Last Day of May . . .

Well, today is May 31st and what a week it has been.  Goodness, tornadoes, so much devastation and the loss of two little bitty lives.  A total of ten people in Oklahoma City and the surrounding area lost their lives due the violent storms that rolled through our area.  One family has been through so much.  The Hamils lost two of their precious little sons.  The tornado just ripped right through their neighborhood and destroyed every home in the development.  My heart was broken over this tragedy.  I can't even imagine what they must be going through.  Their other child a girl, 5, has finally been removed from the ICU to a regular room.  What do you say to someone in this situation?  It is truly beyond words.  I just hope they turn to God for comfort because He will be the only one that will get them through this.  I pray peace over this family and all of the others here and in Joplin, MO.  Peoples lives are changed forever.

It was nice having my husband home for the past three days.  We got so much accomplished inside and outside.  I finally got two of the rooms I have been wanting to paint painted!!  Now I only have my exercise room left to paint and I plan on doing that here within a month.  My kids are moving back from Germany and I sure would like to have it all done before they get here.  I do not want to have anything in here to do because I plan on spending every minute I can getting reacquainted with my precious granddaughter!  She loves it here and our visit in January was only for 5 days.  So we definitely have some catching up to do.  The zoo, read books, color, oh, my I cannot wait!!  I was thinking this morning that I hate to wish everyone's summer to be over, but for us grandparents the end of July just can't get here fast enough.

We had BBQ for supper tonight.  I found some really nice pork ribs over the weekend and just had them with some roasted veggies and a cool cucumber salad.  I do not, I repeat, do not like cucumbers at all!!  I don't even like them touching anything that I plan on eating if they are in a salad.  I love the smell, but that texture is gross.  Sorry all you cucumber lovers out there.  Now I am not ruling out that one day I may come across a dish where they are masked really well some sort of sauce, perhaps, I might try one, just one.  But, until then, I'll make 'em and you eat 'em!!

Below is the recipe for the Marinated Cucumber Salad . . . I hope you like it.  This recipe came from my friend Diane a few years back.  She knew my husband loved cucumbers and sure enough this is definitely a keeper . . .

Marinated Cucumber Salad

5 cucumbers (peeled/sliced)
1 medium onion (sliced thin)
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard


In a medium size bowl add all ingredients except for the cucumbers.  Whisk well with a whisk and store in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.  About 1 hour before getting ready to serve peel and slice the cucumbers.  Pour the marinate over the cucumbers and mix well.  Return to the refrigerator until ready to serve.