a Recipe I loved

 I finally found it!

Bratten’s Halibut au Gratin

Halibut – 6 oz. Per person

Poach fish until done- about 10-15 minutes

Melt and simmer:

3Tbs. Butter

1 Tbs. Flour  xxx : GF use cornstarch

2 cups half & half

1/8 tsp garlic powder (I use one clove fresh garlic – minced)

1/4 tsp. Dry mustard (Important)

Salt and Pepper

Simmer the above until thick.

Add:  1/2-cup mild cheddar cheese, grated (I use sharp)

Simmer until melted and thick, but not too thick.  Add milk to th.in if necessary.

Drain poached fish.  Pour sauce over top.  Add more grated cheese.  Bake in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.

   

Bratten's Seafood Grotto was a wonderful restaurant on 4th South in Salt Lake City up until the mid-late 1980's I loved it! Carla and Gaylen introduced me to it the summer I lived with them when I was 17.

When I went thru the Salt Lake Temple for my endowments we went there for dinner after the session and it was so good and such a celebration. All my Aunts and Uncles were there and so were Mom and Daddy and Granny B and of course Stephen and his parents.

No Profound Thoughts

Catch Up aka the Last 10 Years

 So even before I quit posting I had fallen far behind and never posted some of the most significant events of my life. One of the biggest 2012 events was my Daddy Died the end of August and though Blane and I took a flight the next day we didn't make it in enough time to really have a meaningful goodbye. We were there at the hospital but he was gone about an hour after we got there. He tried to hang on but by then he'd had a couple of big strokes and while he was breathing with the respirator his mind was gone and so was the rest of him.

I will never forgive myself for not going up earlier that year. He'd gotten his leg amputated  due to Diabetic complications and I selfishly didn't want to see him like that. I my mind my Daddy was always big and strong and healthy. I stayed til after the burial at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Medical Lake. then flew home. He got up there and met up with everyone and decided he and Uncle Sharon needed to go fishing somewhere and needed a good dog along so that is when LucyBelle died just a few weeks later while I was in the hospital. 

Mom had a really hard time after Daddy passed. She just got worse and worse after we took her car away and she met Daddy in Heaven after living at a Care Center for about a year and a half before she got peumoania in June and she passed away the end of July 2020 but not from the Covid-19 Pandemic like everyone else these past few years. Another part of history i've lived thru

Newly updated!!! I'm back! Did you Miss me?

 Hello friends and followers New and Old

Lots of things have happened in the years since I created and kept up this blog. Trying hard to make some really big changes in my life and I started a while ago but mostly I took one of the biggest step today.

I went to church this morning.        Huge step!!

I have been watching Sacrament Meeting online for a while now but I havent been going. Why is a whole different story that I'm not sharing now. I also just don't really have a good answer.

So today was a big day because I also stayed thru Relief Society. Something I haven't really done for at least the last 8 years. Actually it was yesterday because it's 1:30 and I need to go to bed because I have a Dr's appointment early tomorrow.

Gratitude List

Day 5: I'm grateful for who ever invented Nacho Cheese Dip and chips today. it makes a great lunch!

 

Day 6: I'm grateful that I live in a country where I have the right to vote, to make my voice heard. Where I can determine the future by the choices I make in a little booth today. I'm privileged to be a part of the process. So grateful for...

the Constitution of the USA and in awe of the founding fathers who realized the importance of gauranteeing those freedoms for my generation. They were truly inspired by the Lord. God Bless America!!!

Day 9: I'm grateful for light and heat when so many are still without power on the east coast. I'm thankful for the moisture that has come and gives me the excuse to hibernate in the house without feeling guilty.

Day 10: I'm thankful for the young men who shoveled my driveway for me so I could get out to the grocery store today. I tried last night to clear some of it away and slipped and fell. I'm also very thankful to whomever invented heating pads BenGay

Thankful Sunday

I'm so very grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace it brings to me in this chaotic world. Sometimes I think that I can never get quiet. Then I pray and the quiet comes. Then as the songs say "It is well with my soul" and "Sweet is the peace the Gospel brings." There is something so nice about Sundays. I'm so glad the Lord gave us this day to rest.

Snoopy and I

Attitude of Gratitude

Thankfulness. I read the other day that Oprah has kept a Gratitude journal for 22 years. My friend Janalee adds what she is thankful for after every one of her blog posts. So for this month I plan on posting everyday something I'm grateful for.

A few minutes ago I just got back from a walk round the block with Crickett. It's the first time she's been on a leash ever. She's is so funny. Very scared and clingy. Not adventurous like Lucy was at all. The Bancroft girls were out on their tramp and she wanted to go and play with them rather than explore. We'll keep working on it.

So today I'm thankful for the nice calm weather when let me get out and about.
I'm also thankful for candy. I have a lot left. Not so many Trick or Treaters came by before I left.

My New Friend

This is Miss Crickett CuddleBug! She's the new baby in my life. She's just 2 months old and I've had her for a week. She is 3/4 Maltese and 1/4 ShihTze. I got her from a breeder here in Magna with a little help from my neighbours the Grays and www.KSL.com classifieds

She's very very smart! She totally gets what the potty pads are for and except for a few accidents close by it has been pretty easy to get her to go on it. She loves to give kisses and snuggle. I built a set of steps out of boxes so she could climb to the couch and she only had to be shown what to do twice before she was up and down them like a pro.

She sort of gets the crate training but doesn't like it inside as much as she likes sleeping on top of it! She figured that out all on her own. She misses her siblings like mad and sleeps burrowed under pillows and her blankey. Crickett knows her name.

Sunday she met RomBerg and scared him just like Miss Lucy did. Seeing Blane's big huge dog cowering from 34oz of fluffy puppy is a total riot! She jumped up and tried to bite his tail and he whined and whined. He shouldn't have dangled it in front of her. Then she barked and charged at him on and he jumped back a couple of steps. LOL

My Little Hero!!

My sweet LucyBelle saved my life last week. I passed out and came to with a face full of doggy slobber, her on my chest yipping and barking at me in what can only be described as some mutant version of canine to human CPR.

 

As I ...got a little more alert she was jumping on me then going and scratching at the fridge. She knew I needed juice! Next thing I knew there were a lot of people in my house saying we had to go....as in get to the ER! Now! Sarah swears I called her but I don't remember doing it at all. I think Lucy dialed the phone and impersonated me.
 

While I was getting the help I needed at the Hospital. She got to go play with the kids at Aunt Carla's..... her version of little dog heaven. It only took a second, she spotted an open door and was off to freedom and adventure out into the road. A passing car and she was gone.

 

My little furbaby, my sweetie, my buddy, my friend. Goodbye Lucy my love .....I will miss you every single day for the rest of my life.

RIP Lucy Belle Pupper Dog, 13 June 2008~14 September 2012 under Aunt Carla's rosebushes.

Memorial Day 2012

Lucy and I went to the cemetery today. It looked so pretty with all the flowers and decorations on the graves. This is the first time I've gone on Memorial Day and there hasn't been cans of Pepsi there. I was sort of disappointed. I was getting used to the one full and the one empty.

Feeling Festive

For the very first time in years I had someone to go Christmas shopping with. Big Little Brother came up and we went to Lunch, then home to play with my Merry Christmas to me….to Vicky from Vicky Nook Tablet. Yeah for me from QVC! LOL

While he was checking out all the free apps it came with  we looked on Fandango and saw the new Muppet Movie was starting in 1/2 hour. We looked at each other and stated to sing the theme song. Off we went.

 

Apparently the school kids are actually still in school and the parents with itty bitty little kids are too young to appreciate an 80’s Classic like “what we call the Muppet Show.” We were the only ones in the theatre!! We sang all the old familiar songs, laughed at the grumpy old men in the box seats, winced at Miss Piggy’s  all about “Moi” and whiney “Kermiy.” It was great fun! Then we went Christmas shopping to Toys R Us and over to the VF mall, bought more gifts and checked out all the changes there.

Of course once we got home and sorted out the packages Blane took off and left all his stuff here for Auntie Vic to wrap! LOL So I’m taking a little break from wrapping and watching the Glee Christmas Episodes.

Making Ends Meet

It’s Christmastime so of course I’ve been worried about the $$$$$. I’ve also been stressed because it’s never ever taken me this long to get the decorations up. We finished last night. The living room has the all the Santa figures in place and the white tree in the sleigh. The family room has the Angels and a couple of the smaller Nativity scenes. The Beardall’s are so much help to me Justin has run boxes up and down the stairs. Maury cleans and vacuums and Ben entertains Lucy. I supervise. Everything looks really nice.

Last night I went downtown and earned $75 just by walking in the door. I was supposed to be part of a focus group on Diabetics with Cardiac issues but they scheduled too many people so they paid me, fed me and sent me home. I’ve also been part of another Dry Eye study testing out a new medicine that has paid me to be a part of it. So that money has been my Christmas budget. I just have a few more gifts to get then I’ll be done.

I am Thankful for

So many things. Some of my friends made it a point to find something everyday this month to be grateful for and posted it on their FB page. I could of done that too but you know me the non-conformist. So since lots that I’m grateful for happened just this week here’s my list.

In no particular order.

My family…. for checking up on me and making sure I have a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner. I ended up at Craig and Liz’s and visited with Margie and Rob, Jana, Steven and Julie and Aunt LaFaun, their kids and Grandkids and finally got to meet Trina’s new honey Wade Hickman. They’ve been married a little more than a year now and are really cute together. They stayed here with me so we had some good conversations and a lot of fun.

We also got a lot of things done.

Last month when Dawn and Vonn were here I was still working on the main bathroom and I had had Andy come take the toilet out so I could get to the wallpaper behind it and fix the floor. It still wasn’t done yet  because life got in my way. I cut my hand doing flowers for Brian Franchina’s wedding to Marci MacDonald and had to have stitches at the ER…..Sarah and her mom helped finish that wedding before I even went to the ER/

So  there it was still not done when I found out about more company coming. Uncle Gaylen and Aunt Carla took pity on me and came over Monday and Tuesday. She stripped wallpaper in the kitchen and he fixed the sheetrock holes including patching the ugly hole where the medicine chest used to be.

Then he fixed the floor, laid the new flooring and painted the whole bathroom and reconnected the plumbing. All it took was a bribe of Triple Berry Apple Rhubarb Pie! Wade and Trina got here just as he was finishing up.

They got busy on Wednesday morning and painted the bathroom a second coat, raked the leaves in the back yard, painted the pantry wall and the French Doors, hung new blinds and a curtain rod that I’ve had for a long time but have been to ill to climb the ladder to get them done. If that wasn’t enough they packed the bookcases into the closet and I’ll be ready to decorate for Christmas as soon as I recover from staying up all night working on Sam Caldwell’s wedding flowers  for today.  I need a rest. Wade is close to 90 and he was running rings around me! They left a few hours ago taking some Christmas with them. Klista and Selina will be here tonight on their way to Mexico. She’s promised not to need 10 days in the hospital this time.

I love my friends and family!

I have a lot to be grateful for

What’s Up? Chicken Butt!

That’s what TD always says. He’d be only half right. I don’t care if I never see another Chicken Breast right now.

I bought 40lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.49 per lb from Zaycon Foods on Saturday. I just finished getting them all re-packaged and in the freezer. There wasn’t a lot of fat but I did need to cut it all off. Lucy loved that part. The problem was that these were full breasts and they were so plump that 1/2 a breast would feed 3 people.

So I borrowed a food saver and got to work. I worked, the food saver didn’t. So late Saturday night I bought a new one. It worked wonderfully! It didn’t cost too much but once you add that in with the bags for it my great deal ended up costing me way too much.

But the good news is I have 52 packages of chicken in my deep freeze. A whole years supply if I only eat chicken once a week.

Go Ahead Make My Day!!

Is there anything better than someone giving you a compliment?
Yes there is!
When the person giving it is a total stranger to you.
When the person is the opposite sex.
When the person doesn't give off a perverted "Chester the Molester" vibe.
When you can tell they are sincere.
Best Feeling in the World!!

I was just running round doing some errands and popped in to get 2 things at the store. While I was in line this guy with 2 full carts lets me go ahead with my 2 things and says "I'm a sucker for gorgeous redheads. You have beautiful hair!"
I actually looked around to see if there were other carrot tops in the store. Nope I was the only one.
Totally made my day!!
Now I didn't really do anything to my hair today. I barely had enough makeup on to avoid scaring small dogs and little children. I was in a grey and coral striped tee and ratty jeans with flip flops and need a pedicure really badly. Nothing special at all. Just me being me

Today I'm glad I'm me!

Women Of God

My friend Darlene posted this on her Facebook page. It's so lovely. It describes the woman I want to be.

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

Date a Girl Who Reads

I found this just stumbling around on other people's web sites. It's a quote from an article promoting literacy.  I just couldn't resist posting it here. I am that girl! I don't remember a time when I didn't pack around whatever book I'm currently into all over the place. One of the many reasons that I looked really hard into getting a Kindle or a Nook. Books have taken me to all kinds of wonderful places. I've lived hundreds of lives through the magic of reading.

Date A Girl Who Reads

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes."      

The BIG 50!!!

Yes you read that right, the big 50. Since noon last Thrusday I'm officially 1/2 a century old. As birthdays go it was pretty quiet. Teresa took me out for dinner the night before to El Rancho Grande. For once I got something different and ordered the Enchiladas Sonora. Very yummy.
Soon I'll be gumming my food and wearing my hair really short and poking every which away. I'll wait in line for the Early Bird Special at Golden Corral and spending obscene amounts of money on orthopedic shoes, support hose and mummu style dresses. I'll get things in the mail from the AARP, pre-need funeral plans and retirement homes offering compassionate caring staff to meet my every need in my Twlight years.
I'm not dead. I'm just getting older. Which is why I will no longer have Birthdays. When asked how old I am, I will answer 39 with 11 years of experience.
Sounds so much better than 50.....don't you think.

Changes

I hate change!!
I think it's because too many things feel out of control when the change is unexpected. I really think that part of it is just frustration with having to spend so much time on hold to get minor little things taken care of. Whoever came up with the whole phone tree for businesses with the press 1 for payments or 2 to hear this in Spanish is at the top of my $#iT list this week.
Sometimes you just really want to pop someone upside the head and smack them around for awhile for being so very, very dense. So I just want to say it here.......If you and the board were going to completely disregard anything we did, then why did you ask us to vote? Why let us feel like we mattered when we didn't? Well just so you know, you have lost all my business. In the words of Monty Python " I fart in your general direction!"  Remember I have Crohn's and Celiac so those suckers are pretty powerful. If I were you I'd be trampling over everyone with no thought to the life or limb of anyone else while I run upwind very fast!
Then to top off my day Blane calls to tell me Parky is gone. I spent the next hour or so bawling my eyes out. I'm so glad I went down there Sunday I'd should have petted him a little more. He was always the first to come over for a rub or ear scratch when the Frog was alive. He'd be on one knee and Berg on the other and Steve would pet them til his hands got too tired. Poor old dog, he and I started diabetes shots at the same time. He had a knee surgery a few years ago and I snapped these photos.

Poor Puppy. He was old for a big dog. He will be missed. Rest In Peace Parky Dog.