By Julie on 1/29/2009 8:37 AM

One of the books I finished reading this week is The Big Beautiful by Pamela Duncan.

This book is set in North Carolina, which I coincidentally just visited a few weeks ago. This book takes on a continuation of the cha ... Read More »

By Julie on 1/27/2009 8:36 AM

Many of my long-time readers will know that I am quite involved with my local American Business Womens' Association. Last Thursday I attended the area wide meeting of all the local ABWA groups in the Houston area. I have been debating how and what to write about the meeting. The first part of the meeting covered general business. This was the part that was so troubling. I have rarely witnessed such unprofessionalism coupled with rudeness and arrogance that was displayed by a couple of the members, Grace and Cathy. They simply ruined the meeting for the rest of us.

The second part of the meeting was, fortunately, much better. Kim Gebron of Drawer By Drawer: The Organizing Specialists conducted a program on procrastination. She is an excellent speaker who guided us through the steps to overcome procrastination and actually fulfill our New Year's resolutions.

By Julie on 1/22/2009 1:56 PM

We've turned in Scrabble addicts around our house! We play this boardgame nightly. We have a couple of large dictionaries handy to look up words and let me tell you, it is really helping our daughter with her spelling and vocabulary.

On the Hasbro website for Scrabble you can find the Word of the Day in addition to playing Scrabble, Upwords, and other games on-line.

By Julie on 1/21/2009 9:49 PM

Years ago, we started drinking a coffee/ice cream drink that my husband mixed up: put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a coffee cup and add hot, freshly brewed coffee.

This evening, we had no vanilla ice cream but we did have some Starbuck's coffee ice cream. So I put a large scoop in my cup and added hot coffee. It turned out to be a great drink. And the Starbuck's ice creams are not made with high fructose corn syrup like many other ice creams, most notably the National Ice Cream of Texas: Blue Bell.

Blue Bell makes some very tasty ice cream but once I discovered the use of the high fructose corn syrup, I looked around for a better ice cream.

By Julie on 1/20/2009 8:20 PM

I ran across this quote over at LifeOrganizers.com :

I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay in bed late in the morning.

                             Johnathon Swift

This has been my unspoken personal motto for many years. I simply get more done early in the morning. It is my most productive time of the day.

By Julie on 1/19/2009 12:17 PM

One of my very favorite cookbooks is The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. This cookbook was published back in 1982, long before I had my own kitchen. But since I discovered it back in '95, I have tried many recipes in it and have given this cookbook as a gift to many friends and family over the years.

My favorite recipe is the Champagne Sabayon. It is extremely easy to make, requires few ingredients, and looks as good as it tastes. I layer it in tall champagne flutes with fresh strawberries and raspberries.

Last night I cooked the Lemon Chicken recipe for the first time. I have intended to prepare this recipe many time but never seemed to get around to it. The recipe does take some planning time since the c ... Read More »

By Julie on 1/18/2009 7:01 PM

I happened upon a bucket of fresh daffodils at my local grocery store's floral department while I was on my way back to the cheese area. I simply couldn't resist buying a bundle for my kitchen table. It is January and the blooming daffodils are still far away on the calendar. I wonder where they got these from. Probably forced bulbs in a hothouse. But I don't care. They are my favorite flower and remind me of spring. Unfortunately, daffodils don't grow well at all here where I live. But I get to see them each spring when I travel home to Mississippi.

By Julie on 1/16/2009 4:35 PM

TGIF

Throughout the 70's and the early part of the 80's my grandfather drove a green 1960 Ford F 100 pickup. On the back window of his truck was a sticker: TGIF in large initials, with the words Thank Goodness Its Friday printed underneath. He always let us grandchildren ride in the back of the truck  (probably that was mostly because the cab only seated three people, but anyway...)

I remember staring at that sticker and wondering to myself way back then, "Why does my poppo have a TGIF sticker on his truck? He doesn't work a job or go to school so what difference does the start of the weekend make to him?" I remember discussing it with my cousins but we didn't have any good ideas except that perhaps the weekend was when his favorite tv show was on. Yes, you guessed it, Hee Haw.

But when I finally asked him about the stic ... Read More »

By Julie on 1/8/2009 4:33 PM

Thursday

I am wondering if I should simply stop reading and watching the national and world news. It has gotten me rather depressed, especially the financial news which hasn't been good in many, many months.

I normally start the year off with a flurry of organization and planning. This year, I still haven't tackled any organization projects and I can see out of the corner of my eye as I write this that a pile of receipts and mail has accumulated on my office bookshelf. I must tackle that soon.

On a brighter note, one of my favorite authors, Robin Pilcher (his mother, Rosamunde Pilcher, is also one of my very most favorites) has contributed to the launch of a new website: Shortbread Short Stories. In a nutshell: Shortbread " is a FREE community website dedicated to revitalising the short story". Click here to ch ... Read More »

By Julie on 1/3/2009 12:23 PM

Returning from vacation

We have just returned from our winter trip. We left Texas on December 12 and returned December 30. We spent a week at Disney World followed by some time in Asheville, North Carolina. Then we stayed with family in Mississippi and Arkansas over the holidays.

Disney World was fun but very crowded. We had carefully researched and planned this trip so that we could be there during one the "slower" times of the year (before schools let out for the holidays.) We even checked the Disney calendar to make sure it was an off-peak week. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea as we did and pulled their children out of school a week early to go to Disney World. The weather didn't cooperate either: it was hot and humid the whole week we were there.

We had a good time in Asheville. We visited Biltmore House (which was also packed with people!) and took the tram tour of downtown. We went on the Great Smoky Mountain ... Read More »