Sumo Clementine?

Have you seen these around you yet?  They are called Sumo Clementines.  They're about the size of a regular orange, but they peel even easier than a regular clementine.  That top bump just pops off and the rest peels so quickly.  There's none of the white that stays attached to a regular orange, no seeds and a wonderful sweet flavor.

The drawback is the price.  In my store, these are about $2, however they've been on sale for half price, so I stocked up.  I figure it beats spending it on coffee or chocolate, right?

The end of an Era

 There's a barn near my home that I've always liked.  It's a simple barn, but I like the faded white paint and even the moss on the roof, although I knew it wasn't a good thing for it.  In the past year, I noticed the roof was really sagging.  When I went past it this weekend, I saw that the snowy winter took quite a toll on it.  Here's a few pictures I took through the years.

 April 2013

May 2013

 December 2013

March 2014

Isn't that sad?  I wonder how long it stood there.  I wonder what was stored in it and did any animals live in it?  What about kids?  Were there kids that played there many years ago?
This is probably the last picture I'll take of this one.

I'm calling Grandma

A friend posted this on Facebook and I thought it was so cute, and kind of true!  Lately Alaina has been saying "Grandma's house" whenever Laura has to get after her.

It's awfully hard to get after her, but I know I'm doing her no favors if I let her have her way all the time.  It is fun to spoil her a bit though!

Cooking Thursday

I made a few of my moms old recipes last week, and I thought I would share one with you.  It's a popular one, and I bet lots of you have made these before.  If you haven't had these, you need to try them!  They are full of lemon flavor, moist and refreshing.

Lemon Pie Bars

3/4 cup softened butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

Mix together and press into 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

While baking mix together:

4 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups sugar

4 Tablespoons flour

8 Tablespoons lemon juice

Pour over baked crust and bake another 20-25 minutes.  Cut while warm.  When cool, sprinkle top with powdered sugar.

Wordless Wednesday

A night out

 This past week I went to a play with a few friends.  My friend Becky had gotten tickets for herself and the three of us and given them to us for Christmas.  Becky has been going through some cancer treatments and she knew she would be out of commission from January to March.  Since this play was at the end of March, it gave her an outing to look forward too.  This group of friends usually gets together once or twice a month, and although we've seen each other, we haven't spent time together as a group since December, so we we all anticipating this evening.

 (Me, Rose, Becky, Bonnie)

We went out for supper first and had a little time before the play, so we stopped to do some card shopping at a nearby dollar store.  (We're a pretty wild group!)

This was the setting for the play.  It's a Lutheran church basement in the 60's, and was set in Minnesota.  This was the fourth installment of a series about the "church basement ladies".  The ladies are a varying ages and are working in the church kitchen.  I enjoyed seeing some of the old props, and the 60's hair-dos.  We all had a lot of laughs.  We also enjoyed the laughter of the man behind us, who grew up in a Lutheran church in Minnesota - in the 60's!
What fun to laugh and enjoy some good company!

Welcome Spring!

The first day of Spring didn't really look very springlike here...

Here's the view of our back yard.  There's still snow out there, but it's really gone down!

As I was taking that picture, I noticed this robin, hopping along the path Bob shovels to his woodshop.  That's a good sign of Spring!

I had the day off work, however, Bob was home too.  He got the flu that I had earlier in the week.  While he slept on the couch, I decided to get winter out of the house, and make it look a little Springish!

This old milk can is from my Dad's farm.  When he quit farming, I got this can, cleaned it up and painted it.  I have different signs for different seasons.  It was time for the Snowman to be put away, and the flowery welcome to come out.  While I was at it, I cleaned the dust of the season off the can.

This centerpiece on my kitchen table is another thing that changes quite a few times a year.

I took out the snow and holly leaves...

and added moss, rocks and a few Spring flowers.
I also did some cleaning of light fixtures, washed some curtains, put away some blankets...

My house is now ready for Spring, it won't be long till it starts looking like it outside too!

Local wildlife

For the past month or so, there's been a herd of deer in a field near my house every night.  I've seen about 12 there many evenings. 

The other night when I went past only these 3 deer were left.  You can see how they've been digging up the snow to get something to eat.

As soon as I took the first picture, they took off.

One last look back, and they were all gone.  I think they're such beautiful animals and I always enjoy seeing them!

Cooking Thursday

 I'm sharing a few recipes with you today.  One can be a freezer recipe, the other is an old favorite!

Herbed Pork Tenderloin

2 Tablespoons paprika

 1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t  black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 t minced onion
1/2 t salt
1 t oregano

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup orange juice

1 pork tenderloin - about 1 pound

Stir spices together and place 2 Tablespoons into a resealable freezer bag. (You can save remaining spice mix for another time)

Add orange juice and pork.  Allow to marinate for 1-8 hours.

Place ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

To freeze for later use, place in freezer after putting all ingredients in freezer bag.  Thaw and cook as directed.

Redskin Mashed Potatoes

1 1/2 pounds new redskin potatoes

1 stick butter

4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

bacon bits - optional

Cut potatoes in half and boil until tender.  Drain water, and mash with skin on.  Stir in butter and cheese.  Enjoy!

These are the perfect side dish when you want mashed potatoes and won't have gravy, because they are so good on their own.

Wordless Wednesday

Signs of Spring!

I was starting to think it would never happen, but we are actually seeing signs that Spring is on the way!

This is the top of a bush near our house.  It was nearly covered in snow, but it's peeking out a little more every day.

Snow is melting on the roof and draining down the eaves!

You may remember that I shared a picture of this same spot in our yard here, where the fence was nearly covered and the chair was about to disappear in the snow.

It's proof that the snow is going away, slowly but surely!

It's been a record setting year here in Michigan.  Just last week the ice cover on the Great Lakes made it to 93%.  The first 1 1/2 weeks of March there were records set every day in my area for amount of snow on the ground.  There have been numerous records broken for cold and snowfall.

This past Saturday it hit 50 degrees for the first time this Spring.  This morning it was back to 9 degrees but I can deal with it, knowing that Spring is coming!

Weekend Update

Hope you all had a nice weekend. Mine started out great, but took a turn for the worse on Saturday...

 Heather got a car!  It's a 2005 Malibu - not new, but hopefully it'll go for a while!  She's happy to have wheels again.

We had Alaina overnight on Friday.  We stopped to visit Bob's mom and I got this cute picture of her reading a book to Alaina.

It was another day of running and hiding for Oliver.  Alaina is so happy to have him on her lap, but he just doesn't appreciate it. 

It was at this point that the weekend took a bad turn.  I got the flu.  It was like a switch turned and I went from feeling fine, to feeling just awful.  Heather took Alaina home, and we found out that Laura had it too.  I'm hoping no one else gets it, because it was the worst I've felt in a long time.

I'm very thankful that I'm usually healthy!

Cutest Rube Goldberg machine ever!

"A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, invention, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction."
I always enjoy Rube Goldberg machines, but this one, made by the Beneful people has to be the cutest ever!

Cooking Thursday

I've shared this recipe before, but it's been several years. It's one of our favorites and I think it needs to be shared again. I think you'll like it too!

 

Chicken Enchiladas
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 ounce can of diced green chilies, with juice
3/4 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
2 cups shredded, cheddar cheese, divided
10 large flour tortillas
1/3 cup milk

Melt butter; add onion and garlic and saute.  Stir in green chilies, sour cream and soup.  Remove 3/4 cup of sauce and set aside.  Add chicken and 1/2 cup of cheese.  Fill tortillas with chicken mix and roll up.  Place in greased 9X13 pan, seam side down.
Add milk and 1/2 cup cheese to remaining sauce.  Pour over enchiladas.  Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese over top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Serve with green onions, sour cream and salsa if desired.

Wordless Wednesday

Poor Oliver!

Heather bought this little hoodie for Oliver.  She only spent a few dollars on it, because she knew it wouldn't really be used, except for fun.  Of course Oliver didn't think it was fun at all!

After Heather put it on and set Oliver down, he acted like he couldn't use his back legs. 

 

 

He took two steps and flopped over on his side.

 

 

Heather had pity on him and picked him up, then took it off.  That was long enough for him. Poor Oliver - he has it so rough sometimes!

Family gathering

This weekend my whole family got together to celebrate a bunch of birthdays. We were way overdue as we've had a terrible time finding a night that worked. We did pretty well this night and were only missing 3 family members.

Here's the whole clan after enjoying supper.

 

My Dad and step-mom.  He's feeling better, but not 100% yet.  He goes to the cardiologist on Tuesday.

 

Alaina and my niece Chelsea playing games after supper.

 

 

Great Grandpa with Alaina.  She is his only great grandchild and he loves spending time with her!

We had a nice evening, with good food and lots of laughter!

Look alikes!

Recently I saw these pictures of celebrities and people they looked like. Some of them are really amazing. Here they are. See what you think!

Ellen DeGeneres and Henry David Thoreau

 

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rose Wilder Lane

 

Justin Timberlake and unknown man in mug shot

 

John Travolta and unknown man from the 1860's

 

General George Patton and Donald Trump

 

General Douglas MacArthur and Bruce Willis

 

Vincent Van Gogh and Chuck Norris

 

Turkish revolutionist Mayir Cayan and Jimmy Fallon

 

Jack Black and the Barber of Seville

 

Nicholas Cage and man from civil war era

 

Jay-Z and unknown man from Harlem

 

Henry Ward Beecher and Jon Stewart

 

Charlie Sheen and John Brown

 

Alec Baldwin and Millard Fillmore

 

Keanu Reeves and French painter Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel

 

Hank Azaria and Rudoph Steiner

 

Benjamin Franklin and Jeffrey Tambor

 

Oscar Wilde and Hugh Grant

Andrew Johnson and Tommy Lee Jones

 

Rupert Grint and Sir David Wilkie

 

Interesting, right?