Thanksgiving at Isabel's

Didn't take many photos. Sam didn't take any at all, so none with me and Isabel. BUT Isabel! Don't you love that smile?! Sunset at my house just a couple of days ago... Sam's HAM radio tower in the foreground...

Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings name them one by one
Count your blessings see what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings see what God has done.

I have been blessed in so many areas of my life.

A wonderful family including two fantastic grandchildren with another on the way.

A loving husband...who WILL one day finish my cutting table for my sewing room!

The best son God could've ever given me.

Two stepchildren one of whom has told me that I'm "cool." :-D

Good health.

I am an optimist and as long as I do my part, I have faith that things will work out for good.

My mother with all her aches and pains...BUT who does not have anything seriously wrong with her stomach. Thank you God!

A great job working for a wonderful Christian woman. Fair, honest, caring. I can not use enough adjectives to describe her.

Friends. I have more friends than I can count on one hand.

Salvation. One day I will once again see my grandparents, Daddy, Ron, family and friends who started their grand adventure before me.

One Year Older

What a difference a year makes.

Colt's First Birthday

A little quiet time with Granny before leaving for the party.
What's so funny, PaPaw ? Let's get this shindig on the road! Granny's sweet Isabel was there too.
Ah, yes! The inevitable meltdown... (Colt bumped his head on the table.) But a little sweet tempered things a bit.

Don't you just love the blue eyes on these two babies?! If Isabel could just get her hands on one of those pretty fish...

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend! I would've liked more time with isabel...I will have that chance on Thanksgiving...we are going to her house.

The night before the party, Colt's parents had friends over. We ate good and visited. The guys went out to the game room to watch boxing. Colt got a bit out of sorts so his mommy put him to bed. It didn't stick and after about 15 or so minutes she got him out. I borrowed him, grabbed his favorite blanket and we walked out to sit on the deck. We listened to the neighbors' dogs. Woof-woof and yap-yap. Watched the stars...I sang...he fell asleep in my arms.

I sang to my son, Jonathan aka Ducky here, when he was little. As he got older, he and I would just about drive his daddy crazy on road trips singing. Started with the kiddie songs - Itsy Bitsy Spider...Five Little Monkeys...to Davy Crockett...to Chantilly Lace...Rain, Rain Go Away...In the Jungle. The 'don't tee-tee in your pants song' was Sing! Sing a song! Sing out loud! Sing out long!...He would sing at the top of his voice until I could get pulled over. LOL

One day, when he was about 8 or 9...maybe 10...he turned to me with an astonished look on his face. "You can't sing!" Sigh...

So sing while they are small!

Easy to See and Not So Easy to See

Fall in America = American grown apples for APPLE PIE of course! I always mix two kinds of apples in my pies. One is ALWAYS Granny Smith. I like for my apples to have some "bite" in them. This pie also had Honeycrisp, a delicious eating apple. Thank goodness I had my Grannies in this. The Honeycrisp cooked down to applesauce! But added a delicious sweetness. The Grannies are still sharp crisp slices. Just right!

The fog was really dense one morning this past week. Those are old tree stumps, normally covered but due to this year's drought, most of our area ponds are either very low or totally dried up. Many ranchers have taken the opportunity to either dig new ponds in low lying areas or clean out their existing ponds. We have had some rain, but not enough for us or any of the surrounding counties to live the summer long burn ban.

Gorgeous color showing up in pockets.How would you like to drive under this tree twice a day? I always slow down coming up to it to make as certain as possible that nothing was already cracking before I drive under it.

Every limb on the pasture side has died and fallen off. The limbs hanging over the road were green this spring, but as the summer drought and horrid heat tarried, the leaves started curling up and turning brown.

I'm hoping the owner will cut the tree down this winter. It's right beside "my" tree stump. I would love to have a better ending to this "story" than...this...

I put the first two photos on the county's brochure I put together.
http://www.co.morris.tx.us/ips/export/sites/morris/downloads/2011_Brochure_County_Government.pdf
The property owner's son stopped by to visit and the judge gave him a brochure to show his dad. I asked him to ask his dad to cut the other tree and leave it for Spring and Summer shots. I've heard nothing...

(I also took the courthouse photo. Look at those clouds!)

Facebook...

Y'all won't believe this. On Facebook, I clearly state that I'm married. My profile is set to private - anyway I thought it was...I need to check into that. Just a couple of days ago, I clicked on my Message folder. Under Messages was "Other" with a 2. Look what someone sent to me in mid-September!


**** ********
Hello

well... I am very impressed with your profile and intrigued by your beautiful eyes. Your personality of being goofy and fun loving is very attractive to me. You seem quite intelligent and have a mature perspective on life. I believe that we have much in common and that we could be a great match. My name is *********** I lost my wife and have one son.! There are so many things that I really enjoy. Here are just a few: intellectual conversation, traveling, dining our, sports, music, dancing, movies, theater, museums, art galleries, as well as cooking. I believe love and romance. I am very intelligent, energetic, loyal, respectful, positive, optimistic, romantic, caring, sensitive, compassionate, easy going,appreciative monogamous, witty, friendly, sincere, articulate, understanding, straightforward,flexible,adaptable, hardworking and easy to please. Importantly, I have a good sense of humor and like to laugh. I am a one woman man .I do not do drugs, do not abuse alcohol and do not play head games. I like to look at issues from different perspectives to achieve better understanding.like honesty and truthfulness.hate lies and cheat. looking for a descent ,caring and understanding woman who would take me for what i am. Of course, no one is perfect. There are always room to learn and to grow. To me, learning, growing, improving and maturing is a life long process. I strive to learn from my own past mistakes and shortcomings, from other people and from experts, to be a better person.Life is too short to waste.Opportunity never comes back. Let's talk, meet and get to know one another. As a matter of fact, I have much more to tell you about myself in detail. There is not enough time and space for me to elaborate here. Hopefully, we can make connection and become soul mates. If not, we can still be friends and share wisdom with each other.I believethat we have much in common and that we could be a great match. i hope u tell me a little about urself too Ok.i will looking forward to hear from you My email is **********


LOL That's it. Whaddya think? Of course everything he said about me is oh so true! He is a monogamous (spelled it correctly too) and a one-woman man. And he hits up a married woman??!! In case this is up-n-up, which I seriously doubt, I did not include his photo. From the photo, he's a good 15 and maybe 20 years younger. Hey Jonathan! You want a brother?

My Babies and...

Sam cut a small load of firewood for Brook and Cody. We delivered it last Saturday and got to play with Isabel. Cody took a work break to help Sam unload but then he had to go back to work. Brook, Isabel, Sam and I ate at "Cartwright's". They use a western theme and even had a hamburger dedicated to "Hoss" of "Bonanza" fame. I asked the waiter about the name of the restaurant...owner's last name. I told him about my tie-in with Hoss - Dan Blocker...My great grandmother, Eve Blocker Durham, was his aunt. :-D

My grandbabies are growing so big! The changes in just a few short months are incredible. Isabel was pert-near perfect at the restaurant. She found that the table height was perfect for hands-free dining. Her mom posted this on Facebook this week.

I missed seeing Colt. Sam went to visit them Monday and came home Tuesday. He's going to be building a bed and dining room table and bench for John and Erin. He went to get measurements for the bed. They finished out the 3rd floor of their A-frame for a master suite. With the sloping ceiling/walls they have to have a short headboard.

Sam got some good photos of Colt.


John sent me this one via e-mail. Not sure Colt likes walking in his Halloween lobster suit. LOL

Da Judge's husband got some bad news. He has cancer. They've been dealing with doctors and varying diagnoses for seven weeks now. He has had one radiation treatment and surgery is being scheduled.

I made a flannel quilt for him. Da Judge just looked at me so I had to amend it. I told her that it's a "comfort" quilt and could be used by whoever needs comforting. She smiled.

They covet your prayers.

Jeans

I found some that fit! Since menopause - which I LOVE by the way - my waist is thicker than it was pre-meno. Where I once had a waist...I don't any more. My jeans fit everywhere except in the waist. I would zip the zipper, then turn the button and buttonhole tabs down and tuck them so that they wouldn't flop. I needed to go try on jeans in a really bad way.

I've been sorting through my clothes and took a quick look at Sam's. There was a pair of new looking jeans on the far end of his jeans. Generally the newer jeans are on the other end...not on the end with the faded out jeans. I pulled them out and realized that they were a pair of Wranglers that were hand-me-downs from one of my brothers. They were too small and not Levis...which is all Sam wears. I just dropped them in the floor while I quickly sorted through the rest of his jeans...all Levis. The Wranglers were headed to the giveaway box.

Then...Hmmm...I wondered if they fit me and also wondered how big the waist would be. I tried Wranglers before, pre-meno. They were women's jeans...tight in the thighs and big in the waist...haven't tried them since. But...these are men's jeans. THEY FIT! I was so excited and took the lint brush to brush off the dust line where they've been folded over the hanger (and Sam does not always shut the closet door so I have a dust battle in there constantly)...and wore them this evening after work. Now I know what brand to buy and what size to get! I am EXCITED!! Yep. I know. Sometimes it doesn't take much to excite me. ;-)

Enlargement? ME???

I am constantly getting spam e-mails to "enlarge" my "member" and "make sexy women crazy for" me. LOL

Ummmm...

NO!

Vacation

Sam and I decided to chase cooler weather...and beautiful scenery. I took a few days off work and we drove to Mt. View Arkansas. We parked the camper in an RV park in town. About 2:30 the first morning, I woke chilled...it was 61 degrees inside the camper. :-) In preparation, I had laid out another blanket before going to bed. I pulled it off the couch and spread it on the bed...snuggled back down. About 5:30, Sam woke and turned the heat strip on in the a/c unit. It got up to the low 80s mid-afternoon...but still wonderful weather!

If you haven't been to Mt. View...and you like Mountain, Country, and Blue Grass music...you really need to go there. The season is winding down now but the area has been preserving and promoting their music for 45 years or so. My family has been going there for that length of time.

We took several day trips driving the winding roads and enjoying the scenery. The trees are just now starting to turn...so the color is not all that great...but the vistas are! The Friends of the Library is holding a Thanksgiving bake sale. We are doing it different...we are baking to order. Each person listed a couple of specialties with our phone numbers. We will take orders and cut off when we want. We had the flyers ready for a catering job for the Business & Professional Women. Lo and behold, we received orders for five cakes from them for their annual Friday night dinner - tonight. Each of them is supposed to bring a 9 x 13" cake. One asked...then it got up to five. So...we definitely obliged! This... ...turned into this... An oatmeal cake with broiler icing. Recipe below.

On a cooking forum, several mentioned their favorite cookware. Mine is Farberware Millennium. I have been very satisfied with it, but did a search of many of the more popular brands. Farberware is no longer made in America. All-Clads "bonded" products are. Calphalon is. Many others are made overseas. Some brands have different product lines made in different countries.

I'm trying to be more conscientious about the country of origin on the products and food that I buy. I mean...with a country like ours with Washington state (and other locales) apples...and our grocery stores are stocking Chilean apples?! Not in my house!

Anyway...here's the bulk of my pots and pans. I have more - less frequently used - in another cabinet. I love my cast iron which is all Made in America! Speaking of the cast iron...only two or three pieces were purchased new back in the early 1970s...my chicken fryer with lid, a skillet, and a bean pot with lid. The remaining pieces were purchased from second hand stores and garage sales. I do not like the new Lodge pieces. The inside bottoms are not milled smooth...the bottom is pebble like. Stirring gravy is like squeaking chalk across a chalkboard...runs chills up my spine.

See that wood handled thick aluminum pan? It was my grandmother's. I use it exclusively to make candy!!

OATMEAL CAKE
with BROILER ICING

1½ cup quick-cooking rolled oats (see note below)
1¼ cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ cups butter, softened (NOT margarine!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 whole eggs
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ - 1 teaspoon cinnamon

BROILER ICING
⅔ cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
¼ cups butter, melted
¼ cups cream or Half-and-Half
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

In a small bowl, combine rolled oats and boiling water; let stand 20 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13-inch pan.

In a large bowl, combine the sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add oatmeal and all the remaining cake ingredients; mix well. Pour into the 9x13-inch pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the broiler icing: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, and cream or half-and-half. Beat at high speed until smooth. Stir in coconut and nuts. Spread over still hot cake to cover.

Broil 4–6 inches from heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until bubbly and light golden brown. (Watch carefully...do not burn. Cool completely.

The recipe calls for quick cooking oats...NOT INSTANT. I don't keep quick cooking oats so always use regular old-fashioned oatmeal. Thinking back on my mother's cake, in my memory it was gummier than my cake...perhaps the difference is the type of oatmeal I use.