What Would Ma Ingalls Do?

This morning I was standing in Wal-Mart looking at fall decorating ideas.  I love to decorate for the seasons but have been desperately trying to downsize in all aspects of my life.  I stood with a new table-cloth for fall in one hand and an apple cinnamon scented candle in the other while I looked at a pumpkin table decorations with votive candles on the shelf.  I decided to place them back on the shelves and head home with about $35 still in my pocket.

When I got home I had an email in my inbox from a blog that I have followed the past couple of months”The Year of Less”  .  I clicked on today’s blog http://theyearofless.blogspot.com and it was so appropriate for my dilemma for decorating.  She was talking about looking at things in her home in light of whether Ma Ingalls (The Little House on the Prairie) would have the item in her home.  I loved her perspective in the blog.  Keep it simple!

This is what I came up with for decorating my table for the fall.

They are all items that I already own.  I picked the Hydrangea from my bush and placed them in a flowering can that I have had for some time and placed them on top of a doily that a friend gave me for a birthday a few years ago.

I don’t plan on over doing the decorating this year.  I plan to keep it simple and natural if possible using things I already own or in a new way to make them seem new to me.

 

Happy Easter

This is a photo that I took last year on Easter morning at sunrise. I didn’t get out this morning for a new shot so I am sharing this one again. Hope all of you have a blessed Easter with family and friends.

 

Mission Accomplished

It’s been a while since I’ve kept these old bones up until midnight on New Year’s Eve. The last couple of years I’ve headed to be early relishing the extra sleep instead of welcoming the New Year.

Tonight I stayed up and watched the ball drop with Dick Clark announcing the last few seconds countdown. It seemed rather anti-climatic after staying up late sacrificing sleep.

The wind is howling around our home this evening which sounds and feels violent. We are under a Wind Advisory until tomorrow evening. Perhaps some foresight into the New Year???

I’m looking forward to another year to to try new things, get better at old things and mostly try to live life a little better than I have in the past year.

Blessings to All in 2012!

 

Ice Bubble Snowman

This afternoon I ventured out on the newly formed ice. While I was out walking I noticed ice bubbles had formed in the ice. This is the picture of some of the bubbles with the floor of the lake below. The  three bubbles are different layers.

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The second photo shows the bubbles at the different levels but still looks like a snowman to me.

The last photo shows the bubbles stacked above each other. As I look at all three photos they each are unique but all make me think of some far off galaxy. The first photo makes me want to get out a marker and draw the missing face and stick arms on the snowman in a folk art style.

So far no snow on the ground here which makes it seem like Christmas couldn’t possible be only two weeks away.  Snow is only forecast one day in the next week. Still hoping for a White Christmas. If I have to have the cold at least there should be some snow to decorate the brown earth for Christmas.

 

Lessons From Grandma

Today would have been my grandma’s 110th birthday if she were still living and even though she is gone she is still teaching me about life through how she lived her life.

1. Family is important. She was a mother of nine children and was the least stressed person that I know. She loved being surrounded by the ones she loved.

2. Nothing beats a home cooked meal especially when it includes home-made bread. She baked homemade bread almost daily when her family was young and then weekly. The meal was always eaten at the table not in front of the television. It was always the kids job to set the table properly and it was where we learned good table manners

3. Go with the flow. Whatever life sends your way make the most of it. She was widowed at the age of 59 and lived into her 90’s. I never heard a pity party come from her mouth.

4. Focus on what is truly important and don’t let the other stuff bother you. Once while talking to one of her daughters on the phone she kept talking while a bat circled her head. She just continued talking and took a swat at the bat every so often as it circled. She wasn’t going to let a small thing like a bat interrupt her time with her daughter who lived out-of-state.

5. Make time for play. Grandma loved to play cards. It was a big deal when you were old enough as a grandchild to join in with the adults playing cards. Oh the stories that were told around the table were some of the best first person history lessons.

6. Make time to laugh. Grandma loved a good story. I can still picture her with tears running down her face from laughter.

7. Make gifts personal. I still have a small cookbook that my grandma hand wrote her favorite recipes. Over the years she made several homemade gifts for each grandchild. I have a large granny square afghan that she crocheted for me, hand embroidered kitchen towel, one for each day of the week, and hand embroidered pillow cases for my bed.

8. Love those around you. When her children were young and her neighbor was quarantined because of some childhood disease in their neighborhood. Grandma would sneak over to her friend’s home to spend time helping her care for her children who were sick. Grandma was always willing to share. If she knew someone needed something, she was always ready to share.

9. Faith is important. Grandma always went to church and encouraged others to go as well. Her bible was always handy.

 

Red, White, and Blue

Tonight I put to bed another Fourth of July weekend. The anticipation and planning for the holiday weekend is always exciting.

The hard part is trying to fit every thing and everyone into the plans for the weekend. My daughters were especially excited about the weekend and planning all the food we would need and they made out a grocery list.

It’s a good thing they were thinking about meals because it was the last thing I felt like doing after a long VERY HOT week of working.

Part of their plans for the weekend was getting up early to go and pick strawberries at the local strawberry farm just around the corner from our home. We set our alarms for six am this morning and headed over to the farm. I would have liked to sleep in but picking strawberries is an annual tradition. Not necessarily on the 4th of July but each year we go picking strawberries.

This year grandson Jack accompanied, my husband, two daughters, one boyfriend and me to the farm. It was a beautiful morning with lots of beautiful berries.

Happy Fourth of July to all and a special thank you to all our service men and women serving and to all those who have done so faithfully in the past.

 

 

Easter Sunrise

 

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!”

 Luke 24:5-6

 

Weekly Photo Challenge:One

 

One Man Paid It Forward For All

The artistic side of me loves this banner that hangs in our church each Easter. It draws me in to look at each piece that makes the whole. Last Saturday I took a picture of the banner for no particular reason other than I like it and thought that someday like everything else it will be gone and I will try to remember what it looked like hanging on the wall.

The heart side of me loves this banner because it speaks to me of one man’s sacrifice so very long ago for the lives of many. One of my favorite movies in the past has been Pay It Forward. A story of a boy that takes a school assignment to heart with a plan to change the world for the better. His plan was that if each person did something good for three people without expecting anything in return except that they would do something good for three other people, the world would be a better place. 

In my eyes and heart the greatest Pay It Forward act was Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of all so that we could all have salvation and eternal life with Him if we confess our sins and believe in Him. The question has been asked before.Who do you love enough that you would lay down your life for them? I love my husband, children, family and friends. I would hope that if I were put in the difficult circumstance of protecting someone I love that I would be able to lay down my life to protect them but you never know until you are there.

In this Easter season I am once again reminded of His sacrifice for me and desire for a personal relationship with Him. I am not a seasonal Christian attending church only on holidays as some do but that doesn’t make me better than anyone else. I am there in church each Sunday as a reminder of His love for me and to spend time with others in this difficult journey we call life. The more I know about Jesus, the more I want to know.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  John 10:10 NIV

I am not a bible scholar or as knowledgable as I should be for someone who has been a Christian for nearly 35 years but I do know this, that whether my circumstances are good or bad, I have a peace that resides in me that allows me to wade through the most difficult days. I am not rich beyond measure in material things but all my needs are met daily. I am not without trouble but through Him I am able to make it through life’s trials.

Jesus paid it forward for all.

 

My Chariot Quit But My Birthday Rocked

Yesterday was my birthday, my husband and I took the day off from work.  We didn’t have any plans in particular but I told him I just wasn’t going to work on my birthday. 

We haven’t had a day off of work since September 30, 2010, working six days a week.  The only days off have been Christmas and New Years.  I was on strike. 

We  stayed at home in our pajamas until around 11 am and decided to hop on our snowmobiles and hit the trails near our home.  My husband led our trip down the trails and to the nearest gas station because both sleds were almost on empty. 

 We got almost to our destination, a gas station, when my snowmobile went slower and then stopped.  I figured that I must have run out of gas so I sent my husband to get some gas and I waited on the trail for him to return. 

He returned with a gas can and poured it in and pulled the rope.  Nothing, no compression.  The problem appears to be bigger than no gas.  He got a chain from a local logging company and pulled my snowmobile off the trail.  I hopped on the back of his sled and we continued on our way. 

We went to our local favorite bar/restaurant for lunch and were provided each with a birthday beer.  My husband’s birthday was last Saturday.  After lunch we got back on the sled and on to my parent’s home just down the road. 

I wanted to get a picture of the ice houses on the lake from my parents home for my photography blog.

After I took this photo I walked into Mom and Dad’s kitchen and I saw this wooden box on the kitchen counter. I said “What’s the box for Dad?” 

He said “I use it for raising bread dough.”  There is a local bakery that sells frozen bread dough that Mom and Dad like.  It’s the only bread that they eat other than bread that Dad makes from scratch. 

Dad said they usually try to speed up the rising process by heating up their oven and putting the frozen bread dough to rise and the later bake it in the oven.  Dad didn’t like how long they had to have the oven on, but still wanted to speed up the process.  

Dad is a retired Electrical Design Engineer so he made his own box for his bread dough. The box is complete with a heat source and thermostat to keep it at the temperature he desired.  This is what the inside of his bread box looks like.

 He sets two bread pans in the box on the screen, sets the temperature and closes the lid until the bread is risen.  He then transfers the loaves to the oven for baking. 

In a previous post, I mentioned a hammered dulcimer that my Dad made.  Yesterday I took this picture of his dulcimer. 

After visiting Mom and Dad we got back on the snowmobile and headed home.  When we got home we headed into our shop to get the flatbed truck to pick up my snowmobile.  We dropped off the snowmobile at our home, took the truck back to the shop and came home.  Exhausted from all the fresh air and exercise, I was in bed with my latest book and asleep by 9:30pm.

One of my favorite parts of snowmobiling is all the things that I can see on the snowmobile trails that you can’t see from the car when driving in the same area. I had high expectations of taking a lot of pictures with my new camera but riding snowmobile didn’t allow for many pictures. I will have to take my camera on a walk on the trails to see if I can capture a few of the beautiful sights I saw yesterday.

 

Our Family’s Favorite Birthday Cake is of the Cheese Variety…Southern Pecan Cheesecake to Be Exact

Southern Pecan Cheesecake, photograph by Mike Huibregtse

 

Today is my oldest daughter’s birthday and she is away at college.  I talked to her this morning to wish her a Happy Birthday.  She is 22 years old.  If she were home and I asked her what kind of birthday cake would she like for her birthday, which is our tradition, she would surely choose Southern Pecan Cheesecake.

I found the recipe for Southern Pecan Cheesecake in a cookbook that I received from my mother-in-law for my birthday in 1991.  The recipe can be found on page 76.  Katherine Brown of Minot, North Dakota contributed the recipe to the cookbook.  It has been a favorite ever since.

For those of you who are intimidated by making homemade cheesecake, you shouldn’t be.  This recipe is easy and it tastes like you have baking for hours.  It goes together quickly and easily.  The cheesecake serves 12-16 people and keeps well in the refrigerator for days after baking.

CRUST:

1-1/2 cup quick oats

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup melted butter

FILLING:

5 packages cream cheese (8oz each) softened

1-2/3 cups light brown sugar

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups chopped pecans, divided

To make the crust, place oats in food processor or blender; process to consistency of flour.  Combine oats with remaining crust ingredients; press into bottom of 10-in. spring form pan.  Chill.

To make the filling, beat cream cheese with the mixer until fluffy; slowly add the brown sugar and mix well.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla and half of the nuts. Mix and pour over crust.  

Southern Pecan Cheesecake ready for the oven

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  If using a darker or non-stick pan reduce oven temp by 25 degrees.  Turn the oven off and leave the cake in oven for an additional 30 minutes. 

To reduce chance of cracks on top surface, run a knife around edge of cheesecake as soon as you remove it from the oven.  Let cool to room temperature, chill for 8 hours. 

Southern Pecan Cheesecake cooling to room temperature before refrigeration.

 

Remove sides of pan. Press additional chopped pecans around sides and pipe with whipped cream if desired.( as shown in the picture at top of post)

Christy won’t be home for her birthday and her cake will be a day late but tomorrow my husband and I will drop off the cake for her on our way to a school board convention to share with her roommates and friends.  A little bit of home,  a little bit late but  Happy Birthday Christy!