Thursday Thoughts.....

Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. —M. Scott Peck, M.D., author
Find inspiring stories about personal growth at Guideposts.org!

Tortoise or the Hare? Crock Pot vs. Pressure Cooker-Pulled Pork!

This will be going under my Recipe spot, but first I wanted to put it on here.

I love pork shoulder or pork butt, they are both the same thing.  It is really inexpensive and there is a lot that you can do with it.  (Sorry the picture is sideways, I don't know how to change it on the blog now there is another thing for me to work on)

Since it is summer time, we decided to have pulled pork sandwiches.  "How do you want to cook them?"  We both asked at the same time.  Andy wanted to use the crock pot, which he is a huge fan of.  Me personally, I love to pressure cook.

I told him I didn't know how a crock pot was going to do since he couldn't put it on until the morning (it was still in the freezer.  For some reason, things up here in this altitude takes forever to cook like 18 or so hours!
He said he would put it on high and let it cook all day.  I told him I think it would be easier and better to put it on the pressure cooker and let it cook for almost an hour.


So we decided to have a cook off!  I love cooking competitions!  I normally lose but what a fun time I have while competing!  See, that is one secret of life, enjoy the game.

We cut the shoulder in half  and he put his on at 8AM on high:

and I put mine on when I got around to it and set it for 45minutes.  (Get it the tortoise and the hare?)

Well, which one is better? 

After his cooked for 8 hours and mine for 45 minutes we took ours out and both shredded the meat using two forks:

Andy added his special ingredients and I added:

Ok I wasn't having a TASTING contest, it was just to see what would be the best, I guess I should have known he would have done that, always taking it up a notch!



I have to got to tell you, the texture was the same (Andy said it wasn't) but it really was:

Andy's:

Mine:

So my findings:  If you have time then go ahead and crock pot the pork.  If you are wanting to have pulled pork say like after work then put it in the pressure cooker.

Either way, take the pork out ,shred it, pour bbq sauce over it, mix it and there ya go!

Off to make the rest of dinner!

Let me know what you think!

UPDATE:  We took each of the pork and split the sandwiches.  I put mustard on mine just to be able to tell the two apart, which I already knew which one was mine.

Andy's did taste better and his words were "You should always spice up your food!"

But 2-0 mine was more tender!  I won!!!  WHO-A!

Now get in the kitchen and make it in the pressure cooker!

Are we in Kansas?!!

Today was a nice day enjoying the day after the fourth of July. I had just closed the living room window then all of a sudden....

 Holy Moly!!! WOW!!!

You could hear it and see it coming right at the house, at one point I thought I need to move away from the windows. I truly thought it was going to blow the shingles of the garage!  The patio furniture being strewn all about! 

Take a look at the pictures, look what it did to our little shade!

Look at the chairs from last night and then today after the "tornado" a.k.a. dust devil hit:

Before

AFTER!!!

I am so glad that it didn't hit yesterday when I had the table all set up for dinner!  

It was amazing!  Well we live in an area that anything could happen and it does!  

What a mess it was it took Andy and I about an hour to straighten up our porch WHAT A MESS!!!

There's no place like home, there's no place like home.....

I dream of looking out and seeing this beauty

mediterranean patio design by san francisco architect Buttrick Wong Architects

I love this website called www.houzz.com I has really opened my eyes and ideas where people have taken pictures and posted, I like it even better than Better Home and Garden.

Check it out and let me know what you think! Wine anyone on the patio?

Am I confusing you yet?

I bet that in the past couple of days you have been visiting my blog and there are changes, A LOT of changes.  I want to do somethings different and I can keep my stories in categories instead of one right after the other.  It looks messy to me, so for the past few days I have been (unsuccessful) in trying.

It must be amusing at some degree, my blog looks like it is bipolar!!!  I am trying hard to get it the way I want it, but truthfully I have No idea what I want, too many choices!

So, enjoy the ride!  

On and On as I go!

Heyy I am back!!!!  I haven't really wanted to write which is sometime almost like breathing to me, other than talking which I am REALLY good at. But I need to write and also to explain why I have been absent, not only from my blog but from the world.

Alright, make sure you are comfortable, this may take a while, I hope I don't bore you with the details, but I don't think this is boring.   Just REALLY blessed to be able to write my story.  You will see why....

O.K. from the beginning, that is where I need to start.  January 2008 I had to have an emergency Gall Bladder Surgery.  All went well, had surgery on Friday in Vegas and came home to Big Bear on Saturday.  No big big deal, right?  Well after two days I was having difficulty breathing,  LONG STORY short, found out that I had two blood clots in one lung and pneumonia in the other.  Eight days in the hospital and a LOONG recovery I made it through.  Stories upon stories I heard about how extremely dangerous blood clots are and how incredible blessed I was to not have died during this extreme times.

Second surgery, October 2008, 10 months later had to have surgery due to a hernia because of lifting a saddle too soon after the gall bladder surgery. No big deal right?  Right, no problems, had surgery in Vegas and stayed for a couple of weeks just to be sure recovery went well. That is what we are talking about!

December 2008, went to the Dr.'s for a girl's annual checkup.  The doctor made the comment in the middle of the exam saying "Your uterus is huge!".  He said that I had a fibroid tumor and it was the size of a 6 month fetus.  Options?  One, take meds to put me into menopause and again 20 pounds, uh, no thanks. Second, surgery to remove, uh no thanks.  Third, let it go and it will  eventually stop growing and go away, Ok that is what I will do.

I was all about the third option, problem was the tumor didn't stop growing, it grew and grew and grew.  When I finally decided to see a surgeon about the monster this past April, it had grown to 12 pounds and almost 2 feet in length!!!  It was like carrying a three month old inside of me! The surgeon said that it needed to be removed sooner than later, and I agreed due to the fact that I noticed I was having heart palpitations and difficulty in breathing, needless to say the weight gain.  Now, don't take the above symptoms and think I was a winey baby, I am one tough chick and if that was happening, I knew something was not right.  It was going to be a non invasive hysterectomy.  What does that mean?  Well it means that they won't have to cut the muscles and recover is easy.  One night in hospital, can be driving in five days, and will only have to be on pain meds for four days.  ARE YOU SERIOUS?   He was spot on!  Incredible!  Details are too long in length, but all I have to say it WOW!

Surgery was scheduled on Thursday, June 3 in Las Vegas and as I said in my last post, went there two weeks early to help with my dad having his hip replaced.  Now the surgeon that I had is probably one of the best if not THE best in the nation.  I had all the confidence in the world to have him perform the surgery.  It went without a hitch except for on Friday, my BP dropped to 30 over 60,(I was looking at upside down!  I meant  60 over 30 and that gave me another night in the hospital.  (I don't do surgeries well). Went home to my MIL's house and by Wednesday, we went out and got a pedicure.  Moving slowly but that would have been unheard a few years ago.

Friday, we were going to go shopping at the 99 cent store and I started having my heart race.  After checking my BP and heartbeat for 10 minutes, I decided to go to the ER just to make sure.  We did and in a hour after getting there and having a ultra sound they found a HUGE blood clot in my right lung!  CRAP!!!!  That bought me three days in I.C.U!  Now I am being under a hematologist/oncologist care, to found out WHY I am throwing this clots.  Unbelievable!

I am very blessed and know that God has his finger on me specifically.  This is the second time I have had them.  I know that I could have died instantly and there is usually no signs to a blood clot, you just drop dead!

I am recovering at home, finally made it after being gone for almost five weeks!  Taking it slowly and enjoying every minute.  I am just keeping my eyes open to see what is in store for me. 

God is incredible and I find myself talking to him ALL the time!  But I can't help knowing that I am still alive is because of HIM.  I have always have been a child of Faith, knowing and believing in all things is the work and word of God.  With this faith it has brought me happiness, contentment, and a true lover of life.  With this faith I have done things that people would not ever dream of doing.  I enjoy life to its fullest and that is my life's work, finding joy in even the littlest things, as I hope you can see it through my little blog.

Now that I have wrote my adventures of the past few weeks I know stare at the title, how can I sum up this story in just a few words??  I thought of a few titles "What the Hell just happened"?......"There's not place like Home?".  Bat out of Hell?  Can't keep a Good Woman Down"  Everyone needs a little help from their friends?  On and On as I go, that it!  And just to think, I was not even thinking of that for a title but it sounds good doesn't it. so there I go!

My words and blessing to you, enjoy your day, enjoy your life, find the littlest things to take your breath away and know that God is beside you, He may be silent but that does not mean He is not doing something incredible in your life, you just don't see it in front of you,  But start paying attention, it's right there.

God Bless my friends, good to have you a part of my life.

UPDATE:  Went to Vegas on Friday to see the Hematologist, still took more blood, and still waiting for the rest of the results.  Boy talk about a turn around, great to see family,  spend special moments with them and then SWOOSH, back home again!  But I still have the rest of the weekend left!  Off to check on the chickens! 

No I am still here!

Thank you all of my very faithful readers, I do sincerely apolgize for not writing for a while.  Good reason, I have been out of commission for almost a month.

My dad had hip surgery so I went to Vegas to help then followed through myself with a hysterectomy.  So while the recovery is incredible, it still is recovery.  So bear with me and hopefully I will be home next week! But the great news is that I am off the pain meds and even went and had a pedicure yesterday, can you believe it!!  So there are no pics for this one, well I guess I could take a picture of my toes.....I'll be back soon, I promise!

We do live in the mountains!!!!!

You just get used to your surroundings.  Complacent?  Lackadaisical?  Maybe.  It still surprises me to have people talk about a mountain lion down the road from us, attacking and killing someone's prized sheep.  Or someone's puppy being picked up and taken off all from a mountain lion or a bob cat.

Well ,last week they caught the mountain lion and had pictures of him in the newspaper.  Saddened my heart that they put it down.  We do live in the mountains!!  I told my dad about the mountain lions being in the area and he just looked at me and said "I wouldn't live there, they can attack you and you not even know it". (I thought to myself, I think I would know it when it is attacking me.) Well that was unsettling, so for the next couple of days I was actually nervous about leaving my house even to go to the garage.

But I figured (self-justification) that if a mountain lion would attack me, he would have to be pretty desperate and be half crazy and surely we don't have crazy mountain lions here, so I am safe!

But this year, I have to tell you, I have seen A LOT of coyotes, I am averaging two to three a day.  I try to keep my camera on the table by the window so when they come up my hill, I can catch them.  I know they are stalking my chickens...so every day I am double checking and triple checking my coop.

Andy is working on a house a couple of doors down yesterday and calls me and says "There is a coyote coming down the road and he is BIG!"  I grabbed my camera and waited, NOTHING!! That is ok, I have plenty of coyote pictures to last me and you a while

These were taken yesterday after he (she)  leisurely went past the chicken coop for the second time, I wonder how many times he came by that I didn't see?

I think she is a girl, what should I name her?

Oops!  This is the one in November, however, belief it or not, it did snow yesterday, and it's May!  But as soon as it hit the ground it was gone, but what a beautiful picture huh?

She was moving at a really good clip.

Goin right past my neighbors, move on coyote!

Now just have to be careful with the rattlesnakes, after all we do live in the mountains!

Construction-It Never Ends!

Guess what I got for Mother's Day?

I hope everyone's Mother's Day was special.  Mine was Great!  I had the nicest Mother's Day because of ONE particular item that was on our to do list.

We are big on construction.  We are ALWAYS working on something.  That keeps us going.  Weather warming up and knowing that the front will be our focus this summer, we have been wanting to restain our deck.  Now it looks like it would be a easy thing to do, right?  WRONG....

This is how the story goes.

We put a beautiful redwood deck in two years ago, it is over 1,000 square feet, which is huge!!!  Love it!  Well the deck needed to be stained soon after installing it, easy enough right?  WRONG!!!!  Ok play by play of what we did. 

Staining, step 1

When you go to stain a deck, remember these important  details.....
Take the stain with a sponge on a handle and dip it VERY carefully in the stain and start at the beginning of the wood, continuing all the way to the end.  Then go to the boards next to it (we can do two at a time) and continue all the way down again.  Now this sounds elementary, however, what we did was stain areas at a time which meant that when we were ready to do the second segment we overlapped the stain which looked awful!!!! 

And let me tell you nothing works unless you sand it all the way down, because if you just try to sand it where it is overlapped, it will look awful!  Also, don't try to power wash it, especially on the narrow setting, I have found that the wood splinters!!!!  I also thought it would be cute if I decided to write my name in with the power washer, Andy didn't think that was too funny.  I did until I had to take a sander and try to sand my name out of the deck, crap!

So, we decided last year just to let nature takes it course and naturally bleach out the color and it did.  So now this past weekend we tackled it.

Cleaning step 2

Andy asked me to take the pressure washer, this time with a different nossel and wash the deck, he said it would take a few hours, NAW!!!  I had that thing washed in 15 minutes.  Andy walked up to me and asked "How far have you gotten?"  I told him I was done!  He just looked at me, I hate that look!!

He further instructed me that EACH board had to be pressure washed to take off the stain and get to the bare wood.  WHAT?  That will take HOURS!!!!  So he took over the pressure washer and six and a half hours he had it done!  Boy, was he sore!!!

Mother's Day we brushed and brushed the deck off and put on the new stain, I say we but we all know it was Andy.  Four hours later he had the front finished.  Now I am not mentioning that we had winds come up to about 30 miles per hour and ugly storm clouds with the wind chill about 35 degrees!!!! 

But it got finished and all I can say is:


IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

I took pictures of it so you can see the difference between the two.

Tomorrow we tackle or should I say he tackles the side deck!  I am very happy with the color I picked out too, it will blend really well with the dirt.

The nice thing about this is  that now we have corrected the problem and know how to stain a deck the correct way, next year we will only have to power wash it like I did and not for six and a half hours!

See the difference between the two?

Looks like two different pieces of wood!  Incredible difference!

This is the one that was powered washed and just treated the railing can't wait to get the pictures of it tomorrow!!!

You would think that the way the sunlight is hitting this it is an illusion, but it isn't.  that is the WAY difference in wood. WOW!!!!

More pictures of the transformation to come....