This sight greeted me when I opened the frig recently:

Since the five-year-old had been nurturing “Claw Baby” for several days, I was reasonably certain he was behind this.

Me:  Why is Claw Baby in the refrigerator?

NJ:   That’s because he needed to cool off.

Me:  Oh.

I suppose that should have been obvious.

However…

Babysitting might not be his best career choice at this juncture.

This is my adaptation of a recipe my mom got from a friend in the 1960’s.  My guess is the recipe was originally published by Kraft since it called for a whole cup of Miracle Whip!  This was a popular side dish at pot luck dinners in the South.  My version has less sodium and fat.

Fresh (two bunches) or about 20 to 24 ounces of frozen broccoli flowerettes or broccoli cuts

Cook or steam broccoli about 5 minutes and drain.

Mix the following ingredients together, and stir into cooked broccoli:

1 can undiluted cream of mushroom soup (I use Campbells Healthy Request version)

1/3 cup of Miracle Whip Salad Dressing (Mayo works fine, too.  You could always add some lemon juice for that “tangy zip.”)

2 whole eggs, beaten (I just break the eggs into the bowl with the other ingredients and use a wire whisk to mix it all together.)

2 tablespoons dried minced onion

1 cup shredded sharp cheese (I usually use a reduced fat version.)

Pour the broccoli mixture into 8″ or 9″ square baking dish. (I use a glass dish and spray it with cooking spray first.)

Spread 1 Cup of crushed cheese crackers on top.  (I put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.  I like to leave them sort of chunky.  My mom crushed them into a fine powder.)

Bake at 400° for about 20 minutes. Center should be “set.”

The cooking time depends on the temperature of the mixture when it goes into the oven.  Sometimes I assemble and refrigerate it ahead of time.  (I leave off the cracker topping so it doesn’t get soggy.)

If the mixture is cold when it goes into the oven, it needs to cook for at least 30 minutes, if not longer.  I add the cheese crackers after it has cooked for 10 to 15 minutes so the crackers don’t get too brown before the casserole is done.

The 5 year olds arrive home from school.

Me:  Noah would you like macaroni and cheese for lunch?

Noah:  I SAID I want pancakes!!!

Me:  When did you tell me you want pancakes?

Noah:  (without missing a beat) I told the bus driver and she was supposed to call you.

Me:  I see.

So, we had pancakes.

I’m sure everyone, well maybe someone, was wondering what happened to the renovation project.  “When will we see the reveal?” you ask.

Well, the project is 95% complete.  We moved in, sort of.  We still have some unpacked boxes, and none of the decorating has been done.

The drywall work left much to be desired.  After the interior doors were installed, we had to patch up around the doors and baseboards.  The “mud” is still unpainted.  So we have white patches everywhere throughout the house.

The other issue is that we keep giving furniture away.  And we haven’t bought any replacements.

We don’t even want to think about the exterior.  It’s just too cold outside.

So “the reveal” photos will have to wait.

Hope “everyone” is okay with that.

I took these photos on one of several unfruitful shopping trips in search of window treatments.

I wonder how their buy one get one free sale went?  If no one wanted to own ONE, I’m not sure why owning TWO would be a good thing.

I’m hoping none of my family or friends decided to share the extra “designer original” they scored in their purchase.

Today, I received an email from the American Association for Health Freedom.  Usually they focus on issues relating to restrictions on the sale of vitamin and herbal supplements.  Big pharma lobbys heavily in favor of such restrictions. 

This issue is potentially more serious.  It is beyond me why it is attached to the economic stimulus bill. What is the potential political benefit for taking away our privacy?

If you are opposed to this bill, you must act quickly.

The American Association for Health Freedom asks you to take action immediately to protect the doctor-patient confidentiality relationship.

The economic stimulus bill, as currently written, mandates electronic health records for every citizen WITHOUT providing for an opt-out or patient consent provision starting in 2014.

The House has already passed this egregious bill and the Senate will consider the bill starting Monday.

“Without those protections, Americans’ electronic health records could be shared—without their consent—with over 600,000 covered entities through the forthcoming nationally linked electronic health-records network,” says Sue Blevins, Institute for Health Freedom president.

“President Obama has pledged to advance freedom.  Therefore the freedom to choose not to participate in a national electronic health-records system must be upheld,” Blevins says.  “Unless people have the right to decide if and when their health information is shared or whether to participate in research studies, they don’t have a true right to privacy.”

The bill provides that a nationwide health information database be developed that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that facilitates health and clinical research.  HIPAA already permits the disclosure of personal health information without patient consent for treatment, payment, and oversight of the healthcare system.  The mandate contained in the stimulus bill is yet another attack on the longstanding doctrine of a patient’s right to consent and right to privacy.

Finally, is the stimulus bill even an appropriate vehicle to pass this unrelated matter of developing a nationwide electronic health records database?  A patient’s right to privacy should not be taken lightly.  Any restriction on a patient’s right to privacy should be open for discussion.

Please write your Senator and President Obama today to express your concern over the ongoing dilution of patient privacy rights. Click here to take action.

Several friends on FaceBook tagged me, so here goes.

1. I asked Jungle on our first date.  He claims he was thinking “no” but the word “yes” came out.
2. I have a tendency to be unfashionably late.  Jungle has a tendency to be early.
3. I have a tendency to forget my cellphone and other important things when I leave the house.
4. I am navigationally challenged.  Thanks to my sons’ Christmas gift – a Garmin lady Jungle named Celeste (short for Celestial) – I no longer call Jungle to get me un-lost.
5. Jungle says I’m great deal of trouble.  Good thing I’m so darn adorable!
6. I have a green thumb.
7. I started college in 1977 and graduated in 2005 at age 50.
8. My first field of study was studio art and my degree is in Business Admin.
9. I started keeping journals at age 11.  I briefly wrote them in code until my grandmother bought me a box with a padlock.  My brother liked to read them with his friends.
10. I tend to hold grudges.  (See number 9.)
11. I love to write letters and emails.  When I was young, I had several pen pals I had never met.  Too bad I didn’t have a computer back then.
12. I have lived in South Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Virginia. Since moving to Virginia I have lived in nine different houses.  We plan to move again in three years.
13. I am a Renaissance Soul – too many interests to pick just one.
14. My beloved mother died of pancreatic cancer at age 38.
15. I really wanted to take ballet lessons when I was a child.  My dad thought it was a waste of time and money.
16. My parents thought piano lessons would be a good use of my time and their money.  I had a choice of practicing or washing the dishes.
17. I have played piano/keyboard at churches for most of my life since age 15.
18. I taught myself to play guitar, flute, and xylophone.
19. I always intended to learn French. I briefly studied German and Hebrew instead.
20. I am very obsessive/compulsive disciplined when it comes to my diet.
21. I distrust and dislike the medical and pharmaceutical industries and avoid them as much as possible.
22. I once owned four pet stores.  I was also the general manager for a chain of health and nutrition stores.
23. My oldest son was miraculously healed of kidney failure at the age of two.   I didn’t realize until afterward that the doctors were trying to tell me he was going to die.
24. I love the Lord with all my heart.
25. I hope to dance in Heaven for all eternity.

Most of our renovation efforts have been focused on the interior of the house.  Our hope was to have the inside of the house completed before we moved in.  That did not happen, but it was a good plan.

Since the weather was reasonably nice some days before moving in, hubby busied himself in the yard from time to time.  The landscaping was unkempt – overgrown and over-planted.  Hubby dug up quite a few shrubs.  Some were difficult to remove so they weren’t.  The area next to the driveway has issues – tree stumps and overgrown shrubs on one side and a hodge podge of stepping stones and plants on the other.

Hubby dug out everything on one side.  It turned into mud and then froze in place.

I’m lobbying for the removal of the stumps on the other side.  Hubby claims they would make a nice stand for bird baths or yard art.  NOT!

Our attempts to purchase window treatments has met with little success.  A recent visit to a drapery/window treatment department left us feeling like the guy in the Hardees commercial staring at the bread aisle in the grocery store – the one where the tag line is “without us, some guys would starve!!.”

Without help, our windows may have sheets on them for a LOOOONNNGG time!

Upstairs is a little better.  We used an old shower curtain.

The challenge is the width of the windows.  Drapes and curtains we like don’t seem to come in the sizes we need.  If a person had time to sew, perhaps that would not present such a challenge.

We did see some progress this week.  The linen closet now has a door.  As soon as I get around to wiping out all the new dust coating the walls and shelves, I can unpack the linens.

Our medicine cabinets are installed also.  The installer could not figure out how to make the doors align.  They will not close all the way.  So, the cabinets remain unused until we can find someone to remedy the situation.

To be continued….

This car has green stuff growing on it.  And I thought mine was dirty!

We now have towel bars and toilet paper holders in the bathrooms, baseboards throughout the house, completed trim work on the stairs and some other areas, a washer and dryer, additional drapery rods, medicine cabinets, countertops, kitchen sink, installed dishwasher, and a paint-free electrical panel.

As soon as the baseboards are caulked, we can finish placing our furniture and “stage” the rooms.  (It seems useless to unpack display items until the furniture is actually in place. )  The baseboards will be painted at a later date, but they don’t look bad since they came with white primer.

It’s always amazing to me how long it takes to “trim out” a house.  The initial demolition takes no time at all.  The reconstruction takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R!!!

The staging will take longer than usual since I am now “nanny granny” five days a week to my four grandchildren.  But at least we can see the light at the end of the renovation/move-tunnel.

Happy Dance Time!!!!