Walking the off-beaten path

"It's So Nice on the Ice When You Glide, Glide, Glide"

2012-01-29T23:21:00.000-05:00

I posted on Facebook this afternoon, a bit selfishly, for a prayer from my friends because Tall Guy and I were taking the kids to go ice skating for the first time in their lives. TG can skate, but after a lot of soul searching, he decided to stay off the ice and be our photographer for the day. For those of you who do not know, he has had three back surgeries in the past nine or so years. Here are some shot of me the LAST time I was on ice skates:

Yep, that's me, my brother, and my favorite dog Suzy. We learned to skate on top of our frozen garden, and this is before braces, so I am thinking I'm about 12-13 years old. Now we jump ahead 37-38 years. ACK!

There is a great ice skating rink in West Lafayette, and two of our very good friends met us there to help with the girls. Thanks Toby and Angie for being there.

Here we go:

Plotting our strategy while the Zamboni did its thing. Angie never quite put her skates on, but she did a great job encouraging us and keeping Tall Guy company on the sidelines!

Lordy, Here we go. Bear is right behind me. NO, that coat is NOT 30-some years old, but I apparently like black coats.

We all kept pretty close to the rail until at least two us felt brave enough to take off. Guess which two the brave ones were?

Toby always came by to see how we were doing. This was one time I told the girls they could not count on me to help keep them up-right.

Tink is starting to remember her rollerskating skills. The litte poop lapped me several times!

Bear got ahead of me too, and she was good about going away from the rail for most of the time.

Yeah, I kind of liked the rail.

Toby has Bear out, and Tink is zooming on by.

Looks like we have a new pairs dancing couple! Toby, you ROCK! Tall Guy is a pretty darned good picture taker too! It snowed while we were out, and that set a nice atmosphere for the time on the ice.

Sigh,.... yes that is snow on my hind parts. I only fell once though!

Hey, Toby has two partners to choose from! Cool!

After VERY LONG hour on the ice, we walked/glided over to Panera Bread for some cocoas and lattes.

Our great friends Angie and Toby. I was in their wedding 17 years ago last week. We had a wild and fun time because it snowed like crazy, and I had snow on parts that usually are not out during the snow season! (We had to go outside the church to walk down the isle!)

Ok Boiler Alums. Name this pizza! We were rather hungry so several pieces were gone as soon as it hit the table, but that's the way it goes at this legendary pizza business on the West side. Some of you might even remember when it was on the other side of the road at 26 and Dang.... What's the east/west road at the intersection? It turns into South River Road after a while..

Give up?

It's Bruno's pizza! YUM!

The girls declared this day their most recent "BEST DAY EVER!" And a good time was definitely had by all. Hope we all get to do it again very soon!

Happy Monday!

The Sheraton Waikiki----WOW!

2012-01-28T02:00:00.000-05:00

I've stayed in some interesting places in my life, but the Sheraton Waikiki really ranks up in the top five most memorable for a variety of reasons.1. It's all open! These people apparently have little use for doors, so anyone can walk right in and follow a series of walkways, halls, and paths to a variety of stores and other hotels. If you have a serious dislike of birds, this could be a problem (Right Amber?)

This cutie is for my neighbor Wannie!

One of the cutest stores I've seen.

The proverbial "sow's ear to a silk purse" + lots of bedazzling. Didn't even check the price, but I thought my friends raising hogs would like this one.

There were two sand artists hard at work during our stay to create new sand art for the hotel. They were from Florida. I should have taken a picture each day, but here is one middle shot, then the rest are different views of the final project. It was fun to watch them work.

Right next to this sculpture were the elevators up to our rooms. Now I have never quite seen anything like this. I took pictures from our floor, the 17th, because it was usually too congested downstairs to get a good shot. Here's the plan: You go to the middle of the room, open on both ends, and push a button, and then you wait for one of like 14 doors to open, seven on each side. It's like being in one of those sports drills where the coach has you running in place and then turning quickly at the sound of a whistle or hand signal. CRAZY! Especially if you are loaded down with packages or your luggage. On the main floor, it was sometimes hard to get going because someone would push the UP button before your elevator was able to take off. I hear Don Ho singing "Tiny Bubbles" one time in there! Here is Tall Guy demonstrating and not quite a half shot of the elevators on our floor.

We seriously did not have a lot of lounging time at Waikiki with all the sites to see, but we did get in some pool time. I wish we had been able to put more than our toes in the Infinity pool, but it was rather crowded by the time we made it down. Very cool for picture taking though!

Our room had a lovely view from the outside looking in.........

BUT, I would really like to talk to the person responsible for the inside design to see what he/she was thinking! A bathroom, in my humble opinion, does NOT need an window that opens up into the rest of the room! Was he/she thinking, "Hmmmm.... if someone has to sit here long enough, that person might like to look at Diamond Head?" SERIOUSLY? What about the other people in the room? Even married people need some privacy!

Tall Guy is JUST DEMONSTRATING what I am talking about. This is NOT a live action shot!

We were right next to the second oldest hotel on the beach, The Royal Hawaiian. What a beautiful, grand hotel!

You can see right through the Royal Hawaiian to the Sheraton! See? No doors!

Here are some cute Coy that swam in a pool around the sides of the hotel. There were also parrots a few days, very noisy. I didn't get a shot of them.

I have to include these final shots just because they really stump my husband. You might not know this, but I am a truly neat person at heart. When I get to start with a clean room, I try my darnedest to keep it that way. These pics were taken at the end of our fifth day at Waikiki. Tall Guy just scratches his head because, well, let's just say our bedroom doesn't always look this tidy.

So we would give the Sheraton Waikiki a two thumbs up with the asterisk that the bathroom window stay closed while that room is occupied. Aloha~!

King's Hawaiian Bread Pudding

2012-01-26T16:51:00.001-05:00

After seeing Miss Ott. A's Iron Chef Challenge over at a Latte with Ott, A, I knew what I was going to make. Her featured ingredient is King's Hawaiian Bread, and Tall Guy and I had some TO.DIE.FOR. bread pudding while we vacationed on Maui. BINGO!

Now, I didn't pull just any ol' bread recipe out of my box. A long time ago (DANG! It really was a long time ago) a girlfriend and I went to New Orleans for a little vacay. It's a lovely place, and everyone should make at least one trip to The Crescent City, but in hindsight, maybe the end of July is not the most perfect time to go. Lordy! It was hot down there, but we signed up to go to a cooking class at the New Orleans' School of Cooking, and we learned to make....

Yep..............Bread Pudding!

I've kept this recipe for a long time and LOVE it because you can mix any ingredients together to make the kind of dessert you want. Select a fruit, and pair it with a favorite nut and juice or liquor, and POOF! You have your very own gourmet dessert.

Ok Here's how I made mine.

I went with the Round Bread, after looking long and hard at the rolls.....

Next I cute the bread into slices then cubes to help it dry out.
BIG NOTE: The fresher the bread, the LESS milk/liquid you use in this recipe. Because my bread was bought and used the same day, even though I left it out for a while, I used a total of 3 Cups of milk/liquid.

3/4 C. of my liquid was in the form of Kahlua, which I poured over my golden raisins so they would plump up and be more moist!

See the happy raisins!

Part of the adding process.

I crushed up my nuts a bit while they were still in the bag. It's easier that way.

I had these yummy treats from my Dove party!

I used about half of the apple slices.

Here are all the ingredients put together.

Stir

Bake

Making the sauce. A couple of notes here.
1. It was too difficult to hold the mixer and the pan and the camera, so I wasn't able to show you that process of the sauce making.
2. You fold in the two egg yolks to the butter/sugar mix. Then you add in the Kahlua, and stir until it's all blended.

Baked Bread Pudding!

YUMMY! Wish you could smell the kitchen!

The finished product ready to eat at our Real FarmWives of America & Friends gathering today.

Miss Sarah, from This Farm Family's Life, and Miss Jent, from From My Front Porch, enjoying the sharing of calories. You really do want so help in eating this yummy dessert, or go find a steep hill and start climbing to work off the calories!

Now go check out the rest of the yummy ways people are using this incredibly versatile bread. You can click on the badge below. Underneath the badge is the basic recipe for bread pudding. Start from here, and then look to see what you have, and make it your own!

Have fun!

Basic New Orleans' School of Cooking Bread Pudding Recipe

10 ounces loaf stale French bread, crumbled (if you use fresh french bread reduce milk to 3 cups) or 6 -8 cups any type crumbled bread (if you use fresh french bread reduce milk to 3 cups)
2 cups sugar (granulated) * I should have subtracted some sugar because I used a sweet bread.
1/2 cup unsalted butter , melted
3 eggs
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup raisins* I used golden raisin
1 cup shredded coconut* omitted and replaced with Dove(c) Cinnamon Apples a la mode White Chocolate
1 cup chopped pecan* substituted macadamia nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
4 cups milk* I used 2 1/3 C. milk and 3/4 C. Kahlua

Whiskey Sauce

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup Bourbon* I used Kahlua

Directions

For the Bread Pudding:.

Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Set oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients. Mixture should be very moist but not soupy. Pour into the buttered dish and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes until top is golden brown. Serve warm with Joe's Whiskey Sauce.

For Whiskey Sauce:.

Using a hand held mixer, cream butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, beating until all butter is absorbed. Remove from heat and blend in yolks. Pour in bourbon gradually, stirring constantly. Sauce will thicken as it cools. Serve warm on warm bread pudding.

Wordless Wednesday: Flora from Hawaii

2012-01-25T06:37:00.000-05:00

What better way to brighten your day than send you a huge bouquet of flowers from Hawaii?!?! I thought about having a contest to see who could name all the different varieties because I am afraid I do not know them all. I will try to identify them. These flowers are for you my dear readers, especially you who need some beauty and color in your day today. You know who you are. To continue from my post yesterday, HUGS and LOVE to you who are fighting the good fight and helping others fight along side them.

These beautiful trees were everywhere!

Bird of Paradise By the way, the next eleven pictures were taken at Pearl Harbor!

Orchid?

Hibiscus?

Plumeria?

Cactus and other green plants plus aloe

I know these next two look like they were taken in a rain forest, but they were growing between our hotel and the Royal Hawiian.

Now we have moved on to Maui.

Our cleaning crew left us a little romantic message with our Aloha greetings flowers, aka leis, from the Maui airport. Awwwwww. ;-)

From our 12hour trip called "The Road to Hana." I will blog more about this journey later!

This was a garden at our lunch site.

Across from out lunch spot live the owners of Neutrogena . Here is their lane.

Sorry, but this was taken "on the go!" The round balls growing from the tree are macadamia nuts! YUM!

The church at Charles Lindbergh's burial site.

A banyan tree

Wild goats and a cool backdrop.

I have no clue, but I loved this flower, and it was growing right outside a restroom !

See? Nice camo job!

Hope these brightened your day!

This DANGED ol' Cancer!

2012-01-24T08:13:00.002-05:00

I've had a bit too much news about cancer lately. Please keep my friend Leontine in your prayers as she faces another trip to the hospital this week. I also have an elderly aunt who has had a cancer diagnosis last week, and she is too frail to undergo the surgery, so we will just make sure she is comfortable. Now last night, a very near and dear friend had an abnormal mammogram that turned up issues she will have to wait to deal with because she has gall bladder surgery scheduled for Thursday. Another near and dear friend is just finishing up with chemo and radiation treatments for her breast cancer. These two dear friends and Leontine are YOUNGER than me.

Please my dear lady friends, keep an eye on your bodies. Get the mammograms and yearly physicals, exercise when you can, eat as well as you can, wear sun screen, and find a way to smile and shrug off the stress at least five times a day. You have to make yourself a priority in your life so you can be there for everyone else.

There is not much I can do besides pray for my dear friends, and although I truly think that is a powerful tool, we also need to be proactive with ourselves and the other great women in our lives.

Hugs to you all!

Wranglers Worn on This Farm Too

2012-01-23T08:09:00.001-05:00

My gal pals over at Real Farmwives of American and Friends are having a great giveaway this week, partnering with Wrangler jeans, and I wanted to give them our seal of approval!

My Tall Guy doesn't go too many places without his Wranglers! Like Miss Jeanette's hubby over at FenceRow to FenceRow, he is a long legged guy, and Wranglers are easy to order in a 36/38 size. I have a very hard time finding any other jeans with a 38 inch inseam. We order around six pairs twice a year, and the old six head to the work drawer when the new six find their way to the hangers in the closet. It's a good system, and they hold up. Just about the time the knees go, the rest of the pants are getting thin and worn too, so unless there is an unforeseen tear on a sharp something out in the tool shed (and that DOES happen), these Wranglers are pretty darned tough!

Now I am intrigued to try the women's line and maybe even the kids line since Tink is headed to 4-H this spring. I hope you all take a trip over to RFOA&F and sign up for your free pair of jeans! It's an awesome giveaway!

Who to Take to Hawaii? Mary Ann or Ginger?

2012-01-19T07:30:00.002-05:00

You know the story. You are going out on a three hour, oh let's say, boat tour to see whales. Who would you take?

Well, if you are Tall Guy, you would take Ginger. Yep, the cute little farm gal would be left behind but NOT in favor of the more glamorous Tina Louise. His new friend comes in the form of little candy pieces or the candied version of the dried real plant. Unfortunately, he didn't meet his new friend until we went to Maui, so he only had his cute farm girl and his C-bans (that have worked in the past by applying pressure to points on his wrists) with him on the boat to see the whales, and that wasn't enough to keep his motion sickness at bay (pardon the pun!)

The cool part of this story was as soon as we landed in Honolulu, we heard reports that a momma humpback and her calf had been spotted in Honolulu Harbor, which was kind of unusual. We had actually seen them from our balcony, but they were about a mile out. You really can see the spouts of water come up, and you have to curb your urge to say, "Thar she blows!" Maybe only English teachers think that way?? Thanks Mr. Melville!

So while TG was sitting down on the first deck in the middle of the boat praying that the ride would end, I was up top watching for whales. Sigh..... He did make it up top in the beginning, and all seemed well until we had our first siting, and everyone AND the boat shifted to the appropriate side. Now this WAS a big boat, but apparently when you suffer from this motion sickness, size doesn't matter; it really is the motion on the ocean. Poor guy! He really was a trooper because he knew seeing whales was on my Bucket List.

I have to say I was a tad disappointed that the whales did not see fit to breach, you know jump up and wave at me. National Geographic pictures and documentaries spoil us. I did see a lot of whale tales, but I made the decision to leave my big camera at home in favor of my Canon G9 that fit so nicely in my purse. Here is what I did manage to capture.

The Boat for our Three Hour Tour. Way bigger than Gilligan's!

A view of the coral from the dock. Yep, the water was that clear!

The shore line of Honolulu

Diamond Head in the distance

Our hotel, the Sheraton Waikiki, is the tall tan building. The smaller pink building is the Royal Hawaiian, second oldest hotel on the island.

"Thar She Blows!"

If I had to give advice, and I knew you were also going to Maui, I would tell you to wait and go on a whale watch tour at Maui. There were many more sightings, and those who went said the humpback whales came very close to the boats. Because humpback whales are protected, the boats are to stay 100 yards away from these big mammals, but you can't help where they come up and surface. November through April are their prime time in the warm Island waters to mate and give birth, so plan accordingly.

Again, big hugs to Tall Guy for toughing it out. It meant a lot to me that he came out on the water to see the whales with me.

Kairos Moments: You HAVE to Read this Article!

2012-01-18T16:46:00.000-05:00

If you haven't read this article yet, please stop what you are doing, and read it right now!

Don't Carpe Diem by Glennon Melton

It has been going around on my friends' Facebook pages, but it is truly an article that every mom should read, regardless of your age and the age of your children. It applies!

I have been thinking about it for the past 24 hours and playing back all the different scenarios as it has applied to my life. Ms. Melton captured what every mother of young children must feel at least once in her life. It deals with Mommy guilt, embarrassing moments, and rose-colored memories from older generations.

She talks about two different times: Chronos time as the "time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in." I'm living that time right now because the girls just got off the bus all hyper as heck, and the phone won't stop ringing. Why is it kids can be perfectly quiet until the phone rings or you have to make a call?

If you take the "h" out of Chronos, you have Cronos, Titan god of ancient Greek mythology and father to all the Greek gods we learned about in school. Uhm....by the way..... HE ATE ALL HIS CHILDREN!!!! Not sure I have ever seriously contemplated going that far, but there have been one or two moments when I might have been that crazed ...... just kidding (I think).

Then she talks about Kairos time as being "God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still." I just had one of those moments last night when Bear would NOT go to sleep so at 9:30, I put her in bed with me. She and I chatted, held, hands, then cuddled, and I got to listen to her fall asleep, something I have not been able to do since she was a little baby.

The Kairos moments must be what the older generations refer to when they tell us mothers with younger children not to wish these days away. Unfortunately, these sage words usually come in the middle of a melt down and fall on tainted if not deaf ears.

We really missed the girls while on vacation, but it was good to have some time just for Tall Guy and me to reconnect. It helps everyone deal better with Chronos time and appreciate the Kairos moments in our lives. I hope you take away a good feeling and understanding of moments in motherhood from Ms. Melton's words. I think she nailed it!

Aloha! I'm Back!

2012-01-17T15:16:00.000-05:00

Whew!~ What a great ten days/two weeks. I have missed chatting with you, but Tall Guy and I went on a little trip to Hawaii, and I promised not to bring my computer along. It was a fairly easy promise to make with so much to see and do.

I'm busy sorting through the 500+ pictures I took, and I think they will be nice to share with you in the coming weeks as we tough it out through the cold months until April.

We started in Waikiki, where Farm Bureau held their national convention. Oahu is a beautiful island and holds such a special place in all our hearts with Pearl Harbor, but we really loved Maui, where there were far fewer people and more time to spend on the beach.

You have pictures of seasides, sunsets, flowers, whales (or at least whale parts. I'm about as good as taking their pictures as I am dolphins, thus no calls from National Geographic on my answering machine so far!), the many memorials of Pearl Harbor and other sites to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Right now I am trying to catch up on laundry. Besides the white load, there's no real rush for the rest of the clothes as we experienced about a 70 degree temperature drop on Sunday. :-P There was a welcome home party waiting for us along with a birthday peach cobbler for Tall Guy since he celebrated his b-day Thursday. Big Schmuck! I told him he was going to have to top that one for mine coming up. HA! (I know that won't happen, but it's all good.) The girls were able to spend the day home with us yesterday since we had not had any snow days, and that was great! What wasn't so great is that both of them and I started to poop out yesterday afternoon, and we were all running temperatures by the end of the night?!?!?! What the heck? The girls had an extra day with me today, but they seem to be on the mend and are working on homework as I type.

I hope all has been well with you. Please catch me up on any news I missed, and I will try to start catching up on reading your blogs as soon as we get back to whatever normal was/is.

Here's a sampling of my work in progress! Enjoy the warm sun-shiney vibes!

I love taking pictures from the air. You will get a whole lot more of these later!

The view from our room at Waikiki. That is Diamond Head in the background, and we took the time to hike up to its top one morning.

Our nice bellman took our picture after our arrival. We were soooo ready to crash and sleep!

These pretty little things were a nice treat at the end of the ~~morning~~ day or whenever ;-)

I am such a sucker of sunsets so I have a bazillion pictures of them to share!

The guy on the left must Gene Simmons' cousin???? The luau was very entertaining!

On a more somber note The Missouri (Mighty Mo) and the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

One of the many beautiful flowers on the island. This one is a Bird of Paradise.

Surf was WAY UP on the north shore of Oahu! The biggest waves of the year rolled in while we were there!

Ah Maui.... truly Paradise!

One of our many stops on our day trip on the Road to Hana.

That should be enough to keep you coming back for more. I will have to say that the most colorful sunset we saw was the one over the Wabash River as we made our way home. I missed the many colors in our sunsets. Now if I can just get used to the snow and cold winds........

More soon!

Go Local When Looking for that Special Gift!

2012-01-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

I know we are all shopped out, but if your family is like mine, you are just recovering from Christmas only to look at the calendar and exclaim,

"DANG!!!!!____________________ (fill your own name in the blank) has a birthday/anniversary coming up next week!"

I was scratching my head at Christmas trying to find unique gifts to fit the ladies lives on my side of the family. I'm glad I was doing all that thinking in my kitchen because I contacted the dear person who painted my kitchen to see if she could work some of her magic on tote bags, and she did!

Remember my wonderful, unique kitchen walls?

Well, here are the bags Miss Kristi came up with, modeled by me two lovely assistants!

My sister-in-law loves her Corgis, so.....

My niece is a new mom and loves Turquoise, so...........

And my mom loves her birds, so......

Se how big and roomy they are?

All three bags were a big hit at unwrapping time. The moral to the story is that sometimes we need to think just a bit about the people we are buying for and then try to make something practical and useful personalized so it will be fun.

Kristie did an AWESOME job. Her business' name is The Charmed Paintbrush. This will link you to her Facebook page. She is fun and easy to work with, and you will be so pleased with the results. I know my readers who are not residents of the great state of Indiana can still contact her, or you may have such artists in your own neighborhood. It's so much fun to support our local business owners and encourage their growth, and it doesn't have to be just one month out of the year!

Going Out with My Boots on!

2012-01-07T02:00:00.000-05:00

A month or so ago, and my apologies for taking so long to sing-shoot-kick up my heals about this, I was asked to try ordering a pair of boots from CountryOutfitter.com

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to be asked to do this review because, you see, for about ten years in my life I was the most devout country line dancer you would know. I had black boots, tan boots burgudy boots, but my most favorite were my red boots. I put them on, and I swear I could walk to the top of any mountain and dance the night away. One of the reasons I put off this post is that I really wanted to dig out some old pictures and scan them to add, but December just flew by, and so I promise that I owe you a post about those crazy, wonderful years where I met some of my most cherished friends and had some of my best memories ( ok, maybe I lost a few of those memories too, but there were always those cherished friends around to remember for me!) The days of my friends in our boots. We always went out with our boots on as the song now goes!

So back to my boots. I looked long and hard at a red pair, but you know, sometimes you just can't go back home as they say. As I shared with another RFOA pal who is happily expecting her first child, the only dismay she might have with this whole experience is the good chance that her feet will change size. She does have an incredible shoe collection of which she is quite fond. Sigh..... the things we give up for motherhood. My boots are sitting up in my closest waiting for "Cowboy" or "Western Day" to roll around so my girls can wear them. They aren't quite there yet, but they will be soon. Shoot maybe by the time their feet are 6 1/2 - 7's, my boots will be right back in style!

I now wear an 8 in boots, and here is the pair I selected. They are called Ariat's Women's Legend Boots: Russet Rebel! A retailer of Ariat Legend boots, Country Outfitter sent me these Russet Rebel Ariat Legend Boots to review.

And this is what they look like up close and personal!

Of course, no one was around to take a full-length picture of me in my boots, but with them on, off I went out for a full day of Christmas shopping, and not once did my little puppies bark (that means my feet were happy in my boots!)~!

I actually think I shopped with a bit of that old cocky attitude I always felt when I had my boots on back in the day! And I needed it because I do not like to shop.

Thanks so much Country Outfitters, for putting that extra kick in my step; I truly have missed it. They asked me to be truthful, and I promise I am being so. Those of you who know me, know I turn all sorts of crazy colors and twitch if I try to fudge in the tiniest bit! I LOVE my boots, and I hope you will check out Country Outfitters when you are thinking about spending some of that Christmas money.

Taking a Wee Break

2012-01-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

I know I started a recent post like this, but if you don't hear much from me in the next ten days or so, don't worry. All is well; I am just taking a much needed break. I will try to check in between now and the 16th when I can. I will come back more energized and ready to chat, cook, share family stories and pictures, farming info, and all the fun stuff we have been doing for the past year and a half. Right now I really need to just unplug and find some down time to rejuvenate. I have a few posts already scheduled so I won't be totally silent, but if I don't respond to your posts right away, I promise I will do my best to catch up with you after the middle of the month.

Take care, and I promise to be back around the 16th.

~Lana

Whew! Ok 2012, Bring It ON!

2011-12-31T17:26:00.001-05:00

I survived last night! Wooooo! Let me just say in hind sight, I wish we had been able to ask all of Tink's classmates to spend the night, but I had serious doubts about how I and my house could handle eight third graders and two first graders, so I set the third grade limit at three. It's my goal to have the rest over at another date, maybe when I can turn them all loose outside.

Everyone but one did make it to The Muppet Movie at our local theater. I met them at the door to take care of admittance, and Tall Guy was at the goodies counter to make sure no one went hungry! $2.50 for a bag of popcorn, drink, and candy. Thanks to another set of parents who helped with the seating! Can't beat the small town theater for great family friendly entertainment!

I defy anyone to watch this movie and NOT sing along to at least two of the songs. I was sucked right in with the opening production to The Muppet Show; you know,

Its time to play the music
Its time to light the lights
Its time to meet the muppets on the Muppet Show tonight.

Its time put on makeup
Its time to dress up right
Its time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight

Then there was Kermit's "The Rainbow Connection," and they threw in that adictive little ditty that gets in your head and stays forever: "Manamana do do do do do...Manamana do do do do...." My favorite version is by Animal! Love that furry little dude!

Of course, when we brought everyone home, NO ONE was ready for bed except Tall Guy and me, so we let them have at it for a while. At 11:30 we headed up for bed and suggested they go to sleep.

At 2:00 A.M., I am awakened by the ~~tromping~~ pitterpatter of little feet upstairs in the room next door..... WTH!?!?!Downstairs I go to investigate. Tall Guy is about as much help as he was when the girls were newborns! :-P

After this trip down, I told them to settle down and go to sleep or I was going to send Daddy down. I hear more of a ruckus, and decided to try one more time. They thought Tall Guy was on his way and were scrambling. Too funny. I put The Smurf Movie in the player and told everyone that unless it was a severe bathroom moment their tushes were glued to the floor.

This is what I found at 7:30 when I came down.

Breakfast was bacon (Yeah Pork!) and a variety of pancakes served to order (plain, blueberry, and chocolate chip). They played some more, amazingly with old toys like Lincoln logs and Tinker Toys, and charades until parents started to arrive. Bear and her buddy were a bit camera shy, but I promise they were in the mele somewhere.

I survived! We survived! With one of the sleepovers under my belt, my advice is to not be a control freak (like I tend to be because I used to be and always will be a teacher!) and just listen for big sounds that you think you should investigate. It seems to work best that way. Oh! and have a 6 foot 3 man on hand who looks stern when he needs to.

So I say Bring it 2012~!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Just in Case This is My Last Post......

2011-12-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

I want to tell you all how much I love you and enjoy all your comments. As I type this, I have SIX girls 9 and under running around my house and I am not sure how the night will end. We are supposed to all jump in vehicles and go see The Muppet Movie. I am praying to make it that long. Tall Guy just left to get pizza to feed the ~~demons~~ angels, and I told him to HURRY!

Just kidding! I think we will be just fine. It's just a lot of energy charging through my house. Happy 9 year and one month birthday Tink! We finally found time to celebrate! Pictures to come later, that is if the camera and I survive! :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Just about Broke My Heart

2011-12-28T11:34:00.002-05:00

No one in my house, well maybe with the exception of Tall Guy, likes to take the Christmas tree down, but this year it seems to be especially hard on Bear, on the couch in the sun room "tired" and our cat, Pumpkin. She loves hanging out under the tree, and I always have to leave a space for her to curl up between the presents.

This was her position as I took the tree down. She stayed there through all the ornament defrocking, lights detangled, and branches taken down. Right to the very last row. Bless her heart!

Now to go find the fur brush, and get a month's worth of cat hair off the tree skirt. Until next year, Good-bye Christmas tree!

The First Snow Fall of the Winter!

2011-12-27T11:24:00.003-05:00

It's a couple days late in some books, but we will take it. I went out the front door to snap these pictures. The girls are in the backyard messing it up with big rolls of snow and fun. Cocoa is on the stove and ready for them when they come in. Click here for a trip to last year and how I make it on the stove just like my mom made it for my brother and me! Yeah, I should be out there, but I'm inside enjoying the view and trying to do about three things at one time. Here's to finding a better way to balance it all in 2012!

These bushes were part of my new landscaping this summer, and I planted them especially for this very moment! SCORE!

Well, housework and bookwork and wet head be DANGED! I'm headed out to help my girls put their snowmen together! Sometimes Mommy just has to do what Mommies are supposed to do!

The One Nice Thing about Not Having Snow on Christmas Is......

2011-12-26T08:59:00.000-05:00

....the girls were able to put Santa's gifts on the road ASAP!

First, a little test driving in the garage under Daddy's supervision. They are 20 inch bikes, and that's a bit of a stretch for Bear. I'm sure it won't be for long though!

Now they are ready for the barn lot test.

Bear needed Daddy's steady hand to get her going at first....

But Tink took right off. Those extra two years of leg growth helped her out a bunch!

Bear just about has it and her confidence!

Looks like Daddy's going to be caught in the farmer girls' version of the Indy 500!

The race is ON!

And everyone was a winner this Christmas. What a crazy wonderful last few days we have had. Now it's time to regroup and get ready to put 2011 to bed. Hope your Christmas was merry and bright, and you were able to spend time with most if not all the people you love.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T00:16:00.001-05:00

To celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, I am sharing pictures from our Christmas Eve Children's Mass. We were the proud parents of Mary and a choir angel! The kids did a great job, and now the girls are all nestled, all snug in their bed, and Tall Guy is hoping I'll be heading that way... dang! Can't think of a rhyming word for bed at this lovely hour! 12:10 a.m. 12/25/11~! Merry Christmas everyone!

And to all a good night...... a Holy, Silent Night!

A Week in Review: The Good, the Great, and the Cautionary

2011-12-19T04:56:00.000-05:00

Whew! We survived! Three Christmases this past weekend. DANG! Well, I'm not exactly sure how well I survived because I'm not getting on the scales for two more days, but I did try to just "sample" most of the great food on each table.

Want some GREAT NEWS? My dear friend Leontine is STABLE after her two rounds of battle with her caner-fighting treatment! That is an incredibly wonderful bit of news to hear. Please continue to keep her in your heart and prayers; I don't think this fight is over, but she is holding her ground and staying strong!

Now, here is a cautionary tale to tell. Saturday afternoon one of Tall Guy's cousins was waiting in the parking lot to enter the church hall to set up for the BIG family Christmas. While waiting on her mom to bring the keys, her four-year-old little boy wanted to show his mommy a cool picture so he hopped out of his car seat and raced up to the front of the van to show it to her. He didn't see the crock pot of soup on the floor and unfortunately stepped right into it. Yep, it was very hot. Yep, his foot suffered burns. EMTs treated it, then they decided to take him down to Lafayette for a better look, where it was decided to send him on to Riley's Children's Hospital and their Burn Unit. Now he is in good spirits, and those people know how to make little ones has comfortable and happy as they can, but it's too soon to say how they will treat his burns. This was such a freak accident, but I know that we all are hauling hot food here and there over the holidays to dinners, me included, and this is, unfortunately, a serious reminder to be careful and safe with those hot foods.

While all this Christmasing went on this weekend, I handed over my point and shoot to the girls to let them capture the moments. I'll leave you with some of their gems.

Some cuddle time with my great-nephew Baby M

Why is it when you see a picture of yourself, the reaction is usually, "Seriously? That's what I look like?

Not sure who is giving whom pointers on napping in this one.

My dad, Great Grandpa, with the little guy.

Of course, Great Grandma had to have her time too. Baby M also spent time with two of his Great Great Aunts and several third cousins. He was the hit of this party, as all babies usually are!

Tink in her new outfit.

On to the next party and a new table of yummy things to eat. Who knew mice could look so darned cute?

Usually cute Little Cuz has her Grrr going here.

Miss Bear is hamming it up for the camera.

These two cutie-pies are just a couple of days apart and had fun getting to know each other.

Little mini-Grandpa is giving Daddy a lesson on napping (that's Tall Guy's little bro)

Tall Guy with his girls.

Did you know Barbie has a remake of A Christmas Carol?

Bear is sharing her DS with a new friend.

A great time was had by all. Now I just hope everyone wakes up ready to go to school in about an hour. We usually are done, but the girls go through Wednesday, and I hear Tippecanoe County schools are going through Friday. News like that make me happy I am not teaching! The next Christmas is here on Friday so I have a few days to regroup, wrap, and bake, and yeah, I will probably have to do a bit of cleaning here and there as well. DANG!

Hope your weekend was a good one. Keep all that hot food in a box with a lid on it if possible, and have a safe, fun, calm-when-you-can-manage-it week! Only a few more shopping days left!

More Baking with my Grandma Lyons: Date Nut Bread

2011-12-13T07:51:00.003-05:00

One food item that says Christmas to me more than most of the others is my Grandma Lyons' Date Nut Bread. The different part of this memory is that it involves my mom making the recipe more than Grandma. She used to start saving soup cans in the fall, then fill them up with this batter, and give the little loaves wrapped in tin foil with a red ribbon as Christmas gifts to everyone.

I have invested in some mini-loaf pans and am trying to continue this tradition. I made 15 mini loaves for our school's bake sale, and I am running to the Big Little town today to get more supplies and try to knock a hole in my Christmas shopping list. While I don't make the sauce to go with the mini loaves, I will be making big loaves this week AND making the sauce to go with it because it is just TO.DIE.FOR., and I have a Lyons Christmas gathering to attend. Yes, it will cost you a few calories, but warm it up and pour some on your bread, and you just won't care, or you can dance for joy and start working off some of the sugar!

Call me old-fashioned, but I usually like to chop things up by hand. It's good therapy. So I start by shopping up the dates.

Add the baking soda

Then the boiling water.

Here I am, again going back to the easy way at least for me, sifting flour

Mix it all together. Looks like I forget to show you the nut-chopping step!

Fill up the "well greased" pans. I used the baking Pam can. Sorry Grandma!

And POOF! These lovely loaves are ready to be wrapped and delivered. You can buy small containers and include the sauce in the gift giving, but for a bake sale, I opted not to do this step.

Ok, now rush out there and find some dates and pecans to chop and get baking! Only 12 days until Christmas! DANG! Now I am going to have Lords Leaping and Maids a Milking in my head!

OH!

Speaking of Maids a Milking (that WAS kind of slick wasn't it!?!?!), head on over to their blog for even more great baking ideas because it's Tuesday, and that's when they turn into Two Maids a Baking! My pal Jen at Mess Hall to Bistro is also sharing great recipes on her Made from Scratch Tuesday Blog. Happy baking!

Just So You Know I'm Here......FREE COOKBOOK

2011-12-12T09:45:00.001-05:00

This is short but oh so sweet for you all with e-readers!

NO e-reader? Put it on your Christmas list, but for now read on:

READY TO DOWNLOAD? CLICK HERE!

Disappointed because you don't HAVE an eBook reader?
Don't worry..anyone with a computer can enjoy this freebie! Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble offer FREE reading apps and, once you download them to your computer, it's like having an eBook reader right there on your desktop or laptop. See the handy links below and then visit our eBook landing page to download YOUR free eBooks.

Go HERE and get a FREE Christmas present for yourself from our dear friends at Gooseberry Patch!

DO IT TODAY~

Back to paying bills, balancing accounts, making presents, cleaning , laundry, and all that other fun stuff!

~Lana

Wordless Wednesday: Tink's 9th Birthday

2011-12-07T20:52:00.001-05:00

Wordless is the KEY word around here these days since I have lost my voice. Those of you "silent readers" out there who have known me forever can totally recall how frustrating it is for me not to be able to talk. It probably isn't too big of a surprise to those who haven't known me quite as long.

DRIVES ME NUTS!

I used to sing, a lot, and I was/am always vocal at sporting events, and that is a nasty combination after a "few years." Somewhere back in the early '90's I had nodules removed from my vocal cords, which put me right next to Julie Andrews in the "where the heck did my three octave range go?" Sigh.....

Now a nasty cold usually puts me in the quiet box for at least a few days. Blah blah blah....cough..cough..gasp...gasp....UGH!

Time to give Tink her due and share with you her birthday pics. Her big day stretched from Thanksgiving until the 30th, the official day. I still owe her a gathering of friends, but it's too crazy right now to pull off. We are hoping for some down time over Christmas to get that done.

First up is our newest family member on Tall Guy's side. Doesn't look like Grandpa at all right?

IT'S JUST TOO SCARY FOR WORDS!

Next, we sang to Little Bear and had candles on her side of the big cookie.

Little Cuz helped with the blowing.

Now it's FINALLY Tink's turn as Grandma lights the candles on her side.

Tall Guy and his girls!

Why do these two pics remind me of "Charlie's Angels"? This scares me too! Or it will in about ten years!

Tickle time with Uncle E.

Back home, and it is officially Tink's day. See that cake? It is covered in ganache, thanks to Miss Leah's comment on FB one evening. You melt like nine squares of Bakers' Chocolate in a bowl by pouring a cup of boiling heavy cream over it, and then stirring in just a bit of vanilla or rum! OH. MY. GOSH! Calories were not counted this night!

Neighbors Wannie and Mike brought over a little something.
At first the girls just loved the pens.....then they realized what else Santa and the reindeer could do!

Bear and Tink have discovered Tom and Jerry. Who knew these two guys had such staying power over the years!

More earrings! ACK!

Little Miss Smarty Pants just knew she was getting an American Girl Doll since Bear did, so I didn't put it out. I hid the new outfit in the bottom of the bag, so it was the last present she unwrapped. We told her she could share Bear's doll.....oh for about a minute. Then Bear ran to get her big sis her very own AG Doll.

And they dressed and accessorized happily ever after!

Happy Birthday to both our girls. The time has gone by so quickly, and it seems each day just picks up speed. Still heard tonight that I am the best mom in the world, even though things were a bit grumpy around bed time. Gotta love hearing that, and I hope I get to hear it for many, many more years to come.

Good night Tink!

Good night Mommy!

Good night Bear!

Good night Mommy!

Just like the Waltons used to do it!

(Tally Guy is representing the family at a fair board meeting tonight.)

Good night everyone!

Grandma Lyons' Sour Cream Cookies

2011-12-06T11:03:00.001-05:00

Yes, I am still alive! My life has sort of taken a spin off "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with one big Christmas Bazaar, two birthday parties, 80 new to the farm calves, too many meetings to count, 25 bags of Puppy Chow, 15 mini loaves of date nut bread ( I will share that recipe soon), Little Bear and I both on meds (Tall Guy should be, and Tink made it through on Mucinex!), and two batches of my Grandma Lyons' Sour Cream cookies.

I really should be getting caught up on two months of book work and a budget for District 3 Farm Bureau, but I think I will start my working day by sharing the cookies and try to catch you all up on the rest of it in the next few days!

I'm going to cheat for the sake of time and post a pic of the recipe from the family cookbook. Hope it fits my blog page ok! Eh...good enough! Oops! Have to change the ages on the kids in my About Me section!

Did you see the first step? "Work shortening (I used butter!) with a SPOON!" Dang! Well, if that's what Grandma said to do, then I was never one to disobey her, especially in the kitchen!

Ta Da! Butter and sugar mixed!

Add the egg. I doubled the recipe, so there are two in there!

Cake flour! So glad Tall Guy did not see me bring one more different kind of flour into this house. He thinks I've gone crazy already with regular, wheat, self-rising, and some other kind! YIKES!

Yes, I have cabinet space and clutter issues! Can you see the Muscinex bottle peeking out there at the bottom?

I also have issues with hand-held sifters. I can never seem to get all the flour out, and I ~~hate~~ greatly dislike to clean them! I go with the old-fashioned put-it-through-the-wire-strainer-with-a-spoon trick. Works for me.

My little helper who was constantly under my feet the entire time!

WHITE OUT! Nope, just the flour and sour cream.

There we go. Now, I did not add the walnuts because I am not a nuts-in-my-cookie kind of girl.

I also subbed in colored sugar for the cinnamon part so the cookies would look festive for the bake sale at the Christmas Bazaar.

Dipping the glass.

Smooshing the cookie dough.

Ready to go in the oven.

Ready to go in the bags!

I somehow forgot to take a picture of them all nicely bagged up in the pretty Christmas bags. Probably because I had to race out and help temp 40 of the calves. But that is a story for another day.

I had best get back to my neglected work before the boss man realizes I am blogging instead of adding and subtracting. :-P on numbers! ;-)