GREAT TARGET & KOHL'S FINDS, A CLEAN OUT YOUR FRIDGE RECIPE, AND THE USUAL RANDOMNESS

I am back a lot sooner than I thought and that makes me happy.  Actually, I started to put a post together in my mind last week.  It happened at night when it was too late to get some pics.  Sadly, a week or so goes by and the amount of stuff I want to share becomes a super long post.  I have had some readers write that my posts are too long to read.   I get that.  Everyone should grab what they identify with or want to chime in on.  A nice comment makes me happy.  

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter.  Ours went really well; great company, good food, and Bellini's!  The Husband wished everyone a blessed day, and to keep in mind the true meaning of Easter.  We had a buffet dinner, so I didn't do anything fancy with the table.  I didn't do a lot of decorating either.  It is just enough to keep the house clean, and I had no desire to sort through my very unorganized hoarding room for spring decor.  Instead, I picked up three bunches of tulips, and made about five different arrangements which I placed here and there where they would be noticed.  A few candles as well.  I'm beginning to realize that a little goes a long way.

The day before Easter, I did poke my head into said hoarding room, and grabbed some bunnies and a few smaller items.  I played with the mantel a little, at least in a way that wouldn't require a huge effort to put away.  Convenience and time saving is the name of the game lately.  I really hope to get a little help to clean up the hoarding room after summer has gone by.  I use to have it so organized, but its easy to grab, and harder to put away neatly.   My dream is to have labeled bins stacked neatly by category.  Don't we all?  

I'm not sure if any of my past posts showed pics of my former curtains, I think they did.  They had a trailing sort of vine with aqua flowers.  I had no idea that this teenie weenie bit of color would drive me crazy.  They were lined, which I may not have noticed when I ordered them (and I have forgotten from where).  This lining made them very heavy and somewhat obnoxious once hung, and when I tried to open them, they kept closing.  The Husband loved them specifically for the lining, of course, as he thought it made the house warm in the winter.  True, but I felt claustrophobic.  I knew in my sneaky heart that I would never get away with replacing these curtains unless it was an extreme deal, which The Husbands lives for.  

I was in Target one day and saw these.  I loved them at first sight; a sort of paisley/floral.  Light weight cotton, nothing fancy...but oh so spot on just the way Target does it.  The color is described as gray, but I see more beige.  There were only two panels, so I tried to order more of them online.  Alas, discontinued.  I flew back to my local Target and enlisted the help of one of my good friends who works there.  He managed to locate the last six panels, alas, three at one store, three at another store.  Now, you might not know this, but I am the most lazy person you have ever met.  But I reeeeeeeealy wanted these curtains.  I headed off to the other Target, and when the manager came to the customer service counter with six packets, I think I heard to angels sing.  I didn't have to make the trip to the third Target 45 minutes away.

Close up.  So happy.  The Husband has barely noticed.  I was so excited from all of the sweaty running around, but they had been discontinued and marked down to $13.98 per panel.  Oh, heaven.  The planets were aligned.  :D  

So tell me, do you like?  I know I change curtains, shower curtains, and bedding way too often.  I have about ten different shower curtains, mostly from Target, but to my credit, I switch them around a lot between my two bathrooms.  No apologies. 

A not-so-frugal thing I did on Easter, was to forget to put my ham bone in the refrigerator, and it sat out all night (in the roaster pan).  Some of us were talking about the variety of dishes and soups we like to make with the bone.  I love Ham and Bean Soup, my mom always made it with the bone.  I also have a few casseroles, also using beans.  And The Husband loves Split Pea Soup, which grosses me out...but I'll make it.  Someday.  On another somewhat related note, I do not like jelly or jam.  Not because of the taste, it's the texture.  When my kids were in elementary school and I packed their lunches, they sometimes asked why there wasn't jelly on their peanut butter sandwiches like the other kids.  I always apologized that I had forgotten to buy it.  I'm surprised my how many years this worked until they reached the bologna stage.  Oh, I could finally let go of my evil lies.   

Saturday was Abigail Jane's twenty-seventh birthday.  I think back a lot about how easy my pregnancy and delivery was.  She was a tiny spring chick who never gave me a worry.  Just a really happy baby.  I had her when I was thirty-one, and there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted at least one more baby.  Sadly, it didn't happen.  So when I think back to that spring in 1991, and the anticipation of soon having her in my arms, I wish I had been more "there".  Pregnancy is not easy, but if I knew it was never going to happen for me again, I never would have moaned about swollen feet or feeling like I was suffocating.  And now, I don't think I could have asked for better.   

So Abby is our caboose, and she really makes us proud.  She's in her sixth year of teaching high school grammar, she and Tom are planning to get married in July of 2019 at a resort on Lake Geneva, in Wisconsin.  They are planning to move back down here to the Southside after living up north for a few years.  I am so, so relieved and happy to have her close by again.  I also think our area is safer from crime, but some could argue that point.  They will live with Tom's dad, about 3 minutes away from me, for about a year while they save for a house.  That will be interesting.  Ahem.

I've shared quiche recipes a few times before, I simply love how you can switch around and use up bits of cheese and veggies that you have on hand,  In this case I had leftover ham (of course, no ham bone to be seen), and veggies from a plate of crudités   In making quiche over the years, I've changed things up many times.  I always seem to be fighting the effects of excess liquid from either the veggies or dairy.  It can leave a puddle in the bottom of your pie plate, or a soggy crust if you go that route.  The last time I shared a quiche recipe with you, I recommended using a scant 1/4 cup of bread crumbs on the bottom of the pie plate to absorb the liquid.  Another tip I have from trying over and over to get a light and fluffy custard, less, not more eggs will help you achieve that.  I use no more than 4 or 5 eggs per 1 1/2 cup liquid (milk, half and half, or cream).  After that I mix things up, but I would recommend at least 1 1/2 cup of cheeses.  Following is the recipe I used for the quiche I made last week.

Baked Ham & Veggie Quiche (crust less)

6 eggs, beaten well

1 1/2 c half and half

Pinch of salt and nutmeg

1 T butter

1/2 onion, peeled and thinly sliced

1 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced thin

2 c diced ham

1 1/2 to 2 c cheese, finely grated

1/2 c dried bread crumbs (optional)

Whisk together the eggs and cream, salt and nutmeg, and set aside.  Melt the butter in a small skillet and add the onion and zucchini.  Sauté until the onion becomes slightly transparent, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a 9 inch pie dish, sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly on the bottom.  Add the cooked veggies and ham.  Top with the cheese.  I used a variety; Muenster, Parmesan, and Swiss.  Give the egg mixture another good whisk and pour over the cheese and veggies.  A nice sprinkle of Parmesan over the surface makes it brown well and gives a nice crunch.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.  Serves 4.

I treated myself to some flowers the other day.  There is a section in my grocery store that has various 'filler' flowers and some blooming stems, like pussy willow and forsythia.  The blue flowers were there for $5 a bunch.  I can't remember the name of them.  They bloom from the bottom up.  I arranged them with $5 carnations and I smile every time I look at my pretty vase.  

As I finish up this post, I have to tell you that I started it Saturday night!  Hahahahaha!  I give it a go and then I have to run and do something else, then I write for another half hour and have to rush out for something  In the middle, I'm sleeping a lot.  So--I'm going to try to cut to the chase on a few things before I hit publish.  I'll save you and me time.  :-D

1)  Stopped in Kohl's the other day and bought PJ's, undies and bras.  I always do this before a vacation.  This one is going to be at Christ Hospital.  

2)  From the 1,243 hours of sleep I've clocked since January, I know getting fit is the key to getting better.  When I let the dogs out and wait for them to poop and snoop, I do squats, lunges, and jumping jacks.  I swear, it's working.  Not only does my back hurt, everything else does, too.  

3)  As a wannabe scientist, because it sounds so cool when people ask what you do, I was checking into Dead Sea Salts and was a-m-a-z-e-d by all of the benefits one can get by soaking in a bath with them.  It soothes the skin, helps with your muscle aches and pains, and detoxes your body.  I bought a huge bag from Amazon and you can find me at 8:00 p.m. every night in my sub par spa, soaking away.  

4)  While I wile away my horizontal hours, I love watching You Tube makeup videos.  Then I shop the Sephora website, positive I can create the look in the video, and spend so much money that I often accumulate my 500 points for a gift.  Not that I need anything else, but it still makes me feel like I got a burning deal and want to keep my business there.  I mean...all that stuff, most of which I tuck away in a bedroom junk drawer and totally forget about.  I'm working on a post about makeup products, the right and wrong reasons to purchase them.

5)  In keeping with the makeup buying binges, magazines a not harmless from my mad ways.  Flipping through Vogue last month, the January issue I might add, I fell in love with a perfume sample.  You know, the page with the model in a white linen dress, sprawled over a wild horse somewhere in the Sierra Nevada.  The page is folded, but you've already smelled the scent of the perfume before you've left the drugstore with said magazine.  Short story, I fell in love.  With the perfume.  Not the horse, nor the model.  And I now own it.  I could buy 45 copies of Vogue for what I paid for this perfume.  Step away from the magazines. 

6)  Currently on my tube:  The Zoo on Animal Planet.  I can't watch one of these shows without crying.  Especially the other night when an aardvark had an infected tooth removed.  Hiccup.  

7)  I was at Target the other day (SuRpRiSe), and bought an oversized, white faux fur throw for my bed.  Between that and my heating pad, Layla only gets down to eat and piddle.  

I'll be back soon~

Jane x