Before and After

I’ve discovered I like cooking. I’ve always had a fascination with cook books and cooking shows. I just never had the desire (or the encouragement) to try the stuff I found.

I loved reading the list of ingredients and the directions and I thought “I can do that!!”

So . . . . I’ve started trying some of the recipes that I find . . .

I made Shepherd’s Pie for St. Patrick’s Day. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I found a fairly uncomplicated recipe, gathered the ingredients and started cooking.

What I didn’t realize is that cooking is a messy job . . .

How could there be that much mess for a meal to feed two people!?

It took a while, but I got the mess cleaned up . . .

I still love to cook . . . I just need to find someone to do the dishes!!

Home Alone

That sounds a little ominous, doesn’t it?

No, Prince Charming hasn’t left for greener pastures. 

He’s at a training class for work to learn how to work on machines that are in the new clinics his company just acquired.

He left on Sunday and won’t be back until Friday night.

So . . . what’s a girl to do to keep herself occupied when she’s home alone for 5 days?

Yup, you guessed it . . . I’m cleaning!

Oh the excitement!!

 

Sure Sign of Spring

I know Spring isn’t too far away when Fluff takes to sleeping in the sun on the front steps.

Transitions

After Tigger and Smokie passed away, I swore I was not ever going to have another cat in the house. 

Ever. 

Well, Fluffy has changed all that. 

And that was okay because Fluffy was a “neighborhood” cat that technically belonged to the family across the street.  So I could love on him (yes, Fluffy is a boy!) if he would let me, and feed him, and he would go home to his family across the street. 

But then the family adopted a German shepherd puppy – and then the adopted a pit bull puppy shortly after that.  Fluff wasn’t particularly fond of either puppy and decided it was time to hit the road and became the neighborhood cat.  Fluffy had at least 5 houses in the neighborhood that would feed him and one lady that would groom him once a week. 

That was still okay because he wasn’t officially “mine” . . . or so I thought!

It appears that he likes my house best and wants me to be his new “human” 

It was all good because he was still mainly an outdoor cat. He would show up at The Little House about the time I got home from work and would “sing” for his supper.  After which, he would promptly go back to exploring the neighborhood.  

But over the last year or so, I’ve noticed some subtle changes in Fluff.  While he’s still out scouting the neighborhood, his trips aren’t the all-day adventures of the past.  He seems to have given up his all-night neighborhood prowl for the comforts of sleeping in a nice dry and warm bed – usually the one belonging to Rocky and Millie!  He leaves for his morning “jaunt” before I leave for work in the morning and more often than not he’s waiting on the front steps when I come home for lunch. 

From the information I learned from the lady that lives across the street, Fluff is about 9 years old now.  That’s pretty old in “outside cat” years.  I have a feeling it won’t be long before Fluff becomes an official full-time inside cat. 

Funny thing is I can’t tell if I won him over . . . or if he won me over!

Wallflower

This is my 7th grade picture.  It’s one of Prince Charming’s favorite pictures of me.  This is how I looked when we he met me oh so many years ago.

Prince Charming wasn’t feeling well last weekend and I thought I’d change the profile picture on my Facebook account to this to cheer him up.  He says it always makes him smile when he sees this picture of me.

I thought I was a bit of a wallflower when I was in junior high and high school.  I wasn’t a star athlete, or on the honor roll, or one of those kids that was always in some sort of trouble.  I was always referred to as somebody’s sister, or somebody’s friend, or that girl going out with you-know-who.  Just another face in the crowd.

Imagine my surprise when I started reading the comments left on the post announcing the change of my profile picture . . . comments about remembering this cute little girl, or her cute smile, or some other memory from junior high . . . comments from people who I thought had no idea who I was way back then . . . and who I thought hardly remembered who I was when they “friended” me on Facebook.

Guess I wasn’t such a wallflower after all . . . and not only did I succeed in cheering up Prince Charming . . . I cheered myself up as well!

He’s Only Human

First, a little background info . . . in my previous life hearing the words “I need you to come here and see this” always struck fear in my heart.  It usually meant that one of the animals  had done something that I would have to clean up or that something had broken and a long complicated (read “expensive”) repair process about to start.

I took today as a vacation day to reward myself for surviving a rather hectic and very busy Christmas holiday week at work.  I’m downstairs enjoying my morning chocolate milk and surfing the internet when I hear the dreaded words from Prince Charming.

“Honey, I need you to come here and look at something.”

Me: (crap) . . . “Okay, I’m on my way.  Did the cat poop in the bath tub again?”

Him (amused): “No.  It’s okay, just come here.”

Me (double crap): Turning to Millie as I walk up the stairs “What did you guys do this time?”

Him (still amused and smiling): “We have a problem.”

Me (fairly panic stricken at this point): “What happened?”

Him (huge smile on his face): “Uh, I didn’t double check the setting on the trimmer before I started trimming my mustache.”

Me (finally seeing what he’s done and now I’m laughing): “Uh oh this isn’t good.”  (The middle of his mustache is pretty much gone at this point)

Him: “I don’t think I can salvage it.  I’m going to have to shave it. “

Me (still laughing): “Oh, honey, it’s okay.”

Him: “You’ve never seen me without a mustache and I didn’t want to just come downstairs and shock you.”

Me: “Well, I do appreciate that.”

He shaved it off and he’s already planning the schedule for when he can grow it back.  It’s going to be very cold here this week and he’s already noticing a huge difference in how his face feels without the mustache.  I think he was a little worried about my reaction . . . when I finally stopped laughing (and I did apologize for laughing) I got a good look at his newly clean shaven face and I told him that he’s still my Handsome Green Eyed Man and the decision to grow it back is entirely up to him.

It’s going to take some getting used to looking at his face without the mustache, but kissing him goodbye this morning without getting poked by mustache hair was kind of nice!

 

 

New Technology

Prince Charming got a promotion! He is going back to his first love – fixing machines. It’s actually more complicated than “just fixing machines” but I’ll explain that in a later post.

The promotion is a big deal for lots of reasons but the coolest thing is he needed a smart phone – and he chose an iPhone. Now I’m not a techie and have fought getting an iPhone because of the cost of the data plan. Much to my surprise (and Prince Charming’s delight) his company has a nice employee discount program that made my argument invalid.

So I have (to quote my brother) joined the 21st century and am the proud owner of an iPhone 4s. Yay me! Now I have to figure out how to work it. Thank heaven for my little iPod touch to help with the learning curve. Poor Prince Charming got an iPhone 5 and there isn’t a manual for it yet. We are going to be bugging my brother the Apple expert!

I Know Why Old People Are Grumpy

After years of hearing the “as you get older” speech from the family doc, I decided it was time to follow his advice and do some of the “old lady” tests he’s been advocating.

I had a colonoscopy.  The found a benign polyp that was removed and because of that development I get to repeat that test next year.  Yay for me . . . not!

I had a bone density test done.  I have something called osteopenia which means my bones are thinning and I’m headed towards osteoporisis.  Not a big surprise there, my mom has osteopenia and her mom had osteoporisis.

Because of those two developments, I have to make some changes to my diet.  After the colonoscopy, I was told to add more fiber to my diet.  Whole grain bread, more veggies, and take a fiber supplement.  After the bone density test, I have to add a calcium supplement and a Vitamin D supplement to my daily diet.

All that is in addition to having to add potassium to my diet to replace what is being lost with the water pill I take to help with the swelling in my feet and ankles caused by the circulation problems in my legs. Who knew that wearing three inch heels all through high school, college, and my early working life would cause such problems.

And then there’s the usual recommendation to lose some of the weight I’ve gained since my hysterectomy which prompted Prince Charming and I to join a gym.  The exercise routine will help reduce my blood pressure and cholesterol (yea, they are a little out of whack, too!), help with the circulation problem in my legs, and help strengthen my bones.

So at any given time I’m trying to figure out if something I’m about to eat will help my bones or my potassium or will it hurt my blood pressure or my cholesterol.  Or I’m trying to figure out which exercise machine will help which health issue.  You should see all the health info apps I have on my iPod Touch.

The conversations I have with myself sometimes are absolutely hilarious but most of the time I’m upset with myself for getting into this shape in the first place.

 

November Already?

Wow . . . it’s been four months since I posted anything here?!

Sorry, ya’ll . . . it’s been a busy summer . . . filled with trips here, there, and everywhere . . .

A Big Birthday for Prince Charming . . .

Time for Old Lady Testing for me . . .

Facing monsters and slaying them . . .

Yea, I know . . . you want details!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Prince Charming took me on a trip.  It was my birthday gift.  He did the planning.  He did the research.  He made the reservations.

All I had to do was pack!

He took me to Cleveland!  Cleveland?  Yes, Cleveland!

 

We visited the “A Christmas Story House”.

Anyone who knows and loves Ralphie knows this house!

 

We went to the beach . . .

okay, it wasn’t Florida or Myrtle Beach but it had waves, it had sun, it had sand . . . it was perfect!

 

We went to the Lighthouse in Fairport Harbor.

Yes, I walked at 69 steps to the top . . .

This is the view from the top!

See that red car?  That’s the Dogmobile.  I almost didn’t recognize it.

And you can’t go to Cleveland without going to the Rock Hall of Fame.

The Rock Hall was too cool for words . . .

 

We ate at fun places!

“The Dude Abides” at Melt Bar and Grilled.

 

Chicken Paprikash at Sterle’s Country House

It was three days away from work, away from the daily stress that was threatening to choke me . . . just me and Prince Charming (the doggies went to Puppy Camp for three days) . . . and it was heaven.

It was the best birthday present ever!