AN UNUSUAL TALENT................

So I have this strange Ability to be able to tell time......at any time of the Night or Day

and I usually guess exactly or I'm off only by a minute or two...

I have not always had this ability....it seems Menopause might have something to do with it...

In any case......this freaks out the Family and believe me the Boss doesn't get

Freaked out by anything....

Over the past year it seems that my talents have expanded to

guessing the weights of packages that I'm about to mail out by Fedex.....

AND......

guessing Dollar Amounts correctly....

The other day the Boss asked me about our Stock Portfolio Holdings and I

even shocked myself when I guessed within Sixteen Cents......

I sort of train myself now that I know I have this talent.....When I get up in the middle

of the night I always think about what time it could be Before I look over at the

Clock......I'm usually right on the money.....

I'm thinking this is my "internal Clock" at work...If you all remember

Kramer

On Seinfeld had this Gift.....

Either that or I'm an "Idiot Savant" where numbers are concerned.....I just don't know.

So where am I going with this one.......The other day while over at the

Pumps....I say to the Boss..."I'm going to go inside to buy myself a Lottery Ticket"....the grand prize

Is $356 Million......"and I'm picking my own numbers"

Now we have been buying Lotto tickets for the past Forty Years....On and Off...

and we NEVER get more then just one number....and that is even rare....

I can probably count it on one hand.....in fact it's been a very long time since we

even bothered to buy a ticket....

Inside the gas station numbers start popping into my head.....I start filling in the

Little Boxes on the form and hand it over to the Guy behind the Counter....

Ticket in hand I leave not even thinking I have picked one correct number....

Last night they picked the Winning Number......

Now....Ofcourse we didn't win the BIG PRIZE....If I had I'd be typing this from the

Riviera with Tom Selleck spritzing me with sun tan oil......But the boss was impressed

None the Less.....

I think what he said from the other side of the room was....

"You Got How Many Right?"

Okay.....So this is something I obviously need to work on but I don't think

I did bad for my first try.....

The Winning Numbers were....

09-19-34-44-51-24

My numbers were.....

04-08-19-34-51-11

Three out of Six is not bad!!

So now I get to decide what to do with the Seven Dollars I won......

And I am not buying Seven more Lottery Tickets....

TWO OF NATURES GIFTS.................

The French Blue of the Sky.....

And this little Guy who stops by the deck every day at the same time....

NO WOMEN IS AN ISLAND........

When we went House Hunting back in July I "requested" a few things from

The Boss....

My Dream Kitchen had to have a six burner Navy or Apple Green Porcelain

Viking Range with a Double Oven....

An Industrial size Pot Rack hanging over a Ginormous Island....

And a porcelain sink...

Knowing ahead of time that there was no house in the Atlanta Area with my

Specifications the Boss knew he would be doing a lot of "Happy Wife Shopping"....

Well one out of Four isn't Bad.....

A seven foot island was certainly suitable for my needs....

The house came with Two Wolf ovens....

A free standing Range with a griddle and a built-in spare Fancy Oven....

So there would be No Viking Range in my future.....

The Stainless Steel sink would have to stay because the granite top was cut to fit....

Two Down one for to go....

The Pot Rack.....

NOT HAPPENING......The Boss put his foot down that he knew for sure if I insisted on

having one hung from the 12 foot planked wood ceiling that one night while we were sleeping

The whole thing....ceiling and all would come crashing down....

See.....I'm not just a pot hanger....I hang anything that has a hook...

Feeling bad that my Dream Kitchen fell short a bit.....The Boss offered to replace the

Island marble top.....Thinking this would make up for the pot rack.

Seen in the picture above the previous Homeowner made of mess of it.....

And it was driving me crazy....stains everywhere.....

And we won't discuss that I Despise Stainless Steel of any kind....

See these three men......In unison before lifting the old counter they counted to

Three and they all tightened their belts....It was hysterical to watch....

They moved it down to the basement where the Boss made a work table out of it...

I was Happy......Getting something new in My Part of the World was just fine....

And I have learned to live with stainless knowing that WD40 is a God Send in keeping it

Clean...

Somewhere hidden away in my computer are great pictures of the stone company

Cutting this huge piece of granite on a water saw.....I have no idea where they have gone...

But it was fascinating to watch them pick it up and move it to the saw and then I was able to see it on a computer screen and decide exactly where I wanted it cut....

Of course You know I had to have the piece right out of the center...

It is beautiful!!

it has a bit of green in it to match the painted island....a little black to match my

counters and a bit of cream to match my back splash...

I love the triple edge....

And I'm a Happy Camper or in this case a Happy Cooker.......except for

Protesting about the Pot Rack...or Lack of....

The Boss bought me a whole set of All-Clad Copper Core pots when we moved in....

They are still sitting under the counter in their boxes.....

They were suppose to hang on the rack over the island....

He tells me to "Get Over It".....

Until the day I do....the new pots will remain here.....

Hey.....I really wanted a Pot Rack!!

WASTED SPACE...........to Mini Office.

One day I found myself sitting in this little area of the house.....

My Laundry Room....Talking on the phone to daughter...

The Boss was listening to the radio very loud and this was the only spot in the

House that was noise-free....

While sitting on that stool I wondered what I could do with this

Very Wasted Space opposite my washer and dryer....

That door leads to my back porch.....nice stone floor....High ceilings.....

Lots of cabinet space.....

But I bit Boring.....it needed a little spark....

Sooooooo......For $1.00 each and found in the $1.00 Bin at Michael's......

Off came the boring knobs and on went "Cute"

Not bad for a Buck!!

Ta Da!!!

My "RELAX" sign that reminds me of my father....

He used to say "Reeeeeeelax" to my mother all the time....

I can still hear him saying it.....very sarcastically I might add...

I have a new thing for birds....

And I added the infamous "Good Humor" truck from the 50's.....

love love love the Toasted Almond bar.....

plant found at Ikea for $5.99.....

Picture of a Real Good Humor Truck taken by me on

Long Beach Island in New Jersey where they are still in Business...

Gotta have a big Initial.....

Of course....Miss B's calendar....

a little letter holder from Walmart

and a picture of me and my best bud Nunze....

$10.00 Clock from where else.....Ikea!!

And to finish off the space.....you gotta have a waste paper basket....

Another cheap find from the Dollar Tree.....

And that's my new Wasted Space Mini Makeover.....

p.s. is anyone else having a problem with "Anonymous" leaving bad comments on past posts

I have been getting them every day all day....

and I figure someone is trying to screw up my computer....

Not a nice thing to do since I do this for fun and I'm not bothering anyone....

A GREAT NEW "IKEA" FIND!!

The Boss cannot understand why I Love IKEA.....

I tried to explain to him that it's a women thing as I don't know of one women

who has gone to IKEA and not fallen in love by the time

they reach the Meatballs...

My real reason is that I love useful "For Cheap" things....

LIKE THIS BAKING PAN......

No Kitchen should be without this Pan....

I picked it up a few months ago for about $10.00.........

It looks like a regular cupcake tin but look a little

Closer....

Not Close enough.....

That's Better.....

Can you see how narrow and high it is....

It resembles a PopOver Pan....

and it happens to be one size that I actually didn't have....

You see I'm a baker....I've been baking since High School and I love

Any type of baking pan....

Plus it's an excuse to make Cake!

So while I was at IKEA the other day I saw these little paper cups......

Hundreds of them on an end cap.....

And a steal at 99 cents for 65 papers.....

Look How Cute these are!!

Let the Baking Begin!

We were having the neighbors over last Saturday Night for dessert after going out to dinner

and I used the pan to make these cupcakes....

Assorted flavors and icing.....

My favorite was the Devils Food with Cream Cheese frosting...

They came too cute....

And they were a big hit...

Just a few bites....A perfect size and unusual shape for a traditional cupcake....

Here was my take on the "Almond Joy"

Coconut Cake.....Chocolate Frosting and a Whole Almond....

But the Best Use of This Pan came the next day....

When I had extra Cream Puff Dough that I didn't know what to do with....

I had also made my pistachio Cream Puffs and a Toasted Coconut Cake the night before

and I had 1/2 a batch of cream puff dough left....... since I hate to waste things

I tried something new...

Ham....Asiago.... And Parmesan Popovers....

I served them as a side with Baked Ziti and a Salad and they were a

HIT....

I admit that I ate Seven myself.....

Here's the Recipe....

You can also just spoon these onto a cookie sheet but they came really perfect in this pan....

1 CUP OF HOT WATER

1 STICK OF BUTTER

1 CUP OF FLOUR

4 EGGS

1/2 TEASPOON OF KOSHER SALT

1/4 POUND OF DICED HAM (I USED REGULAR BOILED DELI HAM)

1/4 POUND OF ASIAGO CHEESE DICED

1/4 CUP OF GOOD PARMESAN CHEESE

BRING THE WATER AND THE BUTTER TO A BOIL UNTIL THE BUTTER MELTS

DUMP IN ALL AT ONCE THE FLOUR AND USING A WOODEN SPOON

STIR IT INTO A BALL AND REMOVE FROM HEAT

I NOW PUT THE DOUGH INTO MY KITCHEN AID WITH THE PADDLE

ATTACHMENT BUT YOU CAN DO THIS STEP BY HAND USING A WOODEN SPOON

ADD THE EGGS ONE AT A TIME TO THE DOUGH AND BEAT UNTIL EACH EGG IS

WELL INCORPORATED INTO THE DOUGH

DON'T TRY TO ADD THE EGGS ALL AT ONCE....

ONCE THE DOUGH IS MIXED WELL STIR IN THE HAM AND CHEESES....

SPRAY THE PAN WITH COOKING SPRAY OR IF YOUR USING A COOKIE SHEET

USE PARCHMENT PAPER....

SPOON A GENEROUS AMOUNT OF DOUGH INTO EACH CUP AND

BAKE AT 400 DEGREES FOR ABOUT 25 MINUTES OR UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN....

SERVE WARM OR ROOM TEMPERATURE....

BON APPETIT!!!