Life Muses by Ro

This is seriously cramping my style

2009-11-04T13:32:28-07:00

Remember when I told you that I had fallen down after jumping a dog gate? I landed face down on my tile floor. My right hand tried to stop the fall and in the process I hurt it.

At first, I thought that I just had a sprained wrist. After a couple of weeks, I began to notice that it was getting worse and worse. I had a hard time opening doors and such and it ached a lot.

I went to the doctor today and had some X-rays. I found out that the little bone lower arm juts up into my hand. If I was a gymnast, I’d need surgery to shorten the bone because this particular thing causes problems when you land hard on your hands.

Good thing I’m not one.

Anyway, that bone jammed up in my hand and caused bruising and such. There is a chance that another little bone might have a break (just a chance), but it isn’t showing up right now. The doctor doesn’t want to chance it so I have to wear this brace which won’t let me use my thumb.

Of course, this happened to my right hand. Of course. Ever tried typing without your thumb? It takes forever.

I ordered Dragon (voice-recognition software,) a few minutes ago. This things is seriously cramping my style. Hopefully, it will work well for me because typing is my life! (The voice software that comes with Vista was a bust. I wasted a lot of hours today trying to get it to work for mw.)

I’ll let you know how it goes with Dragon. I will get it on Friday.

(By the way, I’m sending the link to this post to lots of people and am going to post it on the SG board. I need to be efficient as I notify people of this new complication. I'm now a slow typer!)

The missing orange rolls prove that I am still alive

2009-10-29T15:31:42-06:00

Yes, yes… I know… I’ve been an absent-blog landlord. If you didn’t know better, you’d think I moved. Of course, I haven’t. I’ve just been getting over the flu… and bronchitis… and sinus problems… and coughing fits… and exhaustion…

I haven’t been sick like this for years and years. It has seemed to go on and on and on. I’ve struggled with this illness in more than one way. I think the hardest part has been dealing with the guilt I feel when I don’t work at least full time. It makes me feel like I’m letting everyone down.

But I just haven’t been able to work as many hours as usual. I’ve been too worn out. I finally came to the conclusion that I have to stop pushing myself too hard. If I don’t, it will take even longer to get over this thing.

This TIME it is TIME for me to take TIME to get completely well.

But there is good news! I have hope that I’m going to get over it. Here’s some quick updates of my activities (and non-activities) during the last week. You’ll see that I’ve been making progress.

Thursday: The following internal conversation took place, “Dead. Dead. I’m nearly dead. Please, somebody shoot me. I need to post something in my blog so that I can relieve the guilt level. Oh, I know… I’ll move a recipe from one blog to another one. Good idea.”

Friday: Deciding that the recipe plan was the only kind of blog post I was up to (it’s a simply copy-paste-release move), I did it again. The recipe had been requested so it was a win-win-win.

Saturday: Some friends and I have season tickets to a local theatre. This time we saw a new musical (well, new to us) called Curtains. I wanted to go badly enough that I went. It wiped me out completely. (Don’t worry…I haven’t been contagious for some time.)

Sunday: I managed to go to church (just the main worship part). The meeting lasted 1 hour 10 minutes. After it was over, I was happy to go home and crash.

Monday: I kept up with email and did a few chores that are related to the end of the month. I made a few posts in the forum. I posted another recipe in the blog. Then I crashed again. I watched Dancing with the Stars. (Go Donny!)

Tuesday: Same as Monday, pretty much, except I couldn’t manage a blog post. I found out that Donny made it through to dance again next week. (Go Donny! How many times can I vote for him? 100?)

Wednesday: Gary drove me to the bank. I had a check that had to be deposited by the end of the month so I couldn’t put it off any more. I made him stop by Deseret Book to get some of their famous, yummy orange rolls. I worked a few hours after I came home. The trip to the bank wiped me out, pretty much. I ate three orange rolls. Afterwards, I felt fat and guilty for succumbing to orange-roll temptation.

Today: I had a HARD time getting out of bed this morning. I’m still exhausted and kind of achy. My orange-roll hangover didn’t help. After I laid there for a while, feeling sorry for myself, I got up and took a shower. I felt a little better afterwards. The good news is that it’s going better for me today. It’s 3:30 already! I’m excited that I’ve made it this long. And look - I’m making a real blog post!.

Hope Shines in Utah Lake

I went upstairs a few minutes ago and looked out my bedroom window. I gasped when I saw Utah Lake sparkling in the sun. I had forgotten that I can see so much of it once the leaves fall off of the trees. This is just a portion of the view I have.

The shimmering lake reminds me of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Hiawatha). Here’s a little bit of the poem:

By the shore of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him, through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing In the sunshine.
Bright above him shone the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leaped the sturgeon,
Sparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.
From the brow of Hiawatha
Gone was every trace of sorrow,
As the fog from off the water,
As the mist from off the meadow.
With a smile of joy and triumph,
With a look of exultation,
As of one who in a vision
Sees what is to be, but is not,
Stood and waited Hiawatha.

I love the line, “Sees what is to be, but is not.” It rings of hope.

Hope. Hope is good. I have hope that tomorrow will be even better than today. I have hope that soon, this flu/secondary illness episode of mine will be just a memory.

(By the way, I have one more orange roll left. I am going to eat it. Then I’m going to crash and be happy that I only have one more orange roll calling my name and that I got so much done today!)

What's for supper? Hamburger Chowder

2009-10-26T10:48:55-06:00

This is another recipe I'm migrating over from my old blog for you. My mother has been making as long as I can remember. Gary loves it when I think to make it, which hasn't been often enough. It's super-easy to make.

RECIPE

Chop up a whole yellow onion and a few ribs of celery. How much does that add up to? I don't know. Depends. Depends upon how many people you are going to feed.

Fry it with 1 -1.5 pounds of ground beef or turkey. I use lean meat. I don't like grease.

ADD

2 beef bouillon cubes (or 2 teaspoons granular bouillon). I've used chicken or vegetable bouillon in a pinch.

1 large can of chopped tomatoes (or whole tomatoes you've smushed up). I always put in a quart of tomatoes because I bottle them in quarts. Tomatoes are a great soup-extender and I don't mind adding extra.

4 cups hot water

1 whole bay leaf

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1- 10 oz. package frozen vegetables

SIMMER for one hour

Add 1 cup noodles and cook until they are soft. I tend to extend the soup at this point, too. I put in three big handfuls in this batch. That had to be a lot more than 1 cup.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. (If you are a red-pepper-flake kind of person like I am, this soup is good with it sprinkled on the top right before you dig into the bowl.)

Take out the bay leaf before you serve it. You don't want anyone to accidentally get it in their bowl.

That happened to my mom once, by the way. It caused quite a stir at the dinner table. Mom was horrified that she'd forgotten to remove it - so I always think, "Take out the bay leaf!"

Want to make this ahead of time? It's easy. Just follow the recipe up until the point where you put in the noodles and refrigerate. When you are ready to serve it, bring it back to a boil and cook the noodles. You could freeze it, too.

What's for supper? French bread (another request)

2009-10-23T10:37:48-06:00

I received a request yesterday to give you the easy French bread recipe I shared in my old blog. I've been making this bread ever since I was a little girl. If a kid can make it, anyone can!

No kneading required.

FRENCH BREAD RECIPE

In a large bowl, add 1 packet of yeast to 1 1/2 cups rather warm water

The water will be hotter than you would make a baby's bottle but not so hot that it would make you say, "ouch" to stick your hand in it. It feels hot, but not hot enough to make your hand turn red. Following me?

If you get the water too hot, you will kill the yeast. If it is too cool, the yeast will take a long time to grow - or won't grow at all.

Man. I wish I could have you in my kitchen so that I could let you feel it yourself. That's how I learned. But my description ought to work. I thought about it when I was getting the water today - meaning, how could I describe how this feels to you.

Add 1 tablespoon sugar. The sugar is required because yeast needs food to grow.

Add 1 tablespoon shortening and gently stir. Don't worry about the shortening getting mixed up. It will melt a little bit and then when you do the next part, it will get mixed up with the ingredients.

Let the mixture rest for a few minutes until the yeast starts to grow. It will be bubbly. If it doesn't get bubbly, then your yeast is either bad or you killed it with water that was too hot. Be patient and wait, though. It doesn't immediately start to bubble. The yeast has to have time to start growing.

Add 4 cups of flour and stir in well with a big spoon. Cover.

Set your time for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes is over, stir the mixture down with the spoon again. Do this 5 times in all. (10 minutes... stir...)

Divide the dough in half and let sit for ten minutes on the counter. (Lightly, of course, so the dough won't stick to the counter.)

Roll out and roll up like a jelly roll.

Put the loaves on a greased cookie sheet and score with a knife.

Let raise for 1 1/2 hours, covered. These loaves raised a little bit too long. I had my office door closed and didn't hear the timer go off. But the bread is wonderful, so no harm done.

Bake at 350% until light brown on the top and oh, so yummy looking. (It took me 20 minutes today.) Thump it with your finger and it it sounds hollow, it is done. Brush the top with butter.

It just occurs to me that this might make a good pizza dough recipe. I may try it out in the future. If I do, I'll report back.

Whats for supper? Corn Chowder Receipe (per request)

2009-10-22T10:44:08-06:00

I received a request for a recipe I posted on another blog I used to have. I managed to dig up the post for you. It is a great recipe so I can see why it has been requested. YUMMM!

(P.S. I'm doing better today - nearly there. I did manage to fall down yesterday and hurt myself, but that's another story completely. HA!)

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Last night, we had one of our favorite soups. It's very thrifty easy, thrifty and good.

(Note about the photos: I was in a hurry when I took them so I didn't fuss. I simply wanted to eat. As a consequence, they won't rock your world. But trust me... this soup is good!)

Here's the recipe:

Cut about 1/2 cup or 1 cup bacon or ham into small pieces. We usually use turkey bacon or ham. It only takes a few slices.

Chop up a little onion - we like green onions - and fry with the meat. (I always do this in the pan that the soup will be made in. No reason to dirty two pans, I say.)

Add one can of cream style corn. We usually double the recipe so we used two. (I have no idea why Andrew got out three cans. I took the photo without thinking about it. Thought I'd clarify this point so you won't get confused.)

Add three cups milk and one cup mashed potatoes or dried potato flakes. (Potato buds work, too.) The potato thickens the soup.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat and serve.