Good morning,

I can't believe we're in the middle of Aug. already. Labor Day is only 3 weeks away. Where did the summer go?

Hope you all had a great weekend.

We heard from the people in FL, who we're buying the house from. "Our" house and their new house had very minimal damage, just some shingles missing. WHEW!!! North Port, where we're moving to fared pretty well. All the devastation starts in the next town, Port Charlotte. Before we hung up last night they said they would keep us informed as to what is going on with the sale. We may have to postpone our moving date, we don't know yet. My girlfriend, who is visiting her son in a nearby town, drove by the house to check on it for us. She called this morning with the good news, so now we truly know the house is in good shape.

nikki, those were great colors for the wedding. Black & blue

Hi ANNE, lynn

Have a good day everyone.
Aleka

Good morning,
Aleka, that must be a relief. I'm very happy for you and glad things have worked out.
We've never, even according to the weather man, had weather like this. It's simply beautiful out. The nights are nice and cool, the days are perfect. When they said in that movie, This isn't Iowa, this is heaven, I just laughed, cause I never thought heaven was going to be so hot and humid, but this has been heavenly weather in my opinion.
I made salsa yesterday and the bottom burned, so I had to throw out 9 quarts of salsa. It tasted like it was smokey, and I just hated that taste in my salsa. It took a lot of time to prepare it, so I was pretty disappointed.
I'll make some more in a day or two and this time, I'll keep the fire lower and stir it more often. Plus, I'm going to use a heavier pot.
Morning Anne and Lynn. Hope you all have great days, Nikki

Nikki,
Sorry about your salsa. DH & I love salsa. Would you post the recipe?? Thanks.

Aleka

Oh you know, live and learn.

Salsa

Here's the recipe. It is very, very good. I used 1/2 a jar of pickled jalapeno peppers chopped up instead of a fresh, because that was what I had on hand and the heat was just right.

8 quarts chopped tomatoes, unpeeled
2 large sweet onions, chopped
5 large green peppers, chopped
4 large red peppers, chopped
2 banana peppers
3 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbs. pickling salt
2 1/4 cups vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1 tbs paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 cup lemon juice (I just use the juice of one lemon)
banana and jalepeno pepper to taste (optional)

Combine all in a large pot. Simmer for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Pour into hot sterile jars and process in a hot water bath for 45 min or freeze in clean containers.
10 quarts

This has got to be the best recipe I've run across. I'm not a cilantro fan, but you could add some if you like it.

Thanks for the recipe, Nikki. I'm not a cilantro fan either. Can't stand the taste of it.

Aleka

Hi Everyone:
Aleka, thank God your new home is ok. I thought of you right away when
I saw the hurricane. That was just dreadful!! We are very lucky here in
Ontario. Except for Hurricane Hazel back in the 50's I don't think we have
ever been seriously impacted by a hurricane. Even tornados are a rarity out
this way although that can occurr from time to time. I never recall 1 in
Toronto. Its amazing when you think we all live in North America. I guess
its because we are several hundred miles away from the Atlantic Ocean.
Nikki, I just printed that recipe for Salsa. Looks great. Add me to the gang
that doesn't like cilantro. All I can say is great minds think alike

Hi Lynn! Hope you had a great weekend.
Talk to you all later.
Annen.

I've never understood why people like cilantro. I think it's bitter and has such an over powering taste, you can't taste anything else. Maybe it's one of those things you have to get use to or if your raised with it, you can appreciate it better. I'm with you guys

Good morning everyone,

It was a miserable day here yesterday weatherwise. It was damp, dark, dreary, and cold. A good day for an afternoon nap. Hopefully the sun will come out today.

We had more good news. We've heard from our RE agent in FL. As I've mentioned before, they live in one of the devastated areas. Thankfully they fared better than a lot of people, they still have a roof over their heads. They still don't have electricity and the phone service isn't up to par. They did manage to call out but weren't sure if they were able to get calls. So, DH said he would call them right back, which he did, but couldn't get through. Now, DH & I are relieved that everyone we know down there has been accounted for and they're alright.

ANNE, I was born and brought up in Massachusetts and we went through a few hurricanes back in the 50's. One I remember, it was either Donna or Debby, I forget which, our basement was flooded and we lost a lot of things. I can also remember the street we lived on used to get flooded and after the hurricanes had gone by, we kids used to go out wading in the water which sometimes were up to our knees. One time I came into the house wanting to put my bathing suit on to go swimming. Needless to say my mother put an end to that idea. After having those few hurricanes in the 50's, we really haven't had a hurricane since then. We did have one approach in the 70's or 80's, but by the time it reached NH it had lost its punch. We very rarely, if ever, had a tornado in our area. Some parts of NH have experienced a minor one, nothing that does extensive damage, though.

nikki, cilantro to me is awfully strong and won't eat anything that it's in. Did you also use the jarred banana peppers in your salsa? I would use the pickled jalapeno peppers too because I'm a lazy cook. How is Jorge Cruise's eating plan going for you? Now that we've resumed packing I've packed the rest of my books.

lynn, how are you doing?

Enjoy your day.
Aleka

Good morning,
Aleka, that's great news about the people you know down there. So many people didn't do very well. When you mentioned running in to put on your bathing suit, I had to laugh. It reminded me when I was a little girl and we'd put on our bathing suits after a rain storm and run out and play in the ditch. My folks never seemed to care. Now when I think about it, I guess it wasn't the smartest thing to do. Gosh, we sure did do a lot of stuff back then that people wouldn't dream of doing anymore. Everything was so much more innocent back then.

I'm following Jorge's idea of eating portions, but just using what I am making routinely. Although, I am eating more fat that he says to. He says in this book 1 tsp at a meal and that's not always enough. I am bascially, filling my plate 1/2 with low carb veggies then 1/4 with starch and 1/4 with protein. I'm not doing the exercises. I start out my day with Body Flex, move on to a stretching tape that came with Slim in 6 and end up with the Total Gym. I keep trying to fit in some cardio later in the day, but I've been so busy with gardening and freezing stuff and making (or trying ) to make stuff to freeze, that by the end of the day, I can't walk anymore. I'm thinking I better get that cardio in before I start my day.

I better go do that exercise now, before DH gets home. Have a good one, Nikki

Aleka, I forgot. I left out the banana peppers. I couldn't find them at the store when I needed them and never even thought of buying canned. I think they would add some thing to it, but it was really good without them.
I'm going to the farmers market this afternoon and will see if anyone there has any. Got several bushels of tomatoes and will start over with the salsa recipe. I'm freezing mine, because I'm kind of lazy too. Always looking for the easiest way to do anything. Besides, I can't can anymore. My new electric stove says you cant can on the ceramic top. I never knew that when I bought it.

Hi,

The RE agent that is selling our house did a walk through with a bunch of agents from his office. They were here what seemed like 2 seconds and they were all gone. It seemed like a tidal wave as they came and went.

Nikki, it's amazing how we survived growing up doing things and having things that are unsafe today. I remember when we didn't have car seats for young children and no seat belts whatsoever. I was flung to the back seat floor many times when whoever was driving came to a sudden stop. Maybe all those bumps on the head is what is wrong with me today! Swimming in a ditch sounds like fun! The stove I have now has a ceramic top, but the one in FL doesn't. I really like the ceramic top stove. Mine is an old one and it's plain black glass. My MIL has a newer one and it's got white specks throughout the top, which to me seems like it would be easier to clean. Do you like your's? The way you're filling your plate is a good idea. I have read that you're supposed to fill your plate that way. Your exercising is coming along well. Gardening and canning are good, especially gardening. The only thing I've been doing is packing and running up and down our basement stairs. I can now run up them without breathing hard, I've done it so much these past few weeks. When you freeze the salsa, what do you use for containers? I would freeze it too. The fall before my mother passed away she & I canned some piccalili(sp?) recipe of my great-grandmother's. That was our first time ever canning and we did have a lot of fun. If I remember correctly, sterilizing the jars was a lot of work.

ANNE, hope your week is going well for you. How is been so far this week?

lynn, are you still on Dr Phil's WOE even though you don't care for him? If so, how is it going for you?

Enjoy your day.

Aleka

Good Morning Everyone:

Aleka: Funny thing you should ask me about You guys will never, never believe what I just did I sent my friend an email. I asked her
whats the mood like with bossy.(She works in the same office as )
Well, I got an answer alright. I sent the bloody email to instead of
my friend. I am just mortified. She answered Hi Anne, Am I bossy???????
If so, the "mood" is ok. although I have a rotton cold. Guess you sent this
to the wrong person eh!!!
Guys, I feel like a total ***. I am still sitting here in shock. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth
I'll post alittle later. Right now I am speechless.

Anne.

ANNE, OMG, are you ok? After a while you'll be laughing about it. I got a good chuckle out of it.

Aleka

Good morning,
I'm picking my self off the floor right now Anne, I thought I was the only one that made those kind of mistakes. I bet also got a chuckle out of it. At least, you didn't say anything really bad about her. I'm sure she knows she is bossy, so it wasn't a big surprise. In that situation, all you can do is apologize and move on, we all do stuff like that sometimes.

Aleka, that must have been some kind of a tidal wave that moved through your house
I was thinking about when I was a kid and I'd stand on the hump behind my folks car seats and yell, Go faster daddy! and dad would be going over 100 mph. Mom would yell, Tom! Slow down. We'd hit a bump in the road and I'd fly all over the back seat, laughing and thinking it was like an amusement ride. Got lots of knots on my head too. No air conditioning of course, so all the windows would be open. Both of them smoked like chimneys and all that smoke and ash would fly back in my face, with all the dust from the gravel roads as well. Gosh, how did we ever survive?
We bought this stove a few years ago. The top is white with gray flecks in it. I find it is impossible to keep the front burner looking white, it's the one I use all the time. I clean it every time I use it. To get out burnt on spills, I use a soft plastic scouring pad and a gel paste cleaner that doesn't seem to scratch the surface of the ceramic. I have no idea how to get that gray stain out of the burner though. Any suggestions? I've read about putting vinegar on it and letting that sit for a little bit.
To freeze the salsa, I'm using some Glad one cup containers and when I run out of those, I'm just going to put it in small freezer bags. I like the containers, but they cost 1.99 for 4. After a few years, I should have more than enough of them, but you know how they seem to get lost.
Got to get going, have a good day. Anne, I hope things get better for you, it will all work out, don't worry. Nikki

Hi Again
Man, I will be glad to go home tonight. I feel calmer but still really bad.
I emailed her back and told her I felt like a jerk to which she replied she
was glad I felt like a jerk because she was hurt. She signed the email
Bossy. What can you do
Oh well, whats done is done. In high hopes in a few days she'll be over it.
She has called me a couple of times today (work related) but she sounds
quite cool.
When I discovered my mistake this morning I sounded like the father on
Everyone Loves Raymond ( HOLY CRA !!!) Tanya was killling herself
laughing as was my friend who works across the road with
Talk to you later.
Anne.