The End and the Beginning

Well, Christmas is over and it is on to the new year.
First of all, Christmas was very nice. We had a family party Christmas Eve with my side of the family. We ate a lot and exchanged white elephants and laughed a lot. Christmas day the kids came over for lunch. We ate a lot and played fun games. It was nice to have the whole family here (all except our grandson Tyler, he was at his fathers). We don't seem to get everyone together enough any more. My husband gave me this really cool thing that takes your negatives or slides and puts them on your computer. I think it will be great for those old pictures I needed copies of.
New Years is coming and I'm thinking about some new year goals. Hummmmm, there are so many I just can't decide yet what I want to accomplish for sure. I will write more when I decide.
Well, Happy New Year. I hope it is wonderful, exciting and pleasant!

"Is'nt there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Christmas is two weeks away. It is coming soooo fast. I wish it would slow down a little. My shopping is almost done, I have the easy ones completed, it is those few pesky hard ones that I am never quite sure what to get that I haven't completed yet. I have two gifts left to sew, all the gifts left to wrap, baking to do (I haven't done any of my Christmas baking yet), a lesson to prepare for Sunday, a dinner to cook for my sons' prom group for Saturday, concerts to go to, parties to plan, meals to cook for my family, a house to clean, a dog to "try" to keep out of things, packages to send, a cat to "try" to keep away from the dog, work to go to, etc.,etc., etc.! And with all this, trying to incorporate the true meaning of Christmas. Ooooooh, isn't Christmas time wonderful!

"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat".....okay, maybe its just me!

Those things I love most about Christmas (in no particular order)
Family
Friends
Giving
The smells
The anticipation
Getting just the right gift for someone
Baking
CHRISTMAS MUSIC
The concerts
The scriptures
The Christmas story
The Hope
Snow
Christmas cards (the ones with family letters in them) I love reading about peoples families
Relaxing
Enjoying
Eating
Decorating
Shopping
Snow Men
Mistletoe
Wondering what it would have been like to have been at Bethlehem that first Christmas Eve!

Those things I dislike about Christmas
Putting Christmas tree lights on
Shopping
Putting things away after Christmas
Not having my parents around

I guess you could say that there are a lot more pros than cons for Christmas. In other words, I just love the Season and everything (almost) about it!
How about you?

So many pies, yummm

Sunday evening we were invited to a friends. She was starting a new tradition at her house. Since on Thanksgiving after eating all the wonderful main dishes prepared, there wasn't much room for the pie, she decided to have a night earlier where there was nothing but pie. So their family made pies and invited some friends over and and we got to reap the rewards of their efforts. They had pumpkin of course, apple, pecan, lemon, pineapple cream, chocolate and cheesecake. It was very good. I had the pineapple cream and a bite of Todd's pecan. They were both very good. I think Mel had a piece of each!! What a great idea!

Dancing leaves & a scarrdy cat dog!

We have this Beagle named Chloe, she is about a year old now and very cute. However, she has so many little quirks it is unreal, one of them being she is such a chicken. Every new or different thing scares this poor dog to bits. She will sit and howl and growl at herself in the mirror forever if she is given the chance, move a chair or piece of furniture to a new spot and you are done for. She is such a whimp!
Well, yesterday the wind was blowing pretty hard in the morning, so when I opened the door to let her out, she was so frightened by the blowing of the leaves she wouldn't even go pee! I had to finally go outside with her so she would. Silly dog! Who would have thought I would have to baby a dog so much.
Even though my husband had raked up most of the leaves in our yard, there is a tree farm behind us and there were plenty of leaves on the ground over there. At first as I was watching the leaves, they all started to fly round & round in a circle like they were dancing a merry little jig. Then they all started flying in different directions and then all of once they were all being blown the same way like they were running from something. It was such fun watching them for awhile. Crazy me getting so much enjoyment from watching a bunch of leaves!

Monarchs

I remember as I was growing up, we use to see a lot of Monarch butterflies, especially when they started to migrate. It doesn't seem like we see too many any more though. This picture of a Monarch butterfly in our garden was taken by my husband earlier this fall. Isn't it beautiful! God has made some pretty amazing things in this world.

Power in Music

So, the other day, I had a blog all written but then my computer was giving me fits and it shut down. The next time I got on luckily (I thought) the blog had been saved. So I pushed publish and for some reason only part of the blog got saved and the rest was erased. So I just erased the whole thing. Hopefully I will have better luck today.
The main point of my other blog was that on Sunday we went and did Sacrament meeting at the assisted living center as a family. One of the songs my son played for the prelude touched a lady with Alzheimer's so much that as she came to the meeting she was crying. The power and spirit that music brings is quite amazing and I was glad that my son Todd was able to be a part of it.

Cleaning, Cooking & Worms

We got our carpets cleaned yesterday, it is such a nice feeling!
Tomorrow for YW I am teaching. The lesson is on our Associations with others I think that I am going to start out by having the song on "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms". Then I will talk about how each of us needs people in our lives, that was Heavenly Fathers plan, then we will talk about the scripture in D&C about how we were each given gifts, and with those gifts we have the opportunity to bless others lives so they don't have to feel like they need to go and eat worms. For the handout, I think I will have a bag of gummy worms for each girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDQHjYIojTs
Next Saturday we are having a progressive dinner. I was asked to bring rolls. I wanted to try out a new recipe I found from Sister Dibbs. I think I am going to practice on it today and see if I like it. This is her recipe.

Easy Icebox Rolls
(Ann Dibb, via Bea Redden, 1978)
1 package (1 T.) yeast
¼ c. warm water
1 c. milk
1 stick butter or margarine
1 t. salt
3 eggs, beaten
½ c. sugar
4 ½ c. flour
⋅
Dissolve yeast in warm water. (I add about a T. of extra sugar to the dissolved mix.)
⋅
Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add milk, salt, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cool to lukewarm (if milk is too hot when added to yeast, it will kill the yeast).
⋅
In a mixing bowl, add beaten eggs and then the dissolved yeast. Mix.
⋅
Add 2 ½ c. flour; blend well. Add remaining flour, 1 c. at a time; mix well after each addition.
⋅
Place dough in a greased mixing bowl and cover. Let dough rise until it doubles in size. Punch down, cover. Put dough in refrigerator until it doubles in size. Punch down again and replace cover until you are ready to use the dough. It will keep well for several days.
⋅
Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes (until rolls are very light brown).
⋅
Remove rolls from the oven and brush each roll with melted butter.
The dough is pretty wet and sticky when you let it rise the first time. (When I take it out of the bowl, I have a lot of flour on my hands and on my pastry cloth and rolling pin. I knead it just a bit.) Divide dough in two parts. Knead the one section, roll it out about a half inch thick, and cut it with a two- to three-inch circular cutter. Lift a circle in your hand, brush it with butter, crease it with a knife, fold it over (this is Parkerhouse roll style), and place it on a cookie sheet to rise. Bake.
I’ve seldom done the icebox thing. I mix it, let it rise about two hrs., knead it a little, prepare the rolls, and let them rise again (about two hrs.) I think that one of the secrets is to handle the dough as little as possible and use just enough flour to handle—not too much. I got this recipe out of a ward cookbook many years ago. Then I just made it multiple times in order to practice making it and perfecting my handling of it.

Housework!

So, as I was cleaning my house today, I thought, I like to have a clean house but wouldn't it be nice if all the little chores we do came with some type of recompense. Lets say each job had a point assigned to it. The ones we hated to do the most had the most points and the ones that are the easiest for us get the least points. Those tasks that hardly ever get done like cleaning behind the dryer or cleaning out the freezer get extra points. Then with those points we get something we want. Like, for so many points earned you get to lose a few pounds, or maybe you might want something like not having your children argue for a whole day or maybe just being able to spend a couple of hours doing something you have always wanted to do. Silly thoughts I know, but I was just thinking!

Rain, Singing & Dancing

It is Wednesday morning and raining. I like the rain though and we need it so it is good. Monday we went to Todd's choir concert. It was very good. There were a lot more people there than at the orchestra concert. I guess it helped that the 8th and 9th grade choir sang also. Mountain crest has three singing groups. Todd is in the one called Magic. He sings bass.
Tuesday for YW the girls decorated cookies and we took them to the Veterans in the ward. It was good for the girls to see all those who have served in the armed forces and to do something nice for them on Veterans day. I need to go get ready now because I am going to watch Todd dance in his Social Dance class and it starts at 7:45. It should be fun!

Halloween

Halloween! What a great excuse to dress up and have fun. We are not so good at dressing up any more, but we sure enjoy seeing those who do. For Halloween we usually go up the street to a neighbors who does a dinner for the neighborhood. I took some caramel popcorn, which I am requested to bring to the dinner each year. They also had soup, sloppy joes and lots of other yummy food. We have great neighbors!
This cute picture of the "pumpkin patch" is Aubrey, Katelyn & Willie. Katelyn will be two in March. She is a cutie pie and fun to have around. As they were leaving our home on Halloween, a trick or treater came to the door. Her father and her opened it and there was a young person in a devil mask. She took one look and started crying. It is amazing how at such a young age children understand what scary is. It is fun being a Grandma although admitting I'm that old isn't as fun!

Sundays & Headaches

Sundays, I love them. Headaches, I hate them. I woke up this morning with a headache, which is nothing new because I get them a lot. I am just getting very frustrated at always having them. At least today I get to go to church. I love going and feeling the spirit. My headache is slowly going away, hopefully it will be all gone by the time I head out to church.
Every other Sunday our children come over with their families for dinner. This is there week to go to their inlaws so it will just be me, Mel (my hubby) and our son Todd. I am going to fix salsa chicken which is a favorite around our house, and I haven't made it for awhile. Todd is in our church choir and they are doing a special program for Veterans day. It should be nice.

Zwei

Our cat Zwei came to us by accident. Our other cat Kitty, who we had for 21 years died of old age. I was not in the market for another cat, especially one who looked so much like our old cat. However, this was not to be! One day when my husband was outside doing something, some young kids from our neighborhood came by carrying a kitty. They said they were looking for the owner and asked if it was ours. Mel told them no, however, he also mention to them that if they couldn't find the owner someone in our house would be happy to take it. So of course they came and talked to me. I asked them to please keep looking for the owner but if they couldn't find them of course I would take it. So that he how we came by our cat. My children named it Zwei because it looked so much like our other cat and Zwei means two in German. When we first got the cat, it use to love to play with our 14 year old dog Tipper. However, our dog didn't really enjoy it. So when Tipper died and we got our other dog Chloe, we felt the cat was getting back what it gave to Tipper because Chloe loves to chase the cat and wrestle but the cat doesn't enjoy it much any more! We have had our cat for about 2 years now and we love him a lot. It is funny how attached we become to our animals. They really do bring us joy and peace.

Chloe

Chloe is our 1 year old Beagle. We got her last February when she was about 3 months old. She is the cutest little dog. Our other dog Tipper ( she was cute in a different way) died in August. We had her for around 14 years and we loved her alot. When she died, I thought I would not want another dog, however, Tipper was such a wonderful dog it was hard not having her around. So, we talked it over and decided we wanted another dog. I wanted another mut like Tipper but my husband had always wanted a Beagle since he was young. We looked around and before getting Chloe we also looked at a Bassett Hound. She is a lot more energetic than our other dog, doesn't obey very well (unless it is something she wants to do), and chews up everything! We have gone through so many dog toys and haven't found one she won't destroy. Not to mention the shoes she has chewed up. However, we love her and enjoy her quite a lot especially when she isn't terrorizing our cat Zwei.

Autum

I love this time of the year. I love the crispness in the air, I love the leaves falling to the ground. I love the colors, the smell, the anticipation of hollidays to come. I love baking and the wonderful aromas of the spices used. I love the coolness of the nights and the rightness of the days. I love gazing at the mountains with their peaks dusted in snow. What a glorious world we live in. I love the fall!