High School Freshman...

Pulling my hair out! Two days and I'm ready to throw in the towel. If you don't already know, I sub at high school...grades 9-12. I do NOT like freshmen. They left a campus where they 'thought' they were BMOC...Big Man (and I do absolutely use that term lightly) On Campus. Now they are in high school where they are on the bottom rung of the ladder again. Only they DON'T KNOW IT!!! Or else they're just trying to prove how tough they are.

HEY! Save that for out in the hall. I am NOT impressed!

Two days. I quit subbing at one of the elementary schools because of having the same fourth grade class two days in a row...little animals!

When the older kids get out of hand, I say, "Children. Stop acting like fourth graders and act like the adults you claim to be." That generally calms them down and they straighten up and do their work...or at least get quieter. That sort of psychology does NOT work with freshmen. They aren't mature enough to understand it. They are too close to being that fourth grader than being adults...

I am one of those subs that believes in handling...get tougher, louder, slam a ruler or book down and get their attention...or just stand in front of the class and not say a word waiting for silence. I don't normally write notes and 'tattle' to teachers, but today...I not only wrote notes...I named names. AND told the secretary on my way out this afternoon...and named names for her. Had it been bad enough, I would've called for a principal. I have full faith in the coach handling his biology students...the three or four that caused me problems.

Almost Lost an Old Friend

More about that later...

Can you guess that I've been baking? Yesterday the library Friends group catered a dinner for the Business & Professional Women. This was our second dinner for them. I volunteered to make rolls. While browsing through our cookbook, Cooking With Friends, for a recipe, I saw my mother's Butter Braid. (She put it in the cookbook as Peggy Terry's Butter Braid since the recipe came from Peggy back when they worked on the local newspaper together.)

The recipe makes two large braided loaves. I made two batches of four small loaves each. I just needed four for the event, one for each table. But I couldn't make just those four loaves!!! Of course on the way to the dinner, I dropped one off at Mama's house. She clutched it to her breast and hobbled back to the kitchen as I closed the front door and locked it on my way out.
WHAT?! Someone cut a slice fresh from the oven?! Well! WHO would do that?
Oh...that's my hand isn't it?! blush blush

On to the near loss of an old friend. By my side through thick and thin..during those first years of marriage...waiting with me for almost 12 years lamenting my childlessness...coaching me through my months of pregnancy...one that we thought would never be. With me when Ron died. Never faltering...never failing...

My avocado green handheld Sunbeam mixer was a gift in 1971 received in a shower prior to my first marriage to Ron Jordan. I placed it on my little kitchen island/cart and didn't set it down right. It toppled over and hit that hard, cold, loud tile floor. Arrggghhhh! I shouted and ran around the island shoving it out of my way on its caster feet. The beater eject bar (says Sunbeam on it) was laying off to one side still connected by it's lifeline of a little insignificant spring...that did not break. I picked the mixer off the floor along with the beater that fell out. Popped the errant plastic thingy back on and inserted the beater. Plugged it in. IT WORKED! The beaters barely wobble at all.

Sigh... Ain't life sweet?! ;o) And, yes. That is ALL the bread that was left before lunch today...considerably less now.

I took one of those small loaves to the meeting for those of us who stayed in the back room to have something to nibble on. Before we announced that the meal was ready, we grabbed a plate, forked some turkey, spooned some green bean bundles, and dolloped some cornbread dressing on the plate...grabbing three plastic spoons, our drinks, and the previously referenced loaf of bread, we disappeared into the darkness beyond. Well. It must've been pretty dark. I'm eating turkey, dressing, green bean bundles and look over. Those two dear friends of mine who I fully intend to name...Earlene and TomWillena!!! Had sucked that bread down!!! Just one little tiny end left! I thought they were going to fight over the last chunk!!!!!

For further info on the dinner, check the side bar for the Friends of the Daingerfield Public Library.

OH! Recipe!!!

Butter Braid

1 package dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water

1/2 pound butter
4 1/2 tablespoons
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup warm milk

4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar. Cream together butter and 4 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Beat in eggs. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add yeast mixture; stir well. Combine flour and salt and add to the butter mixture. Dough will be very soft. Refrigerate, covered, several hours or overnight. Turn out on floured surface, knead, adding flour as needed. Divide dough into two pieces; then each piece into three pieces. Roll dough into long ropes. Pinch three together and braid. Repeat for remaining three pieces. Tuck ends under. Using two cookie sheets, place each braid on a cookie sheet. Let rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. (Remember the above photos are 4 loaves per batch and two batches.)

Mama Update

I meant to include this in my last post but with company in the house, just couldn't take that much time away...especially since I kept having trouble uploading one particular photo.

Mama's doing pretty good. She's had good days where I think she was up too much doing too much which would make the next day be not so good. When I visited last she actually sat for a while visiting talking about how good she had felt for the last couple of days. Her incision site never looked the least bit puffy. She never ran any temp. During pre-op, the nurse told us that the infection rate at their hospital was less than 1 percent. Shame they just do spines and joints! Other hospitals need to go to them to find out how to do it right! That along with the nurse/patient rate being 1 nurse to 2 patients...AND the nurse has a CNA assigned to them...so in reality the CNA can be with one patient while the nurse is with the other...if there's an emergency of any sort...as in a patient being accused of killing a cowboy when he can clearly be seen 'over there.'

On the mend! Hallelujah! Her 6 week doctor's appointment is December 1.

P.S.
She is doing better emotionally too. I haven't heard, "I can't believe I went through this and I'm no better" in several days.

God's Handiwork

Didn't He do a fantastic job with Thursday evening's sky?!

I machine embroidered a couple of sets of napkins. The snowflakes add to a set I did for me last year. The mariner's compass set is for a gift.

Here's the one row of braids I got sewn together.

French Braid

Can you see it on my cutting table? I can't imagine why not! Just because several other things are piled and stacked along with it...

I cut the pieces out before Mama had her surgery...3 1/2 weeks later all I've accomplished on it is sewing the 'butterscotch' color squares to one end of half the rectangles. Well...actually behind me is part of one section sewn together and actually pressed. I did that today.

Looks as if I need to clean my table. LOL I need to clean the whole room! Change that to the whole house! We have company coming from Ft. Worth for the weekend. Sam's BFF since the fifth grade and his wife.

Introducing...

Ducky aka The Rubber Duck (blog). He's mine. Jonathan said that he created his own blog so that he could comment on mine.

He called me today about using the "O" word in my last post. LOL

I just read his latest post. I had a good laugh! He did post a photo of himself in his kilt and leine aka shirt. I made the shirt for him before an international festival in Houston last year...Ireland was the featured country. (He was disappointed in the festival...but got to wear his kilt and leine.)

Chocolate Anyone?

I woke this morning before the heater cut on (see below post about thermostat war). The inside temp was 70 degrees. Not cold at all...but still 2 degrees shy of the heater kicking in. So. I had a mug of hot chocolate. If I hadn't been dressed in my summer pajamas without a robe, I would've gone outside where it was a crisp 54 degrees and sat in the screen room to enjoy it. Alas. The heater kicked in...Note to self...set out robe for tomorrow morning.

To continue in the chocolate mood, I decided to bake a Chocolate Pudding Cake.

This is such a good cake. Without eggs in the batter, I even licked the whisk, bowl, and spatula. ;o) This looks weird with water floating on the top.

During the baking, that water sinks taking with it the brown and white sugars and cocoa sprinkled on top...

...making a pudding layer on the bottom.

After it cools, scoop out a slice and flip it upside down on the dessert plate with the pudding on top. A bit of a drizzle of chocolate syrup (since I was watching Julia and Jacques on PBS).

About as good as an orgasm. OH! Where'd he come from? Gotta turn the ceiling fan on again!! (I admit it. I did not take this photo.)

How to make your own...

Chocolate Pudding Cake (If Sean ever comes to visit...I am NOT sharing him!!)

1 1/4 cup sugar, divided (3/4 cup and 1/2 cup)
1 cup flour
7 tablespoons cocoa, divided (3 tablespoons and 4 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/4 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup sugar, flour, 3 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Blend in milk, butter, and vanilla; beat until smooth with a wire whisk...it doesn't take long. Pour into an ungreased 8- or 9-inch square baking dish. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, and remaining 4 tablespoons cocoa; sprinkled mixture evenly over batter. Pour hot water over top; do not stir.

Bake at 35 to 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Let stand 15 minutes. Spoon into dessert dishes, spooning sauce from bottom over top.

Garnish with whipped cream or sprinkle with powdered sugar...then do the Julia thing with the chocolate syrup if so desired. ;o)

Makes 8 to 10 servings. hahahahaha Unless one is a chocoholic. Me!

Go To Your Corner...

Thermostat War has begun already!

Fooled Me

Sigh. I was doing the 'man' thing tonight and flipping channels with the remote. Nova aired a program about Rift Valley in Kenya. The first 10 minutes talked about the lake that was there millions of years ago...and that most of Africa was once a tropical rain forest. Many areas are now desert. (Guess man started global warming much further back than we originally thought.)

So...I called Sam into the living room. BM...that is Before Me...he, the then wife, and their two kids went to Zaire as missionaries for the Methodist church. Just before leaving Belgium where the two kids pretty well learned how to speak French and the now X did fair...Sam...wellll....we won't go there because it has no bearing on my story any way. Okay...just before leaving Belgium, they find out that the school in Lubumbashi, Zaire (now the Democratic -haha - Republic of Congo) does not have enough grades for their oldest, Brook. She was homeschooled the first year, then the parents decided she was missing too much. Arrangements were made to send her to RVA, Rift Valley Academy, in Kenya. Their son decided that if Brook was going...so was he.

There's the intro to all of this.

Sam joins me in the living room for a few more minutes of the 'lay of the land' in Kenya and Rift Valley. THEN the story moves into evolution. Okaaaaay...some of you may believe that your uncle was a monkey. Perhaps he acted like one. I have a couple of brothers that do...you remember the Brat don't you?... but...

If you present a theory as a theory...that's one thing. But please do not present a theory as fact.

As I headed to the shower...Sam started flipping channels.

One Foot Warm and Cozy

The other is freezing! Well. Maybe not freezing...since I do own several full pairs of socks. ;o)

I cast on for the second sock last night while watching Dancing With the Stars. I even knitted all but four rows of the ribbing.