Waitress Movie and Pie Making

I watched the movie Waitress on DVD the other day. It was a very good movie with a good story line and good acting. It was very emotional in parts, too. Throughout the movie there are scenes of the waitress inventing different pies. The waitress says that sometimes she just falls asleep thinking of different pies to make. They show lots of her different versions of pies in the movie. She is very happy when she is making the pies. Today when I made a pie, I was happy doing it, too. I found myself even singing a little made up song along the way. And inventing your own type of pie is the greatest thing to do, too. Try making a pie sometime. Even if you buy the already made pie crust, it is still fun doing it. :-)

Easy Homemade Vegetarian Pie

My Homemade vegetable pie recipe: Buy a store bought wheat pie crust that has two pie shells in it – one for bottom and one for top of pie. Chop up some fresh veggies in small bite size pieces. Include broccoli, carrots, yams, potatoes, onions and zucchini. Put all in a big pot. Add some frozen soybeans and about half of a variety pack of stir-fry veggies that are different ones than the fresh ones you chopped, just for some extra color. Cover the veggies with water and boil for about 25 minutes or so, just till veggies are tender. Fry up ½ a package of Gimmie Lean Vegetarian sausage until browned. Take some of the drained veggies, enough for a pie and add it to the sausage. Stir in one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup and about a cup of light sour cream. Mix everything very well and then add the mixture to the unbaked pie shell and cover the top of pie with the other half of an unbaked pie shell. Seal the two edges together by pinching them. Cut some little slits, about five in the center of the pie to let steam escape. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 18 minutes on a cookie sheet, then turn down the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for about 15 minutes more or until browned. Let cool for a bit as it is very hot when right from the oven. Makes for one delicious pie.

Around Town Photos on May 30, 2008

Coming Soon

A friend planted some bulbs for me and this was my surprise. Hopefully these will be blooming again this year. :-)

Old time photos of Diana Ross

Diana Ross is one of my favorite singers. When I was only 14 years old I really wanted a Diana Ross Album - any album of hers. I told my mom, but she said she didn't think we could afford it. We did have 7 people in our family and we were not really able to buy that many "luxuries". But when Christmas came around my Grandma visited us. And she gave me a present and there it is was - the Diana Ross album I had really wanted. Don't you just love Grandma's? I loved how my mom kept it a secret, too. By the way, you can find some good old time pictures of your favorite singers at Ebay. :-)

Doll from the past - Chrissy

I loved this doll as a kid. It was fun to be able to make her hair grow long by pressing a button.

By City Hall

Here is a nice place to sit especially in the spring right next to City Hall. Also, they have planted some very pretty flowers in front of City Hall and right where you pay your water bill is a very pretty red rose bush.

Our Local Newspaper

Our newspaper comes out once a week. Why only once a week? Because we are a small town and we don't have that many advertisers as other towns. If we did, then our paper would come out more than once a week. You can read our newspaper online at:

http://www.advocate-news.com/

This week our towns events over the weekend are a carnival by the College of the Redwoods and in Mendocino which is only about a 25 minute drive away - The 3rd annual Mendocino Film Festival.

You can find out about all our local events once a week in our paper. Or just ask one of the locals about what is going on and they will gladly tell you.

The Beatles You Can't Do That (Live) Melbourne HQ

Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walking

I had so many different pairs of go go boots as a teen. It was fun. Thought those of you from my era would enjoy this song from back then. :-)

Park Close to Downtown Fort Bragg

This is a beautiful park to visit. You can hear many birds chirping and taking a walk through the redwoods is a wonderful thing to do. Just sitting down somewhere and listening to the sounds of the forest is very calming.

Gas prices and grocery prices

Lived fifty years. Seen many things. The first landing on the moon and now photos from Mars. And now this high gas pricing. The price of gas is way out of hand. I am not even sure how people are going to make it. Saw $4.35 a gallon today as the latest price. I can hardly believe that. I am not sure what people are going to do in winter time when we have to pay for our oil bills to heat our homes. The latest price for 75 gallons of heating fuel was $316.00 about a month ago. The heating system in my home uses a gallon an hour. What a high cost to heat my home. I can hardly believe it.

I really wonder what some families are going to do. I sure hope we have some changes in our society. We already are aware of this heating cost and will put on sweaters and turn it off at night and just bundle up with lots of blankets. So many things are going up in prices especially groceries. I am doing much more home cooking and don't buy much already made stuff anymore. It saves money.

I think we all are going to have to really budget our money very carefully. And I think that lots of us will have to share more with others even the little we do have. We really will have to start caring so much more about each other in these tougher times. I hope that each of us does what they can when they can to be helpful and supportive to one another. Even just extra kind looks and gentleness to others can make a big difference. And make sure you always vote, too.

Robbie Williams - Angels

I just love this song.

A pretty view in Fort Bragg

Some More Flowers From Spring

Tuesday

Today I went for a nice little walk. It was foggy out so I felt lots of mist on me. But it wasn't really cold, so that was good.

I had to face some difficulties with some difficult people today, but I dealt with it. I felt good about that. What else? Oh, I got a couple of DVD's that I ordered from the library. "Waitress" and "My Best Friend's Wedding". It will be nice to just relax and watch some movies this evening.

Todays meals were: Oat cereal and soymilk for breakfast, Peanut Butter and Organic Jelly on 5 seed bread for lunch, Dinner will be a veggie burger with condiments or leftover stir fry. Snacks for today will be: handful cereal, raisins and an apple.

I am trying to make sure I write down what is going on with my food today as I did have a stressful afternoon. I want to stay on track with eating healthy. I also will ride my exercise bike for about 40 minutes, too. And that is today's stuff.

Purple Iris

Love these purple beauties and their lovely scent, too. :) Today has been a calm day. I did go to the grocery store today and there were quite a few more people in there than usual. Most likely because of Memorial Day today. I managed to get in and out of there fairly quickly, so that was good.

Memorial Day Weekend 2008

Well, I assume it may be a little busy out there is our town, so I am just relaxing at home this weekend. It is quiet where I am at and today was a nice sunny day. Sat outside for a bit and did some yard work with my two cats spying on me. So far a peaceful weekend. :-)

Shopping Day

Today was shopping day for me. I went to a rummage sale at a nearby church. I wound up picking out a real nice dress there. I was happy to get it at such a discount price. I love yard sales.

Some TV shows I Watch

I was happy that I watched all season of American Idol. I voted for David Cook and he won. I was happy for that. I really think he did an overall great job on the show with the songs he sang. He also has a great personality and seems very strong to handle the pressure of the music industry. I love music and watching American Idol's finale last night was so great especially seeing all the stars they had on the show especially Donna Summer and George Michael. David Archuletta will most likely get record deals too, so it will turn out okay for him. I like how he bowed out graciously when David Cook won. He was a good sport about it all. It was nice to see that. He still had a nice smile on his face at the end with David Cook.

On George Michael being on American Idol: The song he sang was rather sad- A Prayer In Time. He did a great job with it. It was neat to see him as I saw him in concert in Los Angeles with my boyfriend (who later became my husband for 6 years). It was fun seeing George Michael up close on stage. We didn't have tickets that close but my then boyfriend just took me down the aisle right up close to see him. It was great. Wham! put on a good show then. It would be neat to see George Michael in concert again now that he is on his own.

Well, my next TV viewing once a week will be the show "A Moment Of Truth". That show is so interesting. I can't imagine going on there and having them ask me a bunch of questions and having to tell the truth or you lose money. In my day we just did too many rebellious acts and I certainly wouldn't want to reveal that stuff on TV. But what some people will do for money is amazing.

Some other TV shows I like are: House, MD and old time situation comedies like Friends, Seinfeld and I Love Lucy

Brother visit soon

Since it is so windy out today, thought I would just do some indoor stuff. Did some laundry, hung out at home and emailed some photos of inside my house to one of my brothers. I haven't seen him and his family for a long while now and they will be coming for a visit. Thought I would let them see what it looks like here. Just left my house with the lived in look as that is the way it is most of the time here. Seemed weird to not make everything look kind of "perfect" but I think it is best to just let my brother and family see that I am casual here. I really am looking forward to their visit.

Tuesday - Friend Out Of Hospital

One of my friends had to go in for a hospital procedure. It went well. She came by today with one of her friends and returned a video I loaned her. It was nice to see she was up and about. She is 72 years old and is doing very well. I was happy to see her smiling. I picked some pretty flowers from the yard for her and gave her one of my photo flower notecards I make. It felt good doing that.

Our weather today is cloudy but warm, so it will be good to spend some time outdoors today.

Sunday's Movies

Today was a lazy day. I watched a couple of movies. "Away From Her" about a women who has Alzheimer's and what her husband goes through in dealing with it and what the woman goes through. Very emotional movie, but good acting. I also watched "Gone Baby Gone" and that movie was about a little girl who winds up missing and the detectives search for her. Lots of suspense in this one. Good acting, too.

I visited with a male friend of mine for a bit. We had a nice visit. He gave me a cashmere sweater which is very nice. It will come in handy this winter. That is my writing for today.

Fort Bragg Seals - Double Click Photo

These seals appear at random here and there on the rocks in the ocean. They are fun to watch swimming or basking on the rocks.

The Park

Lots of good times here. Picnics, Parties, Hanging Out, Dogs playing and Community Events. The big trees are great in Autumn and have some nice big leaves that fall for the kids to play in or crunch under their feet. Sad to say we lost one of the trees in a big storm we had and they had to cut it down.

Another Beach Scene

Flowers On My Porch Surprise

I came home this evening and found these pretty flowers on my porch. I had just seen a male friend of mine who lives around the corner. We had a good chat. We both were off for bike rides. When I came back from my bike ride I found the flowers. I wasn't sure if they were from him, so I called and asked and he said yes. He grew them in his garden. He really has a green thumb. Nice to get a surprise on my doorstep.

Sunset Over Glass Beach In May

The sunset this evening was wonderful. Nice and cool by the ocean, too.

Another Big Red Rose

This rose was almost the size of a dinner plate, seriously. It was beautiful.

Pretty Flowers At Our Library

Another Purple Flower

Lots of purple flowers growing in town.

About My Vegetarian Meals

My meals I make are sometimes quite "gross" according to a certain teenager I know. But I am going more for making easy meals at this stage of my life. They are still nutritious and they are not very costly, so there you have it. (The above mentioned teenager makes their own meals, so they don't have to worry about my grossness, LOL)

Vegetrarian Chicken Strip "Panini"

I took some Morningstar Chicken Strips and fried them up in a little oil. Put them on some whole wheat bread and fried it a little, put some veggie cheese on it and then I took it and put it on the Foreman Grill for a few moments. It turned out well. I am dipping it in lite ranch as it could be a bit dry. I think next time I will use sourdough bread and just grill it in the pan and it ought to taste much better. One day I want one of those Panini pans though.

Heat Wave Vanishing

Today is not as hot as yesterday. I loved the nice breeze out. I am so grateful to live in this town with the cooler weather. After yesterdays unusual heat wave I am so glad to have cooler weather coming back.

Purple Beauty In Yard - Iris flower

I saw this out my kitchen window and had to get a close up. Beautiful. :-) I love mother nature.

Glass Beach Finds

These are my blue glass and other broken plate pieces from years back found at Glass Beach by digging in the sand (along with some little shells and a wheat penny). It is difficult to find many blue pieces as that seems to be the favorite color of glass people collect to do artwork. It still is fun to sift through the sand and find little things from years ago since people used to dump their stuff in the ocean years ago and now years later you can find some interesting things here. (I added the little rhinestones in the center of the little plate.)

Women Living In Cars

I read a report about women living in cars. The women they showed were 54 and 67. They both just couldn't afford a home anymore, so they took to living in their cars. This is so sad that these things go on. Well, I know people are homeless all over the USA and some just sleep outdoors and don't even own a car. But this report I saw was about middle class women who just couldn't afford their homes any longer so they had to give them up and are now homeless. I hope something happens to change our US economy for the better so more people can have at least a place to live.

Vegetarian Salad Meal - Easy

Today was very hot out for my town. We usually have cool weather and any heatwave is really noticed by us. For us a heat wave is 74 degrees in the house, LOL. Anyway, today I had a salad meal.

To Make It: Take already prepared salad, add some chopped bbq tofu, some veggie cheese, garbonzo beans, cherub tomatoes and add some salt and pepper and a little lite ranch dressing. A tasty meal and easy to make. That's the way I like to prepare meals - easy. :-)

Skunk Train On Way To Forest

Here is a steam engine leading the Skunk Train to the forest. I went on a trip with my brother and his kids and my kids. It was a fun trip. You even get to go through this long tunnel. The kids had a whoopee cushion and tried in out in the dark tunnel and yes it was funny. You arrive at a place called Northspur and can buy many little trinkets there and have lunch there, too. A great trip to go on if you visit Fort Bragg.

Easy Cole Slaw Veggie Burger Recipe

I bought these Wild Wood Organic Tofu-Veggie Burgers at the Health Food Store. I fried them up on medium for about 5 minutes or so, I put a little lite mayo on one half of the whole grain wheat bread, put some cole slaw on the other half and served it with a pickle. Very easy to make and it tasted almost like a Fish Burger. Delicious.

What It's Like To Be Fifty

Well, to tell you the truth, I never really could even imagine reaching this age. I don't really feel fifty. I am in good health, so far, knock on wood. I exercise most days. I eat healthy. I don't really have many aches and pains and if I do get some, I try to ignore them and distract myself by focusing on other stuff. I do have some good memories. I raised two kids as a single parent. Their dad did visit them through the years which was a good thing for them, too. We both tried to be civil with each other through the years and that was great for the kids.

I have good memories of places I have traveled to. I did many things in my younger years such as dancing into the late hours of the morning, attending plays, concerts and going to amusement parks like Disneyland. I have had some good friends in my time. I still have some good friends.

I don't conform to most other fifty year old stuff. I have hair down to my waist and wear jeans most of the time. I like modern top 40 music. I think it is fun to stay young at heart. I am not really a hippie, although people might think I was to look at me. I just want to mostly do my own thing and I have to continue to let go of what other people think.

At fifty I decided to be more of myself and speak up more. So far so good. Maybe this blog will help me speak up, too. And there is more to being fifty, but that is all I could think of at the time. Yeah, the old memory takes a while to kick in at this age, too.

How Did I Get To Fort Bragg Since I Was Born In Buffalo?

Well, I was born in Buffalo, New York. We moved to Miami when I was 8. We moved from Miami to Los Angeles when I was 9. We lived there until I was 17. We moved back to Buffalo and I stayed there till I was 20. I moved to Ventura, California at age 20. Stayed in Ventura until I was 36. Then I moved to Fort Bragg as I have an older brother who lives in Albion near here and it was nice to live by him. Our kids got to play together when they were little, too. When we were growing up my older brother and I said, "One day our kids will play together, won't that be neat?" And so it was. And that is how I got to Fort Bragg.

Fort Bragg Friendly Seagulls

Pretty Flowers Outside Inn

Lots of pretty flowers grow outside Inn's and Motels here. There are plenty of places to stay here. Just have to make reservations at the holiday times.

Skunk Train And Fort Bragg Buildings On Main Street

May Flowers I Saw Today