Trying To Do It All

I just can't get it all done!  Too much to do, so little time!  I know, I say it all the time.  Most of us say it all the time.  Why?  How does this happen?  What to do about it?  It's not just the "Have" to do, there is also the long list of "Want" to do's.  Then comes in the issues of prioritizing, organizing and scheduling.  A big problem I have is feeling guilty if I put a "Want to" ahead of "Have to".  I feel like I can't do something I want to do until I have everything on my "have to do" list finished first.   At almost 53 years old, should I still be feeling like this? 
Now, sometimes the "want to's" and the "have to's" are on the same list.  Such as cleaning the house, which I really do sort of like to to, and cooking, which I like to do if I'm not rushed.  Outside work and gardening I like to do, but it is very time consuming and by this time of year I'm really almost tired of this job.  By the way, the last couple of days here have almost felt a little Autumn like and it feels good.  I think I'm almost ready for it.
If I could have a whole day of "wants", I would do a half hour of yoga or some sort of exercise in the morning, have my yogurt and coffee, then sit on the deck for a while and knit, then start a new miniature quilt that I've been wanting to do, have a quick and easy bite of a small dinner, watch the television shows that I like to watch while I knit some more.  All of this without an interruption or a request being made of me.  Dream on!! 
When the grandkids come to visit, both lists are pretty much set aside.  Some of the "have to's" still get done to a very limited degree.  And now with almost five grandchildren, the time spent with them is priority whenever possible.  Last weekend we took the two grandsons to the county fair.  We had just as much fun as they did.

The following day was Logan's 6th birthday party.  Bob and I and the GG's (my parents, the Great Grandparents) travelled the one and a half hours to my son and DIL's house for his little party.  It was a fun time and it also gave me the opportunity to hold my new little Leanna, now 6 weeks old.

Here's Little GG (my mother) holding Leanna. 

Anyway, I got a little off my topic there, but I just had to share about the grandkids. 
This week, the kids weren't around since they are in New York with their mother visiting her family.  I also spent a whole day catching up on the computer bookkeeping for our business.  I mean, a whole day!  I sat at this computer from 9 am until 5 pm.  My butt was sore.  I shouldn't let it get so behind like that in the first place. 
So now where does all that leave my knitting, sewing and blogging?  Yep, way down on the list. 
Here's the problem with a husband that works out of the house with a wife that works for him part time and also has a lot of other interests.  This is what I constantly hear all day long:  "What are you doing now?  What are you doing that for?  Shouldn't you be doing this, that or the other?  That's not necessary!  Do that later!"
You get the idea.  Don't get me wrong.  I love him dearly and I need and want to carry my end of the load, but every so often I need some alone time! 
So now on this beautiful summer/fall like day I'm going to take the dogs for a walk and ponder my "have to's", "want to's", and priorities and make some mental notes of adjustments that need to be made.  Then this evening my home alone son, my parents, Bob and I are going to see "Elvis".  Yep, that's right!  I'll take pictures.

Health and Fitness for Real Housewives - Part 3

Do you love ice cream in the summer?  I do.  And I try to limit myself in ways that I don't feel deprived, but still get a taste of it.  A couple of tips to not feel too, too guilty about having some ice cream:  First - don't buy it at the grocery store and keep it in your freezer.  If its there, and it's hot out, it's too tempting.  Disclaimer - I do buy ice cream for special events at my house such as birthdays or Thanksgiving, when there are going to be lots of family here to eat it all.   Second - when you go to buy a dish or a cone at your favorite Dairy Queen, ask for a baby cone.  You still get your craving satisfied without eating too much.  Third - frozen yogurt is a good alternative.   Fourth - Try this wonderful recipe from Kraft.  This tastes just as good as any ice cream and even my grandchildren loved it.

Raspberry Summer Sensation

                                    

What You Need

1 pt. (2 cups) raspberry sorbet, softened

1 cup cold milk

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

1 cup Raspberries

 Make It

LINE 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil. Spoon sorbet into prepared pan; freeze 10 min.

BEAT milk and pudding mix in large bowl with whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in COOL WHIP; spread over sorbet in pan.

FREEZE 3 hours or until firm. To unmold, invert pan onto plate; remove foil. Let stand 10 to 15 min. to soften slightly before slicing to serve. Serve topped with the raspberries. Store leftovers in freezer.

I also followed these Healthy Living tips for this recipe.
Kraft Kitchens TipsHealthy Living

Save 1.5 grams of fat per serving by preparing with fat-free milk and COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping.

How to Soften Sorbet

Spoon measured amount of sorbet into microwaveable bowl. Microwave on MEDIUM (50%) 10 to 15 sec. or until slightly softened.

nutritional information per serving :

Calories 140 Total fat 4 g Saturated fat 4 g Cholesterol 0 mg Sodium 130 mg Carbohydrate 26 g Dietary fiber 1 g Sugars 18 g Protein 1 g Vitamin A 0 %DV Vitamin C 10 %DV Calcium 2 %DV Iron 0 %DV K:520 v0:52767

I kept this in the freezer for about a week, just keeping it covered in the loaf pan.  Then whenever you have that craving, just cut off a thin slice, top with some fresh raspberries, and it truly is delicious. 
ENJOY!!

PA Wilds and Elk Country

After our day on Saturday, I was just going to putz around the house on Sunday and catch up with my knitting, sewing, cleaning and re-organizing my sewing room and put up some listings on my Etsy site.  Well, My Bob decided he wanted to take a Sunday drive up north of here about an hour.  I tried to talk him out of this because I had my day all set in my head, but I'm glad he persuaded me.  We had a wonderful day and saw some beautiful parts of Western Pennsylvania. 
We've lived in Pennsylvania thirty years now and I think I have only been up into Northern Elk and Cambria Counties about twice.  And I had never seen parts of the counties we saw on Sunday.  Like I said, it's only about an hour drive but there really is no other reason to go there except to site see.  And the sites really are few except for the scenery itself.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Trees, forest and just land.  Very few buildings, people or cars.  The weather enhanced this as it was a gorgeous sunny day. 
Bob's initial desire for driving up there was to locate a grape orchard that he was told was up that way.  The Orchard where the winery we visited on Saturday gets their grapes.  We never did find it, but we came across the Elk Viewing Area that we have heard about for 30 years where people go to see Elk roaming and grazing.  I don't know why we never went.  I think because we see deer in our backyard daily, to the point of annoyance, so why do we want to see more of that.  Well, now I know.  First of all, the view is breathtaking.

There weren't any Elk out there and we found out from the young man (Game Warden, maybe) on duty that the elk's mating season is late September and early October and that is when people are flocking up there to see.  Can you imagine the view at that time of year with the colored leaves?  We've already decided that we're going back up on some nice Fall weekend.

Now, I have never seen an elk before and like I said, I'm picturing in my head a deer look alike with huge antlers, as in the first board above.  Even though I've lived here for 30 years, I'm not very knowledgeable in wildlife.  Well, Bob explained that only the males have the antlers.  The second board shows a female elk.  Duh!  I just never thought about it!

So as we continued just driving around, we were just noticing and commenting on how rural it really is up there and how "rough" the people seem to live.  And as we were just driving down a back road (more back than the "main" road) I pointed out to Bob that those people in that little cabin sure had some funny looking horses in their yard.  Bob immediately got a little excited and corrected me as he laughed that those weren't horses, they were female elk. 

So that's what they look like!?

A little further down the road, behind another old cabin, some more were just taking an afternoon nap.

The pictures can't give you the same feeling as seeing them in person.  Now I know.  I'm looking forward to going back in the fall.  Heck, it's only an hour away! 

It goes to show that there is so much to see in our own backyards.  We just don't take the time to look. 

On our way back home we decided to stop in a little pass through of a town called Medix Run and have something to eat at the Medix Hotel.  We were there once many years ago in the winter.  It's actually a real hot spot.  It's one of those dives that has really good food.  It's mainly a bar with a tiny little dining room, if you want to call it that, with peanuts all over the floor.  I think the sign said, "established in 1894".  And believe me, it has not been updated except for electrical appliances since.  It's a place that motorcycle riders gather in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter.

We sat outside on the deck and the wrap sandwiches were delicious.  They are especially known for their wings.  Then right across the street was a relatively new, and I say relatively because it was probably at least 50 years old, country store and gift shop.  We browsed in there for a few minutes and bought some home made apple butter.

It was like a day spent transported back in time.  You feel like you're back in the Old Frontier Days. 

Such fun!

The Flea Market and More

I'm having a very nice weekend with My Bob.  It's rare anymore that just the two of us spend time together without family and grandchildren.  This weekend is turning out to be one of those rare weekends and I'm loving it.  Now don't misunderstand, I love my family and love being with them, but this alone time was very enjoyable.
Yesterday was the first Saturday before the first Sunday of the month, which means Flea Market Weekend.  Mom and I usually go together, but she was tired, so Bob agreed to go with me.  It's definitely not an activity that I would enjoy doing by myself.  We didn't get out the door until noon, which is late for Flea Market day.  It was such a beautiful day and I just was going to enjoy walking outside.  I actually found a few things.  (I usually do).
The first thing Bob and I came across were sunglasses.  He hates spending a lot of money on sunglasses and feels like the $5.00 pairs are the same exact thing at the $150.00 pairs, just with a lower price sticker attached.  I tend to agree with him.  So he got a new pair.  And I have trouble with sunglasses since I wear prescription glasses and I don't want to spend the money on prescription sunglasses.  I also found a pair of clip on ones that actually look good.  I don't feel too much like an old lady wearing them!
Then I found some pink depression glass cups and saucers.  I have been looking for a set for quite a while and the price on these have become so high.  I found these four sets for $5.00 a set.

The pattern is "Coronation" with a banded rib.  I really wanted the "Cottage Rose" pattern, but the lowest price I have ever seen on that pattern is $24.00 each.

These were in excellent condition and they will do just fine.

They look so pretty with my "Virginia Rose" dishes that were my great grandmothers, which I have added to over the years when I see a good price at antique shops or the flea market.  I  noticed that the prices have really increased on these lately, too.

About a year ago, I found these English Rose Ironstone dishes at an antique store that was going out of business and I got all the dishes of this pattern that she had for about $10 total.  I love them.

One of these days I'm going to have a tea or luncheon for a few of my girlfriends and bring out all the pink stuff.  Otherwise all these pretty dishes sit in my china cupboard.  I sure like buying it and looking at it, though!

 On the way home from the Flea Market, we decided to stop at the Farm Market and I got some fresh peaches that I want to cut up for either peach cobbler or peach shortcake.  I think that will be on Monday's dinner menu.  We left there and Bob turned off a road that led to a local winery that we hadn't been to in a long time.  We had a small wine tasting and left there with two bottles of wine. 

Can you tell the "Mountain Mist" on the left is empty already?  When we got home, Mom and Dad came over with Subway sandwiches.  We took the sandwiches and the bottle of wine out on the boat for a little picnic dinner. 

 . 

After the boat ride we had homemade strawberry shortcake that Mom had made and brought with her.

It couldn't have been a more perfect summer day. 

Busy Sum-Sum-Summertime

I'm home from my weekend in Cincinnati.  Life just is not slowing down any right now.  This is just a time of my life, I guess, when a lot is happening.  Over the weekend, I had a nephew get married, and attended a niece's baby shower.  Good and happy occasions, so a busy life right now is a good thing.  I'm sure the alternative of a nothing happening, boring and empty life would not be a welcome or good thing.  For this I'm happy and grateful. Although I have to admit that there are many moments when I think of that old commercial, "Calgon, take me away"!  As long as I have some days to myself in between all the happenings, and I keep my mind calm, I'm good.  I just don't feel right if I don't have things clean and organized at home, and that gets difficult to keep up with when I'm not here.
Now today I need to work in the yard that's gotten ahead of me and I need to do it this morning because it's supposed to be very hot today.  This afternoon My Bob and I want to head out for an hour and a half drive, one way,  to see the grandkids before they go out of town to visit other relatives for a couple of weeks. 
I have a lot of pictures on my camera, but no time yet to download.  And now, off I go again!