I hope you have a wonderful Easter, no matter how you plan on celebrating the day. I do hope chocolate is involved!

I had a request by one of my brothers for lemon bars. So I made a batch last night. I have a couple of different recipes I use, and this is one of the more traditional recipes.

Lemon Bars

Base:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup margarine or butter, softened

Filling:

4 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup lemon juice

Frosting:

1 cup powdered sugar

2-3 Tablespoons lemon juice

1. Heat over to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine all base ingredients at low speed until crumbly. Press mixture evenly in bottom of ungreased 9 x 13-inch pan. Bate for 20 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown.
2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine all filling ingredients except lemon juice; blend well. Stir in lemon juice. Pour mixture over baked base.
3. Bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes or until top is light golden brown. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled.
4. In small bowl, combine powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired spreading consistency, blend until smooth. Frost cooled bars. Cut into bars.

Happy eating!

It’s that time again! Get your thinking cap on and post a song for today’s Music Monday. I chose this song by Chris Stapleton not only for the song/sound but because it is fitting. Where did spring go? It’s cold, windy, and rainy with chance of snow showers later tonight. Ugh!

Fudgy Butterscotch Bars

1 – 12oz. package semi sweet chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup margarine or butter

2 and 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan. In medium saucepan, combine chocolate chips, 2 Tablespoons margarine and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, stirring constantly. Set aside.
2. In large saucepan, melt 1 cup margarine over low heat. Remove from heat and add brown sugar and eggs; blend well. Add all remaining ingredients, mix well. Spread half of the batter in greased pan. Drop chocolate mixture by tablespoonfuls over batter; carefully spread to cover. Drop remaining batter by teaspoonfuls over chocolate mixture. With tip of knife, swirl slightly to marble mixture.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until light golden brown and center is set. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Cut into bars.

I know the cookies are very rich and has a bit of sugar, but it’s a nice twist on the traditional butterscotch bars… And they really aren’t too unhealthy if you pair it with a bowl of homemade veggie soup!

Morning Civatar, another start of a new week. I am hoping for a somewhat quiet day today after a bit of a headache of a weekend, but we will see how the day progresses.

I hope you enjoy today’s music choice. The singer reminds me a bit of Amy Winehouse, Phil Collins, and a little bit of Jelly Roll all rolled together.

Feel free to join in with today’s Music Monday theme and post your own favorite music on your blog! Have a good week ahead!

Back to another Monday. Mondays are always busy days here, but the days are getting so they are all busy. I’m not sure who all will be over today, but I will still need to do a bit of housework before the morning gets too far gone.

Feel free to post a song for Music Monday on your blog. Nothing like a bit of music and toe tapping to get the day off to a good start!

“Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot.
We’ll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!“

It’s snowing this morning. Somehow, I knew this day wasn’t going to get off to a good start when I got only around 3 hours of sleep last night. I’ve done a bit of cleaning, but I know it is all for nought as people will be in and out today and it will be constant mopping and dealing with wet shoes and little cat footprints.

It could be worse; I could live in North Platte where they got 17 inches of snow. Spring is being fickle once again.

Never more evident in today’s society, and the people we come across in our lives, both personally and on-line.

One tries to be a true friend by honesty and integrity and being there for someone and a lot of times telling them the truth which they don’t often want to hear. What they do with that truth, speaks to their character, their humility (or lack thereof) and ego.

Sadly, there are a lot of people who are “fair weather” friends. When it’s time to step up to the plate and be accountable for words, actions, deeds, they whither and sulk behind a mask of bullying, inappropriateness, and deception.

I wonder what one is supposed to feel for that individual. Pity? Sadness? Disdain? Indifference? Or a combination of all of the above?

I’ll end this blog here before being accused of being on my soap box. It evidently makes some people feel uncomfortable when others can see right through them.

Another Monday has rolled around, and I’ll be busy doing some housework and listening for the door and phone, and for folks to arrive. I always hope for a quiet day, but it can be a bit hectic thru the week. It’s always a game of wait and see what materializes.

Being Monday that means of course, it is another Music Monday! I have my good friend Yar to thank for this song. He posted it on his fb page this past week and it was a song I had completely forgotten about and hadn’t heard in ages. I thought I would post it so that maybe it will trigger a memory for you as well!

Feel free to join in on today’s Music Monday with a song on your own blog page. Doesn’t matter if it’s rock, country, bluegrass, classical, etc.

Have a good week ahead peeps!

Well, now that I have your attention,… a blog on/about attention as if it needed any clarification.

One cannot log on-line this past weekend without being bombarded with politics or celebrities. I’m sure you have all read or seen the story headlines on the millions of dollars Rihanna received for performing for a rich billionaire’s family for some upcoming nuptials.

That is nothing new, money, celebrities, they go hand in hand. But it’s the constant bombardment of the story by numerous outlets picking apart every detail from that story. We have to hear the author’s view on their clothes, on the performance, who all was there, how much each member of the audience makes or does for a living. Add to that the number of “news” sources that just copy and paste from other sources and it’s all quite the overkill.

YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, apply the same practices. A steady stream of snippets of stories that have been copied and pasted, or videos that have become productions of one’s viewpoints or beliefs. A few are informative, a few are thought provoking, the majority disguised as relevant cloaked in entertainment.

They all have one thing in common. Someone who wants to be seen or heard, whether or not they have contributed anything or was only just the messenger.

When did we as a society become so “needy”? Yes, I know that TikTok and YouTube can generate money and for a lot of people that is their ambition, but the underlying issue seems to be attention. It doesn’t matter if it’s positive or negative, but that they are out there, in front wanting to be seen.

I have to admit, I absolutely cringe with a lot of those videos that have small children or the homeless. I hate to see the “headlight look in the eyes” of small children who have obviously been coached and looking to mom or dad for approval. Or the videos of giving money or food to the homeless on the street, or in the grocery store. One can argue all they want about those individuals trying to bring to light the issues of those people in need, but the reality is, at least in my eyes, a desire for attention, a pat on the back, an acceptance and adoration from others.

I don’t understand why one cannot give without wanting the credit for the act of kindness? Call for a news conference, make a public announcement, put your picture front and center and put on a cloak of false humility.

Pessimistic? Sure I am. It’s hard not to be with past history and knowledge of just how people are, and how they work.

I thought the quote that I posted on the activity page, went with this blog. Some may see themselves in it, some will agree, some will disagree. But I am sure it gathered some attention.

Good day bloggers.