Mushroom Burgers

My middle son cooked dinner tonight - mushroom burgers.  Yum!  These are REALLY good.  My Mother-in-Law made them once but she used her food processor to make them and they didn't taste quite so good.  I like a bit of texture to them.  All my family - except oldest son - really like them.  They are vegetarian too!

The recipe makes 4 burgers.  I got it from a Taste of Home mag or website.

2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups finely chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
oil
buns

In a large bowl combine first nine ingredients.  Shape into four patties (if the mixture is a bit wet I add more flour!). 
Heat oil (enough to coat pan) in frying pan.  Cook over medium heat until golden brown on both sides.  Serve.

It's a really easy recipe and VERY tasty!

Surprise!

My daughter surprised me with a visit home last night!  She managed to get a friend to go pick her up at Uni and drive her home for the weekend.  What a surprise!  I had absolutely no clue. She had told hubby but he had kept really quiet and even my boys didn't know she was coming home.  It's good to see her. 

She brought me home a present too!

A cute hedgehog.  I have a small collection.   When I was a little girl there used to be one that would visit the front of our house.  I remember how cute it looked.  Not a pet, but a beautiful wild creature. 

I wish...

... for Spring.

When I was little we used to pick dandelions when they looked like this and make a wish on them.  What a simpler time!

Doing a whole lot of nothing

I've read a whole bunch of books.  I'll have to update the 'read' page sometime.  I've also spent way too much time on Ebay.  I'll try to take a pic later of some of my haul.  As soon as I become a bit more mobile I'm going to start working on some journal pages or cards.  I have a whole bunch of stuff but at present lack the mobility to gather all the goodies to get going.  I wasn't so good at planning - meant to have everything in one spot but things didn't quite work out the way I wanted them too.  Do they ever?

Looking at all the different stamps available is overwhelming.  There are some with some great sayings on them.  Some of my favourites:-


Within your heart keep one still secret spot where dreams may go - Louise Driscoll

It's never too late to find out who you want to be

Learn to pause or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to keep

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you are not


The last four of these are available as Tim Holtz stamps. 

Picture for the day - my leg in it's bandages and splint lol.  What fun.  Just had to share.  I have an appointment on Wednesday and will hopefully get to the fracture boot.

Surgery

Survived my surgery - still feeling achy and drowsy from meds so not much to report.  Maybe tomorrow I'll feel like posting or doing anything lol.  Never realised how difficult it would be to get to the loo - or how much it would hurt to move.  Groan.  Moan. 

It probably wasn't a good idea to cruise Ebay while I was on medication LOl

Dentist and Surgery

I had my dentist appointment today to have my temp bridge changed to the permanent one.  Yikes.  It wasn't fun.  Took about hour and half taking it out, adjusting it, putting it back in.  My mouth was sensitive when they put the cold on it.  Now it's hurting a little.  Ouch.  Glad it's over.  I think this was worse than actually having it done - or it could be the lack of numbing or Xanax.

My surgery is tomorrow.  I'm only a little nervous.  It's early in the morning so at least not hours to think about it.

My kids are such fun - my daughter calls me from Uni asking how my dentist appoint went and chats for a little while.  Says she just wants to talk to me in case something happens tomorrow.  Wants to make sure we had a good conversation.  Made me lol.

My older son (before going to work) asks about the surgery and what time we'll be back.  He then goes on to tell me that he was reading something last week and I'd be surprised by the number of cases there are where the doctor leaves something behind in a patient during surgery.

LOL.  No, they aren't scaring me.  Find it kinda funny.

Happy Picture for the day :-

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. 

Wish I could be in England celebrating with my Mum :(

Daughter went back to Uni today.  Middle son is being a pain.  Makes me want to cry. 

Beautiful Blanket

I took daughter over to MIL's to say hi today.  Daughter will be heading back to university tomorrow so we stopped in so she could at least say hi.  Daughter also stopped in at Great Aunt Betty's house.  Daughter spent last summer helping take care of her and being a companion to her as Aunt B is well into her 90s.  Aunt B was so happy to see Daughter.  Surprising what joy a short visit could bring!

MIL handed me a beautiful blanket she had crocheted for me to keep me warm after my surgery.  So thoughtful!  It's really big and the colours remind me of Spring.  I am so thankful to have such a great MIL.  She finished the blanket while recovering from eye surgery!  How sweet is that?

Daughter is being busy too -  she decided she wanted to make lotion and bubble bath before leaving.  She is running out of time to do all the things she has planned lol.

It's Friday!

My second day off work of my looong weekend.  Very nice.  I actually got to sleep more than the 5 1/2 hours that I usually do.  Daughter and I went out shopping.  There were some thrift stores she wanted to check out.  She's a poor college student and needs (wants) to replenish her wardrobe.  We found a few shirts that were really cheap.  There are only a few thrift shops in town nothing like the charity shops in England (we can only dream!).  One was horrible.  It felt really dirty.  The others were clean and well organised, but there is nothing worse than a dirty place to shop.

While we were out and about we stopped off at Hobby Lobby.  I was armed with my 40% off one item coupon and ended up picking up a stamp.  I fell in love with Tim Holtz stamps - I would have bought more but rather pricey and I have to start to watch my pennies a little more.  I got my paperwork back from doctor today and my back-to-work date is June 10th!  I'm pretty sure that's a conservative estimate, but still longer than I thought.

Anyway - posted below examples of Tim Holtz stamps.  He does have a website TimHoltz.com.  Check it out - interesting!

World Book Day

I was listening to Radio Suffolk this morning with Lesley Dolphin (love her show!) and heard it was World Book Day today so I thought I'd share the book I've just finished.

Back to the Lesley Dolphin show though - I try to listen as much as I can.  When I get home from work I try to listen on the I-player.  I really enjoy how the show is all about Suffolk - reminds me of home.  Great show.  Thursdays have to be my favourite show as they have Charlie Haylock on.  His current series is talking about classic Suffolk words.  Some I recognise and some I don't.  Driv, Shew and such are all words we used growing up.  Another is squit - meaning rubbish.  Brings back all sorts of memories.

Now about that book.  It just came out Tuesday and I had mine on order with Amazon so it arrived Tuesday after work.

I love, love LOVE the Mercy Thompson series.  I love that the books have a touch of romance BUT the story is the main part of the book.  I LOVE that Mercy hasn't become a doormat and is still fighting all her battles.  I LOVED this book - it didn't disappoint and had all of my favourite characters.  It seems that with each book a little more comes out and the stories never fail to impress.

Synopsis : -
After an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy and Jesse can’t reach Adam—or anyone else in the pack for that matter. They’ve all been abducted.

Through their mating bond, all Mercy knows is that Adam is angry and in pain. With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam’s disappearance may be related—and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.

I would recommend starting at the first book just because it's such a great series you'll be wanting more.  Also check out the Alpha and Omega series.

Cat pictures

The dog had his turn and now it's the turn of our cat, Shadow.  He's so goofy and I really enjoy taking pictures of him.  He's such a good subject.  I plan on using some of his for a project - not sure what I'm going to do with them.  I'm really started to get interested in art journaling and am sure I can come up with something interesting.  It's something I'm going to try to work on while I'm off for my surgery (only a little over a week to go!)

My daughter and the dog

The below picture is one my daughter took of her and the dog.  She was trying out the camera on her new phone.  The dog in the picture is Big Ben - Ben for short.  He's our Black Lab and is getting really old and tired.  He's over fifteen years old.  We're getting closer to that sad time now.  Days seem to be getting harder for him.  Daughter wanted a newer pic in case something happens before she comes home from college.

Spring Break? Really?

Okay, it's Spring Break here for my 3 college students.  I'm glad daughter is home for a week but SPRING BREAK?  REALLY?  It is only just March, colder than heck and there is snow and ice all around.  Spring Break?  Not sure whose bright idea that was. 

What do you find calming?

When I was sorting through my photos the other day I came across a whole series I took at the beach.  There were quite a few of birds, shells, seaweed, but most were on the water and the waves. 

My relationship with the sea is two-sided.  I have a fear of drowning.  I don't even like to drive across bridges or walk on the wooden piers in England.  It is on the top of my list of ways not to die.  I won't ever go on a cruise for fear of drowning.  On the other hand I really enjoy swimming.  I can swim quite well and learned when I was really young.  I can't remember a time when I couldn't swim.  My favourite place to be is by the seaside. Whenever I go home it's my favourite place to be. I  love sitting on the beach, closing my eyes and listening to the calming sound of the waves.  I love breathing in the scent of the sea water and the smell of fish and chips frying nearby.  The sounds are delightful too - children laughing, seagulls squawking, people having a good time.   I can't think of a better place to be.