Our current homestead - 1

Our Kittens - My Photo Subjects

Okay, now that you are all awing.....

WHO WANTS ONE (in about five weeks)?

ps. Not easy subjects these fellas, those little guys are QUICK!

Compassion

After I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, compassion took root in me in a way it never had before. Suddenly, instead of getting irritated with the person slowing me down or triggering my frustration, I found myself wondering what they might be carrying beneath the surface.

That person zoning out at a red light may have just learned their father is terminally ill.
The angry customer at work may be grieving a recent loss.
That “scatterbrained” woman might be coming off chemo or living with an illness you can’t see.

We rarely know the full story.

So when the urge to judge or criticize starts to rise, let it pass right through you. Release it. Because the grace we offer others has a way of finding its way back to us. As we judge, so shall we be judged — but the same is true of compassion.

Choose it freely.

TGIF Recipes

Source

Red Sangria

1 1/2 ounce red wine
1 1/2 ounce triple sec
1/4 ounce pineapple juice
1/4 ounce orange juice
Mix well with ice, pour into glass with ice
Top with Sprite if desired
Lemon squeeze, lime squeeze, orange squeeze

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic (or to taste)
• 1 (9-ounce) package artichoke hearts, defrosted, rinsed, dried & quartered
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, excess liquid squeezed out.
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) Neufchatel (reduced-fat cream cheese)
• 2 ounces (about 1/2 cup) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Saute onions in olive oil stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes, or until onions are light golden. Remove from heat and cool.

In a food processor combine and blend until smooth spinach, sour cream, mayonnaise, cream cheese or Neufchatel, mozzarella and salt and pepper. Handstir in the cooled onion-garlic mixture and artichokes. Transfer mixture into an 8-inch glass square baking dish or 9-inch glass pie plate which has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve with crudités, tortilla chips, fresh vegetable or pita wedges.

My post about COFFEE

I LOVE COFFEE!! Nuf said. :D

giggles

Life is measured in time: BC and AC. That, to me, means "before children" and "after children."

Socks socks and more socks

Why I’m Obsessed with Socks

I like socks. Funky socks. Bright socks. Socks that make me smile when I look down. (Toe socks? Nope. Not for me.)

Crew length is my jam—short socks slide down into my shoes and start the endless finger-in-the-arch rescue mission. Knee socks? They roll. Slouch socks? Don’t get me started.

Clean socks are non-negotiable. And if I wear them for just a few minutes, they must go back on the same foot—or they feel wrong. It’s a thing, right? Comfort matters, so 50% cotton or more is a must. And the toe seam? Please, sew it properly. Why leave that part itchy when no one sees it anyway?

The fun is in the upper part—the patterns, the colors, the little personality statement you wear every day. My go-to: GAP and Target. Never paid more than $2 a pair. That’s sock heaven.

So go ahead, treat yourself. Grab a pair of funky socks and let your feet do the talking.

Razors

Calling all Ladies!
What kind of razor do you use? Seriously. Do you use disposable razors? If so, what brand? Or do you switch around like me. I buy the designer elite brand then realize that they don't last more than two shavings and couldn't cut a warm stick of butter, so go back to the cheapy brand, which works great as long as I remember which one to get. But then I forget which ones to get the next time I purchase and get a cheap brand that nicks and give me razor bumps so I revert back to the elite "pricey" ones, which couldn't cut a warm stick of butter, so I get the cheapy brand, which works great as long as I remember which one to get.... and the maddening cycle continues!!! So, seriously..... what do you use??

Chicken and Dumplings

Recipe courtesy Sandra Lee

Source

Level: Easy

Serves:4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 pounds chicken leg quarters
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 3 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
• Water
• 1 cup baking mix
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/3 cup milk

Directions

Separate the chicken legs from the thighs, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Coat the pieces with the flour, shaking off any excess and reserve the leftover flour. Put the oil into a heavy bottomed skillet and heat it over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown it on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken to a plate and add the carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, and corn. Sprinkle with the reserved flour, and give it a good stir. Add chicken broth and stir. Nestle the chicken pieces into the vegetables and add enough water to just cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Just before the cooking time is up combine the baking mix, poultry seasoning, and milk in a small bowl. Drop the batter by tablespoons on top of the simmering chicken leaving some room between the dumplings. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve hot.

HI my name is Tammy, and I am an OCD Dropout

Hi. My name is Tammy, and I had OCD.

At one time, many people honestly did not know I had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I hid it, or tried at least.

I had Tupperware stacked high in half my kitchen, each container labeled with neatly typed tags. Beans. Elbows. Rice. Yeast. Onion soup mix. Even Kool-Aid. Everything tucked away just so. The canned goods were another story altogether. Categorized by food group, then family, then variety, then size, down to the exact brand, labels facing perfectly forward. Of course.

Immaculate. That was me.

You may not have noticed that I always rinsed my personal dish, cup, or mug before serving myself food. I knew it was clean. I washed it. But I had to. And it had to be that mug. Not those over there. They did not feel right in my hand or on my lips. Plastic or acrylic cups, especially with dairy, were absolutely not allowed. Glasses required a straw. A bendy one. But never in milk, because plastic and milk do not belong together. Yes, I am aware milk comes out of a plastic jug. Duh.

Ice splashing up my nose? Instant horror. Forks could not feel thin or hollow. They had to feel solid and weighted just right. I had one fork. My fork. The kids all knew. Tongs had to line up perfectly. My silverware drawer was a thing of beauty. Truly enviable.

Paper plates, Styrofoam cups, disposable utensils? Never the top one, even when they were upside down. Plastic utensils got washed anyway.

Then there were the other oddities: socks, oral hygiene, bedding, bathtubs, towels, candle wax, stationery supplies, and yes, even hotdogs. Fingerprints? That is a phobia, not OCD, but we will not go there.

We are not even going to discuss germs and cleaning. or locks and appliances. 

And then, oddly enough, I dropped out. Cold turkey.

The year I divorced, got pregnant, and was diagnosed with cancer all at once, something changed. I got tired. Really tired. Now I am a full-time working, exhausted mom to five full-time kids and one part-time stepdaughter. I simply do not have the energy for OCD anymore.

If you watch closely, you may still catch a glimpse. I still have secrets. I tell you about them all the time. You just do not notice. Laugh out loud.

So why am I telling you all this?

Number one. We finally got a new, to us, refrigerator. Remind me to tell you about the landlord later. I drank a glass of milk tonight without rewashing the glass.

Number two. I took an uninterrupted bath. Uninterrupted. Mom of six. I scrubbed the tub for an hour first, and yes, I will do it again tomorrow even if no one touches it. I am glad I got that out of my system. Please do not tell anyone. It is embarrassing.

So here we are.

Hi. My name is Tammy, and I am an OCD dropout.

Random Facts 5

The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.
The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
You are more likely to be killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.
You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
You share your birthday with at least nine million other people in the world.

Quote

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.

~Doug Larson

Life Quote

"Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. 

The way you cope with it is what makes the difference."

~ Virginia Satir ~

Random Facts 4

Fascinating (and Totally Random) Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

• Believe it or not, more people are killed by donkeys each year than in plane crashes.

• There’s no word in the English language that rhymes with “month.”

• Nutmeg is deadly if injected directly into the bloodstream.

• On average, people fear spiders more than death itself.

• One reason marijuana became illegal? Cotton growers in the 1930s saw hemp as competition and lobbied against it.

• Only one person in two billion will live to see their 116th birthday.

• Your eyes stay the same size from birth, but your nose and ears never stop growing.

• Right-handed people, on average, live nine years longer than left-handed folks.

• Shakespeare invented words like “assassination” and “bump.”

• Some lions mate over 50 times a day.

• Starfish don’t have brains.

• “Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

• Drunk ants always fall on their right side.

• The average person unknowingly eats eight spiders in their lifetime—while asleep.

• Catfish have over 27,000 taste buds.

• The Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise liner moves just six inches for every gallon of diesel it burns.

Crazy, right? The world is full of bizarre, mind-bending facts that make you see everyday life in a whole new way.

Random Facts 3

Random Facts That Live Rent-Free in My Head:

“I am.” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She’d stand 7 feet 2 inches tall, with a neck twice the length of a normal human’s.

If the entire population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end due to the rate of reproduction.

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, you’d produce enough gas to equal the energy of an atomic bomb.

A goldfish kept in a dark room long enough will eventually turn white.

If you yelled continuously for 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days, you’d generate enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

In ancient Egypt, priests removed every hair from their bodies—including eyebrows and eyelashes.

No new animals have been domesticated in the last 4,000 years.

It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors.

Marilyn Monroe reportedly had six toes.

Reality really does the most.

Quote

"Never forget that the pain, however difficult, is confined to just a small portion of who you truly are."

--Ralph S. Marston, Jr

Scars

"Scars remind us where we've been. They don't have to dictate where we're going."

--Rick Dunkle (Writer, from "Criminal Minds.")

Random Facts 2

Random Facts, Part 2 (Because Your Brain Asked for More):

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred different vocal sounds. Dogs manage about ten.

Cat urine glows under a black light. Do with that information what you will.

China has more English speakers than the United States. (Wait! What?)

Donald Duck comics were once banned in Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.

Dueling is legal in Paraguay—as long as both participants are registered blood donors.

Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump.

Every time you lick a stamp, you consume about one-tenth of a calorie.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history without a full moon.

You’re welcome.

Love is Precious

We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep on watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it"

-John Lennon

Habits

‘Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.’
~ Spanish Proverb

Did you know

A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
A snail can sleep for three years.
All Polar bears are left-handed.
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

Be Yourself

"Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else."

– Judy Garland

Life

“I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore that I can do, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it. For I shall never pass this way again”

- Etienne de Grellet

Appreciate what you have

One day . . . a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country, so he could have his son see how poor country people live.
They stayed one day and one night in the home of a very humble farmer. At the end of the trip, and when they were back home, the father asked his son, "What did you think of the trip?"
The son replied, "Very nice dad."
Then the father asked his son, "Did you notice how poor they were?"
The son replied, "Yes."
The father continued asking, "What did you learn?"
The son responded, "I learned that we have one dog in our house, and they have four.
Also, we have a fountain in our garden, but they have a stream that has no end.
And we have imported lamps in our garden . . . where they have the stars!
And our garden goes to the edge of our property. But they have the entire horizon as their back yard!"
At the end of the son's reply the father was speechless.
His son then said, "Thank you dad for showing me how poor we really are."
Isn't it true that all depends on the lens you use to see life? One can ask himself what would happen if we give thanks for what we have instead of always asking for more. Learn to appreciate what you have. Wealth is all in one's point of view.
~Anonymous

Wonder Why

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
I found it here.