Choice Morsels

The Mama Kat blog writing prompt for today is: "Share a memorable Halloween costume." An example of a 1960's boxed costume For me to reminisce on a memorable Halloween costume means I have to time travel back to the 1960's when costumes weren't sold on a rack, but in a box.  Each costume consisted of a character mask and a satiny polyester knee-length one-piece outfit with short sleeves, legs and an open back that you stepped into, then tied at the back of the neck. Usually it said the character name on front--just in case the mask wasn't identification enough. I remember seeing row upon row of these boxed costumes at the five-and-dime store in town all through October. I remember looking at them longingly. They were exotic, sparkly things. But they cost $5. Far too expensive. (In the 60's, that was roughly equivalent to $25 nowadays.) Besides our Mother frequently sewed us costumes for free or we put together something from whatever we cou

Nearly the end of October. Time to work on bringing all the house plants in! It's not too cold for them yet, but night temps will drop into the low 50's within a couple weeks. I leave outside on the north side of the house to get fat and happy only to bring them in to keep them barely alive through winter. That's because I have to hang my plants and it's warmer & drier near the ceiling and I'm not always so good at keeping them watered. Hanging them near windows or skylights is the only way they'll get any light and the only place I have to put them. I snipped a good quantity of Wandering Jew vines to keep in a vase indoors through winter. It's leave are so richly violet year! It makes a beautiful table "bouquet" all winter. Just needs periodic trimming and fresh water. Then brought in the variegated Arrowhead plant & the Dracaena . The Arrowhead is prettier this year then it has been in a long time--probably because when I put it out in

We've had a drizzling rain going on since last night---the remnants of that Pacific Hurricane, Patricia, but it's  mostly cleared off except for a cool gusty breeze. We haven't had a soaking rain for many weeks and this will be really good for my winter veggie garden! A rainy day is also a good day for inside projects and I've been working on re-chaulking the seams on my various vinyl counter tops, which also involves a good cleaning with diluted bleach-water plus baking soda to remove stains, then a polish with a no-buff kind of car polish. (Yup, that's one of my life-hacks for keeping vinyl counter tops looking good. The polish doesn't make the counter shiny, so much as it fills the scratches and makes it stain resistant.) The kitchen counter is done. Today was the master bath. Today's Good Eating treat is a recipe I got from my friend, Jacqui in Pensacola when we visited last weekend called, "Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie."   It's also

Our visited our friends, Bernie & Jacqui, in Pensacola this past Friday and they drove us across the Alabama border for a unique garden lunch and some strange sight-seeing. Our first stop was lunch at the Copper Kettle Tea Bar in Foley, Alabama, located opposite the Old Train Station Museum. In fact, the building the restaurant resides in once one of many similar buildings that housed rail-road staff back in the days when trains were primarily transportation. This photo is a view of the rear of the restaurant and the back yard garden, which is full of mix & match table and chair seating beneath a huge Live Oak Tree! The Copper Kettle Tea Bar specializes in lots of teas, but also has several French-pressed coffee's plus home-made soups, sandwiches & desserts!  Their lunch menu usually consists of 2 choices of soup & one sandwich choice plus a selection of desserts.  I had a curry apple soup and Greek-style turkey hummus sandwich. Both were delicious.

Today's Mama Kat blog writing prompt is:  Drumroll please... and my top 3 favorite and/or most used slow cooker recipes are: #1)   Slow-Cooker Baked Sweet Potatoes!  I absolutely love how quick & easy a slow-cooker bakes up 4 to 6 sweet potatoes! (This blog page also includes a review of Jurassic World!) #2)  Slow-Cooker Cube Steak & Gravy! Cube steaks are an economic beef option and this slow-cooker recipe cooks 'em up nice and tender with lots of mushroom gravy for rice! Or throw in a few red potatoes in the cooker with the meat and get a full meal in a pot!  Since Hubby is a meat & potatoes guy, this is one of his favorite meals! #3)   Slow-Cooker Chocolate Cake! This slow-cooker cake is on my list to do again--I just haven't had an good opportunity. Even in a large slow-cooker it only serves 6 people well and I usually have too many Air Force kids on Sunday. The cake bakes up very nicely & is moist. You have to

Today I planted all the Lantana & Dusty Miller I've had rooting in small pots in a tray for several weeks and also separated my Romaine lettuce seedlings, so they're not crowded & the whole root is well buried.  It will be warm enough yet for all the Lantana to get established for it gets really cold and Dusty Miller winters over. I wanted Dusty Miller in between the mums I planted under my kitchen bay window, along the sidewalk. The two look good together during winter. I'll have to take a photo of the Coral Bell. It seems to have settled in okay. If it does well through next year, I may get more next fall. (Coral Bells are planted in shady areas for their foliage colors.) Today's Garden Pic is a late blooming Rubeckia, commonly called a Black-Eyed Susan.  This one is in my front container garden. It has just bloomed this week! Containers need a tall background plant and I got tired of the various grasses I tried dying every year, so I stuck a Rube

I n honor to October 15 being "National Grouch Day," today's Mama Kat blog writing topic is "What makes you grouchy?" To answer this I had to ask the Hubby for his perspective. To me, the distinction between being irritated and being grouchy isn't that clear, but he says, "there's definitely a line of difference between the two," and he can count off the 3 things that make me grouchy on his fingers: I can be grouchy in the mornings. Hubby is a bubble of cheery sunshine from the moment he gets up bright & early and he married me, who is not-a-morning person.  The earlier I have to get up, the more likely it is I'll be grouchy. My brain doesn't start firing on all thrusters until after 30 minutes and a cup of coffee.  I can be grouchy if I'm overly hungry.  This usually only happens if I don't eat enough protein with a meal. Or if there's too much space between one meal and the next--and my blood sugars drop t

Besides beads, it seems I brought back a head-cold from out Pirate of the High Seas Fest that has me a little under the weather today. But after a nap, I'm feeling a little better. Today's Garden Pic is a late-blooming September Gerber! This one is still out in the front bed, though it looks past it's prime now. My gerber daisies tend to languish through the hot, dry summer, then, as soon as the weather cools, they get a second wind, green-up with fresh growth and bloom again. It's not uncommon to find them blooming sporadically through fall into winter until a hard frost. They really need dividing, but I have to wait until spring. In the south, Gerbera Daisy's are a perennial that returns from root and are actually members of the sunflower family. In the north, zone 7 and above, they can only be grown as annuals.  There blooms hold up a long time in the flower bed or they can be snipped for a vase. Though, they do need regular watering between rains

Since the season for football mania is upon us, today's Mama Kat blog writing prompt is to list, "10 Things I Don't Love About Football."   I'm not into sports. Either playing or watching and, fortunately, neither is my Hubby. Neither of us grew up with a Dad into that sort of thing and that makes a difference. Anyway, here's my list: #1)   Beyond the basics of moving the ball up or down the field toward the goal posts, I simply don't understand the game or any of it terminology. (And I'm not interested in learning.) #2) Football games are egregiously  slow . Fifteen minutes of real time game play is stretched into an hour because of all the slow-motion replays and play discussion. Not to mention how that benefits the advertisers. #3) Every little game detail has to be monotonously discussed ad nauseam by the game announcers. Ugh. #4) It's sooo boring.  #5) I don't love the lack of sportsmanship going on in modern sp

This past Sunday I slow-cooked two boneless pork roasts for BBQ sandwiches. The BBQ sauce was added to the sandwiches individually and wasn't mixed into the pork as a whole. The roasts were slow-cooked with a can of crushed pineapple, 3 Tbsp of coconut sugar, 1 teaspoon of dried mustard, a little ground ginger, salt & pepper. So it was beautiful shredded pork ready for any use and I had a good amount leftover. But what to do with it?  Time to raid the pantry!  I had half a bag of extra wide noodles that needed using up. I always have canned tomatoes on hand and carrot matchsticks, bell peppers, onions & garlic in the frig--plus I always keep a box of Velveeta cheese around cuz cheese makes anything good! Actual photo of my Pantry Hodge-Podge creation! So I boiled up noodles, sauteed up the veggies & pork, stirred in the tomatoes & cheese, added some seasoning and--voila, a delicious meal! It's truly a hodge-podge meal, but if you want to try a

My "finds" for today are a few of my newest Christian shirt designs! I'm excited about them and hope you will be, too! I love this pretty "Designed by God" shirt! In a society obsessed with outward appearance, it's a reminder that we girls have intrinsic value to our Creator!  It includes Psalm 139: 14-16 under the butterfly and is for any light color style shirt! It's shown on all shirts, but really, I think it a very feminine design best suited for ladies & girls! Designed by God Stylized Art Butterfly Tee Shirt And it's absolutely adorable of tot & baby clothing: Designed by God Stylized Art Butterfly Tot/Baby For anyone, a prayer themed shirt design: I enjoy creating with simple color shapes & black text and with this shirt I used two red rectangles to form a cross with the words, "I pray because Jesus can do anything," and the scripture John 14:14. It's available in light color styles & sizes fo

The Mama Kat topic this week is about sharing experience with being, "Locked Out." I can think of two particular instances of being "locked out." First was years and years ago. We had gone on a trip and left our house key with a friend who'd been watching the house & our cats. They didn't happen to be at the house when we arrived home and for some reason we didn't have an extra house key on us. Luckily, only the doorknob was locked and I carded it. That taught us two lessons that day: always keep a spare house key in every vehicle and always, always use the dead-bolt to secure the door.  The second case of "lock out" occurred just this past week. I was  "locked out" of my computer by the new Windows 10 upgrade. This is happening to tons of people. I've read the complaints. But there is actually a reason for why it's happening. You see Windows 10 is especially designed to link all your devices together: your