Crockpot Dressing

I have had a couple of folks ask for the crockpot dressing recipe. And just who am I not to share. Here it is with no pictures, no frills, just the recipe. Hope, if you make it, you enjoy it as much as my family does. I even gave it to my daughter's mother-in-law and now she's the official dressing officionado in their family. Wonder, if since it came from Ryan's magazine, I should call it Ryan's Crockpot Dressing--naa, think I'll take credit.

Shirley's Crockpot Dressing.

1 – 8” pan cooked cornbread
8 slices day old bread
4 eggs
1 medium onion chopped
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth
1 ½ Tablespoons sage
1 Teaspoon salt
½ Teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons butter.

Crumble breads and add all ingredients except margarine. Pour into crockpot and dot with butter. Cook on high 3 hours or low 3 to 4 hours. Stir half way through.

If I cook a chicken to put in it, I use 32 ounces of my chicken broth. I also heat the broth. It seems to help with the mixing of the breads. If I use hot broth, I wait until I’ve put in the other ingredients so as not to cook them.

I also cook my onion in my cornbread. My bunch doesn’t like to find pieces of onion, and if they cook in the cornbread and then a bit more in the dressing, you can’t find them.

Sometimes, I boil 3 or 4 eggs and cut them up in the dressing.

I also splurge and buy those crockpot cooking bags. Makes cleanup a snap.

I also think if you wanted to, you could put this dressing in the oven and bake it for an hour or so at 350 degrees. It makes a very moist dressing, and everyone that has eaten it likes it.

The other thing I made this weekend is Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread. It was delish. It's on her blog. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/recipe-file/

Memory Triggers

Isn't it interesting what will trigger a memory? I have had one this morning and thought I'd tell you about it.

But first I thought I'd show you who 'spended the night' last night with his Memaw. Superhero is supposed to get school pictures made today, so I took this one so his mother would know he looked good when I left him this morning. And don't pay attention to the things on the couch. Daughter #1 has already commented about the clutter.

Back to my memory trigger.

I have been making crockpot dressing for several years--seven or eight. I use this one recipe that is in a Rural Arkansas magazine. I was a Rural electric customer for several years and thought this magazine to be one I had gotten over that period of time.

I brought the magazine to work to type it into an email for a friend, and just happened to look at the date(wondering just how long I had it). The date was December 2000.

But that wasn't the strangest thing or did that in itself trigger a memory. It was the name and address of the person on the front.

First, it was the name of a young man I worked with at the time, which is the puzzle. How or why did I get this magazine from him?

I immediately went down the hall to the other gal that I worked with at the time. We had a good laugh. She couldn't imagine why I would have something with his name on it either. Needless to say, we talked about him and wondered where he is or what he's doing.

He was our famous Coon Hunter, and even took some of the guys in the office on a coon hunt. He raised champion coon dogs, and was always going off somewhere to a competition. It wasn't unusual for him to come in the morning with no sleep because his dog had treed and wouldn't leave, or he would lose the dog and spend hours looking for it.

This young man was young enough to be my son. But even though I was the old woman in the group, he was very good to me and treated me as an equal. His name is Ryan, and he will always hold a special place in my heart.

Who has come to your mind lately that you haven't thought about in a long time? Someone you haven't see or heard from or may never hear from again. People come and go in our lives. Some burrow deep into your heart, then move on. They don't leave a scar on your heart when they leave, just a soft spot.

Hope you are having a great Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Out of the Mood!

Yes, I am out of the mood. I'm out of the mood to sew. I'm out of the mood to smock. I'm out of the mood to cook. I'm out of the mood to clean. Do you see a pattern here?

Actually what I'd really like to do is sleep. Yes, that's what I really want to do. Unfortunately, that's not possible. My employer just doesn't think I should sleep on company time.

My friend Mary is having surgery today. I'd really like to be with her, but she didn't want anyone there except immediate family, and I'm respecting her wishes. She said I could come see her when she gets home on Friday. And you can bet I'll do just that.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Attend Bible study tonight. Pray for our country, and by all means, love one another.

Home From The Hills

Five of us left Friday at noon for the weekend. Mary, Linda, Mona, Ellen and Shirley. We stopped at a Squat & Gobble on the way. Isn't that a cute way to say we had a potty break and got a bite to eat? We arrived at our destination about 4:30 just as it was beginning to get dark.

We unloaded, decided where we were going to sleep, and started our evening meal. Then it was on to serious business---Shanghi!! Funny thing was, we knew just enough of the rules to be dangerous. Like that had ever stopped us before. I think every hand had at least one rule change. But that was ok. We had fun. We ate Taco soup, PW's olive cheese bread, spinach dip, pimento cheese, dried beef cheese ball and a another dip that was really good, but I don't know the name of it.
But then trouble set in on Saturday morning. When we turned on the coffee pot, something popped near the furnace, and our electricity came and went, dimmed and got bright.
The picture at the left is of Ellen. She is the coldest natured one of the group. She got cold in a hurry. She has on pajamas, a fleece hooded housecoat, her gloves and has a quilt wrapped around her. And as you will notice, no amount of cold could keep her from playing cards.

After a call to an Electric company, we were told that the problem was with the Power company. We called them. When they came they told us it wasn't the power company's side that was causing the problem, it was the meter box. Mary and Linda went to Lowe's or Home Depot, boughtt what we needed, and the man from the power company fixed it.
While the problem was being fixed, we gals went to Colton's to eat, and several stores for some heavy shopping.

As you can see by the pictures, the color was pretty much gone from the landscape, but we didn't really care. We got back between 5 and 6 last night. It did us all a world of good to get away for a couple of days. It would have been nice if it had been longer.

Oh, and a special thanks to Laura from my cuttings. They were between the door and storm door when I got home last night. They were still good and wet from the toweling and the foil keep the tube from getting wet.

I put them down in a fruit jar about half full of water, and left them sitting on the counter this morning, but I'll put a check in the mail this afternoon for postage and handling.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Have go wonderful Monday, Pray for our country. Love one another.

A Mid November Friday

It's Friday, it's Fall, and I have a great weekend planned. There's nothing more relaxing that being on the lake in the fall. The weather is crisp, the summer campers have put away their gear and are back home playing basketball. The trees are absolutely gorgeous and the wind rustles the drying leaves.

I love this time of year. Partly because of the fall colors, but mostly because I can go outside and not immediately break into a sweat. You thought I was going to say something profound didn't you? Not today. The fall is all about me and my creature comforts.

But what you really want to hear about is the Conasta party last night. First things first--the food was excellent--Jennifer, you outdid yourself. We had taco soup, taco salads, salsa, cheese dip, pecan pie(still warm, I might add-thank you Karen,) pralines, brownies and two types of cake.

Of course we ate until we were past miserable. Then on to playing cards. Now we've been playing cards for 20 some odd years. So you think we'd have learned by now how to read a tally card. Well, I've got news for you. We all had problems figuring out what table we were supposed to play at, and who our partner was supposed to be. And you know, the longer it took us to figure that out, the funnier it got. We decided that once we get to the nursing home, the aids that roll us to the card table will figure it out for us.

The funny thing is the conversations. When we first played it was about having our babies, midnight feedings, and colic. Then we moved on to teething, walking and talking. Soon we were on to pre-school. Next school and all that went with grades, teachers, social events, etc. Now it's what aches and pains we have. What illness we've developed and what medicine we are taking and how it affects us. We've all gotten bigger around the middle so diets or lack therof is also a topic of conversation.

But the most important now is grandchildren. We only have one gal who got a late start having her children, that doesn't have grandchildren. She has two in college, so she's got a while yet. And what a topic that is. One thing I noticed last night, Jennifer has a strong sense of family. And one table in particular has always held pictures of her dad, mom and grandparents. Lots of old pictures. Not any more. Those have all been changed and now hold baby pictures. She has 5, the oldest being in pre-K or 1st grade down to one that is only about a year old. We all love us some grandbabies.

We had a great time as usual. The best part is the fellowship and catching up with each other. I only get to see some of the gals once a month, so it's good to hear about what is going on in everyone's family.

I hope you have a great weekend planned. If you've got something special going on, share it with me.

Have a wonderful Friday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Thursday Ramblings

These three beautiful quilts are being given away over at The Old Red Barn Go over and visit and get in the giveaway. I'm entering. The deadline is November 17th. Go get your name in the pot.

We had rain here all day yesterday. Not a downpour, nor a need for a boat, just a slow steady drizzle that looked really cold from your window, but in fact was fairly warm. I wore a light jacket at lunch, and when I got back I was warm enough that I turned on my little fan here in my office.

Then after church some dry air had moved in and it was like walking into the twilight zone. I think you could have cut it with a knife. The funny think I noticed was that even though you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you, when you looked up, you could see the moon. Eerie indeed.

We have a saying here in Arkansas, 'If you don't like the weather, stay around for a few hours and it will change'. It may be freezing one day, and warm enough to run aruond in your shirt sleeves the next. Snow never last more than a few days, and a road can be so covered in ice that you can't get to work, and by noon the roads be clear.

We rarely see a white Christmas, with most of our really cold weather coming in January and February.

I've begun to notice that people are decorating for Christmas already. My neighbor two doors up have their porch posts decked out with multi color lights. The radio station is playing carols. I heard that Santa will make his arrival at the mall on Friday. Guess I need to go get my picture made with him, and tell him what I want. Only problem is, that if I sat on his lap, he would probably be crushed. Oh well, it's a short list anyway, maybe I could just hover.

It's that time of the month again. You know when we play canasta. I am already thinking about what we will have to eat. We're playing at Jennifer's house, and she always has a nice spread for us to eat. If her husband is home, he'll get in on the fixins. He's a good cook too, so we always look forward to what he has made.

Then tomorrow afternoon, a group of us gals are going to the lake for the weekend. A girl's get-a-way. It's supposed to be pretty. There is supposed to be a nip in the air, but that will be fine. I'm taking my camera so I should have some pictures of our trip.

What great plans do you have for the weekend?

Hope you have a great Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Veteran's Day

Today is a day we give special thanks to the men and women who have helped to keep our country free. We all take freedom for granted, just as we take so many things for granted, but then that's a subject for another post.

I have added pictures of my two favorite veterans. My dad, William Lawrence Alumbaugh, joined the army about 1939, and was building a runway in Alaska when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Soon after, he was shipped out to France. He has 4 bronze stars for the 4 major campaigns in which he was involved, and in the picture here he has another medal of some sort that I don't recognize. If anyone does know what it is, I'd love for you to share. In fact, I don't know what the buttons on the lapel are for either. He knew of course, but he didn't talk about his service much as so many didn't. I do know he was in an engineering batalion and much of their job was to go in and rebuild. He did talk about building bridges, hospitals and schools. He talked about the kids they saw everywhere. He was wounded somewhere in Germany, but never recieved a purple heart. I don't think he felt he deserved it.

He came home from the war, married my mother, raised three children and died in his late 70's from the asbestos he was exposed to during all the re-building they did.

The second veteran of whom I'm so proud is my mother's dad. Edward Franklin Zeiger. I don't know a lot about his service. He also saw action in Germany, and was wounded. His wounds were severe enough that he had what he called a 'service connected disability', and raised 9 children with the money he received each month during the Depression(that and the moon shine he made).

Like my dad he didn't talk about the carnage, but when the two of them were together, they talked about the country and the places they saw. I always thought it interesting that they were in several of the same places.

It gives me chills to think about the horrible things they saw, the death and destruction. I think about how it could have made them crazy if they thought about it very much. But they were tough. They didn't leave easy lives when they went to war. Neither of them grew up in the lap of luxury. I know very little of my grandfather's childhood, except that they lived off the land they had been given. Land that was in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Land that had more rocks than dirt, and was difficult to make a living from.

My dad, on the other hand was left at the age of 15 with a mother and 4 siblings to care for when his father died. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corp to earn money as soon as he was old enough, with the next step being joining the army.

These two men went from one hard life experience to another, and made the best of what they had. Both were respected in their communities, and are today sharing those stories in Heaven while they look down on us as we salute them for all they gave to us through their service to our country.

I hope you remember the veterans in your life today, and that you are also proud of the service men and women who are watching out for us in foreign fields today.

Have a great Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

It's Monday and It's Going to Rain

We had a cool, but beautiful weekend. I even vacuumed my vehicle on the inside and washed the inside of the windshield. I also took the two 4 year old grandchildren to watch their 11 year old cousin play basketball. After that it was nap time.

Then of course, it was time to come back to work on this Monday morning. Cloudy and overcast make 40 degrees feel much colder than 40 and sunshine. We've already had a couple of frosts and as you can imagine, the trees have been beautiful. I really had good intentions of taking some pictures of some of them, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

I don't know if it's the weather or if I slept wrong last night, but my head has hurt all day, and when I move my neck just right, it pops. Guess the chiropractor will fix that today when I go in. He has helped my back tremendously, which is the reason I was able to clean up my vehicle Saturday.

What did you accomplish this weekend?

Hope everyone is having a great Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

What Do You Watch On TV?

I've had a rude awakening this week. Well, maybe not rude, but interesting. I got a call a couple of weeks ago from the Nielson TV Ratings group asking me if I watched TV and how many TV's I had in my house.

After politely answering their questions, they asked if I would keep a diary for each TV, and I said yes. I got them in the mail, and kept track of what I watched.

If TV is supposed to be entertaining, I'm in the right place. If it is supposed to be informative, I'm really behind. If it is supposed to be educational, I've fallen into a pit I can't get out of.

One thing I noticed is that I watch none of the new programs on TV, with the exception of Huckabee on Fox. I do watch Fox and Friends while I'm getting ready for work, but the rest of the time, I watch things that have no value. Most of what I watch are either TV Land stuff, like Mash, The Beverly Hillbillies, 3rd Rock from Sun.

My other favorite channel is AMC, where I get my John Wayne fix every week. And I get a few movies on USA.

I really thought I was deeper than that, or maybe I just find that I don't have to see so much sex and naked bodies in the old programs. Except for Dancing with the Stars. I can remember when my mother wouldn't let us watch Red Skelton(I'm dating myself here) because his show was 'dirty'. By today's standards, he's clean as a whistle.

How do you lean on programming. Do you watch things that have to have words bleeped to be on. Or do you go with the safer programs on TVLand?

Have a great Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

A New Era

We as Americans have made history. Regardless of who you voted for-or against, a new chapter is now being written. We will soon install our first African American President.

It is now time to unite and work toward the common good. Our first and foremost thing to do is to begin to pray. Pray for our leaders, pray for our country and it's citizens. Pray for those who are trying to do good, and especially pray for the change of heart of any who would cause harm. Harm in a financial way, harm in a physical way.

In the coming days you will see and hear people who will be the voice of gloom and doom and will probably have lots of ugly things to say about the new administration. To those people, please say that even if you don't respect the people, respect the offices they hold. Please don't spew hatred and discontent or allow others to do so.

More than ever, we have to band together. There were things I didn't like about either candidate. I would have been worried about what will transpire in the next four years if either man had been elected. But we as Christians need to work especially hard to fight the good fight and to keep the faith.

I've been thinking lately about the Children of Israel. Over and over they turned away from God or grumbled at what He did for them. They wandered in the wilderness 40 years, and in such a small area of the world, you'd think someone would have found the way out, or that someone would have thought to bring a map. But then it wouldn't have made a difference since God wanted them to wander as punishment.

Then there was the Babylonian captivity which lasted about 500 years-punishment. And finally the twelve tribes were scattered throughout the world- again punishment.

I may be wrong, but I don't remember anyplace in the Bible that says God won't punish us for turning our backs on him. And isn't that what we've done? We've allowed Him to be removed from our schools. We've allowed him to be removed from our government buildings. If we don't do something, our motto 'In God We Trust' will soon be removed from our currency.

Let's just say, for argument's sake, that He does turn away from us for all the things that are transpiring, can you imagine what the future will be like? What if He were to leave us for 40 years, or 500 as punishment? What a terribly frightening thought is that?

I don't really think God will turn His back on those of us trying to live according to His will. That's the reason Jesus died on the cross. But I worry that we as Christians are not fighting hard enough to keep others from infringing on our Christian values and rights.

Are we doing all we can? Are we doing the best we can in His name?

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Pray for our country. Pray for our soldiers. Pray for peace. Love one another.

Huckabee and Richard Dreyfuss

I watched Mike Huckabee's program last night. He had Richard Dreyfuss on and I'm not sure I agree with everything he had to say last night, however; what he had to say about what people know about our government and how it is set up and runs made a lot of sense.

I know for a fact I don't know enough about who does what. I know that in the event something happens to the president, the vice president takes over. If something happens to the vice president, then the speaker of the house is next in line.

I know there are 100 US senators, 2 from each state, and the house representatives are determined by populations of states.

But we need to know more. It may have been Huckabee that said our people don't know what makes our government run, but other countries do and that's the reason they want to come here. I had one year of government in high school. I've forgotten much of it.

We all take for granted what we have here. Perhaps we should not only study our government, but we should also study the governments of other countries. Then we might have more respect for ours and the advantages and liberties we have.

By the grace of God we born Americans are here. We have no idea the struggles others have endured to make it to our shores.

We should all find, purchase and read a book about the workings of our judicial system.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Hope you are having a good Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Today our nation will make history. It is expected that the largest number of registered voters in our history will turn out to vote. Possibly tomorrow, we will have a new president. The news says it may be a few days before we know, and my brother thinks it may be the end of the year before we know.

I voted almost two weeks ago and thought then I could stop listening to all the politics on TV. Not so. If anything, I've gotten even deeper in. I can't just turn on the TV without watching Fox, CNBC, CNN and anyother piece of news I can find about what is happening.

Will we have our first African American President, or will we have a new Republican President? I fear some of what each of them have to say.


What happens if we have four more years of Republican rule. I realize the President in most cases is just the fellow who signs or rejects legislation. If Obama is elected with a democratically controlled house, most things may be signed into law. If McCain is elected it will continually be a fight to get anything passed.

What do we do? Do we vote for one of these two men, or do we vote against one of them. My ballot is cast, and I have to say I voted against one of the candidates. Whether my vote will count for much, I can't say, but at least I have the opportunity to vote. This is something not everyone has.

If you haven't voted already, I encourage each of you--challenge each of you to get out and vote your conscience. It's one of our privileges.

Happy Halloween

Halloween Bowling Try this little game if you have time and your boss doesn't catch you.


Hope your day if filled with spooks, goblins and ghosts. Hope you have plenty of candy to give to your little trick-or-treaters. Hope you don't get any tricks played on you.

This is one of my little spooks. She doesn't much like having anything on her head, but her mama said she left it on this morning. I'd love to go by the daycare and see them all. I know they are cute.

I'm still trying to get over a sinus infection, so I think I'm going to go home, have some chicken soup, turn out all the lights and go to bed. I do believe I am some better, it's just that with me they tend to hang on for months instead of days. My last one started last November and stayed with me until June.

Have a good day, remember it's Friday. Pray for our country and the outcome of this election, and love one another.

Losing Time

Not to be confused with wasting time. I do that way too much, but yesterday I lost an hour. It was really strange the way it happened. I have a VCR in my bedroom that has a lighted front with the time showing. I use this lit clock during the night when I wake up. I can just look at it and know what time it is without having to turn on a light and disturb anyone else(oh wait! there isn't anyone else).

When I went to bed Monday night, I noticed that my battery operated alarm clock had the wrong time. Sometimes when it gets dropped, it resets itself, so I set the time and alarm by the clock on the VCR.

Tuesday morning, I got up, got ready for work and left at what I thought was 7:15. When I got to work, I was a bit puzzled because I'm usually one of the first at work, but everyone was here. When I looked at the clock on my computer, I realized I was an hour late. I told everyone that it was 7:15 when I left home but almost 9 when I arrived at work and I only stopped at SuperD for a minute. I must have gone through a time warp.

It is the funniest feeling to know something in your own mind, but something else to be true. I think I know how people with alzhiemers and dementia feel. My friend Carolyn suggested I might need some Aricept(thanks for that vote of confidence CP). But I felt funny all day. The worst part of this whole thing is that there is one clock in every room of my house, and some have two. Did I look at any of them while I was getting ready? Evidently not. In my defense, however, unless I looked closely or at a digital clock, I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference since I was exactly 1 hour off.

I blame this not noticing the position of the hour hand on the fact that I was in about the 7th grade before I could tell time anyway. Being the youngest child in my class didn't necessarily help back then.

However, as I was discussing this with one of my co-workers this morning, it dawned on us about the same time that the VCR has a function that adjusts for Daylight Savings
Time and resets itself. If I'm not mistaken, we were supposed to have made that change last weekend, but it got put off. I suddenly felt better. And now all is right with the world--well, maybe not all, but some.

Has anything almost unexplainable happened to you lately? If so share.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Attend Bible Study tonight. Pray for our country and love one another.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Does thinking about times, places, events and just about anything else trigger a line from a song? As I though about how cold it is here this morning, the line from a song immediately came to mind.

It is cold here this morning. We had a freeze warning last night. I don't know if it actually got that cold, but I did hear my heat kick on a time or two during the night. The temperature all around us is in the 30's, and the high is supposed to hit 64. A cold front now means put on more clothes where as a month or so ago it meant there might be a cool breeze for a change.

If you are going out today, be sure to at least put on a sweater. As for myself, I have a sinus infection(seems to be the story of my life)so I'm staying home today. I started on anti-biotics Friday, and hopefully, they'll kick in soon. The last one I had lasted almost 5 months, with at least that many rounds of medicine, and finally a trip to an ear nose and throat dr who put me on Leviquin for 3 weeks. I've felt pretty good all summer, but looks like it's going to start up again. I don't know if this is just something I'm prone to do, or if my resistance is low. I've also started on Ester-C and vitamins again. When I feel good, I tend to forget about them.

I think I'm going back to bed for a while.

Hope you are having a great Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Nights in Rodanthe

I told you yesterday I was going to the movie last night to see Nights in Rodanthe. And I also told you I'd give my opinion here.

I read this book probably 2 maybe 3 years ago and absolutely loved it. I thought it was a good story plot and very well written. I am a big fan of Nicholas Sparks and have most of his books. The other books that have been made into movies(Message In a Bottle, The Notebook, The Wedding and A Walk to Remember) have all been great, and I thought stayed true to the book. I understand you have to have some fill in stuff, like memories of things that happened to bring the character to this point in life, and that's ok.

I also thought that by now, Sparks had made enough money that he wouldn't allow anyone to re-write his characters, along with where and how they fit into the story line. Obviously, I was wrong. Some of the people are missing, others have been added. The story line changed, not for the better.

My friend to my left had just re-read the book, so she was up on all the twists and turns. She immediately began pointing out the differences in the book and the movie. I won't tell you about the plot changes in the event you haven't read the book, and are planning to see the movie.

I'll allow you to read the book so you can spot the changes for yourself. It left me feeling sad for what had been done to such a good book. It was still a chick flick, girl loses boy, boy wants to come back, girl finds new boy, yada, yada, yada.

I found many of the scenes awkard with no flow, rhyme or reason. Oh yeah, and the beach house reminded me of the houses in Popeye. Everytime I saw the house, the song to Popeye came into mind.

There was some really good music in the movie. Diane Lane has had better material(Remember, Under The Tuscan Sun? and Unfaithful, the movie she was in with Richard Gere where she was an unfaithful wife?)

She was also in Lonesome Dove, which I'd totally forgotten about until I googled her.

And with that I will end my diatribe and move on.

Have you read any of Mary Kay Andrews' books? I'm reading my third one--Savannah Blues, I've read Itty Bitty Lies and Savannah Breeze. They take some pretty interesting twists and are funny at the same time.

What have you looked forward to for some time, and then was disappointed about? Happens to me all the time. Like the Pumpkin Patch, and other things that I think will be fun for the kids or me, only to be let down.

I am looking forward to spending the weekend with he gang up at the lake in a few weeks. The tourists will be gone and we'll have the place to ourselves. One of the girls and her family owns it. Thing is, I know I won't be disappointed when we go, we always have a good time when we're together.

Hope you are having the Friday you wished for. Pray for our country, and love one another.

It's Raining, It's Pouring and I Wish I was Snoring!

Oh, how I wished I could have stayed home in bed this morning. When I got up, I could hear the rain on the vent pipe for the water heater in the laundry room.

I opened the front door and saw it was raining that slow rain that we love to have in the summer, but it looked cold, like it does in the winter. I think the high today will be in the upper 50's. The rain is supposed to move out around lunch.

When I look at the rain, I wonder what kind of winter we will have. I hate wearing coats, and fortunately I only walk a few steps to the building in which I work, so a heavy coat is usually not necessary. And in this part of the country, it may be pretty cold in the morning, but by noon, you have to start shedding some of those warm clothes.

It's unusual for me to even wear turtlenecks with long sleeves. But, I look forward to the cold nights when I can bundle up, turn the heat down and snuggle under the covers with a good book.

We are going to see 'Night's in Rodanthe' tonight in honor of Janet's 60th birthday. I've read the book and will offer a review of how I think the movie compares to the book. I absolutely loved the book. But then I'm a fan of Nicholas Sparks(The Notebook, Bend In the Road, Message in a Bottle)

How is your day going? Did you have to get up and go to work or get to stay home and have coffee?

Have a fab Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Pumpkin Butter

I read several other blogs. Many of them have recipes with step by step instructions. While I'm sitting at my desk at work, I think how much fun it would be to make some of them at home. This is not withstanding the fact that by the time I get home, I'm pretty tired and the most strenuous activity I want to do is to eat and hold down my recliner while channel surfing(which, by the way, should be an olympic event) . At any rate, a week or so ago, Suzanne

from Chickens in the Road had been making Pumpkin Butter. Not to be outdone by her, I decided that I, too could make Pumpkin Butter. As you can see by the first picture, I used 4 pie pumpkins. The second picture after they had baked until fork tender.

They weren't too hard to cut into slices, and remove the seeds(which I saved for roasting--more on that later), then after they were fork tender, I removed the peelings, and pureed the fruit. I put it in my big Vison's Dutch Oven(don't have one of those fancy ones Pioneer Woman gives away) added all the ingredients and cooked it for 30 minutes stirring constantly(someone needs to invent a self-stirring pot). By the time I finished this task, my back was hurting and my arms were very tired.

And I ended up with 9 half pints of the butter(you only see 8 in the picture, by the time I made the picture, I'd already given one jar away, it was still warm). By the time I had filled each jar, all I had left was some on the spoon, so I licked that off. I decided it had a bit too much cloves for my taste, but I may feel different when I put it along with some butter on a hot biscuit. I have given two jars away, and have another one in a birthday gift for my friend Janet who turned 60 on Monday(I'm sure she'll just love knowing I've told the whole world how old she is).

I don't think I'll make any more. Although I did think about makeing some Sweet Potato Butter, using the same recipe except substituting sweet potatoes for the pumpkin, but then I really need those for Thanksgiving, and I might not be given any more.

My pumpkin butter was expensive to make. I paid over $6 for a dozen jars with lids. My pumpkins along with the apple cider ran a bit over $9, and I used sugar along with the spices which I aleady had. So, I probably won't make it again, unless sometime this winter I open a jar and fall head over heels in love with the stuff.

Oh and those seeds I roasted. I coated them in extra virgin olive oil, spread them on a cookie sheet and sprinkled them with just a bit of salt. Roasted them til they were a pretty shade of brown, let them cool, and they were awful. I trashed them.

I did save a few to plant in the event we have a garden next year. I should have access to a freezer, and can make Pumpkin Puree so we can have pumpkin pie next year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My oldest grandson loves pumpkin pie.

Do you try recipes only to find them either too difficult or they take too much time. Even I know the only real 30 minute meal is a sandwich and some chips. Isn't life a lot like trying new recipes. Often new things take longer than we feel we have time to devote, or they are just too much trouble. We tend to fall back to things that are familiar and easy. Just don't want to get out of that comfort zone.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Don't forget Bible Study tonight, and pray for our country. Don't forget to vote. But most of all, love one another.

Riley's Birthday Dress

Princess #2, aka Riley was six on October 11th, but due to circumstances I couldn't controll, didn't get to have her birthday party until this past Saturday. This is the corduroy jumper that I made for her. I would never have made it up trimmed in black, but that's what her mother wanted, so that's what I did, being the wonderful grandmother than I am. It turned out much better than I thought it would. Smocking on corduroy is difficult. I don't like using thimbles, so I have to do it in bits, so it took a while to get it done. I got her a black roundneck longsleeve pullover to wear under it. I hope it fits and she gets to wear it a lot. I put a lot of work into it, making the piping for everything takes a lot of time and then putting it in takes more. But it really adds to the dress. Happy 6th birthday Princess. I know you had a good time.

Friendship Questionnaire

As you can see on my left sidebar, I have a new award. It was given me by LisaJ at http://mynewthingtodo.blogspot.com/

It also has some friendship questions for me to answer. Here they are:

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood? I have 4 of my childhood friends that I'm very close to, Carolyn, Mary, Janet and Mona. We grew up together, raised children together, and are sharing grandchildren stories together now.


2. What do you value most about your friends? They love me warts and all and I them. They've seen me through some pretty tough times. Divorce, and a near death illness. We travel together, play games together, but most of all we laugh a lot--and I mean a lot.


3. Are your friends your sounding boards? Yes, I vent to them, and I try to be their sounding board as well. You can't live as long as we have and not had some burdens to bear, and we try to help each other carry them.


4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends? Just being together. We are all comfortable together. We don't judge each other, and we can truly be ourselves together. We also like playing Uno with the crazy machine that spits cards out at you.

I read the questions above to all fall along with the first one, that being childhood friends. However, they are not my only friends. We all have friends who come and go. The love you have for them lasts a lifetime; they leave a footprint on your heart. But I have a lot of friends with whom I'm close to at this time in my life.

There's Pat and Ellen who have become part of the 'gang'. We've all been on some crazy trips together. It was with these two that we played our first game of Uno Attack at a small house we rented on the lake a few years back. That was such fun. I think of the times we spent digging through antique stores in Hardy, and how much fun that was. The cruise we took one year just a couple of weeks before Christmas. The trips we've made to So Texas to see Carolyn. Needless to say, the seven of us have had a great time.

I have friends at church, Jamie is the first to come to mind. We've known each other a long time, but we love to sit together and visit(oops there's that talking problem again). She keeps me up on who is sick(she knows tons more people than I do) and what is going on. The ladies in our class, I don't have a personal relationship with, but I feel that I can tell them anything and along with our work, we have a great time.

Here at work there are friends too. Sara, Tonya, Deanna, Teresa--what can I say, I couldn't get through the day without them. They are smart, funny and caring. We help each other(ok, so they help me more than I help them). We laugh together, vent to each other and make being at work much more pleasant.

I am also blessed with two sisters-in-law that I can also call friends, Katherine and Joni. They are sweet precious people with whom I always have great times. We all share a sense of humor especially about our family that is great.

And don't let me forget all my blog friends. Naming them would be impossible and you all know who you are. I love reading about your families, although, I must confess, I get some of them confused. They are like visiting relatives at a family reunion. You can't remember which kids belong to which cousin. But I love you all.

A special thanks to LisaJ for the award. These qustions help remind me of how blessed I am to have so many people who have touched my life in such good ways.

Who has blessed you by being your friend for a day, a year or a lifetime? Tell me about a special friend you have, just try not to make me cry. It makes the people at work think something is wrong when they see me sitting at my desk crying.