Olive and olives!!

I've decided on a name for my new bike----It's Olive!!


Well. the bike is a cool olive green color and I just got it for Mother's Day....by the way-she is my first brand new bike....ever!!!  We always had bikes as kids, but for some unknown reason, I (the middle child--te he) never got a brand new one.  Now don't despair....I certainly didn't have to go to the local dump to find a bike to ride, but there was always a good bike that someone had outgrown that I could use.  

ANYWAY......the color of my bike is olive green and I have just recently acquired a love for olives.  I don't know why, but I just love them now....black and kalamata are my favorite.  I used to always pick off the olives in salads and stuff.....strange


So Olive and I went for a great little six mile ride morning.  It was really hot, but I'm glad I went early because now, at 3:45 pm, it is a sweet 31 degrees Celsius outside........but definitely not an ideal temperature for me to be riding bike.

Here's a picture of Olive....my sweet new ride!!!!!

I know---she's is so cool.


So after a visit with my mom this morning, to roller set her hair, and a bike ride, I came home and made myself a nice salad for lunch...just some field greens, black olives and few crumbs of feta cheese.  I added a splash of balsamic vinegar and it was Yuummmmy ;o)

After lunch I made a batch of muffins for my mom to take to a friend she is visiting this evening....

These are called Double Chocolate Knockout Muffins. 

Double Chocolate Knockout Muffins

3     squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate

1/3 cup     vegetable oil

2     eggs

1 tsp     vanilla

1 1/3 cup skim milk

1 cup     flour

1 cup     chocolate wafer crumbs

1/2 cup     sugar

1 tsp     baking soda

1 1/2 tsp     baking powder

1 cup     semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350*.  Lightly grease muffin pan, or prepare with paper liners.

Melt chocolate with oil in microwave on medium power for 2 minutes.

Stir until completely melted, then add eggs, vanilla and milk, mixing well.

In another bowl, combine, flour, chocolate crumbs, sugar, baking soda and baking powder.

Stir flour mixture in with wet ingredients and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips---do not overmix!

Spoon batter into prepared pan and sprinkle remaining chocolate chips over top.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.

Happy Tuesday everyone

 ;o)

 

Kreativ Blogger Award

Well--it seems I have been nominated for a blogger's award!!!  The fact that it was my daughter who nominated me has not lessened my excitement about this whole thing. 

The Kreativ Blogger Award does come with some rules. To accept the award, you must first:

1.  Post ten random things about yourself

2.  Nominate 6 other bloggers

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Ten Random Things about me:

10.  My birthday is Boxing Day-December 26th

  9.  I love olives

  8.  I have a motorcycle license

  7.  I can't swim

  6.  I finished my university degree in the same semester that our daughter did her first semester

  5.  I love wine---white more than red, but white gives me a bad headache if I drink too much

  4.  I love Bruce Springsteen...I have his albums, 8 tracks, cassettes, and now CD's & DVD's

  3.  I am a middle child---two older sisters and one of each--younger sister and brother (a twin)

  2.  I love writing and secretly always dreamed of writing and publishing a book

  1.  If I am ever blessed enough to get grandchildren, I want them to call me Grammy

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So the six bloggers that I nominate ( in no particular order) are:

1.  heritagerowreno.com

2.  www.findingmeinfrance.com

3.  we'relivingafulllife.blogspot.ca

4.  wordstitcher.blogspot.ca

5.  www.thewritingnut.com

6.  leavingcairo.blogspot.ca

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Last, but not least---

Thank you Rana, for the nomination....I am honored to accept!

Gardening Time again!!!

Well---I have been away too long....unavoidable, I'm afraid, but I couldn't wait to put up a post----I don't know where to start.

Well in addition to the challenges I was having with my new laptop, I had to go to St. John's....unexpectedly, on Tuesday and didn't get back home until late Thursday evening.  Then on Friday, I had a very important "Birthday Lunch" date in honor of my very good friends from work.

It is so easy to get side-tracked and get away from the regular blogging, which I have so come to love.  I find this very relaxing...it's like a reflection time or a journal.

Well, it's all about gardening at our house this weekend.   We have had an awesome spring and everything is growing so well......and early!  It has been quite windy for the past few days but that works out excellent for me because  I have a very low tolerance for flies....especially fly bites, so when it's windy the fly problem is almost nonexistent.  (About five summers ago, I developed a pretty nasty reaction to a fly bite, so I have to be very careful about that now)

I love the outdoors all year round, especially summer.  We often eat three meals a day on our back deck when the weather is good--this was possible because we have an awesome screen-gazebo that Roger puts up right on the deck every summer.   I have been saying how much I would love to have a real gazebo and this year, Roger stripped out the entire back deck and he is building a gazebo!!!!!!  I am super excited and I can't wait to get to the stage where I can buy furniture for this new outdoor living room.  We do a lot of entertaining and all of our friends love the outdoor scene.  We usually take turns having get-togethers in each others yards for fires and barbeques, so our gazebo will not be unused.

Yesterday (Saturday), we got a nice surprise....right in the middle of our gardening...Rana called to say she was coming home for a couple of nights.  She had originally planned to come out in the middle of next week, but she decided to come on out on the weekend so that on her days off in the middle of next week, she could spend her time with Mark.  They both do shift work, and are in the midst of their own gardening and pre-summer preparation stuff.  I think that is the real bonus to shift-work----the ability to do things in the middle of the week when it's not "busy weekend time" for everybody......but I don't do shift-work, so people that do may feel differently.

Rana is an avid gardener and loves to pitch in whenever gardening is on the agenda!!!  Here is a picture of Rana mowing our front lawn today......

Our yard is pretty big and we have a lot of mowing, so I didn't refuse when she offered to do the front section.

After we finished up our gardening, we took Bailey(Rana & Mark's mini schnauzer), for a walk on the spectacular Middle Brook Walking trail.

 

How could anyone tire of these sights??  

We are so blessed to be able to take a relaxing, safe walk on this trail  right in town.  It's accessible almost all year round...all year round if you like to snowshoe!!

Bailey especially loves this walk because she can stop in many different

 places along the way for a cool refreshing drink of water.   She was pretty pooped after her long walk today, see for yourself...

Happy Monday....and a belated Happy Mother's Day to all mothers!!

I actually had a nice little Mother's Day post almost ready to publish last night when I Googled a site to add as a link and lost it all......I am still getting used to my new laptop.  Oh boy, this conversion to laptop phase is very humbling.  I thought I was pretty decent at this "techno" stuff, but it appears that I am quite inadequate.  I have had to add an external mouse to my new laptop gear, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of the laptop....now I'm dragging cords and other gadgets around the house whenever I need to use the computer.....very uncool :o(.................I will prevail!!!!!
 
Enough of that....it's a new week and I must stay positive!!

I was spoiled with beautiful gifts again this Mother's Day, and I had a special gift from my "other half"---in my case he probably makes up closer to 75-80% (te-he).  He bought me a new bicycle.  I sort of hinted ....a lot.  Anyway, my bike....she is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-L!!!  I think she should even have a name....that's something to ponder!  "She" has coaster brakes, and is now complete with rear-view mirror and the most awesome basket /carrier mounted on the handlebars.  I picked out my own matching helmet.  I must say I never thought I'd be cruising the streets of Gambo on a bicycle wearing a helmet....but hey!  This bike is helping me train for my first Tely 10 race in July.  Of course, I will be in the 'walking category' at the Tely this year, but it's a start.....right??

As I slowly get more acquainted with my new computer (I have certainly called this new laptop a few choice names over the past few days), I will be able to post a few pictures of my new bike.  I will have to name her....I can't keep calling her "my new bike" or "the bike"---I have a couple of names in mind actually, I'll have to narrow it down and decide!  Isn't it funny how I refer to "my new bike" as "her"????

I must go---I am dilly-dallying here now and I have things to do.......like go for a ride on "my new bike"  Ha ha !!!

Cheers everyone--have a great week ;o)

Reflections of the A-Z Challenge

Well,where do I start?

I loved it but am very happy it's over.  I guess it was a bit much to take on, after literally just starting my very first blog only days before the challenge began.

Next year, I will be really organized and pick a theme and try to get a lot of my posts in draft, at least.  It's amazing, everything I do now, such as cooking or baking, I'm always thinking----I can use this in a blog!!

I loved getting comments on my posts, and I loved visiting the blogs of my visitors...which can be quite time-consuming, however, I am still enjoying that part of it. 

I am really grateful that my daughter, Rana. talked me into starting a blog. I love to write and take photos, so this is definitely a place to share that. 

Looking forward to a good year ahead on the "blog-front".....and before we know it, we'll be signing up for the A-Z Challenge 2013!!!!!

Cheers