Fried Computers and Sauteed Green Beans

Hey everyone!

You remember the Morton Salt commercial with the little girl, her dog and the rain of salt?  If not, look it up on YouTube.com.  If you do, I somewhat feel like that little girl....with the salt rain raining down on her. 

I went into the office to walk my 10 minutes on the treadmill and when I came back, my laptop, or
la-to, was fried!  Not frying, but burned, crisp, and black!  As I stood there looking and watching, I thought to myself, "What MORE can go wrong?"  *Note to self: NEVER say that!
My wonderful hubby took it to the computer geeks where he works and it's history.  I have lost everything, all my photos, all my stories, EVERYTHING! :(  In my furry of anger, I threw out my back and spent the entire weekend in some serious pain.  By the time I made it to the Chiropractor, there wasn't much he could do until the swelling went down, but he did manage to give me some relief. 
My Cardiologist informed me I was to take only Tylenol.  Yeah, okay....those provided NO relief, and I finally talked him into letting me take some Aleve.  Thank God, he came to his senses!  That's helped a great deal.
Meanwhile, my wonderful hubby has been attempting to fix the old desktop computer and thank God, he did!  For now.  Then, just the other day, I went outside to let the puppy relieve herself  and not on my hardwood floors and smelled GAS!  I yelled at the wonderful hubby, who inspected everything outside that take gas and low and behold, our car has a gas leak!

NEVER ASK WHAT MORE CAN GO WRONG!!!!

I went shopping and couldn't find any frozen green beans, so I bought 2 pounds of fresh green beans before I realized that I couldn't cook them the way I have always cooked them, with lots of bacon, and grease, and yeah.
So, I went into my kitchen and pulled out some stuff and this is what I came up with.  Oh! and no photos as my camera died, as well.

1 lbs. fresh or frozen green beans
1 tbsp. margarine
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup water
6-8 button mushrooms
1/2 white onion sliced thin

Cut both ends off the green beans (if using fresh, if not, skip this part)

In a skillet, put in your green beans and let them dry fry...no oils of any kind, over meduim high heat for about 3-4 minutes or until they begin to brown.  Add in the water, mushrooms and onions and cover with a lid for about 10 minutes and let simmer over medium heat  If the water isn't totally gone in 10 minutes, remove the lid and let the water boil out.  If you STILL have water, drain it.  Take your margarine and melt it in the microwave.  Add the garlic to the butter and give it a good stir.  Add that to the green beans.  Add in your salt and pepper and lemon juice.  Let this simmer for about another 5 minutes.  Remove the green beans, mushrooms and onions from the skillet with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.
OH MY GOODNESS, these were absolutely wonderful.  Loads of flavor, with a little crunch left in them.  You will LOVE these and I will never cook green beans any other way!

Hopefully, I'll have a few more recipes I can post this next week or so.  Have a great week, everyone.

Out of Order

Have you ever been writing and all of a sudden, you totally black out on thought?  I have.  It’s not fun.  Seems my creativity has taken a vacation.  Okay, not the creativity, the motivation.  Eh, maybe not the motivation, either.  Not sure, what it is, but it’s not there.  Maybe it’s supplies, or material.  OR, maybe it’s a lack of light in my office!

For some crazy reason, my overhead light in my office will not work.  We have changed all the switches and plugs and still it’s dark. Next step is to crawl into the attic (if that is possible) and figure it out there.  

Until I am motivated again, meaning I have stocked up on supplies and materials, I’m going to have to take a break for a bit.  Hopefully, it won’t be very long.  And, when I do get back to blogging, it will be full of great and creative projects.  Below are a few of the items I will be working on.  

All these ideas were found on Pinterest. 

Are this just not the cutest little hats!!!

Planning on making a LOT of these sensory books for Lyla.

Love this idea for my coffee table in the living room.

Always being left stranded in the bathroom?  What a great idea.

 

Until I am back in about 2-3 weeks, keep positive, keep that goal in site, work hard at being healthy, and keep crafty.

Gershelda

Bathrooms and Boy Smells

This post is not for the faint at heart.  It is an up close and personal exploration into a world no one really wants to go, but must.  If you have a weak tummy, you might not want to read this.  Go ahead and click off if you need too, I’ll wait for those who can handle it.  

 Okay, here’s the thing.  If you have the male species living in your home, you are very aware of the fact that sometimes, when they go to the bathroom, they miss the toilet.  Then, you go in and step in “it”.  We all know what “it” is, too.  PEE!  Nothing is more aggravating, stinky and nasty as stepping in pee first thing in the morning!  Okay, leaving the seat up and falling in is a close second, but still….

You can mop the floors, scrub the floor on your hands and knees and that ‘smell’ is still there.  NOTHING seems to get that smell out of the bathroom and of course, you smell it and you know the neighbors can smell it.  You totally freak out if you have company.

I am here to let you in on a little secret.  It doesn’t take a scientist to get rid of this nasty, smelly, odor.  It take 3 ingredients…that’s right, THREE!  And, I’m sure you have them in your pantry right now!  

Here is what you do.

Baking soda

Lemon Juice

Mix together to form a paste the consistency of pancake batter.  Get a glove, ladies.  This is the really nasty part.  Rub that mixture all over your toilet, around the bottom of the toilet, the back and around the floor.  Let it sit 10-15 minutes.  

White Vinegar

 Next, take a spray bottle, fill it with the vinegar, full strength, and spray any place the baking soda/lemon juice mixture is on the toilet and floor.  Get a bowl or pot, fill it with HOT water, get a rag and begin to wipe the baking soda/lemon juice/vinegar off.  Rinse the rag well; continue until the toilet is clean.  

You will be amazed at the color the hot water in the bowl will turn.  You just think it’s clean.  It isn’t, trust me.  I did this last night with my own toilet and I was disgusted by what happened!  Not only will this get the urine off the toilet and floors, it will neutralize the smell and give you a bathroom you can be proud of.  

Gershelda

Chicken and More

How’s your New Year going?  So far, mine has been uneventful.  I like it that way.  As I said in my last post, we have a new puppy.  Think we’ll name her Freckles.  She seems to like that name.  

I have been trying a few new recipes since my heart attack. I tried this chicken breast recipe from The Recipe Crayon Box and fell in LOVE.  Normally, I hate skinless, boneless chicken breast, but this one is to die for!  I followed it to the letter and it was so moist and tasty.  You HAVE to try this.  I won’t ever cook chicken the same again.  Hubby and son LOVED it, too, so BONUS!! 

Another thing I have been doing is keeping serious track of what and how much I am eating.  I am using SuperTracker through the USDA website.  The thing with this is you have to be honest about what you eat.  NO CHEATING!  This is a great way to see which food groups you need more of, how much fat and salt you are consuming, and which foods you need to cut back on. You put in all your information and it automatically gives you the details of calories needed to lose or maintain your weight, which foods you need, everything.  

There is also a fitness tracker.  You put in the amount of exercise you do each day and what type you do, walking, running, yoga.  The downfall to this is if you do less than 10 minutes a day of exercise, it will not count it.  As it is, I’m doing 10 minutes a day on the treadmill but it’s not counting it.   Bummer!

This is a great way to keep healthy, but, as I said, you have to be honest about it.  Nothing helps you if you can’t be honest.  Lying never produced anything helpful or positive. 

I weighed myself this morning.  I have lost 4 pounds since my heart attack.  Not bad, and a great start to this new life.  Adjusting to this new life style has not been as hard as I had once thought.  The eating 3-5 meals a day is the hardest, but I figured I just eat less each time.  There have been some great benefits to this, as well.  My blood sugars are lower (sometimes too low) so, I am cutting back my insulin.  This is a GREAT thing!  I am drinking more water, something I would not have done in the past, and I am finding I’m not as swollen. This means I do not have to hit the water pill as often.  Another GREAT thing! 

If you are trying to live a heart healthy life, keep up the great work.  And try out that chicken recipe.  You will not be disappointed.

Gershelda

What New Years Resolutions

 I have seen over the last few days a LOT of people making a LOT of New Year's Eve Resolutions.  Let's take a look at this word, "resolution".  What exactly does it mean?  And why do we make them.  And most importantly, why do we not keep them.

The word 'resolution' means, "A firm decision to do or not to do something."  We make these every year and by the end of the the month, we are back to our old habits again.  We have good intentions, eat right, exercise more, stop smoking, save more, spend less, do this, do that. Why can't we stick to them?

Personally, I think it is because we set ourselves up for failure.  We set our goals so high there is no way to reach it.  Lose 100 pounds in 6 months, stop smoking in 2 weeks, save 10,000.00 this month.  Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but you get it.  If we have manageable goals, lose 5 pounds this month, not have a cigarette TODAY, and so on, make our goals more manageable, we can reach our goals.  

Now I haven't made a resolution in years.  Mainly, because 1. I am too lazy to stick to it and 2.  I am too lazy to stick to it.  However, this year I have a few.  Having a heart attack tends to make you WANT to live a little healthier, just so you stick around and irritate the people around you.  So, I resolve to not smoking, eating better and getting more exercise.  

Another reason I feel that we cannot stick to our resolutions is we have the "I want it now" mentality.  Making changes does not happen overnight.   Yes, I want to not smoke NOW!  I want to be skinny NOW.  I want to be able to run a 5K marathon NOW!    The reality is it isn't going to happen NOW.  It is going to take a life time to make these changes.  The reality is it's not a 'diet', it's a lifestyle change. Meaning, you do it for your life time.  Not just until....... 

You are going to screw up and smoke a cigarette.  You are going to eat that fat laden steak.  You are not going to run today.  Acknowledge that you messed up and start over. Don't give up.  Life is a learning game.  We make mistakes, we learn from them and move on.  Don't beat yourself up over making a mistake.  We are not perfect.  Don't expect yourself to be perfect.  And, if someone expects you to be perfect, boot them out of your life.  Those people are the ones that will bring you down.  Surround yourself with people who love and support you.  Who knows you are going to make mistakes, but doesn't make you feel less than who you are.

Is this not the cutest pup you have ever seen?  Okay, even I have seen puppies cuter than this one, but this one is mine.  My hubby brought her home last night from my nephew's house.  She is half blue healer and half Boston Terrier.  The runt of the bunch.   And, she needs a name!  Suggest me a name for this bundle of energy and have a happy, positive, New Year! 

The Page Family