Wednesday, April 3rd "What's Cookin'?"

[annrms]

Good morning! What nor'easter?!?! It's 42° and dry as a bone out there. There's no wind that I can see, either. Storm could be delayed, but will have to wait a bit to check the weather.
Our dinner, pork Marsala, with noodles and asparagus was delicious. I did something different in preparing the pork strips. I velveted them before sautéed them in olive oil/butter. Wow! They came out so tender. To velvet 1lb pork strips: mix 3 teaspoons of cornstarch with enough cold water to make a thin slurry. Mix in 1 egg white, salt & pepper. Let it sit for about 10 minutes then sauté over medium/high heat using forks to separate strips as they cook to a light, light golden brown.
I contacted the online auction folks and was very disappointed. A team would come to the house and photograph 'lots' and set up the auction. When the auction begins, bids start at $1. At the end of the bidding, the item goes to the highest bidder. So that means our $2,000 antique American oriental rugs (9x12) could go for just a few dollars. I have to do some serious thinking about how I'm going to get rid of the stuff we are not taking to the Baldwin. Donating to Habitat of Humanity may be an option.
I haven't dealt with the photos I took at our walk through...maybe today.
Tonight we are having Scotch eggs with a salad.
Will go to the senior center unless the storm is still coming. Enjoy your morning! Waving!

[cfniervt]

Good morning friends.

Ann- that is the way auctions work. You might want to consider a consignment shop for the antiques. We did that and were very pleased with what we got. Or consider having an antiques dealer come in.

My niece was going to come over for a visit but now due to the storm she thinks she will wait until 2 weekends from now. I am heading off to work today. Will be taking the Frog quilt with me to sew on while I sit and the kids do the state testing.

[tasty]

Good morning all.  The storm as such hasn't  materialized here either Ann.  We've  had a little rain but nothing drastic yet.  We're  supposed to have cool temperatures, wind, rain and snow flakes over the next few days, but the percentages of the bad stuff are mostly not too high.  We'll see what happens.  Having been up in the night for an hour, nothing wrong - just couldn't  get back to sleep, I didn't  wake up until after 7 so here I sit with my first cup of coffee as hubby has just put on the curling from Switzerland.  That maybe sets the tone for the day.

[Jan in BC]

Good morning everyone. Won’t be posting much in next few days. Can’t use left hand. One finger using other hand hard to do. Be back os soon as I can. Jan

[tasty]

Take care of yourself Jan.

[mamma482]

Good morning.
Jan, I'm so sorry to hear of your sore finger. Take care.

Yesterday the painters were here 8 hours with no breaks. They had no lunch and neither did I. They finished all the painting and clean up by 4:30. I love the color change. The color is funny, it looks a super light blue in some light and others it is the gray that I wanted. So at times I'm happy with the color and other times, not as much. LOL But over all I am so pleased to get rid of the dark gloomy color. Last night I put the bed, and living room chairs back so I could sit and rest and sleep in bed. This morning I hung the sheers back up but they will not stay. With the light paint and white curtains, the room is washed out. So I've ordered two different colors to see which one I like best. I'll give Jill my white sheers since she has been wanting some but no has money.

Today I'll put the closets back in order but I don't want to hang anything on the walls until tomorrow. I want to make sure the paint is set and dried well. Being stuck in this room for 8 hours I am more than anxious to have it back in some kind of order again. Mandy and I could hardly move and she was such a very good girl. I gave her lots of extra hugs, kisses, and scratches. I also moved the living room furniture into the summer position. This way the floor vent isn't blocked at all.

  Well my second cup of coffee finished, time to get to work. It won't all get done today and I will take plenty of breaks too. I want to enjoy not be in pain. :)

No lunch yesterday and a small sandwich for supper, I had better come up with a much better meal plan for today.   

[tasty]

Glad you're happy with the paint job, Mamma 😃 

[cooktocook]

Good afternoon, friends. Today is National Chocolate Mousse Day.

Our winds picked up late yesterday afternoon and are forecasted to stay on the stronger side through tomorrow. As of this morning, the "red alert" has been lifted from our area and is now quite a bit north of the Tampa area. From what I saw on the noon news, once again the weather people have hyped it up and we'll be seeing little to nothing around here. I admit, I'm disappointed and was looking forward to some rain---things are very dry and with the winds I'd hate to see the wildfires start up this spring.

This morning, I was busy---I made two side salads to have along with the l/o enchiladas we'll have for dinner this evening, scooped out and cut up all my dried fruit and nuts for the homemade granola I'll make tomorrow, and then spent time on the phone with Disney. Was able to book a room with our Vacation Club next week, starting the 12th through the 16th. Just so happens DD has Lilith next weekend and she is off work, so she'll be able to join us for a few of the days. All of us have some free park tickets from last year that we were given when there was a problem with our room; depending on the weather, we'll see, but talk is we'll maybe take Lilith to enjoy one of the parks. If not, I'll be totally happy just laying out by one of the pools and relaxing.

Tomorrow, we have a new Publix store that will be opening not far from the house. DH wants to go over and check it out when he gets home from work, so I figure if I can get my grocery list put together yet today, I'll just do my weekly shopping one day earlier. I now will have 5 Publix stores, all in different directions, within 5-10 minutes from the house.

Ann, that is indeed disappointing to hear how the bidding takes place with the online auction. I too would have to do some serious thinking before going that way. 

Chris, I'm sure your niece was looking forward to spending some time with you, but with the possible snowstorm coming, she is probably smarter to wait a few weeks. Hope you were able to do some sewing while at work this morning.

Tasty, sorry that you were wide awake over night; hope you were able to relax and rest a bit today.

Jan, I'm sorry you're currently having some problems with your left hand. Typing with one finger only would be slow and difficult, so it's understandable why you won't be posting for the time being. Hopefully you are still reading here and know we are all thinking of you and wish you the best.

mamma, I am happy to read that your painters are already done! That was fast!! Please don't think too negatively or second guess your choice of color---it probably is going to take a little time for you to get use to the new lighter shade compared to what you had before. I'm sure adding the new curtains will be a big improvement too. 

Well, I better get moving. I still haven't gotten up on the bike and that is a must, so I'll close for now. Waving to all!
Lori 

[helen]

My usual housecleaner was not here today. In her place were 2 people, one man, one woman. I started talking to show them the layout and the woman whipped out her phone (I think it was a phone?) and showed me a message she had typed in Spanish and the gadget translated to English. I knew that was available but never saw it in action. Very nifty! Wish I had one of those when I suffered through my last year of French in school. Madame was crotchety and wasn't having French fun anymore. I did really enjoy learning about the language, though. Jan, thanks for letting us know so we won't worry about why you're not here. Hope you improve quickly. Yay for the successful paint job, mamma! Oh Ann, how disappointing about details of the auction. In the fullness of time . . . as my sweet Hubby would say. Supper will be salmon with creamed peas and onions. Big hugs to all.

[tamaralynn]

Hello friends!
I finally have a few minutes to post. Monday was a whirlwind with getting all the food ready to deliver, for them to serve Tuesday. I had errands to run, including getting a 2nd key made for the car. It is a door and ignition key only with no fob and it still cost $220.00. Also it took about an hour at the dealership to get it done. We had leftover white chili for supper.
Yesterday Ruth and I left at 7:15, picked up Betty and Debbie in Houston then drove about an hour north of Houston to go visit an old friend who moved there with her DH. They have almost an acre and raise chickens and have a nice size garden. We planned on visiting, then stopping for lunch, drive around the area to view the bluebonnets and other wild flowers. At 1:30 Jeri says "Do you want to go out for lunch?" So, we all loaded up and headed in to town for lunch at a cute cafe. Their special was meat oaf and 4 of us got that. Debbie ordered a patty melt. Lunch was very tasty. We ended up staying at Jeri's until 5:30! We had such a nice visit though. Ruth and I got back home about 8:40. I was wiped out so went to bed really early.

Today I did get to sleep in. Ruth packed up and left today. I enjoyed having her but have to say it will be nice to be able to go out to the apartment at any time for any reason. I am getting caught up with laundry today, and spend the morning over at the shop.

DH had a route 44 size drink from Sonic, I think it was Dr. Pepper, and he accidentally dropped it in the middle of the living room. We just had Wendy here about 3 months ago to shampoo all the carpet. Yesterday he told me that he talked to Wendy and asked her to come back over to shampoo that area, so she is here right now.

Ann, that is disappointing news from the auction company. Hope something can be worked out for you to get what things are worth. Tehre is a guide on the internet where you can look up the value of donated items. I did not know this until after we donated 40 plus boxes to Purple heart. I was shocked at how much they valued items. They seemed very generous. I think the site was "what's it worth?"

Lori, your mini vacac sounds lovely. Publix are such nice stores.

Jan, said a prayer for you! Get better soon!

Mamma, happy decorating!

I have thawed out some bacon wrapped pork tenderloin medallions to cook, along with some baked potatoes for supper.

Waving to everyone not mentioned. Have a super day today!

[weebill]

Hi. ANOTHER busy day. I got a call when I was out walking to take Cici to the dog park thru Friday. After throwing the ball for a half hour. I took Coco for a walk then went and played shuffleboard. At noon we went to a park and enjoyed KfC. Then I went to Mexican train and back to dog park throwing balls. Now just git done eating supper and I have pinochle.

Mamma- I bet when you get your curtains up, you will love it. I am still waiting for my sister to make our kitchen valances. She still has 2 holes in her hip and having trouble getting around

Ann- that is how auction salutes work. Sad but true.

Elaine

[emr]

Just popping in at the end of the day. After work I ran all my errands for the week, I think -- Sam's, Ulta, Kohls, and Publix pharmacy. Dinner was easy as we finished off our Italian leftovers. Planning to put a roast in the crockpot tomorrow -- it's been windy and getting cooler today, so a nice warm comforting meal should be good in the evening.

Waving to everybody ~