Do you like your Virginia winter weather cold or hot?

So, I got my hubby a new alarm clock.  It projects the temperature and time on the ceiling of the bedroom.  Lying in bed you just look up and you know how you should dress in the morning.  This is a very important thing living in Virginia.

Last week the clock projected the temps in the teens and not 3 days later we almost broke 70 degrees!  That’s Virginia weather.  There is truth in the saying, “if you don’t like the weather in Virginia, stick around fro 24 hours. 

It’s hard to believe that the temps can fluctuate so drastically.  One day you are grabbing your heaviest sweater, gloves, hats and coats, and the next you are looking for tank tops and flip-flops!  Last Christmas we had to turn the air conditioner on, and two days later the fireplace was blazing and we were pulling out the fleece sheets.

Let me be clear, this is not Florida and Mother Nature better get on the ball here.  So she just needs to pick a temperature range and stick to it. 

Maybe this is happening because of the complainers.  Mother nature is simply trying to make everyone happy.  As soon as the temps reach the 30’s everybody from the TV newscasters to everyman on the street starts complaining about the cold.  These same people rant and rave about the awful the heat and humidity when summer rolls around.  Mother nature needs to realize that you cannot please everyone.

So, my suggestion to this Mother Nature is to just give it up.  Let the seasons be what they are meant to be.  Summers, hot, winters, cold, and spring and fall temperate.  Will that please everyone?  Nope.  

Peppermint flavored coffee

If you like the flavored coffee creamers they are selling in the grocery stores like I do then you will love this little tip.

What do you do with leftover candy canes?  There are lots of things you can do with them but my favorite is this:

Drop a small candy cane (Or piece from a larger one) in a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and stir.  As you drink  your beverage you will taste a delightful peppermint flavor.  Voila!  Flavored coffee!

If you have any ideas to use those leftover candy canes post them in the comments.  I would love to see them!

Happy New Year!

Cooking calamity or just Greek serendipity?

The other night as is usual I started to fix dinner.  I got my pork chops in the oven and then tried to decide on what to make as a side dish. I opened my cupboard and found I had red potatoes, green and yellow squash, onions and some frozen green beans.  It started to look like a very delicious medley to me so I cut up the potatoes and squash into chunks.  I chopped my onions and put the potatoes in the microwave to slightly cook before I added them to the large frying pan.

Now when I cook I don’t really measure anything out.  I toss in a dash of this, a pinch of that and call it a day.  Usually it all comes out pretty darn good and I’m not bragging when I say that most people consider me a pretty awesome cook, but occasionally when one cooks like that there are apt to be mistakes made.  Sometimes they work to an advantage.

I put some olive oil in my pan and heated it slightly, added the partially cooked potatoes, squash and onions and cooked on medium heat till the potatoes started to brown.  Then I added the frozen green beans and stirred.

So since I was in a hurry (I still haven’t got used to that darned DST) I reached in my spice cabinet for the seasoning salt and before I realized it I had added a good dash of cinnamon! 

Now how many of you know that the spice used in savory Greek cooking that you just can’t quite identify is, in actuality—cinnamon?  Since I’m Greek I just figured, yum!

Well, it turned out quite delicious, I did add a bit of seasoning salt as well.  Maybe I need to separate my spices a bit better because although this turned out pretty darned good, I can only imagine how awful cinnamon rolls might taste if I mistakenly used seasoning salt!!!!

Greek style veggie medley

Red potatoes, cut up in bite sized chunks

Green and yellow squash cut up in similar sized pieces

Chopped onion

Finely chopped garlic

Whole green beans

Light olive oil for cooking

Seasoning salt

Cinnamon

Black pepper to taste

Put the potatoes in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for about 5 minutes, until they are partially cooked.  Meanwhile put some olive in the pan and heat on medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook till they are slightly transparent.  Add the partially cooked potatoes and cook until they start to brown. 

Add the squash and green beans and stir together.  Add about a teaspoon of cinnamon and a sprinkle of seasoning salt and cook for a bit longer till the squash and green beans are tender.  Add some freshly grown pepper and enjoy.

Don't forget to enter the Make it easy crafts giveaway  to win the two 5 x 7 notecard prints of my original art!

In like a lion

Well, it's the beginning of March and true to it's word In came in like a lion. Unbelievable as it seems yesterday was in the 60's and today its barely 20 degrees and snowing.  To think I went out yesterday with just a thin cotton shirt on!

And I don't need to mention that the supermarkets looked liked they had been looted again.  Now I'm just wondering when it's all over, how I will get down the hill by my house that they never, ever plow!

Not complaining though...I still love snow.  Enjoy these photos and take a snow day...

Thank goodness Crystal thinks about feeding us in all this snowy weather!

But when?  Little geranium asks, Is it going to be my turn?

Weather wimps just need to put on a coat and realize…it’s winter

Lately I’ve been wondering what in the heck has happened to people these days.  We have a cold snap and it’s 0 degrees at night and in the 20’s during the day and they close schools for two days!  Yes, in Virginia they closed schools because it was too cold. Today there was no school again, because it rained and it might freeze! Tomorrow they are predicting the temperature will reach 65 degrees with thunderstorms!  Yes I did say thunderstorms. Guess my little dog will be hiding under the couch for a while.

The way you hear the weathermen and women talk you would think that we are on the meteorological eve of destruction…

“Listen up people you better button up that overcoat because if you walk out that door you are going to freeze in your tracks!”

“Icicles are going to be hanging from your eyelashes.”

“Oh gosh Steve how long do we have to suffer in these crippling temperatures?”

“Well Linda, an artic front is moving in and will arrive by noon, so hop under those covers and stay there till March!”

The way they go on we must be heading to a second ice age!

When I was a kid, we weren’t lucky enough to get a “cold” day off from school.  It had to snow to be able to leave that homework unfinished. We sometimes had entire weeks of single digit temperatures and no one batted an ice encrusted eyelash.  We just put on a coat and went about our business as usual. Are we breeding a generation of weather wimps? 

I live in Virginia.  It’s not Antartica and the temperatures are usually rarely extreme in the winter. This past week was the first time I used my coat in 3 years.  I was beginning to think it would out of style before I got any use out of it.  We haven’t had more than a dusting of snow in four years and my snow shovel is gathering cobwebs somewhere in the basement.  And everywhere you go all anyone talks about is how cold it is. 

Before you know it, though, winter will be just a memory and the winter weather wimps will go into hibernation and out will come the summer ones…

“Geez it’s so hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, how will we survive this deadly heat wave?”