Just like the Harry Potter movies, that I can watch over and over again....The Hobbit movie series and The Lord of the Rings movie series are also movies that I can as well. These movies are rather long though, coming in at almost 3 hours each! Therefore, I never watch them when they are on broadcast TV. I only watch on HBO or some other non-commercial outlet.
They are just so beautiful. They are so well written and wonderful adaptations of the books. The special effects are incredible, and they are so entertaining and just so....well...eloquent. The musical score throughout the movies only add to the magic of it.
Today, I'm having a Hobbit movie marathon and while watching the ending credits of the 2nd Hobbit movie "The Desolation of Smaug", I heard and was reminded of this hauntingly beautiful song by Ed Sheeran. I never heard it on the radio but in my opinion, it should have gotten a lot of airplay.
Back when I was a very young kid in the 1960s. Ready made food and easy meal preps were becoming more popular in the late 1950s until the early 1970s due to more households acquiring televisions (think TV Dinners) and more mothers going to work.
Mom's needed quick and easy ways to prepare meals. When you go to the grocery store now, an entire aisle is dedicated to pasta and various brands upon brands and abundant varieties of pasta sauces. However, in the 1960s, you didn't have those options and foods like "spaghetti" (believe it or not) was considered kind of unusual for most Americans.
Kraft decided their Kraft Dinner (aka: Macaroni and Cheese) was a hit so decided to bring something new to the market....Kraft Spaghetti Dinner. Originally, there were 2 kinds..."Mild" (which apparently was more sweeter, probably to fit kid's taste) and "Tangy", which provided a more authentic Italian tomato taste.
It appears that all you can get now, is the Classic Tangy Spaghetti Dinner.
It couldn't be easier. It comes with everything you need except for the tomato paste. Today, you can get a box for about $2 and a can of tomato paste for about $0.79. So for about $3, you can serve your family of four! It even comes with grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.
Of course most people would add a side salad or maybe some garlic bread to complete the meal, but you don't have to.
Apparently, at some point in time, Kraft made a spaghetti dinner with meat sauce too, but I can find no evidence that is still available.
Recently, I found a box of the Classic Tangy Spaghetti Dinner at Publix and since I haven't had in about a hundred years, I decided to get a box.
Personally, I thought it needed a little extra "oomph" so I added a pound of cooked ground beef.
It was so easy to make, I boiled 3 cups of water in a saucepan and added the noodles and let them boil until they were al dente. Meanwhile, I browned the ground beef, drained it, added a 6 oz. can of tomato paste and 2 cans of water along with the seasoning mix. It took less than 10 minutes.
I admit, the word "Tangy" kind of threw me because I didn't want it to
taste "Tangy" or like Chef Boyardee and to my happiness and joy, it
didn't. It tasted like most jarred pasta sauces, such as Ragu, Prego, etc. It was very good. I liked that it came with the grated Parmesan which gave it that special little extra.
I also like, that it made enough for me to have for dinner plus enough for left overs for a couple of meals.
The verdict - actually pretty good and tasty. Great value and something I would definitely make again!
Debbie Field, of Madame Stitch (not to be confused with Debbi Fields, the founder of Mrs. Field's Cookies), is starting a crochet-a-long (CAL) for her Cenise Shawl.
The CAL begins on August 5th and since I am making prayer shawls for church, I thought this would be a fun project
A DK weight, superwash merino yarn has been especially hand-dyed just for this shawl. The colorway is called "Wild Blue"
Wild Blue is a bright cobalt blue that is a tonal semi-solid blue hand dyed yarn with light speckles of the same blue dye. It's inspired by jumping into a cool lake on a hot summer day. Which is why its perfect for a CAL in August!
I suppose you could substitute another DK weight yarn/color. But I rather like this and it was dyed specifically for this CAL.
I'm looking forward to starting it. It's been a while since I've participated in a CAL and this isn't a big project so I think it will be perfect.
The comic strip character "Nancy" was first introduced in the comic strip "Fritz Ritz" in 1933, she was introduced as Fritz' 8 year old niece but she became so popular that the strip was changed in 1938 and became "Nancy".
I've always enjoyed Nancy. It is a nice, uncomplicated little comic with her Aunt Fritz and Nancy's friend "Sluggo"
Well..last month for some unknown reason...Nancy's drawings changed. As far as I am aware, the artist didn't change, but the strip is drawn differently.
Let me just say I AM NOT A FAN of the change. Nancy and her little friend Sluggo were cute and looked like little comic strip kids. I mean just look at how cute they are.
Now...they are just kind of basic line drawings that I can only guess are drawn on a computer, instead of being hand drawn. In addition, they look like teens now instead of cute little 8 year olds.
I have not been able to find any explanation for this change. The closest thing I found was this strip, which doesn't explain the reason for the change, but let's just say they started looking different after this. By the way I went to the website listed there in the last panel but it didn't give any information.
Look how Aunt Fritz used to look. A woman who dolled up and had this pretty head full of long curly dark hair.
Now look at her - boring and blah!!
Why, why, why did they change Nancy?
If you are reading this and you can find out why, I'd appreciate a comment letting me know because I am not happy about it and want to know why they'd ruin this comic strip.
Weather wise, the month started out pretty pleasant, warm but with a nice breeze and low humidity. However, by the end of the month, whoa nelly it was hot!!
When I look back on the month, I'm amazed at so much that happened. Some of it seems so long ago, not just a month ago and some of it seems like it happened yesterday.
My Tarzan, had to go for a follow up appointment to get his daily asthma inhaler, I started the implant process on tooth #19, I went to the 50th anniversary showing of the Muppet Movie and I visited 7 different counties to take courthouse picture and found a covered bridge - and that was just the first week!!
I tried a (new to me) Chinese restaurant. visited the Chattahoochee Nature Reserve and saw an outdoor concert, took a church friend to have eye surgery, baby sat my miracle kitty niece, Bonnie Faye, saw the Golden Gals (a drag show spoof of Golden Girls), attended the Van Gogh experience (again but a different location), made homemade hummus for the first time (which turned out great), attended and decorated a church function, went to Stone Mountain Park twice, once taking photos of the covered bridge there an another time I saw lots of wild deer, both times having a picnic by the water. I tried donuts from a food truck and the highlight of the month....I saw DONNY OSMOND on tour with my friends!!
That was a pretty busy month, but a good month. God is so good.
Speaking of little Bonnie Faye. My sister was basically told by the vets office that Bonnie Faye's days were limited and she wasn't going to live. I walked a prayer labyrinth for her & prayed for a miracle because I KNEW she needed a miracle and PRAISE GOD, that is what she got! The very next day after I had walked and prayed on the prayer labyrinth, the vet called and suggested to try sometime and since then, she has slowly but steadily improved. The vet hadn't given up and after weeks, God sent her the solution.
Every time I look at her, I am looking at God's little miracle.
As always, you can click on the photos to enlarge.
