Non-Retired

Well, my husband is no longer fully retired. He has been training to be a sub-school bus driver for 2 months and now has his license. He has driven all week so far. It is funny to hear his stories when he comes home.
Me, I've been getting things done at home. I try to use the morning session to work on household things and the afternoons to work on my writing. I'd rather write in the mornings, but I feel I need to encourage myself to get those things done first. And, too, I enjoy the feeling of knowing the house is in order when I'm busy at my writing.
It seems funny for him to get up and go to work and me be at home alone again.

MUFA foods

Olives and olive oil
Nuts and nut oils
Seeds and seed oils
Avocados
Chocolate (Dark)

MUFA is short for monounsaturated fat, a good fat. It is supposed to help reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol.

They say (right now) these foods are good for you. If you want to do a search, you can see why. As with all things, everyone does not agree.
We try to work at least one with each meal. We have a mixture of ground flaxseed, chopped walnuts and cinnamon we use on our cereal and in our cookies. I use ground flaxseed in most of my baked goods. I call my biscuits 'Southern Biscuits' because they have freckles.
Well, anyway that is why we call chocolate covered nuts, MUFA-MUFA.

Busy, Busy

I am still trying to get our online store ... uh ... online. I have it all done, but figuring postage and handling. I ordered a postal scale from USPS last Wednesday. I wanted one of theirs so I would know it would be right and it was the best deal. Have been waiting for it to come ... and wondering why it has not. I figured with $9 p/h it would be here by now. I got an email today saying they shipped it today! urghhhh You would think .... Well, I'll get it when it gets here!
I think I will make some chocolate covered nuts. One of our favorite snacks. We call it MUFA-MUFA!

Elements of Style

An excellent little book for writers or anyone who wants to know how to use our language better. This is one of the first books recommended to writers.

Spring Vegetables Recipe

A dish I made yesterday. I got it from Woman's Day Magazine and it is on their web site. I forgot to take a photo, and did not know if I should copy theirs and use it.

Mine looked a little different, because I thought I had frozen peas in the freezer so did not buy any. What I had was brussel sprouts! But, the photo on the back was small so it looked like peas. So, I used peas and snaps from my mother's garden that I had in the freezer. It worked. I still want to try it again with frozen peas. We had it with baked chicken. Yum. A Fit for Life meal.

Two thoughts for writers to remember

1. If there is any way for anyone reading your work to misunderstand what you say, someone will misunderstand it.
2. Do not write so that you can be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood. (Epictetus the ancient orator & philosopher)
So .... we need to check and recheck our writings so others will know exactly what it is we want to communicate.

I guess I am back to blogging. :)

The Mind

The mind is a funny thing. Sometimes, I can remember things from way back and as old as I am, I mean way back! Then sometimes, I can’t remember what I said an hour ago. Or if I said it. Did I just think to say it? Anyway, we were watching a movie on HULU.com the other night and it was sponsored by Verizon Wireless. They sang their theme song to the same tune and different words (but almost the same) that Big Red chewing gum used a few years ago was so popular. Maybe they still use it, I don’t know. I have not seen TV that much in a long time.
Anyway, back to the mind. Have you ever got a jingle stuck in your head and could not get it out? Yesterday and today, those songs have been going through mine. Not just one at a time, but the two of them mixed up. Not a pretty sight (sound). I’ve tried singing something else to make it go away. I even tried to sing it and make it go away, but can’t keep the two straight in my head! Whew!
I am just so glad I don’t have to listen or see all those commercials on cable or satellite! Just the little time we are at my parents makes me really happy, we choose not to have TV shows piped into our house. At least on the internet, we can choose to watch the old shows when modesty and non-use of bad words were still virtues to most people.

Prune juice

Where do they get the juice from prunes? There is no juice in prunes. OK, do they get the juice from plums? Shouldn’t it be plum juice? But, then would that be something like plum pretty? Get it? Plum juice. OK, for you non-southerns … plum can mean truly. So, that would be truly juice. Real juice.
OK, this is from Wikipedia “Prune juice is made by softening prunes through steaming and then putting them through a pulper to create a watery puree. Prunes and their "juice" contain the natural laxative dihydrophenylisatin (rela
ted to isatin). Faster results are obtained by heating the prune juice. Prunes also contain dietary fiber (about 6%, or 0.06 g per gram of prune). Prunes and prune juice are thus common home remedies for constipation. Prunes also have a high antioxidant content.”
So…. Prune juice is actually made from prunes. I learned something today. And, yes, we drink prune juice sometimes. And now I know it is plum good for me besides the obvious. :)

Made in the USA

I made a new page for our home site. I thought it would be neat to share some of the products I like, especially the ones made in the USA. If interested, click on this link. There are also links to more sites that feature made in the USA products.

Dishwashing

Tonight, I was doing dishes after church. I rarely leave them dirty when I leave the house, but tonight had to be an exception. Toward the end, I noticed a pan that had food stuck on it and thought I’d have to soak it for a while. But, within a couple minutes it was ready to clean. It reminded me of when I was a kid at home and my sister and I would do dishes. There were nine of us so there were a lot and it would take us a long time because we argued and fussed while doing them. I don’t know why Mom let us get away with that being we were all in the same area of the house. Finally, we would get to the pots and beg Mom to let us leave them soaking. She agreed most of the time. Of course, she had to do them the next day while we were at school. After years of marriage and doing dishes, etc, I realized that if we had soaked them at the beginning of the dish washing time, we’d been able to clean them at the end. Why did Mom let us get away with that? I don’t know. I guess moms just do that.

blogging haiku

Homemakers blogging
Letting the whole wide world know
We like our life

Hello

Just peeking in for a moment. I am enjoying my break, but I miss y'all. I have gotten a lot accomplished, but not nearly all I need to do. It takes longer to get a business going than I expected, especially waiting for government to move. As long as it took me to get my license, etc, I can imagine why it takes so long for Congress to move! Busy weekend ahead, so I can't work on it again until next week. I hope y'all have a blessed weekend.