Sunday, December 7, 2008

Cat & the Printer

Have you seen this? It came to me in email. It's hilarious!!

Oh, those curious cats!!:) My cat gets on the printer all the time, but never has this much fun!!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/PerthPurplePenguin/vids/?action=view&current=cvUMHvLZ.flv

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Gray Husband scarf is done!:)

It's done, and he is happy with it!

I read on a knitting blog somewhere (which one escapes me, I apologize) that the person noted that it was neat that you could refer to something as 'gray' or 'grey' depending on how you felt at that moment. I think this scarf is gray with a grey stripe! Good evening to all!:)

Chunky Chicken Vegetable Soup


Right off the back of a Good Season Italian seasoning packet box - this is a hearty and wonderful soup that I made following this recipe - you could do this!

Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 20 minutes Makes: 5 (1-cup) servings

1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1tsp. oil

1 can chicken broth (14-1/2 oz.)

1-1/2 cups water

2 cups assorted cut-up vegetables (such as sliced carrots, broccoli florets and chopped red pepper)

1 envelope GOOD SEASONINGS Italian Salad Dressing & Recipe Mix

1/2 cup MINUTE White Rice, uncooked

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

COOK and stir chicken in hot oil in large saucepan until browned.

ADD broth, water, vegetables and salad dressing mix. Bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low; cover. Simmer 5 minutes.

STIR in rice and parsley; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.

Great substitute: Substitute 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed, for cut-up fresh vegetables.

:)

Comfort foods & an apple a day...

When it gets cold outside, I like my comfort food which the number one has got to be real, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. Peel those potatoes, cut them up in cubes, boil em, strain em, put the butter (I use a vegetable-good-for-you margarine) and (skim) milk in there, mash em up and voila - yuuuu-um!!!

I have been using a packet mixed with water to make my chicken gravy and that has been yummy on top. Mmmm-mmm!!!

Potatoe peeler and potatoes


Peeled and cubed potatoes Yum!

****

Along with those mashed potatoes, why not coat some chicken legs in an egg wash, load the bread crumbs on and throw them on the barbeque? We don't think it's too late to barbeque in the winter (propane tank) and by Gosh, it was yummy.

Egg wash or coating

Italian bread crumbs

Chicken drumsticks (inexpensive at the warehouse store)



*****
Apple and Laughing Cow Cheese (Tiny in Weight Watcher's points! Halleluah!!)





I discovered 'Laughing Cow' off television but my Mother told me where to find in our local grocery store. Imagine my delight to find that one little wedge (and they are pretty small) is only 1 point in Weight Watcher's land. Not to mention eating an apple is a goood thing, also quite loow in points, and in the middle you'll notice Carr's crackers (a foo foo cracker that I found out about while on ANOther diet:). I recently read that eating an apple a day really can be just the thing for most of us, it even has a special anti-oxidant called a riboflavinoid, which I may have spelled incorrectly, found in the skin of the apple that is Oh-So-Good for you!
Have a great evening!
:)Tart

Friday, October 24, 2008

A Baby is Born!!

My husband’s cousin had the baby yesterday and named her: Elizabeth Mary:)
Welcome to the world, Elizabeth!!


I am calling her a finished project for obvious reasons, as she is here! Just not a project that I made - hee hee! I'm so full of it I know.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Turtle escaping from my yard!!

A couple of days ago, I found the Pugs side by side barking at SOMEthing! They were obviously afraid of it as they were standing a good two feet (luckily!) away from this lovely big box turtle.

I finally got the Pugs inside which was not easy as Emma's collar slipped off and Mia was a stinker and got back out of the house after I got her in. I stayed in the house a while ('cause I was busy!) then came out for turtle pictures, BUT he was gone.

Then the other day, Mia is barking at something at the gate and it's Mr. Turtle again, trying desperately to GET OUT of our yard. So, I snagged two pictures, and then put the guy in the front yard and he happily got away!:)




Monday, October 13, 2008

Progress on a Baby Cross-stitch!!:)

For a Mom that's about to POP!! My husband's cousin is due Oct. 24th!! I can't wait to find out the name of the baby, literally, because I will be cross-stitching it in! Here is my progress as of today. I've got a teddy-bear head! And so much more to go. I'd like to get it done in time for Christmas.




Wednesday, September 10, 2008

What a Great Story!



From msnbc, being interviewed my Matt Lauer, a father & son swept out to sea are saved! The son is autistic, and I started to cry when his Dad said one of their nonverbal catchphrases is Buzz Lightyear's 'to Infinity...and beyond!' It was so sweet, I couldn't help it.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

I enjoyed my time at the Beach!

We had such nice weather last week!

My BIL brought his kite to fly but despite all the string he bought for it, it kept crashing.

My husband and I walked along the beach a little one day, and sat in front of it for a while the next.

Lot's of shopping, or looking at things. I did get a turtle stained-glass windchime and a red-eyed tree frog box (that you could put your rings into or just look cute).

I also got a big yellow beach bag with the name of the beach we went to, and new blue swim shoes that will probably replace my old fading purple ones for the pool!

I did get into the hotel's outside pool, which was saltwater, at night when everyone was out of the pool, which was nice.

I didn't feel crowded, except for the one day the hotel elevator was packed with people, but that didn't last long!

We saw fireworks one night for free, as they went off in a location that was easy to see from our balcony.

We ate plenty of seafood like calamari, shrimp, flounder, even clams at one stop. And a fantastic local pizza joint with some of the best pizza ever!

The best dinner was the one my MIL cooked in my honor when we went to their house before leaving for this trip - steak and crablegs!

She even Made me an icecream cake out of Klondike bars - I thought it really kind of her.

I got to play Guitar Hero on a hand-held PS2 or something like that. You strum the strings with a pick and can listen with earphones if you want.

I may not have mentioned my proclivity for the game (I Love It!) and my BIL is a gadget king with all the neat games and brought it and let me play.

I especially loved the SRV (Stevie Ray Vaughn) song on there which you can't seem to find on a regular GH games.

I enjoyed my time at the beach with my family, from the ocean to the ocean breeze, to shopping and walking & looking at things, to eating, to just hanging out, it was a great vacation.:)

Monday, August 11, 2008

I'm an at home Library Volunteer!! Perrrrfect!


Here I am, all excited about my new post as a library volunteer!:)

No, I don't work for Cafepress, I'm not even affiliated with Farmington Public Library Foundation Store (I didn't even know anything about them till I picked this design to put on here), I just like this retro looking design they sell on CafePress (just type in librarian on their search, and see what happens!)

I'm screamin, I'm screamin, after all you can't SsHH! me at home!!!:)

This new 'job' as a library volunteer doesn't even require a new wardrobe or even hardly leaving my house (if I wish not to)! I get to do what I would have done for medical transcription, kind of, by entering information for them at my home on my own computer for my state's geneology system!

What a cool job is that! It is a volunteer position, so I don't get paid, but I am still working at the baking position and I got my first paychecks for that and - Baaaaby, that's real cash money, know what I'm sayin'???!!! So, I'm getting paid for some of the work I do.

I could not help thinking, after meeting with the volunteer coordinator for the library system for my County, that this was God-given, I had been led here and didn't even really realize it. It's hard to explain but, for instance, if I can't medical transcript at home, I can do other things at home. I can still work outside the home and I have time to enter info for the library. I thank the Lord for leading and giving me this opportunity.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pics of the biggest fish I ever caught!!:)


It's a catfish, several feet in length, weighing, I would estimate at least as much as my Emma dog Emma dog (18 pounds), probably more.

Like I said on www.jungletart.blogspot.com, my other, bipolar blog, it is hard to see in these pictures how large the sucker was because he was hard to hold out of the water, but Here He is!!:)

Wow! Such goodies galore! (Stuff I bring home from my job and a slow cooker recipe!)

My job on Tues. and Thurs. nights has me baking lots of goodies and bringing samples of them home to a happy Husband who loves good desserts.

In the four weeks since I started this we have made: cupcakes (with a Mango frosting from a Food Network recipe that Bobby Flay won a throwdown with) and a frosting with cream cheese which I personally adored, an easy apple streusal cake on the first night with real apples we peeled and cut ourselves, brownies (from a box and from scratch), fudgie cookies with walnuts that were yummy, a granola cherry thing that I Must make again sometime, a pineapple upside down cake that we donated to one of the Churches that we bake in (we got a taste and it was very good, although the cake was a little flat in inches, but their youth group apparently liked it very much!), a spice cake, and a bundt cake with vanilla and real chocolate syrup swirls! YUMMY, I know!!

The unfortunate thing about working essentially 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and then driving a long ways to get home is that dinner is a real pain to have ready and I am often hungry when I get home (I don't eat this stuff, mostly just bring some home for Husband!). So I got to thinking that I should use my slow cooker, and I didn't have a lot of time today to make something sooo this is what I did:

Chicken Legs in a Slow Cooker:
Yes! It is yummy and let me tell you how to do it:
I went ahead and defrosted chicken legs, with skin (only 10 cents a pound at our local large discount club)
and placed 5 legs in the slow cooker
with two cans of condensed Cream of Chicken soup (I used two, plus two cans of water, because my little book on slow cookers said the slow cooker should be filled at least halfway with whatever you're putting in, but it did seem too bad to have to use two),
a can of peas
and cooked the whole thing for 6 hours.
I had Husband put in green beans when he got home before me for the last hour
because my little book said frozen things should be put in last so they would not be soggy.

It was great! The chicken meat fell right off the bone, the cream of chicken made a nice broth, and peas and green beans added a vegetable!

This was a low cost way to have dinner at home and I was not grazing or eating things I should not at home. Vive the slow cooker and a little bit of work!:)

Monday, June 23, 2008

Johnny Depp 'tips' / gives hat to boy; I have a splendid pool time:)

I found one of these heartwarming stories on MSN today here , where Mr. Depp sent his hat to a teen after promising to do so! The child's family was impressed.

Hope everyone is starting their week off well.

I went to the pool as I mentioned I would on the Jungletart blog , and had a good time. I did the class with a bunch of nice older women, I was definitely the youngest, and that's okay. Then, while my Mom and others got into the hot tub there, I did some laps in the Adult swim lap lanes, including my 'famous' back stroke. I managed to do this for 15 minutes then I very ungracefully got out of the pool. But, I got out, and that's the important thing!:)

Have a great week, everyone!
Tart

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Heartwarming story

I thought this was a heartwarming story: Meet the miracle baby that was born twice at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24999650/?GT1=43001

This baby had a rare tumor, a rare surgery outside the womb, and a healthy birth afterwards. Nice.

:) Tart

Knitting again! Playing clarinet, again!

Now that I have a little more 'contained' energy, I've returned to some hobbies. Some I didn't talk about before, playing clarinet, and some I've mentioned, that cute 'lil' hobby known as knitting!

I don't do them at the same time (grin) but I do use them to keep my hands busy and mind thoughtful when not at the ol' bloggin keyboard.

Perhaps photos will come soon of the enormous pink acrylic needles I decided to finally use and may I say they just work better for me than skinny metal ones, for playing around and learning! I highly recommend the 'fat' ones for just that purpose. The ones I have are size 15.

And clarinet: I've had mine for a very long time and I can still do it, which is a miracle. And I have lots of sheet music, which is my forte: reading music for it. I never learned scales properly, which held me back several times. But I actually play for recreation and my own personal fun. (I'd love to be in a Jazz Band someday - but I think that will take lessons in order to do (check my 25 wishes!). I'm not there yet).

All have a pleasant day, this Saturday morning and rest of the weekend!
Yours,
Tart

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Taking time out - on purpose & cause you have to



Cat sleeping in, by Webshots

I realize that I just want everything to move faster. I did not think to be more appreciative of the fact that my hands have stopped shaking Considerably, since stopping lithium almost two weeks ago. YYYYYYAAAAAAAYYYY!!!! Thank you, brain chemicals and thank you Lord! (Perhaps in not that order, or maybe.)

Anyway, it's important to take naps, to take time out and I love how cats (and dogs) know to take their naps and refresh and rest. A sweet reminder to us all.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Celebrating Memorial Day through Movies (& other activities)

Turner Classic Movies is showing classic, black and white movies all day long concerning wars that the United States has been involved in. I've had the channel on all day, even though I've been out of the house considerably doing what Husband likes to do, frankly, on a day off. Work on projects. He just went and got a trailer for this very small boat we've had and he is busy making it ship-shape. This required going all around town getting parts for it.

That I think, is his way of celebrating the holiday. I like my Mom's way of celebrating which is to watch movies. She was watching 'The Best Years of Our Lives' with Myrna Loye and others. She looked at me very seriously and sincerely and said this was the first film that she knew of that dealt seriously with the aftermath of WWII. The film features a sailor with two metal hands going home after the war, hoping that his girlfriend will still love him.

I've been going between the two, helping Husband and watching the movie, but I think it's fitting to use cinema art to appreciate this day.

Others have said it better, but we do celebrate or commemorate in our own ways, and this day is very important, whether we commemorate our personal loved ones who have passed, to the truly brave soldiers and people that specifically fight for 'American pleasures and needs: freedoms' let me put it that way.

I've known a few in my own family and I can't think about them without a great deal of pleasure and pride in them, and I can't imagine the sadness and loss of those who have lost people like that in their lives, except for my personal losses. We should think that we suffer as a country for the losses, still daily, today.

I know plenty of people who look forward to cookouts with their families, going to baseball games with other people, going to the cemetery to remember loved ones, specifically putting the flag out for this day, going to D.C. for The Wall commemorations, to fixing a boat ramp trailer, to thinking of others once and a while (that is insinuating me on that) to write about it.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day.
Sincerely,
Tart

Monday, May 19, 2008

Good Stuff exclusive: Jungletart's Wishes

Mysti posted about reading a book that encourages each of us to think of 20 wishes.

For some reason, I was listening to music today (the easy listening off AOL instant messenger)and heard Michael Buble, who I love, and have no CD's of. So I immediately created my 'birthday wishes' list, which I could only think of two objects that I want at this time. But then I started thinking what I 'really wanted' and so this list appeared:

Jungletart's Wishes

1. To have a job working at home as an editor or as Ebay seller
2. To have my animals and loved ones always healthy
3. To get rid of my clutter and have a beautiful house
4. To reduce my swelling and fat and be slim & strong again
5. To be financially secure
6. To have a farm with alpacas, or work for one, or have one and work for a farm taking care of it.
7. To help somebody else and know the joy of doing so
8. To crochet Mom’s booties, prayer shawls, finish Husband’s scarf
9. Learn to knit socks
10. Have a French Bulldog someday – a peppy, personality-filled one and matching name.
11. Join a group – either a knit/crochet one or bipolar OR both!
12. To not worry about my health, whether eyes, heart or mental
13. To read the Bible, the Book of Mormon and check out the Quran.
14. To play clarinet in a jazz band. Or bass guitar.
15. To practice my clarinet, mostly daily
16. To get a schedule, to have more structure in my day
17. Learn to play my Esteban guitar.
18. Learn to play the Casio.
19. Become a professional photographer with access to a dark room
20. Knit a dog sweater
21. Find a niche on Ebay – something to sell that will be mine and go thru the roof
22. To know what to do with Family Land I inherited, to the best of my ability
23. To write a book, then help people with theirs

24. To learn to cook really well and have a professional kitchen
25. To go to Italy, Las Vegas (again), California, Oklahoma, visit friends all over the country

Like Mysti, I'm going to post my list on the sideboard, maybe on the other blog too. Thank you, Mysti (Tracy Jo) for giving me the confidence to air my dreams. You don't know how much your courage affects me.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Feeling Hopeful


Navarre, Spain

Now that I'm experiencing Day 1 of No Lithium, I am wondering what the future holds.

Please understand that I am responsibly going off the drug, as per my pdoc. He has been lowering my dose ever since I had a 4-day stay in the hospital (the regular one) for Lithium toxicity. So, I've paid my dues, Believe Me. Oh, did I mention I've been on the stuff for 20 years? So, I've Paid My Dues, Believe Me.


So now I'm pretty hopeful for the future. For the first time in a long time, I could actually reduce the edema (swelling) that I've experienced for so long. I look forward to the new me.


I want to take this moment to thank my regular readers, both here and on my 'Adventures' blog, commenters or not. Knowing that SOMEone, somewhere reads my words and well-meant thoughts means so much to me.


Bipolar is a chronic illness and I will be on meds for the rest of my life. Maybe even Lithium again. But for now I am enjoying the ride, not feeling scary one mood or another at the moment, and so glad for the opportunity.


Sincerely,


The JungleTart

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Just bein' silly...

Webshots

Big ol' brown bear reminds me of Lil' Brown Jug by Glenn Miller. My 'new' casio, plays it as a song with lights, like I'm going to learn it that way. If it's not in music, that I can read, and have forever to look at, I'm not going to memorize it. The day I do, I'll let you know.:)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Some more fabulous flowers from my yard!

These are tulips of some 'spiky' variety and little daffodils.


I would think these are poppies as we had some in the backyard, BuT, behind them are yellow tulips so I am not sure. Regardless: gorgeous.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Couples that capture Tart's fancy...

These are couples that I find fascinating, for one reason or another. I am emptying my coffers of pictures of the beautiful people, simply because I felt like it (most pics probably came from MSN, with the exception of the last one, which is Webshots).

Many of these are 'power couples' in Hollywood, some are married, some live together, (some for quite a long time in either case), some are dead, one is silly & speculatory (meaning: a big hmmm) and all were interesting enough to me to have holding in My Pictures, after having saved them, sometimes eons ago.

Soon, a photo outpour of individuals that Tart finds fascinating. (There won't be enough room on the blog for that one!).

If you're a celebrity hound (or just interested/fascinated by them, then this is the post for you). I know I will probably come back and refer to this myself, since the these pics are a lot bigger than what's in 'My Pictures.'

Here is an outpouring of classics I'm sharing with you, I hope you enjoy.:)

Catherine Zeta Jones & Michael Douglas


Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton


Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell


Ellen DeGeneres & Portia De Rossi

Jenny McCarthy & Jim Carrey (so cute, both of them!!)

Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner (& Violet)


Bogey (Humphrey Bogart) & Bacall (Lauren)


Diane Lane & Josh Broslin


Joe DiMaggio & Marilyn Monroe


Dustin Hoffman & Lisa Gottsegan


Jennifer Lopez & Marc Antony


Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban


Roy Rogers & Dale Evans


George Clooney & Brad Pitt (just good friends, or lovers? Oh, just kidding, Angelina!) Speaking of... Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, though I have no pic of the two together. Hmmm...furthering adding fuel to the Clooney/Pitt connection, no? :) Well, carry on...
Cats & fish - can't keep them apart it seems! This furry guy looks like he's going to become one! Watch out fish, those PDAs (Public Displays of Affection) can be fatal!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Gray Husband Scarf: close to completion (see sideboard pic)

I really do use the 'Crocheter's Companion' to remind myself of what a single crochet is, all the time in fact. It's small with pictures and would be perfect for someone trying to learning crochet.

I keep my project in in zip lock bags when not working on them, especially to keep them clean. They're cheap. I also have a bottle like thing with a hole in the top, but it helps if you start the project with the yarn inside it and project outside. Well, that's protecting the yarn (which is good, as I have dumped tea on a huge "Pound of Love" ball before!) but what about the project? When I use that thing, I put my project back in the the 'bottle' if it will fit, with the yarn curled around top. Ziplocks work better, like I said.

I am surprised how the pattern of the single crochet looks on this scarf, compared to the more even look on other's I've made, although it looks nice and manly and Husband likes it. Well, regardless, I'm being consistent with the stitch and it's looking good. I have used 2 balls already of something called 'Quick' (I admit it's not Lion Brand, it seems kind of itchy if you ask me, but Husband picked it and the color so go figure) and 1 more ball ought to make the scarf wider and finish it off.

Check it out looking like the 'Chinese Wall' in my sideboard. Love those project meters from 'yarntomato.com.' (Google for the proper page, please.)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Easy cardmaking

I was doing some more difficult cardmaking (all one word?) with brass stencils and pastels and a stencil brush, etc. (a kit from a craft fair my MIL got me. It has great results, but I can't find any more brass stencils except the two that came with it. But it gets great results, and is beautiful!!)

Anyhoo, I also devised an easy card to make for my 'Spring card thing' that I'm trying to do, especially after discovering that card companies make it easy for us by packaging 'rickrack' and a complementary color with envelopes, no less.

You can create your own 'rickrack' design with those scissors that make patterns.

I was looking for more cards for my brass stencils and found the already 'chopped' tan and my fave, mauve, as it's background and decided to not only give it a try, but document the thing in pictures for the blog!:)

That's actually a tan, not pinkish, 'cut out' card on top. 10 of those and 10 of the slightly bigger mauve color underneath, with 10 envelopes. $4.99 at my LCS.


These are 10 real pressed flowers, that I found on clearance for $2.

Aleenes Tacky Glue. The smallest bottle is still huge. The least inexpensive was 1.99. Maybe cheaper at your LCS. Are you ever going to use it up? Hmmm...

So, a little dab of Aleene's on the back of the pressed flower...

Press that first one down, and dab a second one, placing it oh so 'delicately' next to the first flower (They're not terribly delicate!:)

Flip over the top card, Aleene glue the two together...

Voila! An easy card, to write 'Happy Spring!' on. It's simple, easy, and maybe will give you ideas on making your own.:)

Friday, April 4, 2008

They sure like doing that!

Every breed of dog I know of likes to get into the diswasher like this pic probably captured from an email, including my little baby black pug. Honestly, I took to spraying her with water just for that incursion because she wouldn't stop!!!! Ah well, admit it, it's kinda cute, the lil buggers.:)

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Daffodils!!




So pretty. They don't last very long.
I present for your uplift and edification.
My pictures, mein.
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