A LOL cat and dog

Sorry, ladies, a full CrockPot and a two+ hour trip to Austin is not conducive to my sanity. Have you ever had a full CrockPot turn over in your vehicle and spill everything out on the floor? I have. And for years afterwards my truck smelled like Spinach Meatball Soup whenever the weather was hot - about ten months out of the year. So no Chicken Tetrazzini in the CrockPot, but I will bring the recipe!

If you haven't discovered the LOL cats and dogs websites, you're missing a lot of laughs. Click for cats, and for dogs.

Rachel, this one is for you. It's also in memory of my pitbull Bailey, a doofus of a dog if there ever was one.

Gloria, when I saw this one, I knew it was for us. I'm sure this kitty knows how to do a FULL BODY SHUDDER.

A CrockPot disaster

I'm an excellent cook. I'm pretty fearless in the kitchen and I enjoy trying new recipes. My instincts for what ingredients will taste good together are great, and I often make up new recipes.

Saturday, however, I had a rare kitchen disaster in the CrockPot. I found this new-to-me recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini. Normally, when I get a new recipe, I follow it to the letter. After I make it once, then I can tweak it as needed.

Well, the directions for this recipe looked questionable. It said to use dry spaghetti and layer the ingredients in the order given. I have another recipe for a similar chicken and spaghetti dish where I cook the spaghetti and mix everything together before slopping it into the CrockPot. But against my better judgement, I followed the recipe exactly.

It was a disaster. It smelled good, but we couldn't eat it. The spaghetti ended up in gluey slabs stuck to the bottom of the CrockPot. The other layers either burned or became gluey. They did not "mix themselves" as the recipe stated they would. And to top it off, it wasn't a cheap recipe to make. I ended up chucking about nine dollars worth of ingredients in the trash.

But I will make it again, I'll just do it the way I should of to start with - cooked spaghetti and mixing everything up. I should listen to myself; I usually know best.

Fourth of July Quaker freebie finish

As promised, here is a picture of my finished Fourth of July Quaker freebie. I stitched it on Charles Craft tea-dyed Monaco with GAST Presidential Blue, Cranberry, and Picket Fence. I'll finish it as a door knob hanger.

DH is out in the heat in our woods erecting a new tree stand for hunting next fall. He spent one evening last week using the riding mower to mow paths through the woods. He was very proud that he found and mowed over the paths already made by wildlife. He is having to use his new chainsaw to remove a dead tree before the new stand can go in a nearby live tree, so he is doubly happy. Or maybe he is simply getting heat stroke.

No cross-stitcher would go outside to do anything in 104 degree heat, even in the shade. Man hobbies are mysterious.

We gots paint!

I couldn't help myself; I stitched the Fourth of July Quaker freebie. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

Today, DH's work friend Billy came out and painted the main color on our addition. They had to prime and caulk everything, too. Next Friday, on the Fourth of July weekend, they'll finish painting the trim work. Whee-e-o! PAINT on the house!

DH cleaning the Hardi-plank prior to priming.

Billy spraying on the primer coat.

DH caulking (much more than he should have had to due to the inept contractor - May the Great Bird of the Galaxy roost in that man's nose and may he get nose hemorrhoids.)

Billy painting. The house will be a light yellow with white trim.

I'll post a picture of the finished paint job next weekend when they get it all finished. PAINT!!

Quaker anyone?

I'm not a die-hard Quaker fan, but I like them enough to stitch them at times.

This Fourth of July Quaker freebie was posted on a few MBs and blogs yesterday, so I decided to enable those who have not seen it yet.

You can find it on Aury's Blog; look for the June 24th entry. She has a lot of other Quaker and SAL freebies on her blog. In case the link doesn't work, here is the URL: http://aurytm.com/blog/.

The freebie looks like it would stitch up quick (I may check this out myself). It would make a nice pinkeep, ornament, knob hanger, or floss tag. Aury used Vikki Clayton silk (HDF), but I'll probably use GAST when I stitch it.

Priorities or entitlement? My two cents.

Normally I'm not one to make a post of a political nature. But over the last little while, I've been mulling over "healthcare reform" and feel compelled to comment on it.

Yes, I think healthcare costs are ridiculous. And I think the cause of this is simple greed. Once insurance companies began to stick their fingers in the pie, everything became more costly: greed. Insurance companies don't care about your health; they only care about making money. I know whereof I speak, having been involved with providing healthcare and billing patients in my checkered past. I could write a book on it, but I won't.

I have a problem with the idea of being entitled to healthcare/medical insurance. All Americans are entitled to it - and they always have been. I'm just not sure that the government should provide it for us. A lot of folks seem to take this a step further and believe that they are entitled to have the government provide them with healthcare/medical insurance. I disagree with this.

During my adult life, and during our 21+ years of marriage, DH and I have always been entitled to healthcare/medical insurance. We realized that having medical insurance was a good idea. It would protect us from an unexpected or costly financial disaster. We chose to make it a priority in our finances. We have always had medical insurance, even when we had to pay for it ourselves. We have always chosen to have employers provide medical insurance for us, even if we had to pay part or all of the premiums. And we also have always budgeted money to pay for copays and medications. That's just part of doing business and being healthy. We have never wanted nor expected the government to do this for us.

At one point in our marriage, we were making less than $20,000.00 a year between the two of us, and we still bought our own health insurance as our employers didn't provide it for us. It was a catastrophic plan for emergencies - an "I've been hit by a bus and I'm in the hospital!" type of plan. Never did we expect to have the government or anyone else take care of this. We just made it a priority in our budget. We chose to purchase the insurance. (And our insurance payment was slightly higher than our house payment at that time!)

At another time, I had to have surgery that our insurance didn't cover. DH spent time talking to the doctors and hospital and arranging for us to pay the bills off over time. We made it a priority to pay them off early and did so in less than a quarter of the allotted time. We did what we had to do.

Truthfully, a lot of people could pay for their own plans, but won't. DH worked with a guy who was married with a wife and two children. His wife worked and both of them made good money. They probably pulled in close to $100,000.00 a year between the two of them. The company provided medical insurance by paying for two-thirds of the cost of the premiums with the employee paying the other third (taken out of the paycheck). This guy refused to do it. He wouldn't sign up. He didn't want that money taken out of his paycheck.

He left his family vulnerable in my opinion. He's all for government healthcare because that way, he doesn't have to pay for it out of his own pocket. He doesn't realize that he will be paying for it in higher taxes - just ask the Canadians.

People need to be responsible for themselves and be accountable with their money. Of course, it they're looking for good examples of fiscal responsibility, our federal government is a poor place to look.

You spend your money on what you think is important. Medical insurance is important to DH and me, so we choose to budget for it before we spend on other things. Priorities. Fiscal responsibility. Being free and independent. Accountable. Paying your own way. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.

I'll leave you with an Emma picture. Here's her favorite spot on the back of the sofa where the AC blows just right.

It's hotter in Texas

I love summer. I love the heat. There's a reason I live in the south. It's that time of year again, hot, hot, and hotter. It's supposed to be over 100 degrees today.

When I read blogs or message boards, I always roll my eyes at the northerners who complain about the heat in the summer. Today I read of a person who was "sweltering" as it was supposed to get up to 83 degrees where she lived. Eighty-three degrees is a balmy day down here where I live.

Of course, when the temperatures dip below 60 degrees, then I start whining. And I guess the northerners can look down their noses at me! There's no way I could live up north. I only tolerate snow if I'm skiing on it. And I'd have to wear shoes for a lot more of the year. ACK!

DH and I are playing summer softball. There's a heck of a difference in playing at 6:30 p.m. as opposed to playing later in the evening once the sun goes down. I think I sweated out two quarts of Gatorade last night. And we won our game!

Here's a picture of my "The Alamo" WIP. I don't think you can tell much from it yet. But here it is anyway.