Marjorie's Mix

Chili & Cornbread

On MeWe I am in the foodies groups. They don’t share a recipe, just food pictures. Many the other night was sharing their dinner pictures. What was interesting and a bit odd at the same time was that many from all over the world was showing cornbread as their side for dinner. In my neck of the woods, cornbread sides great with chili. So, even though Friday is usually pizza night. Caleb agreed on chili & cornbread.

I did not preplan this dinner and worked with what I had on hand.

Meat and seasoning blend cooked, then transferred to large pot.

I did not have a chili seasoning packet. So, I created my own.

I didn’t have eggs on hand so I used 1/3 cup of mayonnaise as a substitute.

With or without cornbread, this was much better than pizza. Plus, lunch leftovers tomorrow. Frugal and easy meal to throw together.

Hope your having a wonderful weekend! 🙂

God’s Rainbow

The other day I was putting away groceries in the kitchen. Thinking about some of the news I had seen. Many online Preppers talking about different possible things that could or might happen. I know it is best to always be prepared but not to the point of living in fear. Anyways, I happened to look out the kitchen window and seen the most gorgeous rainbow. I fealt a genuine peace flow over me. Yes, I know the rainbow was concerning a world wide flood. However, I still had a calmness come over me that only comes from God. Come whatever may, I will trust God.

It looks as if He created it slow, Oh, what a beautiful show! So, you think that is your rainbow? Don’t you really know that the God of the highest Heaven loaded up them colors? You think you have growed as your eyes touch those remarkable colors. Ah, it is just a glow of a heavenly flow to display such a magnificent show. You should know Man once crawled upon the highest mountains to try to escape God’s flood. So, perhaps Man can take some credit for God’s Rainbow.

God’s Rainbow

Bits of Life

I love photographs, even the silly ones. Here is just a few of my captured bits of life. Every picture tells a story.

When Zelda was rescued she was a bit feral. I’m not sure that she will ever lose that feral part of her personality. She sure is spicy.

So many teenage memories of Summers gone but not forgotten. Camping out, campfires, hayrides and playing truth or dare till the break of dawn.

I believe God places reminders of His love within nature 😍

I created this Birthday cake myself.I was really proud how well it turned out. Hard for me to imagine myself over the hill. So, my cake needed a waterfall over the side. 🙂

I clearly remember snapping this picture and all the emotions that surrounded it. I have much to be thankful for today. 🙂

My Mom ran away in December of 1967 to be with my Dad. My Mom turned 18 on August 7, 1968. I was born a month later. This was the first picture she mailed back home to my Grandma(her mother). Just look at that look of defiance. Well, when my Dad passed in 2007 they were still together and married. That’s old fashion determination folks.

ZuZu. She really is a beauty with all the personality traits of a Tortoise Shell cat. She will be 2 years old this month ❤️

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I plan on adding many more to my scrapbooks.

~Every picture tells a story~

Meant to Be

I heard the buzz of the bee,

Working for all that was meant to be.

Ideas forming creative thoughts,

lies exposed, connect the dots.

Lose or win, with a digital pen.

Sigh, it is the nature of meer men.

Mind the wind as it flows so free.

I like you,

love the melody of the bee.

Exposing all that was meant to be.

~Scottish Thistle & Bee~

Making Memories

Ohio has been having some crazy weather! A few days ago we were enjoying the 80° temperatures. Yesterday we dipped into the 40’s. 50’s today and 60’s tomorrow. We are beginning to head back in the right direction. 🤣

This is the weekend we remember and honor all the soldiers that have given their life for our Country and it’s freedom. May we never take that for granted. ❤️🇺🇸❤️

Finally, got released from the LawnStarter agreement! Whew! That was a horrible experience. Last week’s temperatures were so nice that it felt great to mow. Feeling grateful that I can complete this task every other week. We have been blessed to have a professional lawn service that comes on the in between week.

I strolled ZuZu and Zelda out to the deck while I mowed. ZuZu was not happy about it and hid out in the litter box. Zelda on the other hand seemed to be in her element. She was feral when I got her and was behaving like she was ready to hunt. 🤣

Last week had wonderful temperatures for relaxing in the backyard. So very happy to no longer live in a apartment.🙂

After mowing, while relaxing on the deck I took these early evening moon shots.

Then, I fired up the grill. I’m really looking forward to me and Caleb’s Summer here. I hope your making memories with your loved ones too.💗

Backyard Living

Finally! May 2, 2021 and we can enjoy our backyard. Having morning coffee outside this morning was wonderful. After many years of terrible renter experiences, me and Caleb is loving living in the country 💖.

I could not ever go back to living in the city! City slicker neighbors are the worse. Me and Caleb go to sleep and it is peaceful. We wake up and it is peaceful. I just feel overwhelmed with thankfulness.

Backyard Living

I hope wherever you are that your getting out and enjoying the outdoors. I’m so excited for Memorial Weekend with family and friends ❤️🇺🇸❤️

Stories & Soup

It is the 1st day of May! April was busy with family activities and still waiting for steady warm weather. Last night we had a frost and dropped down into the 30’s. Tomorrow we are expecting a 80° day. Crazy Ohio weather!

Caleb does surprisingly good with ZuZu and Zelda. When he was younger he had two brothers to try to keep away from his things. Now, ZuZu and Zelda want to know what is so fascinating about his blocks. I’m not sure why but autistics like to line up their things (blocks, cars, books,.etc). Zelda likes to mess up all his line ups and for the most part he handles it well. He just pushes her back and begins lining it all back up. I believe she is a therapy cat. She is teaching him to prepare for the unexpected. 🙂

Since, we were continuing to have some chilly days. I had to except that there was plenty of inside tasks to finish. For instance, some home decor. So, I took this photo from my Google photo album and Google turned it into a canvas photo for my wall. This photo I took at Carriage Hill Farm in Huber Heights, Ohio. Me and Caleb had a wonderful park lunch there. Then, we walked through the prairie. This is my early Mother’s Day gift. I really like the idea of hanging real family memories up. Most definitely feels more meaningful and creates that feeling of home.

Regardless of the up and down temperature changes the grass has continued to grow. Now, that it is beginning to warm up more I have been able to tackle the front, sides and about a 5 row outline of the backyard. I love the backyard! I remember the first time last October that me and Caleb pulled up to the property. The front yard was kinda small and then we walked to the back of the house. When we turned the corner I was nearly in shock! I was looking at a park like setting with this huge pine tree in the middle. I really did pray for this home for me and him. The following month we signed the lease and I continue to feel very thankful. I believe that God had this house picked for us. Looking forward to steady warm weather days!

I’m going to share a homemade cabbage soup recipe with you! If you have been following the Blog, then you know I’m a Appalachian cook. I usually cook with what I have on hand. This is a spicy version of this soup because we love spicy and these ingredients blend perfect for a out of this world tasting broth. Also, want to point out that this is also considered a detox soup. It is filled with healthy ingredients and I hope you enjoy.

I use a large soup pan so we can freeze leftovers. This soup is simple easy to make and is also a frugal meal.

Coat the bottom of a large soup pan with extra virgin olive oil.

1 medium purple onion diced (I love this color blended in the soup)

Nearly a whole bulb of garlic diced (6-7 cloves) I love garlic in most all of our meals.

2 stalks of diced celery with the leaves. I’m not a huge celery fan but this is a essential ingredient in this detox recipe.

1 bag of Pict Sweet Farms seasoning blend

2-3 cups of diced carrots

Put the above in the pan over medium heat. Then, cut up one head of cabbage (about 6-7 cups) add to pan. 2 cap fulls of 100% lemon juice.

Garlic powder- put in what you like, I like a lot.

Lemon pepper seasoning-to your liking

Add 8-9 cups of spring water

2 -14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes

2 beef bouillon cubes

1 – 16oz jar of your favorite salsa to sweeten the pot 🙂

Splash some Franks Red Hot sauce in the pan. Then, salt and pepper to your liking.

Turn heat up a bit until it begins to boil. Then, turn down to simmer for about 45-50 minutes.

Life & Everything In-between

I tell you, this has been a whack the mole sort of past week. Seemed like everytime I accomplished a task another popped up. Decided to just hire a lawn service to begin the Spring mowing. What a headache that has turned into. I finally decided on LawnStarter. I seen that they had a local Google address that I could just drive to if I ran into any issues. Well, I had to agree to at least “3” mowings. What I didn’t realize was there is also a $10 service charge. Not to mention, if you cancel you can get charged for a mowing that you never received. So, when I get a email asking why I cancelled (I didn’t!) I reached out to them to let them know I didn’t. Also, learned in this process that the local office is just a satellite office (no one to personally see). They finally sent a new crew and I rated the new crew 5 stars because it wasn’t their fault what I had been through. LawnStarter has “not” called me once. I’m Looking forward to that 3rd mow!

I learned last night that the strip by my neighbors fence that I told the lawn crew not to do is mine too. I knew they mowed it in November so I just thought it was theirs. So, I get to add that one “little” strip to my to do list ✔️

During some typical Ohio Spring weather lightening hit a tree at the end of the backyard. The tree is actually on a different property owner. The lightening literally split this huge tree in half. I’m not a tree expert but I have to wonder when the other half is going to come down and in which direction.

Caleb has been handling all the Spring excitement well 🙂.

All lined up. He just likes to flip them in his hand.

Well, I have developed a routine of looking out my kitchen window to see if the other half of the tree is standing 🧐. In that process, we were welcomed with a new surprise…

Yeah, I know they are cute but they are a yards number 1 hated pest. My sister wants to name it and my brother wants to shoot it. I’m going to try to contact a nature park with rangers and see if they have a trap I can use to trap it for relocating. I definitely can’t garden with a groundhog. (adding to the to do list ✔️).

Cute but destructive

Then, my Baby Boy calls to let me know he’s packing to leave the Country. He may be gone 1-2 years😭.

The week finally ended with my niece’s 10 year old Birthday 🎉

Caleb has a hard time celebrating any Birthday that isn’t his😂.

Well, life has been busy and no thanks to Lawn Service issues I am running behind schedule. However, I know it will get better!🤣

Resurrection Sunday Dinner

I love family get togethers. We continue to celebrate our family traditions as a family. I hope you continue to make wonderful memories with yours too.

My sister hosted this year’s dinner. She did a fabulous job! The ham had pineapples with cherries, baked beans with onions and green peppers, macaroni and cheese casserole, deviled eggs with jalapeno peppers, dinner rolls and homemade carrot cake for dessert. Besides the dinner I enjoy the family fellowship and so does Caleb. Again, I hope you celebrated the Resurrection with family, friends or even your church family. It is not healthy to isolate and be alone!

Caleb had a busy week. On April 1st he had his Birthday “30”. He had dinner at his favorite Chinese buffet. Then, he ended the week doing more celebrating. Again, I really hope your not celebrating alone!

To top off our Resurrection Sunday..we came home and I realized our Trumpet Lilies had bloomed! I hope you continue making home style traditional memories.

Tortoiseshell Cats (Torties)

ZuZu and Zelda have been featured on the Blog before. They are my rescue cats. ZuZu will be 2 years old in June and Zelda will be 1 year old on Mother’s Day.

Tortoiseshell or Torties refers to the cats coating and doesn’t refer to a breed. Almost all tortoiseshell cats are female. Only 1 out of 3,000 will be male and they are usually sterile. Torties can live around 10-15 years. They have a spicy attitude and a huge personality.

Recently, they both got a bath and new collar. ZuZu did pretty good but Zelda was like trying to bath a wild animal.

As the pet owner of two, I can tell you that they have to be the most stubborn that exists! Litter training was easy but training to follow all other house rules is nearly impossible. Which is surprising because they are very intelligent. They even pick up on the English language to the point of using it. Believe it or not ZuZu has yelled “Mom!” when she was adjusting to being put in a cat cage (3- story cat playpen) at night. Both of them will talk back to you (cat language) when asked a question. The way they volcalize is amusing, they sound nothing like a “typical” cat.

Well, Zelda got her bath and new collar too. Currently, she has her bow that was on the collar ripped off.

She was not happy with the bath and new collar 😾

I have read that folklore from all over the world states that they bring good luck to their owners. I wasn’t feeling lucky while bathing Zelda 😆

Sources:

* allaboutcats.com

*My personal experience as a cat owner- “Mom”

*Wikipedia