Choice Morsels

    The Mama Kat question I'm doing is: Book Review! What is your best (or worse read)?        I joined a Book Club last year. We meet once a month at a local restaurant that allows us to come in at 10 am to discuss our book, then we order lunch. Everyone is 60 or older, I think--who else has free time to do a Book Club at 10 am?      I joined for 2 reasons:     1) Social Interaction. It gets me out of the house and around other people.     2) To Try Out New Books to Read. I'm fairly particular about what I read and the club is reasonably conservative in book choices.      Frankly, not every book choice has been fantastic , but I have two I consider the "Best Reads" this year. The 1st is non-fiction based on a historical event and the 2nd is fiction based on a historical event. I happen to like history, so I probably enjoyed them more then most of the other ladies, but I highly recommend both: Eighty Days b...

  This weeks Mama Kat prompt I've chosen is, "Something that brought me joy this week." Well, there are two things that brought me Joy this week: One is my cat, Tawny, sitting on my lap for a nap while sitting in the easy chair watching a episode of a series, like Murder She Wrote. I'll often watching a second episode, just to go on enjoying her sleeping and purring on my legs!  The other Joy this week is my flower garden: This photo was taken yesterday looking across the top of my front flower bed. There are actually beds and borders all around my house .

 My first car was this: A baby blue 1978 Ford Pinto Hatchback, 4-speed standard transmission just like this. I bought it after I got out of the Air Force. It was 1980 and I was planning on going to college. I saw it for advertised for sale by an individual in the local paper. Price was great and it was in great condition. It got 45 miles to the galleon on the highway--which actually puts modern, lighter gasoline burning vehicles to shame, considering that blue body was all metal. Heavy, too--on a good downward hill in neutral it could coast 50-60 miles an hour flat out.  It took me to college the next years and was our primary vehicle after husband and I got married for another year or so. I looking back, I regret we didn't keep it after we bought a new car. It would've been smarter to have kept it. 

"What famous people have I met?" is the Mama Kat prompt question of the day.       Actually, I've met a few. The most well-known famous Hollywood person I've met is George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on the Original Star Trek series and a few subsequent films.        It was 1989, the year Star Trek V came out. There was a Trek Convention in Tampa. I  happened to be in a local Star Trek Club at the time and one of the members knew someone who knew someone willing to let us bunk at their home for the Con weekend. So 4 of us packed up our Trek costumes and we drove down.        I was 33 at the time and the Trek Club was run by a  guy and his wife who lived in Eglin Base Housing. My husband and I also lived in the same Base Housing, a few blocks away. We joined the Club together. Since I could sew, I ended up making several original series shirts for club members. I wore a gold shirt with the emblem, like pictured, with black p...

 Today's Mama Kat prompt is to write about, "a time you did something sneaky." Once upon a time, we had two guys in our military singles Bible Study group named Rod and Bruce. They were room-mates in a house off-base. Rod's 26th birthday was coming up and Bruce got the brain-storm to throw Rod a surprise birthday party. His plan was to distract Rod and get him away from the house by suggesting to Rod that they go to some Chinese restaurant to eat, but it would be a Chinese restaurant he "couldn't quite remember the location of," so they'd be out driving around while we set up the surprise party at Rod's house. We brought cake and blew up balloons. There was about a dozen of us. As a gag, Bruce had also suggested we might all put on some article of Rod's clothing, so we raided his closet for hats, ties, jackets and so on. Then we sat down to wait in the living room, lights off, prepared to leap up with "Surprise!" They were only supp...

 The Mama Kat writer's prompt I chose to day is the question, "Have You Ever Been Followed?" One time, many years ago, I feared I was being followed---but, later, I wondered whether my imagination merely got away from me. It was 1976. I was in the Air Force stationed at Offutt AFB Base in Omaha, Nebraska. I was 20. I lived in the dorms on the main side of base. I didn't have a car, but everything I needed was right there within easy walking distance. The Mess Hall and place we picked up our mail shared the same building and was right in the middle of the dorm cluster. The NCO club with a pool was a few blocks away and directly behind the dorms was the Base Exchange & Commissary and a few other AFEES shopping facilities, arranged in row like a strip plaza. The Base movie theater and base Chapel were on the front-side of the dorm closer. In that era, Airmen not having a car was far more common then it is now. Now an Airmen without a car is an extreme exception, but ...

T he Mama Kat writing prompt today is to write a post inspired by the word, "purpose."      Let's face it. Everyone needs a sense of purpose, a way to feel useful.      Are you acquainted with Joni Eareckson Tada? She's been a quadraplegic since 1967 and well known for her art that she paints by holding a paint-brush in her mouth as well as her Joni & Friends ministry to others with disabilities in the Christian community.  Also an author, I read one of Joni's devotional books some years ago. It was filled with stories of insights from her life experiences and one especially memorable story I recall is one relating in particular to the idea of having "purpose."     I'm retelling it from memory, but the gist of it was this:     One day, Joni and another handicapped friend, as part of her encouraging ministry, drove out to visit another handicapped lady in her home, whom I'm going to call Mary for clarity. Mary was ...

The Mama Kat blog writing prompt I'm doing today is,  "Describe Your Favorite Winter Memory." I grew up Indiana, out in the country with my two sisters on 22 acres of heavily forested land that included a valley with a creek at the bottom. The house we lived in occupied 5 acres in one corner  and the rest was our play land that we enjoyed running about in like wild wood elves. Our woods were all deciduous trees: Beech, Tulip, Cottonwood, Ash, Sassafras,  Ironwood, Wild Cherry, Hickory, Red & Silver Maples and a half dozen different kinds of Oaks. The only native evergreens were Cedar trees and those seemed mostly located at the bottom of the valley where the creek was. A wide, leaf covered trail from the back yard, through the trees, the creek in the valley.  It was in winter, after a heavy snow that this trail took on it's most magical winter wonderland appearance! The weight of the snow on the tree branches curved them all downwards, turning o...

The Mama Kat blog prompt this week was to revisit something I was writing about in June last year: I was participating as a guest blogger for a series called, "Between the Lines : Women Bloggers Over the Age of 50." An blogger acquaintance on Google+ invited me and many other women to be guest bloggers the series. I was initially told it would just be about how I got into blogging and would involve answering a few questions. I imagined I'd just be answering a survey, then she's put my answers together and post it on her blog with a back-link to mine. It wasn't like that at all. It involved me posting on my blog all her weekly lists of hyper-links of everyone else's guest posts she was hosting on her blog.  It felt it incredibly complicated to manage every week, though I stuck it out most of the way through. I did enjoy writing my guest post about how I got into blogging, which you can visit here, if you missed it the first time: Between the Lines Cho...

Today's Mama Kat blog writing prompt is about 5 of those recipe ideas I've most recently pinned on my Pinterest board and why I'm interested in them: (I've included links to each recipes blog location so you can save it, print it, pin it or write it down.) Banana Cake from the Craving Comfort blog I'm always in the market for a new recipe that uses old bananas. Plus I'd also like to find a banana cake recipe that might actually taste FABULOUS. (Haven't found one yet.) This one calls for buttermilk, though I could sub sour cream perhaps. (I say that because I have more use for leftover sour cream then leftover buttermilk!) Sometime, when I have bananas around and feel like experimenting, I'll give it a try. Butter Dip Biscuits from The Country Cook blog Now here's a new spin on baking powder biscuits I'd like to try. (I love baking powder biscuits.) It looks easy, though it also calls for buttermilk, but does have substi...

The Mama Kat blog writing topic today is, "Write a post that ends with the words, "thought so." Have you ever had a customer service job? You know the kind where unhappy customers call to tell you why they're unhappy? I used to work at a flower shop. The fun part of the job was making the flower arrangements; the customer service was not-so-fun. Getting their woes over the phone was the worst! Customers would speak to me as if I were the devil who had on purpose messed their stuff up. A case in point was a certain gentleman who called late one afternoon.  I happened to be the one who answered the phone.  Now, I just arranged flowers; I didn't have anything to do with the accounting or billing end. One of the services our flower shop provided people was an in-house billing account, so they could "charge" their purchase and be billed by mail later. This was especially convenient for many people who liked to set up their orders in ...

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...

T he Mama Kat blog writing prompt topic for today is, "Describe a awkward moment." I had an awkward event happen right in front of me this week. I didn't cause it. I try to avoid that.   I just was there when it happened.  Awkward moments are generally like a toilet overflowing--you can't stop it. It's gonna do what it's gonna do and poopy water will be hitting the floor! This particularly noteworthy moment occurred at our Tuesday night Bible study we hold in the Airman's Center. The people who attend are largely 19 to 24 year old active duty Air Force plus a smattering of civilians employed on the base. For the past few weeks we've been studying the Bible book of Daniel and to make it fun, when a chapter involves a dream or a vision, we break them into small groups with crayons and poster board to let them express their own creativity. Sometimes the main drawing gets accessorized by a Jeep grill or Sponge Bob and all sorts of oddities of imag...

The Mama Kat prompt for today is: "Share A Quote You Love." Actually, I have a ton of quotes I love and I love them because they tickle my fancy in one way or another.  I keep a whole file of them on a board in  Pinterest !   So this is just a sampling: A nice garden themed quote: Unfortunately, the next one overly true: I think in general introverts get underestimated because they're so quiet, even withdrawn. But the fact they are silent lets them see and hear more: And who could live without a good coffee quote? I totally love this one. It's so...me. This last one just totally cracks me up: That's all the favorite quotes I have to share today! What's yours? ***** Thanks for Visiting! To join the Mama Kat blog writing link-up, go here for the rules & sign-up for the email!

The Mama Kat topic for today is:  "Share a story about the best or worst gift you ever received." You wouldn't think chocolate could be a  worst possible gift, but, in this case, it was. It wasn't even wrapped. It was just a Dark Lindt Chile Chocolate bar that a guy from our singles Bible study handed me. He was a regular at our Sunday night study, a Navy guy in the school for learning how to disarm explosive devices. He knew I fancied chocolate and he happened to fancy Lindt's spicy Chocolate Chile bar. So, one evening at our on base Tuesday Bible Study, he called me aside and handed me one of these Lindt Chocolate Chile bars.   "Here, this is for you, " he said. I said, "Thank you,"  accepted it and slipped it into my book bag to take home for later. " No, " he said, his face clearly displeased I'd dare keep it for myself. "I want you to share it with everyone else." What? You give me a gift, the...

The Mama Kat blog prompt for today is: "Share a favorite song from when you were 16 yrs old...and is it still a favorite?" Wow, that takes me back---all the way to 1972!  That's when I was 16. The world was still reeling with Flower Children and Vietnam. Everyone, guys and girls, in high school wore shoulder-length hair parted down the middle. Teachers were being busted for pot.  We only had 3 television channels to choose from and Princess phones were the "in" thing because they had push-buttons instead of a rotary dial.  Turbulent times, those days. That's about the time I started listening to the radio. I can't say any one piece of music was ever my favorite, though one had to hear whatever was popularover and over and over on the school bus all the way to school, then back again. They tended to stick in your head, but generally not for 42 years--with the exception of one that's still with me: that song "Lime in The Coconut...

Today's Mama Kat blog prompt challenge: "Write a post just 12 lines long": This Week In Our Local Police Blotter: Dude owns a gray 4-door GMC truck. Drives it home. Parks it in his driveway. Leaves the doors unlocked. Leaves key in the ignition. Goes to bed. Gets up in morning. Finds truck gone. Calls the police. Doesn't understand why his truck got stolen. Duh. ******* True Story. Want to read other posts in the Mama Kat blog prompt link-up? Go here .   Kat's post is first, followed by the linky list. Thanks for visiting!

The Mama Kat prompt topic for today is: "Share a quote you love." So without further adieu, I introduce my favorite quotable quotes from my Pinterest files: My number one all time favorite quote: Seems applicable to me. My number two favorite quote featuring the 3 Stooges: My number three fav: this  quote from Shakespeare. I enjoy saying this aloud randomly. And last, but not least, one of my favorite quotes from the always inspiring Captain Jack Sparrow: So what's your favorite funny quote? Thanks for visiting! 

The Mama Kat Prompt topic for today is: "Show Us a Before & After." Last fall and this spring I had two major  drainage issue locations: one in the back yard and one on the side of the garage. After hours of TLC they're greatly improved. Here's the before & after on both: First: The Back Yard Pond : This happened every time we had a heavy rain: After: Same spot as it looks now. Paradise. I took advantage of the naturally concave area by edging it with flagstones and filling the center with gravel & water loving plants. The Chocolate Elephant Ears here are gorgeous! Second, The Other Pond: This bed edges on the garage near the front of the house. After:  I edged the bed with paving blocks, raised the dirt level on the grass side, then planted grass plugs. Now that it's late summer,  it's nicely filled in! I consider rate these two projects among my most successful---though not all gardening  exp...

The Mama Kat blog prompt for today is: "Share a favorite recipe from your childhood that you still make today." Golden Meatball Casserole. It's a vintage Velveeta back-of-the-box recipe that my Mom made when I was growing up and that I still make!  Who can resist Velveeta?  The hubby loves it.  I usually make it for him for his birthday and generally fairly often during the winter months. It's rich, cheesy and delicious skillet meal that only takes about 40 minutes to put together in total, including prep time--as long as you use frozen meatballs! For this recipe you'll need either a large skillet ,12-inches diameter size or a 16-inch size electric skille t. Either will work. Golden Meatball Casserole Recipe: Ingredients: 1 bag containing 28-33 frozen regular size meatballs in either beef or turkey. (Italian is fine) 1 cup of chopped carrot. (1 inch chunks for regular size; 1/2 inch for baby carrots) 1/2 cup chopped onions 1/2 cup chopped...