Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Stationery Anyone?

Since my pen pal post I've written five postal letters. Two to pen pals in Latvia and Sri Lanka, one to a friend in Montana, one to blogger that write about letters in Australia, and one to a friend that lives only a few miles away. I haven't received letters back from any of them so far. Okay, the one to Australia was sent yesterday and the one to a friend that lives closer to me was sent today. Of my pen pals I know for a fact that the one from Sri Lanka is replying only because she e-mailed me about not being about to read my address.
Now, I know there are tons for free stationery websites but it's just not the same as a preprinted piece. I've been looking high and low for some good stationery. I found a nice set at the Hallmark store but I want a little more variety.  So if anyone has a few tips on finding stationery I'd appriecate it.
And, if you want you may write to me. For my address e-mail me at elfscuz@yahoo.com .

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Herbalious Chicken Noodle Soup

The other night I made the most scrumptious soup never. Who ever new chicken noodle soup could be this good? I sort of had my own way to the recipe in the Better Homes cookbook adding oil, more veggies, parsley,  and more noodles. The more I cook the more I get a sense of what goes with what and how much of that ingredient I like. I'm more of a "to taste" sort of person than following a recipe to the T. Well, for baking I follow it! So, I reworked some of the ingredients to suite me and even how to prepare it.
Someone really needs to start working on scratch and sniff computer screens.
Let's start with the soup backbone. Onions and celery. Soup wouldn't be soup with out these two things. Add to the backbone a little support with herbs then add the body. Your finished product is a masterpiece.

Rachel's Chicken Noodle Soup
2 c cubed chicken (cooked or uncooked)
1 1/2 tbs oil
1/2 c celery
1/2 c onion
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried parsley
48 oz can chicken stock
16 oz. package of frozen veggies
1 c egg noodles
pepper to taste

Pour about 1 1/2 tbs of oil into pot and cooked chicken in it.(Skip if already cooked) Remove chicken and place onions, celery, and herbs into pot and cook until onions start to appear translucent. Add in chicken stock and veggies. Wait until it boils then add noodles. Wait for it to return to boiling and turn the heat down to low and cover for 8 minutes. Add in chicken and heat until chicken is warm.
Serve on a nice chilly Autumn day.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Copper Update

I let out a sigh of relief this morning when I checked his temperature.
101.5. Normal.
I can't wait to see him get back to his old self. I miss that annoying bark of his.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Trialling Week and Another Starting

Let me start off by saying, agh.....
It's been emotionally exhausting. Copper, one of my dogs, became sick a week ago due to a blockage in his intestines. Of course we waited a day to see how things turned out. Well, we played the waiting game to see if it would come out on it's own. The vet pumped him full of fluids and something to lubricate his bowels. By Thursday he was still sick so Friday, the vet had a very good idea where the blockage was so they operated. Out came a 2 inch piece of what seems to be clumping cat litter. Yes, we have cats but don't use clumping litter for this very reason! Nor does he have any access to the litter boxes inside.
There was the whole worry that it was cancer or something that they couldn't fix. Mom called me at work Thursday crying to me.
He came through surgery okay. Tired, of course. But not eating. We have to force feed him. He gets an antibiotic and the stuff to lubricate his bowels. Today he seems a little bit better even bearing his teeth at me if I pissed him off. But this morning my mom's grip slipped at she was giving him his antibiotic and sprayed it into his fur. He needs this shot twice a day so she used the last one to give him the antibiotic this morning therefore he couldn't have one tonight.
She's blaming herself for the fever of 103.7 he has at the moment because she didn't say anything when the vet called to check up on him. She could have gotten another shot. I'm praying that his fever will go down and he'll get more antibiotics tomorrow with his vet check up. I hate seeing him suffer.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Close Call

That was close! The more I think about the more I think I have a guardian angel.
In short, I was coming home from work. The traffic heavy and to top it off it was raining lightly. After I waited at the light going out of the parking lot at work I headed home. Stereo on, singing badly to it to try to keep my mind off of the uncertainty of my dog, Copper's, health. All I remember seeing is me looking at the green light but not the vehicles in front of me which were stopped.
I noticed it and try to brake slowly, I fished tail and was able to stop. Evidently, I made it safely to the side of the road to calm down. No one stopped to see if I was alright.
I got my nerve up to drive home, stopping for a few seconds at a parking lot to check my car out. As I was getting out onto the main road my car wont get up to speed doing 30 mph and a strange smell wafted through the compartment. I immediately stopped. The person behind me didn't even blink an eye, nor did the 50 + other people plus a POLICE car passed. I sat there for about 30 minutes before I called my mom to come.
Only then did one person stopped. Someone from school. And then another person stopped after she left. After leaving the car rest for awhile my mom drove it home as I drove her car.
No problems at all.
I guess I scared my car some as well. Ha!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Pen Pals

I've always have loved writing to pen pals and receiving letters. In elementary school I have a few pen pals that I mostly exchanged e-mails with but a few that we actually wrote to. In middle school I got a German pen pal through my German class but we stopped writing to each other because I lacked my skill to write more than one letter in German and my partner barely could write a word in English.
Now, my friend from work in a pen pal letter writing machine! She has at least 10 pen pals from all different countries of the world. This makes me a little jealous.
So, I signed up for a few pen pal oriented websites and with in a few hours I got at least 10 e-mails from people wanting to be my pen pal. Most just want to e-mail but I got two so far that want to go the 'snail mail' route. Their letters go out today! One is from Latvia and the other's from Sri Lanka both countries that I know so little about. It'll be interesting to get to know some new people!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Walking?

Wow, I actually enjoyed walking today. I went to Doylestown with my mom. While she was getting her teeth pulled I wanted to do something so I walked to a cheese place I wanted to try. Of course it was closed. Walked over to favorite bagel place. Close. 'What now?' I thought. 'I'll walk to the library!' It was a nice walk took me probably 15 minutes. By the time I go in my mom calls that she's done, or rather mumbles to me that she's done. After a few calls she picked me up but I actually wanted to walk back.
Being interested in how far I walked I went onto yahoo maps and found it was only .42 miles! I nearly died. I was hoping for more in the 1 mile range. I'm thinking about getting my bike fixed up so I can go pretty much no where faster.
That's one thing I like about the city. You have a wider selection of destinations.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Great Soda Challenge: Update #4 and Conclusion

Week four as ended and so has my challenge. I drank my first can of soda in a month yesterday. It actually turned my stomach sour so I can't fathom ever drinking it again. However, I may take another stab at making my own to be more like a dessert instead of an all day drink. It contains way less sugar than the commercial stuff and I have a book that tells you have to make all natural soda as well.
So what's my next challenge? Candy bars. I love candy bars. Will I have enough will power to quit these as well? Stay tuned!