Apr 09 2009
Well, after a long and impatient wait, we have a litter of six puppies that arrived safe and sound. I am so excited about being a “grandma” and the pups are so amazing.
They are little Shih-tzu puppies and are doing great on day 2. If you want to see more, you can visit my other blog to see pics I took today. Feel free to give me a shout out. In the meantime, stay tuned for some yummy recipes!!
Mar 15 2009
Hi there! Welcome to The Daily Dish. I know I have some VERY faithful readers, and have received wonderful emails asking me where I disappeared to for so long, so now that I am back and in full swing of things again, I thought I owed my readers an explanation for simply “vanishing”.
My mother was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, and as most people would understand, her health and my families’ well-being had to come first for a couple of weeks. We all took it hard, as I am sure you can imagine. Nobody is ever ready to lose a parent, and an aneurysm is one of those things you just can’t quite wrap your head around since they are often not found until it is too late.
There isn’t any real good news in all of this, except that my mother is still alive and doing beautifully, which in my book is the best news ever! She is scheduled for surgery in a little over a week, and of course at that point we will have a lot more information about her prognosis. While I might not be around every single day, I will try to get a recipe or two posted on any days I know I might be “absent from work”.
So now you all know the ‘rough times’ part of my title, so what is the deal with the ‘comfort food’? Well, I haven’t been trying too many new things because I have been so incredibly lost in everything else, and so I have been sticking to our ‘comfort foods’ like Mac n Cheese, Spaghetti, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Tacos and my very favorite, Chicken and Dumplings . So now it is time for me to get back in the kitchen and have some fun!!
I’m so happy to be back!
Feb 01 2009
I wanted to give a special shout out to my top entrecard droppers for the month of January. I love how many of you drop every single day and I’m happy to visit your blogs. I have made some terrific online friends through blogging, but none compare (okay so a few do!) to the great people I have met via entrecard. I also want to thank everyone for wishing my daughter well this month, and checking up on her. She is doing wonderfully, and while we are still doing some testing to find out why it all keeps happening, she is a perfectly happy, healthy almost 11 year old at this point. Again, thank you, especially for the prayers.
These awesome blogs belong to my top droppers in the month of January!
Scandinavian Ways - Winesworlds blog
Thanks again to all of you. It was a pleasant surprise to have some new droppers this month. I love your blogs!!
Jan 12 2009
One of my topics that I write for on a fairly regular basis for another website is frugal living. I probably post about once a week or so on topics that cover a broad base. I was running around searching for material today, trying to decide what everyone would like to see more of, when I stumbled across a post that made me literally laugh out loud.
This writer has suggested things over time that truly make me giggle, from purchasing a milking goat (seriously? where do I keep him? In the bathtub?) - to going barefoot to save money, to creating your own greenhouse, and while all of these things are terrific ways to save money - many of her ideas are not practical.
So do you know someone who goes to the extreme in saving money - if so, what do they do? Is it something you could see yourself doing?
Jan 08 2009
Sorry, I know this is a bit late - the holiday’s pushed me all off. These are my top droppers for December. Please be sure to check out the stuff written below, because I just deleted 72 of my favorites. It made me sad, but I explain why.
Scandinavian Ways - Winesworlds blog
Curiously AwesomeSimply Abundant Living
Thanks everyone for dropping last month! This month has seen a few new faces popping up on my stats, so I’m curious to see what the end of the month brings.
Now, for me to explain what happened with EC. First, I love EC. I enjoy dropping and I am one of the few that actually stop to look at the blogs that I am dropping on. I am not just a drop and go girl (which I would think would be apparent by the comments I leave, as well as the times I link to some EC blogs)
I decided to go through my favorites today, and I had some that had never dropped on me. I was a bit surprised at first, and then I though - well what’s to be surprised about - they probably stopped in once and I don’t have what they are looking for - and that’s okay. So I removed anyone that had not dropped on me at least 10 times in the past 30 days. I make it a habit when I begin dropping for the day, to visit every single person who dropped on me first, and I will continue to do that. I will also be much more particular in adding anyone to my favorites as well. If you are on this list, you were safe. All it takes is 10 drops in 30 days and you get a drop from me. I’m so sorry I had to do it, and I will miss many of those blogs, but I cannot keep up and there are new blogs I enjoy added daily, so I’d rather reserve those spots from those that I can trade drops with. *hugs to my faithful readers* you guys don’t realize that sometimes your sweet comments are what bring smiles to me while I’m working - so thank you again!
Jan 06 2009
Good morning readers! Today is my second time hosting the Make It From Scratch Blog Carnival and I am pretty excited about it again. I enjoy getting to know everyone so please come along with me while we take a good look at all the fun and exciting things people have been making from scratch. I would also like to thank everyone who participated in this week’s Make It From Scratch Blog Carnival.There are some awesome entries, that are making me feel much more creative than I usually am. So here you go:
Here we go:
Simply Forties is back this week with a fantastic looking Tomato Broth with Portobellos and Spinach over Gnocchi recipe. Does that not look heavenly up there?
Jennifer over at My Frugal Front Porch gave us a really cool Sour Gummy Recipe. All I can say, is that I know for a fact my kids will love this! If they hadn’t have gone back to school today, I think we’d try it. There’s always this weekend!
Funny About Money offered up a couple of recipes, but in particular there was a focus on the Hoppin? John: Black-eyed peas for New Year’s luck. I happen to love BEP so this recipe is being filed and will be tried soon.
Mama Bear from I’ve Got a Little Space To Fill (our blog carnival host next week) presents Jam Jams - Another Of My Grandma’s Christmas Regulars and let me just say, these cookies look amazing. I have had a similar cookie and it tasted great. I see some differences in the recipe, and this one actually sounds better. Thanks for a great recipe.
Nancy over at Nancy’s Arts, Crafts and Favorites was a busy gal and gave us two posts to choose from. She presented us with Prayer Shawl Pattern for Wheelchair Users and Those in Bed, as well as Nancy’s Arts, Crafts and Favorites: Oxi Clean: Go Green and Make it Yourself.
Cindy of My Recycled Bags took a little break from the carnival and was missed. She’s back with a terrific Green Shopping Bag that literally falls under the “going green” category. I love this bag!
I have yet to figure out how Stephanie from Make it From Scratch finds time to organize this carnival, find people to act as host and still present us with such great posts, like her presentation this week: Firsts on the First - Coffee Liqueur.
Zantor from Simple Homebrew Beer teaches us How to Get Started Home Brewing Beer which honestly can save you a lot of money. It’s definitely the frugal alternative for those that enjoy beer often.
Jon from Food, Beer and Travel present a really delicious sounding Paella which after checking out the picture, I am contemplating adding to our menu soon. This looks so good.
Vickie from Sidetracked Moms had to go and posts the most amazing Caramel-Nut Brownies and I have already decided that this is what I am making this afternoon as a special treat for my children going back too school. Vickie these look and sound amazing!
This adorable, yet simple beanie was posted by Elle from Elle’s Crochet Corner. This is so cute and I actually want one in every color!
Recycled Frockery presents an amazing sounding Puerto Rican Hot Sauce which is calling my name. I am hoping for a few days of warmer weather so I can grill, baby.
How To Me spent some time to show us How To Make a Bib from a Hand Towel which is not only really cute and easy to do, but was made even easier by showing pictures and giving step by step instructions!
Christine from The Thinking Mother, gave us her Family’s Favorite White Bread Recipe which absolutely sounds amazing. I am becoming more and more addicted to breads since I received a great gift for Christmas (more on that later today).
Jennifer from Midwest Neurotica posted A new take on the breakfast sandwich which I have to tell you looks so good, I was drooling. I am definitely going to try this, and I am thinking some morning with my mother, who also would enjoy this.
Jason at Tired Garden presented Spaghetti For an Army which sounds like a fantastic sauce with a lot of flavor.
I’d like to thank you so much for joining us today and a big thank you goes to Stephanie for allowing me to host. Be sure to check out I’ve Got a Little Space to Fill for next week’s “Make It From Scratch”! If you’d like to enter your post, click here for the form. Thanks again for joining and making it from scratch!
Jan 05 2009
Amazing. I have been away for about a week, and to come back to the support and encouragement, prayers and well wishes of my many friends and readers, has shown me how blessed I am. So please accept my many thanks.
Brie is doing much better. She had two antibiotics which kicked the infection. She had to go in Friday for an ultrasound to find out if there was any kidney damage. We haven’t heard anything, but I was told the right kidney looked great. (Unfortunately, we weren’t talking as much during the left kidney, so I never got word). She also had to go through two types of urethrograms, which if you’ve ever had - SO painful. It was really hard to watch and to see her go through that, but honestly she’s a little trooper and did great. She felt pretty bad afterward, but was doing much better this weekend. So yay for prayers and blessings.
We will find out this week what the results are, but for now - it seems things are back to normal as much as they can be, and we will continue to fight this and find out what the problem is. Thank you again to all of you for being so supportive and praying for her. It honestly gives me hope and encouragement, sometimes when I least expect it.
The photograph was taken in November at my brother’s wedding.
Dec 28 2008
Honestly, we did not exactly have a “normal” Christmas this year. Sure, the majority of the day was normal. But my daughter was sick, and we suspected it was a UTI turned bladder infection turned…worse. We weren’t sure exactly, but all signs and symptoms seemed to point to Kidney’s which you just know is never good. Throw in the fact that she is a 56lb ten year old and it was her favorite day of the year, and it just plain wasn’t good.
The morning seemed normal, though she kept complaining about her side hurting her. At first we thought she had a Wii injury (insert laugh) but after a bit, we could tell something else was up. Her fever was 101 and while she had a blast opening up her gifts and watching her siblings open theirs, that spark that is normally there with her was missing. As is typical for Christmas day, we usually go to my mom’s which we still decide to do. She spiked another fever after a few hours there - 103 and this one wasn’t budging. We took her home, gave her more Tylenol and planned to call the doctor in the morning.
At 2am she climbed into bed with me, crying pretty hard, clutching her side and basically balling herself up. So we spent about 2 hours total at the Emergency Room and were home by 4:45am. Yes, it was as we had suspected - Kidney’s were infected - mostly the bladder - 2 anti-biotics and some medicine for pain - today - we’re almost all better. YAY!
The nurse told her she had “sick eyes” when she saw her. “Oh baby, look at your sick eyes. I can see it. I hate to see children with sick eyes.” That’s what she said. But look - Brie really did have sick eyes.
Poor thing!
Dec 18 2008
I want to post the different cookie recipes we used for our holiday cookie baking that we have done. We made six different recipes so far, and it has taken us two days to make over 20 dozen cookies. Yeah. So here is one recipe we used. This particular recipe makes 14 1/2 dozen, so if you aren’t making them as “gifts”, I would consider halfing or quartering the recipe for your family.
Dipped Gingersnaps Recipes
2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 c. molasses
4 c. flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 pkgs. vanilla chips (or choc. chips)
1/4 c. shortening
additional sugar for rolling
In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil, mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the molasses. In another large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well. Shape dough into 1″ balls and roll in sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.
In a saucepan, melt the vanilla chips with the shortening over low heat. Dip the cookies in about halfway and shake off any excess. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets to harden.
Dec 17 2008
So here’s the deal with Entrecard. First, I absolutely love it, because I have found some awesome blogs that way, as well as creating many great friendships. Second, I actually enjoy doing drops because I am able to find out what is new on my favorite blogs each day.
With those two things being said, I just did a massive “clean house” on my entrecard account and I feel really good about it. The first thing I did was go through my entire favorite list, and see how many times people had dropped on my blog in the past month. If it was a blog I know has been around awhile, and has dropped on me less than 10 times in 30 days (giving them lots of “no drop” days) I removed them. Yes, I enjoyed visiting them, but since I like to find new blogs and create new friendships, I don’t need the non-reciprocal blogs as favorites. So they are all gone. If they’ve never dropped on me they also left.
If you dropped on me more than 10 times, I dropped on you and left you as a favorite.
After that, I went to my INBOX and dropped on every single person that dropped on me in the last 24 hours. I favorited them, and will continue to drop on them for the next two weeks. At that time I’m going to go back and go through this all again.
I figure this way I am always getting new traffic, dropping on those that drop on me, and still keeping up with those I love to visit everyday also.
How do you do your drops?
