just got through reading all my blogs, emails and facebook - things i love to do and i will do as a great procrastination tool when i should be doing something else. i love reading the blogs that i have set up in rss feed system. i wonder if there is some way on tumblr to put down what is called a blog roll (a new term i just picked up). if i could do that and IF (a great big IF) anyone were to read my blog, they could click on my blog roll and see the truly great blogs i follow. seriously, there are some really really good ones out there. sometimes i am truly disappointed when i open up reader and find one of my favorites hasn’t post anything.

anyway…i am still procrastinating as you can see, rambling on about nothing and taking photos of my cat.

see? doesn’t she have a pretty face? (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… adorable!)

uh oh…what is this? i’m not ready.

you know what this means? no more control top opaque stockings, no more thick woolen sweaters, no more over-sized flannel shirts, no more hot chocolate every evening by the fire with a wool blanket and a furry cat on your lap. aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

i’m not ready. i have been a sloth/slug (your pick) for way too long.

now i must go back to weight watchers, go back to the gym, go back to walking (daily not haphazardly) and actually go to yoga where i have scheduled stuff around its time, but haven’t actually signed up for any classes.

i’m going to check weather.com to see if we have any more snow or ice in the future…

what?!!! 57, 68 and 71 degrees! i know i should be happy because it’s going to be nice, but can i continue to wear my opaque control top stockings until…july?

here is a new entry for thursdays on this blog. i am going to call it THINGS I SHOULD HAVE TAUGHT MY CHILDREN BUT DIDN’T THURSDAY.

i am going to start by talking about my dad. my dad is a retired mechanical engineer. in my mind an engineer must be exact and precise which describes my dad to a T. he likes things neat, in their place and precisely put in their place. while growing up with him, he had a lot of rules which weren’t particularly bad…really.

anyhoo, one of them was “don’t put potato peelings down the garbage disposal, it gums it up”, which i never did (put the peelings in the disposal) because he told me not to do that. now, i never gave it another thought after i was out of the house. i mean, i still didn’t put them down the sink in the garbage disposal and i made sure that husband scott knew not to do it, too. what i mean by not giving it another thought was that i always thought it was a dad-ism, not so much a general knowledge people should know, until….

i read or saw somewhere (and i looked all over the internet for this) that julia child had a sign posted over her sink in her famous kitchen (which has been installed in the smithsonian) which says “no potato peelings in the sink.”

dad has just been validated…not that he needs validation, but none the less…

so, daughter michelle and son jason here is a THING I SHOULD HAVE TAUGHT YOU BUT DIDN’T for this thursday:

don’t put potato peelings in the garbage disposal. it will gum it up!

here is the cheddar cheese dip from super bowl sunday. it was really yummy. i used sharp cheddar because i LOVE sharp cheddar. it is from our newspaper and credited to central market which is why i cut down the amount of garlic used in the recipe and it was still pretty garlicky. i find that central market uses a little too much garlic in their recipes by the olive bar ie their love dip, hummus and guacamole. i might be somewhat particular because brother paul loves the love dip and i know there are a lot of garlic lovers out there, but too much garlic gives me bad dreams. daughter michelle thinks i am making this up, but i’m not……really.

anyway, here is the recipe in its original state (i used 1 1/2 cloves of garlic, btw) -

1 c (packed) shredded Wisconsin (of course - go packers!) mild cheddar cheese
1 c (8 oz) cream cheese
1/2 c whole milk (i used 2% because i didn’t read that till after i got home from the store - normally i only have 1% on hand, but because of snow they were out of 1%)
1/2 lemon, juiced                      1/4 t sea salt
1/2 t dijon mustard                   1/4 t ground black peppercorns
1/4 t worcestershire sauce        scallions, chopped f/garnish (optional)
3 cloves whole garlic           pretzels (for dipping)

in mixer bowl, combine cheddar, cream cheese, milk, lemon juice, mustard & worcestershire and beat until combined. remove bowl from mixer. using mortar & pestle, mash garlic & salt into a paste (i cheated and used a garlic press). fold garlic paste and pepper into dip. garnish with scallions and serve with pretzels for dipping.

the pretzels are a good idea. the dip would be a little too dense for potato chips.

yum! off to start cleaning the house…or watching tv

here is another bowl of food. i LOVE bowls of food. this one is the type of muesli that i like. muesli means ‘mixture’ and usually refers to a mixture of rolled oats, fruit and nuts like granola which i like, but is sometimes soaked overnight in milk till soggy which i don’t like.

however, a muesli of fritos, potato chips and popcorn is always delicious.

just heated up a bowl of red (in a red bowl). this is leftover from the super bowl dinner. go packers! - i had a whole theme going since sister-in-law mary, originally from wisconsin, came over to watch with brother john & mom. we had cheddar cheese dip w/pretzels (will post later), chili, and cheesecake. get it? i may not be from wisconsin, but i could be considered a cheese head if the definition included ‘loves cheese’.

mary thought it was pretty funny to have all that cheese. besides rooting for green bay, she was super excited about the super bowl game because it was playing in our area of town. she lives in dallas and i in fort worth and in between the 2 cities is arlington - home of the new cowboy stadium. a lot of people don’t realize there is a whole city that separates us. i think because everything around here refers to us as dfw as in dfw airport. i like to refer to us as d/fw where the slash mark keeps us separate. i’m glad that dallas is not right across the street because i kinda’ agree with the railhead bbq t-shirt that says ‘life is too short to live in dallas’. BUT i do like to visit…a lot.

this recipe is from mom & dad (i included dad since it is his magazine subscription). she originally got it from consumer reports magazine. who would have thunk it. i don’t normally get recipes from their magazine, but this one is really good. i think the secret is the vinegar.

here’s the recipe (4 servings) -

1 lb lean ground beef                  1/4 t coriander
1 clove garlic, minced                  1 t cumin
1 c onion, finely chopped             1/2 salt
1 med green pepper (i used a yellow bell because i’m not fond of green bells), finely chopped
4 T chili powder                            1/2 c water
1 T cider vinegar                           2 c canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 t allspice                                 1 16oz can red kidney beans w/liquid

cook beef, garlic, onion & bell pepper in a heavy skillet over med-high heat, stirring frequently to break up meat. cook until onion is soft & meat has lost its pink color. add remaining ingredients. bring to a boil. cover & reduce heat. simmer the chili f/45 minutes, stirring frequently.

easy peasy and tasty, too. thanks consumer reports!

hi there. just got sent a link from daughter michelle about her wedding being published in style me pretty wedding blog!!! we looked and followed a lot of wedding blogs while planning the wedding. there are so many pretty weddings out there and i never thought that michelle’s would be published. i mean, i would think so because i thought it was pretty, but i am not everyone else. so if anyone reads this haphazard blog of mine, check it out!

click on the photo and it should take you to the website. i say ‘it should’ but, i am not making any promises. i did what tumblr told me to do to, well, do it. so, check it out!

also check out daughter michelle’s website - michelle-edmonds.com

i’m so very proud.

when making the comment about anyone reading my blog, i wonder if it would be better to spread the word. my blog isn’t that well written like apathy lounge - wordgirl5.typepad.com/apathy_lounge or creative like made by joel - madebyjoel.blogspot.com/ or has clean organizational skills like chez larsson - chezlarsson.com/myblog…i could go on and on because i follow so many blogs…good blogs…blogs that i wish i had written (and i haven’t even mentioned pdub’s awesome blog).

so, i ‘starred’ little green notebook’s entry on how to grow your blog -http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2011/01/on-how-to-grow-your-blog.html - and i think i might read it, give it some serious thought, make a list of a few ideas, follow through for a couple of weeks or days, then go back to my boring haphazard entries.

or maybe, just maybe i might try to set up a truly great blog…maybe

enjoy!

who has the best husband in the world? I DO! here he is trying to unclog our kitchen sink in the snow. now all the northerners will say, “so what”, but here in texas where it snows once a year…this is a whole different story. 

he still had to call the plumber. apparently, everyone’s kitchen sink is clogged this week, not from potato peelings (which is NOT the reason mine is clogged…i know better), but from the freeze. 

and yes, that’s a very dirty window. was hoping for new windows for better insulation, but we are still in the negotiating stage between me and my financial consultant/husband. i will most likely be washing old windows in the spring.

husband scott still gets an award for being the best husband in the world.

people who do not know how to drive, should NOT be driving on ice

coming home from work is not easy with the icy patches in the street, when one AH decides to left turn from the center lane while i am driving in the left lane. i had to slam on my breaks to avoid hitting him ON AN ICY PATCH!!!

really?!!!!!!

lucky for me, my car slid and stopped in time NOT to hit him. he ended up slamming into the curb.

today is the second day of the big chill and it is colder today than yesterday. i went to work today but have decided that it has to get above freezing before i do THAT again. i have turned into a scaredy-cat driving when it comes to driving on patches of ice. my theory to driving the route i did today is if i go downtown by way of tcu where the steelers are practicing and they have to come from downtown to tcu, then the roads from tcu to downtown would be clear, right? i mean if jerry jones wants his stadium used again for the 50th anniversary of super bowl…there would be perks like clearing roads to help out the teams for the super bowl. well…i was wrong. it was way too icy for me. maybe the city is has come up with some super transportation for the team and it has no problem with ice. i had problems with the ice, though. so, if the temperature does not go above freezing tomorrow, i am going to stay right here…at home…reading under a blanket…and drinking hot cocoa! i bought the last carton of horizon 2% at the grocery store, too (i normally buy 1%, but they were out). if the milk trucks can’t make it, neither can i. (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

green bay and pittsburgh are probably laughing their heads off right now. a little ol’ ice storm and the whole city shuts down.

today is groundhog’s day and there was absolutely no sunshine, so we will not be having 6 more weeks of winter of this kind of winter. in fact, i kept checking my clock when i woke up, because it was so dark this morning.

p s this photo was taken yesterday when there was sunshine. it’s a little off because it was so bright, i little bit had my eyes closed when i went out really fast to take the photo.