Why did the chicken cross the road?

 A friend posted this on Facebook last week.  I thought it was too funny not to share!

SARAH PALIN: The chicken crossed the road because, gosh-darn it, he's a maverick!
BARACK OBAMA: Let me be perfectly clear, if the chickens like their eggs they can keep their eggs. No chicken will be required to cross the road to surrender her eggs. Period.

JOHN McCAIN: My friends, the chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: What difference at this point does it make why the chicken crossed the road?
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or against us. There is no middle ground here.
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken.
AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white?
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he is acting by not taking on his current problems before adding any new problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross the road so badly. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a NEW CAR so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
ANDERSON COOPER: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way the chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heartwarming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2014, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2014. This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

Cooking Thursday

My friend Becky brought this in to work, where it was devoured. I made it this week and Bob pronounced it a 5 star recipe and is hoping I make it again soon.  If you have blueberries around, this is a wonderful way to use them!
For more recipes, stop over and see Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.

Blueberry Pizza

1 refrigerated pie crust
fresh blueberries, about 1/2 quart
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Lay pie crust out on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Press edge of crust to create a small lip.
Place blueberries on crust, leaving a 1/2 inch edge.
Stir flour, sugar and cinnamon together, then cut in butter.  Spread over blueberries.
Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
If you use too many blueberries, they'll seep out and make a mess, which is what happened to mine, but it still tastes good!

Wordless Wednesday

(Double Decker bird feeder)

Blueberry Picking

Last week a group of us from work decided to go blueberry picking after work.  One of the group had been here the night before and said the blueberries were wonderful!

 The little shed were we had to sign in and get out picking buckets.  Don't you think it's a fitting color?

 This is our business office manager, Becky.  She's a real goof, and was teasing this boy named Billy.  He was taking us out to the field in a golf cart and she told him he had to have his picture taken so people all over the world could see it on this blog.  :)

 Here's Becky and Carrie.  Carrie is our MDS (Minimum Data Set) nurse.  She inputs all sort of data into the computer to satisfy the government about the care of our residents.

 Look at all those yummy blueberries!

 Becky, Carrie, Vonnie (another nurse) and her daughter are ready to go!

 This is Maggie and her daughter Grace.  Maggie is our wonderful director of nursing.
I'm so blessed to work with all these people, who are friends as well as co-workers.

 Here's some of our blueberries when we checked out.  I picked 11# and paid just a little over $15 for them.  I froze most of them and saved some to eat fresh. 

I took this to show you how big the berries are.  The middle berry is on top of a quarter!
It was a good nights work.

Birthday Celebration

Last week we celebrated Bob's step-dads birthday. Rog turned 80 and we were invited to a very nice party for him. It was held in a place called Noel. It was built in 1927 and started out as Jamestown Christian Reformed church. When that congregation outgrew the building, it became Jamestown Baptist church. In 1994 the Baptist church built a larger building, and it was bought by a local family and made into a restaurant.  It used to be decorated year round for Christmas, thus the name.  It's now used only for special events, so it's always a treat to go there.  We've been there for several times before and we never leave disappointed.

Here's the front of the building. Bob, brother Tom and wife Bonnie, along with sisters Karla and Diane are standing out front.

The name is in the brick walkway.

The old parsonage has been completely renovated and is now used for small weddings, or for a place for a wedding party to get ready.

Here's Bob's Mom and Rog ready to eat supper.

The group enjoying a wonderful meal.  Rog's siblings, kids and family and step-kids were all there.

The front of the building where the Pastor used to stand.

There are beautiful stained glass windows here. This one is in the back of the building.

They also have some beautiful old furniture inside.
We enjoyed a wonderful supper and a good time talking with friends and family.  We're so thankful that Rog is a part of our family and that God has blessed him with 80 years.

Great idea!

I just saw this great idea for packing things in a small area.  I probably wouldn't do this for a normal get-away, because I think the clothes would get pretty wrinkled, also it would probably only work if you were wearing a t-shirt and shorts.  However, if you have limited luggage, or maybe for a kid going to camp, this would be great.

Cooking Thursday

The recipe I'm sharing today is nothing fancy.  However, it's very quick to put together and it tastes refreshing on a hot summer day!
My friend Sandra is back hosting Cooking Thursday, so if you want to check out more recipes, visit her at Diary of a SAHM.

German Sweet Chocolate Freezer Pie
4 oz Bakers German Sweet Chocolate
1/2 cup milk, divided
8 oz cream cheese
4 tablespoons sugar
8 oz Cool Whip
1 ready to use graham cracker crust

Melt chocolate and 2 tablespoons of milk in microwave.
Beat cream cheese with sugar until well mixed.  Stir in melted chocolate and add the rest of the milk.
Stir in Cool Whip until blended.
Freeze 4 hours or until firm.  Let stand about 15 minutes before cutting.
Store in freezer.

Wordless Wednesday

Pinterest Play Dough

Here's another thing I tried from Pinterest. This one worked!
This is called Silky and Stretchy Playdough, and you only need 2 ingredients to make it.
1 cup conditioner - the cheaper the better!
2 cups cornstarch
I thought this was a perfect thing for Alaina to make with me and then play with.

Here she is with the bowl of cornstarch.

We added the conditioner and she helped stir.  It took a few minutes to get it all stirred in.  You can add more cornstarch if it's too liquid, or more conditioner if it's too stiff.  Mine was good with the amount listed.

Alaina had fun playing with this. It smelled wonderful because I had coconut scented conditioner.  It was soft and very pliable.  This isn't the kind of play dough you would want to mold things from, but if you want something soft and easy to play with, this is great!
Store it in an airtight container.

Finished sign

 I have to show you what I had made for the room we've been working on.  There's someone in our town who makes signs.  You can pick what you want on it, and the colors you want and she'll put it together.
I picked a verse and asked her to put it on a board that looked like an old barn, with the red and gray.
I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Here you can see the sign hanging over the bed.  I originally had another spot in the room planned out, but when it arrived, we decided it looked best over the bed.

Here's a close up of the sign.  Isn't that a wonderful verse?

Amazing Mosaic

Here's a short video clip showing you an amazing mosaic.  You won't believe what this is made of and the detail in the finished picture.

Cooking Thursday

We had our small group from church at our house Sunday night.  I thought I would share the dessert I made for them.  It's perfect for this time of year, as it uses fresh fruit.  I used sugar free pudding mix so it's pretty healthy for a dessert.  It's refreshing and yummy!

Angel Food Cake Trifle

1 Angel Food Cake, cut into cubes (large size or 2 loaf pans)
2 small vanilla instant pudding mixes
3 cups milk
8 ounce Cool Whip, thawed
Fresh Fruit - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches to your taste

Place angel food cake cubes in a Trifle bowl, mini trifles or a 9 X 13 pan. Mix pudding with milk and fold in Cool Whip. Pour over cake cubes. Top with cut up fruit of your choice.

Wordless Wednesday

Enjoying Summer!

I took this picture on my way to work this morning.  It was another one of those cool, misty morning. As I drove, I was admiring the scenery around me and thinking about how wonderful this weather is.
I've been really enjoying this summer.  Maybe that's because we've had such a nice summer so far, not too humid and not too many overly hot days.  Maybe it's because we had such a horrible winter, which made me realize I better not complain about the heat this year.
Shortly after I took this picture, my happy thoughts were interrupted by the announcer on the radio.  He started by saying that summer break was half way done..., I knew that but didn't want to think about it.  (Why does summer go so quickly?)   He went on to talk about the long range forecast for our area.  The prediction is for another Polar Vortex Winter....  lots of snow and cold!  I'm not ready for another winter like that.
I guess it'll do no good to dwell on it.  I better just keep enjoying summer while it's here!

Take a walk with me...

I almost always take my camera with me when I go for a walk. There's always something beautiful that can be found, and for some reason when I have my camera it makes me more observant of it. 

This is my road.  Come with me and we'll see what we find.

A splash of colors from these berries.

 Wild flowers, or weeds depending on your perspective.

I like the grasses that grow on the edge of the field.

Even dandelions have their own type of beauty!

Lilies near the woods.

I love seeing bales of hay out in the field.

Hope you enjoyed this walk in my little corner!

Pinterest Fail

I've done several posts about things I've discovered on Pinterest. Today I'm sharing one that seemed like a good idea, but was a fail!
When you brown hamburger, there is always grease to take care of.  I usually buy ground beef in quantity and brown it all at the same time.  I then freeze it, in one pound packages.  It makes it so easy to throw something together.  However, there is usually a good amount of grease to take care of.
The idea on Pinterest was to line a bowl with foil, drain the grease into it and put it in the refrigerator until it was hard and you could easily dispose of it.  Sounds good, right?

Here's my bowl, lined with foil and filled with grease.  Time to put it in the refrigerator.

Once it was hardened, I took it out to throw it away.  However, there was a problem.  When I pulled back the foil, I found that the grease had leaked all around the edges.  It was hard to get the foil out, and I had a messy bowl to take care of.
I haven't tried it again, but if I did I would be even more careful when putting the foil in the bowl, so there were no small holes.  Maybe it would work then.