Friday Foto Friends....

It's Friday and that means linking up with Deb, over at Breathing In Grace, for Friday Foto Friends!

Today I have only one new photo to share, but it will go with an older one for a cute story.

This is a new picture of our diva kitty, Lucy.  

I caught her on the third shelf of our bookshelf. Love the look on her face!

We never gave it a thought, but when we adopted Vinny, we suddenly realized we had named two of our cats after Joe's Aunt Lucy and Uncle Vince! 

Uncle Vince has been gone awhile and Aunt Lucy passed a few years ago.  She was a typical Italian woman.  You knock on the door for a visit and blink your eyes - the food is on the table.  Mounds of food, even though you just ate. I loved her so much and she was so good to me.  She was Dad D'Orsaneo's youngest sister. He sponsored her when she came here from Italy back in the 1940s. Joe remembers helping her learn English.  I think she would laugh at the names of our cats.

Now this photo below is from a long time ago. One might think it was a really long time ago. Dinosaurs!!  With all the theme parks around us here in central Florida, not many people know about Dinosaur World.  It is actually a fun place to visit and is very educational too.  That is our Tristan, about to be eaten by that huge creature!  He had a great time that day and so did I.

Thanks for your visit today!  Celebrating Friday and shaking my head that October is here already.  Peace & hugs!!

Thankful Thursday Link Up....

Linking up with Rebecca Jo at Knit By God's Hand for Thankful Thursday!  Join us HERE!

Here are some things I am thankful for this week:

• The first thing I will mention is that Joe got good reports from his primary doctor and from his neurologist.  He doesn't have to go back to the neurologist for six months. Dr. C was very happy with Joe's stroke recovery. Praise God!!

• We are looking forward to a visit from granddaughter Lauren (maybe this weekend) and grandson Tristan has a birthday October 3rd.  So blessed with two smart and responsible grandchildren (who aren't children anymore at 20 and 27).

• I am thankful that kitty cat Millie is recovering next door. She is one of our neighbor's cats and they found out she has diabetes.  She is home from the Vet and is getting shots twice a day. We will be cat-sitting in November when they go on a cruise, so I need to get Millie comfortable with me giving her an injection before they go.

• I am thankful that a blogging friend wrote about an amazing travel mug that keeps cold drinks cold all day.  It can be compared to YETI but isn't even close to being that expensive.  I purchased a 30-ounce mug and will tell you that by the end of the day, there is still ice in my new cup. I'm amazed at how cold it keeps my iced tea!!  Thanks, Stacy!!

What are you thankful for this week?  I'm thankful for your visit!!  Peace & hugs!

It's Hodgepodge Time!

Thanks to our hostess, Joyce, for this week's Hodgepodge!  Click over to her blog and join in the fun!

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 282

Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. 

1. Have you ever been to and/or lived near the desert?  No, I haven't.  What did you think? Travel and Leisure lists the 'coolest' American desert towns as-

Palm Springs CA, Virgina City NE, Bend OR, Winslow AZ, Marfa TX, Grand Junction CO, Silver City NM, Moab UT, Taos NM, Yakima WA, Borrego Springs CA, Terlingua TX, and St. George UT, and Tubac AZ

Have you been to any of these?   No, I haven't.  Would you like to visit a desert town?  Not especially.  Never gave it much thought, actually.  Which on the list would you most like to see?  Without Googling them to see what each one offers, I have to answer that not one of them holds any interest for me.

2. What's a plan or project you've deserted in the past year?  To lose weight. Sigh.

3. Desert-dessert? Share two or three words you find yourself having to think twice about when it comes to spelling.   It is never those two because my second grade teacher, Mrs. Everhart, told us that dessert has two s's because you always want another helping.  I have to stop and think about  definitely, accompanist, and I always want to use an'e' instead of an 'a' in calendar.

4. High and dry, like watching paint dry, dry run, dry as dust, not a dry eye in the house...which phrase can you relate to currently?  Like watching paint dry. Explain.  That is what I think of the political season which drags on for much too long.  Let's just get to it!!  I'm very tired of politics.

5. How often do you frequent the dry cleaners?  Rarely now that Joe isn't wearing dress shirts and ties everyday.  He used to go weekly.  Starch or no starch?   He likes light starch in his dress shirts.  These days he lives in golf shirts and shorts.  I just don't buy things that have to be dry-cleaned anymore.  Wash and wear, baby.

6. What's a food or beverage you enjoy that's named for a place?  Buffalo Wings. Boston Creme Pie, California Roll....

7. Do you need solitude?  Not total solitude, but if I've been around noisy crowds or noisy kids for any length of time, I'm ready for a quieter place to recharge.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  I have written about my trouble finding shoes that fit and that I just always have to order them. I wear a size 12 wide.  Stores just don't carry them (except Payless...but not styles I like).  I recently purchased a pair of TOMS shoes and fell in love with them. I now have two pair.  This is the company that gives away a pair of shoes to needy kids for every pair you buy. I love that concept.  Here is a link to the website in case you are interested.  TOMS SHOES

That's all folks!  Thanks for your visit today!!  Peace & hugs.

Tuesday Tidbits....

If you couldn't tell, I don't really have anything even worthy of a 'tidbit' today, so you get these graphics instead.  I do wish you a blessed day and thank you for peeking in today!  Peace & hugs.

Weekend Recap on Monday....

Friday evening we stayed home in front of the TV (as usual). Joe had a busy day out and about.  I left work early to take a deposit to the bank on my way home.  Neither of us wanted much for dinner. I had leftover coleslaw in the fridge so made BLTs to go with the slaw and we were satisfied.

Saturday morning we had breakfast, read the paper and then went to the Farmers' Market around 11:00.  We wanted more of those really good tomatoes and found them plus cucumbers and some really nice looking green peppers. It was HOT on Saturday.  I posted this picture on Facebook and said even the fake ice cream cone was melting....

I was happy to see that Bridgette was busy with her chair massages. We didn't stop this time. Joe didn't want to and my neck and shoulders were still feeling good from last weekend. She waved at us and we gave a wave back.

Driving home, Joe asked if we could have stuffed peppers for dinner.  Excellent idea!  I put some ground chuck out to thaw and later got them ready for the oven.  I can't give you a recipe because I just throw them together. He doesn't like them with rice, so I basically just make a meatloaf mixture to stuff in the peppers. I cut the peppers in half to make a "boat" and there were eight of them from one pound of chuck and a half pound of bulk sausage. I baked them for an hour at 350°.  I also baked a couple of potatoes and we finished the coleslaw (which was Mari's recipe with poppy seed dressing, pineapple, and grapes - delicious!).  I didn't think to take a picture but they did look as good as they tasted.

I was reading a magazine while the TV was on and shared an article with Joe about a German Bakery in the next county north of us (Lake County). Surprised the heck out of me when he suggested we go find it 'tomorrow'. Another excellent idea.

Sunday morning started much the same as Saturday's did, then we took off to find the Yalaha Bakery.

It was a leisurely ride on back roads because we avoided the interstate.  We hadn't been north on route 33 in a long time and had to laugh (again) when we noticed the white sand along the highway that always reminds us of melting snow drifts.

The bakery was 72 miles away, so took us a little more than an hour to get there.  Imagine our surprise when we found the place crowded with classic VWs everywhere!  I guess it makes sense to have VWs at a German bakery!  It added an element of fun we weren't expecting.  It also made our wait for food longer than we expected, but it was all good and we weren't in a hurry.

 The outdoor seating area.

The main entrance.

 The menu for the deli.

 The breads.

The pastry case was fogged up from the heat outside, but wow!

 Joe and I both had the Reuben sandwich platter for our lunch.

It was not as good as I hoped, but it was okay.

German potato salad is usually hot and the kraut is usually cold. These weren't served that way.

Of course, we had to get dessert too... 

We decided on the eclair, which was very good (not German, though!)

We also bought some bread to bring home.

Note the two bugs above....

We followed them part of the way home!

Joe said they were 1964 or 65.  

He used to have two VW bugs in the 60s, and our son Jeff had one when he was in high school.

We arrived home in time for Joe to follow the Eagles/Steelers game and we were thrilled that the Eagles stomped on the Steelers!  The leftover stuffed peppers went very well with some rice and a nice salad.

That was our weekend. Thanks for stopping by today!  Wishing you a good week!  Peace & hugs.

Sunday Stealing Back to 2003....

Thanks to Bud and to Caitlin for this week's meme!! Visit and join in the fun!

The "Doing Questions Like It's 2003" Meme

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes (or surveys) from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard the expression, “honor among thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. When possible, we contact the owner of the blog where we stole the post. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!")  Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme. 

We found this gem from a blog named “Catlin Etc”. Catlin describes herself as “a 30-something lady living the best life ever with my hot husband, spunky toddler and needy dog.” She explains that she stole it from Karen at“Tiny Bird Heart”. But that’s as far as we go. Tracing questions back to the original author is just too much work.  Time to toast!

Cheers to all of us thieves!

Sunday Stealing: The "Doing Questions Like It's 2003" Meme

Tell us about your pets. If you don’t have one, share why you don’t. We have three cats right now. Vinny, Lucy, and Lilly.  They were ferals (or nearly ferals) that we adopted from the streets. They don't get along but tolerate each other and us. Love 'em to pieces.

Name three things that are close to you.  Things?  My computer is on my lap, my glass of iced tea is next to me as is my cell phone.

How was the weather for your summer?  Hot and humid.

What was the last film you saw?  At the theater, it was Jason Bourne.  Did you like it?  It was okay.

Tell us about the last trip that you took.  The last long trip we took was to Folly Beach, SC.

Where do you buy groceries?  Publix, Sam's Club and WalMart.  Why?  They carry what we like.

Tell us something that you did today. Or will do if you haven’t had your morning coffee yet.  We went to the downtown Farmers' Market yesterday morning.  Today is laundry day!

Have you pulled an all-nighter?  Not in a long, long time.

Can you taste the difference between Pepsi & Coke?  Probably not, since I don't drink either.

Tell us about your siblings. How many and what do they do?  My brother died of cancer when he was 48, leaving a loving wife and two great kids behind. He had is own business which was very successful and is still in business today.  I have two sisters. One is an elementary school teacher (over 35 years now) and the other is now staying at home to care for her husband who had a very bad stroke two years ago. She was an English teacher and most recently worked in merchandising for Nabisco.

What’s the oldest thing that you own?  I have several antiques that are family pieces, including a cedar chest that was my mom's high school graduation gift in 1948.

We are now on Facebook, too. WE ARE NOT MOVING THERE. It's an experiment to see if there is a market to find new players. Our main focus will be here. You are the most loyal players ever! Look how many memes are gone. But our weekend memes are still chugging along. If you're curious, our Facebook address is: Facebook.com/sundaystealing. Feel free to post on both sites! But it doesn't matter.  Thank you for playing this week on Sunday Stealing! 

Thanks for stopping by today!  Wishing you a good Sunday!  Peace & hugs.

A One Night Saturday 9...

Thanks to Samantha (Crazy Sam) for this week's Saturday 9!!  Link up HERE and join the fun!

One Night in Bangkok

Welcome to Saturday 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! 

Saturday 9: One Night in Bangkok (1984)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is from the play Chess. It's been said that the most successful players are fluid in their thinking. Do you consider yourself flexible or set in your ways?  I'm pretty flexible, but the older I get, the more persnickety I seem to be about my weekly work routine. Hoping retirement (yes, that word) fixes it!!

2) Nigel Short, a real-life chess grandmaster, used to wear a t-shirt that said, "He who cares, wins." Do you always play to win? Or do you play board/card games or sports for the fun of it?  I just play for the fun of it, which infuriates my partner if s/he plays to win.  I really don't care. It's just fun to spend time together.

3) The singer is in Bangkok for an important tournament. He maintains that he doesn't mind missing the sights and dismisses Bangkok is just another "crowded, polluted stinking town." Do you find big cities exciting? Or do you think of them as noisy and dirty?  Well, having lived in the metro DC area for 12 years and going there from small town USA and then back to bigger town USA , I find big cities exciting and am happy to visit them, especially the ones with a lively art culture, but they are noisy and dirty and I am always happy to get home to my smaller town.

4) Air pollution has reached serious levels Bangkok. Do you suffer from allergies, asthma or another condition that could be aggravated by pollution?  Fortunately, no, but Joe has allergy induced asthma (well controlled now), so I know it is not fun to deal with.

5) To reduce traffic, commuters travel through Bangkok on ferries that make regularly scheduled trips up and down the Chao Phraya River. When was your last boat ride? Good golly, I hate to say 2007, but it really was that long ago. I grew up in a family that loved to boat on our Ohio freshwater lakes. We had a boat from the time I was five or six years old.  I do miss it.

6) Round trip airfare between ATL and BKK is $1750. If we gave you a travel voucher for that dollar amount, how would you spend it?  I would go back to Italy and would also try to visit Scotland, Ireland and Germany. Not interested in Bangkok at all.

7) The Holiday Inn Express in Bangkok has a McDonald's onsite. When you go somewhere new, do you find it comforting to be surrounded by what's familiar?  Or would you prefer to try new things?  I have only traveled 'across the pond' once so I can only draw upon that experience.  I don't remember seeing any familiar fast food restaurants while in Italy. I want to try new things when I travel (even in my own state of Florida) so do try to find where the locals like to eat and where they hang out. You get the true 'flavor' of a place that way I think.

8) One of Bangkok's most popular restaurants is DID, which stands for Dine in Dark. The dining room at DID is 100% light free -- cell phones must be stored in the lobby to avoid distracting from the experience -- so customers eat their four course meal without seeing it. This heightens the diner's sense of taste and smell. When you prepare a meal, do you put a great deal of care into its presentation?  Oh my gosh, don't ask Joe this question. We (most of the time) fill our plates from the pans on the stove!  I DO try to present food nicely when we have company though (red faced and hoping I'm not alone!).

9) Random question: Think about your last professionally prepared meal. Did you dine in, carry out, or have it delivered?   We dined in.  We don't do carry out often and the only thing we can easily have delivered in Lakeland is pizza.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

I hope you enjoyed the Saturday 9!  Thanks for your visit today!  Peace & hugs.

It's Friday Foto Friends Time....

Happy Friday!!  That means the end of the work week for most of us and it also means it's time to link up with Deb, over at Breathing In Grace, for the Friday Foto Friends.  We just share a photo or several with our linky buddies and all of you!  Click HERE to join the fun!

Wednesday evening, what started out as getting together with my coworker and her husband for dinner at a local Italian restaurant (Romeo's) turned into a much bigger event with about 20 of us, including my boss's mom who was celebrating her birthday.  It turned into a very fun party. We quickly passed around a birthday card for her, and another friend/co-worker stopped at the Dollar Store and picked up a crown for her. She was a very good sport and I think loved the attention.  It was a very fun evening and we didn't leave until around 8:00 p.m.

My boss, taking a picture of me taking a picture of her...and her mom, the birthday girl.

Here she is in all her finery!  Queen Mary, the birthday girl.

 

A long-shot down the very long table.  It's hard to visit with everyone without getting up and moving down the table to speak to people. That's Beverly in the turquoise top doing just that. She used to work with us, but still checks in now and then and we include her when we can. It was fun seeing her!  She is in her 80s and came to Romeo's from a church event. Bless her!

 Ellen brought her husband and two kids; Diana's hubby had to work but she brought her two boys.

 Pal brought two of her kiddos. Hubby was there for a few minutes but had to go pick up their other daughter from practice.  That's him in the green shirt.

 Joe leaned back so I could get coworker Al and his lovely wife. We all played musical chairs as more people arrived, because we kept moving the kids down and putting the adults with other adults! LOL  Of course, we told Joe it was because no one wanted to sit next to him....

 Coworker Kalisa and her hubby.  They are the ones we were having dinner with before this turned into such a big event!!

This is all but a couple of us. The waitress (who was great!) stood on a chair to get us all in, back by all the pizza boxes!  It was a fun evening.  I love my coworkers like family and am so blessed.

Happy Friday!! Thanks for stopping by!  Peace & hugs!

Thankful Thursday Link-up!

Linking up with Rebecca Jo, over at Knit by God's Hand!  What are you thankful for this week?  Link up and join us!!

Nostalgia.  

I'm thankful for my growing-up years and the wonderful supportive family from which I came...

For my brother and silly sisters...

For 31+ years with Joe in my life....

For those same years with Joey and Jeff in my life....

And for our grandchildren who are 27 and 20 now, but will always look like this to me...

And for a post on Facebook by my friend, Teena (who I am also thankful for)....

....that almost made me cry listening to this silly old song that I used to sing and still knew most of the words to.  'Old Grandfather's Clock'...

Now, if this isn't a crazy kind of thankful post, I don't know what is.  All this nostalgia sparked by a silly song.  Music does have a way of reminding us of times in our lives and the emotions that go with it.  Do you have any silly songs that make you stop and remember to be thankful?

Thanks for stopping by today!  Thanks to Rebecca Jo for hosting the link-up!!  Peace & hugs!!