Not Your Average Granny

Yesterday, I had an appointment in Ogdensburg, NY which is around 30 miles north of where I live. We go there at least once a month for shopping. They have a Walmart and there is less traffic than 30 miles south of us in Watertown. So, that is how I happened to be alone on this trip and I took advantage of it and stopped to take a look at the St. Lawrence River. This is the day after Hurricane Sandy went through. I am on the US side. On the other side of the river is Canada. The St. Lawrence River runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

source This week has been a busy and exhausting week. My mother was hospitalized on Monday in a town over 30 miles away because of a blood clot. Thank God I got her to the hospital when I did. Another day and the outcome might have been different. This was a wake up call saying that I have to keep better track of my mother and her health. So between going back and forth from the hospital, trying to get her apartment cleaned up and my house cleaned up, I am so very tired. Plus, it seems as though I had my grand kids over nearly everyday also. On Friday, I went to my granddaughters pre-school and helped her carve pumpkins. Also, we had lunch together. It was fun and she enjoyed me being there with her. I am just amazed at all my grandchildren and all their different personalities. They are the bomb!!

In my first post about making laundry soap , I mentioned another recipe that I wanted to try. Well, I made it on July 22nd. This is the recipe I used : 1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax 1 4 lb box Baking Soda 1  box Super Washing Soda 3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, grated 2 small containers of store brand Oxy Clean I grated the Fels-Naptha soap in the food processor for the first time. A little tricky, but I liked the end result better. I like my soap to be finely grated. I used a bucket lined with a trash bag as suggested and dumped everything in and mixed with my hands. Then, I poured it into a cheap 2 gallon container from Walmart, slapped a label on it, and began using it. I really like it and will continue to use this recipe. It was everything I used before except for the baking soda and Oxy Clean. I am pleased with the washing results and it's lasting longer than I expected. An aside : a few days ago at our local Family Dollar store, I found this soap. I have heard of

Recipe History:  The original recipe came from Taste of Home magazine. This is probably a modified version of it as I have made it so many times without following a recipe. Ingredients: Potatoes Carrots Celery Onions Water For Creamy Sauce: Butter, 1/2 stick 2 or 3 TBS, Flour Salt & Pepper 2 Cups Milk Directions: I can't give you measurements or amounts because I make a big pot. I just start chopping the potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions; throw it in the pot to see if it fits, adjust accordingly. Fill pot with water and cook until the vegetables are done. When you drain the water out of the pot, you need to save the broth. I put a large bowl or another large pot in the sink, put the strainer in that and then drain the vegetables in the strainer. Bring the pot back to the stove and melt your butter and onions until the onions are tender. Be careful that you don't burn the butter. For a stockpot, I use a whole stick of butter. For a dutch oven, I use a h

[caption id="attachment_398" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Photo Courtesy of: davenportdesign's[/caption] In my last post I mentioned that I moved my blog to my own domain with paid hosting on a different platform. I have moved from Blogger which was free and very user friendly to WordPress.org which is free except you have to find your own host which is not free. I also decided to get my own dot com since it was only around $10 and the name was available so I snatched it up. I still have some tweaking to do on my old posts. I have read till my eyes were burning and permanently wide open. It has taken me 5 days and counting to get it to look the way I want it. So, I had a lot of reading, tweaking, and figuring things out to do. And I am not done. SEO anyone? I am confused beyond measure. I recently joined a Facebook Group of very resourceful entrepreneurs who have helped me tremendously to set up my site. I even found my host for this site from tha

Yesterday, my son wanted mac & cheese for supper. I had some ham I wanted to use also that had been in the fridge since the day before and husband suggested to put that in it. So that is what we did and it was delicious.  While preparing it, I decided to snap some pics and blog about it. This is my first post on my new dot com address and paid for hosting. I am coming up in the world. If only I had the readers, right. Oh well. It's their loss (or gain). While preparing it, I was watching my 3 year old granddaughter. That was a challenge! lol. But, we had some laughs when the onion dropped and rolled across the floor and a plate crashed to the floor.  I LMAO when she said, "Jesus Christ!" It was hilarious. So here goes: Ingredients:  1 pound macaroni, cooked 1 slab of ham, diced and browned 1 pound of extra sharpe cheese, cubed 1 onion, diced milk salt pepper butter Step 1. Boil the macaroni and brown the diced ham Step 2. Cube the cheese and dice the o

This is the post I have been meaning to write for awhile now but when I sat down to write, I realized I needed to go back and write about the other stuff. So, here it is. I guess it will be short and sweet. I should have just wrote it then because I'm over it now. Me and my sisters have had the step mother from hell and the step father from looney town. I would have went into this back when it was bubbling forth from me but now it's gone. Step father has left this world and the wicked witch has been history for awhile now. I'm thankful for my current step-mom, Grace. She has accepted us kids right from the start and we were teens when she married my dad. Right from the start, she referred to us girls as her daughters. It was never, "this is my 'step' daughter" and I really appreciate that. When I had my daughter in the first year her and my dad were married she referred to Trish as her granddaughter. She has always bragged about her grandkids and made sure