Officially Summer

Yesterday was the solstice and the longest day of the year. Here in our neck of the woods it was a beautiful day! Here’s hoping we have many just like it ahead of us.

RECIPE

I tried a new recipe with my friend Linda and we shared the results with her son, Joe and his fiance, Chelsea. The recipe for Cloud Eggs is below. It was really fun to do.

Cloud Eggs

Ingredients;

*as many eggs as you need for serving

*salt

*seasonings as you desire (We used garlic powder, chopped chives, white pepper, parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning as we like things savory.)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.

Separate the eggs, being careful not to break the yolks. In a mixing bowl whip the egg whites with a dash of salt until stiff peaks form. Then fold in your desired seasonings.

As many eggs as you have, form that many “nests” on the baking sheet with a little well in the center that will hold the yolk later.

Bake the “nests” for 3 minutes and remove baking sheet from oven.

Place one egg yolk in each “nest”. We sprinkled with chives and put the pan back in the oven for 2 to 3 more minutes until the yolk was cooked as we desired.

Let me know in the comment section if you try these and what you think. We did enjoy ours!

PROJECT UPDATE

I am feeling a somewhat accomplished and happy with the results of my Civil War Era campaign chair. See below for the finished product. I still am not exactly sure where it will find a home in my house. Don’t worry! I will find a place! Of course, I will share that with you when I do settle on a spot.

Pay absolutely no attention to my supervisor behind the chair. Rudy always has to see what I am doing and monitors me!

My next project is to sand down and refinish a side table that my Mom could always remember having in her home as a child. Sometimes it was her bedside stand or her desk. When she got married she took it with her and it was used as a stand for my parents’ first television (a little, I mean little, black and white number). I actually have a picture of it as a tv stand! On the back of the picture, written in my Mom’s handwriting is, “Huber household, first tv”. I will share all of this with you in my next post. Looks like I will be getting a lot of use out of my DeWalt sander!

RANDOM IDEA FOR RECOMMENDATION

A little while back I started writing my “life story” on my laptop. My intention is to complete it and leave it for my children. When my Mom was ill we did as much as we could to get her life story down for my brother and I and our children. She became too ill to finish it but I wrote for her as she told me stories. I felt that I wanted to do it when I am well and relaxed. My story is actually only up to when I was 6 or 7. It is kind of weird because I will write something and then it stirs a memory and I need to go back and add that new memory in.

I think it is a nice memento to eventually leave your kids and grand-kids someday.  What do you think?

In any case, I won’t be needing to pass it on for awhile as I think I have a lot of years left in me but it is nice to remember things and wonder if when written down my family will gain some insight into the person I am and why I am who I am.

Wow! I am getting way tooooooooooooo deep and philosophical! I better move on. However, don’t forget to let me know what you think of the idea and if you have done anything similar in your families by using the comment section or emailing me with the link that is provided.

MONEY SAVING HACKS

How many of you have noticed that many receipts you get from restaurants and other businesses have  an address for a survey of your experience at that establishment and that there is some sort of reward for you if you do it?

I do these all the time. In my mind they come in two categories. The first category is some tangible reward that you receive almost immediately. The second is some sort of entry into a drawing or contest which usually is a gift card.  The ones that I tend to usually do are the first category. Yes, I’m impatient. Yes, yes, I know.

These things are really money savers for you and I will show you why. Below you will see some examples that I accumulated over the last week or so. There are many more businesses that do this. Always check out your receipt and see what is offered!

This is from Bob Evans restaurant.  When you sign up with them you get great coupons such as $5 of a bill of $25 in you inbox on a regular basis.

Tim Horton’s offers a free breakfast sandwich with the purchase of a coffee and a side for doing their feedback survey.

McDonald’s is one I almost always do. You get a free quarter pounder or sausage McGriddle for you feedback. They sometimes do a buy a breakfast McMuffin or Quarter Pounder and get one of the same free. This is nice to share with a friend!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Denny’s had a card you used when you ate there and it accumulated points which you could redeem toward your bill. The last time I did this I received a coupon for a free stack of hotcakes in my inbox.

The above examples were all from my first category of immediate gratification offers when you do a survey. The next one is the second category I mentioned.

This is for a monthly drawing for a $500 gift card from TJ Maxx. I do them but I am not as conscientious about them as I am the first category. Hey, but as they say in their ads for the New York State Lottery, you never know!

Remember that these are just the tip of the iceberg. Check out all of your receipts. I have done feedback surveys from Home Depot, Wendy’s, Burger King, Valu Home Center, Applebee’s, well, you get the idea! Be sure to let me know what you find and how you feel about taking a couple minutes to do a survey!

I will see you next week with more thoughts and ideas! Have a wonderful first week of Summer!