Friends & Family Tree

I thought I'd share what my final sticker-tree looks like.  I had to control myself, because I could have found 5 more spots to put a frame, and I think I may have one or two too many as it is.  However I can't decide which one not to include!

 

So here it is.  I love it.

 

Our friends & family tree

 

 

From the other side:

I've also been busy adding some of my favorite pics to the hallway.  I'm finding places I can add memories to make the walls more homey.

I love looking at these photo memories of people I love.

Santa, You're Fired!

I'm tired of the commercialism of Christmas.  The more advertisements I see, the more STUFF I see that I will never want, and certainly never need.  Yesterday was the infamous "Black Friday".  Guess what?  I didn't shop.  It was my formal screw-you-big-box-stores, you-can-shove-it day.  I am trying hard to support small local businesses whenever I can.  I HATE the fact that the big-box-stores are opening ON THANKSGIVING.  That is ridiculous.  NOBODY should be open Thanksgiving.  They deserve to be at home with their families (oops, unless they WANT to be working instead of being with their family which I can relate to this year).  Early morning openings and opening Thanksgiving evening/day is absurd.

There was a news article about one family who celebrated Thanksgiving on Wednesday, so they could shop on Thursday.  OH THE INSANITY!

I remember back in the day when you had to carefully plan how much gas you had in your car to get to and fro because EVERY STORE was closed on Thanksgiving day.  Remember that?  What happened to those days?  It's gotten all commercial.  Every company is competing for your dollar.  I am all for healthy competition, but a line has to be drawn.  Next thing you know, they will be open on Christmas so you can exchange the gifts you didn't want right after you open them.

I'm not saying to get rid of Christmas.  It's just so different these days.  It's lost a lot of its magic and sparkle for me.  Maybe I'll get it back, but it's going to take a whole lot of holiday eggnog to find it. 

In my family, we create wish lists, so that parents have a clue as to the items both of us might want.  That works out well, so we get some things that we can put to use.  It sure as hell beats having a basement full of Hallmark crap I never use to decorate because I don't have a place to sit out shelf-sitters.  My shelves are full.  I'm tired of having stuff to SIT SOMEWHERE SO I CAN THEN LOOK AT THE DUST AS IT ACCUMULATES.  Because I don't dust.  I do think about dusting.  But then it never happens.  A nice clean shelf would be so easy to dust, vs. a bunch of breakable crap I have to move carefully.  I say that, but then I have some breakable crap I really love.  It's a dilemma.

Other things we always add to our wish list are food items.  We could never ever have enough bacon.  There are so many wonderful brands of bacon out there.  We love Farmland and missed it when we were out West.  There are so many other wonderful brands and flavors.  Marvelous apple-wood smoked, maple cured, or thick cut bacon.  We've even had garlic studded bacon before and it was great.  We always, always love seafood!  And red wine.  Really, how can you go wrong with something you eat?  You eat, you take a few pictures, you think of the person who sent it, you have a great meal/snack/drink, and then viola!  It's gone.  Nothing to dust!

People spend too much money buying gifts for others.  I can't comprehend going into debt to buy gifts for Christmas.  I know some people do it, and I just don't understand the mentality.  I will never get it.  You know what I'd really like?  Something hand made.  Something homemade because I know that person thought about me when they made it.  They took the time to think about something they thought I'd like, and got the materials, and made a plan.  They thought about me.  Maybe it's cookies baked at home, or something they crafted, or a picture they painted or printed and framed, or even a special home cooked meal would be wonderful. 

I know this is really wild and wacky, but if I influenced someone to donate blood, how awesome would that be?  Donating blood is so important this time of year.  There is nothing else you could give that would mean more to others.

I've got tons of craft ideas swimming around in my head that I'm about to start making.  A lot of my friends are going to be receiving handmade gifts.  I'm a little worried about how some of them will turn out, but hey, at least I will be thinking about them when I make them!  I'm dialing back how much we are spending this year.  Sorry friends, we're not going all out this year, but I do promise to put thought into your gifts.

I will share some of my craft projects here after Christmas.  I actually made one project this past summer outside when I had supplies readily available, and I am super excited to share that idea with you.  After Christmas. 

So who else is making homemade gifts for Christmas or dialing back how much you're spending?!

Day After Turkey Day

Hi there, weblings.  I've missed you!  I have many things I want to share rolling around in my head, but haven't had time to type at you.  I will try to change that soon.  Maybe.

You may have celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday (or maybe you had to work or live in a different country or don't care for the holiday).  It's the holiday I look forward to the most each year.  Let's just say that this year did not live up to my usual expectations and leave it at that, shall we?  To keep things positive, I can say the food was amazing.  The turkey was moist and juicy.  I think I actually made dressing/stuffing that tasted like my moms and I didn't mess it up!  The mashed taters and gravy were fluffy and smooth, rich, and creamy. 

My Thanksgiving plate this year.

 

We chose not to have bread.  If we had baked buns, I would have emotionally lost it.  Abby loved her daddy's homemade buns.  She knew when he was making dough.  I usually baked the buns and she knew the routine.  She couldn't stand seeing the lightly browned balls of tastiness and smelling that fresh-baked yeasty smell without having part of the first bun.  That girl certainly loved her bread.  So this year we decided that it would be too hard to make them and skipped it.  Some day, but Thursday was not the day.

I followed my usual tradition and made monkey bread.  It's always an experiment.  I might have put one or two dough balls too many, but it didn't turn out like Frankenstein, so all was good.  I even cooked it long enough for all the bread to be done.  Todd commented multiple times that it was my best one yet--success!

Maybe a TINY bit big after growing overnight.

Best Monkey Bread yet!

I baked a pecan pie.  I haven't eaten any yet because when I was draining the potatoes, I forgot my hand was there and scalded the holy Hell out of my left hand (just the end of my middle finger--I am going to live).  I just didn't feel like pie.  Well, I did, but I was so flustered with house guests that I chose to retire for the evening vs. endure another minute in their presence.  It was worth giving up pie.

Oh wait, I was keeping it positive. So here is a picture of my pretty pie. 

My pecan pie was sort of decorative this year

I can't wait to bake one for Tullybird.  She has already put in an order for one when she visits in May.  Seriously, do y'all know how easy this pie is to make?  Oh wait, it's really, really difficult!  All that waiting while it bakes is torture.  If you ever want to visit and have some pie, just let me know and I'll bake you one too!

Speaking of pecan pie, let me tell you a couple of stories about good family.  See how I'm keeping this positive?  When I was growing up, I vacillated between my love for apple pie and my love for pecan pie.  If it was my Aunt Carol's apple pie, I would probably go for that especially if vanilla ice cream was available.  But I also went for the pecan pie just as often. 

My great grandfather loved pecan pie too.  As a matter of fact, we used to call ourselves pecan pie buddies.  At family reunions, we knew which pie we were sharing.  One time my mom dropped me off at his house so that I could bake him a pecan pie.  I thought the directions HAD to be wrong.  What pie on earth cooks for SIXTY minutes?!  That's an hour of cooking time!  That was long ago... way before the Internet and cell phones.  So we used our best judgement and pulled it out after about 40 minutes.  Our pie was a little soupy, but we didn't care.  It tasted great and we thought it was the best ever.

I had a school assignment in grade school, back in the day when you could use a tape recorder with cassette tapes.  I had to find someone old and interview them--hey, my pecan pie buddy!  I remember trying to think of questions to ask before I went over there.  I don't remember the conversation, except one part.  He was born in the early 1900's.  Like 1901 or 1904, give or take a year or two because I can't remember.  When he was a boy, he wore the kind of shoes that had buckles.  It was fun to think of him as a young boy with buckles on his shoes.

So there you go.  I said that I would share a couple of stories about good family, not necessarily good stories about family!  I have fond memories of going over to my great grandfather's house.  I can still remember how that house smelled in my mind.  Smells are very strong for me--it can take me back to a moment faster than any other sense.

This is my third Thanksgiving since I started my blog.  I had no idea I would enjoy it this much.  It's something I know I can always use to share my thoughts and craft ideas or to document a milestone or something great I ate.  Or to bitch and moan.  I may be back very soon to do one of these things.

Swine What? Swinebraten!

Who loves German food? Anybody? You do? Me too!

We found the most delicious little place that serves lunch and a buffet on Friday evenings. So if I ever need to test the elasticity of my clothing, I could just go here one Friday night and get so full that I feel (and look) like jolly old Kris Kringle. All in one sitting.

Oh you guys, if you could actually experience the desserts in person, you would understand the awe I felt when gleefully making my selections. But first, the main courses.

Let's start with the not so great.

The only entree I didn't like was the ham & beans with cornbread but that was because it was past it's prime. They replaced it after I had already started on dessert. The new batch (in the picture) looked divine.

Now for the mediocre.

The only item on the cold salad bar that I had was a deviled egg. It was just a plain yellow-mustard tasting deviled egg like you would make at home if you don't experiment or put anything special in it at all. It was OK. I ate one, but I didn't want a second one.

Now for the wonderful.

The German potatoes were wonderful.   The polish sausage on a bun (kept warm by being wrapped in foil, which worked) with sour kraut and German mustard was really good.  The schnitzel (breaded pork tenderloin) was OK, but once I added German mustard and sour kraut, I really liked it.  The stars of my plate? The pierogies (pasta pouches stuffed with a blend of potatoes and cheese, fried in butter, and topped with grilled onions and bits of bacon) definitely shined as a highlight of this meal.  The pierogies were traditional and fantastic. The bits of bacon on top were real pieces of crumbled bacon.  Not bac-o-bits.  Yum.

The other star of the night was the swinebraten with veggies.  Let me tell you how amazingly delicious the swinebraten was--AMAZING! It looks like stew and it's actually super ugly. But my theory is, the uglier food is, the better it probably tastes. Ugly food doesn't get a fair shake. Anyway, the swinebraten was the most tender hunks of pork that were probably seared for browness and flavor, and then swaddled with veggies and sauce to simmer and get all tender all day long. The gravy it was in was really good. The owner said the secret ingredient is sour cream. It had a somewhat slightly subtle sweet flavor I think because of some spice I couldn't quite identify, but not in a sickeningly sweet way. It's not like they added vanilla soy milk or something weird. I would buy and eat a plate of this stuff any day.

Now for the show part of this show-and-tell.

Far left: potatoes, carrots (what?), and sour kraut
Middle: pierogies on top, polish sausages in buns on bottom
Far right: schnitzel

Pierogies upper left, schnitzel upper middle, ham and beans with cornbread front left,
and Swinebraten on far right--see, it's ugly!  But oooh so good.



The cheesy plastic table cloths add to the ambiance.
Potatoes at 1:00, ham and beans with cornbread at 2:00,
Swinebraten at 5:00, schnitzel at 8:00, and pierogies at 10:00

So that was it for the savory. Now let's add a little sugar to sweeten things up, shall we? In case you haven't noticed, I have a sweet tooth. As a matter of fact, every tooth in my head is a sweet tooth.

For the not-so-great.

One of their specialties is peanut butter chocolate pie. I don't like it because it wasn't peanut buttery enough for me. It's like everything is cut with whipped cream which dilutes the flavor for me. If you are looking for a light very subtle taste with lots of fluffiness, here ya go. It's not my thing.

Now for the pretty good.

Todd had the sponge cake with berry sauce and whipped cream. He liked this so much, he had this 3 times. I liked the berry sauce, but the sponge cake and cream was just blah to me. To bland for my taste.

Now for the good stuff.

The lemon bar was good but not a super-star. When I eat lemon, I want wow-ness and I want my taste buds to know I just ate lemon albeit a sweet lemon is preferred. The cherry cheesecake was yummy. Every bite made me want another. The coconut meringue pie was OK. Maybe it needed just an additional drop of vanilla or more sugar as it seemed to be missing something for me but that didn't stop me from eating the whole thing. Along with these desserts, I had my first half cup of coffee since I quit drinking coffee in April. It was worth any heartburn that I may have experienced. They grind their own coffee bean blend. It was smooth, exciting and tasty. Mmmmmm.

The star of my dessert line up was the LEMON MERINGUE PIE! This is REAL meringue folks! This pie rivals my mothers meringue pie, sorry mom. To me, meringue is an art form. It's really a LOST art form. So many times bakers take the lazy way out and cover a luscious pudding pie with whipped cream. I hate that. I love the way my fork sinks into the meringue and squishes it down to nothingness where my forks divides my next bite from the piece of pie on the plate. I love the way the light and fluffy sweetness sits on top of the pudding like a blanket. I love the lightly browned peaks and the sometimes weepy valleys. I really love meringue.

This lemon meringue pie was fantastic. You know what's even more exciting? The next time my dad is here, I can order an entire pie from them. We are going to love the whole thing.

Upper: lemon bars on left, lemon meringue pie on right
Lower:  apple or peach pie/crumble on left, berry cream sponge cake on right

Lemon meringue at 1:00 (the BEST) garnished with a side of whipped cream and caramel
(easy to ignore the garnish), peanut butter chocolate pie at 5:00 (blah),
cherry cheesecake at 9:00 and lemon bar in the middle.

More dessert buffet.

So there you have it for divine German food. This was their October buffet line up. They change their menu monthly. I can't wait for the November buffet one of these Friday nights.   It's so worth a few extra miles on the treadmill and wearing spandex.

Startling Dream

I had a dream last night.  I've never had a dream feel so vividly real.  It startled me awake and then I started to cry.

I don't remember what I was dreaming about, but all of a sudden Abbytail was before me.  She walked up and sat down and her tail was wagging the way only Abby's tail would wag when she's fully sitting down.  Like it's still wagging even though the floor is there, it doesn't matter because it's curled up and her excitement cannot be contained. 

She was smiling with her mouth open and her tongue hanging out just a little.  Her eyes were bright and happy.  She looked like she felt good. 

I swear she was trying to tell me "everything is OK, momma, I'm good".  It startled me so much I woke myself up.  I can't tell you how much I hope that's true.  My little guardian-angel-dog. 

We both miss her so much every day it's heart breaking.  I know in time it will get easier.  But for right now, it's anything but easy.

Not A Typical Sunday

Today was a special celebration.  We participated in a 5K this morning to raise funds for lung cancer.  I ran a good race, and Todd actually walked the 5K!  Todd usually hangs around with Keystone, drinking coffee and wondering what all these nutjobs are doing out here in the dark/cold running so early in the morning.

Our sunrise drive to the event

This event has been a day that our friend/neighbor has spoken about for over a year now.  Let's call him "K".  K lost the love of his life to lung cancer about 5 or 6 years ago.  Each fall, he participates in raising funds for lung cancer by walking in the Lung Hill Run.  Members of his family join together to celebrate and remember his wife and support this worthy cause.  K actually co-captains a team with another person who lost her husband to lung cancer.

There was no question, as we have bonded with K over the past year, we had to participate in such an important event.  Todd and K go garage sale-ing and bargain hunting every Friday.  We often have each other over for dinner or we meet for lunch.  K is such an awesome man.  I never had the privilege of meeting his wife, but I can only imagine how much we would have loved her.  She married a great man, and they raised two wonderful women.  She had to be special, to have formed such a great family. 

My heart sincerely goes out to them that she is no longer here.  I am getting to know K's two daughters, around my age, when he has cook-outs and invites us to come up and visit with the family.  K has 4 wonderful granddaughters.  They are each so beautiful, on the inside and out.  I think the oldest may have met her grandmother, but I believe the youngest 3 did not.  Regardless, I know they can't remember her.  I feel so badly that she's not here to witness the wonderful mothers her daughters have grown to become.  They are great people.

Anyway, we really enjoyed joining in their special day.  We went to the race. I ran, and they all walked.  Keystone was chillin' just taking in the scenery.  Then we all went to a great little place that had a great brunch buffet.  Highlights of the brunch:  Bloody Mary bar and bread pudding with whiskey sauce (which was divine but really ugly, so no pics of the pudding).

The veggies, meats, and saucy spices to garnish a Bloody Mary

Several liquid options to finish your Bloody Mary

My finished Bloody Mary.  I am now a fan of this drink.
After I took a sip, I added a piece of beef jerky and a meat stick.  Because I could.

I am so glad we chose to participate in K's special day.  I thought often this morning of not only his family and how they lost someone special, but I also thought of my aunt who died in May and how her family lost someone special.  My heart went out to them then, and it goes out to them now.  I still can't believe my Aunt Linda is gone.

Cancer sucks.