Up again even with the downs, recipes and "I'm gonna write a letter"

The last couple days has been busy. Meaning that with the heat and humidity subsiding and getting use to our little grandson not being here, we're slowing settling back into routine. Boy did our kitchen need a mopping and the rest of the house a good vacuum. And back into walks.

Late afternoon on Monday, I had taken Angel for a nice walk by the river and even let her swim around while I was doing some much needed meditation and prayer from my family concerns. It was very picturesque under the bridge out of the hot sun. And the sounds of the overpassing traffic which at first seemed so out of place in this lovely retreat soon recessed to an almost unnoticed background lull. There was a very large tree that had fallen up against the bridge and I leaned up against it as Angel splashed and paddled around in this unassuming and comforting atmosphere. I was feeling calm, serene and focused by the time I started heading home.

Tuesday, Shane and I repeated the trek, omitting the dogs in the river part. Heidi had a lovely time as she is a little more stable at this point in her heat and was enjoying her much needed outing. I have also been slowly introducing the new exercise regime too. Even though we indulged in a high calorie stroganoff for dinner. (Recipe at the end)

Wednesday was a high gear cleaning day. And we made some more laundry soap too. I just love doing that! The homemade laundry soap smells so good. And it costs just pennies to make. It costs about 50 cents or so to make 3 gallons. Yes - isn't that amazing?? (Recipe at the end) Last night was great climbing into bed with the smell of clean and fresh sheets without an overpowering extra fragance smell.

We also went over to help the family that just got Occa I earlier wrote about as they were having some problems. As Shane and I surmised before we got there, the real issue is with the other dog. They also not long ago got an old shitzu. When we got there Occa was quiet and well-behaved but he came out growling, barking and snarling which went unnoticed by both the wife and the husband. We told them that this was there problem right there. We went on to explain the issues with small dog fear aggression and a few points on how to deal with it. Why it must be dealt with and especially how it will strongly impact their new dog.

After instead of going home, we decided to head to a few parks in the direction of the Stake Centre as we had an eight o'clock meeting there. First we went to Victoria Park and enjoyed ourselves there. We were greeted by over 30 squirrels and some with unusual colouring - dark red or dark red blotching. An obvious disturbance has been happening in the genes somehow to induce this very recent change. It was kind of freaky with them all crawling slowly up towards you. Ha Ha...

But the sun was out and shining. We had experienced a huge downpour earlier in the day (I put a bucket out trying to catch some of the rain but didn't get much). We walked around for quite awhile and watched some skate boarders. A couple girls had full body makeup that was silver, green orange and blue. It actually was probably professionally done by the looks of it and we speculated that they might have been in some recent production of sorts. Too bad we forgot the camera! We then started to see a young fella proceed to spray paint the decorative lampposts and benches. I went to call on my cell phone but the battery was dead. I would have liked to have chatted with him about it but Shane wanted to get going.

We stopped next at the park at Riverside and Wonderland. What a mistake. We should have known by the strong smell of poop and all the geese. When we got out - we didn't notice at first, there was goose poop everywhere. And of course it was stuck on our shoes. Yuck!! So we headed over to the church and hung around outside as the church grounds are lovely (and clean!) while we waited for our meeting. At home we made up some nachos. I made fresh salsa with some cherry tomatoes on sale that I picked up for 99 cents for a pk of 2. I also made up some pureed seasoned black beans. Mmmm.

This morning I was reading the Yahoo news after checking email and I came across an article that had a link for some blueberry recipes so I followed it. I was disappointed when I found some profanity so I wrote an email. Here is a copy below:

Hi Marilyn,

I just wanted to say that I went to your blog after reading your article on miracle berries as I am an avid (too many a's?) blueberry lover and I'm always in the search of a new great recipe.

I was happily sifting through when to my dismay, I found some profanity. In particular, your Sweet Potatoe Soup with a Twist recipe. A little disheartened, I clicked on what I thought was the link to your Home Page to see if there was somewhere to post comments. However, I accidentally, clicked the WTHFD link...and with more surprise found that it led to your 'dinner' page.

Call me a prude, an old stick in the mud (old? I'm don't think I'm that old) or whatever - but for me, that type of language just doesn't to it for me. How can I recommend a site to the young girls in my family that are just learning to be interested in making recipes that you offer? Or my grandmother? Or the wonderful old lady in my neighbourhood? Or my friends? (Yes, most of my friends don't swear - unbelievable isn't it? Or in the very least, not around their children)

Maybe your reasoning is,
"Well, I'm sure those girls have heard those words before.".
Or, "My recipes are so great that a few old cluck clucks will overlook the language that sounds a little like a construction site or factory floor.".

And maybe that's your target audience anyways. And maybe you think that this is your blog and I can say whatever I want. And well, there you have it. It is your blog and yes, you can say whatever and however you want to say things. And yes, I'm sure there are some that don't care. And some that care and will close their eyes and not say anything or rationalize it away.

But I can say, "No - I won't. I will not condone a site even though it has some really yummy sounding recipes or perhaps great articles that includes language that is offensive to me and those that I care about. Because, yes, yes, it matters to me"

Thanks for listening,

Shelley K"

One voice can make a difference.

And here is the recipe for strogranoff and laundry soap.

Stroganoff
A package of Stroganoff hamburger helper (What?? yes, but it's quick and easy and the store brand is just as good)
2 lbs of hamburger
3-4 c noodles/pasta
1/2-1 c wheat (optional)
1/2-1 c sour creme (can use lowfat)
1/2-1 c balkan yogurt (can use lowfat)
1-2 cups fresh mushrooms (or canned or broccolli or peas or other veggie combinations - use what you have)
1 can of corn (if you have it - or I used 2 cobs of fresh corn this time)
1/4-1/2 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
chives if you have it
1-3 c milk and/or water (can use skim milk powder too)

Start frying up the hamburger on high and tossing in the garlic, onion and veggies and add the liquid a cup at a time. Reduce to med heat. When the noodles are almost close to soft, add the seasoning packet from the hamburger helper mix, and the yogurt and sour creme (1/2 c each at a time). This quick hardy recipe is exceptionally flavourful and with leave you feeling very full and satisfied.

Laundry Soap

Grate a 1-2 bars of soap such as Ivory or homemade soap into a large stock pot of boiling water. Add 1 c borax, 1 c washing soda. Each can be purchased at Walmart - sometimes the grocery store.

Pour into a large 3 gallon bucket. Fill the remainder of the bucket with hot water and stir. When it cools, it will be like gelatin. 1 c for top loading machines and 1/2 c for front loading machines.

Options: add fragrance of your favourite essence oil though it honestly does not need it.

It's great and it is compatible when you add bleach. This laundry soap is non-sudsing and leaves your laundry fresh smelling and soft. No need to use fabric softeners.