Dog Days of Summer

    The summer is a time when your life becomes much easier. No ice scrapers to carry, no boots, hats, mittens or cars to dig out. You can freely get around, whenever you like.

    The last three days I have been work free, no worries, no responsibilities or issues. Ample opportunity to laze around, with my laze on. It was far easier to laze around when I was younger. Now if I attempt to laze around, say for example,in a bed, my hips start to hurt, and I just can't get comfortable. Might be different if I had a Swedish Tempurpedic, but alas, I just have an average run of the mill bed.

     Lazing around requires a minimum knowledge of lazing. Years ago, I could have been the poster child for laziness, however try as I might, my conscience gets the better of me now. Being lazy requires a non-compliance of my said agenda. That said agenda includes making the necessary fundage to take care of the little Gouldlets. Being lazy just is more work than it is worth these days.

     Last night, it was hotter than the hinges of Hell, and I could not for love nor money get comfortable. At 2:49 in the morning, I finally decided that sleeping in the livingroom, with the air conditioner was what I needed to do. There I lay, hyper aware that I was unable to sleep. 3am and then 4am, and finally 5am my husband came out, time to move back into the bedroom, where thankfully, it had cooled down. New problem, try not to fall too deep to sleep, otherwise you are going to be late for work. I awoke at 7:06am, pissed off, tired and not ready to put my happy face on.

     So off to work I go, with the luggage under the eyes. If it was not for iced coffee, I am not sure where I would be these days. Going back to work after having 3 days off, is nothing short of torture. Trying to get back into the swing of things was crippling at best.

    

    Today, you could have cut the air with a knife, it was that humid. So humid, that the humidity dripped off the trees, and it was not even noon yet. Yuck!!! The day was business as usual, and the sky loomed overhead, threatening a beating later on. Days like these, I just want to curl up in a refrigerator with a blanket, a fat sandwich and good book.

     Movie rentals to return, catering equipment to drop off, and dinner to plan. Today was a day for a salad and grilling. No heating up the tinderbox for supper.

Bacon and Ranch Potato Salad

5 pounds baby red potatoes

1 pound applewood smoked bacon

1/2 cup diced celery

1 package of ranch dressing mix

2 cups of mayonnaise

2 ozs mustard

1 tsp celery seed

2 ozs sweet pickle relish

1/2 cup sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until soft, drain and cool. In a pan, cook bacon until crispy and drain. Dice cooled potatoes, and add crumbled bacon. Dice celery and add to potatoes. Season with mustard,celery seed, sweet pickle relish and salt and pepper. Mix the package of ranch dressing mix with mayonnaise and sour cream and mix well. Add this mixture to the potato mixture and combine well. Adjust seasonings, chill and serve.

Being a child at home alone in the summer is a high-risk occupation. If you call your mother at work thirteen times an hour, she can hurt you. ~Erma Bombeck

To Remember Means to Never Forget

     Happy Memorial Day all~~ Today is the day when we honor our veterans, soldiers, and those that were special to us. It seems logical to our "tiny" minds that we should live forever, and when one of us leaves abruptly or someone finally gives up their fight, we are left with a simple question, "why now"?  Death is not within our realm to understand, and unfortunately all of us will reach that destination. The Merriam~Webster dictionary's definition of the word memorial is: serving to preserve remembrance. 

     This is what each American all across the United States has done today; to preserve remembrance. I remember my mother's parents, used to have the coolest garage in Danvers, Massachusetts, equipped with a TV, lawn chairs and astro-turf. Whenever we were being annoying, we found ourselves in the garage. Strong memories must have meant that we were there all the time.

      My Dad's parents were from Minnesota, and sadly I don't have too many memories of my grandfather, but my grandmother Vera, lived right on top of Lake Minnetonka.  I enjoyed many memories of times on Lake Minnetonka, sunburns, ugly Northern Pike fish, ice fishing and my grandmother's Kool-Aid cookies.

     Now I am a mother and a wife, my memories have married with my husband and his family. Our children have given us memories, that paint the canvas of our lives. Just like the ebb and flow of a ocean tide, we live. Today was a rebirth of something new and a sweeping out of something old. A new beginning!  I noticed the beauty in life, and I planted my very first "to be herb garden, pictures to follow". We get so wrapped up into life, that we forget to smell the flowers and just be grateful.

     Tonight, I made a pasta salad, recently, Vermont has been in a heat wave the past couple of days. Today was at least 90 degrees. Gratefully, I can say, I was a part of it, right in the thick of it, not inside watching the world have fun. A little secret about me, I can easily be a wallflower. That is the old me, the new me raked the cotton out of the yard and planned for a super cool herb garden.

Summer Pasta Salad

1 pound box of pasta, any kind will do, my hubby favored the tri-colored rotini
2 tomatoes, diced
2 green peppers, diced
1 red onion, diced
2 cans 2.5 ozs sliced black olives
3/4 cup Golden Italian dressing
1/4 cup Pizza Patch
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
2 tsps onion powder
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
kosher salt to taste
fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to the manufacturers directions.drain and set aside. On a cutting board chop parsley until fine, set aside. Rinse cutting board and chop, red onions, green peppers and tomatoes. In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, tomatoes, green peppers, red onion and drained sliced black olives. Season with garlic, onion powder, pizza patch, salt, and black pepper. Finish with chopped parsley,Golden Italian dressing and parmesan cheese. Toss and chill.



Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in Ireland