LAURIE ~ today is what we now call MEATLESS MONDAY, and I made some MUSHROOM & ZUCCHINI CASSEROLES (we ate one tonight and put 2 in the freezer, plus we have 2 lunch dishes too). DH loved it -- I am slowly winning him over with some meatless meals. There was a time when he wouldn't have wanted a meal without meat in it. The casseroles do take a bit longer to make, but you could just have a chunky vegetable tomato sauce on a pasta of choice, with some cheese melted on top becuz that is what a casserole is essentially (I just layered it with zucchini & sliced mushrooms, but it could have all been chopped and put into the sauce too).

I also found a nice easy recipe for Florentine stuffed pasta shells -- just stuff the cooked shells with a mixture of cottage or ricotta cheese with chopped spinach, green onions, and a bit of garlic; and serve hot with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella over top. This can be baked in the oven for about 30 minutes (put tomato sauce on bottom and top).

Just stayed home and did stuff around here (more laundry; comforters), cooking and other small house chores. DH brought home another load of wood to take to the lot; plus some other stuff we need as well. Kept us both pretty busy.

PENGUIN ~ glad your surgery went to well for you; often we think that it will be a lot worse than it is. I had a friend that had that procedure done with great success and she just had wished that she could have had it done much earlier in her life, but it was quite new at that time.

BOOSTIE ~ DH watched the fireworks at the park and got bitten by skitters; little did he know that I watched the whole thing from my kitchen window. My neighbours watched it from their back deck too. All in the comfy of my bug-free home ...

We've had a mix of drizzle, sunshine, clouds, and pouring rain all day; but it was nice most of the day; and we are very grateful for that. I don't mind at all when the rain falls in the evening or night-time. Not much else going on here for now. Hope everyone is well and hope you have a great week too.

to KAREN and RONNI ~ prayers continue for you and yours ...

to all our other CE's and MIA's out there ... ROSEBUD

Hi Gals ~

Zucchini and mushroom casserole sounds awesome!

Congrats on surgery success!

Boxing for women....humm...look out dh

Riding in trucks throwing out candy....sounds like fun!

Pastel blue and purple? If you bought them at Kohl's Angie has a pair just like em!

Later ~ All is well here ~ Gary

Hi all! I'm more awake now, and have been mostly laying on the couch watching TV, between naps.

I've been watching TV out of my left eye, the surgery eye with no glasses or contacts. My surgery replaced the lens in my eye and apparently I'm now wearing the contact on the inside! I can't wait to get the second eye done. I've never seen this well in my life. I'll be one of those fortunate people who can wake up being able to see!!! I will still need reading glasses. I went outside for a few minutes to talk to Hubby and I can see the individual blades of grass while standing and leaves on the trees in the yards across the street, which is amazing to me. I'm going to try to get an appointment scheduled for the second eye while I'm at the dr tomorrow! I figured out that my distance vision hasn't improved but the clarity of that distance has improved. And the colors are amazing!

I got two Netflix in the mail today. Both workouts I've been wanting to try for a few weeks! Now that I can't workout for a week or so! I guess I'll preview them at least! Such great timing!

I found a cookbook entitled Not Your Mother's Crockpot Cookbook for Two. The secret is it uses a 3 quart crock pot, which I don't have but I borrowed one from a friend. Since its just Hubby and I, I thought that would be better than making so much. I"ve tried a steel-cut oatmeal recipe so far, which I've heard of on my exercise forum, but never tried in a crockpot. It was good; and I'm looking forward to trying some other things. I priced a 3 quart CP at Wal-mart and it was $11. LOL, probably worth it. I have a large cp but hardly use it.

Good night, all!

Gary - they came from either Kohl's or Goody's. mom got them last year. i love KOHL'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laurie - i bet you look great in plaid too!

man, now everbody knows i love plaid...next they are gonna know i love ann taylor and ll bean flip flops. geesh.

I don't know nor do I care what you may think of Michael jackson. I do, however, care greatly about the 3 kids he has left behind. Their world was so strange, so different from our view of normalcy, but for them...it was normal. They loved their father so dearly. Right now, there are 3 small children with broken hearts. children who need prayer, who need JESUS! please pray for them. pray that they will know the love of God, submit to the call of Christ and feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

peace!

Hi All! Trust you're doing well. I'm still mulching, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think we can get it finished tomorrow. The exercise has been great.

Tomorrow I have to have blood work. I am taking the advice you all gave me the last time and that is to keep hydrated. I've been drinking a lot of water all day. I'm trusting they can "poke" me only once and get it the first time. They are doing 5 different test. This will show if my thyroid is out of whack. I'll geth the results when I go to the doctor on Monday.

Penguin - Congrats on a successful eye surgery. We take so much for granted until we hear of others like you who have had problems seeing and now with surgery can see things you haven't seen in a long time. I wish you best with your other eye.

I would appreciate your prayers for a very dear friend of our family. His name is Warren. He is like a second dad to me. He has cancer and is slipping fast. They don't give him much time to live. Prayer for his family that God will give them the strength and comfort they need.

Have a great Wednesday.

Kathy

Rosebud - that casserole sounds wonderful! Definitely something I would make for our family!

Gary -

Penguin - glad you are still doing well! The crockpot cookbook sounds interesting! Most of my crockpot recipes are laden with meat. I have been able to make some of them meatless, but not all.

Bev - I love Ann Taylor too And the cool thing is that they carry small sizes, so you can continue to love Ann Taylor - right to goal! (Though Ann Taylor Loft is more compatible with my budget )

Kathy - prayers continuing for you!

Well, my day started out rough (had to fast overnight to get my labs done, so no breakfast or coffee , and the dog was not feeling well and left "presents" beside my bed when I got up), but it dramatically improved throughout the day. Work was intense, but productive. We took "MOM" to a local coffee house and wine bar for dinner and a wine tasting. She had never done a wine tasting before. Then, we went to the park to hear a local band, which she really enjoyed.

Overall, a very balanced day. I love days like that.

Hope you all had a great day as well! Prayers continuing for all!

Laurie

Laurie - yeah, ann taylor loft is my favorite! i find A LOT of it at the thrift store!

I went to the eye doc today for my post-op check-up. The Doc was very pleased with my progress but because of my history of eye problems he warned to take it very easy for the next week or so. No lifting anything heavier that 10-15lbs, no stress, no strain. He even told me not to clean the house! Yay, doctor's orders! So I'm going to sit on the couch and supervise Hubby; I get to be the guy for a while. I have eye drops to take for a while, but nothing really bad. I had one eye surgery that I had to lay on my stomach for almost 2 weeks afterwards. I could get up to eat and go to the bathroom, etc.

I have to go back to the dr in two weeks and I have made the appointment for my second surgery for Aug 17th. My vision has improved greatly in my left eye. I had the lens replaced so basically I'm wearing the contact on the inside now. I've wore glasses since I was 3 and contacts since I was 12 and this morning was the first time I have ever gotten up and not had to funble for my glasses to see what time it was. After the second surgery I probably won't need glasses or contacts again. Well, I'lll still need reading glasses, but I can live with that.

Thanks, for the prayers and well-wishes!

Praying for you Karen, so thankful for you that you had some time with your Dad. Kathy will keep your special friend in my prayers also and Rayne i will keep Michael Jackson's children in my prayers, I feel for them , everyone fighting over them, the grieving over loosing their Dad is hard on one much less people fighting over them for the wrong reasons. I just hope that God interferes and finds the perfect couple that will love them and raise them with Jesus. So glad your operation went well Patches, hope things keep going well.

I totally forgot to put in what happened today. Will try this again, disappeared on me. A friend had told me about this place to go to find out how to do house keeping fun. I went there today and first thing to do was clean and shine your sink. I have two kitchen sinks so I started with the one in the hot part of the house first ,it had a leak and for some reason it had stopped leaking because the bowl was always empty. Well I learned today why it was always empty. I finished cleaning it and i thought I better check and see if its leaking. I opened the door and there curled up in the bowl was a large Chicken and Rat Snake! I guess it heard me running water and it was thirsty!You know earlier I asked God to give me some energy but I just gotta watch what I pray for! I shut the door and ran to find my cell phone could not find it, so used the line phone. I asked my husband how do I kill this snake but should I ,it may be the reason we don't have any mice? He said go get the hoe and chop his head off. Ya know , I just got this feeling that was easier said than done. I looked back under the sink and God must of been thinking of me again because the snake was gone.......now the question is...........Did he go back in his hole under the house or did he go out the cabinet door[ because it was part way opened] and is loose as a goose in my house??

Bootsie: You are creeping me out with that snake story. There is NO WAY I would still be in the house if it was me. I think it's great that you were willing to get rid of him yourself. I could not have done that. Did you find out where he went?

Patchwork: So glad to hear that your surgery went well. Enjoy the downtime. It never lasts long enough.

Rayne: I agree with you. Those kids did lose their dad and I myself lost sight of that. Thanks for the reminder to pray!!

Laurie: It's so much better when a day goes from bad to better than the opposite. Sounds like you had a great evening.

Kathy: I'll be praying for your friend.


I actually exercised yesterday. Not a lot but I did get started. I did some weights and exercises. I plan to alternate days with weights and walking. I'll let you know how that works for me! I see the DR on the 21st again and hopefully this will already show a decrease in my BP.

Have a great day everyone!

Buenos dias! FOR ALL!!!!!
It feels like I haven't posted in FOREVER! I'm back?!?! Did ya'll miss me! LOL

So much has been going on after I got back from being out of town for my aunts funeral. I'm wrapping things up at work today, being my last before vacation. I made some major decisions for my wedding, and I'm going out of town, AGAIN, for my cousins wedding. So many birthday celebrations,
(including yours truly) and weddings this month. Regardless of so much going on, everything seems calm right now, and I praise God for that. One thing that hasn't changed is my weight loss, I haven't gained or lost anything. I lost my 9 pounds and havent moved from there yet. I know what it is though, no exercise I'm promising myself that when I start my vacation, I will start my exercising, whether its swimming or cardio or just walking, I GOT TO DO IT! From there, hopefully I can start a schedule and make it an everyday thing. So pray that that happens.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. I've missed ya'll.. but I am back!!

God Bless ya'll and I'm happy to be back!
~Suga

HI EVERYONE ~ lovely sunshine today; but it got a bit hotter than they predicted. We were planning on going to the lot today, but as the next paragraph explains, car trouble came up again, so we couldn't go anyways ...

PRAYER REQUEST ~ gonna put a request in the Prayer Warriors Thread about our car. DH went to hook up our trailer last night and discovered that we had NO BRAKES; so they had to come and tow it to the garage this AM, and DH is stressing out about the cost. So we would appreciate prayers that it gets fixed up quick and for a fair price ... thanks!


DH is cleaning out his back shed to keep his mind off the car for now; we should know what is wrong for sure tomorrow sometime. We are pretty sure it is a busted brakeline, but DH is worried that it may mean an entire new brake job as he said it kinda looked to him like there has never been a brake job on this car since the factory.

I told him not to worry as GOD will provide, as HE always has. I'm just glad that he noticed it here in our laneway and we didn't end up stranded on some highway today. I'm keeping myself busy doing my weekly chores; I set aside little jobs for each week day morning to spread them out over the week. That makes it easier for me.

BOOTSIE ~ I'm with WILMA on this one; I would have been out of that house so fast -- and I would not have returned until DH or GOD got rid of that snake somehow. I think is must be a she snake becuz she was smart enuff to take her showers under your sink, and then she took off as soon as she heard you shreiking ... sure hope she went down the hole and not into your house!

We had one that kept coming into our greenhouse; he/she kept sunbathing on the logs, and gave me quite a fright when I'd do my daily watering. DH didn't kill it (it was just a grey gardener snake), he just took it to a farmer's field behind our place. The first time, he didn't take it far enuff and it returned; so he learned the second time and went miles down the road.

He said he told it 'Don't come back a third time, or you're a gonner!" And, as my heart was pounding, all I kept thinkin' was how much enmity there was betwixt me and he/she from the beginning of time ...

HI GARY ~ Just wanted you to know that we enjoy your comments here, and that most of the ones I have read are very positive. Some people don't understand that just becuz we have a question about something or someone; or becuz we may not agree about everything in this life, it doesn't mean that we don't care about others or how they feel.

Well, this post has become much longer than planned, but just wanted to come by and say HI to everyone ... take good care; and we hope you all have A THOROUGHLY ENTHRALLING THURSDAY!!!

ROSEBUD Prayers continue for you and yours ...

I had put this recipe in the last post, but it made the post way too long ... so I decided to take it out and put it in a separate post instead!


LAURIE ~ here's that recipe for the Mushroom & Zucchini Casserole. I put my chopped mushrooms right into the sauce to make it simpler.


SAUCE INGREDIENTS: simmer for 1-2 hours to desired consistency.

4-6 x fresh tomatoes, chopped
28 oz can diced tomatoes
14 oz can tomato sauce
7 oz can tomato paste
1 cup water, or more,as needed
1 chopped medium onion
6 x sliced green onions
2-3 sliced celery stalks
8 oz sliced mushrooms or more
1/2 cup chopped sweet green peppers
1/4 cup minced green olives and/or juice, opt
1 tsp onion powder
1-2 tsp black pepper
2-3 garlic or 2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbl onion soup mix
1 tbl fat-free beef soup base
1 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp basil leaves
1 tsp thyme leaves
2 tbl parsley flakes

PLUS Casserole Ingredients ...

2 x thinly sliced zucchini (or dice & cook in sauce)
3 x cups pasta of choice (cooked & drained)
340 gram pkg shredded skim mozzarella cheese
24 pkg thin L/F cheese slices OR (cottage or ricotta cheese)
Parmesan or Romano for top
salt & pepper, to taste

METHOD -- cover bottom of casserole dishes with chunky tomato sauce; then spread 1 cup cooked pasta & more sauce (about 1/2 cup, or as needed to cover); cover with cheese slices & then zucchini & then sauce; then more cheese slices and 1-1/2 cups more cooked pasta. Top with more sauce, then sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan. You can decorate top with any
remaining zucchini. Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes; let sit 5 minutes before serving. Serves 2-4 persons each casserole.

This made 3 casseroles (1 each: 1 qrt, 1.5 qrt & 2 qrt) + plus 2 x individual lunch dishes which can be heated in the microwave. Put 2 in freezer for another day. If for more people, make only 2 x 2 quart casseroles instead.

This is a creamy and very yummy casserole, but you can sub the cheese slices with low-fat cottage or ricotta cheese if desired, but it will change the flavor a bit. The method is similar to Lasagna and you can use any kind of pasta you want in the casserole including lasagna noodles (rotini, elbow, egg noodles, fusilli, and Kraft dinner type pasta; or use whatever you have on hand).

This is a very versatile recipe; it is also easy and economical. If you are in a hurry, you can just use any chunky-style tomato sauce you have on hand; this will speed things up a bit for you as well ...


Enjoy ... Rosebud

Bootsie - If I would have seen that snake I would not be going back to look for it. Snakes and spiders are the 2 things that I dislike the most. Just the thoughts of them makes my skin crawl.

Suga - Hang in there, the pounds will start coming off again. I know it is not always easy getting exercise in because I'm in that rut too. Doing yard work has been the only thing that has kept me moving.

Wilma - Way to go on getting started on your exercise routine. Keep up the good work!

Hello to Gary, Laurie, Rayne, Penguin, and anyone I may have missed. Trust you all are doing well.

Have a good evening!

Kathy