Midweek Ramblings

Since I posted so much about the weekend I thought I'd do another post.  Monday I put a rump roast in the slow cooker and made French Dip sandwiches for supper with my potato salad.  It was a fabulous meal.  I used the leftovers the next day for another sandwich along with a bit of leftover potato salad.  I used frozen mini baguettes for the bread since we don't have any stores that have bread like this fresh.  This received 2 thumbs up from Matt.

Slow Cooker French Dip (from Fix It and Forget It Cookbook)

3 lb rump roast
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 beef bouillon cube (I used 1 tsp of bouillon paste)

Put everything in the slow cooker.  Add water to just cover roast.  I cooked this on high for 2 hours and then low for 4 hours.  I used frozen mini baguettes.  This made enough for 2 meals so I cut the roast in half and put half of the roast and juices in a container in the freezer for a future meal.

We had a quick flurry early in the week and I was blessed to have this wonderful view as I work from home now.  As they're predicting 10-12 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow morning I will probably be viewing this again as I work.

Weekend Ramblings - March 30th

Saturday Menu: 

Lunch: Cobb Salad
Supper:  Dinner Theater at The Art Center

The morning was disappointing.  With temps being predicted to be well over 50' I had expected to be outside to enjoy the warmth of spring but the winds were 20 mph or higher and it just wasn't the kind of weather to be outside in.

My first stop Saturday when I left for my errands was to stop at Goodwill.  I picked up several more sheets.  I think I have enough to do a red, white and blue rug next or maybe a table runner.  While I was there I noticed a large oak computer desk with hutch for $40.  I mentioned it to Matt when I got home so we ended up going back and he liked it enough to buy it.  He's been wanting a larger desk.

We attended  the dinner theater at The Arts Center.  The play was Relative Values and was about 3 hours long.  They were in the final act when the fire alarm started going off.  Nobody knew why it was going off.  They checked for a fire and found nothing.  They couldn't get the alarm off.  The couple on the stage when it occurred started ad-libbing about the situation.  It was pretty amusing.  Fortunately they found somebody to turn it off.  Since the play was a British comedy they served roast beef, scalloped potatoes, carrots, and a roll.

Sunday Menu:

Breakfast: Easy Cheese Danish
Lunch: Leftover Cobb Salad
Supper:  Italian subs and pasta salad

Temps were wonderful with a high just over 50'.  After my disappointment with the weather Saturday I didn't expect much today.  I did take the furkids out for a wander around the neighborhood.  Matt was outside and he came in and told me to come outside to see something.  It seemed like a million geese in multiple groups flying over head.  They just kept coming.  It's a wonderful sign of spring.

My morning and the early part of the afternoon was spent working on the rag rug.  I ripped it totally out and started over, ripped out part of it again and finally finished it today!  The rug consisted of 4 sheets that I ripped up into 2" strips and crocheted.  I can't wait to for Matt to build my twining frame so I can twine/weave them.  Trying to get the corners right can be difficult.

Since I planned to work on the rug most of the day, I decided to make something for breakfast.  I frequently pick up a package of cheese danish for the weekends. This Easy Cheese Danish was so easy and so good! I found the recipe on Pinterest.  It was super easy to make and I got 2 thumbs up from Matt.

Basically it's just 1 roll of crescent rolls.  Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla with room temp package of cream cheese.  Roll out crescent rolls and smush the lines together so they don't pull apart - so you have a large rectangle.  Cut in lines diagonally about every 1" to fold over.  Smear cheese mixture down center and then pull sections in alternating so they appear to be braided.  I decided to put this on parchment paper on the baking sheet for ease of clean up.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes and allow to cool.  Mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 3-4 tablespoons of cream, and 1 tsp vanilla.  Drizzle over.  I was surprised at how much this made.  We have enough left for breakfast tomorrow if he doesn't eat it for a snack tonight.

Midweek Ramblings March 20

Today is the first day of Spring!  The geese have been flying overhead this week honking loudly their return.  Our yard has turned into a mud slide.  The dogs are hunting for the first bits of green grass to eat.  Spring has definitely arrived although I'm sure Winter will try to hold on a bit longer.

I started working from home Monday.  So much sooner than I thought.  It's been wonderful!  So much more relaxing.  I'm still trying to get my routine down.

Weekend Ramblings

Temps are finally coming up.  Today it was in the low 20's and I was outside in just a sweatshirt!  I am so looking forward to warmer temps.  I miss being outside.

I received really good news Friday.  My team leader informed me she's approved me to come home and work.  I do my training this week and hopefully within the next 2 weeks they'll have my computer built so I can come home.  I'm so excited to say the least.  I've never had anxiety issues before but working with that many people has produced feelings of anxiety.  The noise is another issue I'm having problems dealing with and with plans to hire more people it would have only gotten worse.  I think this will be a win-win situation.  I'll be less distracted and will be able to produce more work.

My crochet rug is coming along nicely although I ran out of the solid green before the end of the second row so I'll have to rip back to the start of that row and use another color.  I think the red sheet that I got last weekend will work well so I'll rip that into strips tomorrow and continue.  I'm estimating this rug will be 2 ft x 5 ft when I get it done and the sheets that I used cost me under $20.  I'm still debating if I want it in front of the couch or in the guest room next to the bed.

I ate some of the chow chow I made last weekend and it's pretty good.  A little sweeter than I like so I'll adjust to use less sugar the next time.

Last night we went to the Knights of Columbus for supper.  We've only been there for a wedding so it was our first time there for a regular meal.  We both decided to have fish since it was the special.  He had the beer battered fish and fries and I had the pan fried walleye.  Both were very tasty.  We both had salads and Matt voiced what I'd been thinking, the croutons were no where as good as my homemade ones are.  We've spoiled ourselves for sure.

Saturday Menu:

Lunch:  Taco Bell

Supper:  Turkey and bacon on ciabbata rolls, chips & dip

I woke up somewhat sluggish so I got a later than planned start to my errands.  Mailed a book out for my PaperBackBookExchange.  I also stopped at both Goodwill and Salvation Army and found some good buys.  I bought a suede purse and a teal tote for $2.50 each, some clothes, 3 books, a large throw and another sheet.  The throw I plan to use for a blanket on the bed in the guest room.  It's super soft and fluffy.

Once we ate lunch I got to work making some laundry detergent and then got started on the laundry.  Matt was enjoying an afternoon kicked back watching TV so I entertained myself looking at Pinterest and getting recipe ideas.  

Weekend Ramblings - March 2nd

We've plunged back into arctic temps again with last night hitting -26 (-50 windchill) and a high today of -12.  My home is feeling a bit chillier than normal but I guess that's to be expected considering the temps outside.  We're running over 40 degrees below the average temp for this time of year.  Hopefully by Thursday we'll be back up close to 30's again where we should be.  Many in our surrounding area are hitting all time records of days with temps below zero degrees.  It's too cold to snow and we haven't had a good snowfall since December.  I'm not sure how that will play out for the farmers this summer.

Saturday Menu:
Breakfast:  Cheese danish
Lunch: Babbs Coffee House
Supper:  Cube steaks, mashed potatoes, tomato gravy, and broccoli

To get out of the house this weekend we went to the Holistic Healing and Psychic Fair Saturday.  It was extremely small to what I'm use to in Michigan but it's the first year they've had one here in town.  Matt purchased a pair of dowsing rods to try working with.  They're pretty neat and I almost bought a pair myself.  I purchased a beautiful metal bowl to burn loose incense in.  We both had readings done; I had a palm reading and he had a tarot reading.  I'm always somewhat skeptical of readings but she hit her description of me pretty accurately including that someone who died when I was about 20 was one of my guardians.  I've always maintained that my Grandmother, who died when I was 20, was my guardian so it was neat to hear it from somebody else.  It actually brought tears to my eyes as she talked about her.  Parts of his reading were right on and other parts appeared to be way off.

Matt's been wanting to take me to Babb's since he was there this summer when his sister was visiting so we finally went for lunch.  It's a nice cafe/coffee house.  They had a cool table set up with high backed chairs with a HUGE chess board and pieces for people to use.  I wish I'd had my camera with me.  It will be a nice place to take a book or a tablet and kick back and read for a part of the afternoon or evening.  I'll definitely have to take my mom there when she visits next month.

While we were out I decided to stop at Goodwill and see what types of sheets they had and picked up 3 more (dark red, blue, and green).  We both found a couple books.  Matt was able to get the third book in a trilogy to finish off a set he'd bought the first two books of last weekend from another thrift store.  I found two beautiful boxes.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the wood one which is just beautiful but the embossed metal one I'm using on my desk to put my ear plugs and IPod cord in so Moo won't drop them off the table and drag them around the house (and yes she has done this).  We also stopped at another thrift store and Matt found the top of a butter dish with an owl on it for me.  I collect owls so I'm always on the lookout for one to add to my collection.

Sunday Menu:
Breakfast:  Fried eggs on English muffin bread (Bountiful Basket)
Lunch:  English muffin bread with jam (neither of us was super hungry)
Supper:  Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches with Bleu Cheese Dressing and steak fries

Today I worked on laundry and cleaned.  Once that was done I ripped up the green sheet and started crocheting a rag rug.  Matt has promised me he'll build me a loom to make twined rugs on once the ice melts so he can get into the shed to his tools so for now I'll have to be content to crochet if I want to make one.  This one will be a oval runner.  It's working up pretty quick.  I also made some Amish Chow Chow.  Chow Chow is a relish.  You can use pretty much any vegetable but I used the standard carrots, cauliflower, green beans, kidney beans, red pepper, and red onion for mine and then you store it in a sugar and vinegar mixture until it's pickled I guess would be the best way to describe it.  I filled a 2 qt jar and a pint jar.  The Amish eat it as a side to just about everything.  It can also be canned.  If I like it I will can some so when I get a pickled craving I can just pop a jar open.  I miss the wonderful pickled vegetables at the Indian restaurants.