July This and That.....

 

 

 

 Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

 

 Today, I will be sharing a Bit of This and That.......

 

 

But first, I want to Thank Rachelle, over at My Hubbard Home, for featuring my post, July 4th Celebrations, Recipes, Wreath Re-Do's and Destruction,  as the post with the Most Clicks from last week's Friday with Friends Linky Party!!

 

 Thanks so much, Rachelle!!

Please stop by and link up to this wonderful party!!!

 

 

And now for a few Personal Notes...

 

Well, actually this post is going to be all personal notes.....

 

LOL!!

 

All week, Joe and I have been working on our neighbor's slope changing it from looking like this......

to this.......

Yes, there is what I call "Crime Scene" tape up at the top of the slope.....

 

Fear Not.....

 

Neither one of us killed the other.....

 

Yet.....

The previous owners took the crazy girl's ( their niece) word that the attic was cleaned out....

Of course, how could they even look and see if it was when she ripped the attic stairs right down from the ceiling!!!

When the new owner, Trish, put a ladder up there to take a look, it is filled with much of the same stuff that filled a trash compacter AND a dump truck!!!!!

 

 

 

 

According to her contract, the house was to be cleaned out so someone is coming to clean the attic out today ( Sunday) and we do not want them hauling things down the slope like they did when it was cleaned out in the past ....

So hence, the reason for the tape......

I hoped this would be the post about my neighbor's finished slope that I would be sharing today but I am going to save it until Wednesday.....

 

But now you know with any project, even if it does not involve your own house, you get what I call the "Might as Well's".......... 

Or the Snow Ball Effect......

You know what that is.......

Like a snow ball rolling down a hill, getting bigger and bigger......

So it seems every project we do!!

Since the neighbor's yard was looking so good, we then looked at our front yard.....

Hmmmmmm.......

Our azaleas and the rhododendron are about 25 + years old and were getting a bit big, hiding our house......

It is quite evident in these pictures taken around July 4th......

And this one taken around Memorial Day.....

 

 

 

So we thought we "Might as Well" give our Azaleas and Rhododendron a good trimming too......

 

 

The rhododendron was trimmed by Joe.......

 

I trimmed the azalea but in 90 degree heat, I had to quit so I will finish it when it is a bit cooler this week......

And I also trimmed this azalea.....

 

And finding that it is bare inside, I will be cutting it back further.....

 

I had Joe cut this one back quite a bit.....

 

My Father always said that if shrubs and trees were looking a bit old, unruly and looking spent, to cut them down and they will grow back nicely.....

 

We will see if he is right.....

Now you can see more of the front of our townhouse from the parking lot.....

 

 

 

I think it looks so much better......

I have already had neighbors comment on how nice it is to see our front porch and all my decor!!

 

Now of course, after finishing the trimming of those azaleas, I want to take out all the garden art because you know, we "Might as Well" rearrange it!!!

 

So since I am postponing the post about my neighbor's slope until Wednesday..... 

We worked all week in 90 degree heat and "Tropical" dew points which normally, I would have not come out of my air conditioned house for!!

Needlessly to say, It darn near killed me.....

Basically, working outside was all I could manage to do because by the time we were done each day, I came in , took a shower and died in a chair with my legs up on the ottoman....

 

Too tired and sore to do anything else.....

 

My back is killing me with sciatica pain down both legs so today ( Sunday), at the strong suggestion of my son, Joey, I am doing nothing!! 

 

 I will be sitting with my legs up on the ottoman, with a heat pack to my back, browsing Blog posts and Pinterest, watching AGT and Foods that Built America with Joe and Joey, having the famous Revello's Old Forge Pizza for Dinner and then getting in my jammies and watching a few of my shows on Streaming services.....

 

Speaking of that, I just finished watching the 8 part series called Dr. Death on Peacock....

 

It is loosely based on the true story of a Texas Neurosurgeon whose simple back surgeries maimed and killed people and 2 other physicians quest to put him in jail so it could never happen again.....

 

 I thoroughly enjoyed this series and recommend it!!

 

I am also currently watching Season 2 of Why Women Kill, after truly enjoying Season 1 on Paramount +...

 

 I get a lot of good laughs out of this show!!

And Joe and I are watching Season 1 ( there have been 5) of Harrow on HuLu.....

It's an Australian TV Crime show......

 

 

 

A while back, I was totally ticked off that none of our Dollar Stores seemed to have the Lemon dishes that everyone has been posting about for a few years now.....

Until I saw these in Big Lots.......

Now these are more my style!!!!!

So I sent Joe to Big Lots and he bought 4 diner plates and 4 salad plates......

 Used a coupon for $5 off $15, of course!!

 

Once he brought them home, I discovered just how well they will go with the pieces of vintage Fiesta Ware that I have......

 

 I do love the floral pattern on these.....

 

 The yellow and green vintage fiesta ware pieces are almost a perfect color match.....

 

Soon, I will be posting a tablescape that I did using them.....

 

I am glad that I could not find those lemon dishes......

As I like these much better......

I have been making the Betty Crocker recipe for oven porcupines for many years.........

 

THIS is the recipe that I have used for years......

I have made these because I can not eat cabbage and Joe does not like it....

BUT.....

I also like Stuffed Peppers.....

But once again, peppers do the same thing to me because of my IBS and it isn't pretty.....

And Joe does not like those either.....

So I combined the Betty Crocker Recipe for Oven Porcupines and my Mother's recipe for Stuffed Peppers and came up with something new.......

I call them Barna Balls!!!!

LOL!!!!!

The Porcupines call for rice and the Stuffed Peppers call for bread crumbs so I used both.....

 

Here is my very own recipe for Barna Balls......

2 pounds of hamburg 

 

2 eggs

 

3/4 cup of white uncooked rice ( not Minute Rice)

 

1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs

 A couple good sprinkles of Parmesan Cheese.... 

Season with pepper, Italian Seasoning, onion salt, garlic salt, basil and parsley........

Mix together in a large bowl, shape into balls and place in a baking pan

2 cans of Tomato Soup

1 can of water and 2 tsp. of Worcestershire Sauce

Blend together with a wisk and pour over meat mixture

Cover with tin foil and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.....

Remove tin foil and spoon tomato soup mixture over the meat, coating each ball .....

Return to oven and Bake uncovered an additional 15 - 20 minutes.....

I serve them with flavored mashed potatoes or whole boiled potatoes with butter.....

We have been having rain and storms everyday for the past week.....

 

At least I have not had to water my garden and right now, my back yard looks like a jungle!!

 

And yes, it was still raining when I took these pictures this morning ( Sunday).....

We got over an inch of rain in a day several times last week!!

 

 

I have a lot of weeding and cutting back to do but it will wait until this coming week as it is supposed to be cooler with lower humidity....

 One can only hope and pray!!

 

This was the sky the other evening taken from our front porch after one of those rain storms.....

These pictures, I took from the back yard.......

This loosestrife has grown like crazy......

 

The Bees sure do like the blooms......

 

 

 

We cut this Tree in the back yard back a few years ago and it has come back beautifully.......

The other day, I saw a robin building this nest in the Tree......

 

 Do you see the robin??????

 

 

 

 It will be fun to have a "Bird's Eye View" of the eggs when they hatch.....

 

 

 

Since Joe was making multiple trips to our dumpster to dispose of cut branches and what not, he happened to see something in there that he thought I would be interested in.....

 

So he did a bit of Dumpster Diving.....

Pulling this out!!

 

A brand New Crate with the sticker still on it!!!

 

Appears to be never used!!

 

Not sure what I am going to do with it but I am sure I will think of something......

Or do you have any ideas?????

This was a stunning Sun Set after another one of those rain storms......

 

 

 

 

 

And I will leave you for today with this beautiful Sun Set.....

I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

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