Dolly's Coat of Many Colors

I love this song, and as many of you know, I just love Dolly! It goes a little faster than I am used to compared the phonograph (yes, I still have records!:) that I played over and over as a youth.

This is the most wonderful song and just the right message.:) Have a wonderful day, all!

Pink Glove Dance

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Still thinking about hobbies.

Even though I am experiencing irritable symptoms, and may I say I know that I am a Pill to live with (I am sorry, Hubby) I am also percolating thoughts on my hobbies and new things I want to get into.

I have been looking into heddle looms (as if I could afford one, but one can always dream:) because the thought of weaving has always interested me. I even watched the videos on YouTube about some specific one and how to operate it. So neat. Someday, I surely hope, I can do that.

I have been interested in weaving for a long time. Everything about it, from the fiber from the animal, to its roving and spinning it into thread, to knitting and crocheting (which I am now convinced is much cheaper to do than actually weaving cloth). But I would like to delve into everything.

Then there is doll making. The soft dolls made of fabric. I found some adorable dolls that my mom made me when I was little, complete with little outfits. We were both so thrilled that I found them and in such good condition.

Then I read about 'Doll Fashionistas' which comes with a DVD and teaches the newbie how to make fabulous dolls. Mom's willing to get it for Christmas! Oh Goody!

Sewing project link: fabric paint featuring Kenley Collins of Project Runway

http://www.sewfastseweasy.com/stitch_and_bitch/index.php

I've been reading Sew Fast Sew Easy by Elissa K. Meyrich which includes three patterns - an envelope pillow, a tote bag and a skirt. I typed in the url in the back of the book and after some poking around, found the neat video featured in the link above.

I will be getting my sewing machine out this weekend as I have been offered a small hemming job (four pairs of jeans) that I will be paid for and I have been thinking about maybe starting to sew things. I remember being good at it in Home Economics in school many years ago, how soothing it is to keep a straight line on a machine, the hum of it's motor, the thrill of creating something.

Love ya!:)

"Because of Winn-Dixie:" Good movie.

I just want the world to know that when it comes to movies, I'm pretty much a rated-G, or rated-PG girl. I'm fond of Disney movies and happy things, comedies and what-not. So that's where I'm coming from.

'Because of Winn-Dixie' is a pure delight. Honestly, I was afraid from reading the back of the movie that maybe there would be animal abuse, but there is none in this movie. It is a delight from beginning to end. I just wanted to put that on my 'Good Stuff' blog.:)

Spinning: How to Spin Yarn With a Drop Spindle (from Alpaca Direct)

Can't see the yarn up close, but it does show the action of the spindle.

I have a wooden spindle that I bought and some roving, sent to me by some wonderful person when I was on Sparkpeople.com (TY!:) and I am still in the process of figuring out spinning. The 'Tart loves, Loves textiles.:)

The Baby dancing to Beyonce.

You may have seen this already, (it's very popular!) but I wanted to put it here on the 'Good Stuff.' This is baby Cory Elliott from New Zealand dancing to Beyonce's 'Single Ladies.' Too cute!!

Arby's 'Potato Bites' understand me.

For an extra dollar, you can substitute the potato bites for the curly fries.
They are full of cheese and come with ranch sauce. Need I say more?!

I found something beautiful on the web about Patrick Swayze.

"A relationship survives because of keeping the friendship alive and learning how to fall in love over and over again and never taking the other person for granted and seeing things in a new light with new eyes," Patrick said in 2007. "We're big believers in, arguments are okay as long as it's not about your ego, but it's about a mutual goal -- trying to create something special."


I found today, while reading about the fact that Mr. Swayze would not take painkillers in an effort to stay sharp, that he was incredibly and utterly in love with his wife, and she with him. I found this quote from him (above) and I think if you really read it you'll find that it rings so true.

I've said on another's blog that I was so glad Mr. Swayze did the movie 'Ghost' because it shows that love can transcend time that our loved ones wait for on the other side and sometimes can intercede for us. I think that is lovely and beautiful, too.

Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash - Happy Monday!

I was watching PBS or WETA last night and they had a small documentary on legend and icon Johnny Cash. I saw Johnny and his wife, June Carter Cash, sing the song 'Jackson' and it has been in my head all day. So I looked it up on YouTube, and here it is, along with 'Cause I love you,' for you to enjoy.:)

Bloggers Unite: Go see 'Julie & Julia'

This movie was a great uplift to my day.

The story is Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams (the cutie from 'Enchanted') as a blogger blogging 365 days of Mrs. Child's cooking.

The movie is a delight, in my view, and I disagree with People magazine's review that Amy Adams/the blogger's side of the story was whiney or boring. It's a thrill as a blogger/writer on both ends of the story and it wouldn't have been right without the present day blogger's story, no matter what a stunner Meryl Streep, as usual, is at being a near perfection of a delightful Julia Childs.

As testament to what a good movie it is, I found out before the movie started (from some hens that were telling everyone and the manager at the movie theater) that there was something wrong with the last 20 minutes or so of the actual film in our theater. The theater was packed, and wouldn't you know it the picture started to go in and out of blurriness in the last twenty minutes. No one left the theater. We all wanted to know how it turned out. We got to see the end, with a little eyestrain, and every single person in the theater received two tickets to see a free movie. Now you can't beat that.:)

Top 5 Life Lessons

I read an article off MSN here that I am quoting:

"What a person learns and leaves is as individual as his fingerprints. But I found some heartening insights into common themes in this new research from Priceless Legacy, a company that turns interviews with older adults into life
stories in print or video format. An analysis of its projects shows that the top five life lessons shared by people ages 65 to 104 are:

1) The simple things matter most.
2) Humor and time cure most pains.
3) There's more satisfaction in giving than getting. Service to others is the most satisfying activity.
4) Choose your spouse carefully. It will be your most important decision.
5) Work hard and in a field or role that you enjoy."

Dolly article

In keeping up with my Dolly Parton fascination, see an article here .

What I love about this article is that Dolly is 63-years-old and has no plans for slowing down. As a matter of fact, she's got ALL KINDS of plans. As someone that is perhaps quite a bit younger than her (with bipolar lets not forget) that has been feeling like there's not much more left for me to do, that it's all over (I admit to feeling that way sometimes lately) I love her example that it's never over, that there's still so much more to do.

I love that she's 'real' and simply as an aside she is an example to me that you can have an enormously fulfilling life without ever having a child, which as I said is an aside, but it has meaning to me. Go Dolly!

Peace.

I may be bipolar, but I do find peace, especially in my backyard, watching that fire I told you about annnnnd being in the hot tub. Yes, we have one. I have a lovely backyard and this time of year the Junebugs are out and when I am out there this song comes to mind. Of course, Dolly has the perfect song. I wanted to find a rendition of it that showed the beautiful countryside that can be found around where I live too. Enjoy.

Campfire in the Jungle's backyard!:)

We had a campfire in the backyard via this small metal device which we've had for a while. We grilled some angus burger patty's from the local Walmart on our grill and enjoyed the fire until it started thunderstorming. My husband said we should have thought of this earlier as he found it so relaxing to sit by the fire and enjoy dinner!

I wrangled with Photoshop for this picture (I'm still figuring out el Photoshop!), as I rarely, as many know, put my photos on the web. But I thought you might like to enjoy this campfire too, although I would like it to remain exclusively on my site.:) (as we say to puppies when teaching them to leave things alone - Leave it, leave it!!!).

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!:)

Living with frogs.

Green frog, Southern Brazil, Webshots.

This is not what it looks like, but we have big honker of a frog in our back room near the back door. I admit to having clutter and the biiiig frog slipped under the outside door, got past the dogs without being bothered (when they go outside) and slipped into the corner under a lot stuff that I wouldn't put my hand into. Eww I know, but he is a big beautiful toad and we seem to have a lot of those here.

My easy crock-pot recipe for chicken.

It's not very fancy, but it feeds us. The one meat that I have a lot of is chicken breast because I get a big package of individually frozen ones at the warehouse store. So I am always wondering what can I make with this chicken that is different than a few days ago?

Well, I have been cooking at the cooking/baking class and we have made a few things, but I feel so bad for my husband who just comes home and makes a frozen pizza (we get the inexpensive generic kind from the store) and he is not fond of trying the many neat things that we make in class. So tomorrow I don't have cooking class and I think early in the morning I will:

Defrost 4 chicken breasts
Pour a can of either cream of chicken soup or (my favorite) cream of mushroom soup in the crock pot. I get the cheap soup (that is still low in fat) and it's condensed so I put the soup in first, so I can pour the can of water in, beat it with a whisk and it get smooth before putting the defrosted chicken in.
Arrange the chicken in the soup.
Season to taste.
Put the crock pot on for 8 to 10 hours.
It will be tender.
Drizzle the now cooked soup over the chicken for a nice gravy.
You can serve it with rice. I get Uncle Ben's wild rice medley - that's my favorite.
Makes four servings. If you're only feeding two, you can refrigerate the leftovers, and I believe even freeze them, for another nights feeding!:)

Fancy it's not, but it is easy, and it uses the crock-pot which is such a great time saver. Maybe others can share their recipes. Come to think of it, I don't know if I shared this before! Aw well CRS (Can't Remember Stuff!) kicking in.
Enjoy!

Time for a Spring update!

The blog is lavender with stripes this evening, because I like purple and I think it goes with the pink rosebud.

I hope all are well in blogland.:)

He's Alive!!!

Flowers brighten the little places too.

Reinvent your parking strip at this site at MSN. It shows pictures of the average parking strip (that couple of feet between sidewalk and curb) made more beautiful and economical (saves water) with local plants instead of sod.

I like this article because it gives simple ideas and has pictures.

Passionate blogger award

Mike Golch received this award and some true and wonderful words from Compassionate blogger (the link is on Mike's site). Thank you, Mike, for giving it to me (it is 'Good Stuff's first award!) as I do feel a passion for blogging (and won't put ads on my site, it's to express myself). I feel very blessed to have blog friends like you and I give this award to my followers on both sites (Tracy - you are passionate twice!) and those that have commented on my site (Raine's AfterMath). It's a pleasure to reside in cyberspace with you and be blessed by your passion for documenting your days and your writings.
Tart:)

The Yum-O things we make in baking class.:)

Besides cheesecake from scratch, various brownies, cookies from a box, we are making real FOOD in the baking class. THIS I am excited about!

In the three classes I have been back to we have made a white chicken chili soup which was WONDERful, ham/spinach/mushroom quiche (which I could live off of - seriously, quiche covers all the food groups and just whets my appetite for proteins and makes me want to eat the whole pie - love it, Love It, LOVE IT!) and a marvelous rolled meatloaf, that had ham and spinach inside! We also learned to make fried rice! THAT my friends is a lifetime gift. I feel blessed.

'Ranch Crispy Chicken'

I got this 'bargain bin' cookbook called '100 Best Chicken Recipes' and it has this super easy recipe for Ranch Crispy Chicken that we tried at home and it was Dee-lic-ious!

1/4 cup unseasoned dry bread crumbs or cornflake crumbs

1 packet (1 ounce) HIDDEN VALLEY Original Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix

6 bone-in chicken pieces

Combine bread crumbs and salad dressing & seasoning mix in a gallon-size plastic food storage bag. Add chicken pieces; seal bag. Shake to coat chicken. Bake chicken on ungreased baking pan at 375 degrees F. for 50 minutes or until no longer pink in center and juices run clear.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

I also made homemade mashed potatoes and chicken gravy to go with it, and a little salad for greens.:)

cut up, peeled potatoes ready for cooking to make mashed potatoes

ATCs - I am intrigued.

ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards. Using what media you want to (collage, painting, clay, metal, drawing, scrapping) you create a card the size of a playing card (the dimensions are exact, I *think* 2.5 by 3.5) creating art and pictures on your card and you exchange them with other artists. No money is exchanged, they are not bought, they are traded. I think you can find other people to do it with over the internet. I am researching.

Then there is something called mail art. Mail as art, essentially. I guess decorating the mail you send out Is in fact considered art. How cool! I love to do that anyway, put rubber stamps, stickers and draw on envelopes. There's a whole world out there!:)

A resource for tatting/cro-tatting.

a picture of cro-tatting from the site 'MaryM's Original Daisy Boullion edging,' referenced in the website below.

You can Google this as easily as myself, but I found a great site that has pictures showing step-by-step how to cro-tat here.

Tatting uses a shuttle to create 'knots' and circles, or tiny picots, and when done over and over can create a beautiful lace that can look similar to a very fine crochet lace piece.

Cro-tat uses a small crochet hook to create the tatting, instead of the usual "shuttle" that tatters normally use.

Tatting is an art, one that you don't hear about as often as knit or crochet. My husband's aunt use to tat constantly, it was her special gift (her hands were always moving and working - constantly) and she made many special gifts for his family, until her death a few years ago when she was in her late 90's.

I would love to learn how to do it, and have noticed that my LYS (local yarn store) does sell shuttles. A few years ago I bought a VHS video on tatting called 'Tatting I - The Basics' by Mildred Clark, brought to you by Victorian Video Productions.

I also bought 'Tatting Beginner Tatting Kit Quick and Easy' (Item number 5050-K) from the Tatsy company, which includes a shuttle with instructions for making an Angel, Photo Frame, Flower, Book Mark, 2 Mini Flowers, 2 Butterflies.

I admit I haven't checked it out yet or haven't delved into the art yet, I have been holding onto it for 'one of these day' (I love needlework, stationary, and art supplies and have probably a lifetime amount of them as I have noticed that many others do as well out there, off my Amazon emails "What do you like to craft" that comes to me, but that is probably another post entirely! It's a SICKNESS! But such a fun one.) but maybe you can still get it on the web or Ebay, if you are interested in learning tatting.

Friendship is God's Special Way of Loving Us Through Someone Else.

Happiness.

From my online knitting calendar:

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”—Charles Kingsley

A Belated Valentine.

To all my FRIENDS, including Mike Golch who gave it out. I'm a little late on Valentine's Day, but consider yourself a special and cared for person.
Sincerely,
Tart

Dreaming this Tuesday!:)

Celebrating the new pup's arrival.

Tonight I used Velveeta in my macaronia and cheese for the first time. I cooked 2 cups of penne pasta, then melted in 1/3 pound of Velveeta and eyed about 1/3 cup milk (probably put too much in) and lots of pepper. This all off of the box itself.

Then in a separate pan, I cooked sliced chicken with Arroyo less sodium seasoning, Mrs. Dash, a little pepper, some Basil, onion powder, garlic powder, basically a little of everything that I had around (that goes good on chicken).

I had my 4 oz.'s of chicken on top of 1 cup of the macaroni and gave the rest to Husband (plenty of leftover mac & cheese after he had his).

Someone had given Husband champagne at work. He sometimes gets gifts like that, because people really appreciate the hard work that he does fixing their computers, etc., all day. We had been saving it for a special occasion.

Unfortunately, it was BITTER as All Get-Out!!!!!!!!!!!! I had three sips and could not stand it. No worries for it clashing with my medicine, because I barely had any. It was a nice thought but we did not drink anymore than the couple of sips. But we had foo-foo glasses at dinner and it did feel special. Oh silly us!!!

My sweet fawn female pug puppy comes home tomorrow!! Read my bipolar blog for more information.

Turns out, Husband likes beans!:)

my Navy beans with carrots

At least he liked the Navy beans I made. Then I made black-eyed peas with cut up ham (from a slice that I bought at the store - no picture). He ate that and thought I did a good job, however, he liked the Navy beans better. I'm making them soon again in the crockpot.:)

Forgive me, but sometimes so few things make me laugh...

The writer(s) at MSN talking about the 'Worst Dressed' at the Golden Globes admit to being 'grumpy' and even catty. Which they surely are, but nobody ever said that wasn't 'entertaining,' at least not me. I must share this, because well, it did make me laugh. This person's writing is a hoot. The picture is truly even funnier after you read the caption.

Golden Globes Undressed! The Worst
By Kat Giantis
Special to MSN Entertainment

Cathouse Call: There are many exclamations a star in haute couture hopes to hear as she arrives on the red carpet, but "Holy cats, has Renée Zellweger been rummaging around in Sharon Stone's medicine cabinet?" isn't one of them. That is, unless she was trying to look like Miss Kitty from "Gunsmoke" after she quietly branched out into the brothel business. The puckered-lipped Oscar winner suffers an epic failure in a crackpot outfit from her longtime go-to designer Carolina Herrara, who definitively proves that sheer black organza over one's unmentionables does not a top make (see Gwyneth "Granny Panties" Paltrow for additional evidence). While Zellweger's trumpet skirt might have been tolerable if paired with something (anything) other than a see-through overlay and a creepy, flesh-colored corset, there's nothing that can overcome her screwball corkscrew updo, which appears to have been styled with an industrial strength bottle of Super Glue and an electric cattle prod. (WireImage.com)

Bono's take on Frank Sinatra ~ from the NYT

See here for an article by Opinion editor Bono (of U2 and the advocacy group One fame) about Frank Sinatra.
The highlight of the article is:

'There’s a voice on the speakers that wakes everyone out of the moment: it’s Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.” His ode to defiance is four decades old this year and everyone sings along for a lifetime of reasons. I am struck by the one
quality his voice lacks: Sentimentality.

Is this knotted fist of a voice a clue to the next year? In the mist of uncertainty in your business life, your love life, your life life, why is Sinatra’s voice such a foghorn — such confidence in nervous times allowing you romance but knocking your rose-tinted glasses off your nose, if you get too carried away.

A call to believability.

A voice that says, “Don’t lie to me now.”

That says, “Baby, if there’s someone else, tell me now.”

Fabulous, not fabulist. Honesty to hang your hat on.'

Simple Meat Loaf

My meat loaf before going into the oven

After an hour in the oven. Yum!

I made a meat loaf yesterday. It turned out pretty good. I followed the recipe off a box of Lipton Onion soup mix. I think what made it so good was less meat (I didn't have the full 2 pounds) and 1/4 cup extra ketchup. I also make a 'trough' on the top of the loaf before cooking it and fill it with ketchup, as you can see.

Off the back of Lipton soup box:

1 envelope Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix

2 lbs. ground beef

3/4 plain dry bread crumbs

2 eggs

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine all ingredients.

In 13x9-inch baking or roasting pan, shape into loaf.

Bake 1 hour or until done. Let stand 10 minutes.

8 servings

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

How to make Tangerine Sherbet in the 'Tiny Kitchen'

See this video of the 'Tiny Kitchen' from the NYT online magazine.
'Tiny Kitchen: Tangerine Sherbet
Jill Santopietro, recipe tester for the New York Times, creates a tangerine sherbet recipe from this week's magazine in her tiny 11.5 square foot kitchen, and explains why it isn't "sorbet."'

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/01/02/magazine/1194836626134/tiny-kitchen-tangerine-sherbet.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Never too late to share the story of O Holy Night!

The Baby cross-stitch is done!

I gave it to the Mom, Dad & Baby Elizabeth on Christmas Eve. They loved it!

Happy New Year!! Welcome 2009!!

Taquitos from our party

We had a wonderful new year's celebration spent with a friend over. We decorated with a sign, balloons and even streamers, just to be festive ~ and had pizza, shrimp, taquitos, and potato chips to feast on and celebrated the New Year with Martinelli's Sparkling Cider.

I made scrambled eggs and chopped summer sausage for brunch New Year's day.:)

Later that day, we stopped at Cracker Barrel and I had my 'good luck' black-eyed peas to start the New Year right. (my friend told me about this tradition, and wouldn't you know it one of Cracker Barrel's specials was black-eyed peas!)

I wish everyone a safe, wonderful, and peaceful New Year.:)