Weekends

 So, Gordon and I love to listen to books on CD. We started one last week when we went into Minneapolis to see Grease. So this week we have traveled to Siren to the  DQ to listen to this book, then we went to Minong to the A&W and last night we went to Rice Lake to Culver's. So much for eating healthy!!!!But the book is so darn interesting and it's fun to be together ! So we have 2 of a CD left, I have no idea where we go tomorrow after I get done with work, but maybe some where fun! Maybe a pizza night!
 I am very anxious to get some seeds into some pots. I plan on growing basil, oregano and onions in pots around the front porch! It will handy and hopefully easy to pick!!

Too much

I have a confession to make! Here goes: we have 3 freezers and they are mostly full, how did this happen??? I know how it happened, but really how did it  happen??? Since I was off on medical leave I have been making jam and other things, trying to use up what I have on hand, and let me tell you, there's too much!!! If we didn't eat out or I didn't buy any more meat especially, we could eat out of the 3 freezers for maybe 2 years or longer. No kidding!!! It's just two of us, yes Kurt comes and takes some venison home, but there's a lot! Plus the freezers above the 2 refrigerator are half full!!How long does cool whip last in the freezer??? 3 years??? Or frozen grated zucchini, which I was going to use to make zucchini bread 3 years ago during the winter??? This makes me mad at myself and just so frustrated!!! I think I need to make a list of what is in the freezers and then cross off what is taken out, maybe some dates! Do you have any tips??? HELP!!!! Blessings

Monday

 I survived the first 1/2 day back to work. Co workers were glad I was back and the work had piled up that needed my attention. I told them I don't need to do everything the first day back as I would be there tomorrow, sheesh!!! Part of my past working there was a floater, and I guess that will part of the new routine for me again! YICKS!!! If I didn't like the people I work with directly, I would be not happy!!! Complaining has stopped!!
 I've been playing around with my Instant Pot that I have had for 2 years and up till one month ago, I used it once. So I made myself a promise that I would learn to use that thing and not feel intimidated by an electronic item! I now have learn how to make hard boiled egg in 9 minutes that peel like a dream, French onion soup that tastes like it took 3 hours to make, which took 20 minutes and baked potatoes that took 9 minutes, so good and done to perfection!!! So, I'm on a roll now and have a couple more recipes to try out! Now onto the air fryer!!
 My co-worker Mary, 2 years ago gave me a beautiful violet and it's in full bloom now! Blessings!

recipes

 Do you go to smittenkitchen.com and read her blog??? She has great recipes, today I saw a recipe for pistachio cake, like a pound cake, it sounds amazing, so I got pistachios, but could only find the ones that are already salted, I think we will just eat these and I will keep looking for the unsalted ones. Check out Deb's website or her instagram app.
 I'm thinking I will start doing a photo of what I buy at the grocery store, it might help me see where I spend and where I don't.
 I used the instant pot yesterday and made 6 baked potatoes, how slick that was to make perfect baked potatoes. 9 minutes and done! BAM!!!! I got all the ingredients to make French onion soup in the instant pot! Making this tomorrow! Blessings!!!

Wrapping up my medical leave

 Well my time off from work and I'm ready to get back to work! Weird as I have wanted time off, got it after surgery and still didn't get everything done I wanted to get done, but ready to go back to figure out how to get some time off, weird circle of life in working!!!
 On Wednesday we went to Chanhassen Dinner Theater and saw "Grease", it was fun, I like the movie better, but they production was good! It was our Christmas gift to each other and our anniversary gift. We stayed the night and just had fun together!
 Spring is here for sure, I doubt there will be anymore snow for now! We are getting ready for gardening and planning on what to do this year! Potatoes for sure, hopefully some peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. A friend told me about doing the cukes in a planter and using a tomato cage for the vines to grow up, that will easy on my back. I'm going to plant basil in a basic planter and have it handy by the house to pick. I've been making lots of jam and emptying the freezer of fruit, still have quite a bit to go!
 I have had coffee with girlfriends I haven't just taken the time to visit with for quite a while, so that has been fun! So back to work next week for me!! Enjoy the photos! Blessings!!

Tulips

 We had a quiet Easter and it was okay! I watched "Ben Hur" with Charlton Heston. I love that film and it came from a book written by a Union commanding officer. It's just plain fiction, but what a great story line! We saw the new one, but it's not as great as the old one!
 I did buy tulips from Aldi's last week and they are blooming! So lovely to see them! Yellow and pink, favorite colors! Yes, I did shop at Aldi's in Eau Claire, it was a great shopping experience! I spent $46.00 and got a lot of items. Their chicken salad with cranberries is by far the best I have eaten and I hear their win is good, I didn't buy any as I didn't have enough cash.
 Kurt was home for most of the weekend. He got his camper out of our pole barn and helped his Dad put in a water heater. They went trap shooting late in the day on Saturday, we grilled steaks and watched a movie! His family was busy all weekend and couldn't come with him, but we sure enjoyed having him! Getting a little one on one time with our favorite son!!

Blessings, have a great day!

Easter season

As this is Good Friday, I like to reflect on what Christ really did for me and you! Do we even truly understand the horrible suffering he endured for us??? I doubt it as we don't know suffering at the high level that the Romans inflicted on him or others at that time in history! They had cruel and inhuman ideas on how to crucify people. But God in His infinite wisdom chose that time period to send Jesus to suffer that death for me!
But then comes Resurrection Sunday and the whole picture changes for all humanity! Jesus raises from the grave and brings us eternal life if we believe in Him! Amen!!! Yay for us!
I pray this blesses you and I pray you have a great holiday weekend! Think on the things God has done for you and your family, be thankful! Blessings!

This and that

 When we travel, I like to get some CD books so it makes the miles go quicker, because the radio gets hard to find a station at times! So this time we listened to quite a few and here is the list: High heat by Richard Castle, The Hotel between Bitter and Sweet, The Chisholm Trail and Old School by Bill O'Reilly. High heat was funny and reminded me of the show , Castle,a lot! We laughed out loud and tried to figure it out along with listening to it! The Chisholm trail was short only 3 CD's and held our attention most of the time, some of the things weren't accurate as far as the we were concerned, but it was ok! Old School was funny, I am definitely old school in my thinking though I do love my electronics! But I think the best one was The Hotel between Bitter and Sweet, it takes place in Seattle and talks about the Japanese interment camps of 1942 till the end of WWII. It was part true and part fiction. It talked about issues that happened during that time and modern times. I would highly recommend it!
 I have 2 more weeks off till I go back to work and they are filling up. My daughter is having a garage sale and I plan to take some stuff over for that, so I got the front hall closet cleaned out last night which filled a box. Another box to fill today of stuff, probably some books.
 Also on my list of things to do is to make a meal using my Air Fryer and Instant Pot. We are going to try pizza in the air fryer and not sure what in the instant pot, maybe a rice dish of some sort. Plus making more jam this week too. So have a great week, blessings!

Vacation

Since I'm off on medical leave, we decided to go on a trip to see my cousins! We had a lot of fun! We stopped in Champaign, Ill to see long time friends and had supper with them! We laughed a lot and showed photos of children / grandchildren! Spent the night in a glamour motel room, then onto Missouri! Cousins live about 1 1/2 hours south of St. Louis. We went to Aldi's, Rural King, Steak and Shake, Amish store and Hobby Lobby. We ate a lot, laughed a lot, took a nap , watched basketball finals, and laughed a few more times! Gordon did a couple of repairs for them and he felt like we earned our keep. The grass is green there and people are out mowing, tulips are up and so are the crocus'. We took part of the river road home yesterday that comes out of Hannibal, Missouri home of Mark Twain. It was a drizzling, rainy day, so it wasn't very pretty! But the countryside was interesting and southern/western Wisconsin is very pretty rolling hills! So, I was extremely tired today after driving most of yesterday, got 2 loads of laundry done, suitcases unpacked and put away, cooler emptied, food put away, and a 15 minute nap!! This what I call a tulip tree, but I do believe I have heard that its in the same family as a Magnolia tree. My parents had a tulip tree in their yard and if it was blooming at Easter time we would have our picture taken and we loved that tree. Blessings!