It's Monday

What I just finished reading today....

and what I started   reading this evening....( apparently, it's a ferriswheel theme!  ) 

What I had for dinner...

and I'm listening to this....

and this is where I walked today  (okay,  yesterday)... (we took a picnic, but it was too nice not to talk about, so here you go...)

That's my Monday.  How was your's?  (or is it yours?)

I'm linking to  "It's Monday, What are you Reading"  hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.   Check it out!

Banana Bars

I wasn't kidding ( a few days ago when I said I was going to post about them)--here are Banana Bars!
A quick recipe from  my friend April.

She's the one we went on the boat with last summer.
She's the one who has the movie nights in her back yard each summer. 
She's the one who we went out in the desert with in May.  (oops never blogged about this)
She's the one who threw a great red-necked cocktail party at my 52nd birthday at Wallowa Lake.

Holy cow!  She's the one!!  Too bad I already have the Handyman.

If you like banana bread, banana cake, banana pudding (mmmmm....) you will like these little banana snack bars.  You can't really go wrong with banana flavored anything.
And these are really easy and quick. 

Banana Bars

Cream together:
1/2 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar

Add to sugar mixture and blend well:
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

Sift together  and add to batter.  Mix well:
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

Pour into a greased  15x10x1 baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes at  350 degrees.  Let cool and frost.

Beat together until creamy:
1/2 cup softened butter
8 oz cream cheese

Mix into cream cheese and butter. Blend well. Frost bars:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Saturday Snaptshot

I've been gone so long, that I have a million things on my mind that  I had wanted to do/post about, so....this is a accumulation  of all those things, music, daughters-in-law, and SATURDAY SNAPSHOT.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy.  It’s easy to participate – just post a picture that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Melinda’s site.


I love music. And I've been wanting to write a blog post on how much I love music. But I've never been quite sure how to do that.
I mean, yes, I love music, but no, I do not play an instrument or sing, nor can I read music. (the Handyman can, which is really weird to me. He just remembers it from his elementary music lessons).  So I can't really tell you anything specific.  I just like to listen to it.  A lot. 
But why would this be interesting to anyone?  I have no idea.  But my mom will read it and like it.  She likes everything I do.  ~grins~
I'll post it, but then I'm gonna post about banana cake really fast, so everyone will think I'm 'normal'.

 I like all music...every single genre there is.  My favorite being the decades of the 60's and 70's, and my least favorite are Rap and Hard- Headbanger Rock Music.  I'll listen to it tho, and I have an appreciation for it. 

I just got back from a visit with my parents and they sent me home with their old record albums. Close to 200 of them.

I couldn't let the records go to a rummage sale, I just couldn't.  OR a recycled record place. And I could not let them be made into chip bowls (I've seen this done. Kinda cool, but not for MY albums. You just heat one with a blow-drying and it will bend and shape into a bowl.) But what the heck am I going to do with 200 'easy-listening' record albums. BUT--at least they are from the 60's and the 70's, my favorite!  It'll be fun to listen to them.   Now I am going to segue into this strange subject---my daughters-in-law.  Not that they are strange, but you  might think it  strange going from music to my son's wives in one blog post.  I do not.     I like music.  I like them.  It seems perfectly natural to me.  
Or maybe this post is really about them, my daughters-in-law.  I like them very much.

My daughter-in-law Sadie, once worked at the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale, while she was going to school (yep, I am  blatantly bragging/name dropping.  I can't help it, I am proud).
I love Sacred Music!  ( For the next year, NPR will take a musical journey across America, which is one of the most religiously diverse countries on earth. They want to discover and celebrate the many ways in which people make spiritual music — individually and collectively, inside and outside houses of worship. )
It's different for all people--and I just love the diversity of 'sacred' music.
(of course I also LOVE the Partridge Family....I'm just saying, I really like all  kinds of  music)

This is a photo of  Sadie and my son Marcus, taken this summer at the Annual Conference of the CA-NV United Methodist Church.

She is a Methodist Minister and this was at her commissioning.  

for the record Sadie's favorite music is not church music, but country music.  I felt I must state that---it was ME who loved the Institute of Sacred Music.

*

My daughter-in-law, Jessica is very patient when I asked dumb music questions.  But now I  understand  that there are genres inside of genres inside of genres, when it comes to music.  Between Jessica and SongPop on facebook, that is. 
I saw once on SongPop that there is  'East Coast Rap' and 'West Coast Rap', and I was seriously amazed.  So, Jessica explained the difference to me.  She also introduced words/phrases like  "G-rap", "Crunk"  and  'electro-world pop" to me.  Oh..and the group "Leftover Crack", a punk band.

*For the record---and in case you're ever playing Trivial Pursuit and this question comes up:
East Coast Rap are artists like:  the Notorious B.I.G or Biggie,  Puff Daddy or Sean 'Puffy' Combs
and West Coast: Dr. Dre and 2Pak
I will end the history lesson here...but I just find all that stuff interesting.  I'm all  kinda dorky.
BUT---Jessica can talk the talk with me.  Or, rather, I can ask her any ridiculous question about music genre's and  she explains things to me.

This is a photo of Jessica and my son Dustin, in my backyard last fall.

My daughter-in-law Mara has introduced me to a whole new world of  international music.  The music of Mexico.  It's much more complex and intricate  than we think--- not as stereotypical and trite as we in the United States think it is.  It IS NOT only a Mariachi band, it is so much more,  although Mariachi bands serve a purpose too.    
My grandson,  watched a video of Luke and Mara's wedding and they had a Mariachi band, Camron (my grandson) said to me,  "turn it off, I can't stop dancing!"
It's true---sometimes  you just can't stop your feet from moving.

This is Mara and my son Luke, last Christmas at their house in Arizona.

Oh...and this was right before my grandson Christopher was born. 

I was waiting, I just KNEW he would come at Christmas, but nope he waited until after the new year.

My family is used to me asking stupid questions like---if you went to a party and had to take one CD  or the music of one artist, who would it be?  What is your 'theme' music?

So, now I'm asking  you....what CD would you take to a party if you had to chose one that is 'you'?

So there you have it.  My rambling.  Have a great rest of your day.  I have to go make the banana snack cake now.  I'll post about it tomorrow.

Hi there

Hi there.  I guess I took a little break.  I didn't really know I was going to take a little break---it just happened.  I didn't post for few days, and then a few days turned into a few weeks and, well...  here I am!

Here I am back without an particular post in mind, so I will just share what I did last night.

Yes, I weaved bacon.

I saw it on Pintrest (I think) so I tried it for our BLT's last night.  I must say it was pretty good. There was  bacon in each bite I took.  As you can tell it  is just the size of a slice of bread, so it covered the whole sandwich.

And...this is my new favorite song:




The song is  probably not new to anyone but me---I love all kinds of  music, but country music is not my genre of choice, so I could be a bit behind the times here.
But Dave Matthews?  Who doesn't love his voice?

That's it for now. 
I'm back.

Welcome Armchair BEA--Who am I?

Armchair BEA is an event for book bloggers who can't make it to BEA "Book Expo America" in New York City this week.

I'm so excited to be back at Armchair BEA once again---it's my third year.  (oops, there is a question already answered)

Let me backtrack just a bit tho...
I am Debbie,  a life-long bookworm, book lover, book obsessed/possessed,  but casual book blogger.  I am not a book reviewer, nor do I stick to any book weekly memes or goals.
So, why am I here you ask?  Well, just because I don't regularly review books, I do read book blogs EVERY DAY and did you notice the obsessed comment above?  I would die if I didn't have a book in my possession at all times.
That might be a tad bit melodramatic, I wouldn't actually 'die',  just go insane.
I must have a book.   I love them. So here I am.
And I loved being a part of Armchair BEA the past two years.  I found new blogs that I loved reading each day and I loved seeing what books everyone across the country was interested in.

10 years ago, I went to New York City with  my friend Stella, who was running the marathon. (I was not. I was her support system) Registration for the marathon took place in the Jarvits Center, so I can close my eyes and picture myself there, smack dab in the middle of BEA.   (sigh) As my mother used to say, "if wishes were fishes, we'd all have a fry." 

I say 'casual' book blogger, because I also blog about food.  And Birds.  And gardening.   And random life events.
I got into blogging because I like to journal/write/keep a diary and this was just a fun way for me to do so.
THEN, I found book bloggers  ( and food bloggers ).

So here I am.  That answers questions  #1 and #3.

#2 Where in the world am I blogging from?  (it says I can include photos)

The Wild Wild West of course.  The Great State of Nevada.  Where we do actually have towns and cities.  I just like to freak people out with our vast wilderness, so that's what I am posting pictures of.
These pics from a 'picnic' we took on Sunday.  We got rained on.

#8  If I could eat dinner with any author or character who would it be and why?
Margaret Maron of course!  The author of the Deborah Knott mystery series.
I love all genres of books, but these are like  the 'comfort food' of books to me.
I love  Maron and all she writes about.

#9 What literary location would you most like to visit and why?
North Carolina where Deborah Knott solves all the murders!  Or maybe Baltimore where Laura Lipman's 'Tess Monaghan'  solves some serious crime.

Series Mysteries=Comfort.  I love knowing and evolving with the characters with each new novel.

So, there is a little bit of background about me. Can I shout out a HELLO to my friend Kathy from BermudaOnion, who actually is at BEA right now? 
HELLO!

I'll be back tomorrow!

Saturday Snapshot

Pine trees just aren't made to grow in the desert. 

It's a fact.

Even tho the Handyman had high hopes and kept watering it and watering it, it just wouldn't make a comeback.

A lot of Blue Spruce and Scotch Pine trees are planted around here (the Nevada high desert), and they will grow for a while---sometimes a long, long while  (years) but a lot of times, they will die early.   It's a chance we all take when we plant an evergreen in the dessert.  There just isn't enough water and the soil is too dry and sandy--it doesn't hold onto moisture no matter how much you water.

Yesterday Rich had to do it---he  chopped down our dead Blue Spruce tree.

It's Saturday  Snapshot day!

SS is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

It's easy to take part--just post a picture taken by you or someone you know and link up!

Outdoor Wednesday

It is spring in Northern Nevada.

I love to see the changes that take place thru our seasons ---we have a different spring than in most places. It can be 80 degrees one day and then it will snow the next.

Then, a week after it snows on June 1st--summer will arrive and it will be 100 degrees and stay that way for the next few months.

I walk every  morning at 5:30am.  (5 or 6 mornings a week--altho I like to say EVERY morning.  It's my goal)   

Our Community Garden is not too far from my home, so every so often on our morning walks, I'll make the Handyman take a tour to see whats happenin'.

It's fun for me to see the changes that take place in the different seasons.  Rich (the Handyman) on the other hand, says nothig changes. (sigh)

But,  for the rest of the spring, summer and fall, I'll keep on walking thru the Community Garden every couple of weeks, and I'll keep taking pictures and the Handyman will keep rolling his eyes.

I'm going to link this to "Outdoor Wednesday"  at A Southern Daydreamer's blog.  She does this weekly meme and it's fun to see how different people choose to share their 'outdoors' each week.