Southwest USA - There and Back Again

We’re back from our trip to the southwest! It was a wonderful vacation! It seems like we have been gone for ages, particularly as I do the laundry and my sweet hubby mows the lawn today, LOL. We took hundreds and hundreds of pictures along the way, and this one illustrates the awesome countryside we visited. Great weather greeted us at each destination. The food was delicious and we ignored the calories. We also made some terrific new friends. (Special “yoo-hoos” to our sweet traveling companions from Houston, Texas, and Johnson, Vermont!)

Stay tuned for stories and pictures in the weeks ahead. It will take a while for us to go through the digital photos and get them organized for sharing. Reality is upon us once again and we have a lot of things to accomplish in the near term. A top priority is to put the cottage back up for sale. That will be accomplished on Friday. We also need to get the vegetable and flower gardens planted. The busy outdoor season is here!

Noah’s Ark Stitchery

I just finished up a couple of stitchery patterns as part of a block-of-the-month series. These stitchery pieces will ultimately be joined to make a small “Noah’s Ark” quilt. Lynette, a talented needle art designer from Australia, is graciously providing the free patterns on her delightful blog, Lynette Anderson Designs. Here are the results of my current stitching efforts.

By the way, these blog pictures are WAY bigger than the actual sizes of the needlework. The rabbits picture is 2-1/4 inches square, and the dove picture is 1-3/4 inches square.

Southwest USA – Here We Come!

We will be up before the chickens on Monday and leaving on a trip to the southwest USA. Yippee!!!!!!!! It is a Tauck World Discovery tour of canyon areas in northern Arizona and southern Utah. We are busily packing our clothes and camera gear for this adventure to the wild, wild west! We will be going out one day early to rent a car and explore the Sedona area on our own before the tour begins in Scottsdale on the 22nd.

This map outlines the tour route and stops along the way. We will also be taking an optional small plane trip over Monument Valley. We are looking forward to a new journey and a relaxing time.

Please check back around the first of May for my return. I should have some wonderful journey pictures to share with all of you in the month of May!

Cabot Cheese Recipe

One of the places that we visited during our road trip to Vermont in 2006 was the Cabot Cheese factory. We had a delightful tour and were able to sample every single kind of cheese they make. Oh heavens! Everything we tried, we liked. We bought our favorites and packed them in our cooler to take back home.

Only a few of Cabot Cheese products are available locally here in Tennessee, so we now routinely place internet orders with them. During special times of the year, they have a smoked cheddar cheese that is absolutely delicious! Be still my heart! And their low-fat cheeses taste just like the regular, lip-smacking kind.

Here’s one of their recipes that is a big hit at our house. It is very easy and fast to fix. If you are not a grits lover, the glazed chicken is great by itself as a main entrée. I hope you enjoy it!

VERMONT MAPLE-MUSTARD GLAZED CHICKEN WITH CHEDDAR CHEESE GRITS

3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup quick cooking grits

1 cup 50% Reduced Fat Cabot Cheddar Cheese, shredded

In a small bowl, stir together maple syrup and mustard. Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray, then preheat skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet and cook for five minutes. Flip chicken and cook until nicely browned, for about five minutes. Add the maple-mustard sauce to chicken and cook until thick and syrupy, for about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, bring 3 cups of water to a boil, and slowly stir in the grits. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and stir in ¾ cup of cheddar cheese, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese on top of the grits and cover in order to heat and melt the cheese.

To serve, divide grits between 4 plates. Top each with a chicken breast and some pan sauce. Garnish with fresh chopped sage or chopped green onions (if desired) and serve. Serves 4. Prep time: 20 minutes.

Spring Vistas

We began our spring cleaning today. After dinner, we enjoyed a refreshing drink out on the front porch and marveled at how fast the landscape has changed in the past couple of weeks. The late afternoon light and sky were so pretty. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of our landscape to share with you.

Lady Vols Win Championship #8!

Last night, the University of Tennessee Lady Vols team turned up the defensive heat in the women’s college basketball championship game, and their efforts secured them another national title. With a 64-48 victory over Stanford, our gals cruised into the record books with the program’s 2nd consecutive national championship and the 8th overall.

The greater Knoxville area folks regard the Lady Vols as part of their own family, and we are all bursting with pride. We are fortunate to have the greatest basketball coach in the history of the game, Pat Summit, to guide the young ladies who go through the program. We are going to miss the five fantastic players who will not be returning next year. It was historic for all five to be drafted today into the WNBA.

I will especially miss little Shannon Bobbitt. Shannon shares the same height as me – 5’2”. She came to the Lady Vols out of a junior college just two years ago. She is the shortest player in Tennessee history. Yet, Shannon was the point guard on the nation’s most celebrated women’s basketball team, providing leadership for two national championships. It just goes to show you, a big heart = big results! Shannon will be joining her friend, Candace Parker, on the LA Sparks team.

Congratulations, Lady Vols! We love you!

Yard Sale Results

Was it a success? Was it a bust? Did selling all our treasures make us instant millionaires, LOL?

We were pleased to net a good amount. Instant riches? No, but it was enough to make it worth our while! We didn’t know what to expect since we are located out in the countryside and not in a subdivision. We were disappointed in the number of people that showed up. It was an overcast day and still damp from all the rain this past week, so perhaps that played a part. Next time, we will also advertise in the paper and not rely solely on craigslist.com.

One thing is for sure – we have plenty of STUFF left over for several more yard sales. We also have more boxes to unpack between now and then. So stay tuned for another event in May!

Giveaway on a Friend's Blog

The very talented folk artist, Doreen, of Vermont Harvest Primitives, is celebrating the 100th post on her wonderful blog. She is offering giveaway prizes if you leave a comment on her blog or send her an e-mail. Check out the sweet goodies some lucky people are going to win, and throw your name in the hat before April 11, OK?

Stuff, Stuff, and More STUFF

As I mentioned previously, we let the real estate listing for our home lapse. We have been hugely disappointed that our home has not sold over the past year. So we have not been able to go forward with our plans for the next phase of our lives. Things just never turn out the way you plan, huh? We will begin interviewing other agents next week.

This whole business of trying to sell a home is tiring. We have resigned ourselves to the prospect that it may take quite a while to sell our place. This resignation is not a happy one, but we have to focus on being practical and realistic. So we cleaned out our storage bin a month ago and carted all the boxes back home. Now we have the delightful task of rummaging through our STUFF, and deciding what to keep, donate, toss, or sell. Oh. What. Fun.

We’ve made a serious dent in going through more than half of the boxes so far. We figure that we will need to hold several yard sales this year to whittle down our accumulation of STUFF. We have our first sale scheduled for this Saturday! The last time we had a yard sale, it was in a subdivision, 16 years ago. We’re holding on breath on how much of a turnout we will get in the countryside.

Yesterday, I put an ad in craigslist and posted a sign at the end of the driveway. We have been working all week, making preparations and getting prices marked. Tomorrow, we will be renting some tables and begin setting everything up. Wish us luck!

The irony of going through all of the STUFF is that my hubby and I have never considered ourselves to be big shoppers. But STUFF had an uncanny ability of accumulating anyhow. At one time, most of this STUFF gave us great joy to own. Now, it is really a burden. We are at the point in our lives (63 and 55) where STUFF does not have the importance that it once had. Virtually all of it has to be cleaned or dusted. Everything has to occupy space. It may be pretty to look at, but after a while, you get tired of looking at a ka-zillion pieces of STUFF. It is not making our lives any easier. In fact, it is making our lives more difficult and complicated.

This exercise is driving home a great lesson for us. Hopefully, it will for my blog readers too. If not, please come to our yard sales and get some of this STUFF!

First of April Brings Milestones

* The cottage is officially off the market. We are taking a needed rest from the aggravation of selling our property, and we will be searching for a new realtor.

* I have been retired 6 months. It has been like a gigantic vacation! The work stress is now a distant memory.

* A reorganization was announced at my former office. My former boss (who did not treat me well) got demoted, and she now has no supervisory responsibilities.

* We mowed the yard for the first time this year.

Spring of 2008 - Bring it on!