Category: lifestyle

Signs of Fall!

Fall is finally here. Yeah! Watch out for monsters. We’ve had quite the couple of weeks here. My poor hubby has been sicker than a dog. When they did an endoscopy, earlier, to see if he had acid reflux, they also did a biopsy of the stomach lining. I guess that’s routine. Anyway, they found bacteria in the stomach lining. He was given three big drugs to take. As soon as he started taking them, he had the chills, a fever, headache, his hair hurt, and he felt like a truck had run over him. Actually, I thought he had the flu at the same time. He was on the meds for 10 days, and in bed,most of that time. Now he’s done with the meds, but is still pretty tired. The flu??? I don’t know. They’ll test him again, in two weeks or so, to see if the bacteria is gone.

Painting a monster. Scary!

Meanwhile, my grandson painted a monster. I thought it was really cute. He’s getting in the Halloween spirit. He’s going to be Jake the Pirate for Halloween. Today, he brought his pumpkin pail to practice trick or treating.

Chocolate pumpkin bread with cream cheese. Yummy!

This weather makes me want to cook. I made some Chocolate Pumpkin Bread….pumpkin bread with chocolate chips in it. It tastes fabulous with some cream cheese. I made two loaves, planning on freezing one. But I ended up taking the extra one over to the neighbor…he’s been on strike at GM.

My fun blouse.

Trying to figure out how to dress for Fall. Of course, so far, it starts out cool and by afternoon, it gets a lot warmer. Yesterday, I needed to go to Arlington for business. So I pulled out a blouse that I bought, earlier in the year. I hadn’t worn it much, but I love the sleeves. I ordered it from Zulily. I ordered three things, at the time. The other two items I finally gave to the church garage sale. Because…of course…I waited too long to send them back to Zulily. Story of my life!

Remember when I was so excited to get my new LG Dishwasher??? When my SIL, Nathan, was over the other night, I told him it wasn’t drying very whoopy. He opened the dishwasher, and the water hadn’t drained out. The soap was still in the little door. AAAAGGGHHH!!! Nathan pulled out the drain thingy, and nothing happened. Finally, he put his hand down in there, and there was a COFFEE FILTER in there!! WHAT?? How did that happen? Anyway, since then, it has worked fine. But I’ve had nightmares, all night long, about slimy soap and clogged drains.

How is your Fall going? Is your weather getting cooler? I see some areas of the country are getting snow. Wow. Have a good week.

Grandma Sherry

October Happenings

Woohoo! It’s finally October, and maybe only a few more days of high 90* temperatures. Everyone is so tired of the heat, but we may have a bit of a reprieve next week. Bring on the Fall!

My husband was supposed to leave tomorrow, for a 4 day Men’s Golf Outing, in San Antonio. About 8 guys from our church were going to go. The spouses, including me, had great plans for our weekend. Unfortunately, the friend that headed up the golf outing, has become seriously ill in the hospital. Please put him on your prayer list!

I have talked my hubby into going to Little Rock, Arkansas, for our tour of P.Allen Smith’s big garden estate, on November 1st. We’re going to make it a weekend trip. I hope to go to see the Clinton Presidential Library. Dick is hoping to play golf with a friend. I have our tickets reserved for the garden tour. Woohoo! And a friend, very nicely, volunteered to have us stay with them. Wow.

Cut and Paste

My grandson, Isaac and I have been having Nana School. He just turned three. He’s learning how to use scissors (no easy skill!). He loves to Cut and Paste. He’s learning to count and I put out some numbers, and he has to put that many counting teddy bears to add up to those numbers. Then Isaac makes a pattern out of the bears. He’s loving it! Yesterday, he painted a Jack-O-Lantern form, and then we played Please Don’t Spill the Beans!. Fun.

Learning to color in the lines, and making a pattern

Painting a Jack-O-Lantern

My daughter, Jessica, had a birthday recently. She got to use the Red Plate. We only use that for special occasions, and then I write down who used it, and what we had to eat.

The Red Plate

Our church just had a Live Auction. My donation to the auction was a Dinner for 8, followed by Mexican Bingo. I couldn’t believe it! A group of my friends bought that for $725. Another friend bought a second one for $700. My word! This should be fun.

Mexican Bingo

Another friend, Lorraine Sheppherd, gave me her extra ticket to see “Phantom of the Opera”, with her and her kids. It was at Bass Hall, and it was spectacular!!! Love it.

Phantom of the Opera!

How is your fall going? October is going to be a great month. What are your plans? Let me know if you enjoyed this post.

Grandma Sherry

When Will It Feel Like Fall??

The calendar says it’s officially Fall. I’ve just decorated for Fall. When is it going to feel like Fall? Here in Texas, we have a heat index, today, of 106*. We’re still in the upper 90’s for this week, and who knows how much longer? Sheesh! Anyway, here are some of my decorations. I always have a small tray on our ottoman, for my grandkids. I decorated the mantel, and used a black and white theme in my music room. The house looks pretty good. The outside looks like fading plants. I have a lot of work to do outside.

The weather, as you know, has been crazy this year. After Dorian and before Imelda, we had a scheduled cruise from Galveston, on Carnival Vista. It was a great cruise! OK…I lost a TON of money at the casino! And I seemed to have gained about 3 lbs.. Our friend broke his arm on the second day of the cruise. Other than that, it was great. I earned enough points at the casino, that my next cruise is 50% off the casino rate. We are excited to go on another cruise, in February, with our friends in Toledo. This time, we went to Jamaica, Cozumel, and Grand Caymen.

In Jamaica, we took an excursion bus through the town, and up into the rural area. We visited a preschool that is kind of sponsored by the tours. Everyone brought things for the school. I loved seeing the things they were doing, and the teaching aids they had. There were three classes, kind of crammed into the rooms. But they were happy, the teacher had lots of goals for her class, and they all came out and sang a song to us. It was fun.

At the school in Jamaica.

So the amazing thing,…I’d call it a God thing….was that we came home from our cruise, driving from Galveston through Houston, and back to our house, about three or four days before all of the flooding hit Galveston and Houston. I don’t know what we would have done, if we had come back to those conditions. Thank you, Lord. But we’re still sending up prayers for Houston and Beaumont areas.

Life is back to normal routine here. Piano lessons and keeping our Grandson. I was saddened by the loss of one of the teachers at Oakmont Elementary School, where I subbed for 12 years. Her funeral was Saturday. She was a great teacher!

I’m planning our next weekend trip. I’ve been wanting to take a tour of P. Allen Smith’s home and gardens, near Little Rock, Arkansas. He has his Fall tours starting next month. Maybe I’l get inspired!

What’s inspiring you? Do you decorate for Fall? Is it cold where you live? Let me know what your big passion is, this season of your life.

Grandma Ruddell

Southwestern Quiche…A Freezer Meal

Yes! Real men DO eat quiche, and my whole family loves this quiche. I found this recipe, years ago, in a “Taste of Home Freezer Pleasers” cookbook. That recipe was attributed to Paula Marchesi, and I have doctored it up to make it my own. It’s great for putting in the freezer and cooking at a later date, or making it for tonight. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 2 unbaked pastry shells (9 inches)
  • 2 t. chili powder
  • 1 t. ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 c. (6 oz..) shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 1/2 c. (6 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
  • 1 c. (4 0z.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 8 eggs
  • 2 cups half-and-half cream
  • 2 cans (4 oz. each) chopped green chilies
  • 2 cans ( 2 1/4 oz. each) sliced ripe olives, drained
  • 6 oz. chopped ham
  • 1/4 c. chopped green onions
  • 2 T. minced fresh cilantro
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. pepper
  • Salsa and sour cream, optional

Line unpricked pastry shells with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 400* for 5 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 minutes longer.

Sprinkle chili powder and cumin over shells; sprinkle with cheeses. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, chilies, ham, olives, onions, cilantro, salt and pepper. Pour evenly over cheese.

Cover and freeze one quiche for up to 3 months. Cover edges of second quiche loosely with foil. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400* for 45 – 60 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with salsa and sour cream if desired.

To use frozen quiche: Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before baking. (do not thaw). Cover edges of crust loosely with foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400* for 60 minutes or longer, until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. YIELD: 2 quiches (6 servings each).

Note: Originally, the baking time was less, but having added the ham, it takes longer to bake. This would also be great with chicken, or Cajun Style Andouille Sausage. Be creative!

I also had some problems with the pan sticking to the freezer shelf or whatever I placed it on. It dripped a bit, under the pie plate, when I put it down and caused a suction. Maybe put a double layer of foil on the bottom?

Enjoy!

Hope you enjoy!

Grandma Sherry

WE’VE HAD TWO WEEKS OF FUN!

Boppa turns into Cat Boy!!! If you want to find out about this transformation, read my blog.

Wow! This has been a busy couple of weeks! We celebrated two birthdays, had a grandson stay with us for a weekend, and visited several neat places. I’ll tell you later about the newest addition to our house, that I’m in LOVE with.

Boppa is Cat Boy.
The birthday boy with his PJ Mask cake.
Liam and Mark Twain, sharing a book.

Our youngest grandson, Isaac, celebrated his 3rd birthday on August 13th. We celebrated then and also at his party on the weekend. He received everything possibly made with PJ Masks . He is really in to Cat Boy. Just a month or so ago, everything was Paw Patrol. Now we’re on to PJ Masks. He had a great party, with both sets of grandparents and his cousins, plus lots of other friends. We were delighted to have Liam, our oldest grandchild, to stay with us for that weekend.

Lunch at the Kimball Museum
The Japanese Bridge, over Monet’s Lily Pond.
This would go nicely in my Dining Room.

My birthday was on Aug. 15th. Dick and I went to the Kimball Art Museum, to see the exhibit of “Monet..the Later Years”. Oh. my. gosh. It was fabulous! I told Dick that I wanted one of the paintings of either the Japanese Bridge that went over his lily pond, or one of his bigger paintings with beautiful pastel colors. My sister, Toni Wood, who is the marketing director for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, in KC, told me that I really deserved one of those! But she also said that one of Monet’s paintings sold for $85 Million, and the most recent one sold for $110 million. OK…we bought the coasters instead.

The Chickasaw Indian at the Chickasaw Welcome Center and Bedre Candies.

This weekend, we went for a weekend at Winstar….a major casino, just across the OK/TX boarder. We had two free nights. We spent Saturday morning and afternoon driving to Sulphur, OK, where the Chickasaw National Recreation Area is located. It was great. Dick did some hiking on one of their many trails. There were lots of water things happening, with little falls, springs, places to swim and go tubing. There were enough campground spots for half of Ft. Worth. We also saw buffalo. I will spare you the buffalo poop photo that I sent to my grandkids. LOL I’d recommend this place to anyone who loves nature. We ended that trip by going to the Bedre candy factory.

Silly Liam

Silly Libby
Silly Isaac

I have some silly grandkids! They wanted me to take photos of them with their tongues sticking out. Why do kids always want their tongues sticking out in pictures???? Can you tell which one just finished eating blue ice cream?

And now…my new household item! My son-in-law, Nathan, had been to Lowe’s. He found an LG Dishwasher, that had a tiny dent on it, that had been $900 and was on sale for $200. He called and said “Get down here fast, if you want it!” We went and there was another guy who wanted the same machine. After hemhawing back and forth for awhile, he suggested we flip a coin. We won!!! I feel really guilty, but OHHHH I love this dishwasher! My old one was so noisy we had to turn the TV up really loud. This one, you can barely hear it. Life is Good.

How has your week been? Do anything exciting? We have two weeks and then we go on a cruise. I can hardly wait. Are you all done with any trips?

Have a good week,

Grandma Sherry