Happy February 1st! February is a month full of events, & it even gets an extra day this year. Groundhog Day, the Super Bowl (a major holiday in some homes!), Valentine’s Day, the month is chock full of opportunities to celebrate, make/eat good food & get together with people.
As for me… it’s the 32nd day of the year 2012. Week number 5 – 334 days left in the year. My how time flies? It didn’t seem to as a kid. It seemed like it took forever to get to the next day, now it seems like the day is gone, long before I’ve gotten a chance to enjoy it.
You may not find all of my ramblings to your liking, but when you’re journaling, you write down the good & the bad ( I tried to leave out the ugly). Please feel free to ignore my rants. And no, there is nothing Political in today’s post. Life’s too short to worry about any of that today. It’s too early in the game to fret & you can’t do anything about it anyway. Anthony’s mom had an old saying, “Just put it all on a sandbank and let the rains settle it!” It may not fit the situation entirely, but it’s what came to mind this morning. It’s an old-timey way of saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff!”
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MENU: For my menu today, you’re going to be a little shocked to see that I didn’t post a Super Bowl menu. Aren’t you? But rather, I’m going with a semi-homemade version of a Breakfast Frittata, I make this all the time, this morning I used a package of diced potatoes with onions instead of the Southwestern style hash browns. I made it the other way last week. So I’ll make this version again, this weekend, maybe for Super Bowl Sunday, who knows. I do use a lot of fast-cook methods because breakfast/meals have to be fast; if you’re going to get a chance to enjoy it.
Set table the night before, if you don’t have any pets, pre-slice your tomatoes and place them in the fridge. You’re half way there. I like yogurt and muffins with this, but the competition for the oven would be too much for one morning and no one wants to smell muffins baking the night before if it’s not for dinner, or maybe that’s just me (shrug). If you prefer, you can microwave the turkey sausage in 45 seconds or place them on a cookie sheet in the oven to come out when the Frittata is ready. Plate it up & enjoy a few minutes together before you start your day.
[I smother my Frittata in ketchup, sh. I can hear that little round guy, when I was a kid, from TV singing, “Don’t Drown Your Food.” So… don’t do as I do.]
MENU
*Southwestern Breakfast Frittata
Turkey Sausage patties
Tomato slices
Bagels or buttered toast
Orange juice or Sunny D
Coffee
*Southwestern Breakfast Frittata
INGREDIENTS
1 (20 oz pkg) Southwestern Style Hash Browns
6 eggs, beaten
½ cup mild shred cheddar cheese
¼ teaspoon garlic
¼ teaspoon basil
¼ teaspoon each of salt & pepper (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On top of the stove, place a 10 or 12 inch pretreated *iron skillet. Add 6 Tbsp of olive oil and heat over medium to high heat – just under your highest heat setting. When grease is hot (never allow grease to smoke), brown one 20 ounce package of Southwestern Style Hash Browns, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon garlic, ¼ teaspoon basil, ¼ teaspoon each of salt & pepper; turning often to cook through.
In a glass measuring cup or bowl, beat 6 eggs. When the hash browns are crispy, pour beaten eggs over the top of the hash browns and sprinkle with ½ cup mild shredded cheese. Place skillet, in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Just until the egg is set and cheese is melted & bubbly.
Leftover’s can be reheated.
* Skillet must be able to be place in the oven. If you don’t have an iron skillet, placed fully cooked hash browns in a casserole dish, before adding the beaten eggs. Adjust cooking time accordingly.
If you’re serving this for a luncheon or brunch, add some turkey bacon, fresh fruit, yogurt, Danish and/or muffins to the menu.
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TODAY’S AGENDA: While I scurry to pay the mortgage, run my data backups, update the FTM, add Rid-x to the septic tank, clean the kitchen & the family room, prepare for Valentine’s day & post my family recipe to the blog, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts; change it up a little. I’m making good, this year, on my own Philosophy:see #13: Always have a sit down dinner at the table. It pays off in the long run.
I had gotten away from that the last two years, because it was taking up too much “down time.” It is actually WORK to do this everyday. It adds extra silverware, serving pieces and bowls or casserole dishes and/or chargers, candles, etc… I can barely get all the necessary pieces to fit in the dishwasher as it is. But, I love it, so it’s worth it.
Last night, when Anthony sat down for dinner, which I had set a lavish table for two, all done in cream, red & white country style, I served his favorite grilled Chicken w/ Fettuccine Alfredo and made some large sugar cookies with fresh strawberries & whip cream (all low-fat), he got up and hugged me. When you do something you really love, and have someone appreciate it that much, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
I know, I can hear all of my feminist friends going crazy right about now, but this is me, it’s who I am, it’s a huge part of my well-being. To do what I love, appreciating myself and having someone else appreciate it as much as I, makes it all worth while.
Polonius:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee! ~ William Shakespeare
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FACEBOOK: I sat down here to catch up on all of my families going-on’s (not a real word – I know, but it sums it up for me nicely). To take a quick look see on Facebook, since the founder is today to be named the richest 27 year old in the world. I should appreciate what he has given up. I don’t begrudge him that, at all. Believe me. I love to see people succeed at whatever they love or choose to do. Congratulations on your entire endeavor. But I would like to take this opportunity to tell him personally, that I’m not a fan of the new Timeline, just my own feelings on it, sorry. I may go back to Tweeting, since it still offers what I originally joined Facebook to do. To all my Farmville Neighbors: Please bear with me. I only have so much free time, I’ll be back to playing shortly. I’m gifting!
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MOVIES: I missed out on taking the Grand’s to the movies last week; nothing I really wanted to see. Sorry again, but Disney’s has dropped the ball. Then I started thinking about tomorrow and it being Groundhogs day and how much I loved the movie. I was also reminded this morning about some old movies that I loved as a kid called, The Bowery Boys! May not have been child friendly back then, but by today’s standards its more than “G” rated. My kids know that I love black & white movies, you don’t get any shock and awe moments – unless it was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and it was meant to be scary, but everyone kept all of their clothes on.
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MEMORIES: Again, I find myself waxing a little nostalgic! Memories… aren’t always a good or funny thing, but for me they mean the most; mostly because at my age, they’re still there. Some good…some bad. Any thing can trigger a memory.
Good: I was talking about my Grandma Stumps old antique wall phone today (probably the first one ever made); it was the one thing that I had to have one of. My Grandma always had hers right next to an antique hutch that she hung her calendar on. I grew up with her talking on it daily. Grandma Dorothy was a retired antique dealer & her tiny home was filled with love, cakes & the most wonderful antiques. Every last inch of the place, from floor to ceiling was decorated and nothing was ever out of place. Neat as a pin, she would say. I never did get that expression.
She didn’t even own a dishwasher. She washed everything by hand. She used Clorox in the dishwater to wash the dishes (only if she had a big party) and she’d put a cup of vinegar in the rinse to remove any germs and make them white. I thought, as bad as that stinks, it’s a wonder we lived through the meal.
Yes, she should have gotten a new phone and a brand new house for that matter, but she loved the old stuff, she refused to give it up. Somehow, I think a new phone would have seemed out of place. She showed me how important it was to have your schedule next to the phone. To write stuff down or cancel them as soon as you got the call. I copied that system, when the kids were little. I never missed an appointment. The way my kitchen is arranged now, I can’t do it in this house, I should have modified it, kept it at hand, but I still had to have the old phone. Mine is only a reproduction, not the real thing like hers. My cord is frayed, but the phone still works.
In my mind, I can still see her talking on the phone and laughing. Her myna bird, Mickey roaring with laughter, every time she laughed & sounding just like her. It made everyone in the house laugh. You couldn’t help but too.
Those were the days…
Bad: Yesterday, one of my daughter’s former foster daughters asked where the bathroom was at a store we were in, I turned and pointed to where I knew it was when I was a young girl, but it has since been walled over. I was actually thankful. I shared one of the stories of that bathroom with my daughter, now that she’s a mother herself, so she would understand why I had some of the phobias that I did about things, and in turn inflicted them on her as a child; never letting her go strange places or bathrooms alone or stressing over stranger danger.
It was very real when I was a child. A whole town would mourn over an incident or tragedy, which now would probably only make a 30 second news blip in today’s world. What a shame! I instantly remembered he story from when I was a girl, my mom telling me about a 4 year old boy that was bound & castrated in that bathroom and then his own member being duct taped in his mouth. It still makes me sick today to think of it. I couldn’t tell you who the child was or his family, but it comes to mind often when I enter that store, even today.
My mom would rehash that story every time my younger brother Robert wanted to go into the men’s room alone; she made him go into the ladies room with us, no matter how much he protested. When I became a mother, this is why I never let my boys go in alone. So consider the old adage, walk a mile in my shoes, when you’re wondering why someone thinks or feels the way they do. You can never know what someone else’s reasons are, just try and trust that they have seen more than they care to share and are trying to prevent someone else from encountering or falling victim to the same fate. Sympathy is to Empathy as Knowledge is to Wisdom; very different things.
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SOAPBOX: I found myself being frustrated with so many young parents yesterday. I saw parents taking their kids outdoors, into stores or restaurants without putting socks or jackets on their babies or even a blanket covering their heads to protect their ears for the wind, as I did when my kids were young. It was mild in the high 50s, but the wind was cold. I know cold doesn’t make you sick, germs do, but it is a factor. Use some common sense. One couple had on hoodies and boots, but nothing on their two babies.
I only wish they would teach a child rearing class before middle school, long before babies are old enough to have babies. Then maybe we’d have fewer young people having babies, if they only knew how to raise them or how important it is to use good judgment. Babies become Tweenies, and Tweens become Teenagers, and Teens hopefully become Adults, and Adults Lord-willing become Senior’s. This is a full time – life long job, thinking of someone besides you. You have to be responsible for each one of them every step of they way. If not, then don’t have a child. Babies are not toys; they’re a life-long God given gift!
This wasn’t meant to offend anyone; I just want young people to know that nurturing a child is part of any child’s well-being. Be the parent.
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CARDS: This month I didn’t have many cards to fill out this month, not many birthdays or anniversaries to celebrate. February 14th: Bethany Rose; 20th: Sam Metcalf Jr.; 23rd: Teresa Ann Parsons; 24th Birthday Remembrance for my husband Anthony’s mother, Lula Mae Pearson Metcalf.
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Valentines Day: I bought Anthony’s valentine card last month, so I’m ahead of the game. I’m planning a nice quiet evening at home, just the two of us. I’m still working on the menu.
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OOPS: My mortgage company sent me an Anniversary card, which I found amusing. It wasn’t a serious mistake but you can imagine my surprise when I opened it since it’s neither my wedding anniversary nor the anniversary of the month I bought my house. I’m choosing to look at it as a nice gesture on their part. Someone must have put it in the computer wrong. They appreciate my business and that’s all that really matters, right?
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Okay, now its your turn. What’s one event this month you’re looking forward to? Are your plans complete, or are you still planning?
All glory comes from daring to begin. ~ Eugene F. Ware
Metcalf Family Mews 