Tag Archives: Family

Happy Birthday Dear!

As of today Dear gets to order off the Senior Menu at Denny’s! Congratulations Dear! Don’t worry for your birthday dinner we’ll go somewhere where they won’t even mention senior specials…

This is a photo from the outside looking in on the work that Dear has been doing in our basement in Washington. He seems to really enjoy doing this kind of stuff after being cooped up in an office at a desk most days.

After all these years I’m even more happy that God brought us together. You are a wonderful husband and father and I thank God for you and pray that He continues to draw you closer to Him. I love you Dear!!

 

Vintage Thingies Thursdays ~

Boy these weeks fly by. It’s time for some more vintage at Confessions of an Apron Queen so I’m showing another of my vintage tablecloths passed down from Verna, Dear’s mother. Even her name is vintage…

I decided to include this collage so that you can see all the bunches of fruit on the cloth.

For more vintage from around the blogs visit the Apron Queen.

 

Opening Doors ~ Day Two

This is day two of Jientje’s Opening Doors Photo Challenge. There are still 4 more days so you still have time to join in. I’m sharing 3 doors today that are a little outside the box…

Garages come in all sizes. These are two colorful Garage Doors that caught my eye. The first one I spotted in a beach side neighborhood in Ventura, Ca. The second one is a garage in Old Town Camarillo. Usually you would expect to find cars in garages but more than cars these days you’ll find them filled with stuff that doesn’t fit in the house!

This last photo is a door that is not fancy. It doesn’t have any great architectural beauty. It is a very ordinary front door in a very ordinary neighborhood in Southern California.

This door in Whittier, California was the front door of my family home in the 70’s. It is the door where Dear first kissed me after one of our dates. It is the door that opened many more doors to my relationship with Dear and our now almost 34 years of marriage. My parents moved away from this home and have made homes as far away from Whittier as a little village in Russia. They are now in a Senior Apartment in Southern California.

To see more photographs of doors around the world visit Jientje at Heaven in Belgium.

Fave Five for Friday…

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is hosting Fave Five for Friday. Here’s what she says…

“Hope you play along. It’s very simple. Just list your favorite five things from the week. It can be anything from jokes to music to food. It’s a fun way to get to know more about each other and maybe make new friends, find new blogs or new things to try. Expand our world’s a bit. Make it as detailed as you like, but the more detail the more fun! Don’t forget to link to this site and sign the Mr. Linky so I can come and read your favorites.”

So here are ellen b.’s 5 for this last week.

1. Things have gotten really out of hand this summer in my eating and staying in shape! One of my favorites from this week is getting back into walking with my bloggy friend Willow. During our walks this has been my favorite sighting this week.

2. I have just come off a whirlwind of travel and entertaining and having a week of rest and relaxation makes my top 5, too. Here’s a photo of my clean organized condo that helps in the rest and relaxation.

3. True Confessions! I really enjoy some of the reality t.v. shows. I get a big kick out of Project Runway and it’s always a highlight of my week to watch it on Wednesday evenings.

4. One of the best times in the day is when Dear comes home from work. Besides coming home which is a good thing, he barbecued some steaks for us on Monday night and that was a favorite meal this week.

5. Hearing that John McCain chose Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate just makes me smile. I’m not that into politics but I love it when things get shaken up.

So if you want to see more Fave Fives and join in head over to Susanne’s.

Bridging the Gap ~ Day 5

The following bridges that I’m posting today are all taken while canoeing on Lake Washington in Seattle, Washington with my daughter Katie in July of this year.

This big bridge is part of the 520 Floating Bridge that spans Lake Washington from Seattle to Bellevue. We ended up canoeing under the bridge to get to smaller waterways off the lake. The floating part of the bridge is closer to the middle of the bridges span.

This smaller wooden footbridge is another bridge we had to canoe under. We ducked for this one :0)

For more Bridging the Gap visit Alice at Iwasborn2cree8

Mango Crockpot Chicken

Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers shared this recipe on her blog and I decided it would be perfect for my Saturday Company/overnight guests. Sandy has the gift of hospitality and if you are timid about entertaining she has a lot of great tips and inspiration on her blog for you.

Spray the inside of your crockpot with whatever cooking spray you like. Load it up with whole boneless chicken breasts. I used boneless/skinless half breasts – 6 of them. Pour 1/2 a plastic tub of the Mango Peach Salsa that Costco sells over the chicken. Cook on low all day long. Do not open, do not stir. When it is done you can shred the chicken and stir it into the sauce.

After I shredded the chicken

 

Here is how we chose to serve the chicken up this time around. Build your own soft tacos with corn or flour tortillas, cilantro, rice, more salsa, beans, onion, cheese, and jalapenos.

 

 

Here’s Dear’s creation before he gobbled it up.

After the 4 of us had our fill I still have enough of the shredded chicken left over to serve up a lot of meals this week. Let’s see there’s chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken tacos, chicken burritos, chicken soup…

My brother Tim and his wife Letty came up to visit us on Saturday and stayed overnight. The beauty of cooking a meal in the crockpot is that you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen while your company is around. We went out for lunch and did a little antique shopping in Old Town Camarillo while our dinner was taking care of itself. The toppings were all easy to put together at the last minute especially since I made the 90 second Uncle Ben’s Santa Fe Rice :0). Everyone gave the recipe a thumbs up!

Thanks Sandy!

Tonight I used some of this leftover chicken for chicken enchiladas.

I bought Green Enchilada Sauce for these. Heat up half the sauce in a saucepan and heat up each tortilla in the sauce to make it more pliable. Fill the tortilla with the chicken and some cheese. Roll up and put in baking dish. ( I sprayed the baking dish with Pam before I filled it with the enchiladas) After all the tortillas are in the baking dish cover with remaining sauce and with more cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so…

Here are the baking dish of enchiladas after they have been heated through.

They made a great dinner for Dear and I with a fresh salad on the side…

 

Seattle To Camarillo in 17 Hours!

We waved goodbye to the Space Needle about 5:30 AM on Saturday morning and continued south through Washington, Oregon and California. We only stopped for gas, 2 fast food drive through windows, and rest areas to change drivers. While I drove Dear tried to sleep and while Dear drove I tried to sleep so that we both could make it through without falling asleep at the wheel.

Along the way I enjoyed the bridges in Washington and Oregon.

I waved to Flower when we were driving in Oregon. I waved to Kathy B. when we got close to Sacramento. I waved to Willow when we drove down the grade into Camarillo, California at 10:30 PM.

 

This photo was taken driving from Oregon into California. Saturday was a hot day from Washington to California. The range we traveled through in the heat of the day was from 98 to 108 degrees.

Mt. Shasta in Northern California

We were happy and thankful to God for sustaining us on our trip and for the fact that we were not exhausted. I so appreciate your prayers for us on this journey. We had a refreshing rest Saturday night and were ready to re-unite with our friends on Sunday at church who we haven’t seen for 6 weeks.

We retrieved our mail and there was a package for me. Whoohoo! Melissa at Melissa’s Cozy Teacup sent me the teapot I won on her blog a while back.

Melissa also sent me all these great individual tea-bags to enjoy. Thank you Melissa I love the decorative Tea Pot and I’m looking forward to sharing my tea with friends.

Have a wonderful week everyone. I’m off to the airport Monday morning to pick up my daughter and her boyfriend who are flying down from Seattle to spend 5 days in L.A. to take in Disneyland, Magic Mountain and the Beach!

Lana’s Belated Birthday Lunch!

So guess where I took my little sister Lana G! for her belated birthday lunch today?

We went to Madam Fifi’s Tea Room in Bothell at Country Village. I was wanting to share this Tea Room with Lana and since this is a rare day when we are both in Washington at the same time we took the opportunity. We were both delighted with the Grand Tea.

Madam Fifi’s Grand Tea
Pot of loose leaf tea or iced tea of the day
Cup of soup or garden salad
Fresh seasonal fruit
scones with cream & lemon curd
Generous tea sandwiches—
Smoked salmon cream cheese with cucumber
Crab salad
Chicken curry salad
Turkey with raspberry cream cheese
Grand assortment of decandent tarts, cookies and pastries.
~
We had the soup of the day and it was wonderful. We also chose the Lady Londonderry Tea. We really enjoyed it and both ended up buying some to take home to savor. It is really hard to treat Lana to a meal. She is very sneaky about picking up the tab. Today I was going to finally win but Madam Fifi thwarted me and insisted on giving us her Grand Tea on the house! Thank you Madam Fifi. We love your establishment and we will be back.

Downtown Seattle

On Thursday Dear, Katie and I decided to spend the day in Downtown Seattle.

We thought it was high time to drag Dear far away from the Basement Project that he has been putting many hours into while he’s been in Washington.

He’s been working on upgrading some plumbing and electrical and structural issues. He is also doing some preventative water proofing.

This is the Hammering Man outside the Seattle Art Museum. I wanted to take a picture from this side so I could get the building in the background that looks like a roll-on deodorant. That’s the building where Dear worked for Immunex before Amgen bought them out.

Our first stop in Downtown Seattle was the Seattle Art Museum. Every first Thursday of the month you can visit the museum for free. We toured the regular exhibits and then headed south to Post Alley at the Pike Place Market to go to the Perennial Tea Room to buy some Earl Grey loose leaf tea.

For lunch we headed to Pioneer Square and parked and then walked a few blocks to Fado. Fado is a nice Irish Pub in Seattle. We enjoyed some Fish and Chips, Sheepherder’s Pie and some Lamb Popsicles. Of course someone had to order a Guinness while we were in Ireland an Irish Pub far, far away from Eire.

We discovered a beautiful waterfall right in the heart of Pioneer Square across the street from the Fire Station #1.

Seattle is home to the Utilikilt. We also have Native American Culture that permeates our environs. I would love to just walk around Downtown sometime and take photos of all the great architecture.

The Pergola had to be rebuilt after a truck plowed into it and destroyed it a few years ago.

Before we headed home we stood in line for a very long time to get into Salumi. Salumi is Mario Batali’s father Armandino Batali’s Italian Restaurant and Deli in Pioneer Square. We wanted to buy a couple chubs of salami. We bought the Salumi Salami and the Finocchioni. They produce these artisan meats themselves and let me tell you if you are going to be bad and have fatty, salty, yummy salami this is the stuff you want!!

You can check out their website and even order online.

We clocked a good 9000 steps and rewarded ourselves as usual with lots of good food and drink. Hope your evening and Friday are wonderful. We’re headed to another wedding Friday night…