze warnings out for overnight. I don't mind it as long as we don't have to get in the car. The people around here are not used to freezing weather and they drive like idiots. We don't do tire chains. Very little sand is spread except on bridges and overpasses. In other words, if you don't have enough food for a couple of days (cause that's about as long as it is going to last) then you better get there today. Then STAY HOME!

I checked out my bluebonnets while walking down to the mailbox. (That's water drops on them.) I am going to have more than last year. Sam isn't going to be too happy that they are spreading out. What? Me worry? ;o) When they bloom in the spring, you can bet I'll be back with photos!