Review: Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero

Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero by Amanda Kloots
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Thankful for you

 I am so thankful for those of you that started following me this year.  You have challenged me in so many ways and I am just so grateful. I hope that you will continue to follow me in 2021. I have high expectations for us in so many ways....the first is to get rid of covid19 and start living and being friends again.  The second is I hope to challenge myself (and hopefully you too) to a new reading journey.  While there may be some new releases that I just MUST share with you, I am going to try and focus most of our monthly books on backlisted titles.  I have already picked out January's book and in a few days, I hope to share it with you.  Before I share it I have a reading challenge that will go up on Monday morning.  Woo hoo!!!  

Thank you for everything and if you didn't already get this end of year gift (book journal page) please download it and post your end of the year "books read" on my Facebook page, I would also LOVE to see your reading stats for 2020.  I know some of you that have played along this year have read some awesome titles.  

Getting things done-cleaning

My motto has always been "get your work done and then you can play", but the COVID19 whatever it has done to life has made me a little stray from that mantra.  I used to get up early and have a couple loads of laundry done, dishes washed, and maybe a bed made before 7am. Oh but that world has changed. Monday I start working at the office for the first time since March 19, so I have to do better.  I have not strayed from my laundry schedule so I am doing well there, but I am going to have to get a cleaning schedule going again.  I am going to go back to my old schedule and see if it works in this new house.  You see, we lived in this house for only 2 weeks before the "lockdown" started so I never got to implement that schedule at the new place.  Our new place is double the size of the old place so I expect some modifications will have to be made.  Here is what I am going to start with, do you have any tips to share? 

 

Bookworms: the book club

A few years ago a friend of mine created a Facebook group where we do nothing but talk about books.  It is a wonderful club where we talk about what we finished, what inspires us, what our reading lists look like, and even our monthly reads. Kelly, the creator, has made a space that is safe, fun, and welcoming.  We had never had a live event, until COVID hit, once COVID19 got here everything shut down, we were all at home and needed something for our mental health.  Kelly had the brilliant idea to start doing bi-weekly book club meetings over Zoom.

These meetings would have a "theme" of some sort and we would usually spend the first 40 minutes going over our personal lives and the book we were currently reading, it is usually during the second 40 minutes that we go over this meetings theme :), it seems we readers were missing humans and they social aspects of our lives.  Over time, those of us that didn't know each other became friends, we all have evolved into a groups of friends that love to get together and talk about BOOKS!!!!

Kelly had the wonderful idea to get the "gang" together for a field trip and set a date of July 18.  On this date we all headed to Nashville. One "bookworm" came from Bardstown, the rest of us from Western KY.  We all put on our masks and tried to spread love for a good book.

We met up at the Nashville Public Library, which was closed so we headed west to The Loveless Cafe.  Here we all chatted about lives, books and our fears of the fall, masks, and general pandemic talks.  We then got in our vehicles and headed to the mecca for book lovers in West Nashville, McKay's.  I think we were here a couple of hours, I tend to lose track when I am within these walls. I am a mostly (like 98%) digital reader, but spent $35 in books and 2 movies (I did take back enough books to get myself a $30 credit).  I got 2 President books (both children's), 1 book that I have a signed bookplate for, and a few books I will be giving away as Christmas gifts.

I am so grateful for this book club.  Everyone in the group is just fantastic!!!  Over the last few months, our meetings have been something that I have looked forward to and hope our meet ups are going to be an ongoing event even after life gets back to whatever "normal" is. 

thanks Kelly for being a great leader. 

Covid19 Masks

I never thought I would ever make a mask, I mean it never entered into my vocabulary.  A mask?  Only heath care professionals wore masks, right?  Fast forward to a global pandemic.  I would be working from home and being asked to use my simple sewing skills to make masks.  I started with a very simple pattern that I read about on the internet.  I decided that not only was it not very cute but it just didn't work for me.  I next turned to my favorite crafting machine, my Cricut.  Cricut was offering a free pattern so I cut out the pattern and went to work.  The mask was a more fitted piece that was made from 4 pieces of fabric. I did ties on most of my masks because I wanted the customization that ties could give you.  I only made elastic ones (because elastic is so hard to find for one reason, the other because I heard it wasn't very comfortable) because my daughter needed elastic ones in order to go back to work and after her being out of work for 2 months I was going to do whatever I could to help her get back to work.  

My son had to wear a mask to his high school graduation, which seemed a bit odd, but the graduation ended up being very special and unique. Now he wears the graduation mask to church.  

All in all, I made about 75 masks.  I didn't sell them, but I did take money, fabric, and thread donations so I could keep making masks and get them to people that needed free masks. I donated some to the homeless, some to a nursing home, and many to friends.  Some gave me cash to buy more fabric ($1-2 per mask depending on how much I paid for the fabric), some food, some fabric, and others thread. 

 I only have some bunny fabric left as of 6/12/20 so if I have to make you a mask you will wear bunny fabric or you will get me some fabric.  :) 

Another easy recipe

I have another easy recipe for you.  This is the easiest chicken and dumplins you will ever make.

    Now my husband likeds to add cheddar cheese to this and broil the last couple of minutes, but you can do what you like. I like to add poultry seasoning to the flour mix just to give it some extra flavor.  Be creative and see what you can do with this. 

Another recipe for your quarentined days

 This recipe is from my mom and it is superb.  I have made it time and time again, with the basis of the recipe, but I often change things around to suit how I feel today.  I think it is good year round, but others prefer in cold temps, like the temps Kentucky is experiencing right now. 


 Chocolate Chili (yes, chocolate) 

1 pound ground round
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup hot water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained\
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Combine ground round and onion in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring,
until beef is browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer cooked beef and onions to slow cooker. Stir in water, tomatoes, kidney beans, black
beans, corn, chocolate chips, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook on High until chili
begins to bubble, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat to Low, and cook until thick, about 2 hours.
3. I used Laura's lean beef, sub tomato juice (mine) for water, used reg tomatoes and added garlic,
also added about 1/2 c choc chips.  Did rest about the same but added spices to my taste. Made
on top of stove, not crock pot.

And the last one I found on the internet, it is super easy and super delish.

Doritos Casserole

This Doritos casserole is layers of crushed Doritos tortilla chips, ground beef, salsa and cheese, all baked together to golden brown perfection. An easy dinner option that the whole family will love!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef I use 90% lean
• 1/2 cup onion finely diced
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 1/2 cups salsa
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups shredded cheese I used cheddar and Monterey Jack
• 4 cups Doritos chips I used nacho cheese flavor
• 1/2 cup tomatoes diced
• 1/4 cup green onions sliced
• cooking spray
• sour cream, cilantro and other taco toppings for serving optional

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 2-3 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
• Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the beef and cook for 4-5 minutes or until just browned, breaking up the meat with a spatula.
• Add the onion and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until onion is translucent.
• Stir in the taco seasoning and red salsa. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sour cream.
• Lightly crush the Doritos. Spread 1/3 of the chips over the bottom of the prepared pan. Place 1/2 of the meat mixture on top of the chips, then add 1/3 of the cheese in an even layer.
• Repeat the process with another 1/3 of the chips, the rest of the meat, and 1/3 of the cheese. 
• Add the remaining chips, then the final layer of cheese. Cover the baking dish with foil.
• Bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
• Sprinkle the tomatoes and green onions over the casserole, then serve. Top with additional taco flavorings such as sour cream, olives, etc. if desired.  Enjoy your home cooked meal tonight. 

A global pandemic

With so many diseases eradicated, I never thought I would see a global virus take hold.  I had heard of SARS and ebola, but I just didn't imagine anything like this.  As I am typing this, we could be on this side of the middle of the crisis, yeah we may not be even halfway finished with this mess.  I started typing this two weeks ago and there were only 24,000 in the US affected, it is now so much more.  I am purposely not looking at the global numbers as it is just surreal to me and I don't want it to be the only thing I think about. I also think it would be depressing to read about all of that. I am only keeping up with Kentucky and I am enjoying the positive outlook the governor of Kentucky is taking.

Many states have imposed a healthy at home or a stay at home order.   Not for a controlling nature but a measure just to keep us safe.  I personally see it as a measure to save lives, while I MIGHT be ok if I got it,  it could kill my husband or some of my friends that have conpromised immune systems.  I would not want it on my back that I gave them the infection that killed them when I could have prevented it.  

I made some masks this past weekend.  They may or may not help but I am giving them to my friends that need to be doing essential work and to a nursing home that desparetly needs them so they can provide the best care to their patients.  It sounds weird, but I am glad my mother-in-law is not here during this.  I can't imagine her suffering like I have read John Prine suffered, especially in the mental state she was in when she passed.  Today there was a positive case in the nursing home where she lived.  I pray for all those residents in there and the staff that are so needed by those residents.  

I started this post on March 21, 2020 and now I am finishing it on April 8, 2020.  So much has changed in these few days.  Not only in the world, but right here in my little corner.

Today is my son's 18th birthday.  No party for him, his friends did drive by and his teacher sent balloons, but it wasn't like the 18th birthday we hoped for.  Who knows what graduation will look like for him.  Then there is no prom, but his big thing is the spring musical.  He had been cast as one of the main characters.  He has expressed his sadness over that more than anything right now.  He and his fellow seniors did film "We go together" from Grease on Smule. They debuted the video at the moment their last show would have started and it has gone virual   The kids have gone on local, national and international news with it.  First our governor featured it on his daily updates as a positive thing to be social with your friends.  Then a local TV station (but not the one in our hometown until much later) and Olivia Newton John tweeted about them and just yesterday they made the CBS news.  It has been a nice experience in this gloomy gray cloud. 

Outside my house the governor, in an effort to save lives, has said you can travel  but you will have to quarentine for 14 days if you do and you really shouldn't be doing it.  He has closed down non-essential business unless they can do in contactless (you have no idea how much this self checkout person LOVES this contact free stuff...germaphobe).  I was struggling with a craft store run, but I figured out how to make that work to me, I am using all my supplies up.  I have painted my utility room a color different than I would have just because I had blue paint on hand.  We are making it just fine here.  Virtual churches, zoom meetings, google hangouts, lots of texts, tons of emails, working from my studio and staying at home.  I am pretty happy but I need people to stay home so we can get this over with and my son can graduate.  Everybody wants to have a graduation from high school, please stay home!!!

How are you coping?

Most of us are stuck in our houses these days. I personally don't mind that because I have lots that I want to get done.  I am working eight hours a day, but getting off at 3 and having a 30 second commute makes for lots of time in the afternoon to get things done.  That is all good and fine but there is only so much cleaning and painting that a person can stand, there has to be time for mental health too. 

Of course I am reading.  I was in a reading funk for a while where it took me an entire month to read a book, but I am recovering from that and have read two books this week.  I am also watching lots of YouTube videos.  There is so much stuff out there that is exciting to a person that like muscial numbers and old movies.  I have been focusing lately on clip from shows and movies that conjure up good feelings and wonderful memories.  That translates into anything Jeremy Jordan and Jerry Orbach musical numbers.  

I would love to know how you are taking care of your own mental health.  Drop me a line and let me know.  

Homemade Ranch

Again, since we are stuck inside and not social distancing, I wanted to share another of my recipes.


There are so many good homemade ranch dressing recipes out there, but this is the one that I use in my house.  Why make it? Oh, it tastes so much better than store-bought and you control the ingredients, you know exactly what is inside there.



First of all, I have to make some buttermilk because I never have that.  I pour about a 1 1/2  cups of milk (I rarely measure) into a bowl and add about a 1/2 teaspoon (again, eyeballing) of vinegar.  I stir it up and let it sit for a few minutes.

While waiting for that I get another bowl out and add:
 1/2 sour cream
1 cup of mayo (I use the Great Value brand)

I am sorry but I do these to taste or how I like them to be (so bad at measuring), these are all dry ingredients I keep in my cupboard:

Dill weed
Garlic Powder
Parsley
Onion Powder
guessing, I would say about 1 teaspoon to start out and see how you like it.  I like about 1/2 garlic, 1 1/2 dill, 1/4 onion,  and 1 parsley.

When I started researching ranch recipes many say to add a little lemon juice so I started adding a little bit and I admit it does give it a WOW!!! So add a little lemon juice.  You can taste test it right now...isn't that yummy?  It will taste even better after about an hour.  If it gets to thick just add a little milk (a very little).



Mix all of these ingredients with about 1 cup of the buttermilk that you made.  I store it in a glass jar, for up to two weeks, it never lasts that long.

Poppyseed Chicken

Since you are all cooped up in the house these days, trying to be "healthy at home", I am sure you are like me and going through all the recipes to see what new you can fix for dinner.  I am going to share with you one of my easy fave recipes. I did not create it, I have no idea who did, but I know it is yummy.

Poppyseed chicken

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (the rotisserie chicken at Sam's is perfect)

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup, undiluted 

1 (16-oz.) container sour cream (I don't use this much, I just add a big scoop)

3 teaspoons poppy seeds 

31 round buttery crackers, crushed 

1/4 cup butter, melted 

Preparation

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients. Spoon mixture into lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.

2. Stir together cracker crumbs and melted butter; sprinkle evenly over casserole.

3. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Bonus: I like to add cheddar cheese to the mix because I love cheese. I add to the mix before topping with crackers.

Second bonus: It is also good if you throw in cooked broccoli in the mix when you add the cheese.

Leave out the poppyseed if you don't like it and you still have a tasty meal.

Things to do while you are "stuck" at home

There is a worldwide pandemic going on right now.  I never thought  I would say those words. No one wants to get sick and folks are trying hard to avoid others so that they don't.

 Here in Kentucky, we are supposed to be at home, not having any gatherings and basically taking care of the people that live in our house.  I have seen people, probably due to the nice weather, hanging out with others and getting too close at the store (I wanted to order online, but you can't get mixed paint online). I am not a fan of the "B" word (bored", because I think there is always something that you can do, always.  So I put together a little list of things you can do at home so that maybe you could save a life.

Things to do:

1.  Work on that "honey-do' project you have wanted to do for some time and never had time to accomplish.  Maybe you have wanted to clean out the garage, maybe you needed to hand mop the bathroom floor, maybe the mailbox needs to be painted, why not use this time to mark things off that home improvement list?

2. Work on a large puzzle, you know you have been wanting to tackle one and see if it was relaxing as your friends say it is; well, now is the perfect time to try.   I have seen so many neat ones on Amazon that you could order and have at the house in a couple of days. 

3.  Why not bake a cake or pie from scratch?  You have all those groceries there at the house, why not learn a new skill and bake something without using a mix. Celebrate being together with your family.  Together with no obligations!! No soccer practice, no meetings, just the family.  What a cool thing to celebrate. 

4.  Repair dangling buttons,  ripped seams and loose hems on your garments. Maybe your jacket has a ripped lining and you never remember it needs repairing until you put it on your body and you have to be out of the house in 5 minutes.  Go through your wardrobe and pull out anything that needs repairing, get your supplies and sit down in front of the TV and get this done.

5.  If you have some paint at home, google "painting tutorials", there are so many fun ones out there that will teach you basic techniques. I have started filling up a notebook with paintings I am doing.  The website I am using Step by Step Painting has all types of fun projects.  I am putting all of mine in a 6x8 spiral notebook so I can have a keepsake when finished.

6.  While the weather is nice, go outside your house and work on some things. Look for holes in the siding and repair, look for issues with the window screens, wash the windows (inside and out), trim the landscaping, clean up litter from the yard, clean out the gutters, or even decorate the porch, this list could go on and on.

7.  How about playing a board game with your kids?  My son and I used to do this when trapped inside for a snowstorm.  He now thinks he is too big for this, but I am ready for a mean game of Connect 4 at a moment's notice.

8.  It is a great time to do that Bible journaling that you have wanted to try.  Find some verses that make you feel good and lift you up, especially during this pandemic.  Decorate those verses with all kinds of fun things.  If you did this on paper, go to the garage and find a frame, paint it black and frame this verse. You can hang it somewhere that you walk by every day so you can have that good feeling that made you choose the verse in a struggling time and you will always feel comforted. 

9.  Do some of that spring cleaning that you really need to do.  Clean out from under the sink, clean out your closet, go through the kid's toys and box up what they don't use, or maybe clean the hair out of the bathtub drain.  This time at home is a perfect time to stop putting off those things you know need to be done. My motto is, you know you need to do it, just get it done and then you have more time to play.

10.  Find that project or activity that you keep putting off because you "don't have time".  Maybe it is using your public library site to learn a new language.  Maybe you would love to learn to embroidery, but never took a moment to try it, now is the time.  What if you wanted to paint a mural in your daughter's room, but never tried, now you can. Maybe you saw a drawing class online and could not do it because you just had no time, now is the time!  How about that dream to write a book or start a blog? Be creative and think about that one thing that you said "I am going to do that when I have more time", you may never have a chance like this again, seize it.   Do it now!

11.  You knew I was going to add this one...READ A BOOK!  There are tons of resources for free (online) books you can use.  I can help you use your library card to use Overdrive, Hoopla, and a couple of other resources.  There is also a site called, Internet Archive that has TONS of older materials you can borrow for free. I am enjoying reading some "trade paperbacks" on celebrities from the 60s and 70s and I listen to old radio shows like Suspense or Lights Out!  This is one of the best sites out there,  in my opinion.

12.  Ok, you hate to read, I get that, but how about doing an audiobook?  There are so many great ones out there.  If you love Harry Potter, listen to those, the narrator, Stephen Fry, is exceptional!  What about Tom Hanks, who doesn't love Tom Hanks?  The Dutch House is my favorite (book by Ann Patchett), but he has done more, including the book he wrote,  Uncommon Type.  How about Me by Elton John?  Elton will read this to you and I will tell you this is one of my favorite celeb memoirs ever.  I have not done the audio, but I am on the waitlist for it.  One more author's books I would like to recommend, Sarah Vowell.  She has two that I really love, Lafayette in these Somewhat United States and Assassination Vacation.  They are both read by celebrities and are just fascinating!  Assassination Vacation is my favorite of the two.

13.  Binge-watch a classic old TV show...I am not talking about Friends or Seinfeld (even though I love that one), I am talking about something older and maybe more obscure.  Maybe some of the shows on the classic tv station, or (if you can find these) Homicide Life on the Streets, the original Dallas, The Facts of Life, Our Miss Brooks, what about Buzzer TV and some old gameshows? I personally am watching classic Jeopardy episodes, just for the practice. 

14.  Clean out or detail your car.  Yes, this thing is nasty.  There is a french fry under the driver's seat, there are shoe marks on the back of the passenger seat, the steering wheel needs to be disinfected. Spend about 2 hours and clean the inside and outside.

15.  DEEP CLEANING.  Get into things you neglect!   Washing the walls, doing all the windows and mirrors, washing the curtains, touching up any nicked walls or trim, re-chaulking the bathtub, really cleaning the ceiling fans, dusting every book on the shelf and frames on the walls, flipping the mattress or one I like to do, hand mop all those hard surface floors. I like to do this a couple times a year, you can really get into the edges and make that floor super clean.  I usually do one hour at most because the knees don't like rolling around on the floor like they used to.  It is time-consuming but worth it. 



If you do have to go out please stay away from others.  Do not have a little meet up at Wal-mart because you miss your friends.  Try to stay home and do something you have dreamed of doing when you had more time. Be safe, be careful and take care of each other.