Friday, April 25, 2008

I've been ta(n)g(o)ed.

Thanks to CatholicTeuchtar for tagging me, aye right! ;D

(Oops, it's late Saturday eve here with another addendum added, with this first question....aagghhh!)

What I was doing ten years ago:

Wow, I missed this question the first go round when I started to answer the tag questions....this distraction might possible be related to answering the barrage of ........mama?, mama, mom!!! mommy!! MOM!!!! Mama?
Yep, that about sums up what I also was doing ten years ago!!! :D

Okay, seriously, 1998? am I really counting that right? My wee ones were 7yrs 4yrs 1yrs, I was working at a Juvenile (teenagers) custody facility, dreading that someday mine would be teens (just kidding, as I have pretty good kiddies). That actually was a tough year for me, as I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer, and had to have a thyroidectomy (which left one of my vocal cords paralyzed...guess no singing for me!! ;)) and then radiation treatment, and adjusting to the daily medication afterwards. All in all, it was a time of testing and growth, trust and faith. And I do praise God for bringing me well through all of it!! :)

...I might have also missed the above question because front and foremost on my mind, well, after blogging was....the "to-do" list.....

Five thing on my To-Do list today:

1. Make 'Camping Pancakes' for breakfast,as requested by the kiddies. (American style pancakes with chocolate chips/pieces added)
2. Take hubby's suits to the drycleaners
3. Go and turn the horses out in the arena for a good run
4. Think about what I'm going to put in the slow-cooker (for Sat's dinner) prior to leaving for work tomorrow at o-dark-thirty
5. Help the tween with his algebra, and the wee one with her science questions


Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. as per CT, pay off debts and those of my friends and family
2. buy a ranch with mucho acres in the Western US, and convert it to a combination Dude ranch, and a place to help/work with at-risk youth, teaching job apprenticeship, life skills.
3. buy a beachfront cottage, maybe US Pacific NW, or Eire, or the Scottish Isles (or all of the above, and use them for friends' and family get aways)
as an addendum: while driving back from my friend's ranch today, I was thinking a schloss (castle) in Austria for a bed and breakfast, and a villa with a winery, say in Italy or Sonoma Calif wouldn't be bad, as well! :)
4. Help fund our missionary friends' work, provide some kind of group medical/dental insurance, and retirement plan for them.
5. travel, meet up with friends and family abroad, meet the Australian cousins, and make plans to meet blog friends for coffee!! My treat! ;D

Three of my bad habits:

1. I get sidetracked to playing rather than working far too easily
2. Too much wine (see addendum, for villa with winery) :)
3. My husband says I'm far too argumentative....but sugah, I thought it was lil ole me just statin' mah opinion... ;D

Five places I've lived:

1. Pennsylvania
2. New Jersey
3. Missouri
4. 4 months in Europe and the UK, while on a walk-about
5. Two regions of California, including near the wonderful Orange County beaches, and now up in the High Desert

Five jobs I've had:

1. Secretary for a Veterinarian's office
2. Pediatric nurse
3. Chemical Dependency/psych unit nurse
4. Juvenile custody Probation Camp nurse
5. NICU/SCBU nurse

Five books I've recently read:

1. Messy Spirituality, God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People
2. The Four Agreements, a Toltec Wisdom Book
3. Celtic Christianity
4. The Ugly American
5. Office 2000 for Dummies...the part about using Excel...selecting non-contiguous cells and enabling auto-complete....eh???!!!.

Five People or communities I'm going to tag:

1. Endlessly Restless
2. Mrs Successful
3. Peajay
4. Hideous Man
5. Lins Honeyman

ps. to be honest, I didn't want to stop at five to tag, because there are many more of you blog cohorts out there that I would have liked to bestow with this wonderful honour!!!! Don't worry, I'll catch ya'll later with the next one!!! :DDx

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

which "celtic christianity" book was it?

Peajay said...

A recipe which works well in the slow cooker is:
Stuffato Di Manzo
Serves 4-6 people
Ingredients
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Bay leaf (crushed)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme (dried if necessary)
2lb Braising steak (cubed)
2 medium sized onions (chopped)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
½ pint red wine
4 bacon rashers (chopped)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
½ pint beef stock
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Method
1. Put the salt, pepper, bay leaf, thyme, 1 onion & the wine into a bowl and mix together.
2. Add the cubes of meat.
3. Cover & leave to marinate in a cool place for 5-6 hours, turning occasionally.
4. Drain the meat well, strain and reserve marinade.
5. Heat the oil, add the remaining onion & the bacon & fry gently together until soft and pale golden.
6. Add the beef cubes and fry gently until well browned on all sides.
7. Add the marinade, tomato puree & the stock.
8. Cover & cook in the oven (Gas Mark 2, 150°C/300°F for 2 ½ hours.
9. Taste & adjust seasoning. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.
It should also work well with your little foible the red wine. :D
Thank you for the tag I'll look into it. :D

His Girl Friday said...

Hi Peajay,

sounds good, I'll give it a try! :)

Hi CT,

'Celtic Christianity, A sacred tradition, a vision of hope'

by Timothy Joyce, a Benedictine monk

also good is,

'Listening to the Heartbeat of God, a Celtic Spirituality'

by J. Philip Newell, a Church of Scotland minister, and a former Warden of Iona Abbey

:)

Kayce aka lucy said...

speaking of coffee with blogging friends, have you scheduled that trip to seattle yet?

is that a wine cork i hear popping?

His Girl Friday said...

Hi Lucy,

actually, tonite I'm being good, no wine (and hubby would agree that I'm being good, no whine) ;)

....but you must have heard that pop off the cap on the Heineken...my what alert ears you have!! ;D

Seattle is in a tentative holding pattern at the moment, with us taking our holiday more local, so we probably will not be up there in June (but we Will be up there hopefully within the year...and definitely for coffee with mah blog-mate! :D).

I think we've decided that 'circling the wagons' might be a good idea right now, with the gas prices not even hitting summer highs yet.
(currently $4.49 for diesel here) (we have two diesel trucks with our tractor business, which has also slowed down...so it's a wait and see thing...maybe at least get thru summer...or should I say, the elections :( :/

It's all good here, though, we're just playing it safe. :)

Jo said...

Don't buy coastal property, we'll be underwater soon! Rent instead!

Petrol is around €1.23 a litre here at the moment, if you can do the math on that!

Lins said...

Thanks for the tag, HGF - will get round to it!

Yolanda said...

I am so glad to know that we are the same age.

His Girl Friday said...

Hi Jo,
well, at $1.60 to €1....diesel is now $4.55 = €7.28

Hi Lins,
look forward to it! :)

Hi Yolanda,
yes, we can commiserate together! :) Mine's coming up at the end of this month... :/ ;)