Don’t Be Anonymous

In the past few days, I have been having a fit with my blogger. I have not been able to comment on others post nor could I reply to comments on my own post without being anonymous. Even when I would choose “Google”, It would resort right back to anonymous. I was fed up. 

I checked all my settings on Blogger and Google. Everything was good. I could not figure out what was wrong. Then I just searched my question and hoped to find where someone else had the same problem and I could figure it out that way.

I learned that Blogger comments are through a third party and I must have third party cookies enabled to comment of blog post. “What does that even mean?” So I went back to my settings and tried to find out where I could turn this feature on which only led me in circles. No answers. 

I finally found a thread in Google with others having the same problem. I still could not get answers but one answer led me to IOS settings. IOS is an iPhone or iPad operating system.

I finally fixed it! I am a happy blogger again. It was not a problem with Blogger or Google. So, If your are anonymous and want to know how to fix it. Grab your iPhone or iPad and go to “settings”. From there, go to your “apps” and scroll down and click on  “Google or Chrome” and turn on “Allow Cross-Website Tracking”. I can not promise this will fix your problem but it fixed mine on both devices. 

I guess when I did a phone update, it turned off this feature by default. 

Snow on the East Coast

We rarely see snow here in foothills of North Carolina. I live 100 mile from the mountains and 200 miles from the ocean. We usually have our coldest weather in February and March. We rarely see temperatures below 30. So far we have been having some really cold temperatures here reaching down in the teens.

We had some snow flurries last week and we had a dusting of snow yesterday. But check out these photos taken by some friends and family from the Coast. Yes, our beaches had snow. This is very rare so they were really excited. They had up to 3 inches is some places. I would have loved to see the beach in the snow. I can’t get down there now so I enjoyed it from the photos.

               “Peaches Corner” near the boardwalk. Myrtle Beach SC.  (Photo by Scott Jenkins)

“Garden City and Pier”  South Myrtle Beach, SC.    (Photo by: WPDE SkyCam)

“Ocean Front Sky Wheel” Myrtle Beach, SC. (Photo by MB city Gov)

“Ocean Drive” North Myrtle Beach.  (Photo by Scott Jenkins)

“Myrtle Beach Travel Park”. (Photo by MBTP)

This will be a Winter they will remember for a long time. 

What is the weather like in your area? 

The Inauguration

I did not have to work Monday in reverence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day. This was also the day of the President Inauguration. It was cold outside so I stayed in all day glued to the TV.

I usually do not watch presidential stuff on tv as I get bored of it. But I was really into the Inauguration. I was impressed at how well dressed and professional everyone was. It was fun watching famous people along with friends and family of the President arrive for the occasion. It was also fun to watch all the former Presidents come in one by one and take a seat specially selected for them. 

It was room full of emotions. Most were excited and some were somber. I can imagine how the former President and former Vice President must have felt during all of this. But then again, it’s part of the job. 

I love the way the first lady Melania dressed. She was wearing “old money” style and was sleek from head to toe. She looked like she walked off the cover of Vogue magazine. 

And what about the Presidents son Barron Trump? He has gotten so tall. He is rarely in the spot light but he got plenty of it during the Inauguration. He looks just like his father did at that age. 

I stayed up late to watch the ball dance. I sat with anticipation waiting on Melania to come out so I could see what she was wearing. She came out with a white dress trimmed in black. It was elegant but I expected it to be more glamourous. It was her style, and again, she looked like she belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine. 

The bands were great but then Billy Ray Cyrus came out to perform. What in the world was wrong with him? He was off his rocker. I think he was drunk and had to be taken off the stage. If you get a chance, you should Google it and see for yourself. It was awful and a disgrace. Other than that, I think it all went well and I pray for the safety and wisdom for our president and his family.

I am excited to see what’s in store for the next 4 years. I feel like it’s going to be better but many do not. President Trump will keep God in this country and try his best to protect us from the criminal, perverted and unnatural filth in the world. That is enough for me. 

Two Ingredient Biscuits

Something I have never been able to make is biscuits. They normally turn out flat and flavorless. I usually just use Bisquick and make drop biscuits when we want them. I gave up on the old fashion way of making biscuits with Lard or Crisco.

My husband mentioned a video on FB he saw of how to make biscuits with just two ingredients. This caught my attention. I jumped up from my recliner and said, “I have these two things so I’m going to give it a try”. 

In no time, I had biscuits ready to pop in the oven. Fifteen minutes later, we were eating biscuits with butter and honey. “Move over Bisquick, these were the best biscuits I have ever made”. 

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Two Ingredient Biscuits

• 2 Cups- Self Rising Flour.
• 1 1/2 Cups of heavy whipping cream. 

Mix with a fork or spoon until combined and place on a floured surface. Dust you hands with flour and knead and fold the dough. Patten out with your hands, not a rolling pin. Make the dough about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits but do not twist or spin the cutter. Just press down and release. This keeps the sides from sealing and preventing them from rising correctly. (I’m 55 and just learned about this). 

Brush the tops with some of the whipping cream and Bake 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until desired browning

No need to wait on your oven to preheat all the way. Just turn the oven on and place the biscuits in the warm oven when they are ready to be cooked. This will keep your biscuits from burning on the bottom. (Just learned that too). 

They turned out light and fluffy on the inside and light and crispy on the outside. I think they were perfect. Still a little lopsided but who cares. They were delicious. 

Hat Hanger

I love hats. I have many of them but rarely wear any. I will occasionally wear a ball cap on a bad hair day or on the beach. You may catch me in a toboggan when it’s really cold and I have to be outside. 

When we were in Lincolnton a couple months ago, I visited a little boutique where they had hats for sale. I left with one. I have no idea where to wear it but I like it. I am actually wearing it in my blogger profile picture. It’s a hard hat with delicate embroidered mid Western designs.  

Any way, I needed a place to hang my hat. I had a nail in the closet but that’s where I hang my fedora. I could not find any room to hang another hat as my closest space is small. That’s when I turned to the internet for inspiration. I saw many hand made hat hangers but they were all made in Macramé. I gave it some thought and figured I could just crochet something similar. 

With no pattern, I grabbed some brown cotton yarn and began crocheting. I started with a wooden ring and  guessed at the rest. A few inches of the bobble stitch gave it some detailed character. Then I began the split using just half double crochet stitches until I got the size I needed to slide the hat through. I finished it off by joining the two sides and adding a tassel. 

I love how it turned out and impressed myself that I did this in one try. I could have added more decorations such as beads or other colored yarns but I like the simplicity of this one and now it hangs on my bedroom wall. If I never wear this hat again, at least it makes a cute decoration in my room. 

Saturdate

Yes I call it a “Saturdate” (Saturday date). My husband works in retail and rarely gets a Saturday off. It makes me sad sometimes but then sometimes I enjoy the day to myself to do whatever I want to do to keep busy. Most of the time I will just go to the nail salon and grocery store. Sometimes I will hit the thrift or craft stores.

Well, He was off on Saturday a few weeks ago. I told him we can do whatever he wanted to do this day. If he wanted to lay on the couch and watch tv, we would do it. If he wanted to go climb a mountain, we’d do it. 

We woke up early and he said “Would you like to go out to breakfast?” Heck yea. I love going out to breakfast. We decided to eat at Eggs Up Grill. It was delicious. He got grits, bacon and a gravy biscuit. I got the red, white and blue Waffle. 

After breakfast we headed down to South Carolina to check out Windy Hill Orchard and Cidery. We heard it was a cute little place to visit in the Fall while you sip some fresh cider. It was after the Fall when we visited so it was cold. 

We didn’t stay long, but we stayed long enough to watch them make fresh doughnuts and sampled some of their ciders while we stood around the campfire they had burning.

I enjoyed the ride through the country as much as liked the destination. We plan to revisit when it gets warmer. We left with some doughnuts and a bottle of cider

I’m not a big fan of cider but I will sip it warm sometimes. Great for colds and sore throats too.

Afterwards we still had time to lay around the house and watch some TV before dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Needless to say, we never climbed a mountain. 

Happy New Year 2025

 Happy New Year everyone!

We managed to stay up late last night to bring in the New Year.  We had our front door wide open. Why? This is an old Iris tradition. People would open the back door just before midnight to let the old year out and open the front door to let the new year in. So, that’s what we did. We could also hear all the fireworks going off around town in celebration. It was nice. 

Oh crap. Wait….I did it wrong. I just realized that I did not open my back door. Only the front. Oh well, maybe 2024 left the way it came in.

Me and Nick didn’t attend any New Years parties. We just went out for a steak dinner and hung around the  house. We went to our favorite steak house. The food was great but the service was terrible this time. I understand it was new years eve and the young workers did not want to work so they had a low work crew, so we tried to stay patient. 

We were third in line for a table and had to wait 45 minutes. Once at our table, a waitress with no personality took our order. We waited and waited. Finally our steaks arrived. We asked, “Where are our salads? The waitress then asked “Do you really want them? I can have the manager deduct them from your ticket”. We looked at each other in confusion then turned back to her and said “Yes, we would like our salads and the complementary bread. She returned with the salads and dropped them on the table without any expressions or words and walked away. We never saw her again until it was time to pay. I gritted my teeth as I kindly added a tip. 

I hope this new year will be great. We will have a new president and new promises. I hope and pray it all goes well. I plan to work on myself this year. I really let myself go last year. I was slack on exercise, ate unhealthy, started the menopause stuff and had a couple (minor) health issues. I need to make myself better and be the fighter I am. I also plan to get back to blogging regularly. I could actually make a little fun money by blogging since my blog is monetized. I just need to put in more effort. 

What are some of your plans for the new year?