Stormy Day

Yesterday we had a short break from the rain....blue sky and sunshine. Then last night the rain returned and brought the wind with it. The wind was pretty strong through the night and it continues. The sun screens are rattling on my craft room windows. We can expect this kind of weather for a few more days.

Last night I was irritated because I thought my favorites didn't get copied from my laptop to my desk top. Then I discovered my pictures were "lost" too. Well, Gerry did some searching and found everything. Huge relief. Now I just need to move everything to where it should be.

Right now I'm going to go get some lunch...

Desk Top Computer/Dinner Tonight

I have a computer to use again. The laptop is terminal so it has gone bye-bye. Gerry took my desk top to the computer guy and he fixed whatever was wrong with it. It is alot faster than it was even though it is running XP. My laptop had Vista. It will take some adjusting to get use to using it again. My desk top has a 19" monitor so it is HUGE compared to the 15 inch laptop screen.

Gerry had picked up the laptop when he took the desk top in to the repair shop. When we went to pick up the desk top, we also took the laptop so the computer guy could copy all my stuff over to the desk top. We specifically told him to be sure to copy all my favorites. Well, unfortunately that didn't happen. So now I've got to figure out what all I had on there...that will certainly be a daunting task. Gerry is going to call him tomorrow and find out what happened.

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Here's what I made for dinner tonight:

Oven-Baked Chicken Parmesan

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 lbs)
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
1 jar (26 to 28 ounces) Ragu Old World Style Pasta Sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 deg. Dip chicken in egg, then bread crumbs, coating well.
In 9x13 inch glass baking dish, arrange chicken. Bake uncovered 20 minutes.
Pour Ragu Pasta Sauce over chicken, then top with cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Serve, if desired, with hot cooked pasta. Serves 4.

I used 1 package of breast steaks. There were 2 pieces. If I make this again, I'll season the chicken a little. It was a little bland. I found this recipe when I was cleaning up in my craft room/office last week. It was okay...just needed some additional seasoning. I was going to cook some pasta, instead cooked rice. The rice didn't go very well with it. And we had more of the fruit salad.

I've got to get the software for my camera on the desk top then I can add pictures. I'm just thankful to have a computer to use again. :) Trying to do things on my phone was not the easiest and I wasn't able to use Gerry's laptop much...

Fiesta Cabbage

This is what I fixed for dinner tonight. I think maybe I have posted it quite some time ago.

When I was doing some cleaning in my craft room/office last week, I came across a bunch of recipes. Fiesta Cabbage was one of them. I found it in a Southern Home magazine.

Here's what you need:

1 package of Kielbasa Polish Sausage
1 head of cabbage
1 small red onion
1 bell pepper
1 - 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes

Slice the sausage and brown in a large skillet Take it out of the pan and drain on paper towels. Cut up the onion and bell pepper (I used a red one) and saute in the drippings from the sausage. Cut the cabbage up and add to pan. Mix it in with the onion and pepper. Put a lid on the pan and wilt the cabbage (about 10 to 15 minutes). Add the sausage back to pan along with the can of diced tomatoes. (I rinsed the can out with a little bit of water and added that to the pan). Add salt & pepper then mix everything together. Let it cook for about 5 minutes or so until everything is heated through.

I served it by itself. I had also fixed a fruit salad...fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, pineapple chunks, mini marshmallows, coconut and cool whip.

The mixture probably doesn't sound very good...however, it is really yummy!! There is just a little bit left over.

Stormy Night

The rain continues to fall...

Yesterday it was pretty ugly...then in the late afternoon the winds picked up. At times it was blowing so hard, the windows would rattle. It was a little spooky. The paper this morning says the wind gusts were up to 49 mph late last night. We have a motion light on the back porch and it was on most of the time.

Sometime in the wee morning hours, the power went out. The light in the dining room has a remote control that turns the light on and changes the speed of the overhead fan. For some reason, when we lose power the light comes on when power is restored. It was on this morning. My clock radio said 3:58 am when I woke up about 8:30am.

The winds are suppose to be heavy again today although it looks pretty still outside right now. Rain is expected through the week too.

The weather service has issued flood watches for small streams and low-lying urban areas. We are not close to any streams that would flood over.

Well, it will be nice when all this stops and we can enjoy some consecutive sunshiney days...not just teasers every once in awhile.

New Computer?

Gerry got a phone call from the computer repair shop where we took the laptop last Friday. It seems the motherboard is the problem...so it appears a new computer needs to be purchased. I forgot to ask him about all my stuff that is on my laptop. Not real happy!!

He left to go to Sam's...he ordered new tires for the Nissan and they are in. He asked me if I wanted to go look at computers. It is raining and I didn't want to go out in it.

It has been raining since Sunday afternoon. There's been some breaks...yesterday afternoon it was clear. However, today it has been pretty steady. Supposedly rain is expected most of the week.

Being without a computer has been a sorta good thing...I've been doing some cleaning in my craft room/office...going through stacks of card samples I printed off the computer and magazines where I've tagged recipes. I threw out the magazines...I've got so many recipes that I'll never try them all in my remaining lifetime. Slowly I am beginning to see the top of my lateral file cabinet.

Back to my cleaning...

Today

The day started looking very gloomy. The sun came out for a little bit this afternoon and then it started raining, as predicted.


Remember I mentioned how we like to cut out coupons for restaurants around town...Gerry had cut one out for Chevy's. It was buy one entree at regular price and the second entree was $3.99. So today we drove out to Chevy's by the river. We've been to that particular one a few times. It was crowded and we ended up sitting at a small booth in a corner in the bar area. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to manage it, with short legs it is somewhat difficult to sit at anything that is high. Anyway, I managed it. We both had combination meals...I had a cheese enchilada with green tomatilo sauce and a soft carnitas taco. Gerry picked 3 items...a chile rellano, flautas and I don't remember what the other one was. We were stuffed.


After we left there we drove down the Garden Highway which turns into Arden Way. We decided to stop at Arden Fair and go for a walk. We have not been there in quite a while. The traffic moving through the mall area is always crazy. Surprisely enough we found a parking space close to one of the back entrances to the mall. The mall was packed too. We walked down one side on the bottom floor then walked back on one side of the 2nd floor. We stopped at one of the sporting goods stores and Gerry bought a couple of University of Texas tee shirts. The son of a dear friend of ours is a freshman there this year.


After we got home we sat at the breakfast bar, he at his laptop and me reading the paper. I checked my email off of my phone. I am getting more comfortable in figuring out how to do things on my phone.


I was looking over his shoulder as he read his FB posts and noticed one of his Bike Journal friends mentioning that she had been looking at digi stamps all afternoon. So I said to him "ask her if she is a stamper". He turned the laptop around so I could leave a comment. We commented back and forth and then he told me to go "friend" her. When I went over to my FB, she had already "friended" me. I'm not sure where she lives now...Gerry did tell me she was teaching school overseas for awhile, however is back in the states now.


I just cooked a little bit of rice...got hungry all of a sudden so I am going to have some of the leftover Kalua pork I fixed on Friday. It is kind of late to be eating anything heavy...oh well.


It sure seemed a little strange for it to be lighter later than usual. The time change always takes a little bit of adjusting to it.


Don't know when I'll get my laptop back. Hopefully we will hear something tomorrow about what is wrong with it.

Laptop Died

My laptop died this morning while I was reading my email. We took it to a repair shop after Gerry got in from his ride. They will call in a few days...probably by Monday and let us know what is wrong. :(

In the meantime I am using my phone. Not real easy to do.

The pictures and videos I've seen of the earthquake and tsunami have been horrendous.

Country Waffles for Breakfast

Either Gerry or I will cut out coupons for different restaurants around town. Recently he cut out a coupon for Country Waffles located in Citrus Heights. This is one of the places his bike club goes to quite often. The coupon was for buy 1 entree and get 1 free and 2 beverages had to be purchased.


I didn't feel like my usual muffin and orange juice for breakfast so asked if we could use the coupon he had cut out. I enjoy eating breakfast out on a weekday or Saturday morning. Gerry enjoys breakfast at any time. Occasionally I will agree to breakfast on Sundays. I prefer Sunday dinner (we usually go out after church).


Gerry ordered a Portuguese sausage omelet which was chuck full of sausage, bell peppers, olives and onions (that I could see). There might have been other stuff in it. There was a choice of country potatoes or hash browns. He always gets country potatoes with breakfast, however, he told the waitress hashbrowns. After she left I asked why he ordered hashbrowns instead of potatoes. She came back to bring my orange juice and more coffee and so he changed it. He also got 2 nice size biscuits with it. It was a huge breakfast.


I got Swedish Fruit rollups which were 2 crepes with a choice of apples, strawberries or blueberries. I got apples. It had a nice dollop of whipped cream on top and also 2 eggs and either sausage or bacon. I got sausage and my eggs scrambled. I love crepes and these were very good...not burned anywhere and just a little crispy on the edges. Of course, I didn't take my camera...I could have used my phone...didn't think of it. :( My breakfast was huge too. I did finish it. :) It is after 2pm and I'm not hungry for any "lunch".


The building that Country Waffles is in has been there for a lot of years. It originally was called Perko's and when Stephen (my son-in-law) was in high school he worked there. Its close to the neighborhood where we lived when Denise was in high school.

Wild Turkeys in our MH Park

A little bit ago, I was at the stove browning a pot roast for dinner. I looked out the kitchen window and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I grabbed my camera real quick and went out the sliding door. There was a turkey going past our carport. I was going to get a picture as it walked by and only got its tail feathers. They move so quickly! So I walked out to the street and here it is in front of our mobile. There was another one that was going into the carport of the mobile next door.

In the carport next door. That dead rose bush is in the way. :)

Here's the two of them by the shed. They are dark in color and it is a gloomy afternoon so it was hard to see them. They walked around the back of the shed.

After I came back in, our neighbor that lives across from us on the carport side was outside. I called to him and he said there were several feeding in the yard of a mobile a couple of spaces down from us. So I grabbed my camera again and walked down there. Here's 3 of them.

There is actually 9 of them...they are hard to see.

I got pretty close to this one.

It starts to walk away.

Bob, our neighbor, said they have been in the park most of the afternoon. Gerry sees a lot of them down on the bike trail, which is along the American River. I use to see some in a housing area close by the American River on my way home from work. There's really no open areas between us and the river so wonder where they came from. We also live quite a ways from the river.

Quite a nice sight to see, certainly not something to be expected. We have squirrels in the park and we see them around the mobiles where our space is located.

My Prize Box

Yesterday I received my prize box from Jalna, my Hawaii blogger friend. Here's what was in the box: 2 boxes of the Meyer Lemon cake mix

A package of these Nori Maki tidbits. When I was growing up we ate this kind of stuff like candy. They are Japanese crackers with a piece of Nori (seaweed) wrapped around them. So YUM!

A bag of baked wheat crackers. I have put a large dent in this bag; I have it sitting by my computer. I love these!!

On the back of this bag it says "Sweet Pop Corn". I'm not sure if it is a cereal or actual pop corn. Jalna, tell me.

This bag contains individual packets of dried plums. I had one last night. They are good...salty.

Instant Miso soup. Jalna, what do I do to fix it. Translate please.

A waffle patterned rather large cloth. Jalna, is there a particular use for this?

And lastly, a tube of this awesome lotion. Jalna got some and used it on her hands. She took a picture of how smooth her hands looked and they did. Also, her husband used it on his feet. I commented about Gold Bond products being very good. So she included a tube of the lotion. I have it by my computer and have been using it on the dry skin on the top portion of my hands. In the winter time they get really dry and I am constantly moisturizing them.

Thank you so much, Jalna!!! I know I am going to enjoy all of these goodies.