So much to do, so little time...

Even though we got so much done over the weekend, planning a party takes more work than you ever expect at the onset.

I made my list for the store; cups, plastic forks, etc. and I made my list of things "To Do" at home; finish putting hanging clothes in closet, move filing cabinet to hot tub room (where no hot tub actually exists - we just call it that because it was going to get a hot tub at one time and may still at some point in the future), organize the remaining few boxes and decide what side items to make for the cook-out. Those are just to name a few as the list is pretty long and even though I cross things off every day, it seems new ones get added right about the same time.

I'm not really worried about it - what gets done, gets done and whatever doesn't, must not have been all that important anyway. LOL  I think we'll have a good time and a good mix of people. Mostly everyone is coming from Pee Wee's Place and Wally has invited a few people he knows from around town. I invited all of you and so far Dizzy Debbie is the only one coming up. Ernie wanted to come but she couldn't get the time off work with such short notice :(  Maybe next time... Jay and Teri from Atlanta are coming too so I won't be without friends. I have made a few friends here but most of them are Wally's guy friends. The few women I've met, I'm not close enough with to invite them over. Claudia is coming over with Daryl (they aren't together together, they're just riding together), I've written about her before, she's really sweet and I'm pretty sure she'll get a real kick out of Dizzy Debbie. Well, actually, everyone will! I wish you could be here too but we'll have more parties and you'll always be invited.

My day lilies are blooming like crazy!!!!!! The one plant out front probably has 15 blooms on it and they are taller than I am - literally, I can't take a picture of the top of the flowers because I can't see the top without bending the stem over to my height. I'll see if Wally can get one with me standing by them. The problem is I can't download to my work computer so it will be some time before they get posted. In another week or so I'm going to start the U-verse installation project so we'll have internet at the house before too long.

The Tiger Lily has started to bloom as well and it is absolutely beautiful - it is a really dark orange color. In the Crayon box it would probably be labeled as Red-Orange. It has the little black spots all around the center which is what gives it it's name of Tiger Lily. There are 4 buds on the one in the front yard and probably close to 10 buds on the one in the back yard. I may move the one from the front to the back as they seem to do better back there. Not the Day Lilies - they love the front or back yard, shade doesn't seem to matter. Although, I will say they lean toward the sunshine when they start blooming.

Claudia is bringing me bulbs of her irises and hostas and she planted her garden with summer squash, cucumbers and tomatoes. I won't need to plant squash as she will have more than enough. I told her I would plant extra peas instead so we can share.

Debbie says she's bringing me some Zellwood Sweet Corn so I'll be getting the canner out for the first time in a couple years. I don't think she's ever canned anything before so it's sure to be an experience she won't forget. I remember the first time Neccy heard about me canning corn. At first she said something like "who cans their own corn these days?" and that I was weird but the next time I did it, she came over and was hooked for life.

That first year with Neccy, we put the kids to work shucking it and then I cut it off the cobs. She helped with the jar washing, filling, sealing, etc. Once the jars were in the canner, we just sat back and waited. When the time was up, the canner cooled down and we took out the jars and set them on the counter. Within about 5 minutes we started hearing the lids pop and we knew we had been successful!! That added to the fact that the house smells like popcorn, it's just so cool!

We spent one Mother's Day out at Neccy and Jack's house shucking, scraping and canning corn and had a blast. Jack put some on the grill and we had it fresh with our ribs and chicken. He cooks some incredible ribs and chicken on the grill so if you ever get invited, don't pass on the invitation - it's well worth the trip and if at all possible, the doggy bag you get to bring home :) As a side note, if I bring macaroni salad to their shindigs, Neccy will typically hide it so no one else gets any. You have to watch her... lol

I stopped for fuel on the way home last night and got it for $2.56 a gallon. That was at the Kroger where it is normally $2.59 but I happen to have a Kroger card so I got a .03 discount... woo hoo!! Hey, everywhere else, it goes for $2.69 and up so that's a bargain anyone would enjoy. I also stopped at the Food Lion to see if the beer was still on sale as we needed to stock up for the weekend. It was on sale for $13.99 an 18 pack so I got us both 2 of them. This party is getting expensive!  ha ha 

I think I ended up spending $100 before I got out of there. I needed my salad stuff and the rib eyes were on sale so I picked up some more of them. I got the plastic cups and looked for forks but they were sold out. The Dollar General was sold out too. Not sure what we'll do for forks if I can't find them anywhere - please don't suggest Wal-Mart. I've been there once since I moved here and that was once too much...see previous post. I am already resigned to the fact that I'll have to go sooner or later because I still need contact lens solution and they didn't have it last time...

You won't believe it but Smokey actually came up to me last night. I walked out to give them some carrots and of course the PIG Rebel came right up to me. He got his carrot and then Smokey surprised me by sticking his nose out to get one too. He didn't let me pet him but he got close enough to eat out of my hand. That's a true step in the right direction especially after the way he acted over the weekend. Wally says that will all be over with once I ride him - he'll go back to acting like he doesn't even see me. LOL That's okay, I'm going to ride him anyway. I'm sure I'll be sore since it's been awhile but it'll still be fun.

I got my dinner started and brought the clothes in off the line. I had about an hour to kill while dinner cooked so I started reading my new cookbook. It's by Jenny at The Nourished Kitchen. She's all into real, whole foods like our ancestors lived on so it makes for some interesting reading. For me anyway :)  You can check out her website at http://www.thenourishedkitchen.com/. If you do nothing else, visit her site and look up the recipe for her baked oatmeal. The picture looks so yummy I decided to make it this Friday morning while Debbie is here. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Yes, I'm following it to the letter. You should know me well enough by now...

We had chicken breasts which I seasoned with Adobo, Lowery's Seasoning Salt and black pepper (my usual combination) and then I just browned them in my Wolfgang Puck pan (thank you Neccy and Aunt Karen) with a little olive oil. Once it was browned on both sides, I put it in the oven at 350 degrees, covered, for an hour. The chicken was partially frozen and it was the breast with ribs so it really needed to go for the whole hour. I've never tried this with chicken before, only pork chops and all I can say is WOW! It was really good. I made some country gravy to go over top and we had cheesey squash and seasoned green beans on the side. I wish you were here to enjoy it with us but I'll make it again when you come up - if you remind me. You may need to make a list because I'll never remember everything I've written about by the time you get here lol!!

You can always send me your favorite recipes - I'll give them a try and let you know how it goes on my blog. Keep in mind that Wally is diabetic so we don't use white flour (except in very limited quantities), white rice or white bread. Sugar is out too so any recipes that require it, have to be able to use Splenda as a sugar substitute. Fruit is always on the menu whether it be oranges, grapes, strawberries or bananas. I'll be adding blackberries to that list as soon as they come in :)

Did you know Howenwald, TN is the place to be if you are a retired elephant? It's true! I read about it in the Farm Bureau magazine. You can't go visit them but you can donate money to help with their care. The magazine had a few pictures of the elephants and they seem to be pretty happy. They wander about at their leisure with no one to bother them or hang around staring at them. Howenwald isn't too far from us but I'm not sure we can get there via the usual route. Some of those roads were washed out during the flood and the only way to know if they are open again is to ride down them. It's not like we would get to see the elephants anyway, so we probably won't make that trip. But it's cool to know they are there :)

One of the mystery plants has bloomed and I'm sure Karla was right when she suggested it was an allium. I looked them up and it appears that's what I have. I put the picture on the blog so you can see it.Wally calls them onions because they smell like onions. I know they're in the same family so it makes sense. As I said before, this one started out as a light green color but is slowly turning to a lavender color. It's pretty cool. I'll have Debbie get a picture of it and put it out there for all to see. Mystery solved? I think so :)

The nights are getting warmer and it seems we'll be turning on the A/C pretty soon. I don't look forward to those days as I'm really enjoying the fresh air coming through the windows and doors. Not only that but the electric bill will definitely take a hit trying to cool a 2800 sq. ft. cabin. I'm thinking it will be worth it when the temps start hitting 90 and above!! I know you're already there - I check the FL weather every day just to be sure :)

Next time you see Marcia, please tell her I said hello. I've called her twice but haven't heard back from her. I know she wasn't happy with me for moving here but I still love her :) 

I ordered a hummingbird feeder to hang in the tree outside the front door. I've been reading up on the little birds and they seem to do well in this area. I've noticed people have started hanging and filling their feeders so now must be the right time. The feeder was free with the points from my bank card and since they expire in December I figured what the heck? I don't have any expectations of getting a picture of these guys, even professional photographers have a difficult time of it because of their speed. I do have expectations of sitting on the porch and catching a glimpse of them as they drink that sweet, red nectar from the feeder - always something new to look forward to!

Whether you're working or at home, I hope you're enjoying a pleasant Tuesday... This little "Thought for the Day" is really for Dizzy Debbie but the rest of you can certainly take from it too :)

"If you always do what you always do, you’ll always get what you’ve always got." – Unknown