oops, almost forgot...

Ozzy's birthday is February 9 -- just like my Nona's!

chase away the winter blues...

Well, if today's high temperature of almost 50 degrees isn't helping, maybe you need a shot of Vitamin D!  I've noticed alot of talk about this topic during my blog hopping recently.  And, I completely agree.  I even commented to Mr. Rick awhile back, that I feel better when I take my gummy multivitamins in the morning -- they have 200% of the daily recommended dosage of vitamin D.

I also created a cute little quilting project for myself.  Eventually, it will be a seat cover for the bench in the bathroom.  I promise to show you when I'm done!

Go get yourself some vitamin D!

saturday morning workout...

Whew... we just moved all this stuff to the man cave side of the basement...

from here...

Today, the girly, artsy side of the basement will be getting all the attention!  Hopefully that piece of wood passes inspection by the master carpenter :-)

 

let's talk about eggs...

Remember the "egg" scare awhile back?  You know, the whole thing about the caged chickens laying their eggs in their own poop?  Fortunately, the eggs that we were using (Eggland's Best) were not involved in that scare, but, it did make me look at eggs a bit differently.  I eat an egg for breakfast every morning (gee, wonder how many eggs I've consumed over the years...)  Anyhow, because of this, I do notice a difference in the taste of eggs from different farms.  A few weeks back, my local supermarket was having a "sale" on the cage free eggs -- so I finally bought them.  You know what I discovered?  There IS quite a difference between the cage free eggs and the "regular" eggs.  The cage free taste "fresher".  The egg shells are sturdier.  The large size eggs are actually large.  The egg whites (which I normally don't eat) are not as runny (see poached egg in photo), taste better, so I eat them!  The average price for a dozen of the cage free eggs is about $3.60 in my area -- so -- since I think I am worth at least 30 cents a day, I will be buying these to use as my our breakfast eggs.  I will buy the regular eggs to use for baking, etc. since the taste is not as important in that area.  

I would love to hear any egg opinions or facts that you want to share!  :-)

is it thursday already...

You might want to turn off the blog background music before listening to this video!





Have a good one!

small basement project update...

So after the silly pictures in Sunday's post, here is a view of  the man cave part of the basement since this post...  Even though this is the "man cave" part of the project -- I LOVE it!

And, I thought you might be a bit bored just looking at a view of the corner of the room.  Even though it is the most important part of the project.  Why?  This part of the basement is below the area of the kitchen where we eat our meals.  In the winter, there is an annoying draft that sends chills up my back -- so much at times that I have to wear a hooded sweatshirt during dinner.  Crazy, right?

Anyhow, here is a view from the landing at the bottom of the steps looking towards the back wall.  Oh, you can hardly see the back wall because there's a whole lot of stuff in the way -- just squeeze your eyeballs through the framing on the left side of the photo, and the shelves holding magazines and toilet paper on the right side of the photo...

  

The framing on the left side of the photo will support the outside wall of an unfinished storage area.  The shelving on the right side of the photo will become a small unfinished closet (on the diagrams that are submitted for the permit, you can't call anything a "closet" -- you have to call it a "storage" area.  If you call it a closet, then that implies that someone will be living in the area, and you need to add an egress window or door.)  However, in real life, this is my closet, a.k.a. "Mommy's secret present room".  The only place in the entire house that belongs totally to me.  There is a lock on the door -- and I am the only one with the key.  I'm still not sure how large of  a space I deserve to call my own...  Any suggestions?  :-)   

easiest ever chicken soup...

Do any of you watch the PBS cooking show "Ciao Italia"?  Well, according to the hostess of the show, MaryAnn Esposito -- "Soup in a can should be left there."  I think about that every time I open up a can of soup.  I have tried, many, many times to make my own chicken soup -- but it never really tastes the way I want it to -- and then after all the work, no one eats it.  So, on Sunday -- not my regular food shopping day, but I had to go that day because the weather has been so miserable -- as I was standing at the front of the line of people waiting for the rotisserie chickens to pop out of the oven -- a small group of women (including myself) were having a bit of small chat.  One of the women mentioned that she makes soup with the rotisserie chicken and shared her simple recipe.  So, I bought 2 chickens that day.  One of the chickens we ate on Sunday, and then, last night I made the soup with the other chicken.  It was even better than I expected, so, I am happy to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients:

1) Fully cooked rotisserie chicken purchased at  your favorite food store.  I used a 3 lb. chicken in this recipe.

2) Low sodium chicken broth.  I used 2 x 32 oz. containers in this recipe.

3) Vegetables of your choice.  I used potatoes and carrots.

4) Noodles.  I used farfalle (bow ties).  Boil water in a separate pot for these and cook separately from chicken.

5) Place chicken in large pot.  The chicken I used had been in the refrigerator, so my cooking time was adjusted for the colder temperature of the chicken.

6) Add chicken broth.

7) Add vegetables.

8) Add a light sprinkle of black pepper to top of chicken.

9)  Bring to a simmer.  Cook until potatoes and carrots are fork tender.  If you don't add any vegetables, then cook about 20 minutes after bringing to a simmer.

Yup, that's it!  Oh, right --serve and enjoy!  :-)