Simba's Story

My name is Simba.  I am a Great Pyrenees.  The name was given to me by my first family - a really nice family with 4 kids.  Unfortunately when I was six months old they had some hard times and found it really difficult to take care of me.  They put my picture on Facebook and my new mama, who spends a lot of time there, saw me and fell in love.  Who wouldn't fall in love with this picture (left)?

My new family brought me home that night.  They also had a 15 year old Golden Retriever and a 21 year old cat. I was so excited to have some other animals to play with.  They weren't quite as excited - especially the cat!

Mama and Daddy decided I needed some professional training so they sent me away to doggie camp.  I was gone one week then came home for a week.  I went for another week then home for 2 weeks.  That was the last time I saw my new friends.  While I was gone for my third week of training they both got sick and had to be euthanized.  My new family was devastated but glad to have me for company.   As far as that training went, it was OK but I am bred to be"an independent thinker" and tend to do what they ask only some of the time.  But they still love me!

My trainer said that I needed to be crate trained.  Mama and Daddy tried that when they went out a few times but I didn't like it one bit.  Here is how I showed them:

They finally gave up and started leaving me lose in the house when they went out.  I only ate a few things while they were gone.  Pillows and remote controls were my favorites.   I am a smart dog, though,  and have learned that if I am good they will praise me and give me a treat.  It pays to be good while they are gone!

My new yard is much bigger than my old one and it has trees, bushes, a cement pond and squirrels to chase.  I love being in my yard.  But in the Texas summer when it is too hot I don't stay out too long.  I prefer the air conditioning.  The best part is when the 5 grand kids come to play with me.  I love watching them swim and sometimes we will all gather sticks and branches together,

Great Pyrenees dogs are bred to be livestock guardian dogs.  Well, they never got me any other animals to guard (that stuffy HOA would not like that) but I do have chores to do around the house.

I have to pre-wash the dishes

I have to keep the bed warm for Mama & Daddy every night

My most important job is to guard the couches

I am a really smart dog.  I know that because Mama and Daddy tell me that all the time.  Here are some things that I know for sure:

1.  It is not time to get up in the morning until Daddy turns off the alarm.  Once I hear those beeps I know I can get out of bed.
2.  When I do get out of bed it is time for breakfast and a glucosomine pill.  Once I have that it is time to go out and not before.
3.  My Mama likes to sew.  Anytime she mentions the word "upstairs" that is my cue to go help her.  I like to climb the stairs right next to her to see who can get to the top first!   She also has treats in the desk drawer and I nudge her until I get one.  That's the only way she can get anything done.

4.  My humans like to eat a meal in the middle of the afternoon.  I will ask to go out while they are eating because I know that when they are done it is nap time with Mama on our bed.  I don't want anything to disturb that!

5.  There is something in the living room that makes a "bonging" sound all day and night.  When it is daylight and it bongs 3 times I know it is time for my dinner.  I will immediately get up and lay down in front of the pantry door.  That's where the food is kept.   Daddy will get the hint that it is time to feed me.
6.  After dinner it is time for one of my chores - dish cleaning.  Sometimes Mama sits at the table too long to suit me and I will sit in front of her and whine until she gets up to let me do my job.  Sometimes she just doesn't get the hint!
7.  Once the sun sets I know it is time to relax - its almost time for bed.  I love hanging out with Daddy on the couch.  It is so comforting.

8.  I just recently learned what "go potty" means.  It means that my humans want me to go out about 7:00 every night to go to the bathroom.  If I do that I get to stay in for at least 12 hours (yes I can hold it that long!) undisturbed. 

9.  After a few hours of couch time with Daddy he tells me it is time for bed.  I don't always get up and follow him because I know that its not really bed time until he makes that beeping sound on the alarm again.  Once that is done I will get up and go to bed. 

10.  I leave just enough room in bed for Mama every night because I know I have to share.  But once she comes in the room and closes the bathroom door I can relax and stretch out in her place too.  It's fun seeing what a hard time she has trying to move me out of her way.  I love my Mama and like to sleep on her feet all night!

Well, that's my story!  Life is good.

On October 1 I attended a Zentangle class at my church.  I have seen many zentangles on Pinterest and was fascinated.  My father was a pen and ink artist (among other types of art) and I thought why not, maybe I could do it too.  I always told people I couldn't draw but truthfully I was too intimidated to try for fear of failure in my father's eyes.  Well I went to the class and was immediately hooked,  The instructor was a certified instructor and did a great job of selling me on this new addiction.  We started out with 2 small tiles.  She demonstrated each step and the history behind the art.  That part went right over my head as I was too anxious to dig into creating.  Here are my two tiles from that class.

We did learn the names of each different design but of course that went in one ear and out the other.  My brain does not work with details like that.  The next day I made a trip to Michaels for more supplies.  It didn't take much.  I bought one notebook, a set of 3 Micron pens, a drawing pencil and some things for smudging the pencil shadings (no idea what the technical name is).  Here are my creations so far.  I get my ideas from Pinterest then make them my own.

I am now studying zentangle quilting as many of these patterns are the same or similar to some used in free motion quilting.  That is something else that scares me but something I will be trying in the near future. Of course since my first love is sewing I decided my new collection of art supplies needed to be stored in a way that I could take them on vacation if I chose.  So I made a quilted case to hold everything.  I didn't have a pattern and made it up as I went along.  It has a slot for the notebook on one side and slots for my pens and markers on the other side as well as a clear snapped pouch for small items.  I like something I can pick up and take with me since I can't do that with my sewing machine.

 I only have a few more pages in my first notebook and have already purchased a second.  Plus some colored pencils (not my favorite), some colored fine tip markers and one brush marker (I see a lot more of those in my future.

I sure wish my dad was still alive so I could have him help me with this.  Hopefully he would be proud that I am at least trying to follow in his footsteps.  Here are two of his colored pen and ink drawings.  Some of my favorites are his black and white ones but I will save them for another blog.

Sewing Projects

OK, so it's been almost as year since I wrote a blog.  About a year ago I purchased my embroidery machine and have been cooped up in my sewing room ever since.  I have made a lot of fun things while exploring and learning this fabulous macine.  I have many items on Etsy for sale but I'll write about them another day (promise!).  Today I will share some of my personal projects.

A new friend from my church was looking for someone to trade craft supplies for some ribbon samples she got from market.  Of course I was game for that!  She came loaded with shopping bags and large bins full of samples.  We sorted through some and I came out with a pile of samples.

They were about 6 inches long and glued and stapled to cardboard headers.  There some beautiful satin wired pieces.  It took an afternoon to remove them from the headers and remove all the wire from the edges.  I have been looking into crazy quilting and had great plans!  I bought some fake suede fabric at Hobby Lobby.  Using some of my embroidery software I embroidered 8 blocks and made a shoulder bag.  I created the flap and pocket using some of my new treasures.  I sewed them on using clear thread and a zig zag stitch.  The ribbon was already embellished so I didn't have to get fancy,  I added an adjustable strap and a metal "frog" latch.  Here is the finished bag.  And  I still have hundreds of samples!

Most fabric and quilt shops in the nation have a yearly contest called Row by Row.  This year's theme was Water.  Each shop designs their own row and gives out the pattern or sells a kit to complete their row.  The contest requires you use 8 different patterns and you must visit the store in person to get the patterns or kits (no mail order)).  They give you about 2 months to complete the quilt and the first person who returns it to their store wins a prize.  I had great plans to do this and collected one pattern and one kit to start with.  I was a little intimated by the kit since I had to hand cut and stitch all the pieces so it took a month to get the nerve to try it.  By then people were already turning in their completed quilts.  Oh well.  It will make a nice table runner or maybe I'll decide to sell it on Etsy.  But it was fun since I did the driving on this one.

I love Fall especially after a long hot Texas Summer.  Here are two project I can't wait to use.  One is a banner that I again had to hand cut the pieces and machine applique them.  The quilting was done in the hoop on my fancy machine using a leaf outline pattern.  The towel was done in the hoop and all I had to do was place and trim the orange fabric and change thread color when the machine told me to.

I also love Christmas and decided to make this banner.  Again the pieces were hand cut and machine appliqued manually.

There are so many unwritten blogs running through my head.  I promise I will write more than once a year.  If you enjoy reading my blogs please follow me on here to get automatic emails when I do write again.

Finally Cooler Weather

I was shocked to see that it has been a year since I wrote a blog.  Guess I've been busy!  After a long hot Texas summer it has finally cooled off.  One of my favorite things to do in the fall is make a giant pot of beef stew.  Today is the day!  I have made this recipe for as long as I can remember.  When we were first married (42 years ago!) we did a lot of tent camping with friends every fall.  We lived in New Jersey at the time so we were used to much cooler weather.  I would always make a big pot of stew to take.  Once the tent was set up we would heat up the stew over a fire.  Every time I make stew these memories come back to me.

Beef Stew

2 lbs stew meat
2 bags frozen stew vegetables
Minced garlic
2 pkgs mushroom gravy mix
Red wine
1 cup beef broth
2 cups water
Worcestershire Sauce
Oil
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Brown beef cubes in oil.  Add about 2 tbs red wine to deglaze the pan.  Add salt, pepper and paprika to taste.  Add about 1 tsp of minced refrigerated garlic and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.  Add 1 cup of beef broth, 2 cups of water.  Sprinkle 1 package of mushroom gravy mix over the top and stir to blend.  Add two bags of frozen vegetables.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook for about 2-3 hours.   About a half hour before serving add and strir in the second package of mushroom gravy mix.  Simmer uncovered until thickened.

Note:  I am making this in my dutch oven but before I had one I mixed everything in a crock pot and cooked all day.

We will be enjoying this tonight with heated dinner rolls and for many other nights since I will have enough to freeze for additional meals.

Camping trips in the 1970's

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Pinterest Recipes - Yummy and Crummy Reviews

Last year I wrote a blog about how much I like Pinterest.  A year later nothing has changed.  I am still quite addicted to it and have thousands of pins.  I am very blessed to be retired and have lots of play time.  A lot of that time is spent trying different recipes from Pinterest.  Some have turned out better than others.  Here are reviews of my latest experiments.

YUMMY - Broccoli Cheese Rice Cups

For some reason we seem to eat a lot of rice, especially since I bought my rice cooker at Walgreens.  We like Basmati rice the best.  This recipe is wonderful for leftover rice.  They freeze and reheat well too.

YUMMY - Cilantro Lime Chicken Bake

More rice!  A quote from Guy Fieri - "winner winner chicken dinner".    I think it used every bowl and electric kitchen appliance I own but it was well worth it.  We only ate half - the other half is in the freezer.

I have never used fresh tomatillo's before but they are my new favorite food.  That step required a food processor.  The rice was cooked in my rice cooker and the chicken was grilled on my George Foreman grill.  The best part was the tomatillo dressing you pour over the top when serving. 

CRUMMY - Bacon Cooked in Water

This sounded so stupid it how could I not try it?  I followed the directions and ended up with the chewiest almost inedible bacon I have ever had. 
Don't bother pinning this one!

YUMMY - Cool Whip Cookies

Once again this sounded so wheels off that I just had to try it.  I used chocolate cake mix.  The batter was very strange and stiff.  But the cookies were actually very good - a cross between a cookie and a brownie.  I will have to try other flavors some day.

YUMMY - Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

Ooh this one is REALLY good.  I know it sounds a little strange (have you guessed I like to try weird recipes?) but the cream cheese melts and blends with the spaghetti sauce and is quite tasty.  And as the original pinner said, don't for get the onion rings on the top.  They makes the whole dish!

YUMMY - Hash browns and baked eggs

I tried these this week and loved them.  I followed the directions but I don't think I cooked the hash browns long enough since they weren't crispy.  Instead of bacon I put a sausage round on top of the hash browns.  And I over cooked the eggs but these were still really good.  I had one left over and it reheated very well.  Definately a repeat.

YUMMY - Broccoli Cheese Soup

I made this two days ago and am still craving more!  It is fabulous!  I did everything the instructions said except for the crock pot.  Some days I want instant gratification and used my dutch oven instead.  Next time I will be doubling the recipe. 

KINDA CRUMMY - Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't really bad but it didn't live up to to all the hype on Pinterest.  People called it the best chicken recipe ever.  It was just OK and nothing to brag about.  Will not be making it again.

YUMMY - Garlic Cheddar Bisquits

Who doesn't like Red Lobster bisquits?  I have tried copy cat recipes before but this one is the closest I have come to the real thing. 

YUMMY - Cucumber Tomato Avacado Salad

This was really good.  I had seen similar recipes using corn so I added corn to this and loved it.  We grill our corn and I used leftovers.  It had a great smokey flavor.  Unfortunately it doesn't keep very long because of the avacado.

YUMMY - Baked Garlic Cilantro Fries

Baked french fries are a new addiction.  I have used this recipe and have also made them without the garlic and cilantro.  Either way if cooked long enough to get cripsy they are even better then fried.  And certaninly better for you.

CRUMMY - Lasagne Cups

Sometimes things sound good but don't turn out very well.  This recipe was one of them.  The recipe used wonton skins and instructions said you didn't have to trim the excess.  Well they were so hard and crunchy we couldn't eat them.  The rest wasn't too bad but I wouldn't bother making this recipe again.

YUMMY -Scallops!

The website where this came from is userealbutter.com.  Yes, you must use real butter for this.  Wouldn't be the same without it.  I also add freshly ground garlic and cook it until it is crunchy.  Yum!

CRUMMY -Crustless Quiche

This was pretty good the night I made it.  But I really wanted to freeze individual pieces to eat for breakfast.  I tried that but there was just too much spinich in it for breakfast and it didn't really reheat well.  I ended up throwing it away.  Fail!

YUMMY -Baked Tomatoes

These are really good if you have tomatoes that are a little over ripe and you want to use them up.  I've made them a number of times.











I think that is all I have tried lately.  I have over 400 recipes pinned so it it is hard to remember everything.  Might help if I blogged more often!  Obviously I love to try new recipes.  Which if you know me well is quite funny since I have a lapband and eat very little.  But I still love good food.  Thankfully I have that lapband which allowsme to try things without over indulging or else I would be as big as a house thanks to Pinterest!  I am also blessed to have a husband who will try anything and likes most things I make. 

I have a lot of new recipes I am looking forward to trying and will review them at a later date. I also try a lot of the craft ideas I find but that will be fodder for another blog. 

Happy pinning and eating!