Hello Kittens & Pups! It’s the last Wednesday of November and the month really clicked by unprecedentedly fast. I guess it’s because I had too many irons in the fire and when you’re busy, time sorta skirts by unnoticed. Nothing is finer in the summertime than that cold, creamy frozen taste of ice cream! Occasionally, we’ll make a special trip south of Knoxville to Loudon to visit the Tic Toc Ice Cream Parlor. They make their own ice cream and boy, is it yummy!
Next is my Wednesday Hodgepodge segment hosted by Joyce. This is an excellent way to get to know your fellow blogger and you’re invited to play alone.
1. What’s something blogging has taught you about yourself? I’m still a work-in-progress but what I’ve learned from blogging is carefully critiquing my writing. I still make plenty of goofs but I catch more than I used to, so that’s a good thing in my opinion.
2. Leftovers…are you in the ‘reheat and eat’ camp or the ‘put them in the fridge until they spoil and then toss them’ camp? What’s your favorite thing to have leftover? What can you not abide by as a leftover? We are leftover fans. There is nothing we do not like, we enjoy it all until it’s gone.
3. ‘Me time‘…your thoughts? Most of my time is “me time” now that we are empty nesters. I enjoy every aspect of doing things around the house, even the chores. I feel more in control of things than I did when the house was full. Of course I miss those days but I’m in a new phase and I can take life easy. I reckon I truly call the “me time” things I love doing like sketching or photographing or anything creative which includes blogging.
4. When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with? It seems the only time people come to me is when they need help. I know that’s not right but it honestly it seems this way and generally what they need is money. Seriously, do I look like an ATM? lol
5. If your childhood had a smell what would it be? Tell us why. Cotton candy because it was such a sweet time filled with lots of good friends and loving family.
6. Insert your own random thought here. This week, I made my first batch of Christmas candy! It’s an easy recipe. I hope you like it. 🙂
Just so you’ll know, I dipped some in Ghirardelli White Chocolate Candy Melting Wafers, 10 Ounce, too. Both versions are excellent if I say so myself but you be the judge and give it a try for your crew!
I’m gonna round things out with a little poem I penned for this week’s prompt of “In Other Words…SHOPPING“.
Shopping
©2017 Cathy Kennedy
Shopping, shopping, shopping makes me giddy
It puts my check account in a tizzy
Instead of green
It’s now red
No moo-lah January 1 I dread
Paying the bills isn’t funny
Shopping, shopping, shopping makes me ill instead
Seriously, this isn’t me but I couldn’t resist getting a little crazy with this prompt especially now we’re in the thralls of Christmas shopping. 🙂
I’ll see you on Friday for a bit of laughs with A Twisted Christmas #BoTB showdown. Life is easy-going for Curious as a Cathy during the holiday season where there’s no bah-hum-bugs allowed, just bunches of Ho-Ho-Ho and a lot of jolly good fun. I took the liberty of scheduling posts in advance through the rest of the year. Comments viewed daily and return visits followed in short order. Let’s have the hap-hap-happiest season of all!
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Your peanut butter balls are what I call “buckeyes” since I am from Ohio…have made hem many times but haven’t in years…you have inspired me! Andy Williams has always been a favorite…especially the Christmas specials!
Debby,
The first time I ever had ‘Buckeyes’ was at a Christmas party during my teen years. Our Sunday School teacher who happens to be my BIL’s wife’s aunt threw the shindig and served these tasty morsels of chocolate and PB. It was love at first bite! Of course, it wasn’t until adulthood I had a desire to make homemade candy. I’ve been making this recipe for 2+ decades. It’s a family tradition. 🙂 I think everyone loves Andy Williams but then what’s not to like about him? He had a fabulously smooth voice!
That candy looks so good, and i agree any place that makes its own ice cream is bound to be delicious.
Mimi,
Yep, usually shops that make their own ice cream is good stuff!
A very delicious post!
Kathe,
Thanks! 😉
I haven’t been through Loudon in several years though I pass through Lenoir City whenever I’m driving from the west to Maryville. Not familiar with the ice cream place. I have a friend who lives down the road from there in Philadelphia (TN) and he probably knows about this though he’s not supposed to eat ice cream anymore (much to his dismay).
That candy looks great. Something else that I probably shouldn’t have, but would tempt me if it were close at hand.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Lee,
Well…if you love ice cream and let’s be honest, who doesn’t then whenever you pass through Loudon then you may want to try them. There’s another local diary Cruz Farms that makes ice cream. We’ve had it once in Pigeon Forge but I noticed either this summer or last that they have a storefront downtown. We’re going to have to make a special trip to Gay Street to try ’em out again! Ice cream has to be one of my greatest weaknesses!
Mmmm on those Peanut Butter Balls. Icecream is good any time of the year. Great song choices.
Ida,
I agree ice cream is good year round and we do enjoy it even in the dead of winter. 🙂
I miss Summer and ice creams. Lovely photo Cathy. Thanks for sharing at The Wednesday Blog Hop 🙂
Claire,
Just because summer is over doesn’t mean the ice cream season is. Grab a spoon and dig into your favorite anytime! Thanks for the return visit, my friend.
I ate a whole bunch of the chocolate peanut butter balls. My favorite.
Have a fabulous day, Cathy. ♥
Sandee,
I love sampling virtual goodies! Like Mary from Jingle Jangle Jungle pointed out on Monday about My Thanksgiving Dinner playlist it’s calorie-free for seconds and thirds. 🙂
What a wonderful Post & Andy Williams too!!!!! WOO HOO! Only thing is I have to run to the dentist cuz my tooth is driving me NUTS! Gonna get the bugger fixed. So your tune will keep me company getting ready. THANKS CAT! LUV YA GAL!
Marie,
I’m sorry to hear you have a tooth bothering you. No one likes going to the dentist. It’s definitely not my favorite place to be but I’m learning how to handle those trips better as time passes. It’s just one of those evils you have to put up with for the greater good. 🙂
The cake balls look great and I love the pic. Thanks for hosting and have a wonderful rest of the week.
Patrick,
LOL, you’re the second person who thought these are cake balls. This is like a Reeses’ cup except shape like a ball. Some people call them ‘Buckeyes’ because they usually dip them part way in chocolate but I like the full dip and simply call them PB balls. 🙂
Oh peanut butter and chocolate always a delicious combo ~ thanks, ^_^
Happy Week to you,
A ShutterBug Explores
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Carol,
Yep, chocolate and PB are a purrfect combo! H.B. Resse invented the Reese’s PB cup in 1928 which makes him a genius in my opinion. These two flavors pair excellently well together!
I love peanut butter and chocolate; thanks for the recipe share!
You’re most welcome. You’re gonna like this recipe! 🙂
I agree you are busy heheh!
I want some of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls & The White Candy Wafers 🙂
I have always loved the Andy Williams track it’s used on a Christmas ad every year here
Have a butterballtastic week and thanks for not sitting by Cathy 🙂
Steve,
It’s the happiest time of the year to be busy, busy, busy! 🙂 I really get into all the holiday fanfare – decorating, candy making, baking, … I’m not elaborate but I do have fun with it all. Thanks for the return visit, my friend. Have a funtastic day!
Goodness! You certainly are busy over there! It is always fun to learn more about friends. Thanks for sharing, Cathy! Hugs!
Annie,
This is the kind of busy I enjoy. It feels more fun than anything else and that makes me happy!
Always nice to learn more about you and it makes me happy to see you had a happy childhood. Thanks for sharing the recipe, they look so tasty, especially the white chocolate ones. Have a great day!
Ellen,
Thanks for visiting this morning. I did have a happy, simple childhood with loving parents. I consider myself blessed!
Hi, Cathy!
Several items in this post got me thinking, beginning with the “Blogging has taught me about myself” prompt. Blogging has taught me that I don’t need to be a joiner, that I can be happier doing my own thing and doing it my way, that I can be myself and also take on the personalities of other characters from time to time, and that genuine friends will find me and stand by me regardless of the content. I compare blogging to shopping. You might enter a shop, browse around, examine the merchandise and conclude that you don’t wish to buy anything, yet while you are there you happen to strike up a conversation with the friendly shopkeeper and a lasting friendship is born. You enjoy going back to that shop again and again because you know that a friend awaits you there. In blogging it is the relationship that matters most. You are one of my greatest friends, Cathy. You keep your promises, like you did when you returned to comment more fully on my previous post. Thank you very much for doing that! It takes a little more time and effort to find something interesting to write as a comment and you consistently do that. You are the type of friend I cherish.
Mrs. S typically makes too much food and we can’t even plow through all the leftovers before they spoil. Therefore she often freezes much of it for future meals. I love my “me” time. It makes me feel centered and focused. After nearly two years of having another family member living with us, our situation is about to change next month when he moves away. I look forward to the nest being empty once again. Your answer to the “When people come to you for help” prompt could easily have been written by Mrs. Shady and countless other parents of grown children. She is constantly complaining that nobody in the family ever picks up the phone just to say hello and ask how she’s going. Seems the only time children and grandchildren contact her is when they need money (which is often).
If my childhood had a smell it would be “clean” or some type of cleaner. That’s because my mother was a meticulous housekeeper and prided herself on keeping a clean, comfortable home. There was a downside because she didn’t allow me to have a dog, fearing the pet would mess up the house too much, but as I look back I am thankful to have grown up in a neat, tidy, clean house, an experience many other children were denied.
I heard the lyrics “those gay happy meetings” as Andy Wms. sang “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” reminding us again of how the word gay was commonly used in our language to mean “carefree” until that undetermined tipping point when the new meaning of the word was used more widely than its original meaning, I’m thinking that occurred in the late 60s. Wiki has some interesting examples of late use of the original meaning: { “Later examples of the original meaning of the word being used in popular culture include the theme song to the 1960–1966 animated TV series The Flintstones, whereby viewers are assured that they will “have a gay old time.” Similarly, the 1966 Herman’s Hermits song “No Milk Today”, which became a Top 10 hit in the UK and a Top 40 hit in the U.S., included the lyric “No milk today, it was not always so / The company was gay, we’d turn night into day.” In June 1967, the headline of the review of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in the British daily newspaper The Times stated, “The Beatles revive hopes of progress in pop music with their gay new LP”. }
Have a wonderful Wednesday, dear friend Cathy!
Tom,
I’m finding my way around blogging more comfortably and am trying to make this more of experience for me but like you I want to encompass the friends I’ve made through blogging into my life as much as possible. This is a benefit I had not expected but am happy to have been given the gift of so many good ones, like you. I freeze all of our leftovers because we have the same problem of it spoiling before we can eat it all. The invention of the microwave has been a lifesaver of modern times making it easy to go from freezer to table in minutes. Oh, I certainly hear Mrs. S because that sounds like something I’d say. Why can’t they just pick up the phone to say, “How are you doing or I miss you?” I often dread when the phone rings because I’m sure it’s going to be a request for money. I don’t think I or we would deal well with having any of our kids to live with us again after they’ve been out for so long. I’m spoiled and enjoy my alone time but it’s nice having them for visits. I hope next year this time we’ll be in a larger home so we can accommodate them all at once and even have them stay over. It’s way too cramp now but I’m hopeful of good things to come in 2018. The word use of “gay” certainly is different today versus then. As I said before, I don’t get the connection of being a homosexual and the word gay. Are we not all happy about our sexual orientation? *smack forehead* lol It’s nice seeing you here today, my friend. I’ll be by your place in a few.
The Andy Williams song/album is my favorite Christmas music!!!
Mmmmm, cotton candy!
I have an Andy William Christmas CD or two and they are my favorites, too. His voice is just magical. Thanks for popping over today! 😉
Oh, I love cake balls!
Deb,
These aren’t cake balls. It’s candy. Think resses’ cups and that’s what you have. 🙂