New Garlic Press

I use a lot of garlic in my cooking. I like the flavor and it is supposed to be good for us. Garlic. For years, we thought my husband was allergic to it, so I could not add it to his foods. [he is allergic to citrus and mangoes the same way, so it was confusing to just what made him itch.] After we retired, we decided to give fresh garlic a try and he had no rash. We decided it may be the chemicals added to manufactured garlic. (Powders, vitamins etc). This fall, he even planted a row in our garden. We look forward to not buying it after June!
My old garlic press needed to be replace because I never could get all the garlic to go through it and it hurt my hand to use it. So, I went on a mission to look for another one. They were all made of the same style and I was disappointed until I saw the red one. It was so different I was not sure, but finally made the $13 investment (took a chance) to see if it worked.
It does! I really like it. You twist it to crush the garlic and can get it all done. I still have to be careful how I twist my hands not to hurt them, but I try to remember.

Barefoot in the Kitchen

Barefoot in the Kitchen
This is a special place to me for it is my niece. She is a sweet lady who is in love with her husband she calls 'Handsome' and has 3 children they homeschool. She loves to cook and shares her recipes and hints on this page. She has a family blog, too, but I chose to share this one with you.

Broken Dish

I like to tell the story how when I had an all tile kitchen, I dropped a Corelle bowl. As it went down to the floor, I just watched and waited for it to break, but it did not. It did the little twirl thing (like the people on Ed Sullivan who used to spin dishes on sticks). Some one told me, that when one did break, it would shatter.
Last week, I dropped a can of food out of the cupboard onto one of the bowls. Yes, it shattered! Everywhere. Into many pieces. I was still finding little pieces a few days later, though I thought I cleaned them all up. Saturday, after using the crockpot, I was wiping it down and found another piece inside the 'outside' pot! I was glad it had not got into the pot and into our food.
Thankfully, I have several of them for it is my favorite dish set. My only dish set. :) I had several years back, but with all the moves, I got rid of extras. But, I like these and don't see a need to buy others. When I bought them, I waited until the set came out that I really liked. English Garden. I was so happy I finally got some I liked. Then 2 of my sisters-in law bought the same thing! Well! But, their purchases were just a passing fancy and when they got tired of them, I got their left overs. I'm glad for I just looked at their web site and they no longer have mine. So much for getting more luncheon plates! Except at maybe yard sales. :)

Posting

Today, I had trouble getting into the site because of the password! :) My password post

When I last posted, I had a rare few minutes to sit and surf and look at others' sites. I had every intention of talking about each one of them, one a day. But, .... life goes on.

Hubby and I have had colds and we have gone through a whole can of lyso spray trying to kill each other's germs! But, we are feeling much better.

Lyric Devotions

Last year, when I started my blog, I immediately got busy working for the Census, then went on a long trip to visit our children. After that, my husband decided that now was the time to build our porch (which now I am so ever grateful for), but at the moment, it was... "What? Let me at least take a breath!" But, build the porch we did and are enjoying it!
So, being we were very busy, I did not have much time to write on my blog or to look at other people blogs too often. I have been perusing others' blogs today and find I have missed out on blessings, by reading others posts. One special place is Lyric Devotions. Deborah has written special songs that are truly devotions and has them posted for us to enjoy. I hope to do so more often!

Passwords

What can I say about them? Each year we try to come up with a unique password to use for our accounts. I just finished for this year. It is frustrating. People say, "Well, it's easy. I use the same few and if it is not one, then it is the other." I've tried that. Then one place wants no special characters, another place wants no numbers, another wants .... etc. so each place ends up with its own password and I sure can't remember them all! I've about decided that if I can't get into a place, so what!
Really, this year, I am trying to down size my web experience, by cutting out some places. I was able to cut out a few and we still have more than 80 places we have to log in to!
Happy New Year!

Things I've learned in 2010

I have learned I do not have to use dryer sheets. If I dry the synthetic clothes and natural fibers separately, then there is no static cling! I can also hang up those few synthetic items and save on electricity. I learned I could fix a spray bottle with white vinegar and a little essential oil and spray into the dryer to help as a softener. Or add it to the rinse cycle of the washer. When I think of money wasted buying dryer sheets! Wow. Not counting the dryer sheets in the land fills and the chemicals released into my house from them!

I learned that I could make my own foaming soft soap from regular soft soap. I noticed on a soap container my mom bought that you add 1/10 liquid soap to 9/10s water and have foaming soft soap. So, I bought 2 foam soft soap bottles and now make my own. Another thing that made me realize this is that I bought the wrong product once when I meant to buy soft soap, I bought the foam one instead and it was mainly water. Just imagine how much money the manufacturers are making off us by us buying 9/10s water from them!

I learned I can lose those unwanted pounds by being careful what I eat. I realized I was the only person responsible for what went into my tummy. I did not reach my second goal, but my first goal was reached and has been maintained. It is hard with all our social eating, but I keep reminding myself that the end goal is more important than giving in ... most of the time!

I learned I can live without a microwave. Well, I still have it because it is in the shed, but I haven't used it much at all.

I learned I can make a blog! It has been almost a year now.

Why Jesus Came

Merry Christmas to each of you. I hope you have a blessed day with family and friends.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/12/the-cross-in-christmas/

Cinnamon Rolls

An Adams' family tradition, for this Adams family, at least, is cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I started that so we could eat them while opening gifts and have breakfast later. If we got around to having breakfast. Usually, Christmas dinner was ready early because I put the turkey in too soon.
Sometimes, they were home made and sometimes 'pop-can' ones, but we had them each Christmas morning. I am glad our daughters try to carry on the tradition. Traditions have to start somewhere, right?
... home made ones are rising right now. This year, we are spending Christmas Eve with my mom and Christmas Day with his family, so I made them today, so we can enjoy them and save some for Christmas morning, also.

Wow, I actually got ambitious to get them done! What are some traditions your family does for Christmas?

Lunar Eclipse 2010

My husband and I set our alarm and woke to go outside and watch the nature show from 1:30 to 3:30 this morning. It was neat watching the moon as the shadow covered it. It was so bright at first, we could move around on the porch and yard just fine, but after it was covered, it was pitch black. The amazingly, when only a sliver of light appeared again, it was light enough to see. It was cold, in the 30's, but we figured we'd stayed out in colder weather to watch the northern lights in the far north!
And we almost missed it, because when the alarm went off, it was such peaceful music, we wanted to go back to sleep. Almost like a lullaby. :). Glad we got up anyway!

Butterfly Greeting Cards

Iron Butterflies

I found this link today. They are pretty and sold in sets. Of course, I like them because they are butterflies and Christian and the verses are written by my cousin. Just had to share.

That does not Compute

Computing can be a wonderful thing. Well, I don't know if I'd call it wonderful. But ... convenient ... fun ...adventurous ... aggravating .... tiresome ....


We recently updated to Windows 7. Which is a 64 bit. Which means many of our programs do not work with the update ... so that mean re-buying the ones we use a a lot and throwing out ones that no longer work (or giving them to people with older operating systems). We did this same thing a few years ago. I just know it is MS's way of selling more 'stuff'. They must get a percentage from all the other companies selling software. I think a computer nerd sits behind a screen .... bored ...coming up with new ways to do things ... and thinks, 'hey, I can do this little change and drive them all crazy! hehehehehe

Like when they changed File Manager to Windows Explorer ... not taking into consideration that there was already a Internet Explorer (or did they?) It took me forever to get used to that and I still call it file manager most of the time ... which is what it is, BTW, a file manager. Hello!!

Well, I think we almost have it how we want it again and I told my husband that this is the definite LAST time I go through this. I am too old to be jerked around by a bunch of young people designing new products to change the way things are done!!!! whew!!!!                      

My Website

As of Jan 2011, my website http://www.belindajo.com will be canceled. They raised their rates. I have not really seen that many books sold because of it. And I am too tired most of the time to mess with it, so we decided that could be one thing 'off my plate'.
Merry Christmas to you all.