Recipe of the Week

Here is a very healthy recipe for using all of those zucchinis that your neighbor gives you.

Baked Zucchini Chips

2 med. zucchini cut into 1/4" slices
1/2 cup seasoned dry breadcrumbs
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsps. grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 475 degrees and grease a large baking sheet.

Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic powder, oregano, and pepper in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg whites.

Dip each zucchini slice into egg whites and then into dry ingredients mixture. Place on greased baking sheet. When sheet is full, lightly spray each slice with PAM spray.

Bake for 5 minutes in preheated oven, then turn over, very lightly spray with PAM, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until browned and crispy. Makes 4 servings.

ENJOY!!!

Trying Out Some New Things

I have to admit that I am loving this 2 week break before starting my new job. I am accomplishing so much. Yesterday, Greg and I completely rearranged the living room. It looks much bigger and my internet connection is stronger because it doesn't have to go through so many walls. Today Casey and I helped drag big tree limbs to the yard waste piles after Larry trimmed the evergreens. I also washed the wood floors, cleaned out the pantry, cleaned out the plastic container drawers, changed bedsheets, studied 2 chapters for my A+ exam (only 2 more to go), sent some emails, and took quite a few walks with Kitty. Still on tap for tonight is tennis under the lights. It's almost like a nesting taking place, but that is definitely not a sign of anything else.

I added the link on the right side to Greg's sports blog. He is doing this for school but also because it gives him an outlet for his sports knowledge and opinion. We have all refused to go into long sports discussions with him unless he is updating his blog regularly. I am also experimenting with Google AdSense. It is something that I am learning about lately.

A Quick Update

It's been pretty busy lately since returning from our SC vacation. I haven't even had time to upload or print any pictures. My tan is already starting to fade - can't have that.

Well, first off, Kitty went to the vet for her yearly checkup and 45 minutes and $400 later we found out that she has a double ear infection (those long beagle ears) and Lyme disease. She is now on ear drops nightly and medicine for the Lyme. She will have to have a follow up blood test in a few months to make sure it's gone. Pilling her isn't too hard as long as the pill is wrapped in meat or cheese. The first night she had it in peanut butter, but won't eat that now.

I had my 4 hour dentist appt. this past week and for as nervous as I was going in, it turned out okay. After over 12 shots of novacaine to completely numb my entire facial area, and the use of tens (muscle stimulators on my jaw) I started the procedure. The dr. did 9 crown preps and 1 root canal and scaling on all of my teeth to take care of the gum disease. It was a lot of work, but I am actually doing pretty well. I am on antibiotics to ward off infection and painkillers every 12 hours. My teeth feel great, but I have a lot of facial pain from all of the shots. I go back in 2 weeks for another root canal and the bonding of my appliance to my teeth to straighten out my jaw. I have told everyone who asked that I highly recommend this dentist for any serious work. He was very patient, thorough, and professional.

Larry is in Illinois with his brother to move his mother to a nursing home in Texas. They have a 16 hour drive tomorrow to get her into the home on Monday. He will be back on Wednesday after an emotional and long journey. I can certainly understand what he is going through and it is bringing up some not-so-happy memories of 3 1/2 years ago.

Job hunt continues and so does the trying to make money on the side. More on that later.

Happy 4th of July

Back from vacation and already enjoying another holiday from work (paid,I might add). We had a very nice family gathering in Litchfield, SC. We had lots of good food, lots of laughter, lots of sun, and lots of water. I love this picture of Greg and John. Greg is my family guy - he loves being with family and even agreed to visit a plantation because he would get to spend time with his uncles. I love that!!!! He talks about his uncles all the time and you can tell he just thinks the world of them (who would have thought that!).



We enjoyed a meal of Dad's spaghetti and I know Mom and Dad would both be very happy to know that we make it important to get together. I just wish Joe would think the same way as we do.

More to come later and even more pictures.

Happy 15th Birthday Greg

Hard to believe he is already 15 and we will be going through the driving issue again in one year. It seems like just yesterday Casey got her license. Where has the time gone? I say this all the time - but it's true. It seems a lifetime ago that these young adults were attached to my side all day long. I miss those days sometimes, but when I look at the wonderful young adults they have become, I am so proud of them and love this age as well. By the way, in the picture, Greg is showing how happy he is to get the 1975 Reds vs. Red Sox World Series on DVD (all 6 games).

In other news, Casey is home from college and look how she spends some of her waking time - helping Larry to paint the house. She has been a big help in painting those hard to reach places.

Here's hoping that I will be a better blogger in July. Hopefully I will be able to blog about my new job!

My Ohio Trip

It has been almost 2 years since I was in Columbus, yet it felt as if I had just been there the month before. It is amazing to me how quickly I slipped back into the role of Aunt Joan and sister. I guess that is what family is all about. You can go to far away places and be away for quite some time, but family always welcomes you back and makes everything seem so familiar again.

Loved spending time with Danielle and meeting Andrew. How blessed Jim and Michelle are. I forgot how tiring small children can be. The kids were great, but I realize how hard it must be to have children when you are older. We got to see the Grove City Memorial Day parade. I took 3 pictures and that pretty much covered the entire parade. It was so small that the entire parade fit on 1 1/2 city blocks (small city blocks). However it was stirring when they played God Bless America and the Star Spangled Banner and the requisite candy came flying from a tank (like my Dad's).

A Cabinet Full of Dishes

These are pictures for you Casey. This is the cabinet that Dad brought back from Illinois that is over 100 years old. It is for Greg if he wants it, but after he saw how many pieces in came in he may have second thoughts. The dishes inside are for you to do with as you please. I have shown a picture of one piece so that you can see the pattern. They are beautiful dishes and for dishes that are over 60 years old, they are in remarkable shape. I only found about 3 pieces that had chips or other slight damage. The gold leafing is wearing off, but they still retain quite a bit of it.

On top of the bookcase are the 2 history books from 1890. They are quite fragile but quite remarkable to look at. (I just used remarkable for the second time and I haven't used that word in a long time.) Dad also brought back 2 first edition Dr. Doolittle books and 2 first edition Mother West Wind books. They were added to the collection in the dining room.

These Two Are At It Again!!

The other day I posted the picture of Lucky in Greg's laundry basket. He was so cute and perfectly content to be there. So last night I was turning out lights and accounting for all of the cats being off of the porch when I came across Chocolate. He was sleeping in the laundry basket this time. Lucky was also on the table on top of a beach towel on the other end.

I think these 2 sweeties are more alike than we think. First I catch them on different days eating out of the big cat food container and then I catch them, again on different days, sleeping in the laundry basket. How cute are they? Chocolate has been venturing upstairs more lately and has taken to sleeping on my head some nights. I can tell when he slept there even if I don't see him, because I usually have a stiff neck in the morning. Chocolate seems take up a lot of space on the pillow!

Pretty Pictures

Okay, so this is what we spent last weekend doing. I finally finished my front bed project of taking out the lambs ear and spiky purple things and replacing with azaleas. The balance is much better and I know that I will still have some lamb's ear popping up because the underground root system was quite extensive.

The peas and lettuce sprouted last week and the garden should be full by mid-June. Yum!!!!

Finally, the big project this past weekend was putting up another section of fence in the courtyard. It is amazing how much bigger the courtyard is now. This weekend we will be planting tomatoes, peppers, green beans (up the pole left standing from the previous fence structure), and anything else that we fancy. If we can keep the rabbits and groundhogs out, it should be a nice garden this year.

Another Quickie

What do these 2 pictures have in common you ask? They represent two cute but stinker cats who seem to enjoy eating out of the large cat food container right after I have filled it up. I don't know what is wrong with the bowl of food on the floor or what makes this container so special, but within 2 weeks, I have caught each of them in the container of food as I was filling it.

They are both so darn cute and so concentrated on eating their prize that they didn't mind having their pictures taken.

UPDATE Time!

A few Lucky pictures today. This was his choice of sleeping locations the other day. The basket contained clean laundry and now contains furry laundry!!

On Sunday we extended the fence in our courtyard and while we were doing some weeding, we decided to let Lucky out there. Greg took the picture of Lucky and a bunch of Kitty as well. Lucky was very good and didn't try to go over the fence at all. I think he was happy with his bigger yard area. This week I am going to get the courtyard ready for planting the vegetable garden. Maybe Greg and I can get it done before Larry comes home from Illinois.
Casey, these pictures of one of your favorite trees are for you. The tree was in perfect bloom on Saturday so I took a bunch of photos for you. We woke up Sunday morning to a very windy and quite cool day and a lot of the flowers fell to the ground. The entire yard is coming into bloom. The azaleas will be blooming by the weekend, the apple tree is in bloom, the trees are all green, and the poison ivy is coming out (yech!). The peas, lettuce and spinach have all sprouted and we hope to have a bumper crop of peas when Casey comes home.
Can you tell I love spring? I love fall even more, but it is nice to see life budding everywhere after a cold winter. I even got my winter clothes out of my closet last weekend. Of course, the day after I did that it only reached 50 degrees. Not today though - high of 75.

A Trip Up North

Parent's weekend this past weekend and we got to visit with Casey!!! Yea!!! We got up there around 10:30 pm on Friday and made plans to pick up Casey early Saturday. Saturday we decided to drive through Vermont and stop at a few places along the way. We had a ball, stopping at a store and buying Casey and Larry hats, stopping to feed on Cabot cheese at the Cabot Cheese store, looking at items in a Scottish store, and walking along the Quechee Gorge (how pretty). It was fun and relaxing for all of us.

Sunday morning we picked up Casey after our stop at the King Arthur Baking Store and picking up some goodies and took her to lunch at Applebees. We did the grocery run and a few other things before heading back to campus. Casey gave us a nice tour of Phi Tau and the engineering building. It is hard to believe that her freshman year is almost done. Likewise for Greg, only 30 days of school left. Wow!! Where did the year go?

Couldn't wait until it was in the bowl

This first picture was taken on Sunday April 15 as a nor'easter came into town. Thank goodness it wasn't snow or we would have ended up in double digit snow accumulation.



Isn't he just the cutest? He was doing some seriously chowing down of the cat food as I was filling the kitchen counter container.

Second Varsity Win

Not the greatest photos, but he looked good out there. He and Collin won 6-1, 6-1 and Greg had quite a few aces. It's amazing how fast his game has picked up. I was glad that I got to see yesterday's match. It is probably the last match of the season as rain and Reading Olympics will cancel out tomorrow's match. Unless they make it up next week, he may be done for the season.

In other news, I found out today that I am moving out to the showroom at work on Friday. No I am not selling cars, I am moving because my office area is the first scheduled for remodel. Not looking forward to where I will eventually end up, but there is nothing I can do about it. I may need to speak to Nancy if she continues to dump her work on me all the time.

First Victory as a Varsity Tennis Player

Here he is after his first appearance on the varsity tennis team. He and his partner Collin won their doubles match 6-4, 7-5 and the team made a clean sweep of Christopher Dock. Tonight he played doubles with Collin on JV so that Stephen could play varsity. They won 8-1 in a pro set.

Cute Furry Picture

Great picture of Chocolate sunning himself yesterday when it was 60 degrees out.

Rainy Sunday, Monday, Tuesday....

I am sitting here and listening to the sump pump continuously pump out water from the basement channel. It has been raining all night and day and will probably continue into Monday and Tuesday. This is a Nor'easter according to the weather channel. I guess it could be worse in that it might be snow. Hopefully Casey isn't getting the snow part of this. We have already had to get the ladder out this morning in the pouring rain and fix the gutter on the front of the house. Rain was cascading down the front windows and would be ruining them for sure if we didn't fix the gutter right away. We did and now it is just an incredible amount of water everywhere.

I have to post something wonderful that happened to Greg yesterday. I know it is hard to read but here is what this email from Greg's tennis coach to four of the freshman players says: "I am very impressed with all of your tennis talent, enthusiasm and commitment to the team. As freshman and 1st year members of the team I see your future with NHS Tennis to be very rewarding for all of you. I have decided that Greg's total commitment and dedication to the team has earned him a spot on varsity. We will now have 13 members....You will earn your Varsity Letter by helping your fellow teammates raise the bar on how well all of you play.

Without sounding smug...I believe that it will mean a lot to you and your College prospects by the time you are seniors to be a 4-year Varsity member of a team that will be winning Districts and possibly States by your junior or senior year. Thanks for being such positive, fun to be around players. Coach A"



This is such a great thing for Greg to know that all of his hard work is paying off. He is always at practice giving 100% and listening to and respecting his coaches. We are so proud of him and look forward to more great things from him. I think it is amazing that his coach believes that she has such young talent as to expect a District Title and maybe appearance in the States tournament before they graduate. It is a talented group of freshman and I am so glad that Greg is having such a great time. It is amazing how far he has come in such a short period of time and if you look at his bulletin board you can see what he wrote: "THE BEST HAS YET TO COME". He would probably be embarrassed that I put this on my blog, but I think it speaks volumes of him.

Just a Few Random Thoughts

I found a new favorite movie this past weekend - The Holiday. This movie starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet is such a cute movie. It is probably very predictable to most people and just a regular old movie but something in it stirred me. I liked the relationship between Iris and her next door neighbor and the character Miles. I also thought Graham was a great character with a few surprises. I have watched it twice and plan to watch it again tonight before it has to go back to Blockbuster.

I have been finishing the binding on my blue and yellow quilt. I only have one more side to finish and then it is done. I will definitely have to take pictures. I probably should start a scrapbook of my finished quilts. Hopefully Casey will remind me to take a picture of her quilt when she brings it home this summer. (Hint Hint!)

I finally finished Lesson 1 for the Library of Memories class I am taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I spent an entire week organizing my photos and putting them into albums. This is a long term project and will probably take all summer to complete.

I am back on the treadmill after taking it easy for the month I was sick with bronchitis. I actually did 40 minutes last night - none tonight as ironing and other chores had to take a priority.

I am hoping to see an update from Casey very soon!!!!

Things to Ponder

I saw this on K. Smith's blog and thought it was something to think about. I need to start altering my course. Sometimes I just get caught up in doing the same thing day after day. Last week I decided to take a walk around Lake Galena on my lunch hour. I decided to start walking around the lake and after 15 minutes I would turn around and go back to my car and back to work. Those 30 minutes were so refreshing and necessary that I vow to do it more often. By altering my course of lunch activities (usually just running errands), I had a very peaceful and happier afternoon.

I Have Updated - Have You?

Message to Casey - Update your blog!!!!! You got on me, now I am going to get on you about it!!!! Put down the coloring books and crayons and update!!

Picture taken 3/24/07