Happiness in the Small Things

Ahh!! New sheets! 

So fresh, so crisp, so wonderful! 

Nothing like new sheets! 

I splurged with my birthday money a few weeks ago and purchased a new set of sheets from Target. We just finally put them on the bed last night. 

I love the burnt orange color and white pattern that runs across the fabric. 

So fall like and not too girly!

Heaven! A freshly made bed is just heaven! 

We even took the time to rotate the mattress. We should do this more often, I woke up without my back hurting. Yay!

Besides these wonderful new sheets, I also like new hot-off-the-press books. The smell of a fresh new book is glorious and is also a rare treat! 

What do you like to have that is new?

It's A Small World

One thing I love about my blog is something that is behind the scenes.  Sure, it is fun to post and reflect about life and show off my nature photography skills.  Sure, it is fun to catch up on my favorite blogs.  Sure, it is fun to post about cooking and family adventures.  But the FIRST thing I do when I log-in is check out the stats on my blog.  

A lot of traffic to my blog comes through my Facebook friends, but I get excited to see that others have happened along my blog.  My favorite aspect to check out is the Audience.  In the fourteen months that I have had my blog, many countries have visited.  Here is a list that I was able to compile:  United States, Russia, France, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada, United Arab Emiates, Austria, Thailand, Venezuela, Bulgaria, Latvia, Argentina, Japan, Hong Kong, and Spain.  Every time I check the Audience, it is like a little bit of Christmas.  The excitement of wondering how far across the world my thoughts and reflections have reached brightens my day.

It is amazing to know that I can sit at my computer in my house and someone thousands of miles away could be reading my blog.  It really goes to show what a small world it really is.  I think the song "It's A Small World" pretty much sums it up!

It's A Small World 

It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world 

There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to every one
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world

So thank you to everyone that helps to brighten my days and my weeks.  A little bit cheer goes a long way and helps me try to stay positive in my sometimes chaotic life. As I part, here is a spring picture to hopefully brighten your day!

Pumpkin & The Gingerbread Man

Pumpkin loves gingerbread men!  

Last year at preschool, gingerbread men were the focus for a week or two.  Pumpkin was hooked!  We have a gingerbread man book that we got from the school book club last year.  We have gingerbread man cookie cutters from when I was little.  

Quite often Pumpkin requests that we read The Gingerbread Man (by Jim Aylesworth) at bedtime.  His favorite part is "Run! Run! Fast as you can! You can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Lately, he has been begging his great-grandma to make some gingerbread man cookies.  Since Pumpkin really is not into REAL gingerbread, my grandma found a recipe for brown sugar cookies and made up a batch for Thursday evening.  

We left Pumpkin and Princess with great-grandma while we went to school for a parent-teacher conference.  While we were gone Pumpkin counted the cookies- 24 cookies total.  Then waited and waited for dessert time after supper.  He had the honor of passing out the gingerbread cookies to everyone at the table.  

Great-grandma then placed the rest of the cookies in a cake pan for us to take home.  Pumpkin insisted that the bag, which was covering the cake pan, should be sealed so the gingerbread men could not run away.  So we had to tape the bag shut to prevent the great escape!

Needless to say, Pumpkin loved the gingerbread man cookies that his great-grandma made for him.  He even shared some with his friends the next day.

Birthday Delight

It is amazing what a difference a year makes! 

Last year my birthday was filled with deep sadness with the loss of my mom just days before.  I was still numb and a lot of friends and acquaintance just did not know what to say so . . . they said nothing at all.  Last year my birthday was filled with funeral plans and trips to the funeral home.  My brother, sister, and their spouses bought me a bouquet of flowers and a card, but that was about the extent of my birthday.  It felt like my birthday never existed last year.

This year is remarkable different.  I received oodles of wishes over the internet, cards from family, text messages, and phone calls.  My hubby woke up at 5:30 a.m., went out in the rain, and brought home some fancy bagels and cream cheese that I really like.  Then told me to eat my breakfast before waking the kids up.  What a sweetheart!  

While he was gone, I thought I heard him outside.  "Hoo Hoo HooHoo, Hoo Hoo HooHoo"  this phrase was repeated several time.  I thought may be my husband needed some help coming back into the house, so I went to the kitchen and turned on the light.  No noise, no husband, then I started laughing.  It had to be a barred owl hanging out in the tree outside our bedroom.  Sometimes when we are shopping and can not find each other in the store, we will hoot like barred owls until we find the other person.  Barred owls sound like they are saying "Who cooks for you?  Who cooks for you alllll?"

For lunch my hubby met up with me and a few friends from work.  He came bearing a beautiful bouquet of flowers and bought me lunch at a local burger joint.  I got my chocolate cherry coke!  Yummy!!!!  We had a great meal with some good company.

Later in the day when the kids and I got home, I discovered that a birthday elf had broken into my house!  That table was definitely not the way I left it, but a whole lot better!  The tablecloth had transformed into a beautiful burnt orange with heavenly cream colored cloth napkins.  In the center of the table was a naturistic looking pumpkin decoration.  The birthday elf had left a calling card and I'm thankful to report that it was from my little sister and her husband.

My family usually celebrates birthdays with a birthday dinner.  The birthday person gets to pick the menu.  I usually ask for the same thing every year, although last year there was no birthday dinner.  I ask for my all-time favorite entree my great-great-great grandma's cabbage rolls.  I remember my great grandma making them from time to time when I was growing up.  The recipe has been past down from generation to generation.  Grandma says that the recipe came over from Austria.  Anyway I digress,  this year for birthday dinner we also had cinnamon apples, deviled eggs, and creamed potatoes and peas.  Dessert was peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream.  Yes, I did say peach cobbler.  I am not a cake person, I prefer pies and cobbler.  So every year, I request peach cobbler instead of a birthday cake.

Needless to say this year's birthday was amazing!  I'm so thankful for all of my family, friends, and blessings!

World Famous Stress Relief Tonic

Do you ever have one of those "bad" days?  Do you sometimes want to scream just to make the stress disappear?  Do you dream of just a few heavenly minutes without any care in the world?  

Everyone has some little trick to help on those days when everything just goes wrong or that are so full of stress that you feel like your head will start to spin.  Instead of vices, like alcohol, smoking or drugs, I rely on the good old fashion sugar induced happy rush.

My "World Famous Stress Relief Tonic" is called a Chocolate Cherry Coke.  Now they can be found at soda foundations and a few select restaurants, but I have concocted my own budget friendly recipe.  Friends during my college years got me hooked on these sugary drinks.  Warning . . . Daily consumption may not be good for your waist line or blood sugar levels. ;-)

Chocolate Cherry Coke

I use a 20 oz. plastic tumbler, fill it 3/4 with ice, then gently squeeze in 5 seconds (slowly count) worth of Hershey's chocolate syrup, then slowly pour in 2 seconds worth of maraschino cherry syrup (it can come out fast so go slow). Next place a straw in the tumbler. Then I pour about half of a 12 ounce can of Coca-cola and stir with the straw, then pour the rest in and stir again. Enjoy!!! 

The Princess & The Raspberries

Princess loves to eat raspberries.

She loves them both plain and with sugar.

She loves to put them on her fingers.

Yummy in her tummy!

Nothing Like A Good Book!

I just finished my third book for the summer by one of my favorite authors, Marcia Muller.  The book is entitled Coming Back and is the newest book of the Sharon McCone mystery series.   

The main character is a female private detective, Sharon McCone, that owns her own investigation company. This particular book is about the search for a friend of Sharon McCone's that totally disappears as Sharon deals with rehabilitation of her own from an injury sustained in the previous book.  Of course typical of a mystery book there is suspense, intrigue, murder, and eventually discovery.

I always love these books and each page keeps you guessing to what will happen next.  I discovered this series when I was in high school and would check Marcia Mueller's books out from the small country library in the neighboring town.  Even though my mom was a romance book person, she also enjoyed borrowing my Marcia Mueller's books after I read them.

Marcia Mueller has written 36 mystery novels so far and I own all but that last two, but I am looking forward to getting them soon.  Oh, I am also looking forward to the 37th book that will hit the shelves in October, City of Whispers.  Yay!

Hmmmm . . . . . my next book will be How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal.  It looks like it may be a good one!  

Rhubarb . . . Oh, How I Love Thee!

Spring means fresh rhubarb and oh it is so delicious!  

I absolutely love my grandma's rhubarb crisp recipe.  

I obtained some fresh rhubarb last week from "my supplier," a very nice retired gentleman that we know.  I cleaned, cut and sugared it last night.  So when we got home this evening it was time to make this fabulous recipe!  

Rhubarb Crisp

If time permits, clean and cut rhubarb into 1" sections. Add 1 cup sugar. Refrigerate overnight.  Drain liquid into saucepan add 1/4 cup cornstarch and heat to boil (stirring all the time).  Add 3 to 4 cup rhubarb to hot sauce.  Put into 9 X 13 dish (greased).  Prepare topping -> 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup melted shortening (oleo).  Stir with fork and pour over rhubarb. Bake in 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until rhubarb is done.

 

My hubby and I both had two helpings.  

Now to coax the children into trying this delicious treat!

Another spring recipe that we love is my grandma's strawberry pie recipe (click on this -> Spring Is In The Air to view the blog post that lists this recipe).

My Favorite Holiday

Easter season has almost come to a close.  So I thought that I would delve on my favorite holiday.  You are probably thinking at this point that Easter is my favorite holiday.  In a way it is part of my favorite holiday.  My favorite holiday is actually the non-commercialized holiday of Maundy Thursday.  It is one of those religious holidays that are not celebrated with much fanfare, but to me it is amazing and unique.

Trillium reminds me of the Trinity- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

What is Maundy Thursday?  It is the day that commemorates the Last Supper.  Even though Jesus knew what lay ahead of him, He took the time to commune with His disciples.  He showed them how much He and his Father loved them and loved us.  As an expression of that love, He taught the disciples what we now call communion.  Isn’t God amazing!

One of my favorite Maundy Thursday memories was from my old country church.  It was the last Maundy Thursday service before the church closed, so it would fell on the evening of April 13, 2006.  Instead of having the service in the sanctuary, it was held in the basement (which was small by most church standards).  There were four tables set-up in a “u” shape.  We ate by candlelight and we were served several courses of foods that may have been typical during the Passover.  I remember that we ate bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and grape juice.  I think there may have been a few other items, but they escape me at this point.  We ate a solemn meal with each course being presented one at a time with the meaning of what that course represented.  At the end our pastor led us through Holy Communion and we partook of the bread and cup.  To me experiencing what the Last Supper may have been like gave me a new perspective on the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s amazing love, and humanized the disciples. 

One day I hope for pumpkin and princess to experience this amazing holiday for themselves.  It will be several years down the road, but I look forward to the time they can stay up to experience a Maundy Thursday service.  Until then we will celebrate the true meaning of Easter as well as tradition of the Easter Bunny.

Pumpkin is looking forward to the Easter Bunny’s arrival and princess on the other hand has not quite caught on yet.  Pumpkin cleaned his room this morning, since the Easter Bunny only leaves treats for children with clean rooms.  Then I allowed him first choice of the two handmade Easter baskets that I made for my little ones.  Pumpkin choose the lighter of the two baskets, so princess will get the darker basket.  We will place pumpkin and princess’s Easter baskets on a table in our sun room this evening and then all go to bed in hopes that the elusive Easter Bunny will drop in and leave a few treats while we sleep.

God is Great!  My wish for all who read this post is a Happy & Safe Easter Weekend! 

Dr. Seuss and All That Jazz

During the summer of 2009 my mom had obtained a treasure trove of sixteen Dr. Seuss books at a garage sale and stored them away.  Grandma found the books and gave them to us shortly after mom past away this past fall.  As with any loss of a loved one, it takes time to be able to dig out personal items that have connections to the loved one as was the case here.  

Last week I rediscovered those books when I was tidying up our basement.  Pumpkin has fallen in love with quite a few of the books.   

His favorite one of the bunch is Green Eggs and Ham.  I think this fits my son perfectly; he absolutely hates to try any new foods.  It cracks me up that he enjoys the book so much and wants the character to eat the green eggs and ham, but he will not do the same thing.  Spaghetti- Forget about it!  Homemade macaroni and cheese- Nope!  Hamburger- No way!  Carrots- Yuck!  I know with time, he will warm up to new foods, but at times it can be a challenge to us parents.

Another favorite of Pumpkin is Bears In the Night.  He likes to help me read this book.  “Out of bed”  “To the window” “Down the tree”  I have him fill-in the underlined words and pick different ones throughout the book.  If he needs help, I point to the object.  He has lots of fun with this book and loves the source of the mysterious noise.

His first vivid enjoyment of Dr. Seuss inspired books was Go. Dog. Go!.   He fell in love with this book when he was 18 months old.  We were visiting family along the west coast and they had a copy of this book on their shelf.  We read it almost every day during our visit.  He could quote parts of the “Do you like my hat?” pages.  As soon as we arrived home, I ventured up to a locally owned family store and bought a copy for my little pumpkin.

Princess is not quite as impressed with Dr. Seuss yet.  A few books she gave up on quite early in the reading process (One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish), but seems to enjoy In A People House and The Cat and The Hat. 

I like Dr. Seuss books for a variety of reasons- some teach lessons, some have funny rhymes, my favorite aspect is the illustrations, and best of all they are just fun!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Favorite things are a constant in life.  Sometimes they do change a bit, but for the most part they stay the same.  

Purple Coneflower

  So, here are a few of my favorite things:

• Nature
• Prairie
• Family
• Cooking
• Plants
• Ladybugs
• Photography
• Owls
• Fresh Clean Bedsheets
• Friends
• Chocolate Cherry Cokes
• Turtles
• Kettle Corn
• Christian Music
• Lima Beans
• Music of Bach
• Strawberries
• Fiction Books
• Fresh Bread
• Botanical Books
• Cabbage Rolls
• Peach Cobbler

Obedient Plant

  Follow the link to listen to the Sound of Music iconic hit My Favorite Things- Lyrics & Music