Choice Morsels

We had a slab-leak recently repaired and this afternoon the Floor-guy came who came to glue down my vinyl tile over the cement he filled the repair hole that the plumber jack-hammered in my hallway. Fortunately, that hole is not larger then one 16 x 16 tile! Anyway, it seemed a good day to oil the outside of some of my kitchen cabinets and I went the extra mile---I actually wiped out the insides, too and put down a line of Borax along the seams. (Borax is a natural insect pest killer.) Real wood has to be moisturized periodically or it will crack & peel. I use Pledge Orange Oil. Smells nice. So, how do you feel about Fruitcake?  I love home-made fruitcake! The trick to a good cake is avoiding the "Old English Mix" of candied fruits entirely and, instead, choosing just the candied pineapple and candied green & red cherries. That plus raisins, chopped dates & chopped nuts makes your cake! This is year I've decided to try a new fruitcake called: Fest

With it almost being December, fall is a quickly fading memory in places where gardens have gone to sleep and snow has already fallen. So, today's Garden Pic is a cheerful reminder of those golden days of autumn! It's a photo I took of Marigolds in my front bed about the end of October, when they were at their best and a Brown-Belted Bumble Bee was busily enjoying them! Brown Belted Bumble Bee on Marigold My Marigolds are yet alive, but not near as pretty anymore. I still have Red Salvia vividly blooming in pots, a couple pink Gerber Daisies throwing up fresh buds and my one bell pepper plant in the strawberry bed next to the front door is more loaded with baby peppers then it has ever had all year! I still see Honey Bees visiting during the warmth of the day & butterflies. ***** Since tomorrow is Turkey Day and I'll be busy, next post will be on Friday! Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and eat lots of pumpkin pie!

Since 2009, we've had occasion to visit Disney World a couple times and today I'm going to share my favorite eating spots where we got a tasty healthy meals for a reasonable price.  Cosmic Ray  Being we're two adults enjoying Disney by ourselves and not toting any kids, so my suggestions are probably best suited to adults or older kids who aren't just interested burgers or macaroni & cheese. Plus, I we only ate inside a Park once a day for an evening meal as a rule, preferring quick-service most days and squeezing in maybe one more expensive "treat" meal once a trip. My suggestions come from experiences over a variety of different occasions spread over several years. For convenience, I'll list my favorite quick service dining spots by Park: Quick service cafe's are places you can just walk in anytime and order food; no reservations needed. Magic Kingdom: Comic Ray's Starlight Cafe #1) Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in

The Mama Kat blog writing prompt for today is: "List 5 things we don't know about you, 5 things you know,  5 things you don't know & 5 things you believe." 5 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me: 1)  That I'm a huge fan of Once Upon A Time. 2)  That I'm a sponge for any sort of trivia, which I have a bad habit of randomly sharing. 3)  That my eyes turned from blue to green as I grew up: the inner iris is green, while the outer iris ring is gray-blue. 4)  That I have small feet. I wear a 6.5 size shoe. Hubby calls my feet, "Barbie feet." 5)  That anything chocolate is my favorite. 5 Things I Know: 1)  How to crochet & embroider.. 2)  How to sew clothing, though I haven't done so in a long time. 3)  How to draw and paint in a variety of mediums. 4)  Lots of methods for studying the Bible. 5)  How to make a pie crust from scratch. 5 Things I Don't Know: 1)  How to knit. 2)  How to do any type of sk

Today's Garden Pic photo is my most recent fall garden addition: this pretty Coral Bell!  Their Latin name is "Heuchera." My own Coral Bell This will be my second try at growing one. I ordered a lime green one and tried growing it in a container garden, but Coral Bells don't like being overly watered.   However, container gardens need frequent watering, so it died. (Remember that & don't plant them where your lawn watering system will keep them constantly wet!) This new one is in the ground in my back garden in a deeply shady spot. Coral Bells are shade lovers, highly prized for their colorful leaves and generally planted in groupings for a show of color.   As you can see from this Pinterest photo I found, they come in many colors: Lots of leaf colors! Coral Bells do bloom!   In spring they put up stalks loaded with little bell shaped flowers in a range of light to dark pinks & reds! Thus their name. Coral Bells in Bloo

The Mama Kat prompt todays is, "What were you writing about at this time last year?" So, here's a compilation of my best November 2014 posts: Lime in The Coconut Remember that song? Put the Lime in the Coconut? It was on the radio all the time when I was a teenager and used by the Coke Company in ads. The post includes a You Tube link to one of those old commercials--but beware, you may not be able to get the tune out of your head! African Beef Stew: A delicious lightly peanut butter flavored stew made with ground beef & Butternut squash! In This Weeks Local Police Blotter: A true story about a real guy in our town who couldn't understand why his truck was missing after leaving the keys in it overnight written in 12 lines. ***** If you missed any of these posts, now's the time to re-visit! Thanks for Visiting! If you're interested in reading other Mama Kat posts, go here. If you want to get involved, click on "writing

I have two Garden Pics for you today! That's to make up for not posting a Garden Pic next week! Hubby and I are having a week off! Yay!  It will be good to have a break in the routine! :) Today's Garden Pics are some Basil & some pretty Chinese Stonecrop!  First up: An Interesting Looking Basil: I guess you could call it "Red Rubin, Jr." I grew Red Rubin Basil last year, which is a purple breed of Basil, and this variegated specimen was the what grew from the seed I saved.  I'm not sure what happened. But it is so very pretty in the container near my front door.  Next: A Pretty Shot of Some Chinese Stonecrop Sedum: This is such a pretty and extremely durable succulent. Plus any bit of it that touches soil will grow a new one! Easy to put every where and anywhere! This particular stonecrop fills a old metal canister that says "coffee" on it, like from flour-sugar-and-so-on canister set. It sit's out front under the Aspen

Today's Good Eating recipe is one great for using up those bananas that got ripe too fast: Frosted Banana Bars! I don't know about you, but I have stages for bananas:  Stage 1: slightly green to just barely ripe and no spotting on peel: eat plain. Stage 2: more ripe, but not squishy with only a slight amount of spotting on peel: slice on cereal or use in gelatin. Stage 3: squishy ripe and heavily spotted peel: use in baking muffins, quick breads or something.  Now Hubby will eat a Stage 2 banana plain. I won't. But nobody in my house eats Stage 3! This recipe calls for a jelly roll pan, which is either a 10 x 15 or 12 x 17 size baking pan with a 1" high side wall.  I have a couple I use for baking cookies on. They make good cookie sheets, too, so not a waste to have on hand. This is a pass-along recipe given to me by my friend, Paula, who said these bars were popular whenever she took them to a pot-luck. A good picture of what Banana Bars look l