The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today: June 30th, 2008

Outside my Window...is partly sunny. Again, it looks like it's gonna rain

I am thinking...I need to go pick some strawberries from a strawberry farm

I am thankful for...a wonderful weekend, as enjoyable and pleasant time at the retirement party

From the kitchen...I have not a clue yet

I am creating...I'm not creating anything at this time

I am going...to leave work early today

I am wearing...a red shirt and a pair of jeans

I am reading...no time for reading

I am hoping...that we'll get nice weather for Fourth of July

I am hearing...my co-worker typing on the computer and another co-worker talking on the phone

Around the house...there is always something to be done

One of my favorite things...is walking through my garden, checking on the vegetable plants and seeing little tomatoes starting to form or blossoms on cucumber plants

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...finish laying newspaper and grass clipping in the garden, probably going to watch fireworks on the Fourth

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Well, it's your turn to share your daybook. If you would like to participate, please go to The Simple Woman to find out the guidelines.

Wishing you a fun-filled week!

Friday Fill-Ins & A Recipe

1. Birthdays are not a very big deal at our household.

2. Spring is my favorite season because I love the cool weather and I know before long I'll get to plant vegetable in my garden.

3. I feel my best when I have a good night sleep.

4. Pasta is my favorite food!

5. First impressions are important but it is also very important to give someone a second chance if they didn't give you a good first impression.

6. The best piece of advice I ever received was just be yourself and live your life the way you intend to live it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to spending time with my girls and my hubby, tomorrow my plans include mowing the lawn and attending a retirement party and Sunday, I want to make a cheesecake!

I answered in this color

***Today's meme was taken from Friday Fill-Ins. Please feel free to play at your blog. If you do, please don't forget to add a link to Friday Fill-Ins. Have fun! :-)

And for this Friday, lets make some Raspberry Sweet Loaf!

Ingredients:

Dough:

2½ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup & 2 tablespoons warm milk

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt
Fillings:
2 cups Raspberry Jam (or your favorite kind of jam)
4 ounces of grated white or semi-sweet chocolate (optional)
Toppings:
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
½ flour
4 tablespoons melted butter
**Make only ½ of the topping if you plan to make only 1 loaf

Instructions:

1) Make the dough by combining all of the ingredients and kneading until smooth, 5 to 10 minutes. The dough should be tacky but not sticky. If it is too moist add a handful of extra flour. Place the dough in a bowl, cover the bowl, and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size (roughly 1 – 1½ hr). **If you have a bread machine with dough setting, you could combine all the ingredients for the dough and just let the machine do the work for you**
2) While waiting for the dough, grate 4 ounces of white or semi-sweet chocolate and set aside. This is optional, if you don’t like chocolate, you can skip it. Also while waiting, buttered two 8.5” X 4.5” loaf pans.
3) When the dough has risen, divide the dough in half.
4) Roll half of the dough out on a floured surface. Spread 1 cup of jam on the dough, leaving about ¾” on all sides (that is to prevent the filling from spilling out). Sprinkle half of the grated chocolate on top if you are using chocolate. Roll the dough up (jelly-roll style), trying as best as you can to prevent the filling from spilling out. Pinch seams to seal. Shape dough into a ring and pinch ends together. Place the dough in the prepared pan.
5) Repeat Step 4.
**If you plan to only make 1 loaf, skip Steps 6 & 7 and freeze the other loaf. Be sure to wrap it with at least 2 layers of aluminum foil. And when you are ready to make it at a later time, just take it out of the freezer the day before and let it de-thaw in the fridge. Take the de-thawed loaf out of the fridge and repeat Step 6, 7 & 8**
6) Cover the pan and let the dough rise for another 30-45 minutes or until they've roughly doubled in size.
7) Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter. Combine brown sugar, sugar and flour. Pour melted butter in mixture and stir to combine. Sprinkle mixture on top on the loaf.
8) Bake the loaf for 30 to 35 minutes. It is quite easy to burn the bottom of the loaf. I try to check them at 25-30 minutes and pull them out as soon as they look baked. Let the loaf cool in pan for 8 minutes then remove the loaf from pan and let cool on wire rack completely (this usually doesn’t apply to me because we just can’t wait for it to cool. It’s gone while it’s still warm!)

"The Simple Woman's Daybook"

FOR TODAY: June 23rd, 2008

Outside My Window...the sky is cloudy. Looks like we may be getting another thunderstorm again today. Hopefully it's not as severe as yesterday
I am thinking...it would be really nice if it's sunny and bright outside
I am thankful for...the 6 years of marriage with my husband so far
From the kitchen...I'll be making grilled pork tenderloin, scallopped potato and lettuce mix from my garden for dinner
I am wearing...a pair of gray pants, a white blouse and my favorite cowgirl boots :-)
I am hoping for...a nice weekend...will be attending a retirement party
One of my favorite things...is to watch my girls sleep so peacefully and thinking to myself: "what a life these 2 dogs have"
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: grocery shopping, attending retirement party, finish weeding my garden
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Well, it's your turn to share your daybook. If you would like to participate, please go to The Simple Woman to find out the guidelines.

Have a wonderful, stressful day!

Two Anniversaries - Part 2

Are you ready to find out what the second anniversary is?

I'll give your some hints: It's just a small anniversary...It is a 1-month anniversary...

Today is my 1-month blogging anniversary!

I am so glad that I started blogging. I am really loving it! Once again I would like to thank Lacy at Razor Family Farms for encouraging me to start my blog.

Of course, not to forget all my readers for visiting me so often and posting your comments. I truly appreciate your kind words, your funny words and sometimes your inspiration. Thank you!

So here's to you, my dear blogger friends, some yellow roses.

Two Anniversaries!

This is very exciting, I have 2 anniversaries coming up! Yeah!!!

Sunday, June 22nd will be our 6th wedding anniversary. I don't think we'll be doing anything fancy or special. We might just stay home and have a quiet night. I am not a mushy type so I won't write anything like that to my husband. It's just going to be simple and straighforward.

"Mike, I love you and thank you for being in my life. Happy Anniversary!"

When we first got married on June 2002 my parents couldn't make it here. So all we had was a little justice service with Mike's children and 2 other friends as witnesses. When my parents came to visit in 2005, we planned at trip to Aruba(our first vacation together/honeymoon). Mike thought it would be nice to do a small wedding ceremony for my parents, so he arranged to have everything done...a professional photographer, the limo, dinner, ceremony at the beach. It was a very nice and thoughtful gesture from him. So, I share with you some photos from the ceremony, taken in Aruba in October 2005.




Ok, so that's the first anniversary. What is the second anniversary?


to be continue....please stay tune....

What's for Dinner?

I posted a comment on Ann's blog last week. This is something that happens to me quite often. Just wondering if this happens to anyone else.

Y: So, what would you like for dinner?
M: Oh, whatever, doesn't matter.
Y: Ok, how about we order Chinese?
M: No, I don't want Chinese.
Y: Well, pizza then.
M: Neh, don't feel like pizza
Y: (getting a little annoyed)Hamburgers?
M: I'm not in the mood for hamburgers.
Y: (getting more annoyed)Grilled chicken?
M: Hmmm...no.
Y: Well, you tell me what you want for dinner and we'll get it.

End of conversation....

While we are on the topic of what's for dinner, this was what I made for dinner last night:

Fontina-Parm Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
2 Pork tenderloins (about 1½ – 2 Lbs each)
¼ cup Shredded Fontina Cheese
¼ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
a few dashes of Cayenne pepper powder (optional)
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:
1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2) Rinse pork tenderloins and pat dry with paper towels. Trim away some fat and remove the silvery cartilage.
3) Season the tenderloins with some salt and pepper. I never ever measure salt and pepper, so it’s up to your own taste how much to use. Do not put in too much salt as you’ll have to season the breadcrumbs as well.
4) In a pie plate, slightly beat the egg and 1 tablespoon water. Set aside. In another plate (or you could use a large ziploc bag), mix in the cheeses, breadcrumbs, garlic powder and some more salt and pepper. If you like your pork with a kick, now is the time to mix in the Cayenne pepper powder.
5) Dip the pork tenderloins in the egg mixture, be sure to coat all sides. Place the tenderloins in the breadcrumb mixture and coat generously with the mix. Or if you are using the big ziploc bag, now is the time to shake it baby. Please make sure that the bag is seal before you do so. You don’t want to have breadcrumbs all over your kitchen. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
6) Now, heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy skillet or frying pan. When the oil is nice and hot, place the tenderloins in the very hot pan to sear it. The point here is to give the meat some nice color crust before putting it into the oven. When one side is golden brown, turn to the other side. Brown all sides. It only takes a minute or 2 to do so for each side.
7) Place the tenderloins on a baking sheet or a baking dish that’s big enough to hold 2 pieces of pork tenderloins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. To test for doneness, insert an instant-read meat thermometer into the meat: the internal temperature should be about 160 degrees for medium.
8) Transfer the tenderloins to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve with country-style mashed potato and corn.

So, are you drooling yet? What are you waiting for? Go make some for dinner tonight.

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday was Father's Day. I didn't get a chance to blog about this yesterday so I'm doing it today. I did call and talk to my dad and wished him Happy Father's Day.

The picture to the left is my dear old dad with my niece, his first grand child.

Dad, I love you very much. You are a great father, mentor, and role model. Thank you for everything you have done for us and for me. I miss you dearly.

Just for Laughs

Received a forwarded email from a friend this morning. Very funny pictures, just had to share with all of you.

OK girls, just follow me...I won't let anything happen to you.

That was the funniest joke I ever heard!!!

Weeds and flowers thriving together... gee, whatta concept

Look me in the eye, and believe me when I say,
'I did not eat that mouse!'

Who us? We've been in the bed of the truck the whole time..

Okay, now on three... say acorn.

To think they took a rocket to get there...

If you cross this line .... oh, will you be sorry!

Give us a sense of humor, Lord.
Give us the grace to see a joke,
to get some humor out of life,
and pass it on to other folk.

Enjoy your weekend!

Garden Update

It's time for a little garden update. I do not have any pictures, sorry.

Hot Pepper Wax, I think this stuff works. Other than the pea plants and one sunflower that were eaten by those bunnies prior to the spray, I have not loss any plants. The strange thing is the lettuce mix was totally undisturbed(even before the spray). I have always thought that bunnies like lettuce, guess I was wrong. I am actually tempted to get 2 carrots, spray one with the pepper wax and leave the other one as is then put it in the garden and see if the bunnies would eat the one without spray.

We've got lettuce, bok choy(a type of Chinese green), mibuna(a type of Japanese green) and radishes. I started harvesting them 2 weeks ago. Tomato plants are growing but it will be a while before we get any tomatoes. I just planted jalapeno and bell peppers yesterday. I replanted some more peas and they are just starting to sprout.

That's all for now from my little garden in upstate New York.

Pay It Forward

Last Saturday we drove pass Wal-Mart and hubby pointed at the parking lot and said "those people have been there since Tuesday". I looked over and there were 2 trucks parked and it was a family of 4 with 2 big dogs. I could clearly see that they were "staying" at Wal-Mart parking lot because the trucks were packed with their belongings.

Without sounding too corny, I would like to tell you how much I love my husband and one of the reasons why is that he has a very kind heart. He is a very tough guy and he acts that way too. He swears like a sailor or a trucker(no offence to all the sailors & truckers, he used to be a trucker himself). Sometimes people think he is a hard-ass. But he is a very kind man and he would do anything he could to help other people(his friends or even strangers).

Yesterday he called me at work and said that he just had to stop to find out why those people were "staying or camping out" at Wal-Mart parking lot. He found out that they came from South Carolina. Ray and his sons were offered a job to work with a local custom home builder. So they packed up their belongings and moved from SC to NY to persue this new job. Little did they know that the company went bottoms out recently and the owner is actually facing some criminal charges. So with no jobs and not a lot of money, they were not able to find an apartment to live in(having the 2 big dogs don't really help with apartment searching. I know how hard it is because I have gone through it myself, trying to find a place to live that would allow not one but 2 big dogs). They tried to stay in a local motel that would allow dogs but it's getting expensive staying there daily. So they went to Wal-Mart and asked if they could just kinda camp out there for now.

So hubby called me later yesterday and said that we may not have much but we could offer them a hot meal and maybe a shower and asked if I would be ok with it. Of course I would be ok with it! Other people had helped us out before when we needed it and we should always pay it forward. So he invited them over for dinner and he also offered them a job for now(helping him with his landscaping projects) until they find a full time job. Later yesterday we discussed over dinner and told the family that they are welcome to stay for a little while at our home until they can get back up on their feet. We only have 2 bedrooms but we have a huge yard. So, we asked our neighbors from 2 doors down if we could borrow their pop-up camper and let the boys stay in the camper in our yard and the dogs can stay there too. Our neighbors were very glad to help.

Ray and his family were very grateful and kept thanking us. They kept asking if there is anything they could do for us. We told them to just pay it forward.

I know some poeple will think we are nuts for inviting some strangers to our home. Even Mike's best friend made a comment yesterday to me: "Is he nuts? He doesn't know these people, he could get robbed". Well, if everyone thinks this way then this would be a really terrible world! We already have plenty of problems like school shootings, sexual predetors, killings....someone somewhere has to do something kind to keep the world going. If we got robbed then so be it, at least in our hearts we know we are trying to do a good deed.

So my dear readers, do something nice and kind to someone you know or don't know and ask them to pay it forward.

Heat, Heat, Go Away!

Heat, heat, go away, come again some other day. No scratch that, don't come again some other day.

I hate the heat. I can't stand it being so hot. Kristin at Going Country had a similar post about the heat last week. The heat makes me so grouchy. It makes my husbby moody(he is the same way, hate the heat). Even my dogs don't like anything about it!!! They would go out and do what they needed to do outside and hurry back in the house. I don't blame them, who wants to be outside in this kind of humid & hot weather? My poor girls, with the hair that they have, it's like wearing a winter jacket at this time of the year.

Yesterday we decided to clean the car in the garage, so the girls(my dogs, I always refer them as the girls) decided to get out of the house and hang with us outside. June, as always, found a spot underneath the truck and dug herself a hole in the dirt to stay cool. Samantha stayed close to us so that she could get hosed with cold water.

1 more day of 90 degrees weather and we will get a "break" of cooler temp. Arrrggghhh, I need a pool!!!

Friday 5

Just for fun this Friday, I thought I would try out these questions. They came from Friday 5. Please feel free to play this at your blog. Please leave a comment here or at Friday 5 after you have posted your answers.



Friday 5 for June 6: Sediment

When was the last time you had your hands in dirt?
Just yesterday, in my garden.
When was the last time you had your hands in clay?
Don't recall doing that, ever. But I would like to try making claypot someday.
When was the last time you had your feet in mud?
I can't remember.
When was the last time you had your feet in sand?
If we are talking about beach sand, then it was 3 years ago in Aruba. We have regular-not-so-fun type of sand here.
What part of your life could use a serious cleansing?
Hmmm, good question. I would say my will to folow through with things. For example, I would start exercising for a few months and then I would kinda slack off and eventually stop doing it until months later.


Have fun and enjoy your weekend!

Sam

Samantha, mommy's girl.

One day in early December of 2004, hubby was on the phone downstairs, all of a sudden I hear "Hey hon, what's your email address?" So, I gave him my email address and heard him telling the person on the phone my email. After the phonecall he said to check my email the next day and pick out the one I want but wouldn't really tell me what I was suppose to pick out. I "forced" him to tell me and when he finally gave in and told me, I cried and kept saying "I don't want a dog"(but the truth is I really wanted one and I was very happy that I'm getting one). The next day when I checked my email, I saw her and I melted:

I love the name Sam for a girl and since we have decided that we don't want to have any kids, I will name my little baby Samantha.

Samantha is a very friendly dog. When she sees neighbors walking by with their dogs, she is actually more interested in going over to say hi to the human than to the dog. But try knocking on my door, she'll bark at you like she's going to rip your head off. That is until she sees you then she'll be all over you to pat her(usually with something in her mouth - her toy or a shoe or a towel...whatever she could get at the time).

Fetching is Samantha's favorite game. She would fetch anything and everything that you throw for her, for example, a small rock, a ball, a stick, a plastic bottle...Playing in the water is another one of her favorites. I mean any place with standing water, doesn't matter if it's clean or muddy, if you don't keep an eye on her, she will be in there! Sometimes it's not such a good thing. She once went to a friend's house with us and we kept her outside the fenced in area away from the pool but somehow she found a way in(i think someone left the door open) and "splash", she jumped in the pool!!! Here's her getting sprayed with a hose by her daddy:

A year after we got Samantha we decided to get her a companion and then we found June. They are best buds. Here's them playing in the yard:

June

Meet June, our little Golden wannabe. June came to live with us on Thanksgiving day about 3 years ago. She was a rescued dog from Tennessee. She was found around midnight one night by the side of the street and had a horrible case of mange with a secondary skin infection. Some very mean people abused her and just left her. How could someone be so cruel? Her foster mom took her in and took very good care of her. Marian, if you can see this post, we just wanted to thank you so much for taking care of June.

It was early November of 2005. As always, I was surfing the net, checking out dog rescue groups websites and there she was - little Junebug. I fell in love with her immediately! I emailed Marian about her and informed her that we would like to adopt her. Well, a few emails and phonecalls later, we finally get to adopt her! The problem - transporting June from Tennessee to New York state. It was a few weeks later before they could find someone to drive her up(along with 2 other dogs who went to their new homes in PA). We were so happy that we didn't even care it was Thanksgiving day when the transpoters could meet us in PA. We drove 6 hours each way to outside of Harrisburg, PA to pick her up.

June was very afraid of my husband when she first came. It took her 3 months before she got used to him and knew that he wouldn't hurt her. Now, she is daddy's girl. She loves chillin' on the couch with her daddy. She loves playing with her sister Samantha. She loves sleeping on the bed. She loves howling like a wolf, so we call her wolfy sometimes. And she LOVES spaghetti and meatballs(I call it "June's meal to happiness")!!! She was given spaghetti and meatballs while being transported from Tennessee. There was a storm and the lady had to stop for a night at a motel and all she could find was spaghetti and meatballs from the diner next to the motel.

So, there's the story about one of my girls. Next up, Samantha - our moose.

Lucky Number 9

My co-worker emailed me this morning about an acticle in the Prevention magazine. I never knew about this until today. Do you know that when shopping for organic produce at your grocery stores, you should look for the lucky number 9?

The picture is just a snap-shot of the article. You could read the article here

Just thought I would share with you. Hopefully it's useful for you in case your local grocery store doesn't have an Organic section.