Cookies!!

Mar 062011
 

Rick was in the baking mood today.

Discovering that we were out of cookies, he decided to show off his skills and try a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies that he found on the internet!

After he had mixed all of the ingredients together, he was quizzical as to why I wasn’t in the kitchen snapping away pictures.  Well, I had thought about it, but didn’t want to disturb his masterful process.

Taking that as a hint, I went and got my camera.

Yep, looks like cookie dough.

I offered him my measuring scoop that I use for cookies, but he wanted to do it the old fashioned way.

Just to show that he did everything (I helped by setting the timer).

Fresh out of the oven… Nummers!

Onto the racks to cool.

I’ll have to say that he did an excellent job!

Just had to try one hot out of the oven.

And yes, it was very delicious!

I love using my convection oven for baking.  It will cook things slightly quicker so you really have to watch your first batch to determine the correct cooking time.  If he had baked them as long as the directions said, we would have had burnt bricks on our hands.

Our normal, every day cooking appliance is this:

This is a 1927 Universal.  Rick had this before we were married and I fell in love with it the first time I used it.

Sure, the oven controls don’t work on it, so you have to light the oven from the broiler, and you have to eyeball the flame to figure out the temperature when you bake something, but I don’t care.

When we moved up north in 2001, he offered to leave this behind and buy me a new stove, and I declined.  I will use this thing until it falls apart!

But wait!  Rick wasn’t done with his cooking skills for today.  He was on a roll!!

Next on his list was pizza, but I will wait until tomorrow to share that (don’t want to overdo things).

Sad News

Mar 052011
 

I hate receiving sad news, especially when it involves my family.

Thinking that I would get to bed at a respectable hour, I would glance at Facebook one last time and head to bed.

Yeah, well, things are not always as you plan.

Before me was the post from my cousin, Laurie.  Her father, my uncle, had passed away that afternoon.  I sat there, staring at the screen, kinda numb.  Levern was 92 and had lived a full life, but that didn’t make it any easier.  I last talked to my uncle one year ago when we had buried his wife, Wava.  He was still sharp as a tack, and memories flooded back to me of spending so much time at their house in the summer when I was young.  My cousin Kelly would be up from Arizona during those summers and stay with them, so I was a constant presence at their house.

With the passing of my uncle, my father is the last surviving member of the family.  True, the lineage of the family still lives on through us kids and our kids, but its history tends to get lost as more years pass by.

Last summer one of my cousins sent me this picture.  This is my dads family, I would guess circa mid-1940’s.  My dad is the youngest (front row, 2nd from left), and I’m guessing that Levern is top, far right (family, please correct me on this if I am wrong).  I love looking at this photo because it shows what my grandfather looked like (whom I’d never met, since he passed away before I was born).  It also shows some of my history.  A rather large family that had a successful diary farm (still run by my cousin Jim) and you can truly see that they are a happy.  (Trust me on this.)

So, I will be making the long trip down to my hometown to pay my respects to this wonderful man, and connect once again with my family that I do not see very often.

And I know that this will also be a time of smiles and tears as we reflect on his life (and ours) and how time passes way to quickly and the only times we seem to see each other is at funerals.

And then we will part ways and go on with the lives that we have chosen for ourselves.   But each time we do so, brings about a change, knowing that another member of the family has left us.  But as my mom taught me many years ago, this is all part of life and we must accept it (she was such a wise woman).  And I remember those words not just at times like this, but every time I hit a bump in the road where I am forced to face something not quite to my liking.

I’m sorry if this post is turning out to be a total bummerfest.  That was not my intention.

I guess I simply needed to share.

Random Online Posts

Mar 032011
 

I love reading some of the posts from my friends on Facebook.  Some are just hilarious, while others are thought provoking.

DISCLAIMER:  Names have been changed to initials to protect the privacy of those that have posted these (because I love you).  If you choose to reveal yourselves as the initial poster, you do so at your own risk (and because you are not ashamed of what you have said).

I figured out why I’m fat! The shampoo I use in the shower that runs down my body says “For extra volume and body”. I’m going to start using “Dawn” dish soap. It says ” Dissolves fat that is otherwise difficult to remove”.Repost if you have the same issue. ~ WB

Love this, because it makes perfect sense!

Winter is nature’s way of saying, “Up yours.” ~Robert Byrne ~ Posted by SSB

Yeah, I feel the same way about this time of year!

I didn’t loose my marbles, the people in my head are playing with them and they wont give them back! I wish they would learn to share. ~ CB

I already know that I lost my marbles… or at least misplaced them.

I’m a relatively respectable citizen. Multiple felon perhaps…but certainly not dangerous. ~ LC

Now, you will be seeing lots of posts in the future from this person because I simply love what they put out there!!

Whenever I date a guy, I think, “Is this who I want my children to spend every other weekend with?” Hahaha ~ LC

Now this one made me laugh on a day that I really needed it.

So, to all my friends, be forewarned that I may “steal” those witty statements that you make, just to bring a smile to others.

And thank you for being my friend and making me smile.

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Calies’ World

Mar 022011
 

When you have an elder cat in the household, you learn to listen to her.

How can I ignore that?

Calie can’t eat the hard food that Thor can because of the Kidney disease she has been dealing with for the past 2 years, so this is the way that we communicate when she is hungry.  And this is the face that tells me to get off my duff and get her some food.

NOW!

As a Calico, she has a certain attitude.  This can be described in many ways, and my daughters and I give it the “bitchy” factor.  We mean this in the nicest way possible, because we give her the utmost respect.  Everything is done on her terms, from the affection that is bestowed on her to how much she will tolerate small children around her.

She is also my husbands’ cat.  She will allow him to play and rough house with her when no one else dares to.

She rules the roost.

This is her kingdom.

And this is her throne.

But she is  what she is, and we love her for it.

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