Choice Morsels

 I was going to do a Mama Kat prompt today, but I'm not up to it--- sooo tired. I'm sleeping, but get up everyday still tired. It's stress from being in this state of disorder with this floor installation. They arrived late this morning due to having to a first stop for a "quick" repair that didn't turn out that quick. Turns out that spot where the sewer pipe that been replaced back in the mid-nineties, well, that patch cement there wasn't quite 100% dry. Is that unbelievable or what? That's why the edges of it's sheet vinyl patch started coming peeling up. The floor guys had us run the heat at 70 all night to dry to it out. A bit warm for me, but it did the trick. Another thing---we were concerned about some of the wood trim getting a little beat up during removal, since it's supposed to go back on. One piece was snapped. Granted, it's 20 odd years old, but still---so, I talked with them about that this morning.  I also went around wi

Well, as with all things "install" there's a delay. Originally the install guys were to arrive at 9 a.m., but that changed to between noon and 1 p.m. (It's noon now.)  Still, the whole deal should only take a day and a half to complete. The living room is cold and hallow and we're closeted in the warm den with our coffee pot, snacks and movies we can watch via computer screen if we want, if we get tired of everything else.  The cat is snuggled asleep on our bed in the bedroom, but will be moved here with us, where her food and catbox are when the installers arrive. There's been tons of rain over the past week and now another cold snap is coming. *burrrr* I've been sprouting spinach seeds in a wet napkin wrapped in plastic on my kitchen window sill, which is the tried and true method to force quick seed sprouting. Especially with older seeds, like these are. The tiny roots prove which seeds are still good. Once you see a tiny root, the seed can be

The Mama Kat Blog Prompt for today is : "Tell the story of trying to learn a new talent or hobby that you only pursued briefly." The duel between the Man in Black & Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride: among the best stage sword fighting scenes ever! Believe it or not, fencing was my brief hobby. A number of years ago, my husband and I participated in a 6-week beginners course I learned was being offered locally. There are several levels of competitive style sword fighting:   Foil ,  which is your basic dueling level with a light, straight sword. The target zone is only the upper torso and one wins with a striking thrust to this zone.   Then  Epee , which is still a thrusting combat, though the target zone is now the whole body.   And finally, there's Saber , which is a narrow, slightly curved blade with a rounded guard protecting the hand. Like, Epee, the target zone is anywhere. There are also different styles of stance, which vary by country.

Sometimes the Garden has to be inside. Especially at this time of year when it's still chilly outdoors!   So for todays Garden Pics of the Day we first have:   My tray of baby Roma tomatoes.   I have 7. I intended to plant 5, but a couple stray seeds fell into the seed tray. If all survive, I'll be rolling in tomatoes, though that doesn't usually happen. Not just any tomato seed, these are nematode resistent, which I desperately need, here, where the soil doesn't freeze. I read in Pinterest the other day that it's good for tomatoes to put finely crushed egg shells under them when you plant them, so I'm saving eggshells. Tomatoes like lots of calcium.     Next, a vase of assorted flowers I saved from a cold snap last Friday night:     The purple is a Dutch Iris, the yellow is a Black-Eyed Susan and the white clusters are Cheers Daffodils, which are clusters of tiny double-petal daffodils. (My seed trays are on that island in the back

      The Mama Kat Blog Prompt for today is: "A Valentine's Day you remember." The Unexpected Gift I've never been a big fan of Valentine's Day, but, in earlier years, my husband and I would, at least, exchange cards. One year we even gave each the exact same card and that was a laugh! Then I became a floral designer at a flower shop. Holy-moley! I quickly learned to detest Valentine's Day! For me it was 16 hours on my feet getting fingers torn up by rose thorns and being sworn at over the phone by customers who waited too late to call and couldn't understand why we didn't have another dozen roses available. Not to mention I think spending $80 bucks on something that's going to die in a few days completely ridiculous. After a few years at the flower shop, my husband was well acquainted with my utter disdain for fresh Valentine's flowers.  But wanting to do something special for me, he came up with a brilliant bit of creativity. Nor

I was expecting major rain today, but---nope. It was initially sunny this morning when I drove up to the YMCA for my bi-weekly interval training class, but is now gloomy gray, though still cool and pleasant enough to get some yard stuff done:   #1 was cutting down the decorative banana trees in the far back yard. They freeze and turn brown in winter, and cutting them causes a fresh tree to spiral up from the center of the stump. This helps control them a bit. Ignored, they can turn into 10 foot wide clumps. They're easy to saw through, being a water-logged type of pulp inside, but water is heavy. About 10, all different sizes, ranging from an 1 1/2 inches on a few babies to 8 inches on the one oldest. It's a work-out. # 2 was taking the hedge shears to a couple small pampas grass clumps also in back. #3 was a brief mow of some of the front lawn, mostly to collect mulch to spread over the hosta beds and front flower beds I recently edged.   Garden Pics of the Day:  

Welcome back! Any plans for Valentines? The Mama Kat prompt this week will be about how my husband made one Valentine's day uniquely special. The Gary Sinise & Lt. Dan Band this past Saturday was fantastic! A fun, family orientated free show that lasted 2 1/2 hours ! They do a lot of USO touring, though this wasn't USO sponsored. It was sponsored by the base and the GarySiniseFoundation.Org. The concert was outdoors. Fortunately, it was a gorgeous sunnyday, though the breeze was chilly. I missed the memo on being able to bring a blanket and the metal bleacher seats, since they'd been out all night, were freezing cold! Mr. Sinese is a great speaker and shared how he got involved with  supporting military veterans, which he's being do for 20 years .  His memory of the rejection Vietnam vets experienced post-war in the 70's is what motivates him to make sure that never happens again. I remember that, too. I joined the Air Force right after high school in 19

  So, we have a floor installation date for the end of February. (Pic on left is the tile color we've picked, though it's sooo much prettier in person. Picture does not do it justice.  This is 4 squares, grouted.)     Certainly the quickest installation date I've ever set up for anything floor related. We re-carpeted the bedrooms several years ago and had new vinyl applied in our master bath and it took 6 weeks just to come in. So, this is fast.   Everything I was afraid might happen never did: *I was afraid the sales person would try to up-scale us into a pricer floor, like ceramic. Didn't happen. He just went with what we were interested in. *I was afraid we'd be told we'd have to be responsible for removing the old vinyl ourselves. (I've heard that before.)  Nope, they take it up as part of the installation.    (Sigh of relief, because the other thing wasn't gonna happen.)   *I was afraid of a long wait before we could even ma

  The question inquiring minds want to know from Mama Kat today is: "If you were on a job interview and the interviewer asked you what color best described your personality, what would you say? (inspired by blogger  Jamie Miles )   As a knee-jerk response, I might be tempted to say,"green." It's my favorite color. Though, I don't mean Irish green when I say that. I mean olive green. But does that really represent my personality? On deeper reflection, I say " no."   So what color does reflect my personality ? Years ago, a friend remarked to me that I was "flamboyant." Now flamboyant means "dashingly colorful or strikingly showy."  It fills my mind with fiesta images, swirling orange and yellow skirts and brightly colored pinatas. It sounds exuberant and fun.  I do wear the strong teals and purples of my autumn palette all the time, plus coordinated necklaces, showy earrings and scarves. I guess I stand out like

       It's temperate out today and that time of year various garden and flower bed tasks are calling! Today was edging one of the front beds, which included dividing a day lily. I need to pick up some bark mulch this year and, with a fresh foundation of that, I can add mowing mulch on top the rest of the year. My flowers have apparently decided it is, indeed, spring: Dutch Iris heads are coming up and an Azalea bush in back is blooming! I've also started seed indoors in one of those plastic-tray planters for tomatoes, flowers & basil. Today's Garden Pic's are my newest garden project addition: A pair of stacked pots filled with succulents! I saw the idea in a garden magazine.  It requires two pots, one larger and one smaller. The large one is filled 3/4 with garden soil, then the smaller pot is set inside against the back, so a space is left in front. It is also 3/4 filled with garden soil. After that, using additional garden soil, plant an assortment of small

Welcome to the first full week of February! Did you watch the Super Bowl? Did you like the commercials? I can think of a couple I never want to see again. Our singles put on a Super Bowl gathering up at the Lighthouse Airman Center on base, so I go with my husband to that, though I don't understand the intricacies of football all that well. I can tell  which way the balls going and who's winning, but that's about it. Today's Good Eating Topic is a great comfort food: Jambalaya! I got the recipe from allrecipes.com, doubled the quantities, served it last Sunday with cornbread and got rave reviews! It's called "Easy Cajun Jambalaya" and you can get the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-cajun-jambalaya/detail.aspx It just uses chicken & sausage. It calls for red pepper for heat, but I think a small diced jalapeno, seeds removed, would make a good replacement. For cornbread, I just buy a ready-made mix. I prefer Jiffy be