I baked a Pumpkin Cheesecake

While perusing the food blogs 1 day, I came across a pumpkin cheesecake recipe. And since my girlfriends were coming here for dinner the other night, I thought why not try out this cake! Well after I assembled the ingredients and put the cake in the oven, I tasted the batter before washing the bowl. MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!! The recipe called for only 1/4 cup of sugar. THE BATTER WAS NOT SWEET ENOUGH! I looked up my favorite regular cheesecake recipe and that recipe called for 1 cup of sugar. Oh well, now what was I going to do? 2 pounds of cream cheese to the total of $12 in just the cheese alone - I decided to make caramel sauce for the side. CHARM! My dessert turned out perfect! Everyone ate their slice, loved the caramel sauce and brought home a slice for their husbands. SUCCESS!

On another note - we had NOT 1 TRICK OR TREATER this Halloween. We're living here 17 years and no kids up the block! Must be the rain that scared the kids away. Good thing I didn't buy any candy - I was going to give out pretzels.

Well now onto Thanksgiving!

It hasn't been an easy few days here

I think I blogged last week that our Gordie, ONLY THE BEST DOG EVER, was not feeling well. By Sunday - Gordie started drooling blood which panicked the 2 of us. Gordie had stopped eating and was only drinking minimal amounts of water. So Sunday at 6:00pm off we went to the dog emergency. The Vet there, as nice as he could be, whisked Gordie off to a back room and called us in 2 minutes later. 2 Vets had to hold Gordie down and open his mouth and they showed us a lump underneath his tongue. Lumps in dogs mouths are NOT GOOD. This we know first hand. They gave us a dire diagnosis but wanted us to get to our Vet the next day. They gave Gordie 2 injections, 1 for pain and 1 an antibiotic. We drove home so so sad because well if you know Gordie you too would LOVE LOVE LOVE him too!

We woke up the next morning and for the 1st time in days Gordie was hungry and acting a little more perky and he had stopped drooling. I called exactly at 9:00am to our Vet and of course he was all booked. I told the receptionist that Marc the Vet is our friend. She put me on HOLD and came back a minute later saying we could get in at 12:45pm which is just what we did!

Marc is the BEST VET around! He also is so caring about us and our family. So up Gordie went on the table and Marc could NOT get Gordie to open his mouth AT ALL. Gary said to Marc you have to work another miracle on our Gordie. Marc said he is saving the miracles for Gary's health and that we need a bit of LUCK for Gordie.

So we had to bring Gordie in the next day to be put "OUT" so Marc could get in there and see the problem! We were on pins and needles all yesterday morning until the Vet called and said he thinks it is a lesion on Gordie's salivary gland. He did biopsy it - just that word makes me shiver - and we will know more in a few days. In the meantime we picked Gordie up yesterday afternoon and he was perky and all he wanted to do was eat and drink water! YIPPEE! Fingers, toes and EVERYTHING is still crossed to see how the biopsy is going to turn out. We've been in that waiting game too many times in our lives - believe me, you do not want to know!

So...on another note, my girlfriends are coming HERE for dinner tomorrow and I'm going to bake a pumpkin cheesecake. Which means I must go and buy some ingredients I need.

Gary is calling to help design more ties for the next line.

BUY MORE TIES - THANK YOU!

Best,
Jane M

A PS to the CHAIR blog

Gordie sleeping in the backroom


Gordie tucks his nose in the blanket to keep warm


Gordie on the "chair"


Gordie has been found on the chair!


Well I did catch Gordie on his favorite chair. But the reason I was able to find Gordie was because I think he doesn't feel well. Does anyone out there know if a dog can get the flu? Gordie is eating and drinking, but at a minimum. His nose, if you can believe it, is kind of - sort of running! He just wants to be tucked in and sleep it off. We feel helpless but are doing all that we can for him. Gary picked him up last night and told me he thought Gordie felt warm. Can a dog get a fever?

OK just some questions out there for you to help us out with.

WE LOVE OUR GORDIE! He's the BEST DOG EVER!

Best,
Jane M

The leaves in NJ are at

near peak color! But...isn't there always a BUT to my blogs? But we are getting rain which I'm afraid might make the leaves fall off too soon. Guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm also wondering if the Yankee game will happen tonight with this wet weather. Again, time will tell.

Saturday - have a good selling day - especially selling our ties!

Best,
Jane M

The Chair

Here is a chair in our living room that Gordie has taken to be his own. The location is that he can see me coming through the front door as well as looking out the front window. Unfortunately, he's RUINED the chair with his dog-ness. But we love Gordie so so much and it's been 13 years that we can't break him from sitting and getting cozy in this club chair. Can anyone out there relate to me and my best dog?

I LOVE DOGS! I LOVE MY DOG!

TGIF!

BUY SOME MORE TIES - please. Thank you!

Best,
Jane M

Have you ever

had the experience of knowing a person who TALKS TOO DARN MUCH and that you try to AVOID them all costs? Well I have this problem and it's with our lawn mower man. We contracted this older gentleman to fix our front yard a few years ago. Back then, we had the WORST lawn on the street. We were an embarrassment to our neighbors! We could hardly stand walking out our front door - just witnessing the weed infested "yard" drove us insane. So my husband looked up and down the street for the BEST lawn and found 3 doors down the best lawn mower man/landscaper. Sam is his name and I've blogged about him before. The annoying thing about Sam is HE TALKS TOO DARN MUCH! I've come to really not like TUESDAYS (almost as much as not liking Mondays) because he comes at lunchtime and I cannot leave my house to walk the dog, get the mail - NOTHING! I am held HOSTAGE inside my house until Sam leaves. I'm mean that way. But I don't know how to get him to STOP TALKING! WOW I really have no patience - do I? Hmmm could this be my NEXT New Year's Resolution - to become a more tolerant and nicer person? I have some other resolution options so you will just have to wait until January 1, 2010 to find out what I have chosen!

Time to design and select more new designs for Spring 2010! We're getting there!

CALL ME FOR TIES!

Best,
Jane M -- PS Just a quick update -- Sam was just finishing up cutting my grass as I pulled up to the house! He asked how I like my lawn and I told him the lawn looks great and I couldn't get the key in the door FAST ENOUGH! He said snidely back to me, well it would be nice for some feedback some times. See, I guess I am mean - WHATEVER!!!!

Meyer Lemons and other stuffs!

THERMOMETER SHOWING LOUSY WEATHER WE HAD ALL WEEKEND LONG


RAIN RAIN


GORDIE HAS ANOTHER HAIRCUT

LEMON CHICKEN

MEYER LEMONS

GINGERBREAD NECKTIES


SUPPLIES AND GINGERBREAD DOUGH


NEW PASTRY MAT FOR ROLLING OUT DOUGH
My parents live in South Florida and are having a banner LEMON growing year! Many years ago they planted a lemon tree in their backyard. The tree survived hurricanes and other bad storms, but seemed to only produce fruit when they weren't living there. This past spring, before heading north, they clipped back the tree and when they returned this Fall WOW DID THEY HAVE ENOUGH LEMONS TO SUPPLY their neighborhood! Saturday, the mailman dropped off my package of lemons. Last night I rotisseried a chicken and stuck the smallest lemon in the cavity. YUMMY! Gary and I ate a very moist and lemony chicken indeedy!

On another note, I'm now trying to perfect my gingerbread baking skills. I purchased this really nice rolling mat, which makes rolling dough so much easier. I highly recommend this mat if you are a baker of pies, pizza doughs, or any kind of pastry.

Just another Monday - let's see how it goes.

Best,
Jane M

Yes I know I keep writing about FALL

But I can't help myself. I've finally stopped perspiring! WOOT WOOT! Now I'm going to grow out my hair I think.

I snapped some more photos of my prolific nasturtium plants which I spent all of $1.47 for a seed packet this past June/July.

My petunias are still growing strong - but after today I think they might bite the dust. We are expecting a N'or Easter storm - rain and cold blustery winds are coming very soon.

BUY MORE TIES! I'm baking yet ANOTHER batch of biscotti.

Best,
Jane M

I baked GRANOLA

BREAKFAST!
FINISHED GRANOLA IN JAR
READY TO PUT TOGETHER BOTH PARTS TO MAKE MY GRANOLA


and I'm proud of it. Unfortunately the recipe made waaaay too much - I must go out and buy freezer bags so the leftover granola will not go bad. I like baking my own granola as I can control the sweetener and nuts and dried fruit. I made this recipe from the BareFoot Contessa - Ina Garten.

I'll also be snacking on this I have a feeling.

Was contacted via email from our trainer for the gym's FATTY LOSER contest last night. He wrote that he believes in minimal equipment, and mostly stuff like lunges, jumping jacks, sit ups/push ups - stuff we fatties can do at home! I'm a little worried I bit off more than I can chew - but we shall see. This trainer wrote that he wants our group to WIN WIN WIN! Me too - I am sick of looking like I DON'T want to look.

We shall see how it all goes.

Happy Wednesday to you all - CALL ME FOR TIES! Please!

Best,
Jane M

Some Observances on my Trip to Wegmans

DOG TREAT DISPLAY

XMAS TREE DISPLAY

MY PUMPKIN CHOICE FOR THE FRONT STEP

PUMPKIN DISPLAY
We were PLUM out of food - yes we were. We were reduced to eating eggs and well how many times per day can we them? So off I went to Wegmans the best supermarket EVER! I walked through the door and picked up my cart and put a big pumpkin on the bottom of my cart. As I've been writing, the days are getting shorter, cooler, the leaves are turning and falling off the trees and it really feels like summer is long past and FALL IS OFFICIALLY HERE! Hence the purchase of my pumpkin today. I take probably 5 more steps and I'm smack in the middle of a FAKE CHRISTMAS TREE DISPLAY! HOW CAN THAT BE? I know we sell retail and that XMAS is the most important season of the year, but CAN'T WE GET THROUGH HALLOWEENER FIRST????? Of course this is something that I can certainly LIVE WITH - I'M JUST SAYING!

Another observation. Wegmans is getting rid of Gordie's favorite dog treats! HORRORS! What will Gordie do? I had to buy BOXED treats and we put them in his favorite jar of dog treats. I sure hope we can trick him into liking this new variety. I will keep you posted!

So with that, it's time to start dinner - and then it's my second favorite TV show of the week - THE BIGGEST LOSER! YIPPEE!

Best,
Jane M

I just want to say

MY KNEES DOING SIT UPS

THE DARN PACER IS IN FRONT OF ME - I'M TRYING TO CATCH HIM

ME ON THAT BIKE WITH THE PACER

CLOSE UP OF THE ELIPTICAL MACHINE I WAS ON.


GARY RIDES THE BIKE
WATCHING SANDRA LEE ON THE FOODNETWORK WHILE WORKING OUT

CLOSE UP OF OUR CHANNEL CHOICES

MY WORKOUT STATS

I'm taking my camera to the gym today - I'm going to show you my exercise routine. Actually, I FIND EXERCISING SO MIND NUMBING BORING THAT I NEED SOMETHING TO MAKE GO TO THE GYM OTHER THAN MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION. I just hope I don't embarrass myself too much. Maybe I'll snap some other person's slim body and tell you it's me! Could I get in trouble for that?

Scintillating blog post and photos to follow - yes indeedy!

OK just back from the gym. Got yelled out by the little twerp trainer at the gym for snapping pix of myself at the gym! As promised here we are working out. I know you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see these photos.

Best,
Jane M

It's really Fall

Today it really looks and feels like Fall here in NJ. The wind has picked up and some leaves have already started to flutter down. Most of the leaves have only just begun to change color - and we are far from having to rake! Some of my flowers have stopped looking good -and yet my window boxes seem to still going strong! WOOT WOOT! I heart my window boxes!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that, my valued customers have been calling for fill ins - some customers sold out of our ties in a little over 2 weeks! So keep those calls coming!

Best,
Jane M

Gordie is looking a little zaftig

in our opinion. We don't know if it is because he is hairy or truly packing on the pounds! Now that both kids are gone well he doesn't get much playing time. Gary and Russ aren't around to throw the ball to each other and to Gordie in the backyard. Soon the leaves will start to fall so I'll be out raking again. Gordie absolutely LOVES to play in the leaf piles. Snow - Gordie LOVES to run in the snow. Hoses - Gordie loves to scream and bark at the water. He's just inside a bit too much. Actually now sleeping is his big activity!

Happy Monday - almost Tuesday!

Best,
Jane M