Barbeque Baked Beans

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. We went to a cookout at a friend's house. Good food and good friends make for a wonderfull afternoon!

I signed up to bring the baked beans. I thought that I would share the recipe. There will be plenty more opportunities this summer to use this recipe. I will admit that I don't make my everyday baked beans as rich as these are. This is my "party hearty" recipe.

A long time ago I decided that the short cut of using canned pork and beans as a base for these worked just fine. It cuts down on the work and time.

Barbeque Baked Beans

1 2lb can pork and beans. I use whatever is the cheapest. When I'm cooking for a big crowd I use the 7 lb can of Showboat beans and increase the other ingredients accordingly.

1 cup brown sugar ( more or less to taste. More in my case! )

1 cup ketchup

1-2 tablespoons mustard

1 onion chopped

optional: bacon, at least 3 pieces, fried and chopped, or pieces of ham.

molasses, to drizzle over the top. I have used maple syrup with very good results.

Mix all ingredients, except molasses. Place in a pan, drizzle molasses over the top and bake 325 degrees for 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours. I usually cook mine in a 9x13 glass or metal pan which I have lined with foil to make the clean up easier.

I haven't met anybody yet who doesn't love these beans. They taste like you put lots of effort into them but they are really very easy.

New Roads. Changing Attitudes.

My part time job has turned into a full time position. Starting last week I'm full time working 3:30pm-Midnight. I'm still working in our family business as well. My husband and son make most of our signs and I do the finishing work.

Getting back to working in an office has been interesting. I'd dreaded the office drama that always seems to be going on. It doesn't matter if you work for the best company in the world, there is always at least one, and usually more, person that just can't help but cause a little drama.

I've heard the typical "Just between you and me..." statements. I'm pretty good at tuning those out. I like to know who I can trust and who is trouble, but I want to find that out for myself. I don't like gossip and won't believe anything until I see it for myself.

When I was younger I always got betrayed or used because I trusted everyone much too quickly. That is one great thing that aging does for you; if you pay attention you can learn to read people and prevent a lot of personal disappointment.

But sometimes you just don't see it coming. Sometimes the people are so good at it that you would never believe that they would ever take a swipe at you.

Sigh...maybe I'm not as good at reading people as I thought I was.

To my credit, I did kind of have a suspicion, but I didn't want to believe it. Today I found out. During a meeting a lady who has treated me wonderfully since I have been here hit me with a left jab. I had forgotten to do something that I am supposed to do. Something that is important, but not earth shaking. But even so, I should have remembered.

She had seen it a few days ago but waited until she got in the meeting with our supervisor until she bothered to point it out. I guess to make herself look good to our supervisor. I think it is because our supervisor was praising some of my ideas earlier this week and I think it may have made her feel a little threatened. I don't know.

Twenty years ago I would have been very upset by it all. I'm surprised by the fact that all I feel is sorry for her. I'm sorry that she has so much fear that she would find comfort at another's expense and such a need to build her own self up.

I have to examine my own work, not in respect to what she has to say, or even my supervisor, but how I feel about it. The only person that I can blame is myself if things don't meet the standards that I set for myself. No one can make me a failure. Only I can do that.

Tennessee road nighttime and in the rain

The Times, They Are A Changing.

This week I went on my first job interview since 1984. I got the job! It is a part time job as a receptionist and doing paperwork for an Senior citizen home care provider/assisted living facility.

It feels good to get back out into the "real" working world again. I've worked for myself for the past 25 years, and will continue to work in our business during the week.

The biggest challenge right now is to find a frugal way to build a professional wardrobe. Working at home and doing the type of work we do, my wardrobe consist of mainly blue jeans and tee shirts.

I've managed to find quite a few items on clearance at stores like Catos and have enough to get started with a basic mix and match black based wardrobe.

I haven't been around here much because we have been busy with so many things. My daughter has been here for 2 months. She leaves tomorrow.

My son was injured (dislocated knee, torn ligaments) while moving out of state and it has been very stressful for us to figure out how we can best help him. He is over 14 hours driving time from here and flying back and forth is out of the question. He is an adult and capable of handling most of the details himself but needs help getting around and finishing his move. I'm waiting for the details about his surgery to be finalized.

One thing is for certain: Life is always going to be a challenge. Sometimes it is very difficult to find something to be grateful for in the middle of the chaos. But it truly makes all the difference between living life or just merely existing and enduring to the end.

Pic: Roses in a small bowl. Special effects done in Photoscape.

The Invisible Woman

The Invisible Woman from WAV Technologies on Vimeo.

What I Found Surfing: The Right Way To Package Bake Sale Goodies!

Take a look at the FANTASTIC packaging that Lisa at Celebrating Creativity did on Banana bread for a bake sale. I would want to buy them all if I had been there. Lisa's blog is a really fun place full of great ideas. Tell her Carrie sent you.

Pic: Property of Lisa at Celebrating Creativity

Thinking Outside The Box

What a brilliant idea! A simple solution to a problem that plagues many third world countries, electrical lighting. This could be adapted to supply lighting for outbuildings of all sorts.

Economic Times

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the small men by tearing down the big men.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves"

attributed to Abraham Lincoln

Pic: Small town America. Hot Springs, NC.

I'm Still Here

I'm still around, barely. I've been battling bronchitis for a few weeks now. I think I'm almost over it. My daughter is here for a couple of months before she starts her summer job. We went out of town for a few days at Easter. We have been having some repairs done to our house and I've been trying to finish some projects around here.

I haven't completely abandoned blogs. I try to check on the regulars as often as possible.

Here is a link to a wonderful post from Crafty Crow. She has links to some wonderful recycling projects that would keep the kids busy for hours. Hmmm....and maybe the adults too!

Pic: Navarre Beach Easter 2009, It was rainy and windy. I loved it.

AccuWeather: Arthritis Index

I'm getting old. Shhhh....don't tell. One of the things that I'm having to deal with is stiffness and soreness in joints and muscles. I've noticed that the weather has a direct impact on how I'm going to wake up feeling. Something that I have found that is a wonderful help is the Arthritis Index that is part of the AccuWeather site.

I have the AccuWeather tool bar on my desktop. If we have any bad weather alerts there is a pop up that will alert me. I love it. I don't always have the TV or radio on but I usually check my mail a couple of times a day.

The Arthritis Index is something that I have just recently noticed. Below you can see a close up of the index on the AccuWeather site. and below you can read their description of the index.

From the AccuWeather site: The fact that weather has an effect on how arthritis is felt by its sufferers is well documented, with surveys showing as many as 93% of arthritis sufferers believing that weather affects their pain level, and 68% believing that weather severely affects their pain level.

Patients with arthritis often claim they can predict the weather, based upon their pain level, and a number of studies have been conducted to test this hypothesis. While these studies show that the effects of weather can vary from person to person, many show that arthritis pain is increased by a variety of weather factors, which may swell inflamed arthritic joints, stretching the inflamed joint lining and capsule, thereby increasing the pain of arthritis.

Among the types of weather that may increase joint sensitivity and arthritic pain are:

1. Changes in atmospheric pressure, especially falling pressure

2. Changes in temperature, especially lowering temperature

3. High or increasing relative or absolute humidity

4. Relatively low atmospheric pressure

5. Low temperatures

6. Precipitation

Arthritic pain can be especially severe when these conditions are combined, such as during chilly, damp weather when pressure is low and falling.

Now, AccuWeather has developed an index that combines all of the weather factors that may affect arthritis sufferers, and summarizes the most likely severity of weather-related arthritis pain in one easy-to-understand scale, from Low to Extreme. Available exclusively on AccuWeather.com, the AccuWeather Arthritis Index forecasts this level for each of the next several days, so arthritis sufferers can have advanced notice of when they are most likely to have increased pain, allowing them to take appropriate medication and to better plan activities.

What I Saw: Spring Blossoms

What I Found Surfing: One Semester Spanish Love Song

We are in the middle of a Spanish course at our house. It has been a struggle. I found this video that just cracked me up and thought I would share it.

What I Found Surfing: Online Pedometer

Keep track of your miles as you walk across your state, or across America; and keep track of how many calories you burn

Picture: The road home on a foggy evening.