Once Again

So here we are once again getting ready to enter another year with such uncertainty.  

2011 herald in the year with uncertainty about dad's cancer and a series of firsts without mom and grandpa.  We made it through all of the firsts, although some were rougher than others. Dad's stuff has pretty much gone as planned.  But in this last week plans are crumbling apart due to health insurance changes.

2012 is going to herald in the year once again filled with uncertainties about dad's cancer treatment and with needing to buy a replacement vehicle.  My trusty car of eight years as of Thursday morning is no longer trusty so we are faced with the option of a new engine or a new vehicle.  You can guess which one won out.  We have one last uncertainty looming . . . We will find out on Tuesday afternoon if Pumpkin needs to have surgery for a second set of tubes in his ears.  So 2012 will have a rocky start and our hope is that the year will find a way to level itself out.  If you are the praying type, we would appreciate any prayers that you say.

Once again this year, I am not going to set any New Year's resolutions.  Living life the best we can manage with setting tiny goals along the way is good enough for me.  Besides, reaching the tiny goals and setting new ones is more empowering that trying to reach those lofty goals and failing.  

I wish all those that I know and all those whom stumble across this blog a very Happy New Year filled with health, good wishes, and love of family and friends.

Guardian Service - A Family Tradition

Growing up everyone in our family used Guardian Service.  My maternal great-grandma, paternal great-grandpa, maternal grandma, paternal grandma, my mom and my dad all had this amazing aluminum cookware. 

After I got married my maternal grandma gave me an extra Guardian Service Roaster that she had stored away.  I only have one piece, but could not imagine cooking without it.  My favorite thing to cook in the roaster is pot roast, but I also use it for roasting chicken and the Thanksgiving turkey. 

My paternal grandma would make the most delicious pot roast in her roaster for family gatherings.  So I have learned my pot roast recipe from her and of course I have a few tweaks here and there.  Grandma doesn’t do as much cooking now as in her younger days, but the tastes and smells of those dinners with her roast and great-grandpa’s homemade applesauce still come to mind with happy remembrance. 

Grandma’s Pot Roast

Splash some cooking oil into the roaster (I usually use canola oil).  Then set the stovetop to medium and warm the oil.  In the mean time season both sides of the chuck roast with ground salt, ground pepper, and garlic salt. 

Place the roast in the roaster and brown both sides about 5 to 7 minutes each.   Turn the heat down to low and add a tall glass of water and cover with glass lid.  Careful, it will really pop and bubble when the water hits the oil. 

Simmer the roast for about one hour.  Flip the meat, then add a bag of baby carrots, one sliced onion, and three to four cloves of garlic- season to taste.  About an hour later add five to six peeled and quartered potatoes- season to taste.  Keep an eye on the liquid level.  If all of the liquid cooks out, then the carrots and potatoes may burn.

Cook approximately one more hour, then dish up some really yummy grub. 

Note:  Grandma would also make gravy from the drippings.  She would spoon some of the drippings out into a small tin cup and add some corn starch to thicken then stir it back into the roaster.  She would add a bit water to get it to the desired consistency.  I’m not huge on gravy, so usually skip this step.

The Gift Of Friendship

A friend is someone who understands your past, 

believes in your future, 

and accepts you just the way you are.

~ Author Unknown ~

During this Christmas season I had the chance to see one of my best friends.  We have been friends since the 5th grade, just months before my baby sister was born.  We spent hours at each others houses growing up.  She lived in an old white Victorian house in town and I in a log cabin out in the country along the river.  She introduced me to Tang and bagels with cream cheese. We played flute-clarinet duets together for solo ensemble during our high school years. 

College sent me one way and the military sent her another.  She was the maid of honor in my wedding.  We have kept in touch through the years and across the miles.  Even though we do not get a chance to see each other often and even though we do not get a chance to speak often, when we do get together it is like we have never been apart.  It is a real honor to have such a wonderful friend.  I am definitely blessed with our friendship.

Rainbow Chasers

Pumpkin and Princess delight in chasing rainbows this time of the year.  Last year for Christmas, I gave them a globe prism so we could have rainbows in our house like great grandma's house.

Earlier in the week the kids were chasing the rainbows through the sunroom.  They had quite a ball!

Merry Christmas

The kids sure do love Christmas!  

There is no snow this year, 

but it sure is a lovely day.  

We have been blessed by many 

wonderful gifts from our families and friends. 

 

Our family wishes you and your family 

many wondrous blessings today 

and throughout the next year! 

Merry Christmas!

Me, Myself, & I

It is the Christmas season, it is suppose to be a joyous time.  But I find myself getting very annoyed.  This time of the year should be about loving one another and hurtful comments should be kept to ones self.  I may not always be an optimistic person, but I try to make a majority of my posts about happy things.  There is no point to dwell on things that cannot be change.  There is no point in blabbing to the world negativities that others do not want blabbed or want to hear.  If someone asks me to not talk about something over the internet, I refrain from doing that in respect for that person. 

So, here is about me.  You can take or leave it.  

- I do not need to be told what I am doing wrong.  I believe that you should never ask someone to do something that you are not willing to do yourself.  I do the best I can, if that is not good enough do it yourself.

-I do not need to be told what I should do.  I am a working mother of two young children with a husband typically works seven days a week.  I love my extended family, but I am going to treat them like equals.  If they ask for help I will help them to the best of my abilities.  I will not treat any of my adult relatives like they are a child.  Yes, people get sick.  Yes, it sucks.  I am not hiding behind my mother's death.  But my first responsibility is to take care my children, no matter what happens in the future.

 -I do not need to be made to feel inferior.  I am simply me.  I am one person.   I do not hold the world on my shoulders, nor would I want to. I believe that God has a reason for everything and never gives us more than we can handle.  

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program . . . . . . . . . . .

 

Ginger & Spice & All That Is Nice!

I do not ever recall making a gingerbread house.  It may be possible that we made one when I was little.  But, since I can't ask my mom, I don't really know.  

We entered on the gingerbread house venture last evening.  And what an adventure it was!  First off, it is a good thing that we bought a gingerbread house kit for our very first gingerbread house try.  It came with four walls, two roof pieces, a plastic base, and gingerbread snowman.  Oh, and it was heavenly having pre-made icing.  

After I got the lasagna for supper started, I worked on putting the house together.  Pumpkin and Princess where quite curious, especially since they helped me pick out the gingerbread house kit.  The directions seemed relatively easy, but the walls were more stubborn than I had anticipated.  One wall in particular kept wobbling, so the handy bag of icing saved the day.  I felt like a broken record during this process, repeatedly telling my children "Don't touch the table!" and "If you shake the table, the house will fall down."  Once the roof was set in place the hard part was done.  We let the icing that held the house together dry as we ate lasagna.

After supper, the kids directed me on where we needed icing.  Of course they wanted it to look like the picture.  Ha ha ha-  with two little ones nearby it was a hurried job of slapping the icing on.  Once the icing was in place they went to town.  They decorated the front, sides, and back.  Pumpkin delighted in making a chimney.  Princess loved running her fingers across the roof then licking her fingers.

Looks like we will be digging into it this evening after supper for our dessert.  The kids can't wait!  Maybe we have the start of a new Christmas family tradition.  We will see!

Christmas Blessings

As Christmas quickly approaches, it is time to take a few minutes to reflect on the true spirit of Christmas.  Christmas is about more than gifts and Santa.  Christmas is about celebrating love of a father, the blessings of a son, and the gifts of the spirit.  Even if one is not religious, love, family and hope are still a foundation of Christmas.  

Christmas is a time to count our blessings for the year as we look ahead to the next.  Even if it has been a rough year, there is still bound to be one or two good blessings.  Blessings for our family include:  Princess graduating to underwear, Pumpkin writing his name for the first time, Hubby being unharmed in a freak accident, and for me- taking some really incredible shots with my digital camera this year.  Take some time to reflect on your blessings and see what you come up with.

Christmas is about hope.  Growing up my Sunday school teacher's favorite saying this time of the year was "Jesus Is The Reason For The Season!"  One year she gave everyone in her Sunday school class a simple ornament with that saying and every year it hangs on my tree.  This time of the year is about hope and the promise of goodness to come.  Hope is a foundation which we build our lives on.  Without hope we can become lost and fall into despair. 

Christmas is about love and family.  Dad always says "You can pick your nose, but you can't pick your family."  That is quite hilarious but very true.  Love is unconditional when it comes to family, just like God loves us unconditionally no matter what.  You may not always agree with your family and there may be differences of opinion from time to time, but families forgive and families love and families share hope for the future. 

Christmas is also about memories of years past- your history.  Just as the Bible tells what happened many, many years ago, we also remember to earlier times in our lives.  The smells of a freshly cut Christmas tree, the joy of a family making Christmas cookies, remembrance of gifts from Christmas past, family traditions past down from year to year, and missing loved ones that have gone on before us.  These memories are what make us who we are and can define where we are going in life.

Our family wishes yours Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with hope, blessings, and love!

Cookie Time!

Earlier this week we had our annual family cookie making day at grandma's house.  It was my sister, grandma and I making our Christmas treats.

This year our day had an interesting twist with the oven deciding not to open and keeping the lemonade cookies that my sister was baking inside.  The repairman was able to free the cookies the next day and the birds got a special treat.  It ended up that the motor went out on the auto-clean feature (which grandma has never used) and the oven automatically locked the door.  The auto clean has been permanently disconnected to prevent a reoccurence of the problem.  So we were able to make about half of the cookies that day.  I also had to take one chilled recipe home to bake in my non-automatic oven.

Here are the two recipes that I chose this year!

Melting Snowman Cookie Balls from Kraft Foods 

(click on highlighted recipe name for direct link)

Ingredients:  

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
24 NUTTER BUTTER Cookies, finely crushed (about 3 cups)
2 pkg. (6 squares each) BAKER'S White Chocolate, melted
48 Mini OREO Bite Size Cookies
2 Tbsp. decorating icing

Instructions: 

MIX cream cheese and cookie crumbs until well blended. SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls; place in single layer in shallow pan. Freeze 10 min. Dip balls in melted chocolate (use two forks to coat & transfer); place in shallow waxed paper-lined pan, allowing excess chocolate to pool at bottom of each ball and place oreo on top for hat. REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Decorate with faces. Keep refrigerated.

Notes:  Well our cookie balls had a tan color from the 1/4 cup peanut butter that was mixed into the chocolate per the original recipe instructions.  I just visited the kraft website and they have removed the peanut butter from the recipe.  Next time we will just use white chocolate only for the coating.  We may also play with replacing the nutter butter cookies with oreo cookies and see how that works out.  Either way, these were very delicious. 

My Great-Grandma's Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup margarine

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon cream of tarter

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Cream vegetable oil, butter and both sugars.  Add vanilla, lemon extract and eggs.  Sift dry ingredients, then stir and blend all together.  Chill one hour.   Roll a teaspoon of soft dough into a ball, flaten down a little on greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar (I use the bottom of a drinking glass that has been dipped in sugar between each cookie).  Bake approximately 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Makes 8 dozen.

Note: I use parchment paper on my baking sheets and that cuts the baking time down to about 6 minutes, so keep an eye on the first batch to get the proper timing down.  These are a favorite of mine since I was a little kid.  I remember visiting my great-grandma (whom lived several hours away) and she would pull these cookies out of her freezer and we would decorate them with colored icing before eating them.  Enjoy!!!

My sister chose lemonade cookies and a turtle treat (which has yet to be made, darn oven).  Grandma make a chocolate cookie bar and was going to make another oven requiring treat.  I think they may be finishing the rest of the cookies this coming week.

What treats are you making this Christmas season???

The Princess and The Potty

Princess graduated from potty training last week.  She is excited to wear her little undies everywhere she goes.  We have chosen to have her wear pull-ups at night for the time being.  But I'm sure that by the time the warmer months roll around she will be completely graduated.

As her special treat for graduating from daytime potty training she received a beautiful Cinderella dress.  Always so cute!!!!!

Pumpkin of course had to get into the picture action, so he brought a "Transformer" in to show off.  To him any toy vehicle can be instantly turned into a Transformer.

May the adventures continue!!!!!

Crafty Fun

This evening Pumpkin and Princess had two friends over (4 years and 17 months).  We made applesauce ornaments and some really cool coasters!!!!!

The coasters were a hit with both families.  

Needed supplies- plastic jar lids, plaster of paris, glass stones, sea shells, or other suitable materials.

Instructions- Pour plaster of paris into the plastic jar lids and have the little ones place objects into the wet material.  The plaster of paris will harden within an hour.  Don't forget to wash your hands after you finish.

Viola, some nifty homemade Christmas presents.

Astronomy Adventures

I enjoy staring up at the night sky.  I can find the North Star and the Big Dipper, but that is about it.  I can pick constellations out in an illustrated guide book, but to just look up and find them just does not typically happen for me.   

Astronomy is a fun adventure no matter the time of the year, but the dry winter air gives the best views of the night’s sky.  This inexpensive hobby can be as simple as your own eyes and a library book, or as advanced as a pair of binoculars and telescope. 

The luminous moon is always a source of wonder especially for children.  Take an evening moon adventure.  Look up at the moon, what phase is shining through the night sky?  Is it a full circle, a crescent, or has it disappeared?  If the moon is full, can you see dark spots on the surface?  Some say there is a man on the moon, while one Native American legend says that there is a frog on the moon.  What do you see?

 

Star watching is another fun adventure.  It can be a lot like cloud watching, if you connect the dots what creatures can you find among the stars?  

Look for these starry favorites:   

  * North Star           * Big Dipper

* Orion                  * Taurus

* Jupiter                * Venus

See astronomy can be fun, so stop by your local library, pick up some books and head outside to watch the show in the night sky.  Visit NASA's website for upcoming eclipses and meteor shows.