First thing that happens!!!!!

The tree was up for about 5 seconds when Merlin claimed his spot under it!!!! GIGGLE

Every cat I've ever had always claims a spot under the Christmas tree. One of them, Babaloo, was always moving my mothers Manger set, which she had the nerve to set where he wanted to sit under the tree!!! They fought for YEARS! About it! And I do mean years since Babaloo lived over 15 years.

But it's OK, Merlin can have his spot, I love the nasty little critter. Giggle

I guess your wondering why Christmas decorations??? Well, I was brought up Catholic by my Mom, and Wiccian by my Dad..... And since YULE is on December 21, and Christmas is on the 25...... I celebrate both, with the decorations, and tree, and presents.

YULE is the celebration that the light is returning. The 21st is the longest night of the year. Yule is celebrated that the light returns in the morning..... There is always a chance it will not return. You lit the bonfire's, all the lights in the village, and celebrated till dawn..... Hence you see the crossing of the two celebrations. But no midnight mass for me <<>> But the presents and such are still a big part of the celebration.

So it looks like Christmas, smells like Christmas, and the wrapping paper crinkles like Christmas....But we call it YULE. Hay! Me pass up gifts???? Are you nuts?????

Thanksgiving Side Dishes by your Sign!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Side Dishes by Sign
 
by Sabra Ricci

Thanksgiving is fast approaching — time to plan your feast! Fill your holiday table with gastronomic delights to please the stars... the celestial stars that is. Check the birthdays of everyone on your guest list and then select enticing recipes to match their astrological tastes. The suggestions below take you through all 12 signs of the zodiac. You may find new favorites for yourself, too, and start a fresh tradition!

Aries  (March 21 - April 19)

Steamed Brocolini with Garlic Lemon Butter & Savory Pumpkin Soup
Aries individuals will be starving when they arrive at your door because their forceful, fiery nature burns through food at a rapid rate. These Rams are remarkably gregarious and will be delighted with whatever you choose to quench their hearty appetite. But they do love extravagant foods and pungent spices drive them wild. So serve them Steamed Brocolini with Garlic Lemon Butter and Savory Pumpkin Soup. Champagne will also be a big hit if you have it, but red wine will do nicely.

Taurus  (April 20 - May 20)

Candied Yams & Cranberry Fruit Salad
Taureans make courteous guests with their desire for simple, earthy foods... plus they are not picky eaters. In harmony with nature, determined and masterful, these Bulls have the ability to get along with everyone. Before dinner, you may find them showing off your garden to the guests, as they delight in the beauty nature provides. You can seduce them with voluptuous fruits, sensual delights and full-bodied wines. Include Candied Yams, Cranberry Fruit Salad and plenty of other courses because they like to leave the table satisfied.

Gemini  (May 21 - June 20)

Wild Rice with Cranberries and Pecans & Orange-Pomegranate Relish
Geminis love to be invited to dinner, sometimes more for the social occasion than the food. They are clever, quick-witted... and in their element when surrounded by family and friends. If there is a lull in conversation, don’t worry, with Geminis the banter never stops. The Twins have an intellectual response to food, but can be enticed with exotic ingredients, ethereal tastes and chilled white or sparkling wines. Wild Rice with Cranberries and Pecans, and Orange-Pomegranate Relish have what it takes to pique their curiosity.



Cancer  (June 21 - July 22)

Biscuits & Mashed Yellow Turnips
Warm, nurturing, fun and outgoing, Crabs are an asset to any occasion. Make sure they know how yummy the food will be when you invite them, since the promise of a scrumptious meal will be more alluring than the graciousness of the host. They love foods that are comforting and almost any wine. Provide plenty – these guests have hearty appetites and will not want to miss a course. Tasty biscuits and Mashed Yellow Turnips are two comfort foods that will be greatly appreciated.

Leo  (July 23 - August 22)

Curried Creamed Onions & Spinach Salad with Oranges and Walnuts
Leos enjoy being asked out to eat and are charismatic, fun-loving guests. Grand and luxurious evenings are most appealing. They want to be treated with the respect they feel they deserve, so the overall effect should be spectacular. These proud, self-confident Lions are generous, childish and loving and will be delighted with rich red wine – the best you can afford. For the dramatic tastes Leos will expect, serve Curried Creamed Onions, and Spinach Salad with Oranges and Walnuts.

Virgo  (August 23 - September 22)

Corn Bread Stuffing & Green Bean Casserole
Virgos love an opportunity to be social and they get along with all types of people. Concerned with health and cleanliness, they can be very fussy about their food. But they will also be the ones most likely to stay behind and help clean the kitchen – so be sure to invite them! Virgins are open to new food ideas but they are also down-to-earth and not particularly extravagant, so serve them Corn Bread Stuffing and Green Bean Casserole.

Libra  (September 23 - October 22)

Black Eyed Peas with Sausage & Waldorf Salad
Libras like to keep all their options open so they can go whichever way the wind blows, but if you can get a commitment to your invitation, it will be a very rewarding experience. People and surroundings are important to these charming, romantic and refined natives. The Scales have a burning desire for harmony, are concerned with fair play, and utilize their diplomatic skills to ensure the evening is full of laughter and stimulating conversation. Delight them with interesting dishes like Black Eyed Peas with Sausage and Waldorf Salad.

Scorpio  (October 23 - November 21)

Pecan Stuffing & Fig-Walnut Salad
When you invite passionate Scorpios to dinner, be prepared to serve an excellent meal. They strive for perfection and will expect the same from you. Serve them plenty of rich red wine... and then be prepared, because they will tell you exactly what they think. When they say they loved your meal, you will know it is the truth. Serve them Pecan Stuffing and Fig-Walnut Salad to appeal to their mysterious side.

Sagittarius  (November 22 - December 21)

Macaroni and Cheese with Parmesan Cheese Topping & Sage Gravy
Sagittarians can arrive at your door dripping from a rainstorm and still be enthusiastic and jovial – they have the ability to make the absolute best from any situation. These jokesters of the zodiac will be quite happy to provide the entertainment, as they love to be surrounded by people. They are extravagant and overindulgent, so have plenty of good wine on hand. Macaroni and Cheese with Parmesan Cheese Topping, and Sage Gravy will appeal to their zesty personalities.

Capricorn  (December 22 - January 19)

Collard Greens with Maple Cured Bacon & Roasted Root Vegetables
Workaholic Capricorns can be a challenge to get to your table... so tempt them with mention of the fine foods you will be serving. These guests possess a black sense of humor that can add just the twist your party needs. Caviar and champagne are two Capricorn favorites – but they love all kinds of foods, as long as they are high quality. The mixed, caramelized flavors of Collard Greens with Sweet Onion and Maple Cured Bacon, and Roasted Root Vegetables will satisfy their tastes.

Aquarius  (January 20 - February 18)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes; Baked Acorn Squash
You will want to have at least one Aquarian at any gathering. These unique, futuristic creatures are one of the friendliest, most social signs. Water Bearers are open-minded, unprejudiced and mix well with all kinds of people. Be sure you maintain the discerning eye of the well-organized host, as Aquarians can become so caught up in the social side of the affair, they forget to eat all together. Serving Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Baked Acorn Squash will bring them back to earth. See

Pisces  (February 19 - March 20)

Sweet Potato Biscuits; Southern Oyster Dressing
Pisces love convivial gatherings, so – although the last of the 12 signs – they will most likely be one of the first to accept your invitation. They are natural comedians with just the right mix of mystical, sensitive, inspirational and impractical humor. The Fish will love whatever you provide and can quite easily convince themselves and others that a simple meal is a feast. But you can be sure that Sweet Potato Biscuits and Southern Oyster Dressing will be their special favorites.

Tears

You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
But now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away all of the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you screamed I'd fight away all of your fears
And I've held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all on me

I've tried so hard to tell myself that your gone
And though your still with me
I've been alone all along

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you screamed I'd fight away all of your fears
And I've held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

Everyone has "Weird" things!!!

Am I alone in this, but doesn't everyone have weird things they have to do, or have to have done? No, I'm not talking kink. I'm talking things like:

1. I can't leave knives out on counters, in the sink is cool, but never on a counter

2. Sissors must always be put away, in a drawer or anywhere as long as they aren't out in the open

3. My bedroom slippers!!! No matter how many times I tell myself that I will take them off, and leave them in the same place everytime.... I'm always hunting around like a nut for them.

4. My bath has to be HOT, I'm not talking warm or just comfortable, I'm talking turning skin red HOT HOT HOT!!

5. I can't take showers. I don't care what people say, it's just fucking uncomfortable to stand up and wash yourself!

6. Oh this is a good one....If I'm watching TV, and leaving the room for a while, like checking my mail on line or something, I have to have the TV on a channel with something I like on.....Or I have to click till I find something before I leave the room.

Not too nutso.... Right?

There's other little things. Like,
I can't wait more then say 15 minutes in the morning, before I go and make my bed. Nice and neat and tidy.

Yet, my sofa cushions are the repository for all paper and scraps of paper like wrappers ects. (Once a month I clean under the cushions and get rid of it all....But why can't I walk to the garbage can??)

Oh and my bathroom has to be CLEAN. Nice, spotless, perfect...... I don't care what your bathroom is like, and I'll use any bathroom, even porta pottys, but MY bathroom has to be clean.

And the list goes on......
when I do laundry they have to be dried and put away right away. No leaving the stuff in piles or in the laundry basket. Not gonna happen

And as Mary knows, don't fuck with the pillows on my sofa. You may use them, and move them, but when your done....Put the damn things back like I had them!!!! Mary messes with me, and moves them, an then sits and waits to see how long I can last before I have to rearrange them! BAD GIRL

Same thing with hotel rooms, EVERYTHING gets put away, and suitcase's in the CLOSET! I can't STAND CLUTTER!

But then again....Don't expect to be able to sit in my car, unless I first move all the shit off the seat and floor.....Car is always messy and dirty. <>

See, I'm a total paradox! Clean to the point of being obsessive with some things, like my house etc. Yet a total mess with others....

Oh I forgot to mention, my house is SPOTLESS, clean, clean, clean....But don't look in my dresser drawers (folding? What's folding?) Though my closet tends to be nicer, since I clean it out just about every week. And if you value your life, Never look in my kitchen cabinets!!!!! Nothing is ever in any order, and if you open the door too fast, all kinds of pots and pans will fall out.... Yet my counters, stove and surfaces are always washed and spotless. I think I need help! GIGGLE

Herbs

Preserving Herbs
The shelf life of many herbs is one to two years but this period is shorter when herbs are exposed to light, heat and open air. Herb leaves keep their flavor best when they are stored whole and crushed just before use. When herb seeds are to be used for cooking, the seeds should be stored whole and ground up as needed.

Bag Drying
To prepare plants for drying, remove blossoms from the herb plant and rinse the leaves on the stem in cold water to remove soil. Allow plants to drain on absorbent towels until dry. Then place the herbs in a paper bag and tie the stems. Leave 1 to 2 inches of the stems exposed. This allows the plant oil to flow from the stems to the leaves. Place the bag in a warm, dry location. In about one to two weeks, when the leaves become brittle, tap them free of the stems and the leaves will fall into the bag. Store leaves in an airtight container away from the light.

Tray Drying
Clean herbs as for bag drying but the heavy stalks can be discarded. Put the leafed stems one layer deep on a tray in a dark, ventilated room. Turn over the herbs occasionally for uniform drying. The leaves are ready for storage when they are dry and the stems are tough.

Microwave Drying

If you have a microwave oven, you can use it to dry herbs. Place the herbs between paper towels and set them on the rack. Close the door and turn the oven on a medium setting for about 2-3 minutes. Then check for dryness; the leaves should feel brittle and should crumble easily. If they are not done, turn the oven on for 30 seconds longer. Although this process actually cooks the herbs, the end product is just about the same as air drying. Store the dried herbs in closed containers.

Freezing Flavor
Herbs may also be frozen. Rinse herbs in cold water and blanch in boiling, unsalted water for 50 seconds. Cool quickly in ice water, package and freeze. Dill, parsley, chives and basil can be frozen without blanching.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is widely used as a culinary herb, especially in Mediterranean dishes, and is also used as a fragrant additive in soaps and other cosmetics. Traditionally, rosemary has been used by herbalists to improve memory, relieve muscle pain and spasm, stimulate hair growth, and support the circulatory and nervous systems. It is also believed to affect the menstrual cycle, act as an abortifacient (inducing miscarriage), relieve menstrual cramps, increase urine flow, and reduce kidney pain (for example, from kidney stones). Recently, rosemary has been the object of laboratory and animal studies investigating its potential in the prevention of cancer and its antibacterial properties.

Things to do with nothing

I have nothing to say today. I'm board, and not ammused. LOL But I did wrap christmas gifts today, at least I got something done. giggle

Fall Herbs

Now is a good time to clean up and dry and preserve those herbs you've been growing all summer.

Chop all your chives into small pieces and you can freeze them in a baggy. When you have need for them, just reach in and use them! Chives can be dried also, but they are much better just sitting fresh in the freezer

Parsley, you should cut it, put it in a bunch, then tie a string around the stems and hang them upside down to dry,(in front of a sunny window is best) but you can also put them in a dry cool corner of the house to dry out, it's slower, but works just as well. Then put in a jar, and use it all year round.
Most herbs (such as peppermint, lavender, and other wood stem herbs) can be dried this way, make sure you hang them stem side up, so they dry properly. When dried, just crumble and place in a jar.

I like to dry lavender that way, then just put the dried bunch into my linen closet or my drawers, to leave a wonderful scent all winter and into the next summer.

Now, if you have pets, and like to put Mum's out in the yard in the fall.....When it starts to freeze at night, or the Mum's just start dyeing, cut the flowers off and either spread them out on a baking sheet, and let them dry. Or you can place them on a baking sheet, in a 200 degree oven (WITH THE DOOR LEFT OPEN) and dry them that way. When dry store in a closed jar.

If you have a problem with flea's, just sprinkle the dried Mum's under the cushions of your furniture, and under the furniture, and sprinkle some on the rug, and vacuum it up..... Leaving them in your vacuum bag or canister.

Mums kill FLEA'S!!!! Sprinkled under the cushions and under the furniture itself, it will kill all flea's in your house, and keep it that way. You may have to add more dried Mums in the spring, this way you can be sure to get any hatching from eggs that may have survived the initial sprinkling.

Also you can sprinkle the dried Mum flowers around your planters or flower beds outdoors in the summer, it will keep most bugs away from your flowers and vegetables.

Stupid People

You know it amazes me how incredibly stupid some people can be. I don't mean IQ stupid, since most of the people I know are high on that scale, I mean normal stupid..... Like everyday life.

I have one friend that will fall for any phone scam she gets. Like she bought about $1,000 dollars worth of vitamin's, because they told her she won a hot tub. Well she got the "hot tub", it was a blow up one (yes like an inner tube) and the only way it was "Hot" was if you added the hot water yourself, of and of course no jets or anything. LOL then she allowed them to talk her into ordering MORE, with the promise of a big screen TV. Which turned out to be a LARGE magnifying glass that you held up to the TV. Or the time she ordered a security system for her home, but she didn't have the money to have the sensors put on the glass, just on the door itself, so she decided to leave the doors UNLOCKED!! This way a robber wouldn't be temped to "break the glass" which of course wouldn't set off the alarm. HOW CAN YOU LEAVE A DOOR UNLOCKED TO PREVENT A ROBBER FROM BREAKING THE GLASS ON THE DOOR????? Of course, both times I told her it was a scam and not to do it....But for some reason people don't PAY ATTENTION to me...... And then they get mad because I was right.

My hubby did that too. I would tell him something, he wouldn't take my advice, AND THEN WOULD be pissed off because I was right!!!! I have this intuition, esp, or just plain skill in seeing the outcome of things, and knowing what the right course should be...... Of course this only counts towards others, it doesn't work when I try it. LOL But, no one believes me, even though I've proved it time after time after time.

I give advice, like DON'T SPENT THAT MONEY, or DON'T GO ON THAT TRIP, or DON'T LEAVE YOUR JOB, or just things like DON'T BUY THAT HOUSE...... And I don't push it, but I let them know what's going to happen.... And they ignore me...... And then I'm NOT allowed to say I told you so, because they are pissed that I was right.

I love my friends, I try to tell them what going on so that I don't have to hear them harp for years about how they fucked up! But, I'm almost always right!!!!!! Even my hubby admitted that, but he still wouldn't do as I said!!!! Because he was pissed that I was always right....Does that make any sense at all?????

I bought 3 house's by myself. After my hubby died. I didn't do the normal things your supposed to do when buying a house, like, I didn't sell mine till I found a new one. I refused to put more then $500 dollars down to hold the house, and I always had a condition for sale, that If I didn't sell my house, I didn't have to go thru the sale of the new one.

Now, everyone tells me THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!!! Why???? I did it, why should it be impossible. Have a closing, on both house's the SAME DAY!!! No that's impossible!!! But I did it 3 TIMES!!!! Once, my lawyer paid the money for the new house himself, out of his own bank account, till the check came in a few days later, just so I could close on BOTH house's at the same time!!!!!! How do I do it??? I have no fucking idea. LOL I even managed to get a mortgage on my second house..... AND I DIDN'T HAVE A JOB!!!!! Now tell me how that works. I just say, this is what I'm gonna do, do what you have to to make it work, and they do it.

Even after all that, I tell a friend..... Don't spend the money till you know how much you have to pay out..... And she spends it anyway!!!!! Then I'll have to hear her rant and rave about how she SHOULDN'T have done that, how she shouldn't have trusted the women who told her she wouldn't need all that money.... And so on and so on and so on!!!!!! Well this is for all my friends....Since I know they don't read this, but It will make me feel MUCH BETTER!!!!

I TOLD YOU SO!!!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!! SO THERE!!!!!

Frowning Now!!! :(

OK, now I'm totally pissed. Even though the house isn't repaired yet, and not even up for sale, I had decided that with some of the money I would go do what I always wanted to do.....Go to Europe.

As you remember from an earlier post

Well, I have been looking, and even stopped over to a travel agency to check it out.
And thanked her for the info, but before I left she said "Oh wait, here's the list of shots you need to go to those country's" FUCK FUCK FUCK

Let me tell you a little about immunization. They take a live virus and inject it into a sterile egg. Usually a hen's egg, where the virus grows and matures and then they take it out, dilute it, and there you go........... One immunization.

AND I'M ALLERGIC TO FUCKING EGGS!!!!!!

I knew I could never get a flu shot, or a tetnis shot or any of those things, but it just totally slipped my mind that there are other types of shots I would need to cross the sea..... And I can't take even one of them....That is without DYING!!!!

So that's one dream down the drain, guess I'll have to do some thinking and come up with something else. Hummmmm Mexico sounded nice, not Paris, but nice. FUCK