I received Karen  Zemek’s book My Funny Dad, Harry in February, but have only just finished due to other things going on in my life. I simply didn’t have time to read it all in one or two settings. The book itself is a collection of Karen’s memories and things she wrote about in her journals of her life with her Dad, Harry and Mom, Lenore. I met Karen through the Internet and enjoy reading her blogs.

She writes about how her parents decided to foster and help 3 other children and some of their adventures while growing up. This book is a tribute to both her parents, but it’s mostly about Harry and his funny ways. She paints a picture of Harry that had me laughing at times and at other times I felt tears in my eyes when she talks about her Mother’s illness and death.

It’s a charming little book filled with antidotes of Harry’s kindness, generosity, love and creativity. Just from reading the book I can tell Karen was a good Daughter and was there for Harry when he needed anything even though he didn’t like asking for help and would often not take her advice when offered. There are many stories about Harry’s cats that had me laughing, but some were sad.

I’m sure when she wrote this book it must have been a healing process and I totally admire Karen’s determination in getting it published so she could share with the world what a truly ingenious, funny, and wonderful Father that she was blessed with. I enjoyed Karen’s book and all the stories she shared of Harry after Lenore passed away.

Some of her recollections of cleaning out Harry’s house after he passed away (even though I felt sad about poor Harry and what Karen was going through) made me laugh. All in all it was a nice book which showed good family values and some of the problems one faces when dealing with aging parents. I will agree with Karen, Harry was funny and by the way Karen I love the suspenders and Harry not caring what other people think.

I finally got around to baking something in the oven using my 9 inch Orgreenic ceramic pan just to make sure it was safe to use. No, I didn’t try the pineapple upside down cake as shown on TV, but I used one of those Jiffy cornbread mixes since I like yellow and all Bill uses is the white corn meal.

The results are below and even though the bottom was more crunchy than the top I like it that way. Jiffy is way to sweet for me so next time I’ll just get a bag of the self rising yellow. It was good anyhow with a little butter melted on, even Bill ate some, but said it tasted like cake. If the photos aren’t showing just click the link to see the picture.

I would certainly never bake anything in the oven using Teflon, but the Orgreenic ceramic did just fine. Bill doesn’t believe everything he sees on TV nor do I. He thought I might ruin the pan, but I was determined to at least try it in the oven. It didn’t stick like his cast iron sometimes does, no missing pieces.

I figured if it got ruined in the oven they could replace it since it’s supposed to be guaranteed for life and they say you can use it to bake with. Some things do stick regardless of what they say, but they are still easy to clean up. I keep trying to do an egg like they show on TV with no oil or butter, but it just doesn’t work for me.

I know many people are doing searches for reviews on the Orgreenic from people that actually bought it before investing that much money and I don’t blame them. Even though we still cook with oil and butter we use a lot less so it’s still healthier as far as I’m concerned.

I’ll keep updating on the Orgreenic periodically, I made spaghetti last week and the clean up was so easy, so far we are still happy with our purchase, but it’s still early yet. I read some reviews about the green pan and they weren’t good so I’ll see how the Orgreenic holds up after a 6 month use.

Sadie Enjoying The Sun

It seems I always post about Obie who is doing great by the way and is all healed up. So I thought I would share Sadie with you this time. Sadie loves the Sun and will spend hours outside on her back soaking the rays up and when ever the rays shine inside that’s usually where you’ll find her.

Obie is Sadie’s playmate and she’s pretty good about him jumping on her and making her zoom with him outside. Obie is so fast and can zoom under around any obstacle and go places where Sadie can’t go it’s fun to watch them, since the stitches are out now he is in rare form.

Bill got Sadie from the SPCA about 8 years ago and they weren’t sure of her age except she was a young adult female, so we are guessing around 9 or going on 10 now. She got sick in January after my Shadow passed away, I don’t care what anyone says she was just as depressed as we were.

We had said we were not going to get any more dogs and just take care of Sadie until it was her time, but there was a big hole in our life and Obie is helping to fill that and Sadie is distracted by Obie so she is much better.

Sadie is listed on her adoption papers as a Pit/Lab mix and sometimes I can see the Pit side of her, but usually the sweetness of the Lab is mostly present and she loves attention. She’s not always a good influence on Obie, but we love her.