Read For Your Health - A Challenge To Myself.....

A friend and I were looking at a list of Oprah’s Book Club books recently, and we were shocked to find that we had only read a few of the 65-plus books on the list. These are not slouchy books – they are some of the best literature of the last hundred years or so. Unlike the best-seller lists, which can be unreliable at times, Oprah’s list contains the books that are considered among the greatest of what our American writers have to offer.  My friend and I consider ourselves fairly well-read - at least we did before we looked at Oprah's list.

In the past I have concentrated on biographies, history and the occasional historical novel, but I feel a need to widen my horizons and concentrate on novels for the next year or so.

The challenge to myself is to read (or listen to) at least one Oprah Book Club book per month and report on each one in a Wednesday post. For at least a year. Starting in April.

I know, I know, some people blow through four or five novels every month, but I have this pesky job that keeps getting in the way of things I really need to do. Then there’s the blog, family and all those other little things that make up life. My “reading” is often limited to listening to the book on my I-Pod while commuting to and from work and on my two-hour trek to Mom’s every other weekend.

So, given my current schedule, I am going to set the bar low enough so that I might actually be able to sail over it. One book a month, and a Wednesday report.

Anyone want to join me? Next week I will post the entire Oprah Book Club list. Give it a shot – what do you have to lose? You might just get a little smarter in the process!

The Monday Recipe Blog

Hello, and how is your Monday?  We are finally rounding the corner into Spring.  Here is another recipe that you can prepare before you go to work in the morning and when you get home - dinner's (almost) ready!  Hope you have a crock-pot, because you need one for this recipe....I've been on a crock-pot kick lately.

Crock-Pot Chicken and Dressing


Here’s another slow cooker recipe that you can prepare in the morning and by dinnertime, you have a terrific meal. The chicken underneath the dressing is very moist and tender – it will fall apart as you are serving it!

I have not prepared this with no-fat milk, but doing this would make a good chicken meal even more healthy. Also, if you can find low-sodium Cream of Celery Soup, that will add to the healthy advantage, since we all need less sodium in our lives.

Whip up a salad and add a vegetable and you will have a great Crock-Pot Chicken and Dressing dinner!


Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Cream of Celery Soup – 10 3/4 oz. can

1/3 cup milk

1 box Stove Top Stuffing Mix

1 cup water


Place the chicken in the slow cooker.

Mix the soup and milk and pour this over the chicken.

Combine the stuffing mix and water.

Spoon this over the chicken.

Cover and cook on Low setting for 7 hours.

Serves four people.

How To Make A Kid’s Easter Bunny Ear Headband

With Easter fast approaching, many parents and grand-parents are searching for Easter crafts to do with their children or grandchildren.

Easter Bunny or Easter Basket crafts are always popular, and the following instructions are for a super-easy set of Easter Bunny ears for your child to make and wear.

Baking Easter treats or making Easter crafts with your children will form great memories for many years to come. Easter is a wonderful Spring holiday and signifies new birth and a fresh beginning. What a perfect time to make great memories with your child.

You will need:

• White poster board

• Pink paper – the thick construction-type

• Tacky glue or school glue

• Tape or stapler

• Scissors

• Pencil

1. Cut a strip of poster board 2" wide by 24" long. This will be the headband portion of the bunny ears.

2. Cut the 2 ears from the poster board. Each one should be around 8 1/2" long x 3 1/2" wide.

3. Glue the pink ears inside the white ears. Let dry.

4. Glue the ears inside the band.

5. Fit the band to the child. When you have the correct fit, tape or staple the band and cut off any excess.


Photo by Anna Cervova

The Friday Dog Blog

A big Friday hello from Jesse the Dog in Michigan. He's happy that we're posting a super closeup of him because, well, he has the face for it.

Read For Your Health - How About A Great Novel?

I have been reading quite a few novels lately.  Normally I tend toward biographies and histories, or maybe a historical novel once in a while, but I've been hooked on reading novels now for about six months, and within the next week or so I am about to embark upon a project involving quite a few novels.

Anyway, a friend of mine (thanks, Linda!) turned me on to a terrific historical novel, which I will pass on to you. 

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006) is told in retrospect by the narrator, Jacob Jankowski, who is 90 or 93 years old - he isn't sure.  Living in a nursing home, Jacob reflects on his life with the circus in the middle of the Great Depression.  The Benzini Brothers' Most Spectacular Show On Earth is anything but spectacular - it is a second or third rate little circus that travels town to town by rail. 

23-year-old Jacob jumps a train one night after suffering a breakdown following the death of his parents in an accident. He has dropped out of Cornell just before taking his final exams to become a veterinarian, and is surprised to find that the train he jumped was a circus train.  He becomes the animal doctor and lives a circus life. 

Gruen pulls no punches in describing the horrendous conditions of the Depression and the squalid life that a second-rate circus provided.  Animal and human cruelty abounded, and survival instincts kicked in as Jacob struggled to make a life out of what confronted him daily.

"Freaks", "midgets", "rubes", "drunks", the "magic of the big top" - they all come alive in Water For Elephants.  Don't be fooled, this is not a happy, uplifting book or a "chick-flick" book, but it is a great page-turner and will hold your interest all the way through its 335 pages.

If you're short on time, try the audio-book.  I downloaded it from the library to my I-Pod and listened to it on my daily commute.  For free.

The Monday Recipe Blog

Make Some Beautiful Onion-Skin Colored Easter Eggs!

Happy Monday!  Easter is approaching, so what about a "recipe" for colored Easter eggs today?

Here’s a nice, natural twist on the usual, brightly dyed Easter eggs – Coloring them with onion skins!

Onion skins produce a brownish marbled color that is truly striking, and the colors will not run if the eggs get wet in the morning dew. The colors will not rub off on little hands, either, because no commercial dyes are used.

These bronze marbled eggs are really beautiful in a crystal bowl as an Easter decoration. If they are hidden outside for the kids, they can produce a real challenge since they blend in better with the browns of nature.

Your kids (and you) will really enjoy coloring these eggs by using a natural color source.

Here are the directions:

You will need:

5 Red Onions

5 Yellow Onions

Cheesecloth, cut into 12 1-inch squares

Dozen Eggs

Separate the colored outside layers of each onion. This is what you will use. Put the remainder of each onion aside – you can use these later for other things.

Place two layers of onions on a square of cheesecloth, and put an egg on top of that. Gently wrap the onion layers and cheesecloth around the egg so that it is complete covered by the onion.

Secure this with a rubber band and set it aside.

Follow this process with the remaining eggs, onion and cheesecloth.

Set a large pot of water on the stove and add the wrapped eggs. Cover and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let stand for at least fifteen minutes. Then rinse the eggs with cool water, snip the rubber band and remove the onion and cheese cloth.

Rinse and dry each egg.

If You Want To Save Money, Time Your Purchases!

When you need to purchase an item, do you go right out and buy it?  If you are willing to wait to make your purchases, you can save some money by spending your money during months when stores generally run good sales on certain items.

During difficult economic times (such as right now) you can get great buys on big-ticket items and luxury purchases.

The time of the year and day of the week can make a big difference on the prices you pay for certain items.

The following is a list of items that generally are priced lower in certain months….

Buy these in January:

Sports equipment, furniture and bicycles.

Buy these in February:

MP3 players, stereo equipment, televisions, cameras.

Buy these in March:

All winter clothing. This is when stores clear their space of winter clothes to make room for spring duds. You may find nice wool suits and other clothing for up to 80% off the regular retail price.

Buy these in April or May:

Pots, pans, any kind of kitchen items.

Buy these in June:

Furniture, MP3 players, stereo equipment, televisions, cameras.

Buy these in July:

Furniture, computers, computer equipment.

Buy these in August:

School supplies and office supplies. Also, my state of Oklahoma has a tax-free back-to- school weekend during this month, when school supplies and most clothing is sale-tax-free. Stores run sales on these items to coincide with the special week-end. If your state has this, be sure and take advantage of it.

Buy these in September:

Cars, summer clothes (as in March, stores are clearing their space for the upcoming season of clothing, and you can get some terrific deals).

Buy these in October:

Pots, pans, any kind of kitchen items, trees and shrubs.

Buy these in November:

Pots, pans, any kind of kitchen items, wedding dresses. Also, take advantage of the great deals on Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Buy these in December:

New cars, champagne.

If you are able to time your purchases, you will save some money and feel better about your purchases.

Happy shopping!!