106. Chick Flick Here We Come

Brrrrrr!  It is chilly and drippy outside this morning.  I'm sitting in the office in front of  a little heater, well mostly in front, Maggie likes it too so she parks herself between the heater and me.  For some unknown reason the office is the coldest room in this little cottage.  Maybe it's because I'm not moving about and just sitting here, at any rate here I sit and cold.  I even have my thermal undies on and heavy socks.  Yikes!

I have been browsing the internet and stumbled across a site that might interest you foodies out there.  You might like even if you don't care about cooking because there are really simple and easy recipes, as well.  It purports having a million recipes!  You can access by chef's name, ingredients, recipe name and on and on.  I typed in Hungry Girl and lots of her recipes came up for you to scroll through.  It is amazing!  I guess if the recipe has ever been on television, you can find it and the show.  Sometimes this whole internet thing can be pretty amazing!

FOODILY

Let me know what you think. It's a good thing we have to go to town today or I would be cooking.  My Valentine is taking me to see the new Jennifer Aniston movie.  We neither one need anything, so we started a tradition a few years back to just go to the movies.  (Be jealous girls, I snagged a man that likes 'chick flicks!'  Score!

105. To Arms, To Arms!

To Arms, to Arms!  This plea goes out far and wide in an attempt to stamp out a dastardly thievery!  Put out a BOLO, send extra police to the airports. This has to stop and stop NOW!  Especially at the holidays...is nothing sacred?  Please, if everyone could be on the look out for the one legged thug who keeps stealing single socks!  The sad sock left behind lays around on top of the drier pining for it's mate and I have a false sense of hope that surely it will turn up clinging to a towel or stuck inside a pillowcase, all the while deep inside knowing it has been captured and will never return.  Please, who ever you are, in the name of all that is Holy, stop the insanity, just take them both!

104. Naughty Claudius

Valentine's Day peaked my interest as to it's origin.  We all know it is about love, but why, where did it all start?  There are, I'm sure some conflicts, however, no one disputes Saint Valentine's involvement.  He was a priest in Rome during the third century.  Claudius was emperor at the time and it seems he was more than upset that men didn't seem interested in joining the army.  It turns out the men were more than happy to hang around home and hearth and...you know.  Claudius, who we know didn't have to leave home and hearth and...you know, decided to ban marriages.   Crazy, right?

Well it turns out that Priest Valentine had a passion for marrying couples.  He kept on performing marriages...secretly, of course.  It turned out to be quite exciting.  You can imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and Priest Valentine performing the whispered ceremony, listening all the while for foot steps of soldiers.  Finally one fateful night the unthinkable happened and Valentine was caught mid-ceremony.  He was arrested and his                                                      sentence was death.

People came to visit and others threw flowers and notes up to Valentine's prison window, siding with him and his views on love and marriage.  One of the visitors was a jailer's blind daughter.  They became friends and spent many hours talking, she keeping his spirits elevated in his time of despair.

On the day he was to die Priest Valentine left his friend a note of thanks for her steadfast friendship and loyalty.  He signed the note "Love from your Valentine."  The note was written the day he died, February 14 269 A.D.  Emperor Claudius may have been successful in putting Priest Valentine to death, but history put egg on his face.  Everyone knows you can't stand in the way of love.  It just can't be beaten.  Priest Valentine was later elevated to Saint Valentine.  Fact or fiction...you be the judge.  As for me, I believe.

Later in the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be.  They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week.  You guessed it!  To wear your heart on you sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.

History lesson aside, doesn't this photo just make you grin?  Take a closer look at the baby pig's nose.  It's little nostril is in the shape of a heart!  Oh, if the world could be just as trusting.

103. Seven Come Eleven

 Yesterday morning Rod Stewart and I sang and danced while I put Persian cucumbers, onions and peppers in a brine in preparation for bread and butter pickles.  There isn't much to compare with his gravely voice singing those old tunes from the thirties and forties.  I have all five of what I call "vintage romance" CD's.  My, oh, my can that man croon.  There aren't many chores that I can't do faster, better and certainly happier with him to hum and dance along with.   We saw him in concert a few years back in Paso Robles, CA at the fair grounds.  It is a very small venue, a little rodeo arena, really, so you could see the sweat fly off his face.  He was fabulous!  His last five albums are, to me, definitely high water marks in a very successful career.

I finally finished Maggie's quilt and pillow cover, too.  Whew, I admire folks who quilt.  I definitely can tell you it isn't my choice for relaxation!  Don't misunderstand, I'm glad I can sew.  It is a skill that has served me well over my lifetime.  It's just that...well...I'm the "Queen of Close Enough" and it doesn't work out too well when you are quilting.  They have this crazy idea that all the corners have to fit just so and I guess I lose interest.  That's not entirely true, I just don't have the knack of making each piece the same size and that, my friends, is the rust on the razor!

Our little princess Maggie seems to  like her bed.  She doesn't get up in the middle of the night anymore, so she must be warmer.  It's a little sad when I think about it, children in half the world don't have food or a clean blanket, let alone a bed and our little dog has all that and more.  No one ever said life was fair, I suppose.  Still...it does tug at my heart strings, the inequity of where you are born, the crap shoot of birthright.  That's what it is, really.  One big crap shoot.  What a blessing it is to have rolled a seven and be born in this time and place.

102. It's February, Be Heart Healthy

February is Heart Health month.  This Friday, February 9th is your opportunity to wear red and show your support for heart research.  It's a chance to bring awareness to the ever growing problem of heart disease. 

The Heart Truth: A Campaign For Women

We have all lost someone dear to heart disease and there are so many things we can do to help our heart.  One of the easiest things to do is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store.  Most of the heart hurting things are in handy cardboard packages in the middle of the store.  Yup, all those conveniently packaged foods, the one's labeled 'fat free' and 'sugar free' are some of the worst.  When they remove the fat or the sugar the food tastes pretty awful...so those sneaky devils add salt  and all kinds of other unhealthy additives.  Another tip: if you can't pronounce it...Don't eat it!  Odds are your body won't have any idea what to do with it, so it either passes on through or latches on somewhere completely uninvited like your veins or your hips.  Hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated are particularly evil words on a label. The site below has some good, easy to follow tips.

Some pretty concise tips from fitbottomgirls

Well, I hope I have gotten your attention, so I'll jump off my soap box in a leap of faith and hope you will take this message to 'heart!'

101. Touchdown!

Another beautiful day in Paradise!  I've capitalized Paradise because it is a name of a place and that place is right here in our canyon.  The only thing that would be better would be a big screen television out on our new little patio so we could watch the Super Bowl commercials in the great out of doors!  I guess some folks, like Bob, watch the game for the game's sake.  Ha...I have to laugh!  I still don't know exactly what a down is and seriously don't really care.  It's the funny commercials that I love.

We watched the special on Super Bowl commercials on Friday night and I have to say I agree with the call in's choice.  The lamb streaking is a great one...but a definite runner-up is the dog with the bark collar and the Doritos eater who had the audacity to tease him. Of course, Betty White stole the show last year with her roll in the mud.  She is the ultimate "old lady sport!"  Poor Abe Vagoda hardly got a tip of the hat!  I think that most people, like me, thought he was dead.  Not so, he was in the mud just like Betty.

http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/2010/doritos-dogs-revenge/

Still, we have our W.W. snacks planned and I have sworn to finish a drawing that has been haunting me.  My compatriot will undoubtedly sleep soundly with Maggie in his lap snoring in tune through at least half of said game.  That's OK, I find great humor in turning the channel (just to be ornery) and start counting just to see how far I get before he realizes I done such a dastardly thing.  Life is full of such simple pleasures one only has to be resourceful.  A good laugh is good for your heart and everything that ails you!  Enjoy the game...I know you can think of some way to get a KICK out of it!

And the Winners are

100. Confetti and Balloons!

Well, what do you know!  This is my 100th entry about Gopher Hill Cottage.  There should be confetti and balloons to celebrate, prizes at the door and food, lots of food...really good and gooey food!

I have to say I wasn't sure I could stick with it this long.  It's all of your comments and support that have turned the tide for me.  I want to say "Thanks" to all of you.  So I'll tell you what...the first five of you who send me your address at rmema@aol.com will receive a kitchen towel with one of my images on it.  You can even pick out the image from my cowgirl website.  Thanks to all of you!

99. Sock Dreams

We had the most lovely rainfall on Sunday, gentle, just the way you want it.  The kind that just soaks everything.  Now even the Mexican heather, that took a beating from the frost right after I planted them, look like they will make a come back.  The one that looked completely dead has a few tiny green leaves hiding beneath the crisp brown canopy, so let's let a sleeping dog lie and see what happens.  I learned the hard way a few winters ago not to go cutting things back too soon.  The lavender and daisies that I cut way back because of the frost damage didn't have as good a come back as the ones that I just left alone until spring.  So, Mexican heather, it's your turn to sink or swim.  I'll just sit back and wait.

I spent some time joyfully house-bound, by catching up on reading the two magazines that I receive, Rachael Ray and Family Circle, and found a fabulous web site with FREE shipping!  I love, really love, silly socks.  They can be hard to find unless you happen to find a sock store.  There is a fabulous little sockery in San Luis Obispo, CA, but we aren't up that way too often.

I find that living in the country and the rising cost of gas has contributed to my growing fondness of  'office chair' shopping.  Ten years ago I would never have dreamed I would stoop to such a low.  I also recall laughing that someday we would need a cash card...enter the debit card!  Who could have seen that one coming twenty five years ago?  No one in my circle of influence.

This is only one example of the many, many  socks available at
http://sockdreams.com
It is a sock lovers dream site!  This one happens to be sold out at the very cool price of $6.00...no wonder!  You really can let your fingers do the walking so you feet can be in style!