Paint Party Friday - Surfing

It's time for Paint Party Friday!  Thanks to Kristin and Eva for hosting!  I've been doing a Mermaid theme recently and today she's 'Surfing'!  It's acrylic on cardstock (6.5" x 4.5").  She must live in Hawaii!

Please visit some of the participants in this ever growing art co-op!

Artichoke Chicken Bake

I swear the squirrels in our neighbourhood have learned how to cross the roads, they actually slow down and stop when a car approaches.  They often turn and go back the other way!

The English Kitchen recently posted this easy recipe and I had to try it. It was absolutely delicious, no doubt because it calls for 3/4 c low fat mayonnaise and 3/4 c parmesan cheese.  The chicken was so tender. The marinated artichokes certainly add something to the dish. I used skinless chicken breasts with the bones in, so added an extra 15 minutes to the baking time.

I made some bowtie pasta to go with the dish.  Once the chicken was done,  I decided to remove the bones, cut the chicken into pieces and mixed the pasta in, to make it a one pot meal as pictured:

For the Taking

I was tempted to take one of these pots on the weekend (the largest one), these people put a whole bunch of stuff out for free. What do you think?

I had a busy day yesterday. I took my mom for her heart checkup. She had an ECG and an echocardiogram (Heart Ultrasound) done, then we saw the cardiologist. She's been stable for the past 6 months (she has congestive heart failure) and he doesn't need to see her for another 6 months unless things change. We went for a seafood (crab and lobster) lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It was delicious. The waiters and waitresses were all very friendly, either they weren't very busy, or else everyone was having a good day. We even got  complimentary corn soup (like an egg drop soup) and at the end of the meal I asked for 'that hot, black, sweet, silky dessert' and got it! The waitress couldn't tell me the name in English and I didn't know what it was either.  How's that for successful communication skills!

Corn Soup

Crab and Lobster dishes

Charity Recycling

I was pleased we recently gathered quite a few bags of items (from around the house) for donation to the Children's Wish recycling charity. They must throw at least half of the stuff away, but hopefully will be able to use the other half.  We also do this for Cerebral Palsy, it just depends who calls at the right time.  The other bonus is that feeling of de-cluttering and they provide pickup from your house.

Friends of ours are downsizing to a condo from a house. They are trying to do this in a short period of time as they have already bought the condo and need to sell their house. I think I would need more than a few months to do this kind of thing, so stressful! We really have to be careful how much we accumulate over the years, especially as we get older.

Homemade Plum Jam

I've never made jam before and I found a recipe on Mykitchensnippets' blog. It seemed simple and I decided to try it.  It calls for six chopped plums, one and a half cups of white sugar and the juice of one lemon. Boil for 30 minutes and spoon into a jar! It's delicious! I made sure to wait until the plums were ripe, sweet and juicy. It doesn't require canning as it's just one jar that you are going use and refrigerate. Is this something you would try making yourself?

Sunday Sketches - Watching the Sunrise

I've noticed the squirrels being very busy at this time of year, scurrying around, up and down the trees and burying lots of nuts everywhere, even in one of my planters according to my husband M.  I hope this doesn't mean we are in for a harsh winter.

Welcome to Alexandra's Sunday Sketches. I did an acrylic (6.5" x 4.5") on cardstock today. It's called 'watching the sunrise'. I'm really happy with how this piece turned out, a bit of whimsy.

Summer Flowers

Here's a short, happy BBC video for you to watch called 'what a wonderful world with David Attenborough'.

My friend S had given me these flowers to plant in the spring.  M had mowed them over by mistake but they are very hardy. They have bloomed and look like yellow coneflowers, quite pretty. She says they grow very tall although she was never sure what they were. Well, that's what I think they are regardless if they grow very tall. What do you think, any ideas?  I've just noticed they need to be supported or else they fall over. 

I stopped to smell these pretty roses on one of my walks.

I've always liked these flowers, cosmos.