Valentines Day revisitied

Valentines day was pretty busy around here what with work and school and such so I never got a chance to share some of the lovely things we enjoyed.

Here is my card made by the lovely Miss V.

She made a Valentine booklet for the big guy and me

She filled it with vintage (ancient) pictures of me and the big guy and the family

and then added appropriate Disney movie quotes

My favorite one is up at my least favorite work site, it's from Robin Hood:

"Someday there will be happiness again"

gotta love that!



 not only is that baby V, but it's also baby me and big guy and the god-parents!





this one is REALLY baby me!

yes, that's all hair.  Had just had a little trim ;-) 

seriously within a couple years I was sitting on it

then she made some adorable Valentine pretzel sticks

they went great with the heart cookies I couldn't resist at the bakery

Friday happenings... tra la la

Friday.

such a LOVELY day......

especially when one has it off.

and lots of lovely homework to keep one occupied.

I am getting ready to motor off to the blood center where I hope to do yet another double donation, since that saves some time in the long run.  I'll let you know how that goes.  On occasion I have a wee bit not enough iron to do a double.  Plenty for the single, but the double is a bit tougher.  I have been diligently eating lots of iron rich foods this week, including.......

Lima beans.

not my favorite. 

but if you get the little ones and add lots of cracked black pepper, they are tolerable and almost tasty.

tonight being Friday.  And a Lent Friday. I will be doing some tuna casserole.

I pretend it's American peasant food so it sounds a bit more classy.

Don't get me wrong.  I like tuna casserole.  The big guy?  Not so much.

Fortunately (or not) for him, he will be at work so I will partake of my peasant food all by myself.

or will I....................

study break

Snowstorm Crystal....

I'm taking a petite study break tonight.

when I do such a thing I love to visit my bloggy friends.

I don't always leave a comment though.

hanging head in shame.

It's like peeking in a window instead of just knocking on the door isn't it?

bad me!

Last Friday evening until Saturday morning we were visited by Crystal.

Snowstorm Crystal (yeah,  Crystal arr arr arr) was really the biggest one this winter, how strange is THAT for March?  Last year we were still buried under 6 feet of snow in March, and that wasn't the snowbanks either!

but once the sun came up.....

the snow really did sparkle like crystal.

it really is pretty...........

so fresh.

so white.

so clean.

okay I'm over it, can we have spring now?

please?

one small comment

Let me just say. 
College at 48 is not for sissies.
I'll be back as soon as I can.
I'm sorry!

Super Easy Lunch or Dinner

I seem to be in a cooking mode lately.

Nothing too fancy, but shrimp fried rice is such a favorite!

I happened to have both peas and shrimp in the freezer so that makes it even easier!

Here are my ingredients, ready to go.

Rice -check

Shrimp- check

peas - check

green onions - check

diced ham - check

egg- check

hoisin sauce - check

soy sauce - check

I start by making a sort of flat omelet and then rolling it and slicing it. 

I know some people mix the beaten egg in with the rice, but we like the pieces of egg instead of the scrambled rice effect.

Then I heat some peanut oil in my wok and start cooking the rice.

I add some soy sauce and some Hoisin sauce and keep stirring and cooking to let the rice soak up the sauces.

Then I add the diced ham.  Okay in this case it was cut up Canadian Bacon but I didn't want to create an international incident.  shhhh

Then in goes the frozen peas and shrimp...

cook and stir until they are thawed and warmed and starting to soak up the sauce.

mmmmm

smells good!

When it's getting nice and hot and almost ready the green onions go in so they just get cooked a wee little bitty bit.  We want the fresh greeny taste to hang in there.

Then the egg pieces go in last so they don't get too smashed up and lose all their integrity.

Because really, I ask you, is there anything worse than an egg with no integrity?

Then Viola!  Shrimp fried rice!

and if you don't have shrimp, or ham (or Canadian bacon) then dice up whatever leftover meat you have laying around in the fridge and pretend you totally intended to make chicken fried rice, or roast beef fried rice, or pork fried rice.  Heck, regular old American style bacon works!

It's like Chinese flavored throw-together.

SoME yOunG tALenT

I just want to introduce Miss V's blogs.  She has started crocheting and we may have created a crochet monster!  She also has a blog for showing off her handmade cards.  They are so fun and soooo her.
Click here  to visit her........... tell her mom said hi!



What's in your pantry?

We like antiques and vintage things at the Green-house

I thought perhaps I'd show you a bit of what is on my pantry shelves.

I use the term pantry pretty loosely here, in point of fact these are my kitchen cupboards.

Below are the big guys vintage collection of Snit glasses.  A snit for those non beer connoisseurs, is a small glass usually between 4-6 ounces for a taste of a beer.  Or as a "sidecar" for a Bloody Mary.

We use his "Snits" for juice.  They are the perfect size!

Here we have the lovely Miss V's collection of McDonald's glasses.

She loves the characters and uses these every day!

I think I may have gotten her started on this set when I spotted a Grimace glass and told her about getting one when I was a teenager.  I can still close my eyes and see the icy coke in that glass.  That was back when if you bought the glass they really did fill it with your beverage. 

Clabber Girl.

Seriously who wouldn't use this brand? 

Here are some of my Pyrex bowls cuddling up to my flour canister.

Anyone recognize it?  Yup, it's a very very old coffee can.  My mother used it for flour when I was growing up and somehow I couldn't get rid of it when we cleaned out her house.  I am getting in desperate need of a new lid for it though.  I know mother went through quite a few lids also.  I buy my coffee as beans so I don't know where I'll find a cover!

Pretty plate.

Really pretty plate that I found at Goodwill.

when I was Goodwill Hunting.

and succeeding.

I am in love with the soft colors on this one and I put it on the bottom of the plate stack so that I usually get to use it. 

Look at this other sweet plate!

Oak leaves and acorns, and it's pink!  I think that is so strange, but I love it!

I found these 2 nifty oval plates at Goodwill also.

They are in pretty good shape, it's actually the gorgeous sunlight coming through my spiffy kitchen window that is making it look like the green bands on them are not all there.  There is a black dot on this one, it's underneath the glaze, but I don't mind.  I think freckles like that add to the charm of my treasures.

This is one of about 6 of these plates that I have picked up at various thrift shops.

I think they look like something a granny would have had in her pantry.  I love that! 

I think granny is a totally under used term of affection. 

These are my granny plates, and I want to make myself a matching granny apron too!