GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY, ITS THE WEEKEND! PETS ARE FUNNY! PERFECT CUP OF JAVA.

Old Fashion English Rose From My Walkway

As usual Caity my lil dog, Zig my cat, and I are up early listening to the birdies chirping. Coffee is on, and I've messaged my Go-go buddy to see what she is up to today for lunch. Today is one of those morning when I want to do lots of fun things, a few responsible things, with so little weekend to do them all in. Usually when this happens I end up doing most of the fun things and drop as many responsible duties as I can! Just being honest here folks! I give it my all on the days leading up to the weekend. So by the time the weekend gets here, its difficult keeping my feet on solid ground, and my mind from a wonderin!

For one, I've made a promise to fill the bird feeder for my feathered friends. Caity and I were doing yard duty one day, and decided since its getting close to tomato season to move the feeder out back, by the magnolia tree. Last spring/summer, we planted tomatoes in containers. Well, we were out there almost everyday watering them. So we're wiser this year. We are planting our tomatoes in the ground, by the place where we had the bird feeder last year. Caity the dog loves tomatoes! I try to feed her veggies for snacks. She loves baby carrots, lettuce, cabbage, apples, grapes, dried cranberries, and raw green beans. Oh, and she loves strawberries. Actually, there's not a lot Caity won't eat!

Speaking of Caity the lil dog, today she gets a bath. I call it her glamour spa day. We just love spending our time together on glamour spa days. Not! But I don't have chase her down anymore, but I do have to be creative about capturing her though. She really is good about standing still in the tub, but also at spraying me down when she does that shake it all off thing she does. Her favorite session is the drying part. She consider that our love session. Then off to her crate to roll around on her towel to finish drying herself off.

Pets are funny! Ziggy was sunning in the window the other day, it was pretty out, so he was experiencing a Ziggy moment with his eyes closed. Well the pet chair, a chair I paid $25 for at an auction solely for them, sits directly under a large window that opens up, with a wide ledge.  Caity is a Silkie breed-Australian terrier and a Yorkie mix, therefore, she has short legs. So she was doing her "I'm a crazy insane dog "barkandgrowl" routine which means, "Intruder, intruder, come fast, let me at em, let me at em" in their chair, with her front paws on the back of the chair, barely able to look out the window. So I go up front to the window to look out, and she is barking at the black birds in the tree by the window! I threatened to close the window if she didn't get a hold of herself!

I've been rippin & runnin & runnin & rippin

Changing the subject here, have you ever made what you would consider the perfect cup of java? Like, I think I make a good cup of coffee! But occasionally it comes out wrong, or not so great. But then...sometimes...I make what I would consider a stellar, fantastic, cup of java! That was my cup of Java day before yesterday! Oh, I'm single, so I don't make pots of coffee. I'm a one cup of coffee drinker in the morning, and every blue moon, I'll have a cup at night. This morning's cup is pretty close to the one the other day. But, its getting on the cold side, so I'll have to end this blog and heat er up!

Its 7:30 am here, time to get my head in the Word, and start my day! I'm going for raw sushi today for lunch! Tee-hee! Have a fun weekend everyone from Flowerchic and the pets!

I'm leaving you with a fun song to carry around with you today. Click on the link below for a surprise song! Nope, I'm giving no hints!

http://youtu.be/n3f8kafNkjE

http://youtu.be/uVTeIMursb8

http://youtu.be/z_pImRGISww


FLOWERCHIC

ALL THINGS NEW

The month of March is a month of all new things for me. I'm getting help from tank+tink in setting up a new blog header. I am so stoked about its unveiling! I've had some remolding done of the rental house I live in, so everything is in my kitchen from the entryway, where all the changes are being made. This morning I can officially walk on the new tiles that have been laid. No more going out the back door and walking around to the front, where my car is parked across the street. My car is not in front of my house because the workers were all parked there, and I resorted to parking across the street to be out of the quagmire. When they finally left, I was too rattled to go get the car and park it in its usual home spot.

There is a new all glass door that I just love! The workers asked me if I wanted to leave the screen in or wait till it was hotter out. I told them not to even bother. My lil dog Caity, who is unspade would just blast thru the door on her way to venture out for naughtiness, so I told them, "No, we're good!" I walked out the door to look at the new look, and the first thing the pets did was run to the glass door and put their paw on the glass! Yep, this human fur mommy knows her pet babies!

My neighbor hood is getting some surreal new people, and so now I feel like I am going in and out of Fort Knox. I have a lock on the glass door, a deadbolt, and a regular lock on the metal door. Were I to get chased by a person of crime, it would be quicker to run past the house and into the business down the road for safety!  Ha! Where do I get these thoughts?

So, before I move everything back into the entry way, I am going to have the move things around in the kitchen first. Because now, I'm thinking of not putting everything that was in the entry way back in there, and putting new stuff in there. Well, new as in different stuff from other parts of the house. You know, my mind thinks differently than everyone else's I think. Like in my entry way is where I store on the left side of the room my books, I am an avid reader and have books stored all over my little abode. I have two book cases that are full, I have books stored on the side of the bed on the floor next to the wall so they are not visible. I have them stored behind the couch, and a storage tub full in what I call my "junk it up room." Then on the other side of the entryway I have a metal rack where I store pots and pans, fresh fruit, my keys, a flashlight, my dog leash collection, bottled water, potted flowers, can goods, whatever else. Because when you first walk into my house past the entry way is the kitchen. Next, is a small sitting room. Oh, I need to tell you I live in a duplex. I had first bids on which side to live on and I chose my side because its not next to the street, I had room for a small patio garden, and it was more private to sit out in during the summer. But my rooms are placed sorta hodge, podge like...but it works for me. I have a fear of growing old and people categorizing me as an eccentric woman, where they give the other person that raised eyebrow look with a question mark above their head, when speaking of me. Ha! That makes me smile.  But I am at sweet place in my life, where I simply embrace my quirkiness, and love myself! This ain't high school baby! You live this life your way, or you waste it on someone else's way! If God gives you the thumbs up, your good.

Speaking of being eccentric and quirky, take a gander of my "Girlfriend's Day Out" pictures. Well, its supposed to be a girlfriend day out, but sometime the guys saunter in too, but they most times sit at a table next to ours for an informal guys day out, separate, but equally fun!

This is not all of us. Some did not show, because they thought we were going to have just sushi! The original group of us have known each other for a little over 25 years, and we vary in ages. We started out eating out after church as a bunch of single girls, and have evolved. We ate out at Jasmine's. The above picture is my friend Charlotte, my invited guest tilting her bowl of Wasabi salad with seared, raw tuna (I went back today by myself and ordered the lunch version.) Charlotte loves raw sushi and is trying to pull me over to the raw side of sushi. Actually it was very, good. Next time, I'm going for the rainbow roll!

Heaven's doors and windows are opening up for me, I'm at that place. A place where new avenues are opening up to new destinations. I feel that in my spirit, in my gut, in my heart. I'm headed somewhere different, and its a better place. And, its here on planet earth, not heaven yet. 

Come back to the purple door and see where my journey takes me from here. I'm on my way somewhere fun for sure. My life bags are packed and ready to go at the front door! 

ITS TIME TO FIRE IT UP BABY!

I live in a foodie township! Every celebration revolves around food, especially in the summer here. Funnel cakes, BBQ competitions, corn dogs on a stick, car shows, fried twinkies, fried pickles, Superman celebration, pork burgers with mustard and onions.... We celebrate, walk around, stop and talk to each other, eat, listen to music, go home, come back in the evening and do it all over again! Then we get on the phone to our friends the next day, "Girl, did you get some of that BBQ chicken on the right hand side, set up in front of the hardware store? Girl, that was some good chicken!" No, but did you go up the street, about 4 vendors up from there, and get one of those bloomin onions?" "We went to that stand in front of the dog groomin place, and got some sliced BBQ beef, that was good, but they were were a lil skimpy with their meat!" On, and on the conversation goes.

Last year my parents were cleaning out their garage, and found a brand new grill used only once! I used to grill out all the time and invite my parents over and my sister. We'd sit out in the yard under the umbrella and talk and eat, and wave at our friends as they honked their horns, or stopped to yell out across the yard and talk a while. No body dared parked their car and pulled up a seat for food! We small town folk, but we ain't that small town! We may raise our glass to ya, or wave a drumstick or an ear of corn at ya, but don't park the car and get out. Its an unwritten rule and everybody knows it! There was no invite, and it didn't get lost in the mail!

So back to my train of thought...my parents are really slick when treating my sister and me equally. I'm the only one that grills. Sista does have a grill but its just for looks. She built a new deck on to her house a couple of years ago and bought a grill to set on the deck. Never been used. But my mom calls me up and says, "Your dad and I found a gas grill in the back of the garage. I think I won it at bingo at the plant employee picnic one summer.  Course, we're never gonna use it again." Pause. So I say, "I'd like to have a gas grill and start grill out again." "Well, I asked your sister, and of course she's already got one she doesn't even use, so it's yours if you want to come get it." So basically, she told my sister she had a free grill she didn't need, since she wasn't using the one she had,  and she was going to ask if I was interested in it. Slick I tell ya, slick!

So, that's how I ended up with a free, once used gas grill. That was last summer. I never did get around to grilling on it because I was in overload mode from all the city celebrations that revolved around food!

Last weekend after the all the stress from dealing during the week with the 2 tornadoes in and around us, the sirens waking us up in the mornings, and staying after work in the shelter of the building where I work, I had had enough of near death, and loss of possession, home, and neighboring townships. The very next day was a warm Saturday, and it was a beautiful, sunny  day! I decided to clean up the grill and buy a tank of propane, so I could be ready at a moments notice to, "Fire it up baby!" Found a couple of steaks on sale to stow away in the freezer till a perfect day to grill. Which, by the way I just heard on my new weather radio will be this coming Tuesday...sunny and high 70's!

I've decided to name my grill, "Grateful!"  Every time I grill on sunny days, I'm going to remember just how blessed I am! God is soooo good to us! That unseasonably Saturday after a week of stress was no coincidence!

Peace out to ya from Flowerchic! Go out and have a great one for me.

I'm leavin you with 3 of my fav songs to pep your Saturday up with. I'll probably have these playing on my iPod while I sittin out grillin! No, I'm not telling you what they are, you'll just have to be surprised as you tap your feet and listen!

http://youtu.be/vaiT2ignyEc

http://youtu.be/5WC14jvYHKA

http://youtu.be/ZrJwrPWuQrI

AW, FRENCH TOAST WILL MAKE IT ALL BETTER

Today is blog day. I can't think of anything to blog about. I certainly don't want to relive or blog about the tornadoes! You see I live in the mid-central part of the U.S. So its been a a very long week with tornadoes passing thru towns near and around my city, which is not far from Harrisburg IL, twice this week. So....think. Think. Think Flowerchic. First and foremost, I need a cup of Java. Is there anything better than opening a vacuum pack of Maxwell House coffee? First you hear the hiss, then the aroma of fresh ground coffee!

I think I'll need french toast to help me come up with a fresh topic! Yep, I'm thinking that's what I need to go do first.

There are keys to making good french toast. One, you have to have fresh eggs, then french bread cut thick, good bacon and bacon grease, real butter, I use organic milk, cause it just tastes better to me, a dab of cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg. For sure, you must have 100% pure maple syrup. You don't have to go so far as to tap a tree yourself, or pay a lot of money. I buy the Private Select brand by Kroger. Note you can never drizzle too much syrup on french toast. Oh, and back to the bacon, buy the no name brand from the butcher cut thick. My sister taught me this tip. 

The next key is to plate you french toast on a platter. Yep, a platter. Don't scrunch it all up on a plate, one on top of another, Single layer all the way baby!  Scoop some butter on top of each, lay your bacon on there and drizzle till your heart is content with maple syrup. Then dig in! You got the butter taste mixed in with the salty bacon taste, mixed in with the sweet taste of maple syrup....um um ummmmm! Next, you take a sip of your coffee, then your cold milk. If the cold milk is too much for you, cut it all back with a glass of ice water. 

I know there is some of you out there thinking, "Why go thru all that trouble when I can get in the car and drive to a dive and have someone else do all the work?" Because it ain't the same baby! French toast with thick sliced bacon, coffee with real cream, and a glass of milk will cost you an arm and a leg first off! Second, this kind of meal must be made with some good ole fashion, homemade, love behind it! Can't no stranger slaving over a grill for 8 hours give that to you! It's priceless!

Well...I'm still trying to decide what I'm gonna blog about! I'm sure something will come to mind! Tee-Hee!

Oh, I have a fav song of mine to share with you below. Peace, love, and joy to ya, Flowerchic!

http://youtu.be/6Graa_Vm5eA