Happy New Year

Woke to no heat.  Thankfully it was in the 30’s this morning.  I woke up about 3 am to pee, good thing this was not a “hangover” day for me.  I noticed it felt cold but too lazy to walk to the next room to “turn up the heat” which is what I thought was wrong.  Went right back to bed shivering.  I woke a couple of hours later colder, went to turn it up and felt the radiator cold as ice.

Damn!

It went out a few times last year.  We have an old boiler in the building but last year after new management took over, my heat has not only gone out once in a while, it’s not as warm as it used to be.  I have not seen the heating & cooling people out here for a while now, maybe saving money.  I have a space heater I turned on and made some hot coffee to warm myself after dressing myself in layers and then wrapping myself in a blanket fleece robe.

I waited for a while to call the caretaker, being a Holiday and all.  At 10 am when it was still out he said he had gotten other complaints and restarted the boiler again.  That was cause for celebration indeed.  Another slice of “better than sex” cake!

It’s alive!

Warm is good.  Cold bad.

Drizzly Day in the Country

Just before 7:00 am this morning, I’ve always been an early riser, more Blue Jays than I had ever seen before swooped down in the drive to begin eating and drinking.  It was sprinkling and still very dark but I was able to make all of them out.  Knew that it would make an awesome picture with well over 10 Blue Jays only in this tight group.  Of course when I came back to that window after fetching my camera, at least half of them had flown away.  I quickly set the ISO to 800 but realized it was not working after the first two shots.  Not much better at 1600 ISO.  Hand held, dark and rainy.

I have been ill for over a week now with some kind of viral sore throat, bronchitis deal. I do get allergies around this time and I came down with it after running errands a couple of days in a row in thick fog. Even when I try to breathe through a scarf, it can still effect me adversely.
My apartment backs up to woods with all kinds of wildlife out here. Before I became ill I took pictures of some deer grazing right outside my window. I apologize for the poor quality of shooting through my screen. The windows have a special immovable screening that covers the entire window for safety and security or they are just cheap.

These are some shots I got a month or two before when I was outside, which are a little clearer. I try not to get to close and spook them as I did this fawn. His brother could care less I was there, he was hungry!

These are even earlier still.

My next post I will be sharing my Cheesecake recipe with you all!  First Cheesecake in a very long time and sadly it will not be my last!  Next one will be Pumpkin Cheesecake.  Forgot to take a picture of a mock pumpkin mug cake that I nuked in 90 seconds.  Came out perfect.  Just a plain cake replaced liquid with Coffee-mate Pumpkin Spice.  I will include this recipe when I complete the Pumpkin one within the next couple weeks only adding some actual pumpkin pulp next time.  I just purchased the sugar pumpkin to pressure cook in my Instant Pot.  I prefer fresh pumpkin to the canned any day.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Satisfaction of a Life Well Lived

Today was a casual, easy kind of day.  Lots of strange things happening for sure, but that’s on par.  Today I have been in prayer since I woke & that’s how it used to be before everything in my life blew up approximately 8 years ago.  We won’t go into that.

I drank decaf today to start.  I prefer Tim Horton’s but I will drink Caribou because they are both water processed.  The only safe, non-chemical way to take the caffeine from coffee plus it takes most of it out.  The chemical way leaves more caffeine behind with the unneeded chemicals.  These coffees also start out with the Arabica Bean, the most flavorful with less natural caffeine than the Robusta Beans used in cheap coffee blends.  Only had my vitamins and a small piece of homemade coffee cake (recipe to come).  I put on my face and used my hot rollers for the first time in a couple of weeks due to the heat and humidity here were off the charts and decided to try my luck at the Farmers Market in town.

This is bee season and since I have already been stung once last month, I’m not venturing out that often til the first freeze.  They are very active and plentiful this year.  I do have allergies, but mostly localized.  I also had my first deer tick burrow.  Luckily it was not in my leg for more than 12-15 hours or so.  Supposedly if it had Lyme I understand it takes about 24 hours or so to transfer this disease.  Usually within a month you know if you were infected.  No bullseye rash or illness so far over a month now.  I was not feeling well for a while after the bee sting, tiny bee but multiple stings before I could get it out of my clothing.

I was thinking about some financial help I received recently, without requesting it and realized I was able to accept my much needed and deserved help without guilt or reservation because of the life I had lived.  A life of hard work and doing the right thing, never trying to get something for nothing.  I don’t consider my weekly lotto tickets something for nothing, they are an “investment” into our schools.  Also, I have yet to receive anything from my donations to the lottery fund but when I do is sure won’t be something for nothing.  That dollar win will have had many years of dollars given.  It did give me a certain satisfaction to know that God is good and merciful and even though we don’t usually get what we want in life, we usually get our needs met sufficiently.  Man’s problem has always been selfishness and greed and that’s well documented.  It’s when we let go of our wants & needs that I believe God is free to do His will without us fighting Him.  This is what Jesus tried to tell folks when he said not to worry.  Worry does not help anything.  It just gives you more frown lines.

I got some new potatoes to go with local green beans I had purchased the day before.  Love this combo with a little butter and cheese sprinkled on.  Some use bacon, but I prefer cheesing it.  Used Asiago I grated myself this time.  Made a nice lunch.

As I was walking through the small folksy downtown area, I came upon a window all boarded up and then another building in even worse condition.  I noticed the yellow tape to my right but realized I didn’t pay much attention because of various things they do downtown using streamers and balloons and the like, but finally stopped, looked around and realized someone had to have slammed a rather large vehicle into the buildings to do all this damage.  Being from the Detroit area immediately thought smash & grab, which they do all the time all around there and suburbs as well.  Checked online & this is what I found.

 

I also saw two shops are closing this month.  One a very popular coffee shop, eatery & gift shop of 20 years and another very cute Antique shop of a few years which already has another business in there within the month.  Not sure who.  I have no idea what’s to become of the coffee shop though.  I didn’t get a chance to speak to anyone yet.  Just saw the signs.

 

Daily Prompt: Sugar, ah Honey, Honey

My one and only vice at this time.  As a borderline diabetic, I’m ashamed of myself as any alcoholic would feel falling off the wagon every time I over indulge and know I do it with some risk.  I have always loved sweets, but mostly just chocolate and ice creams with some kind of fudge or chocolate in it or on it.  For years I kept my cravings under acceptable control.  A piece of chocolate here and there.  A small bowl (or two) of ice cream after dinner in the evening.  Now it’s over the moon due to once I start eating sweets, it’s hard for me to stop.  I started drinking coffee with International Delight French Vanilla which is so delicious on its own and it sets my palate for more sweets like maybe a donut or scone instead of oatmeal, toast or an egg.

Since I’m new in my small town, about two months now, I have already visited a couple local bakeries in the morning if I wake up and feel the need to get out because it’s just too quiet and they have a no noise thing before 8:00 am.  I’m po’ so a buck or two for something sweet is better than forking out four or five dollars for an omlette.

Enjoy the visions of sugar (not plums) dancing on my screen!


View this post at your own risk of drooling and spontaneous eating frenzies. For entertainment purposes only!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Good Morning!

I have been obsessively starting my days for the last few years with coffee.  I had quit all caffeine except that which was found in chocolate for many years because I didn’t need it.  I had always loved a good cup of coffee and when my son moved back home for a short time, he got me drinking it again.

Created my own coffee T-shirt a few months ago by transferring one of my coffee photos with the simple message “Coffee.” I printed the word coffee in Vladimir script in reverse so I could go over it with a transfer pen and iron on. I then went over the lettering with fabric markers.

GoodMorningCoffeeShirt 009

Love Those Lattes!

Enjoying the latte art I am seeing posted online.  Thought I would try it myself sans the Cappucinni maker.  I got one of my son’s a machine years ago, but since I was never a coffee drinker, did not partake.

  I made espresso and frothed my 2% milk with a wand.  I attempted to pour it in at the one side as suggested.  Not thick enough.  I then attempted this again with foamier milk and got some type of shape, your guess is as good as mine what it might be.

 

 I tried to outline a heart shape with chocolate syrup in the first failed cup.  Ended up looking more like South America.

                                                    They tasted great and that’s the most important thing coffee needs to do.  That and the caffeine kick!