One of The Best Ways to Tame a Cold Day

Yesterday was a very cold day. The winds made it a miserable a day. The kind that isn't fit for man or beast. Well, the only way to tame that kind of day, in my book,  is to make a big pot of soup. My hubby and I both like homemade soup. It takes the chill off and makes everything seem better. True comfort food. I have a lot of soup recipes and I try to make one kind a week. Not only is it tasty but with soup, you don’t have to cook for a couple of days. Hubby keeps telling me I have to learn to make smaller pots of soup. But I say, WHY? Some are even better leftover. Plus I really like the not having to cook for a couple of days. Yesterday afternoon, I made one of our favorites, Polish Sausage Potato soup. It is a very easy recipe, nothing fancy. I have served it for company and it is always a hit.

Polish Sausage Potato soup

2 tbsp. butter

1 lb. Kielbasa sliced

1 c chopped onion

1 c chopped celery

4 c shredded cabbage

2 c sliced carrots

1/8 tsp. thyme

2 tbsp. vinegar

1 tbsp. salt

1 large can chicken stock plus water to desired thickness

4 c cubed potatoes

In large kettle, melt butter. Add sausage, onion and celery. Cook over med. Heat until onion and celery are tender but not brown. Add remaining ingredients except potatoes

 Cover and cook gently for 1 ½ hours. Add potatoes, cover and continue cooking for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are just tender.  Makes 3 quarts or 10 servings.

Can you guess what's for supper tonight? Yep, leftover soup. Yum

Take care,

Rose

The English plural according to George Carlin

Not much going on today. I had planned on renewing my driver’s license today but we got around 3 inches of snow and winds gusting to 35 overnight. The snow has stopped but not the wind. All the area schools have another snow day. They will be going to school into June at this rate. I figure the roads to the neighboring town, 20 miles from here, can’t be too safe. I have been so busy that I was way behind in my emails. Decided this would be a good day to catch up. The following was one that was in the 90+ plus email that had collected in my inbox. 
Enjoy and stay safe.

The English Plural

according to....

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. 
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; 
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple. 
English muffins weren't invented in England.

We take English  for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly,

boxing rings are square, 
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, 
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one   of them,
What do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? 
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speakingEnglish

Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

We ship by truck but send cargo by ship...
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And in closing..........

If Father is Pop,

how come Mother's not Mop????

Compilation Copyright ? Wink Creations

Who killed J.R back on again?

Finally had a moment to read today's paper. Same O stuff there. But I did read an article titled "Dallas returns for second season with J.R. Ewing’s Final schemes". I watched that some back in the late 70's and the final in 1980. Tonight is the 2 hour premiere of another season. I don't watch a whole lot of TV. I do like the CSI type shows and college sports, especially, football, basketball and volleyball. I would say I mostly watch sports. Oh and I like the Discovery channel and HGTV.  I don't think I will watch Dallas tonight. The last serial show we got hooked on was Desperate Housewives. I find those shows aggravating and a bit predictable. What do you think? Did you watch “Dallas” back in the day? Will you watch this new version?

And if is as foggy where you are as it is here, stay put.

Rose

Stuck On An Escalator - Take Action

It is  a day filled with fog, drizzle and ice. We came home last night from my family Birthday party so that we wouldn't have to drive home in the mess that is out there right now. So I am spending this morning catching up on blogs instead of having coffee at daughter no 1's house. Daughter no 4 posted this on her Friday Funnies blog
http://promotingsuccess.blogspot.com/

Brought a smile to my face on this dreary day. Enjoy.

What a Wonderful Way to start the day.

Today, started out as just another day. Until I got a phone call from a neighbor on the other side of the school yard. A Bald Eagle decided to visit our town. Don’t know if he was looking for something different for breakfast, was lost or was just bored and decided to check out new places. I get that way some days, just wanting to check out new places. Anyway, what a wonderful way to start the day and the weekend. I have been taking pictures of birds in my part of the world for many years. But this is the first time I was able to take one of a bald Eagle. There he was, just sitting in the tree in the empty lot next to us, checking out the area. I grabbed my camera, and I was wishing my coat, and out the door I went. I was so excited about being this close to a bald Eagle, that I didn’t even notice it was only 11 above. 

                   Have a wonderful weekend.

                                    Rose

Not just another day, it is my Birthday.

Today is my birthday. Normally, I don't let birthdays get to me. I always think of my baby brother whose favor saying is" every day is a good day when you wake up on this side of the dirt." I always, think Oh boy. But he does have a point there.  Somehow, this one feels a bit different. Must be my age. lol. Anyway, I sit here drinking my morning coffee and think, WoW 70 years "on this side of the dirt". Where has the time gone? It has been a pretty good 70 years. My hubby and I have been married for 50 years and have raised 4 beautiful, successful daughters. We have 4 wonderful sons-in-law, 6 beautiful granddaughters and 7 handsome grandsons and 1 soon to be handsome grandson-in-law. Is that the correct term? Hmmmm. I am thankful for my health and being able to still handle daycare. Most days, I think I would be lost without the kids. And, of course, it helps that I only work 20-25 hours a week and hubby is here to help out. Being semi-retired, and having a family that is very flexible if I want or need extra time off, works for me. No big plans today. Just another normal day. Which is a good thing. But the girls do have a family party planned for Saturday afternoon at daughter no.1's house. Barring flu and snow. One granddaughter isn't feeling well at the moment and they are predicting snow for Sunday morning. The snow shouldn’t affect anyone but us, since we are the only ones staying overnight. And, like I said, I do daycare for a very flexible family. lol All and all it looks like another good day.

Life is good, praise the Lord,

Rose

My Wandering Mind.

It is one of those days. Tons of thoughts running through my head and yet nothing for a good post. But I am going to try anyway. So here goes. …………………… Nothing. How can that be? I always seem to have something to say. Daycare kids are here. Maybe something exciting will happen. But then, do I really want something exciting to happen. I really prefer a quiet day. I did not want to get out of bed this morning.The bed was  so warm and it is so cold out. It is only 9 above zero and it is almost 10 in the morning. Brrrr. Think I will stay indoors today.

One blogger asked what your favorite pie is. Lemon Meringue. I haven’t made one in years. I have a couple of friends that love Lemon pie as much as me. My hubby doesn’t. I think one day soon, I will make one and the three of us can eat the whole pie. Now that sounds like a good plan. And on that day, it will be calorie free, because “I said so”.  Now that is a familiar phrase, isn’t it? How many times did you hear that and how many times have you said that? I heard it a plenty growing up. It was my Mom’s favorite thing to say, when I would say “why not”? And you know, I used it the same way. And it worked.

Well, I need to think about dinner/lunch. We call the noon meal dinner here in my part of the world. And the evening meal is supper. But I have noticed that is changing as more city folk move to the rural area. What name do you have for your meals?

Anyway, the Baby is napping and the three year old is playing with play dough. She just finished playing with the moon sand. And even helped clean up when she was done. 

Moon sand - 8 cups of flour mixed with 1 cup baby oil. It is clean and very soft and molds like real sand. And cleanup is a breeze. Wonderful for winter days when the real sandbox is covered with snow.

In the Dog House, Literally

I decided to clean out some drawers today. It took all morning but was worth it. One drawer held some old pictures of some of my daycare kids. The pictures took me back to an October morning in 1987. I had four little boys that day, all under school age.  It was chilly morning and the boys were all outside playing on the patio. I would check on them every so often to make sure all was well. On one of my checks, I heard giggling. And no boys in sight. I was out the door in a flash. And this is what I found.

I bet you are wondering what it is. Well, it is a picture of four little boys in a not so big dog house. And they were having a great time. Here are pictures of them crawling out. I never did figure out how they crawled in there without someone getting kicked in the head and crying. Nope, just giggles.

Notice the shoe someone lost crawling in.

And the last one out and I always assumed first one in, and  ring leader.

I,also,called him my social director

               Fun kids. Fun pictures. Made me chuckle. 

Friday Funnies-Are all women born this way? and Friday penguins,

Saw this on Facebook the other day. Wonder what she will be like when she is older. lol
Have a great weekend,
Rose




Had to add this video from my daughters blog. It is so good.
http://promotingsuccess.blogspot.com

They're back.

The computer gremlins are back. But this time they attacked my printer and me.  I was making cards and printing and all was well. I went to print “happy birthday” and that is when they attacked. Flashing screen, telling me to load paper. Well, there was plenty of paper in the printer, so I knew that wasn’t the problem. I took the paper out and put in back and hit okay. Another flashing screen telling me there was a paper jam. It hadn’t even printed anything, so how can there be a paper jam. I pressed the “cancel printing button. And got a message saying the printer was busy. I thought, it is busy alright, giving me false messages. You know, I never have liked this printer and I think it knew it. Finally got it to stop with the messages and tried again to print “happy birthday”. Two simple words. Nope. Flashing screen again. Paper Jam. Decided I better check to make sure I was right and not the printer. Took off the trap door on the back and I was right. No paper jam. Do you think I could get that darn little door back on? Nope. And then the cord fell behind the desk and it is an office desk that one would use as a reception’s desk. You know the kind that has a front that goes all the way to the floor. I was not having any fun. I was trying to get the cord from behind the desk, hit my head on the shelves that sit above my desk, dropped that little trap door and a piece broke off of it. Now what? Simple. Get out my trusty roll of duct tape. Did a little tape job and figured I was good to go. Nope. Apparently that little door helps feed the paper to the printer. Bummer. I put everything away for the day and spent the next two hours researching printers. My new printer, scanner and copier should be here on Friday. And I sure hope it is as easy as this one was to hook up. And I hope the gremlins have had their fun and move on. Never a dull moment

Take care,

Rose

Oh, No. I forgot.

One of the boys that was in my daycare in years past turns 29 this weekend. Hubby and I got to talking about the group of boys I had at that time. There were 6 of them right around the same age. One nice fall day, they came with their favorite football teams uniforms and were all excited about playing flag football after breakfast. We have a large front yard and that was their “football field”. Our back yard is large, too but it was all vegetable garden at that time. So the front yard is where they played. I looked out and they were having a great time, so I decided to vacuum. A job that was endless in a daycare. I was just getting started, when I looked out to see fists a flying. I marched out there and lined them up, all six of them on the front steps, and told them I didn’t want to see them move until I told them. I meant to let them to sit there for a few minutes, give a short lecture on the “no fighting” rule and let them get on with their game. Well, I got distracted with the littler ones in the house and basically forgot about them for about 15 minutes. I looked out and there they sat. I went out, acted like I planned on them sitting that long, skipped the little speech, and told them to go back to their game. I felt terrible, but they didn’t know that. The game went on with no more fights. 

Laundry on the line in the winter??are you crazy??

I have been so busy lately, that I haven’t had time to write or read my favorite blogs. So this morning I am catching up. One lady commented how she opened up her house to air it out, even tho it was chilly out. Boy did that bring back memories. My mom was big on fresh air,too, all year. Well, growing up in the Midwest, I didn’t always think that was a good thing. When she would washed the bedding, we (I) would have to hang the sheets outside, in the cold, so that they would smell fresh. After the sheets were froze as stiff as a board, we (I) would have to bring the sheets in, re-hang them in the basement, till they thawed and were dry. And then back on the bed. And I admit, they did smell good but…….One day, Dad bought her a dryer, and I was so excited. But, you guessed it, she didn't use it much. Just for the small items that took too long to hang on the line. We still hung everything outside, all year long.  I still have one of her clothespin bags she made. I wonder how many of those she did make. Everyone that saw hers wanted one. She had no store brought pattern, just one she designed out of the Sunday newspaper. She was quite the seamstress making most of her clothes and ours. She thought it helped to have your clothes pins in something pretty. They were pretty but I didn't they helped on those cold winter days.  Those were the days.

Old clothespin bag made by my Mom.

What our yard looked line on laundry day, all year long.

Take care and stay well.

Rose

  

Friday Funnies

Michael Davis performs at the historic Ford's Theater for the former President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan. This is entertaining and funny, even if it is an older YouTube video.

Have a relaxing weekend and try to stay well. Wash your hands, Wash your hands, Wash your hands. :)

Rose

A beautiful Iowa sunrise

Hubby and I spent the weekend in the D.M. area this past weekend. We got up early in order to be there in time for a grandson's swim meet. Later in the day we watched his younger brother play in a basketball game. Both boys' teams won. Fun times. 

On the way there, we were privileged to see a beautiful sunrise. Our side of town sees the beautiful sunsets. But it is rare for me to see a sunrise like this. I get all excited and take a ton of pictures when I do. Enjoy

 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised. Psa 113:3

Outdoor skating-Brrrr.........

Read in today’s paper that outdoor skating rink in Omaha is closing for the season. It is just open over the holidays. What a shame it doesn’t stay open longer. There are indoor ice skating rinks in the city but they don’t compare to skating outside. Skating was a big thing in Omaha back in the 50’s and 60’s. My dad would freeze a large portion of our back yard and had put flood lights on the back of the house so we could skate after dark. All the neighbor kids would skate till called to come home for supper. The older boys would play hockey on the street out front. When we got older and better skaters, and thought we would be in the Olympics if we had more space to practice, we would go skating at the original Deer Park pond at Riverview Park, complete with warming shack. 

 A group of kids would gather on Saturday or Sunday afternoons with their shovels, if it had snowed. Had to clear off the snow before you could skate.  But what fun. We had lots of space to practice our figure eights (remember them in the Olympics) and spins. And, of course, the races to see who was the fastest. We did, finally, start going to the indoor rinks when we realized we didn’t have to shovel snow and didn’t have to wear all those winter clothes. Those were the days.  Now I worry about staying warm and accidentally slipping on the ice. 

Oh how I wish my body could handle a spin on a skating rink now.

Rose

P.S.
Actually, the pond is still there. But now it is called The Henry Dooley Zoo. One of the best in the nation/world. The Pond has an island, now called Monkey Island, with lots of monkeys in the summer months. And the pond is full of Koi

Friday Funnies

Jim is an old man. He was sick recently and in the hospital.

There was one nurse that just drove him crazy.
Every time she came in, she would talk to him like he was a little child.

She would say in a patronizing tone of voice,

’ And how are we doing this morning',

Or

'Are we ready for a bath',

Or

'Are we hungry ?'

Old Jim had had enough of this particular nurse.

One day, at breakfast, Old Jim took the apple juice off the tray

And put it on his bedside stand

Next, he was given a urine bottle to fill for testing.

 So you know where the juice went !

The nurse came in a little later, picked
Up the urine bottle and looked at it.

'My, it seems we are a little cloudy today. '

At this, Old Jim snatched the bottle
Out of her hand, popped off the top,
And drank it down, saying,
'Well, I'll run it through again.
Maybe I can filter it better this time.'

The nurse fainted

Old Jim just smiled.

DON'T MESS WITH

'OLD' PEOPLE

Have a relaxing weekend.

Rose 

Annoying word/phrases from the past

I was reading this article on Yahoo this morning and got me thinking about
“annoying words” of the past.The first one that came to my mind was “really”  Here are a few more words/ phrases I found from past years: 90’s-clueless, don’t go there, get over it, get a room, know what I mean, NOT, not so much, snap, old school, yadda yadda yadda,  80’s-bad, No duh, take a chill pill, gag me with a spoon, totally, I’m so sure,70’s- can you dig it, dream on, don't Be Such A 'spaz, far out, that’s sick, keep on truckin, awesome, 60’s- be there or be square, bummer, boss, buzz off, busted, catch my drift, copacetic, dy-no-mite, Chinese fire drill, church key, cruising, dibs, don’t have a cow, fuzz, hang loose, hip, later, pedal pushers, right on, shades, slug bug, square, zits, 

As you can see, a lot of them are still in use.  And a lot of them, I still use. For example: bummer, zits, not so much, to name a few. And every once in a while, yadda yadda yadda, sneaks in. I was a big Seinfeld fan.

Are there any you still use?

Yahoo-So you find certain words annoying? Whatever

http://news.yahoo.com/certain-words-annoying-whatever-184510720.html

You Can teach an old dog a new trick

I have had my new Toshiba computer for three weeks today. And you know what? I love it. Even Windows 8. At first Windows 8 was so different that I figured I would hate it forever like I did MS. That one I never did learn to like. I was thrilled when XP replaced it and I upgraded immediately. Then I had Vista on my first laptop and it was so, so. That computer came with a free upgrade to Windows 7 that HP sent me as soon as it was available. I liked Windows 7 and was upset that my new laptop came with Windows 8. But you know what? I really like Windows 8. Once I got the Start menu issue down and downloaded Windows Live Mail, It is, to me, Windows 7 with a bit of a different look. So if you are considering a new computer this new year, don’t be afraid of Windows 8.  I did a lot of searching for answers to issues when I first got this computer so I have some great links I can forward anyone having trouble learning Windows 8 plus a link to Windows Live Mail. After all is said and done, you can teach an old dog a new trick.

Stay Warm,

Rose