I'M BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!!

 Ooooohhhhh it's a LOVELY 59 degrees this morning.  Boy am I loving this weather!  It almost makes me want to go outside and work in the yard.  NOT ... I'm way too old for that nonsense!!  It's funny that our family never got into that.  Oh we planted a few veggies here and there, but no one EVER cared about  having a lawn or flowers.  Apparently I inherited that stance.

Mr. Cooper doesn't care either, as long as there's a small patch of green to water.  Sadly, he's not interested in the ball Robot James found under the couch last week.  

This one is looking out into the darkness for that other CAT that keeps meowing!  April Fools .......

It's actually the noise coming from my phone.  This is a hilarious little game I play sometimes, just for her.  When you find the kitties and touch them, they MEOW.  Sometimes a purr, sometimes a MEW and sometimes a big MEOW.  Kitters comes running to see just WHO is in her territory.  

And THEN I find things like THIS!!  I LOVE THESE LIZARDS!  They eat lots of bugs and spiders!  Apparently Kitters harkens back to her starving days and STILL tries to catch them.  I'm sure she brought him in through the doggie door.  

Poor little guy ... I picked him up, sure he was a goner, and set him outside.  A little while later, I found him still laying on the patio.  I gingerly placed him under a wooden step near water and greenery so he could hide.  Away he ran, so MAYBE he will survive.  DARN CAT!!  

Yeah, all innocent looking!!  I can just imagine my house when I'm gone for a week or more.  It's funny that she always wants something to lay her head on.

Anyway, my quest of the day was to get groceries at Costco.  I had a $300 credit to use up, or I could even get cash back.  I was after their chicken breasts and thighs, enough to fill my freezer for Mr. Cooper and I.  I actually did stick to my list.

No I didn't.  I got chicken and a big bowl of shrimp before accidentally walking into the veggie department.  A huge bowl of fruit and a box of strawberries jumped into my cart.  I'm actually trying to lessen the sugar content around here.  I went for broccoli, but only found celery and packages of things too big for moi.  

Pork loin, a chunk-o-ham, ziploc bags (the wrong size, dag nabbit), batteries (always a must) and a gorgeous lemon blueberry loaf that I won't be able to eat in two weeks.  

I got a whole $18.00 cash back!!  BUT the meat products cost less than at Walmart.

I spent the next two hours tearing apart the packages and RE-packaging them in the too large ziploc bags.  Most of it went in the freezer, so full now I can't fit even one cookie in there.  

Yup this was an impulse buy.  And a GOOD ONE!!  Oh man this tastes exactly like their wonderful muffins ... only better!!  Three quarters of it went in the freezer too.

I'm absolute positive it was that lemon loaf that FINALLY motivated me to get back to quilting.  I had so much trouble the last few quilts I worked on, I just didn't want to be stressed out yet again, trying to figure out WHY it was having problems.  I decided it wasn't doing any good just sitting there, and I had all day to be frustrated.  

I started out by trying to level the 10' long machine with a 12" level.  Luckily I have a 4' long yardstick that worked pretty well.  With that done, I turned it all on.  I SWEAR this "repaired" tablet is smaller than the other one.  I started out by basting the top in place.  

Hmmm ... that was working, so I pulled up a pattern and set it up, not forgetting a single step.  WOOHOO!!  I finally hit the RUN button.  AND IT RAN!!!  

I held my breath through the first three rows.  There was one moment when I hit the pause button ... counted to ten and let it go again.  Here we are .... at the END of the last row!  IT DID IT!  I'M BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!!  Maybe, just maybe the expanded battery was causing the RUN problems I was having before.  Who knows ... I'm just happy that it finished the entire quilt!

One down, two more to try today ... here's hoping I have the same good luck.  This may even motivate me to get back to cutting and sewing so I have more things to quilt!!

Here's to yet another gorgeous BLESSED day for all of us!!  Now for a nice BIG chunk of lemon blueberry loaf!!!!

NOT Getting Er Done!!

 The warm is beginning to hang around a little too much.  It's a not-so-cool 65 degrees this morning in sunny Central California.  We must be floating pretty close to the sun.  Seems like we could pretty much predict the weather in the last 40 years, but now Mother Nature is having a hissy fit!

Kitters seems to like it.  She spends more time outside now, even hanging out on my lounge chair.  That means lots of brushing as the kitty hair falls all over everything.

I had thoughts of hitting Costco and cashing in my credits, but somehow getting dressed up and going out escapes me nowadays.  

Instead, I once again looked up at these two light fixtures trying to decide what to do about them.  Yes, I'm standing on that ladder on the sitting area in the sewing room.  I tried to order one of these online, but the delivery date was 3 months away.  This is what it SHOULD look like.

This is the one that fell out of the canister.  I took the bulb out, just a regular light bulb on this one.  That's when I discovered the problem.  See the black on the wire close to the socket?  It's burned right through the insulation.  It was actually stuck to the bulb, having been pinched inside.  That caused the bracket to melt and break, which is why it fell out of the canister.  Good grief!  That might have caused a fire!

At this point I guess I have to tape up the wire ..... my electrician friends out there, will that work? ..... and see if I can find a replacement.  Two I suppose, since I doubt they will look alike.  EXCEPT I can't get the bulb out of the other one.  Big sigh ... an electrician, I am NOT.

Apparently I'm not so good at plugging things in either.  I tried to switch out my old faithful television for the new fancy dancy Sanyo one.  The problem became evident quite quickly.  The connections for the old one are right in the middle.  The connections for the NEW one are clear over on the left hand side.  These lovely wires coming out of the wall will not stretch any further and will not REACH the far left hand side.  

To add to that, I cannot for the life of me find the remote for the new TV.  Not new really, it came from the Arizona house.  Add to THAT, I have a Harmony controller that works EVERYTHING, but it is too old to work with today's TVs.  I think the only thing I can do is buy a NEW TV and a new controller, and have Sound Encounters come and install everything.

SO ... anyone have any recommendations on the brand of TV to get?  

Dead in the water on TWO fronts!!  At least this is something I CAN do!  I steam cleaned all the floors in the house.  Though I was trying to rest up, I just could NOT stand the dirty floors one more minute.  

I probably should have waited on the floors until AFTER I cooked another batch of corned beef hash.  If you've ever fried it up, you know how it can pop from too high heat, landing on that nice clean floor.  The taste was worth the second cleanup!

Lastly, I have to thank my friend Kathy who encouraged me to get Walmart delivery.  It's SO much cheaper than our Save Mart who thinks they live in the ritzy North section of Tucson.  Since making sure they HAND OFF the groceries directly to me, I have had not one single problem.  

I get text messages saying how many minutes they are from delivery so I can flag them down on the street.  It's interesting that so far 99% of the drivers are of East Indian descent.  Most are Sikhs, a wonderful, hard working group of people who have settled here.  He even carried the groceries to my door.  

That was my day ... trying to fix things I know nothing about and being thankful for small miracles, like Walmart Delivery!!!

FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!

 Welcome back to sunny California!  The mornings are as beautiful as they can get.  In spite of it being an entire month early, spring has sprung with temps between 50 and 85.  We're hoping this LASTS an extra month, or we will end up with a 7 month summer!  

Unfortunately, that means these guys are in full bloom.  I've never had dandelions in my yard before and would prefer they go next door.  Speaking of next door ... the one with the dogs who she rudely let do their business on MY lawn every single day .... they seem to have disappeared.  YAY!!  I only see one vehicle there on occasion and haven't seen the dogs in weeks.  The best part ..... IT'S QUIET!!!

Unfortunately, a walk around discovered weeds like never before.  What the heck!  I just sprayed all of this three weeks ago ... and I don't see a single dead weed.  So I got out my sprayer and went to work, only to discover the gardener hasn't been doing his job very well at all.  The flower beds are a disaster.  I worked for a bit, but it was just too hot.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Besides, I would rather be playing with this guy inside.  Sadly, he is slowing down quite a bit, exactly like his Mom.  I miss the crazy guy that would chase the ball for hours on end and the Mom that had the energy to throw it!!

With Kitters going in and out the doggy door, I figured I would set up her automatic feeder inside.  There are some other fat cats OUTSIDE that like to partake.  If I'm gone on a trip, this will make her food available all the time, instead of running out.  I have to say, this thing works really well and holds a ton of food.  

I hesitated to show you this picture.  This CAT ..... she loves to scratch on absolutely everything in the house.  The good news is if I yell at her, she stops ... for at least 30 seconds.  So I bought yet another scratch pole ... a HUGE one.  There was lots of griping and complaining putting the thing together, but we finally got it.  So far she hasn't even TOUCHED it!!!  Go figure!!!

That was about it for the day.  I tried to rest up a little, but I have a really hard time just sitting.  That's probably because I have things to do, I just don't feel like doing them.  Four packages back to the UPS store for return to Amazon ... find a light fixture replacement for the sewing room ... SEW ... fix the laundry room faucet that doesn't get any water ... trim the bushes ... VACUUM ... use up that Costco reward ... the list goes on and on!

Instead, I whipped up one of my all time favorites.  Corned Beef Hash.  I love this stuff!  I could eat it every single day.  In fact, I'm trying to buy up all that left over Elks Corned Beef for the freezer.

Lunch AND dinner was served, along with a piece of this amazing rye bread.  I do not like rye bread one little bit ... but THIS ... wherever it comes from ... is DELICIOUS!

One quick trip to town and I ran into this.  There were police cars screaming East until suddenly they changed directions and went North directly in front of me.  I pulled in to park and three more came in from behind.  Then I heard GET ON THE GROUND and a Police Dog barking like crazy!  OOPS ... someone is in trouble!!  I looked around to be sure it wasn't me they were yelling at!!  Now I'm curious what the guy did, because this NEVER happens in our little town!

I ended this lovely day with a little dessert while watching Rodeo.  By the way, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association is coming to town.  Our Sheriff got them hooked up with the fairgrounds to put on a rodeo in a few short days.  Their big welcome event will happen at our Lodge ... which is another reason we needed to get it fixed up.

They are also talking about bringing back the Elks Roping event that was HUGE back in the day.  In fact, that's how our RV park came about.  The land was donated for a new roping arena for one of the biggest events in the Central Valley.  Unfortunately, it lost its momentum.  Since the plans included an RV park, they went ahead with that part and never did put in an arena.  Maybe some day someone will donate the money for the chutes and arena, and we will be back in business!!!

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE!

 It's a lovely 57 degrees this morning.  My fan is on, the door is open and I have ANOTHER fan in the doorway, bringing cool air inside.  Luckily I have good insulation in this house, and even though it's 88 degrees outside during the day, it's nice and cool INSIDE.  That is part of what saves me from screaming over the PGE bill!  

Mr. Cooper and I actually went for a walk on this morning.  What a surprise!  I figured we would only make it to the garbage can I left on the street, but we went clear to the end of the block.  Of course we watered the street 17 times.  

Back home, I took one look at this counter and got right to work.  Somehow I got terribly distracted and ended up back outside.

I looked out the window and saw a sprinkler laying on top of the concrete.  How could that be?  Must be broken.  I looked down in the hole to see that it merely looked unscrewed.  I tapped the sprinkler, only to see rocks come out.  Apparently the entire head was FULL of little rocks.  Thirty minutes of washing and banging later, and I think I got it ... maybe.  We shall see if it becomes a rocket when it turns back on.

Finally ... it was ME time, though I was pestered continuously.  I laid out on the lounge on the patio, only to be constantly patted and rubbed on by these four feet.  GO AWAY PLEASE!

That wasn't happening, so after 30 minutes, I finally just got up.  This kid sure is needy!!  And in TROUBLE because she is right now roaming around the house making all kinds of banging noises.  Silly cat!!!

It didn't matter because there was no peace whatsoever outside.  Two magpies were screaming constantly the entire time.  It must be spring ... and he would NOT give up!  This is the sun shining through his white feathers!!!

Maybe some lunch will make up for no sun.  I'm being good ... kinda sorta!  This is a 2" square of cake.  I could easily eat a HUGE slice, but I'm trying to be good.  It's lodge night and we are having corned beef and cabbage.  

It is usually a HUGE night, but of course everyone thought we were still closed.  Could be because I asked the Secretary to please put out several notices per day and I got only ONE.  Here I am selling tickets.  It was a slow go, but we ended up with 100 folks.  People thought it would be too smoky, but honestly, that company did such a good job that I could not smell any smoke at all in the entire building.  

This is my LEFTOVERS!!  I already ate half of it.  You never go away hungry here.  This was probably the best CBC dinner I've ever had.  Even better ... they had so much leftover, you got another full box for $10.00. I came home with THREE so I won't have to cook for the next two weeks!!!

I snuck into the lunchroom just to see how it was going.  The repair is done, texturing will happen today, with painting tomorrow.  The ceiling is being completely replaced ... not because it had to be, but because it's 50 years old and disgusting looking.  They are also going to clean all the AC ductwork and put in much better insulation.  We will be back in business hopefully by Monday, mostly because we have amazing professional members who stepped up to get it done.  All licensed contractors, by the way.

The down side of that is BINGO is on again.  It was nice to have a week off, but no one lets sleeping dogs lie around here.  

I'm rather tired today, so I will probably be on the couch ... or maybe on the lounge outside checking out the concrete from my favorite sunny location.

TAXES AND SUGAR HEAVEN

 Guess where I am!!  This taxes thing is a total pain in the patoo!  I've had to learn more than I ever wanted to know about passive and active income, everything commercial, being a real estate professional when you aren't, and what IRS thinks of it.  I always thought it would be nice to be a multi-millionaire ... but now I know better!  It's SO complicated and time consuming you just can't imagine, but then I guess that's why they hire the Big Time Accountants.  Not me of course ... but the ones I'm trying to satisfy with answers I'm only beginning to understand myself.

On another note, SPRING has arrived.  The almond blossoms only lasted three days before the almonds sprouted.  Not a great picture, but those lighter spots are nuts.  The trees are FULL of them!!  It may be a good year after all.

Magically, truly overnight, my little Japanese maple tree blossomed into this beauty.  Last week I thought it was going to die.  Today it's gorgeous!

I'm happy to say I'm better today.  I'm breathing much better, not coughing or sneezing constantly and can actually DO something.  You know how it is when you're sick ... stuff piles up on the counters and the furniture.  I was shocked when I took a good look at my kitchen!  I'll be doing some major organization work today.

That works out well since I won't be walking.  We are up to 89 degrees with 90 on it's way.

After several hours of accounting work, followed by another two hours on my home computer making up spreadsheets breaking down hundreds of credit card transactions (OH THE FUN), I finally felt like opening up the box I received.  

I had ordered a small sewing machine for the van.  I have plenty of room to sew on my swivel dinner table.  Here's the thing.  I LOVE my Brother sewing machines, but they were VERY pricey.  This little gem was a measly $150 ... and as you can imagine, does not put the color on the blossom.  For one, I have to learn a whole new machine.  Nothing really works the same.  It said it had a needle threader, but I can't see IT any better than if I did it MYSELF!  

I'm thinking if I did all the cutting before I left and only stitched parts and pieces, it would work ... more or less.  I haven't decided yet.

What I DIDN'T do was go to the lodge.  Sometimes it's better to just stay out of their way.  I already know that the ones who don't know much about construction, will be the ones telling everyone else what to do.  I'm standing with my friend Mark who said "I'm staying completely away from that project.  That way I'm not RESPONSIBLE"!  I agree!!

Dinner was another Lean Cuisine pizza.  My package of pepperoni is almost gone.  One more and I can go back to REAL pizza!!  This time I got smart and only ate HALF.

BECAUSE ... I've been thinking about THIS for two weeks.  I thought I had the recipe somewhere.  Oh well, I'll just wing it.  Okay, I admit that didn't turn out so well ... but wait ... it's not finished yet.  

This is a box mix chocolate cake I made with coffee instead of water.  What a difference in the chocolate flavor!!  Once baked, you cool it a bit, poke holes and pour in a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce.  Boy oh boy ... I spilled some on purpose just so I could scoop it up and eat it!!  Those were supposed to be chocolate chips, but I needed to use up the white chocolate ones.

Lastly, you smother it with Cool Whip, more caramel and nuts.  I chose to cut the cake up into small pieces and freeze it, adding the cream as I thaw a piece and eat it.  THIS was dessert.  No worries, the Cool Whip is ZERO SUGAR.  That takes away ALL the calories, right????

I was in sugar HEAVEN!  Maybe since it's a cool 59 degrees right now, I'll go for a very short walk, just to see how I really feel.  

My tip of the day ........  EAT THE DESSERT!  LIFE IS SHORT!!!

JOKE OF THE DAY

MY JOKE OF THE DAY .........

A woman walks into a bar ... have you heard this one?  A woman walks into a bar and writes a check for $20,000. 

Only it's not a joke.  Yessiree ... Elks will step up when you least expect it.

I actually got my act together and was at the lodge at 9:30.   The building smells amazingly better, not that I can really smell anything yet.  My plugged up "cold" nose is still not very happy.

I talked with our Ex-Club Manager for several minutes going over the progress and our expected costs.  I say $20,000, he says $25,000.  Inside the building they were beginning the dishwashing.  My first thought is getting this place back open, and every single kitchen and bar utensil had to be washed.  You can imagine how many GLASSES we have with two bars and a huge commercial kitchen.  They even scrubbed the tables and chairs, top to bottom.  It's a good thing because it keeps our employees working.

I headed back home to rest up when I got the phone call.

You aren't going to believe this, Jesse said.  A lady just walked into the bar and said she heard there was a fire.  She was there to donate $5,000.  When she saw the damage, she told our current Club Manager if he gave her a big smile and an even bigger hug, she would make it $10,000.  So he did ... and now I want to know what's in those hugs he gives out.  She left to get the check.

Thirty minutes later he called me back yelling into the phone.  SHE MADE THE CHECK OUT FOR $20,000.  Her husband was a long time Elks member who just passed away last year, leaving her quite the estate.  Yup she actually gave us $20,000 to pay for all the repairs.  You just don't run into folks like that very often, especially in such a small town as ours.  

We all breathed a big sigh of relief.  Here's another look at the side wall with the ceiling tiles removed.  If the fire department had been slower, we would have been in really big trouble.  Thank the Good Lord it's all fixable and he sent an Angel to us with the money to do it.

THEN ... I got yet another call.  Silly me, I gave the bookkeeper a few days off since there was nothing she needed to do.  That was until she called to say it was payroll day.  Ugh ... that's me!  Back I went so everyone would get paid.

Needless to say, my phone got a workout.  On the way home, I got yet ANOTHER call.  Company is coming.  WHAT?  Not today!!

Oh yes ... I don't know who mixed up the days, probably me because I'm sick.  I'm truly not good company when I'm sickly, AND I have to meet with the Big Ranch accounting firm at 9:30 this morning before they can finish up their taxes.  This was definitely not an opportune time to have a bad cold.

Terrible picture ... but I didn't take any others.  Watch Kitty is standing on the left, making sure no critters wander into the yard.  I spent the rest of the evening on the couch.

I've got my fingers crossed nothing else happens so I can heal up a tad bit more.  WHY?  Because tomorrow is our Lodge St Patrick's Day corned beef dinner, one of our all time BIG events.  It's cooking as I type.  Who knows ... maybe I can get a big hug from our Club Manager that will magically HEAL me!!!  One can always hope, because miracles really DO happen!!

By the way, I tore up my measly $500 check that I was going to donate!!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

I hope you are all wearing a bit of GREEN today so you don't get pinched!!  It's the time of corned beef and cabbage, which honestly I'm surprised so many people like.  Boiled cabbage just isn't my thing, but corned beef brisket ... I'll take brisket any way I can get it.  

The good news is I get to hang out at home for the next two days and heal up from this stupid cold thing.  After two days of horrible sinus pressure, it has finally let up this morning and I am on the mend.  Unfortunately, that didn't keep me from the Elks Lodge yesterday.  

Decisions had to be made, and I know 98% of the folks down there have no clue.  I probably wouldn't either except I was involved in construction for about twelve years and worked in the County Building Permit Inspection Division for ten.  Luckily I was met by our previous club manager who is a contractor and knows who to call.  Our previous Fire Captain was also there, so the three of us had a nice discussion.  Since the electricity, water and sewer were not shut down and all still available, we dodged a bullet that would have kept us shut down for weeks.  There is no wiring on this wall at all.

Here's a better picture of the damage.  It's about an 8' section of wall.  One of the best contractors to repair it was already there when I arrived.  This has now been completely covered with plastic to keep the smell contained.  He had a plan already in place to begin work first thing this morning.

In another hour, our local Coit Restoration company had 18 of the ionizer machines running full blast in every room in the building.  In literally minutes, I could not smell smoke at all except in one stairwell.  Of course I have a cold, but you know ... it cleaned up quickly.  

We will be completely closed two days when most of this will be repaired, except for painting and new ceiling tiles.  That means we can go ahead with our Thursday night St. Patrick's dinner if we keep this section closed off.  Otherwise, that corned beef would go to waste.  Two more days of closure for painting and carpet cleaning, and we hope to be able to have the upstairs bar open from Saturday on.  For the rest of it ... lunch in this room and other private events ... we are up in the air until we have completely finished the repairs.  

Here's the kicker ... while outside, we noticed the dumpster was black inside.  They also set this on fire.  It was completely full of cardboard.  The fire department apparently caught it too because it had water in the bottom where they put it out.  

The local police drove by several times ... too bad they don't do that at night ... and said they might have a suspect.  I doubt they will ever be able to prove anything because there are no cameras around here that I am aware of.  We actually APPROVED cameras last year ... but alas, the guy STILL has not installed them.

On the other hand, I am celebrating like it's Christmas!!  I don't have to go to Bingo tonight!!!  WOOHOO!!  I'm also very thankful that our 130 year old building did not go up in flames.  It would have been devastating.

Now to deal with the insurance company.  Won't THAT be fun!!

So here is my St Patrick's day prayer for you and your family .......  ENJOY THE GREEN!!

May your glass be ever full, may the roof over your head be always strong, and may you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead ~ Irish