Another Weekend Recap

We actually had a fun and busy weekend. And we (almost) didn't even leave town.

Friday night we enjoyed a nice dinner out. There really aren't very many options of restaurants in this tiny town. But last fall, Hubby was given a tip that we have really enjoyed. There is a golf country club here and for a mere $5, we could "join" for the winter months. They serve really good food. The waitress even knew what we like to drink the last time we were there. (Ice Tea.) It was a very enjoyable way to end the work week and spend time talking with each other. (My favorite!)

Saturday was a busy day of cleaning. Hubby is having a work meeting here at our house today, so I found that a good excuse for cleaning.

Yes, I admit it, sometimes, oh who am I kidding, most of the time I need the motivation of impending company to clean the house. It's either that or getting fed up with stepping on crumbs all the time or having to clear the dust away to be able to put something on the dresser. Okay, I'm not really that bad of a house keeper, but sometimes we all just need a little push, right?

It snowed on Saturday. But then, that's pretty much old news here in the Great White North.

Hubby spent a good part of the day Saturday putting together a book of photos from our daughter's wedding. We sorted through 900 pictures to narrow it down to just over 100. He used this website to make the book. I can't wait to see the finished product! There are a few pictures of my baby-girl-turned-bride that just take my breath away and made me cry. She looks so beautiful.

Sunday was an adventurous day. We got up early so we could go to the previous town we lived in and worship at our old church. We got about 30 miles away and decided to turn back home. The roads were getting worse and it was pretty foggy. We came home for about 45 minutes and headed the other direction to try a church closer to us that we hadn't been to yet. As soon as we headed east on a highway, the road was very icy. Sigh. Turned around again and ended up going to the church that's only a mile and a half from our house.

So, to recap Sunday morning: I woke up at 6am to go to a 10:45 church service a mile and a half from our house. Yes, there was a long nap taken Sunday afternoon.

Today I've sequestered myself in the basement while Hubby is having his Strategic Planning meeting upstairs. It's been a good thing for me because I finished the ironing. (We all know how I feel about ironing...) and I came up with an idea for window treatments in the basement.

Oh, and I wrote a blog post!

AND I discovered re-runs of Dallas on cable! Sue Ellen? Lucy? Jock? Miss Ellie? I do enjoy a 80s soap/drama!

What a productive day.

The National Day of HodgePodge

Another Wednesday, another Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thanks to Joyce@From This Side of the Pond for another set of questions for this week.

1. Did you know there is a National Day of pretty much everything in the universe? February 23 happens to be National Inconvenience Yourself Day...when was the last time you were inconvenienced?

Oh, I don't know.... waiting for a price check yesterday at the discount store? (I like starting off with a totally lame answer.)

2. When a room in your house needs painting who does the job?

Hubby! He's much more meticulous and neat than I am. I have done my share of painting, but it may be my lack of neatness that has worked me out of that job. (I also don't like the paint fumes very much.) (Not that I mind not doing that job.)

3. Are you friends with your cousins?
On my mom's side of the family I have 2 cousins. On my dad's side, I have 5 living cousins. I am a good 10-15 years younger than most of my cousins. My hubby and I were talking just the other night about when we had last seen some of our cousins. It's been more than 15 years since I have seen several of my cousins on my dad's side (since my grandma's funeral). Anyway.... to answer the question. I would say that, no, I'm not friends with my cousins. Especially on my dad's side. I've interacted a bit more with my two cousins on my mom's side, but have never been friend-type close to them, mostly because of the age difference. Having said that, I did have a wonderful visit just a few months ago with the cousin who lives on the farm my mom grew up on. I wrote about that visit here.  I have always adored his wife. I have known her since when I was probably 9 years old and she was in college.

4. Do you use an alarm clock? If yes-is it an actual alarm, music, or something else?

I'm finally to the point in life (no kids to take to school) where I don't have to set the alarm most mornings. **Aaahhh.....pure, sheer, bliss for this non-morning person** .  But.... when I do set an alarm, it's to music. I cannot stand the blare-blare-blare of an alarm. I set it to a radio station with music that won't let me keep sleeping. I tried classical music for a while and that was a disaster. It has to be rock music with DJs that talk. (Did I mention that I'm not a morning person?)

5. What do you put ketchup on?

I gotta have a little ketchup with my french fries and hamburgers. Hubby likes BBQ sauce, but, I'll just stick with ketchup thank-you-very-much. I'm not really one to douse all sorts of things with ketchup. I have actually thrown away partial bottles from my fridge that have been there for years.

6. What smells make you nostalgic?

My mom's Swedish Rye Bread. Mmmmm.....

7. (Editing this question a bit--sorry Joyce) This questions has to do with boundaries online relating to this story of a teacher and her blog. (Click on the button at the top to go to Joyce's blog to read the whole question.)

I do think there is a line that should not be crossed when it comes to posting frustrations online on a blog or Facebook page.  I won't say I'm perfect, but I try. A long time ago I wrote a blog post about some frustrations with a relationship and it backfired. I took the post down. I have written other posts about frustrations, and hopefully have not crossed the line of inappropriate.

Now, don't even get me started on Facebook statusi, statuses. (What is the plural?) I detest the ones that just beg for sympathy, slam their husband, kids etc. Don't even get me started on those.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

In keeping with my theme of posting a video for Question #8, I give you the Muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Enjoy...

(My favorite is Animal.)

 

Have I ever told you what my hubby says about the four types of music? No? Well, then I'll share. (And if I have, please just smile and nod....) 

1. Good Music; Good Words

2. Good Music; Bad Words

3. Bad Music; Bad Words

4. Bad Music; Good Words

The group that originally did Bohemian Rhapsody? Falls under category #2.

Your welcome for that little lesson.

Iny's Prune Cake With Buttermilk Icing (Pioneer Woman)

Here's another recap of one of Pioneer Woman's recipes from her book The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

This recipe caused great anxiety for me. Well, maybe not so much anxiety as sneakiness. Are those close to the same things? Maybe not.

When Megan and Amanda (daughter and daughter-in-law) and I sat around on New Year's Eve splitting up the recipes in Pioneer Woman's cookbook and came to this one, we all paused. No one said the name of the recipe. We all looked at each other, and I said I would make it and be sneaky about it. You see, none of our guys like prunes.

I bought the prunes more than a week before I made the cake. And hid them in the cupboard. I read through the recipe and laughed at Ree's commentary. Evidently her husband has issues with prunes. She says she has made this cake for him multiple times and never told him what is in it.

Late in the afternoon I started the deed.

Too late in the afternoon, because not 10 minutes into starting, hubby called to say he was coming home. Ahhh!!

He is a good sport, because I asked him to not look at the recipe and not ask what was in the Coffee Cake **cough cough**  and he didn't. What a guy.

The pile of ingredients:

(Yes, I like Tupperware.) (See those 3 eggs sitting there? I forgot I intended to make half of the recipe and went ahead and broke open three eggs, realized my mistake and proceeded to remove 1 1/2 eggs from the bowl. Now I have 1 1/2 eggs in the fridge [yes, in Tupperware] waiting to be used for something.)

 So if you were thinking that Prune Cake meant a cake with big hunks of prunes, nope, you were wrong... you boil them to soften them up so they can be mashed and blend into the cake almost undetected. They help make the cake very moist.

The cake itself has yummy spices in it like cinnamon, nutmeg and ground allspice. (I am amazed that I did not have any ground allspice and had to actually buy it. If you saw all the spices I have in a drawer [in Tupperware, of course], you would be surprised too.)

This is the beginning boiling stage of the Buttermilk Icing. It is supposed to be cooked until it has a light caramel color. And, oh boy, is it GOOD!

Ta Da!! The finished product! The icing melts down into the hot cake and just makes it scrumptious. It kinda reminded me of a spice cake. After he tasted it, Hubby said he liked it and then asked if it had carrots in it or brussel sprouts. (He doesn't like vegetables in cake) The really good news is he didn't gag after I revealed the secret!

(Can you see my new tablecloth in the very upper left corner of the picture? I used a birthday gift card to buy that and I love it!)

Some Music That Speaks To Me Today

My daughter gave me for Christmas a couple of CDs she made for me. One artist stuck out for me and my dear hubby got me a CD by that guy. His name is Jon Foreman. This song speaks a challenging truth of how we worship. God hates the show. He wants our hearts.



Somehow that song reminded of an earlier Christian singer. I've always been convicted by this song by Keith Green. God wants more than show. He wants obedience.




 And if we are talking about Long Ago Christian Artists... we have to go to Larry Norman. Ever heard of Larry Norman? He's been called the Father of Christian Rock Music. He says he started writing music in 1956. This is a tribute to him done in 2008 after his death. He was socially relevant.





On a bit of a different note. This classic song by Larry Norman came to mind today as I think about the death of a childhood friend's sister. Was she ready? Something I appreciate about these artists is they are not afraid to speak challenging truth.

Hot Artichoke Dip (Pioneer Woman)

**Another great addition from Megan for our Cooking Through PW Cooks Adventure.**

This was a delicious late night snack for my husband and I! Here are the ingredients:

The recipe called for canned artichokes, but I chose to use a real one.

I love to use our pepper grinder on the coarsest setting because it seems to add more flavor. The artichoke was steamed in an inch of water for about 15 minutes. Next, I scraped the meat from the "leaves". Not necessarily as easy as it seems.... After all the work of using a fresh and mediocre artichoke, I decided this recipe may be better with the canned artichokes as it originally called for.
Everything except some of the artichoke was creamed together in a food processor (mine was a touch too small) and then some larger chunks of the artichoke were mixed in to give the dip some texture. I definitely enjoyed the the texture. The recipe said to add cayenne pepper "to taste". Honestly, I have no idea how much I added. Nonetheless, I'd add more next time for kicks.

This is before it was baked:
It had a nice golden color to it after it was baked.

We ate it with this baguette, but it would be equally as yummy with tortilla chips or crackers.
Zach (my husband) makes a similar dip that contains sour cream instead of mayonnaise. Both of us agreed we prefer the tang of sour cream to the mayonnaise, but I think it's a personal taste.
Overall = YUM.

The Force Was With Me

When I was a little girl I thought I had magical powers. Powers to make the little blue light on the dashboard of the car to appear and disappear.

Let me explain.

We made a lot of road trips when I was little, and with four kids, my parents tried all sorts of ways to keep us entertained:

Looking for White Horses (and got a dime for every one we spotted that was verified.)(I also learned the definition of verified on a road trip)
The Alphabet Game
Looking Out The Window
Sleeping
Playing with my Etch-A-Sketch
Reading
Learning the difference between Herefords and Angus cattle
Singing great songs like "There's a Hole in the Bucket, Dear Liza"
Magic Light On, Magic Light Off

The last one? Oh , it was magical!

When we would drive after dark, I would notice a blue light on the dashboard going on and off at random times. Somewhere along the line I decided it was a Magic Light.

(Back in the day my parents had a car that was a regular 4-door sedan. Two bench seats. With 6 people in the family we would ride three in front, three in back. Being the youngest, I most often was in the front seat between Mom and Dad. From there I had a great view of the dashboard.)

Somewhere along the line I thought I had the powers to control that light. I'd say, "Magic Light on!" and it would come on. I'd say "Magic Light off!" and it would turn off. My dad's hands would never move from the steering wheel.  Amazing stuff.

Today I saw this video. That was it. I knew The Force Was With Me when I was a little girl controlling that Magic Light.

Groundhog Hodgepodge

Another Wednesday, another Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thanks to Joyce@From This Side of the Pond for another set of questions for this week.

1. Would you rather be seen as a person who did their duty or forged their own path?

Yes. I see too many people who don't "do their duty", who think the responsibility belongs to someone else. Taking responsibility and doing what is expected of you is important. Yet, being brave and doing something out of the ordinary is admirable.
 

2. This week's Wednesday Hodgepodge happens to fall on Groundhog's Day. In keeping with that theme, if you could have a do-over of any one day out of the last seven, which day would it be and why. If you haven't seen the movie Groundhog Day this question will make absolutely no sense but that's okay....you can answer anyway.

I'd like to re-do part of Saturday night. I went to a Christmas party for Hubby's company. (Yes, I know it's not Christmas. The original party had to be canceled due to a Blizzard.) I'd like to be able to build up my hubby more than I did. I didn't say bad things, mind you, I have just thought of some things I could have said that would have built him up more. (I would not like to re-live the awkward conversations and the awful, awful "band" that played "music".)

3. Hot cocoa...yay or nay on the marshmallows?

Oh yes, on the marshmallows. Miniature ones please. Is anyone a fan of Calvin and Hobbes?  I like Calvin's approach to Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows:

Calvin:  The secret to making great hot chocolate is to put the tiny marshmallows in first.
Hobbes:  So they melt faster?
Calvin:  No, so you can fit in forty or fifty of them.  This way the hot chocolate just fills in the cracks.
Hobbes:  I wondered why you eat it with a fork.
Calvin:  Also, I don’t use milk.  I just heat the syrup.

4. Do you wear makeup every day? What are the top two must haves in your daily makeup routine? 
No, I don't wear makeup every day. I have gotten in quite a lazy/terrible habit in the last seven months of living in a town where I don't know any one. My top two makeup must haves? I'd say cover-up for my dark circles (thanks Mom) and my eye lash curler. (I don't want to talk about how old that is.)

5. Is it more important to you in a relationship to be loved or understood?

Uh-huh. I really don't think I could choose one over the other. (I'm not doing very well at these either/or questions today, am I?) I love to be loved. I need to be loved. And being understood is very important to me. I will say that some of my greatest frustrations in relationships come from being misunderstood.

6. Parsley sage rosemary or thyme... your favorite?
I think I would go with rosemary. I love the smell! (Even though I couldn't find any fresh rosemary in my little grocery store...or fresh parsley.) (Small towns...grr...)

7. What do you do when you feel angry? 

Yell. Rant and rave. Cry. Call my hubby and vent. Write a blog post. (Then, delete it.) (Maybe.)

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Random video time! I first saw this video a couple of years ago and just came across it recently. It is just too cute not to share...