Happy Holidays

A late Merry Christmas to all of you. 

I trust you had a wonderful holiday. 

 

I love Christmas however I have to say it just isn't the same since Mom & Dad have passed and we sold the home place.  They always made ever holiday, birthday and occasion special and with Christmas it was even more so. 

We had a different but nice Christmas this year. 

It felt so good to just have some down time and relax. 

 

So another holiday season is behind us and a

New Year is about to begin. 

 

Today would have been Dad's birthday. 

I miss them both so much. 

 

Happy New Year everyone! 

 

Leftovers!!

Thanksgiving has come and gone for another year. 
However the leftovers are still here. 

We sent a few home with our guest on Thursday, had the in-laws over Friday for dinner, and are having company again today for lunch.

 

Today I made my Chicken Noodle Soup and used some of the turkey instead of chicken.  Remember the secret to keep the noodles from getting mushy is to cook them for only 2 minutes then immediately rinse them in cold water and add them to the soup right before serving.

 

For a different twist on the Turkey sandwich...a Turkey Rueben.  Turkey, Swiss cheese, sour kraut, and thousand island dressing, some good sturdy bread and grill it.  Yum!  You can skip the sour kraut completely if you want.  A different variety would be to toast the bread, use the turkey, Swiss cheese, Thousand Island dressing and add coleslaw.

 

I will also be freezing some of the turkey to use in recipes later on.  You can substitute turkey in just about any recipe that calls for chicken.

 

Gobble, Gobble!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wow!  Where has this year gone?

We have so much to be thankful for.

We were not with family today

so we opened our house to some friends.

Of course there was a ton of food.

Menu

Turkey (of course)

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Stuffing Balls

Sweet Potato Casserole

Macaroni & Cheese

Green Beans

Coleslaw

Deviled Eggs

Cranberry Sauce

Rolls

Apple Cake

Pumpkin Pie

Pecan Pie

Ice Cream

 

Hubby was a big help!  I have the best Husband. 

So thankful for him!

Even though I wasn't with my family today, they were with me

for they are a big part of who I am.  They are always in my heart.

Good food, wonderful family, great friends, and a warm home.

Many Blessings.

Hope you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been my precious Mother's birthday.

 

While I feel bad for being so late in the day for posting this, I couldn't let it pass completely without doing it.  I was gone all day and most of the evening.  However she was on my mind.  Both of my parents were as usual.  Never once did it cross my mind that by the age of 30 I would have lost both of my parents.

 

Dear Mom,

Happy Birthday.  I know that you are having the best celebration in Heaven.  I miss you terribly and love you so much.

Oh to have one more moment with you. 

Thank you for everything.  I love you so much. 

Happy Birthday.

9 Years Ago

Nine years ago today, my precious Dad

went to his reward in Heaven. 

It's hard to believe that it has been that long. 

At times it seems just like yesterday. 

I was both a daddy's and a momma's girl and always their baby. 

I am very thankful for my parents and miss them dearly. 

They taught by example and not just words. 

My life has been richly blessed because of them. 

They have both left a large void in my heart and life. 

 

 

Your journey on earth has ended but your legacy lives on.

I love you and miss you.

XOXOXO,

Your Baby Girl

Dinning Abroad

Dinning Abroad...via my kitchen that is.

We traveled to my husband's birth place...Korea. 

For those of you who do not know, my husband was adopted when he was three years old from Seoul, South Korea.

Back to the food...

 

Korean Beef served over rice with a side of Kimchi.

 

 

This is a recipe that I had shared a while back however I decided to make it again today.

 

Trust me, if you haven't tried it, you need to!

 

Check under the 'recipe' tab for the Korean Beef.

 

Enjoy!

Random Pictures

This morning, I downloaded the pictures off of my little camera.  As I normally say, Ray is the real photographer in the family and he has the nice camera.  However I just have a little point and shoot camera which is fine for me.

Anyways, here they are...

First off, have you seen the new Coke bottles?

They have a promotional thing going on right now called 'share a Coke.'  You can go to their website, www.shareacoke.com, and find out if they printed your name on a label.  Mine isn't but Ray's is.  The store I was in didn't have it so I went with 'friends.'

 

A little over a week ago we were having a lot of storms. 

Here's a few pictures of one.

 

It had been hot and humid, then a lot of storms. 

However, the morning after was perfect. 

It was so nice and refreshing out. 

This one was taken around 5am. 

It was such a beautiful morning!

 

The thought came to me of how that is just like life is sometimes. 

You come through storms but then how refreshing it is when it is over and most of the time you are better for the storm.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

 

The Chesapeake Bay

You wait and wait and wait some more

for vacation to finally arrive. 

Then all of the sudden it is gone, over, history, etc.

Ray and I were really needing some time away. 

He works full time plus he is back in school working on another degree.  I stay busy myself as well.  Normally with his schooling, he does not get a break in between classes; it is just a continual process.  However, he was finally given a week off from school.  So we jumped at the chance to get in the vehicle and hit the road.

One of the places that we really enjoy going to is the Chesapeake Bay.  It is just so peaceful, relaxing and tranquil.  It also helps that my sister-in-law owns a vacation home right on the water!

(Here's a mixture of pictures.  Some with a cellphone, my little camera, and of course Ray's more professional camera.  Some are from years past.  I don't have some of the one's that Ray took this year.  I will try to get them from him as soon as possible and add them.)

 

This is the view from the deck on the back of her house. 

I wish I was there right now!

 

 

Ray went out on the pier a couple times and fished.

 

I love just sitting on the deck watching the ships go by, some of them are huge,

listen to the waves and sea gulls.  It is so relaxing.

 

Normally I am not an outdoors kind of person. 

However, when we are at the Bay I want to

be outside all of the time.

 

 

It's a place where people take there boats to the restaurant.

They literally come up to the dock, tie their boats up and go in to get something to eat.

 

The food, oh wow!!!  Lobster, shrimp, crab....

 

 

Crab melt and Lobster salad sandwich.

 

Maryland Crab Soup & Cream of Crab Soup

 

Oh, yum!!!  Can I have some more?!!

 

 

We would get out, drive around and go sight seeing.

 

 

We have vacationed here many times. 

Like I said, it is one of our favorite places. 

No schedules, no computers, the only phones were our cellphones and even then we didn't use them a whole lot. 

It was a time to get away from everything and clear the mind...

air the poor old brain out. 

 

We had a wonderful, relaxing time. 

 It just went by too fast and we had to come back to reality. 

Happy Independence Day!

Also known as the 4th of July.  Independence day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Brittan. 

Yes, things in America have gone down hill through the years.  However, we still live in the greatest country. 

Most of the time we take our freedoms for granted.  A lot of sweat and blood has been shed for this great land that we call home. 

Thank you to those who are still making the sacrifice to keep our freedoms.

 

 

Happy 4th of July everyone!

 

A Sidewalk!!!

Normally not an exciting or interesting topic

however this time, we are very excited!

We have been waiting so long to get one. 

 

We had gotten a couple estimates, one being $8,000!! 

Granted it is a very long sidewalk

however I wasn't going to spend that kind of money.

 

So we waited and kept putting it off. 
Until this year and we said enough,

we are getting a sidewalk even if we have to do it ourselves. 

 

You could say it is "homemade" and not professional

but it is functional and we are happy.



It was a lot of work for Ray and

he was exhausted and very sore afterwards.

He bought some strong weed and grass killer a week or two prior.

I think he got a little carried away with that.  haha

When I called to order the sand,

they suggested that we use stone dust instead.

So since they were the professionals, we took their advice.

 

 Thankfully some friends showed up to help out.

 

 

It was kind of funny.  One person would show up and say I can help for a couple hours then I need to leave.  Then later on, someone else would come along and say the same thing. 

So help came in shifts.

 

 

We need to come up with something to do for edging.

 

Our wonderful neighbor, Bill, after working all morning long on another job, showed up to help finish.  He was also a big help in lending tools for the job.  Thanks Bill!

 

We had several drenching rains last week which caused us to notice a couple draining issues.  It will take some time for it to all settle into place.  However it was so nice to walk on a sidewalk instead of wet grass and get your shoes muddy!

 

Thanks to everyone who helped out!