Beautiful Day

We had a gorgeous day today! After freezing temperatures earlier this week and mizzling weather, this was a wonderful reprieve. It will not last long...more freezing weather is in store for us early next week with a possibility of sleet on Monday night. Honestly, I don't mind cold weather. We have so little of it to start with. I just make certain that the pantry is well-stocked, and that I have a book, knitting, and/or quilting close at hand. I'm a happy camper! Oh, mizzling is a term a dear friend of Sam's coined - it is a cross between mist and drizzle. ;o)

We had water on the pool cover. I dipped leaves and started a hose suctioning off the water. FINALLY found a low point for the opposite end of the hose so that it didn't just trickle out. Once I had the hose situated, the water drained off the cover very quickly.

I should've walked in the woods with my pruners today. I haven't been in the decorating mood so we don't have a wreath on our front door yet. Tomorrow...tomorrow is going to be nice too. I'll have to stroll through the field and the woods gathering cedar limbs, pinecones, sweetgum balls, and other natural items for a Christmas wreath. I generally make my wreath in the fall. After Thanksgiving, I then add more items to make it Christmasy.

I guess I have found out that the blahs can last longer than just one year.

I'm working on a second sock. Take a gander at this heel turn. Isn't it just the prettiest thing you've ever seen?! It is the best that I've ever knitted. I am so proud of myself.

Baking Cookies...

...again. Sam requested Oatmeal Raisin cookies. Yep, same recipe as before. I made all of them with raisins since I was out of chocolate chips. I confess. I am a chocoholic. I have a small plastic cup that probably holds 1/4 cup. I raid the chocolate chips. No small children live in my home. Jonathan moved out years ago. Sam tolerates chocolate, but it is not his favorite...see Note below. With no one else in the house...I am the only one I can blame when the chocolate runs out.

Once again, the cookies lasted only a couple of days! I shared them with my mother. Elton and Carol had a few. Alas, Sam and I devoured the majority. He normally doesn't eat that many sweets, but I swear that he has been inhaling them!

Note: Before Sam and I married, I asked him if he liked chocolate. He said, "Not really." I seriously considered calling the marriage off. I fully believe that you can not fully trust someone who says that they do not care for chocolate. He said, "I'll stay out of yours."

Okay! Sounds like a great relationship.

Except - He LIED!!!

The year after our marriage Sam, Jonathan, and I hooked up to the camper and went to Colorado for vacation. Did you know that Montrose Colorado is the home of a Russell Stover candy factory? And that out front, they have a factory store? With candy, candy, candy! The majority of which is C H O C O L A T E???!!! I spend $40 - $50 every time we visit which is about once a year. That first visit I purchased bags and bags of Pecan Delights...pecans, caramel, and - yep, you guessed it - C H O C O L A T E!!! Whenever we would eat a meal in the camper, I would be nice and polite and offer ONE of my Pecan Delights to Sam and Jonathan. I thought I would be losing only ONE with each offer...Jonathan likes chocolate too. To my absolute horror Sam held his hand out. Not for ONE, but he wanted TWO! TWO of MY Pecan Delights with pecans, caramel, and C H O C O L A T E!!! I was dumb-founded.

I was right. You absolutely can NOT trust someone who says that they don't care for chocolate much.

Happy Birthday Sam!

My husband celebrated his 73rd birthday today! We went to Red Lobster and invited Elton and Carol to go with us. I did the inviting and Elton paid! I didn't expect that.


I didn't notice until we were seated that the table beside us had a toddler and an infant. Normally...y'all are going to think I'm terrible...but normally I ask to sit someplace else...like all the way across the restaurant from the children. However, when that little blonde looked at me and smiled. Well, you had to use your imagination because she had a stopper (pacifier) in her mouth, but she smiled...and I sat down. She was so cute. Started to fuss only one time and I caught her eye and smiled at her and wiggle my eyebrows. That child sat there and waited for her food like a big girl. Music was playing in the background and she would 'dance' sitting in her chair. For dessert, mom and dad shared a chocolate goodie with a scoop of ice cream. Mom would head toward the little girl with a spoon of ice cream and the little birdie's mouth would pop open. She'd take the ice cream then put her hands over her ears. Carol and I finally realized that she was pressing on her ears...cold ice cream...press on ears. Bite of cold ice cream...press ears. She was trying to take care of brain freeze! LOL She was such a cutie!

RE: Ill- that's 'ill' - mannered children in restaurants. Many times adults set kids up to be a pain in the behind. For some unknown reason, the parent(s) decide to bring a child into an restaurant after a morning (or day) of shopping and plop an already tired child into a high chair, pull them up to the table, and expect them to act like adults. HELLO! At home you don't put a child in their high chair until food is on the table. Sit down...eat...no waiting. Then in a restaurant you want them to be civil when they are hungry and tired because their naptime was an hour ago?!

Then there are those little darlin's that it just doesn't matter. You can't do a thing to please them. This phase is called the 'terrible twos,' but unfortunately can continue into the 'trantrum threes' an on occasion become the 'formidable fours.' Shudder. I remember only too well never going into a store with sweet - ahem - little Jonathan. I lived for Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

Sarah was complaining about her littlest one's tantrums. I recalled a time when I was trying to get Jonathan stripped and into the bathtub. He did not want to go. In the middle of the tantrum, I looked at the sock that I'd just pulled off his foot...I was holding it in my hot little hand. I looked him in the eyes and said, "Open your mouth." He looked at me quizzically. "I said open your mouth." He did. I stuck the sock in it. He had this startled look on his face. I laughed...then so did he.



Changing gears - I just remembered something about our trip. In Mercedes, after Claraine and I hugged our greeting, she turned to me. "I didn't remember your accents being so thick." (Claraine and Harold are from Atikokan, Canada.)


WHAT?! What accent? I don't have an accent. I don't know why she said that. ;o) And I told her so! I do not have an accent.


While we were sitting in her living room visiting, she turned to Harold and said something which she followed with, "Eh?" I looked at her and said, "Eh? Eh?" She pointed her finger at me and said, "And we'll have no more of that."

He's a Good Man

I've been on the phone with my son for a while this evening. He's recently become a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) in a nursing home. After a year, if he wants, the nursing home will pay his schooling to become a nurse.

When we visited him last week, he seemed to really like his job and discussed a few of the patients. One he wanted Sam to meet...a graduate of Texas A&M, but the gentleman died earlier in the week...the man never had any visitors.

This evening he told me about a lady who is 98 or 99. She reads her Bible every evening. Unfortunately, it is coming apart. When she drops it, pages fall out. Someone will pick it up for her, shove the pages back in, and hand it to her. Jonathan said that he sat down with her one evening and put the pages in order before he went to work.

He and another CNA, Sarah, who is married to Jonathan's best friend James... MOF, he lives with them and their children. Anyway, Jonathan and Sarah went to the Bible book store and purchased the lady a new large print Bible. Jonathan gave it to her before work the other day, handed it to her and told her that Santa came early.

I'm very proud of him.

1892

What a great time! Sam and I went traveling. We stopped in Lake Jackson and took my son out to dinner. He picked a Mexican restaurant that Sam and I had never tried. I ate their chicken stuffed avocado...deep fried of course. It was very good. Oops. Forgot to get a photo of it. But Sam did take this one...(Jonathan was fully rested and ready for work. I had been traveling since 9 a.m. This photo was taken around 7 or 8 p.m.) Isn't it different from this one?!
The next day we helped Sam's family celebrate their mom's 95th birthday. Unfortunately she has Alzheimer's. Even though Sam wanted photos of her, I want to respect who she was and not post them here.

On to South Padre Island. A friend of mine, a Canadian who winters in Mercedes, was told that the devastation from the hurricane was widespread and that the sand dunes were gone. We didn't see it. We saw only one place on the northern part of the island where the dunes were breached and then they didn't wash completely across the island...the surge evidently just washed down the road.
We also saw new construction everywhere we looked in the densely populated southern part of the island.
Sam took this one of me. I really like it...except for my camera bag sticking out of the back of my neck. Argghh! Next we traveled on to Mercedes to visit with Claraine and Harold from Atikokan, Ontario. They purchased a place in Mercedes in the early 1990s and have wintered in Texas ever since. I wanted to go to Mexico - since I've never been. We all went in Harold's car across the border at Nuevo Progresso. I purchased a red blouse for myself and some vanilla for a couple of friends. See that camera around my neck in the above photo. I forgot to take it out.

Also, no photos of Fredericksburg. Sigh. What good is a camera if you don't use it. We didn't spend much time in Fredericksburg outside of eating a delicious German meal on night and going through the Nimitz and WWII museums.

But, we did go to Luckenbach!
Next stop was Glen Rose. I'd give anything if we'd taken Jonathan there when he was a little boy and just "eat up" with dinosaurs. The best tracks were underwater and the water was way too cold to wade in. ;o) Another time...maybe...

We finished up in north Texas where we had dinner with Sam's brother and son. His daughter got tied up at school...she teaches at the Culinary Institute...wine. The next day we went to Corith to American Eagle Harley. Sam doesn't take notes when I mention something I'd like to have but won't spend that amount of money on...so I specifically pointed out a couple of items. ;o) Nothing was purchased so I'm assuming he will be heading to The Harley Shop in Longview between now and Christmas.

Sam just stuck his head in and reported that we traveled 1892 miles.

Fall Vacation

Hi! We've been traveling the last few days starting off in Lake Jackson and Bay City. We went to Bay City for Sam's mother's 95th birthday on Sunday. But we got to visit with Jonathan Saturday evening taking him out to dinner. He looked good! I have a few photos on my camera, but no way at this time to get them to the computer...that will have to wait until we get home.

I haven't taken many photos at all on this trip, just enjoying myself. I'll fill you all in on everything when I get home. South Padre Island, Mexico, etc.

Right now we are resting in the camper in Fredericksburg after an absolutely delicious dinner in a German restaurant. I'm going to have to remember to start taking photos of the meal when they put it in front of me.

Later!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We don't have anyone coming to the house. Jonathan is working his new job in Lake Jackson so he can't come up. Then I found out that Joey and Marilyn had other plans and so did my mother. We seldom know about Sam's kids' plans until the last minute, so he said, "Let's go out to eat." Suits me! We will probably go to Luby's in Longview...I still want dressing. ;o) If his son with girlfriend and daughter with husband decide to come over, we'll all go out to eat!

I did cook one day this week. First:

OATMEAL COOKIES

1/2 pound butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teapoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups old fashioned oats, uncooked

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; add to butter mixture. Mix well.

At this point you are supposed to stir in 1 cup raisins. I divided the batter in half. In one half, I stirred in 1/2 cup raisins. In the other half, I stirred in 1/2 cup or so of sem-sweet chocolate chips. ;o)

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungeased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack. Store sealed.

I forgot to take photos while mixing and baking. And you won't find a photo of them being eaten. IF I had enough left to take a photo of now, I would.


For supper that night, I made chicken and dumplings. I've never made a good homemade dumpling. My drop dumplings always just cooked apart and we had chicken with 'thickening.' So, I've always cheated using cheap canned biscuits or flour tortillas cut into strips. Until...Cooking With Friends...the cookbook the Friends of the Daingerfield Public Library compiled and had published.

This recipe was submitted by Harthia Bockman who got it from her Aunt Lena Leach. Aunt Lena - I called her that too - lived across the road from my first husband, Ron, and me while we lived in the last house that we rented from Aunt Lena's niece. Tying into an old friendship, I am excited to have Aunt Lena's recipe for dumplings. I am going to post with more accurate measurements than "enough flour to make a thick dough"...

The cookbook calls this "Tim's Favorite Chicken and Dumplings." I am going to call it:

AUNT LENA'S DUMPLINGS

1 cup milk
4 tablespoons melted shortening or oil (I need to fess up...I use lard)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3-4 cups flour

Mix dough ingredients until very stiff. Pour out onto floured board and knead in enough flour to make the dough less sticky. Roll out in thin layer. Slice into strips. Drop dough strips into boiling broth. Continue to boil. After you have all the dumplings in the broth, turn it down to a low boil and cook 10 to 15 minutes. Taste test a dumpling to make certain that they are done. Here, the recipe says to add a stick of butter and 1/2 cup milk...I did not - see note about the lard. ;o) Add chicken and let simmer a few minutes.

I boiled a whole fryer in enough water seasoned with salt and pepper to cover adding chopped onion, celery, and carrots. When the fryer was cooked, I took it out to cool and picked the meat off the bones. I used only half the meat for my pot of dumplings.

I guess you can put anything in this that you want. I had a portobella mushroom that had to be cooked so I diced it and added it to the broth. We liked it...

I Washed My Cell Phone...

...back in April. I came in from subbing at the high school and jerked my black slacks off so that I could wash dark clothes. Pulled on a pair of shorts...put the clothes in the washer...went out back to water plants. Ten minutes later, I slapped my pocket...no phone. Moan. My Motorola Razr drowned...mouth-to-mouth resusitation did not work. That slim little phone had all sorts of features...but no mouth! At the Verizon store, I let the cute little girl talk me into a LG...she said it got better reception. After months of yes it is better...no it's not...yes it is...NO IT'S NOT!... I haven't dropped that many calls since we moved here in 2004 and had Cingular.

Sam and I went to Longview yesterday to buy me a Motorola...A Moto 755 I think. Purple. Oh! Yes! So much better than black - my only two choices. Sam asked, "Why purple?" I said, "Because black is boring." ;o)

After Olive Garden, he headed west on the Loop. He wanted to look at the Toyota 4-Runners again. We test drove one back in August when it was soooo hot. Amidst their tearing down and remodeling, we located the same salesman we talked to in August in a portable office building. We drove a white 4-Runner with leather seats (I wanted to go back to cloth - it's not hot in the summer or cold in the winter), then for some reason Sam wanted to drive the Sequoia...too big for what we need. The 4-Runner will pull the motorcycle trailer. We have a Ford diesel pickup for the camper...so...

We were talking about not wanting leather and the other froo-froo stuff so the salesman looked up another 4-Runner...dark gray with cloth seats...and it had the trailer hitch. Dark gray wasn't exactly on our list of favorite colors...but hey, this was the year-end clearance. It drove just like the white one with leather seats...So, remembering that we went to Longview for a new cell phone and to eat at Olive Garden - this is what I drove home last night:

Um...wanna buy a 2000 Acura 3.2 TL? less than 109,000 miles at the moment...well kept...serviced regularly...

Nostalgia

I just got back from visiting My Messy Thrilling Life. Brin, poor dear woke with with half of her peanut butter and honey sandwich under her face and the other half smeared down her coat. LOL How many of us have fallen asleep and woke in a mess or in an embarrassing situation. I'm waving my hand in the air and can't believe I'm about to tell you all.

Sam and I were married 11 years on July 19 this year. Back when he was courting me from 320 miles away, we spent quite a bit of time on the telephone - long distance. Our phone bills combined went into the hundreds of dollars...I kid you not. I, however, was the smarter (cheaper) of the two. I would call in the morning before he headed off to work to wish him a good day. He called at night and the marathon conversations would be on his nickel...hahaha...if only!

One night, he was whispering sweet nothings in my ear. All of a sudden I hear, "Sherry. Sherry!" Woke me up from a sound sleep. I was so mortified. We air-kissed good night on that one. (The photo is us pulling KP duty Thanksgiving two years ago at his daughter's.)

Changing gears...I found an audio cassette labeled, "Jonathan." I've been sitting here listening as I type and realized that I had stopped typing while listening and had a tear sliding down my cheek. Apparently one day, his daddy and I heard him cooing and starting taping him. I continued for several months catching him in heart rending infant sobs...even now, nearly 25 years later, I wanted to run in, pick him up, and let that crying baby nurse. (Sorry Jonathan, you shoulda skipped that part.)

As he got older, he and I even sang together...The Lord is my shepherd, I'll walk with Him always. Always, always, I'll walk with Him always. Jonathan just kicked in on the always part, but he did participate.

Jonathan, I know you check in here every other day or so. Remind me to play this for you next time you're here...I know you probably don't have a cassette player. Your daddy's voice is on the end...just a few words...

For those of you who don't know me that well, Jonathan's dad (Ron) died in 1996...right after our 25th anniversary and a month and a half before Jonathan's 13th birthday. It was hard. God took care of us.

Arkansas Apple Pie

When Carol and I were on our way back home after picking up the sewing machine in Mena and after the delicious homemade coconut pie - oh, and lunch. ;o) , we stopped at a roadside stand and purchased some locally grown Arkansas apples: Jonathans and Arkansas Blacks. Jonathans can be eaten 'out-of-hand' and baked. We were assured that the Arkansas Blacks would make a good apple pie.

The flavor of these two varieties was extremely similar. Sam said he couldn't taste a difference, but there was a difference in texture. They cooked down a bit more than I like, but still had a little tiny bit of 'bite'...just not much.

I always use at least two different varieties of apples using Granny Smiths as one of them. I don't like a smushy apple pie...that's like pouring a jar of applesauce into a crust, baking it, and calling it an apple pie. That's not an apple pie, that's an applesauce pie.

I had found a new recipe for apple pie and decided to try it with these apples.

First, start with a good crust: My Recipe Here

Pie Recipe
Peel, core, slice your apples...I use one of these to simplify things. Some slices I cut in half, some I don't...varies the amount of cooking and some of the apple slices will have a bit of a 'bite' to them. The recipe called for 6 cups...I used 8. Pour the apples into the bottom crust. Make a lattice top and cover the apples...crimp the edge of the crust.

Now, combine 1 stick butter, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer stirring until sugars are dissolved. Add a bit of cinnamon here if desired. Pour this over the lattice top completely covering the pie.

Put the pie in the oven on a rack below halfway down. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 and bake for 25-35 minutes. If the edges are not overly browned, cook another 10 or so minutes...you want that bottom crust completely baked and not doughy.

(The two smaller apples are the Arkansas blacks.)