ALMOST MID JUNE

My, My, My how time flies.  I am not sure how it goes by so quickly and why I still seem to have tons of projects that I want to work on but never seem to get to them.  I have just had a few stressful days (don't you just hate it when you get stressed in the summer?).  I volunteered to be a chair for an event for the sole purpose to get the committee members to meet and then they were supposed to do ALL the work. I must be a horrible chair person since I seem to be doing ALL the work.  The event is soon and add that to a snafu in another event and my stress level rose to the max.  I won't go into detail on what this level of stress does to my system but somehow I have to get through the next couple of weeks.  I hate it when you tell people what they are supposed to do for an event and then they just do what they want.  In the one case, I was out of town the day before, thought everything was in hand (wrong, wrong, wrong assumption) and come the day of and find things not quite perfect and people in an uproar, complaining and angry.  They sort of lambasted the wrong person about it (not me) and I feel bad that she took the heat.   Now please realize that the event while important and it did need to be done right is not life threatening.  With all the friends that I have that are having major health issues, I have a problem with the level of anger that followed this snafu.  The event was still a game.  Add that to the news this morning of the mass shooting in the Orlando nightclub and I have just a feeling that sometimes priorities are not in order.  However, it was still a snafu and I will have to monitor it more closely.  I realize that for the most part, no one reads this and my publicly airing a grievance it probably wrong, I feel somewhat better although my insides are still in a turmoil. I guess that is it for now.

IS IT MID FEBRUARY ALREADY?

Well, time certainly does fly by.  Last week I only worked 40 hours but the two weeks before that were 54 hour weeks and that left me very little time for anything else especially anything on a computer.  Today I am off (both Saturday and Sunday) and it is a glorious day today.  Temperatures will be in the mid-60's and sunny.  PERFECT!!!  I do have errands to run and I think JR and I might try to catch a movie this afternoon.  I am hoping to cash in on the great day and not whittle it away doing nothing.  I am recovering from a cold and still have a cough that I need to get rid of.  I don't feel bad but I do not have tons of energy either.  So lots of liquids, accomplishing tasks around the house, some outdoor time for fresh air and time with hubby.  It should be a great day.

On the food front, not much to talk about.  We had lamb chops one night and last night we had fish tacos again.  I am making a pasta dish for our Sunday gathering to watch one episode of Doc Martin and one episode of Downton Abby.  Both of these are on DVD's.  It should be a fun evening.  The weather will not be near as great as today but at least in the mid 40's.  Soon we will have March and then hopefully spring.  Yeah.

WINTER

Well, the holiday season is well over and as you can see, I have not been blogging.  I had been trying to blog about food but I must say that our eating habits in January have not been stellar.  I go back to work in January and usually the other half picks up the cooking.  I noticed last year that his creativeness was waning.  This year is no different so I am stuck planning the meals.  I try to aim for a variety of meals (usually unsuccessfully).  One night each of chicken, pork, beef, fish, meatless and maybe gluten free.  The one problem is that my spouse is not a big fan of the meatless night and tries (usually successfully) to sneak in a meat.  Tomorrow I am planning a crock pot dish.  I have made this for years.  It is beef (usually a round steak or roast), a package of Lipton's Onion Soup, a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup and 1/4 C of water.  Mix everything together and pour it over cut up beef and cook for about 8 hours.  You can serve it over noodles or mashed potatoes and I always choose noodles.  There should be enough left over to make either a shepard's pie or open-face roast beef sandwiches.  Right now that is as far as I have gone in the menue planning stage.  We have been going to a local bar on Tuesday nights with friends but oddly have not really been eating out.  I think that once I am home from work, I am not interested in going out to eat.  It saves us money so that part is good.

DECMEBER 17

In the middle 90's we celebrated our 25th anniversary by taking a Caribbean cruise.  We took my in-laws, my mother and our son.  I bunked with my mom and our son shared a cabin with his father. Yes definitely a romantic cruise !!  Our last stop on the cruise was Key West.  Jimmy Buffet was a favorite musician of my husband and so we purchased a Margaritaville ornament.  It represents not only the song but the restaurant.  It was an interesting trip and that is when the term "herding cats" became a common utterance of my husband!

DECEMBER 16

As I mentioned in a previous blog, the beach has played an important part of our lives.  In the late 80's we purchased a condo in Myrtle Beach with friends of ours.  So for most the remaining 80's and up to the late 90's we vacationed there.  It was not on the beach but rather a golf course.  We decided to sell it after our friend passed away.  We have enjoyed going there every year and had also rented it out.  It was seriously damaged by some tenants who shot fireworks off inside the unit and so I did not regret selling it.  In the late 90's we bought a time share on Hilton Head Island and that is where we currently routinely "beach it".  Here are several ornaments typifying the beach.  The flip flop ornament was bought in Myrtle Beach a couple of years ago and I am not sure where the others were bought.