Thank you Jill for honoring me with this award.
http://chillinwithjill.blogspot.com/
And now I need to tell seven things that I love.
I can’t choose just seven people to accept this award. You all deserve it.
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I hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
I got the cleaning all done. I had to stop about once each 10 minutes to rest my back, but I got it done. I know I will have to clean again next week but that is OK.
The lemon cream cheese bars are done and ready to be chilled so that I can cut them. Note the old dish the bars were baked in. It is Pyrex and was a wedding shower gift about 100 years ago.
I only make these bars when I know my son is coming for a visit. I love anything with a lemon flavor so I can’t be trusted to make them when I am here alone. My very favorite dessert is lemon meringue pie.
The heat is supposed to break a record for today to reach 97 degrees. I am not going out today. I will have to go out tomorrow to get the last minute grocery items. So I think I will rest on my laurels, whatever that means. Hold on a sec, I am going to Google it and find out.
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“Laurels were once given as an honor for achievement--think of Roman senators wearing crowns of laurels. One who "rests on his laurels" is content with present, or past, achievements. Though laurels are positive, one who rests on them is considered lazy.”
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So just consider me lazy today. lol You all stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
I have done laundry and been out and about this morning. It is warming up to be another hot day, although not anything to match what we have survived this summer. Isaac is predicted to bring us 3 – 5 inches of rain this weekend. We shall see. We really do need rain but not so much at once.
Speaking of my header picture. It does have a tiny bit of fame. I had emailed it to the chief meteorologist at the local CBS station in Peoria. It was shown as a background on the 5, 6, and 10 PM weather reports that day. The weather guy didn’t even try to pronounce my last name, he just said courtesy of Beth from Pekin. And that was the tree’s 15 seconds of fame. It was quite a thrill seeing the tree on my 42 inch TV. I had my 15 seconds of fame quite a few years ago when I donated several coats to a drive the local CBS station in Champaign was having. I think I got asked a couple of questions and that was it! Poof! I was no longer famous. Have any of you had your 15 seconds of fame??
I am procrastinating here because I do not want to get the sweeper out and get busy. I did clean the bathroom yesterday, but I am thinking that if it rains this weekend, that means a possibility of someone tracking in something. So should I wait or go ahead and clean. Decisions, decisions.
Oh shoot, I am going to go ahead and clean. It will give me something to do.
You all stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
already. I have made cookies in anticipation of my son’s promised visit this weekend. The kind of cookie where you forage in the freezer and dig out chocolate chips, mint chips, M & Ms, walnuts and use the trusted toll house recipe. They are really good. I know because I ate one, just to see if they were good enough for my son. Later in the week I will make the lemon cream cheese bars that are his very favorite.
Step 1.
Mix 1 box yellow cake mix with
1/3 cup oil and
1 egg
Mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup. Pat remaining mixture into a 13X9 ungreased pan. Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile do
Step 2.
Beat 8 ounce package of softened cream cheese with
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar and
1 egg until light and fluffy.
Spread over baked crumb mixture. Sprinkle remaining crumbly mixture over top. Bake 15 minutes longer. Do NOT over bake. Chill completely and cut into squares. Refrigerate.
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I have been to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions and I dropped by my daughter’s house to leave some cookies for her and Mike. And now I am back home and that dreaded bathroom is hollering at me to come in there and clean it. YUCK!! The worst thing I hate about cleaning.
Thank you to my blogging friends that commented on my header photo. I took the picture the first fall I moved here, October 2010. The trees were beautiful that year. This year the leaves are dying on the trees from the drought. Some of the trees are bare already.
If you all were close by we would have a cup of tea and a cookie. So until we do get to meet, please! stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
and it rained all day long yesterday. We got almost 2 inches which is a blessing for us. Too late to help the farmers with this years crops but the ground is so low on moisture it will be a help. Everything is looking beautifully green here. Makes me smile!
I was reading in the paper yesterday that a cold snowy winter is predicted for our area. I am not overly fond of snow because it has a habit of turning into ice but I am so sick of the heat and drought this summer that I am willing to accept it.
I have been out this morning, to Menards, Big R, Goodwill and Food Depot. And just now I received a call from the pharmacy telling me I had prescriptions ready for pickup. I forgot all about them but I am not going out anymore today so I will pick them up tomorrow. I am still downsizing and as soon as I read a book I put it in a sack for Goodwill. I had 2 bags of books for them this morning. I read 2 books over the weekend.
Lunch was a roast pork sandwich and 2 peaches. The roast I fixed Saturday was delicious, very lean, just perfect. It is all gone now though. (Sigh)
I am enjoying the package from FedEx. This is a good reception area, being so close to Peoria with lots of traffic.
I hope you all have a great week. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
there is a 90% chance of rain for central Illinois today! I am waiting and watching but I see no sign of it yet . I do see cloudy skies to the west of us. We shall see. It is 73 degrees and very humid out now.
Update! I leave the computer for awhile and it is raining very nicely outdoors right now. HOORAY!!
A picture taken in 2005 on October 15 in Champaign IL. Reminding me that fall will soon be here. This has been a LONG HOT SUMMER!
Beth
PLEASE, if you want comments turn off your word verification. Sometimes it takes me 3 or 4 tries before I can leave a comment if you have word verification. I comment on each post that my followers make, even if you still have word verification enabled, but it is really hard to do so with trifocals! Please take pity on me and your other followers.
The "word verification" option can be found on the Settings | Comments section in your blog.
To turn off word verification go to your dashboard, click on your blog name, click on settings, then click on Posts and Comments. Where it says ‘show word verification’ make sure NO is showing in the box. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
It is going to be another scorcher here in the heart of Illinois today. Temps in the mid 90s. Where my brother lives on the Illinois side of St. Louis it will be hotter. Did I mention before that I am ready for fall?
My niece is coming for lunch. I am having boneless pork roast, mashed potatoes (my comfort food and something that agrees with my tummy) and green beans. I still have some leftover pineapple upside down cake in the fridge that I made earlier this week. Stop by if you are hungry.
Have a beautiful day. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
is my garage sale day. I love garage sales. I am very picky about what I buy. Today was not a good garage sale day.
I finished off the morning by going to Schnucks. I have now been to all of the major grocery stores in town this week to get their bargains. I wanted some tomatoes from Illinois but they were hard as a brickbat. I really enjoyed the homegrown ones I was given a couple weeks ago. The peaches looked good though so I got enough to make something with.
Yesterday the high temp was 95 degrees and 100 a little bit to the south of us. Today is going to be another scorcher but there is the tiny hope for some rain on Sunday. I really am longing for fall!!
I am really tired this morning after a sleepless night. I will be by to visit you all after lunch.
Have a great weekend. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
The washer arrived a couple of days ago and I am checking it out this morning. The price is still the same, $1.50 per load which is a miracle in itself. The dryer is still 75 cents but the first round never gets the clothes really dry.
My package arrived yesterday and I am having a blast with it. Check the link if you want to know what it is. It is all loaded from your computer and the screen is touch. This has been (check link) a hobby of mine since the seventies when the things required crystals.
So now you all know that I do have a hobby, other than knitting which I haven’t touched since I moved here. I need some nagging from some of my readers out there that knit. Happy One?? I used to knit a lot when I was working at the AFB. I would take my knitting bag with me and knit until time to go to work and on my lunch hour. I really like knitting, it is just that I have a lot more things to do here than I did at home.
The weather is gorgeous here again today but is to warm into the 90s. Maybe some rain on Sunday, that is the forecast anyway.
I need to cut this short as I have to go check my laundry. I also have to grocery shop this morning.
I hope you all have a great day. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
in the cemetery a couple of weeks ago.
I love this verse.
Very interesting sentiment here.
And this, the simplest verse of all, is my favorite.
*****
I am stuck in the house today as I am waiting for a package to be delivered by FedEx. I have no idea what time they deliver here. So I am in the waiting mode.
Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
day is in store for us right here in the heart of Illinois. It is 55 degrees and bright sunshine right now. Still no rain in sight and we are still almost 9 inches below normal on precipitation for this year. However, the rain we got last week has helped to green things up a bit and make the weeds less noticeable. Fall is right around the corner.
I have been weeding through my enormous photo collection that I have on my computer which amounts to several thousand.
Here is a picture taken in October 2005 at the flower garden in Urbana close to the University of Illinois campus. This was a beautiful place to visit and you could gather seeds if you wanted to. I remember the fall was beautiful that year. Jim had received his first round of chemo and he was in remission at the time. We were making the most of the time we spent together.
I hope this day is filled with sunshine for you. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
prevails here this Monday morning. The washing machine in our area has totally bit the dust and a new one ordered. It has been over a week now and nothing yet. So my daughter was kind enough to allow me to take my laundry over to her house this morning. That took care of the morning. I do hate lugging laundry around as it is a big pain in the wazoo.
*****
Idiom
up the wazoo, to an extreme degree or in great abundance: She's got problems up the wazoo.
*****
I am still reeling over my auto repair but I am not in a hurry to buy a different car. I hate to think of a new car having to sit out with the bird poopiedoop and the dust blowing on it. So I will hold off on that as long as necessary. No one is to lay a finger on the window controls.
It is a lovely clear cool day to get into the mid 70s. I am enjoying every minute of it and I hope you all are too.
Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
already of the election coverage. I will be quite honest and say that I am disillusioned with our current administration and I am suspicious of the competition. This will be a difficult election for me trying to decide. I have never missed voting in a presidential election since I first registered to vote many years ago. I have made it a point since I first started blogging that I don’t discuss politics or religion in my posts. So that is as far as I am going with this topic. Just sayin’, I am getting tired of political shenanigans.
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Adjective:
Disappointed in someone or something that one discovers to be less good than one had believed.
Synonyms:
disappointed
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Noun:
*****
Lovely cool day and I plan to enjoy it. I have given instructions to any and all that might get in my car to not touch the windows.
Hope your day is a good one. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
and I have had one of those mornings where I should have stood in bed.
*****
“Idioms & Phrases
I should have stood in bed,
I've had such a bad day that I should never have gotten up at all. For example, And then I got rear-ended at the stop sign Is should have stood in bed . This ungrammatical colloquial phrase properly put as stayed in bed is ascribed to fight manager Joe Jacobs, who in 1935 saw his first baseball game, the opening game of the World Series between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. It was a very cold day, and when asked what he thought of baseball, Jacobs replied, "I should have stood in bed."
*****
Actually this day started out pretty nice, lovely sunshine and cool temperatures. I went to the church sale and purchased a few things and came back home and that is when the fun started. I noticed the window on the rear right side was down about an inch. I started the car and tried to use the power to raise the window. No luck, the darn thing went halfway down and stuck there. I called my daughter and son in law and they came over. My daughter went to the dealer with me and it cost me $567.94 cents to get it fixed. I just had the rear left window fixed in March of this year and it was $326. Each window operates on a motor. I asked for an explanation as to why this was higher than the other window and I was told prices had increased. Well, needless to say I am torqued off. My car is a 2002 Buick LeSabre which we bought new. It has a little over 84,000 miles on it. I have started looking at new cars.
I have really had far worse things than this happen to me but this was extra irritating for some reason.
And now my rant is over. I hope you all have a good weekend. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
of glorious rain fell here yesterday. We had rain all day long until late afternoon when the sun came out. There were two different hailstorms, the first early in the morning and the second towards noon. It is blissfully cool here right now at noon at 67 degrees. Thank you God!!
And it finally rained!!!
I have been to garage sales this morning. I found LOTS of books! I won’t have to purchase anything for my Nook all winter. ILOVE garage sales.
Tomorrow one of the large churches here is having a church sale. I will go to that in the morning if the good Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise. Now why does that saying make me think of my dad?? Maybe because it was one of his favorite sayings.
I hope you all have a great weekend. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
since I am writing a post this morning that I didn’t win the Lotto last night. Shoot, I didn’t even have one number. Some lucky person or persons from Michigan won. I have relatives in Michigan but none in the area where the winning ticket was sold.
It is drizzling rain here this morning with thunderstorms all around us. We have a 70% chance of rain today with a cold front moving through. The weather scanner has already gone off this morning scaring me half to death while I was in the middle of my morning workout. Right now it is black as night outside so I think the storms are getting closer. I am also hearing some thunder boomies so I am hoping for some much needed rain.
So what do I do on a day when the power could go out at any minute? Why I hurry up and close off this post. You all stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
I think I can do it now. bj gave me the nod to look on Google for instructions on how to thread the bobbin. I found a how to video from Singer and also some step by step instructions which I printed out. I am always on Google for something but it never occurred to me to Google the bobbin thingy.
I have been out this morning to Wal*Mart stocking up on some paper items that I was running out of. I also stopped by Food Depot to get a couple of Power Ball tickets. The payout stands at $320 million right now. I am not a Lotto player but I always buy one or two when the jackpot gets so high, knowing full well that I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than ever winning anything. The dream is there for a little while. If you don’t see a post from me tomorrow you will know I am on my way to Springfield to cash in my winning ticket.
I think my new beautician is getting the hang of it now and I had really decent hair day yesterday.
Lovely day today with still no rain in sight.
Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
I started sewing when my children were small. I had a friend, Deloris, who was an excellent seamstress. She made beautiful coats, suits, dresses, you name it. She taught me a lot although to this day I don’t do a hand stitch that looks decent. My new sewing machine is a Singer and it is totally different from the Singer I had so many years ago. I bought it thinking I would use it mostly for mending and hemming. I honestly cannot get the bobbins filled right. I called the Singer hotline which must be hot alright because I waited for over half an hour to talk to someone. Come to find out there is only one person manning the Singer hotline and she is busier than (rest of sentence deleted.) Anyway, from your comments yesterday I can see that I am not alone with this bobbin thing. When I finally did get the Singer hottie hotline girl she talked a bunch of rigmarole to me and I still can’t get the bobbins filled right. I have thread wound around just about everything when I am finished.
But hey, that is OK. I will figure it out. Besides my mom always told me that each stich I sewed on Sunday I would take out with my nose in heaven. Even back some 40 odd years ago my mom had faith that I would make it to heaven some day. I am trying mom.
It stayed lovely and cool yesterday with the temp only reaching 70 degrees. However, not one more drop of rain and none in sight.
I have an appointment for a haircut this morning. I have a lovely beautician although I am not liking the way she is cutting my hair as much as I did my previous beautician. She left after 25 years to be a customer service rep at a company in Peoria. I worked as a supervisor too many years to want to be a customer service rep for any company. lol
On one of my other blogs I got a comment from my very first blogging friend when I first started blogging some 7 odd years ago. She was a young school teacher in Chicago and I can remember each of us trying to decide what kind of content we wanted in our blog. Thanks A for stopping by to see me. It meant a lot to me.
I hope you all have a great day. I am hoping to have a good hair day. We shall see. Please do stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
It’s Monday again. It never fails to amaze me that I made it through another week. We got some rain last night, I can tell by seeing puddles here and there. Not sure how much rain we got. I listen to NOAA weather each morning on the scanner and I do know that Peoria got .12 inches of rain last night. If we get enough of this 10th of an inch of stuff eventually it will add up to an inch. The chance of rain today is 50% with high in the mid 70s.
I did some laundry over the weekend and I actually ironed a few things. I have this old heavy metal ironing board that I got about 100 years ago. I would like to find a permanent place to set it up so it would be handy for me as I hate dragging the thing in and out of the closet. Because of this I rarely iron anything. I remember when I was moving here that the moving van people charge by the pound and I debated on whether to even bring the monstrosity or not. Sentiment won and there the big old thing sits in my hallway closet being used once in a blue moon.
When the weather cools in earnest I plan to start sewing on my new sewing machine if I can figure out how to fill the bobbins. As my sis would say “Life’s a pickle, once you’ve been in the brine.” I have patterns and some material and now all I need is a jump start.
Have a good week. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
Yesterday was such a beautiful day I took a walk through the part of the cemetery closest to me. It is a huge cemetery which is miles long.
This stone in particular caught my eye. The verse on it is wonderful.
It was peaceful but sad walking in the cemetery. There is no green grass. The only thing green there is the weeds. The ground crunches underneath as you walk.
Some of the trees are losing their leaves way too soon. I have more pictures which I will show at another time.
Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
in the heart of Illinois today. I had the windows wide open and the sleeping was great, down to the lower 50s last night. The temp today is to reach the lower 80s with a nice breeze. It is 60 degrees right now. Still no rain to speak of but hopefully it will come eventually.
I am up and all geared to do some cleaning. What and how much I haven’t decided yet. Definitely the dreaded bathroom will be first on my list. Then, I cook on the weekends so that I have leftovers for a few days.
I received good news from the nurse late yesterday afternoon, no blockage around the stents in the arteries to my kidneys. So I am OK for now. Thank you God and my blogging friends for caring.
Have a wonderful weekend. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
at old pictures.
I think this picture has a lot of character. this is my Aunt Ruth, the sister of my grandfather on my mother’s side of the family. Just look at all of the different things you see in the picture, clothes hanging on the line, a tiny head of a child in the front of the picture, etc.
******
I have been to garage sales this morning. I t was fun. I picked up some nice Christmas doo dads to put around my door at Christmas, a Gooseberry Patch Christmas Cookbook, and a couple of books to read.
It is a lovely cool day at 77 degrees right now with a northeasterly breeze at 15 MPH.
I hope you all have a peaceful weekend. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
yesterday which amounted to about .10 again. It was raining and by the time I had put my raincoat on and been outdoors for a little while it stopped. I knew I would scare it away by putting on my raincoat. We do have more rain expected this afternoon and I am grateful as a little bit of rain is better than nothing. And it might as well rain today as I have a dental appointment this morning and that takes care of anything else.
I was pretty wiped out yesterday so I didn’t do much. Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers. I am still waiting for my doctor report.
And now, sharing another picture from the past. I love this one. That is my mother standing on the right and my Aunt Mable on the left.
Take note of the old chair and the carpet. I feel sure this was taken at a studio.
Might as well be happy you all, and while you are at it, try and stay safe too!!
Beth
My breakfast…at Wild Berries
My daughter’s breakfast…
Contrary to popular opinion I did not have a colonoscopy this morning. I had a renal ultrasound to check my kidneys and the arteries leading to my kidneys for blockage. The day before diet and no breakfast are so the technician doesn’t have to listen to gas on your stomach. Have you ever noticed that the blood pumping when they are doing an ultrasound sounds like an ocean?
I didn’t eat but a small part of my breakfast. One piece of bacon, a few bites of the eggs and biscuits and gravy. My daughter who is young and healthy polished off every bite of hers.
Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
Nothing for me today but Jell-O and broth in preparation for my test tomorrow. I have orange Jell-O which is all I had on had on hand. Now, I am not a lover of Jell-O. My mom used to make the stuff and she would put bananas and marshmallows in it, sometimes drained fruit cocktail. I was about 6 or 7 when I barfed after eating it. From then on it was not a favorite of mine. Jim loved it so I fixed it for him. I can tolerate it if it is doctored up with good stuff. Plain, like today, yuck!
I have been to Kroger this morning. Mostly to get out of the house. I did purchase Janet Evanovich’s latest book and that old staple that we all can’t live without, TP. I am old enough to remember outdoor potty houses, just barely, but I can remember them.
On the way home from the store I had a red SUV on my tail all of the way. The speed limit in town is 30 MPH which is what I was doing. Followed me all of the way till I was almost home and then he turned. I say he because I didn’t get a good look at his face and of course we all know that men are the tailgaters instead of women. lol
It is a beautiful morning, sunny and a bit cooler. Just a great day to be alive and believe me I have already thanked God for that.
Have a wonderful week. Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
and then it was gone. We did get some rain yesterday afternoon. Not much, about .10 inch. Peoria and surrounding counties did much better than that. It seemed like the rain headed over the top of us again like it had done all summer in the hit and miss showers.
This is what the sky looked like in the early afternoon. A fairly good shower and then nothing. At least it cooled off some.
Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
and, have I whined lately about not having a washer and dryer since I sold my home and moved here? Whine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Said it before, I will say it again, I miss my washer, dryer, water softener and garage. But most of all I miss my washer and dryer. And why am I whining about this today. Well, in the original blogging days, Wednesday was the official rant day where we unloaded all of our rants on our friends. Feel free to unload anything bothering you on my post today. I will read and sympathize.
I share the laundry facilities here with 3 neighbors. I was always having a problem wanting to do laundry and finding the laundry room occupied. So, on days I wanted to do laundry I would set the alarm for 6AM and get my laundry done before anyone else could get in there. This morning I found a note on the washer saying it is not doing the last spin. This will mean a trip to the Laundromat tomorrow if it is not fixed. But, hey, if this was the least of my worries I think I would do a summersault.
I have started another blog, mostly for something to do, but to deal with something that is facing a lot of us. http://mamade1.blogspot.com/. I would love for you to visit me if you like and for my first follower I have a big hug!! lol
And now, to really begin, this, another day I have been granted.
Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
