Getting a whole new outlook/look in 2015

just call me the Copper Top!

So here's the low down on my smile in case you really wanted to know and are too shy to ask. No, I haven't had botox injections or a face lift. Thanks to the ones that did bite the bullet and ask that question. It has made me laugh so much!  I did start using a fantastic skin care product called Hydroxatone  http://hydroxatone.com/ and Bellaplex that has made my dermatologist Dr. Loria tell me that my skin is in better shape now than it was 10 years ago.  What I have done is got fitted with new dentures, I'm using a great skin cream, I drink a lot of water  and walk and work in the yard, and I have gone beyond the usual route to brighten up my hair color. I just flat out put a copper color on it! 

 A person's smile can a whole lot about them.    A small child is cute with a gap toothed grin.....a gap tooth grin on an adult is not. 

I always had big teeth.  not cutsey little pearly whites....I had big ole beaver teeth.  I loved my teeth, well not so much when I had to go to the dentist.  Dr. Waites, God rest his soul, had the chairside manner of a Tasmanian Devil, and he filled many a dental carie on me....and no nitros oxide to inhale to calm me down either. He had those big ole teeth straight and pretty in spite of a great deal of pain, but I had a smile that I wasn't ashamed of and I have the pictures to prove it.  That smile was with me until 2002.  By that time a life changing event was in control.

I was diagnosed with DCIS breast cancer in May of 2000.  I was very fortunate to have caught it in the earliest stages and it had not spread and was easily removed with a radical mastectomy.  I refused 6 weeks of traditional chemo-therapy and opted to take Tamoxifen pills daily for 5 years.  There are a few side affects with the pill therapy but nothing I could not handle.  Thankfully I didn't have many.  My hair did thin somewhat, but I have such a thick head of red hair, that was not an issue and not noticeable at all.  Two odd side affects did occur though....leave it to me that I would have the two that don't happen every day.

While taking the Tamoxifen for breast cancer, I had two of the rarest side effects. Cataracts and my teeth started dying. The cataracts were an easy fix after my five years of swallowing pills was over. The teeth were another story. They had to go to prevent other illnesses from happening. Sooo I have had dentures since 2003. At the time my insurance considered it vanity so it didn't pay a lot toward getting the best fit and a proper set.  The dentures that I have worn for 12 years were not my big beaver teeth and they never did fit correctly. My facial features changed and I  can't even begin to describe the smile but it was not my face or my smile. I didn't recognize myself in the mirror any longer.   I was 50 years old and I had lost my smile.   

Before my Mom was diagnosed with cancer, she and I had talked about going to get new dentures. She had worn dentures since she was young.  We were both saving up for some new chompers but put those thoughts on hold when she got sick.  Before she died in October, she made me promise that I would go and get my smile back.  And I did.

I made an appointment with Dr. Huggins at Oxford Dental Clinic. https://www.facebook.com/oxforddentalms ; http://northmississippidental.com/ I had seen photos of his work and I knew that he was very talented at giving people a beautiful smile.  I sucked up the courage and went in and showed him the younger pictures and I said I want my smile back. I want my big ole beaver teeth. He took measurements and made me gag many times with those impressions and I made many trips up there over the last 3 months getting things just right. When I saw my self for the first time I started crying because it was my face again. Sure it's 20 years older but it's my old familiar face I used to see.I was so excited about my new teeth that I posted a selfie from the parking lot!  Within 20 minutes my phone rang and my college roomie wanted to know if I had gotten a facelift or botox!  I just laughed.  These new teeth are better than a nip and tuck and a needle.   My features are realigning and every day I see subtle changes in my features as the correct shape is coming back. I recognize the woman in the mirror again and I like her. So does my husband and my daughters. You really do get what you pay for. And it also helps when you go see a dentist that has the eye of an artist and compassion for the person.  Thank you Dr. Huggins!  You are the best!

 So there you have it. Thank you Mama. I got my smile back.

Glamour shot in 1994,  41 years old. big ole beaver teeth

                                                                                   

Jan 24 at 9 am with the old teeth.  who is this old woman!
look at the square jaw and those non-existant teeth.
that is not a smile.

2 pm Jan. 24. I look like a 61 year old version of the 1994 me again!
Thank you Dr. Huggins!  I look happy again!

Flamingos do not believe that a Yankee Ground Hog is correct

Ground Hog Day my frozen butt!  It may be 6 more weeks of winter in Pennsylvania but I don't think that fat ground living rodent that is poked awake each year is a good weather prognosticator.  Sure its about 6 weeks before the Vernal Equinox arrives on March 20th at 5:45 pm Central Time.  So yes.....we actually have 7 more weeks until the Season called Winter is over.  But that damn yankee of a ground hog doesn't know anything about winters in South and we can be frozen one day and in flip flops and shorts the next.  I figure statistically old Pux Phil is wrong about 30 to 40 percent of the time.  So anytime his handlers say speak for him I just reverse what they say.  The northern part of the US is probably going to be colder but we are going to be seeing some rainy weather .

I copied and pasted this from the Farmers Almanac.  I trust them more than the fat rodent.

FEBRUARY 2015: temperature 46° (1° below avg.); precipitation 4" (1" below avg.); Feb 1-6: Rain to snow, then sunny, cold; Feb 7-14: Rain, then sunny, cold; Feb 15-19: Showers, then sunny, cold; Feb 20-25: Rainy periods, mild;Feb 26-28: Sunny, seasonable.

MARCH 2015: temperature 53° (3° below avg.); precipitation 5" (1" below avg.); Mar 1-3: Sunny, mild; Mar 4-9: Rain, then sunny, cool; Mar 10-14: Rainy, cool; Mar 15-23: Showers, cool; Mar 24-31: T-storms, then sunny, cool.

Annual Weather Summary: November 2014 to October 2015

Winter will be much colder than normal, with below-normal precipitation. Snowfall will be near or slightly above normal in the north, but significant snowfall is unlikely in central or southern areas. The coldest periods will occur in late December and January, with the snowiest periods across the north in mid- and late December and early January.

April and May will be warmer than normal, with rainfall above normal in all but easternmost areas.

Summer will be hotter than normal, with near-normal rainfall despite hurricane threats in mid- and late July. The hottest periods will occur in early to mid-June, mid- to late June, mid- to late July, and late August.

September and October will be warmer than normal, with a hurricane threat in mid-September.

Vonda's Italian Wedding Soup

The Starship Flamingo didn't leave the driveway this weekend.  She needs her engine checked to make sure shes not running a fever or anything and just to make me more comfortable with some of her little engine growls she makes.  So we stayed home. Since it is Super Bowl Sunday, I decided to make my Italian Wedding Soup.  Its great and I always have to share some.  My friend Sara asked me a long time ago for the recipe and she makes it for her sweet husband now.  I have to ask her for my recipe at times because I misplace mine a lot!  Its a scribbled out butter spattered piece of paper!  But today I have put it in my Blog to share with everyone that has asked about it today.  Sooooooo...

Here, as promised, is my recipe for Italian Wedding Soup.  Thanks to Chef Fabio and Chef Barbara Giacometti for the inspiration and for teaching me in patient little baby chef steps to cook Italian recipes and in that style for a couple of years.  I love anything from the Mediterranean area, but Italian cuisine is my fav.  This is a great soup that will freeze well and travel well in the RV too.

this will be step by step with photos (19 of them) so it should be fairly easy to follow.  just get all of your ingredients out and ready so you can devote your attention to your soup.

Italian Wedding soup isn't served at weddings.  It is about the marriage of everyday ingredients that blend together and make a wonderful savory soup that is comforting and healthy and filling.  Good for cold rainy days and days when you just need some loving from the kitchen.

you will need......
1 HUGE sweet yellow onion
4 long ribs of crisp celery.
a healthy handful of sweet baby carrots
1 Tablspoon of minced garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1 cup of Orzo (or substitute rice or any small pasta if you have no Orzo)
1 pound of lean ground beef (85/15) (Or ground Turkey/chicken or ground pork)
2 Sweet Italian Sausages (Johnsonville is good)
6 cups of chicken broth (Swanson, Sweet Sue, Store Brand or homemade)
1 stick of BUTTER plus 2 Tablespoons
1 8oz. bag of fresh baby spinach leaves
1 cup of shredded parmigiana cheese
1 cup of Seasoned Panko Breadcrumbs
3 large fresh eggs, beaten
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp. seasalt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp. sage
1/4 thyme

start with sweet yellow onion, carrots and celery 

chop chop chop

don't chop super fine but you don't what it all chunky

in a pre heated skillet add 2 TBLS. butter,2 TBL EVOO, minced garlic and veggies with a tsp. of sea salt and let them start sweating!

while the veggies are sweating and getting fragrant I'm starting on the meat balls. the aroma is going to drive you crazy!

1 cup panko bread crumbs, 1 pound of lean ground beef (your preff), 1 healthy cup of fresh shredded parm cheese and 3 eggs

stirring the veggies. I want them to be a little golden not crispy!
then add to the big soup pot of simmering chicken broth and the stick of butter.

adding the dry ingredients. the bread crumbs, the cheese, a pinch og sea salt, some basil, some thyme,a hint of sage

mix it all up till dry and chunky

beat the eggs and pour them in. mix it all up with your hands.

roll into teaspoon sized balls 

into a hot skillet with water. yes  that cup and a half of water I told you to set aside..... it braises them and draws out the fat leaving you with goodness! 
turn them when they are getting brown. keep adding the water. Let them rest while you tend to the veggies.

into the veggie pot that is simmering chicken broth. the wedding is beginning. its about the marriage of flavors.

measureing the Orzo. needs about 6 oz. of orzo pasta. or 1 cup of rice or 1 cup of small pasta you have on hand.  Orzo is preferred because it makes it so creamy!

Popeye would love this soup. It has a huge bag of fresh spinach in it!
the whole bag!

adding the spinach and the Orzo

watching it wilt.

add meat balls and simmer after about 15 to 20 minutes it is ready to inhale!

 

Italian Wedding Soup. A marriage of flavors that you would not believe will work! thank you Chef Fabio for the inspiration! A good white wine or red will work with this one.  Some crispy fresh bread on the side for dipping and sopping...enjoy! 

Taking the leap and going on the first RV trip.

The Maiden Voyage of the Starship Flamingo 

Stardate 01162015. This is the maiden voyage of the Starship Flamingo; boldly "Boundering" where we have never Bounded before.......

After many weeks of working on the RV and trying to figure out what needed to be in it and what didn't, we decided to take her out for a trial run.  Not too far away that if something went wrong we couldn't get home and not too close that it didn't feel like an adventure.  Since it was a football playoff weekend Scott didn't want to travel too far that we couldn't be home in time for the 2PM kickoff.  So the decision was made to travel to the Northern terminus of the Natchez Trace.  

After searching on line for RV parks we decided upon the privately owned Fall Hollow Campgrounds at mile marker 391 on the Natchez Trace.  

We headed at around 5:15 pm as soon as Scott got home from work.  I already had the motor running on the RV and the slides in and everything stowed away inside.  Scott's job as Captain of the big ship was to unplug the shore power and stow the cords and do the walk around.  We settle ourselves in the cockpit and buckle up and start rolling forward and an awful noise started.....CRAP!  the tv antenna was still deployed and caught in the maple tree.  
(Note to the Captain:  please go through the check list with the co-pilot and crank down the antenna.  She wasn't the one watching tv earlier and didn't think about it being up.)
I spent most of the day Friday planning our menu and buying groceries for the trip.  there was one catch....the cold cold weather had caused us to run out of propane so we were going to have to fill up the propane tank.  That proved to be a problem. Wednesday I called the U-Haul place in Tupelo and they assured me that we could fill up there as long as they had 30 minutes notice.  Well.....I called them before we left Bruce and gave them nearly 2 hours notice....but when we arrived, the dude outside didn't want to move the trucks he had put right in the path so it was no propane for the evening.  Thank the Lord we had the EdenPure heater inside and an electric blanket on the bed.  I'm still pretty miffed about the U-Haul place.

After the fruitless search in Tupelo for propane, we headed North on the Natchez Trace going to our destination of Fall Hollow.  I called ahead to let them know we would not arrive until after 9:30 and they said just drive on in and find a spot and set up camp and come to the office in the morning.  

We arrived at Fall Hollow around 9:30 and found a great spot and set up. even without the propane to run our furnace we were warm.  I was disappointed about not being able to cook the breakfast I had planned but the convection oven worked great baking the biscuits.  And we were pleasantly surprised to discover that our on demand hot water heater was not just propane it was also electric.  Yay for finding out about that!  

We went by the office to pay and to ask directions to the nearest propane dealer.  another surprise awaited us.  I knew the owner from many years back. Billy Roper, the owner introduced us to some of the regular coffee drinking travelers there, as the daughter of the only person he ever knew that had owned a DeLorian.  Yep that would be me.  My Dad once owned a DeLorian.  But that is another story of another time.  Billy and his wife Kathy were once in Tupelo and had a car dealership there.  I never did find out how they ended up being the owners of an RV campground but it didn't matter.  It made this maiden voyage even better.  

Billy told us to go to the Tractor Supply on Hwy 412 in Hohenwald, TN, about 6 miles west of the Campground, where we were quickly filled with propane, and we headed back to the Trace and started on our adventure du jour of reaching the terminus.  

Jackson Falls at mile marker 404.7 was a beautiful stop and a steep climb (900 feet down and then back up!) for us but worth the time and effort not to mention the exercise and the view.

steep trail with no guard rails. 

long way down

frozen falls.

We found the second trail that had guard rails and a wider path down.  I was not about to try the primitive trail across the top of that ridge!.

At mile marker 438.0 The double arched bridge at Birdsong Hollow over TN Highway 96 is something to see.  Its also right beside Wynonna Judds ranch.  we were standing out the bridge looking right over her big house.  the wind is something standing on the bridge.  

We went on to the very end to mile marker 444 and turned around for our trip back south to camp for the evening.  This portion of the Trace is beautiful and has many stops along it. 

We had a fantastic dinner at Fall Hollow Campgrounds Restaurant .  If you find your way there I highly recommend the grilled pork chops or the grilled chicken and sweet potato fries.  They are Vardaman Sweet Potato fries!  We found a little taste of home away from home.  

After waking up bright and early for the trip back to home base, We looked around our campgrounds and took a few pictures.  It is very nice and peacful, not overly developed, and very reasonable. the hosts make you feel like family and will introduce you to everyone so don't be shy.  

Restaurant/Office.  be sure and check out the Amish riding lawn mower. 

Big Swan Creek

Big Swan Creek

Campgrounds has 30 and 50 amps and water hookups

 

dump station

On the trip back we made a couple of stops.  One was at the Meriweather Lewis Memorial and gravesite at mile marker 385.9.  There is also a campground, hiking trails, picnic area, parking and restrooms and exhibits.  

At mile marker 328.6 - 327.9 is the Parkway's longest bridge that crosses the Tennessee River.

There is a nice Fishing and Boating area on the southern end of it 327.3 Colbert Ferry.  Its another must see historical site.  

We stopped at Mile Marker 308.4 to see the Cave Spring and  eat a quick lunch.  

You really need to stop and get out to check this site out.  you can't really see it from the road or the parking area.  its worth it to check it out.  And the little parking area is larger enough for an RV to park to each some lunch.  

We were back home in time for the 2PM kickoff. Scott parked the RV and got her hooked back to shore power.  I stayed in and cleaned up and made note of what needed to be replaced in the fridge.  

All in all it was a great first little adventure and the the first of many many more.  Fall Hallow Campgrounds will always be our destination to spend the night on future trips to that part of the Trace.  We give it a big Thumbs up for ease of entrance, peacefulness and the food is was great and if you know me, I am a major foodie and love to cook for myself.  If I eat what someone else has cooked its a major deal!  Great job to the chief cook and bottle washer Billy Roper.  Hope y'all check out their campground on your next trip on the Natchez Trace.