Whoopsie Wednesday….

Now how in the world did this happen??  http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/smallpox-vials-discovered-lab-storage-room-cdc-says-n150806

“Six vials of potentially deadly smallpox virus have been discovered in a place they shouldn’t have been — an unused corner of a storage room at a Food and Drug Administration laboratory in Maryland, federal health officials said Tuesday.”

“Smallpox was responsible for between 300 million and 500 million deaths in the 20th century. The last case of smallpox in the U.S. occurred in 1949; the last naturally occurring case in the world occurred in Somalia in 1977, the CDC said.”

Is this just a little bit frightening?  Makes me wonder what other goodies we have in this country just waiting to be discovered.  Well, I am going to play a Scarlett and not think about that today.

We all have sad things happening in our lives that we rarely speak of.  Believe me I am one of those persons.  Instead I am focused today on what a glorious day it is to be alive and I thank God for that.

The sun is shining and I have windows opened in my house letting the delightfully cool air blow through.  The temp is to reach upper 70s today and that is a rare July day in Illinois.

Yesterday my daughter and I went to Costco where I resisted the urge to buy the gigantic packages of toilet paper that were on display as you walk in the door.  I also resisted the packages of bottled water that had 70 bottles.  Now I could have used the water but I didn’t like the thought of having a heart attack while I was lifting it so I left it alone.  Times like that it would have been nice to have a good strong guy along.

Picture taken of a wild canary  by my niece in WV using her cell phone.

Have a wonderful day!!  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

A beautiful day….

in the heart of central Illinois.  The sun is shining brightly at 40 degrees.  The temperature is expected to climb into the mid 50s today.  It is 4 days on the countdown till spring.  It is a great day to be alive!  And aren’t you glad we both are?

I am having a problem getting used to DST.  I am going to bed earlier but sleeping later.  I just don’t want to get up for some reason.

I have changed the bedding and I was fortunate no one was in the laundry room so I have the bedding in the dryer right now. 

Yesterday I ran several errands and even bought another lotto ticket.  I only buy one ticket because that is all it takes.  It pains me to report that I didn’t have one number.  I just donated $1 to the state of Illinois.  I am not sure what the lottery money is used for???

I am splurging today and I am having a ribeye steak, baked potato and green beans.  I rarely eat red meat, usually only chicken and fish.  And speaking of chicken, I ate on the rotisserie chicken from Costo all week.  I finished it up yesterday with creamed chicken on Grands big old fluffy, fat laden, calorie heavy  biscuits.  Those things are delicious but one biscuit has enough calories to take care of one whole meal. 

I think I might bake something today too just for the fun of it.

I hope you all have a peaceful weekend.  I will keep you all updated on my brother and when the surgery will be.  That will be decided on Tuesday when he has an appointment with the surgeon.  Thank you all for your prayers.

Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Winter is back…

and there is snow on the ground again, not a lot but it is still snowing.   What happened to the beautiful weather that we had for the last 3 days?  It is only 7 more days till spring so this weather has to end sometime.  I am not holding my breath though.

Yesterday was a busy morning.  I had a hair appointment then  a trip to the post office, then stopped by Food Depot for a few items (including a lotto ticket for Mega Millions which is over $300 million right now) then a bite to eat then home.

I am sitting here drinking a Carnation Instant Breakfast while I am typing this.  Did you know that stuff comes in bottles now like Boost and Ensure?  Not too bad.  I keep some Boost on hand for when I want a quick breakfast or supper. 

Monday while at Costco I got a rotisserie chicken.  They cost $4.99 and the chicken is a fairly good size.  I took the meat from the bones and used the carcass to make homemade chicken vegetable soup. Cook carcass in boiling water for a few minutes.  Remove rest of meat and strain broth,  I then refrigerated it overnight so I was able to remove the fat from it yesterday morning.  I diced one large carrot, 2 diced stalks of celery, 1 large potato diced , some frozen peas and a diced onion.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about one hour.  Add seasonings and more chicken if desired.  If you don’t have enough broth add a can of Swanson chicken broth.  I really enjoyed the soup.  I don’t eat nearly enough veggies and this really seemed to satisfy me.

And now what am I going to do with the rest of the day?  It is too messy to go anywhere and I would have to clean my car off again.  That alone puts me out of the mood to do anything.

I hope you all have a good day.  Stay safe and be happy!

Beth

 

Clarification…

To begin with I didn’t wake up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.  That is the first line of the song  ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’ written by Kris Kristofferson and a smash hit for Johnny Cash.  I keep forgetting that not everyone is a Johnny Cash fan.  I do thank you all for the well wishes though.

It is starting out to be a lovely day.  The sun is shining brightly and the temp is to reach into the 60s today.  What a treat that will be.  It will help to melt down some of those mountain high dirty snow piles around here.  I am planning a trip to Costco this morning to see what they have new for spring.

And speaking of spring, it is only 9 more days till the first day of spring.  Yesterday I saw a woodpecker and several sparrows and a couple of black birds, all hovering in the front yard on some bare spots where the snow has melted.  The squirrels in the front yard have gotten really skinny over winter too and they were digging trying to find their buried acorns.

I am stalled on the spring cleaning simply because I don’t want to do it.  When it dries up outdoors perhaps I will get back in the mood.  For now I just want to go outside and shout at the top of my lungs that I have survived this record breaking winter.  That said I just bet that we have some more snow starting tomorrow night into Wednesday morning.  No, I don’t have to bet on that as that is what the weather person has predicted.

I hope your week is great.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Busy week…

I had an appointment this morning with the dermatologist (reminding everyone again how important sun screen is.)    Tomorrow morning is an appointment with my cardiologist. 

Taken this morning.

Then on the way home a stop at Costco.

Lots of new building going on in East Peoria close to the Costco store.

Thank you for your comments on my post yesterday.  Your prayers are appreciated.

Have a wonderful week.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

 

Costco…

A few months ago a new Costco opened up just down the road from me.  My daughter and I went there this morning.  It is a gigantic store.  We tried to look at most of the store but it is impossible in one trip.  The first time we went most of the time was spent waiting in line to get my card.

Before I moved here I belonged to Sam’s Club in Champaign.  Costco is set up just about the same way, even down to where the ladies room is located (which happens to be the first place I find in a new store.)

It is dreary and drizzly here this morning at 59 degrees right now.

I am not in the mood to do anything today so I don’t think I will.  I spent the weekend moving my furniture around again and I still don’t have any more room than I did.

I hope you are all having a good Monday.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth