When The Song Of the Angels Is Stilled....

When the song of the angels is stilled, 

When the star in the sky is gone, 

when the Kings and princes are home, 

when the shepherds are back with their flock, 

The work of Christmas begins: 

To find the lost,

to heal the broken, 

to feed the hungry, 

to release the prisoner, 

to rebuild the Nations, 

to bring peace. 

To make music in the heart. 

Howard Thurman, American author, 

civil rights leader, and theologian

(1899-1981)

Our Family Christmas Adventure...

The week before Christmas started off great. I was ready, I was prepared. Well, I thought I was. 

I had forgotten that when I think all is well with everything; Something happens that I was NOT expecting. 

This time it was my Truck not starting. The old girl usually gives out on us every Winter, but normally it waits till the first or second week in January. This time it thought we needed a Christmas surprise. 

Thankfully our Neighbor and Friend Ron,  got us right in and found the problem. Our Distributor cap is on the back wall of the truck. When it's rainy and damp it lets moisture into the cap and corrodes it. It was replaced and sealed to help stop this from happening. I also found out I need a new water pump. Thankfully I could wait until Dec. 28th to get it put in. So that takes care of my plans for Wed. this week. 

Christmas Eve Husband and I spent at home. I think we had a touch of some kind of stomach bug. We both felt puny all day. I hated missing the Hubby's family Christmas.. Missed My family's too. We'll catch them next time. 

Christmas Day was full of adventure too. Dinner a couple of hours late.. sickness, getting rides to and from in sync, But finally we were ready for the fun. We all ate in shifts since we showed up in shifts. so that was kind of fun cause we all got to sit at the table. Then it was gift opening time. WE loved it.. So many thoughtful and sweet gifts. We all had a blast.. 

The Day after Christmas was spent perusing the local Wal-mart, K-mart, Target, and Meijers. Looking for deals on Christmas stuff and gifts for next year. I got myself a new dish drainer and a new can opener. woot woot.. I also found another Chef's mat. I got one for a gift and loved it. I had put it on my list of things to look for cause I wanted another one for in front of the stove. Low and behold I found one.. there was only one left so I grabbed it. I also got a few gifts for next year. 

The weather here was so great.. almost 50 and Sunny. (unheard of in Michigan this time of year) We took down the outside decorations. I"m leaving the inside decorations in place for a while yet. I love looking at them and it's always so dreary and dull when all the bright sparklies are put away. 

Today I'm watching it snow and cleaning up the kitchen. There will be a pot of bean soup on the stove soon. I  can't wait to use that Ham bone from Christmas dinner. There will also be a big pan of Cornbread to go with. 

I love Christmas even when it's full of adventure.. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus...

‎"Silent night.. Holy night.. all is calm, all is bright, round yon virgin, mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace".. 

As I sit here in peace waiting for the hustle and bustle that accompany 

This Special Holiday Season. 

I like to think about all the things I love about this time of year. 

I love the music, the laughter, and the singing.  

I love the sharing, and smiles, and extra hugs. 

I love the baking, and the eating, and the candy canes. 

I love the way people show their true hearts. 

Their giving hearts. 

I love the decorations, and the snow, and the bright shiney lights. 

I love the Joy that fills my heart and soul. 

I love all these things, 

But the thing I love the best

is remembering the Birth of the Christ Child.

I Love that Christmas is a Birthday!

God's best gift was His gift of His very own son. 

In a very short 33 yrs. of life that son would give an even greater gift. 

His own life.

So that you and I could live in Forgiveness, Joy, and Peace. 

Christmas is a Birthday. 

A very special day. 

When I celebrate the birth of 

My Savior. 

I hope you are celebrating too. 

Happy Birthday Jesus. 

Gift Wrapping... A Marathon Event...

Today was gift wrapping day. 

Not just any gift wrapping mind you.. a gift wrapping Marathon. 

I love to procrastinate, especially gift wrapping.

I save them all up and do an entire afternoon/evening of wrapping. 

I grab some snacks, a diet Coke and

a couple of my favorite Christmas movies and wrap.

I leave the gifts in totes in the basement until wrapping day. 

Our basement is all old and smelly and dank..

Yukk. I sure don't want smelly presents.

So I can't wrap them and put them back down there. 

They would get all smelly. 

That being said one of the main reasons I put the un-wrapped gifts

down there in the plastic tote boxes is

so they don't smell like cigarette smoke. Dear husband smokes

and I don't want the gifts smelly.. 

Are you getting the theme here.. 

SMELLY !

Today I gathered up all the gifts. All those lovely special Family gifts

and brought them along with the plastic tote boxes up from the smelly 

basement into the lovely scents of pine and balsam, cinnamon and apple. 

As a side note these plastic totes are the same ones that 

held my stock pile of shampoo, body wash, lotions, shaving supplies, deodorant etc. 

I moved those items out and the special gifts in. 

As I sat lovingly wrapping each gift. The smell of freshness began to 

enter my nose. hmmm what was that smell ? 

Not balsam, not pine, not cinnamon, not apples. 

Hmmm  I think it kind of smells like bodywash, or maybe some shampoo. 

Oh NO.. Everything smells like shampoo and bodywash.. 

It's all smelly... 

I guess if my gifts have to smell like something, then the fresh clean 

smell of bodywash and shampoo are not so bad. 

I just hope little Kristopher, My great grandson who's 2. will love that 

his new pillow pet smells like Vive shampoo. 

Happy Wrapping.... 

Recipe Share: Yummy and Quick Cranberry Sauce...

Oh hail the wonderful Cranberry.. 

I love cranberry sauce. I don't care what form it takes. whole berry, jellied, 

canned or cooked from the real berries. 

Cranberry sauce is wonderful. 

I got this recipe from a friend. 

It's quick and easy and very very yummy. 

My family, who do NOT like cranberry sauce LOVED this.. 

1- can cranberry sauce. (I use whole berry, I think it has more juice, but you could use either) 

1- small box of red Jello (any kind of red jello will due. This year I found cranberry so I used it.) 

1/2-  of a 15oz  can of crushed pineapple 

Chopped nuts of your choice. (I had pecan, so that's what we used) 

Into a small bowl, dump the canned cranberry sauce. 

spoon in the pineapple. Juice is OK. 

add the chopped nuts.. I'm thinking about 1/2 cup will do. 

mix

Now open the jello and sprinkle the dry powder over all. 

and Mix.. 

place in the bowl you would like to serve this in

 and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 

Over night is better. 

Serve and enjoy !!!!

Christmas Preparations..

Oh the Christmas Preparations..

The Christmas wreath has been hung on the porch. 

Husband has strung the lights on the same porch. 

The tree is up and decorated.  

Christmas goodies have been made and consumed. 

Goodie boxes have been made and given out. 

Christmas packages have been mailed. 

Cards have been chosen and the newsletter made out.

Said cards have been mailed. 

All gifts have been purchased. 

I am amazed.... 

I usually still have lots of things to do the week before Christmas. 

This year I just have to: 

Bake more cookies.

make more candy.

and wrap the gifts. 

And finally Spend the day with family and friends 

Just enjoying Christmas. 

I hope your preparations are going well. 

I wish you the Love, Peace, and Joy of Christ this Christmas

and I wish you lots of Family, friends. 

and Just enjoying Christmas. 

My First Dinner In My New Electric Pressure Cooker...

My very first Dinner with the new electric pressure cooker turned out great. 

I must admit I wasn't to adventurous. I just made a very simple

Beef Vegetable Soup. 

Being new to this whole electric pressure cooker thing, along with knowing how scary the old stove top cookers of my grandmothers era were kept me cautious. 

I loved being able to brown the hamburger in the cooker. It has a browning feature, and also doubles as a slow cooker.. kind of cool.  I added the onion and garlic to the browning burger then drained the fat. 

I chopped up carrots, and potatoes, added a can of green beans and a can of corn. I also added a quart of tomato juice with green peppers and onions, a cup of beef broth, and a stalk of celery cut up. 

I then set the pressure on high for 15 minutes.. it takes 10-15 minutes to reach the high pressure setting.. then it counts off the minutes and automatically switches to warm when the cooking time is done. 

The recipe I found online suggested cooking for 20 minutes but all the ingredients were raw. 

since some of mine were canned and technically cooked I didn't want to cook them for that long. I also let the pressure release the natural way for about 10 minutes and clicked the release valve and let the rest of the pressure out. Most of the recipes I've found suggest quick release of pressure when cooking veggies. Apparently they will turn to mush if you don't release it quick. They suggest under cooking veggies to prevent such things from happening. 

Husband and I both agreed that the soup was excellent. Tasted like it had been cooked all day.
no mushy veggies, and it warmed up good.. 

My next try will be with a roast. I see you cook the meat first.. then add the veggies in for the last few minutes.. I think I'm really gonna like this cooker especially in the summer when the fresh veggies are hip deep in our garden. 

I think using it in the winter will be fun too. I've found several recipes for quick dinners made with chicken breasts, pork chops, and tough cuts of steak like sirloin.
I even saw a recipe for ham and scalloped potatoes.
I saw one recipe where a woman cooked her spiral ham in it.
She talked about how with the ham you can get a glaze on it using the pressure cooker.
I can't wait to see what I can do with it.

If you have an electric pressure cooker.
send me some recipes or ideas of good things to make in it.
 I think I'll try the rice pudding too...

My New Electric Pressure Cooker Pre-test...

  I'm really excited today. Dear Husband got me an Electric Pressure Cooker for Christmas. Today is pre-test day. I've read all the instructions about 15 times. I've read instructions on pressure cooking websites. I've checked everything over to make sure I'm doing it all correctly. 

 I am ready to test. 

I filled my pot 3/5 full of water, put on the lid, set the steam vent knob to Seal. Set my time for 15 minutes. 

Now I wait. 

Here is a pretty picture of my Electric Pressure cooker.. See the pretty meal it prepared? Probably in 15 minutes or less. I can't wait. I want to make big roast beef dinners in an hour. woot woot.. 

I hear occasional hissing in the kitchen. I'm kind of scared to be in there.  I've used stove top pressure cookers for canning. They can be scary things if you don't know what you are doing. 

I have my mother-in-law's canner. Husband's daddy bought it for her in 1943. I haven't used it for a few years. They don't make replacement gaskets. It's huge. I swear you could can a whole cow in it.. 

I'm so excited. I just checked and my cooker has come up to pressure and is counting down. I think I'll go check on a soup recipe to make for supper. I only have 5 more minutes to wait. then another 15 or so for the cooker to "naturally" release pressure. They suggest you use the "Natural" release method during the pre-test. I'll let you know in my next post how it all worked out. 

Oh How I Wish...

Today's post is about wishing. Husband and I love antiques. We love to peruse the flea markets and Auctions, Estate sales and yard sales. We look, we admire, we plan. 

Oh how we wish these treasures could go home with us. 

Having a small house is not conducive to our love of anything old and unique. At one time we planned to build a new home or restore and old one in our beloved Ky. 

Now we just look and imagine.. 

Here are a few of our favorite finds today. 

you can find these and other treasures here.

The coffee grinder above. A lot of times these sat in the stores on the counter.

 I can almost smell the beans being ground in it now.. 

 

This Bed. Hubby and I both swooned over this. I don't really think 

it would fit in either of the bedrooms. But isn't it just wonderful. 

And Lastly this old girl. We still hope to find a wood cook stove to take to our Ky. cabin. 

I can almost smell the coffee and biscuits now. 

Happy Thanksgiving...

  This is one of my favorite Norman Rockwell paintings. "Freedom from Want"..  I love it..  It reminds me of the Thanksgivings we would spend with family when I was a little girl. Often we would ride over the river and down the expressway to Southfield to Spend Thanksgiving with my Aunt Ellen and Uncle Ralph. I would bang around on the old piano in the back room. The kids tables would be set up out there.. The adults would eat at the large kitchen table. I counted the days till I could eat at the big table.

   Then some Thanksgivings were spent at Grandma and Grandpa's farm in Parma. Grandma would get out the good china and glasses. She would put the fancy tablecloths on the table and get out the cloth napkins. Grandma would wear her fancy apron, you never saw grandma without an apron on. We would have fancy jello salad appetizers, and my favorite was getting to drink Cranberry juice out of fancy glasses. We would eat till we thought we would burst. My favorite was always the Stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pie.

   There were a couple of years that we would head back south towards Detroit and my cousin Paul's or Cousin Richard's house. The families were growing in size and we needed more room for kids tables. I loved the Thanksgivings when there was snow and we'd take the sled around the yard, or the kids would make the ice skating pond. I was to afraid to skate, but I loved watching the others.

   These days we are home and try to have the kids and grandkids come here and eat. I love cooking. I hope to be able to do it for many years. I can't wait for the day when the grandkids will bring their families to Grandma Karen's house to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

There are No fancy plates here. We use the good Hefty foam plates, and eat on trays in the living room gathered around the TV. It's hectic and chaotic like all really good family Holiday dinners should be. I still like that we talk about what we are thankful for. I still make the kids be quiet so we can thank God for all His blessings. I still get tears for a few minutes thinking about the family members that could not join us this year, and the ones who are eating Thanksgiving dinner in Heaven.

I hope whether you are eating on foam plates, or the best china. Whether you are eating turkey, ham, or neither. whether you are with family or with a few friends. I hope that you can remember a few wonderful things you love about Thanksgiving. I hope you can say a few things you are thankful for, And I hope you can spend some time remembering those you love.

Happy Thanksgiving.. God Bless you !

To Do Or Not To Do. That Is The Question...

When I was looking for an image of a "to do list" I found this, and I thought it was perfect. I need to make a to do list for this next week, and it seems as though I should also make a "to don't list". 


I'm making Thanksgiving Dinner this year so my "to do" list will be full. 


To do: 
1. take out turkey on Sunday to thaw. (I'm cooking it on wed.)

2. Go celebrate friend Connie's Birthday in Frankenmuth and Christmas shop while there. 


3. Plan the Devotional for my Ladies Prayer group for Tuesday Morning. 


4. Clean the house. 


5. Make the pie, cranberry sauce, and pick up last minute stuff for dinner. 


6. Get the blow-up mattresses and bedding out for the grandkids who will be spending the night. 


7. Clean some more. 


8. make The rest of the Thanksgiving dinner, eat, visit with family and clean up.


9. Black Friday shop online or maybe even head out to the stores that are open  Thanksgiving night.  


10. Try to make the dinner with the extended family. (weather permitting) 


To Don't: 


1. Don't worry if everything isn't perfect. I'm the only one who thinks it should be. 


2. Don't buy things that are not on the list. (including food and gifts) 


3. Don't get all stressed if people are late to Thanksgiving Dinner. No one has ever died in our home from not eating at the exact moment planned. 


4. Don't try to do everything yourself. People will help If  I ask them to. Remember it's a family holiday and they really want to help. 


5. Don't worry if I am the only one who wants to watch "Miracle on 34th street". I can watch it when they all go home. (I can watch it everyday if I want) 


6. Don't judge words or actions today. Give out an extra measure of Grace and forgiveness. 


7. Don't think everyone wants my opinion about everything. Remember. it's OK to keep my opinion to myself. They really will ask if they want it. 


8. Don't bring up the past. It's done and over with. Focus on the future and be positive and encouraging. 


9. Don't Ask the husband if he "really needs" that 3rd helping of dressing. No, he doesn't need it. I already know that. He just wants it cause it's his favorite. 


10. Don't forget to Thank God for it all. The family, the food, the cleaning, the dirty dishes, the tums, the chaos. My life would be so lonely and boring without it. 

MADEA’S 10 RULES FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER GUESTS (Clean Version)

I found this on a friends facebook post. I've cleaned it up a bit.. Enjoy.. 

MADEA’S 10 RULES FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER GUESTS

1. Don’t get in line asking questions about the food. “Who made the potato salad? Is it egg in there? Are the greens fresh? Is the meat in the greens turkey or pork? Who made the macaroni and cheese? What kind of pie is that; who made it? Ask one more question and I will punch you in your mouth, knocking out all your fronts so you won’t be able to eat anything.

2. If you can’t walk, or are missing any limbs, sit yourself down until someone makes your plate for you. Dinner time is not the time for you to be independent. Nibble on them peanuts and walnuts to hold you over until someone makes you a plate.

3. If you have kids under the age of 12, I will escort their little bodies down to the basement and bring their food down to them. They are not going to tear up my clean house this year. Tell them that they are not allowed upstairs until it’s time for Uncle Butchie to start telling family stories about their mommas and papas. If they come upstairs for any reason except that they are bleeding to death, It will not be pretty.

4. There is going to be one prayer for Thanksgiving dinner! JUST ONE! We do not care that your are thankful that your 13yr old daughter gave birth to a healthy baby or your nephew just got out of jail. Save the talk for someone who cares. The time limit for the prayer is one minute. If you are still talking after that one minute is up, you will feel something hard come across your lips and they will be swollen for approximately 20 minutes.

5. Finish everything on your plate before you go for seconds! If you don’t you will be fussed at and asked to stay your greedy self home next yr.

6. BRING YOUR OWN TUPPERWARE!! Don’t let me catch you fixing yourself a plate in my good Tupperware knowing full well that I will never see it again! Furthermore, if you didn’t bring anything over, don’t let me catch you making a plate, period, or it will be a misunderstanding.

7. What you came with is what you should leave with! Do not leave my house with anything that doesn’t belong to you. EVERYBODY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO A BODY SEARCH COMING AND GOING OUT OF MY DOMAIN!!!

8. Do not leave your kids so you can go hopping from house to house. This is not a DAYCARE CENTER. There will be a kid parent roll call every ten minutes. Any parent that is not present at the time of roll call, your child will be put outside until you come and get them or her. After 2 hours I will call ACS on 

you!!!

9. BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM BEFORE YOU COME INTO TOWN!! There will be no sleeping over at my house! You are to come and eat dinner and take your (self) home or to your hotel room. EVERYBODY GETS KICKED OUT AT 11:00 pm. You will get a 15 minute warning bell ring.

10. Last but not least! ONE PLATE PER PERSON!! This is not a soup kitchen. I am not trying to feed your family until Christmas dinner! You will be supervised when you fix your plate. Anything over the appropriate amount will be charged to you before you leave. There will be a cash register at the door. Thanks to Cousin Alfred and his greedy family, we now have a credit card machine! So VISA and MASTERCARD are now being accepted. NO FOOD STAMPS OR ACCESS CARDS YET!

What We Did On Our Fall Vacation...

We left for 3 weeks of fun and vacation the first part of Oct. 

Our place in Ky. is a bit Rural. Our place also grows trees, flowers, and weeds 

as though they were in the middle of the jungle. 

The heat and the rain made for quite a bit of "cleaning up" for husband Ken.

This is an example of what we found. This is the north side of our old store building. 

if you look closely you can see the poor rose bush in there still trying to bloom amongst the trees, (yes, I said trees, we chop them out once a year) poison oak, Johnson grass, and the remains of a few flowers. 

This is a better photo of the roses. There were still several buds waiting to open. 

This is the South side of the same store building. you can't see the rose bush on this side. 

It's there, just overrun with Trees, (one is a good 2 ft. taller then the roof) and weeds. 

This is the East side of the barn. There is Polk growing here and lots of trumpet vine. 

Husband is allergic to trumpet vine. We cleaned this up very carefully. 

The North side of the store building. We took out the brick flower bed. 

Ken also painted this building and the east side of the barn. 

This side of the building still has lots of spring flowers that will be pretty in the spring, 

but will be easier for our "new" mowing kid to weed eat and mow around. 

The south side of the store building. It looks a lot better since

hubby painted it. I don't have a good photo of it.. so let your imagination 

run wild. LOL  it's White paint.. Not to much to imagine. 

I love how the roses still continue to bloom in all that mess.. 

:-)

I know shocking isn't it.. the East side of the barn. 

We removed the telephone poles and the flower bed. 

over the years the Polk choked out all the flowers. 

now our " new mowing kid' can mow right up to the barn. 

The trumpet vine has since been removed. 

Ken continuing his cleaning up of the gymnasium foundation. 

Poor hubby, he dug up stumps, trimmed bushes and trees, cleaned 

out flower beds, and burned huge brush piles. 

Most of the cleaning up is now done. There is still one big brush pile out back 

to burn, but we can do that on our next trip down. 

We both spent a lot of time outside. Ken doing all the hard work,

me running the wheelbarrow and providing food, drinks, and comedy relief. 

Happy Halloween....

Happy Halloween !!!

I can't believe how quickly October has flown by. We headed to Ky. for 3 weeks. I have lots to tell you about that trip. I didn't take the computer. I have a few things to tell you about that too. 

I have our Candy at the ready in the cute pumpkin, Ghost, Spider bowl I bought last year on clearance. 

I have my orange Halloween turtleneck with the black cat on the collar ready to put on along with my Cool "Trunk or Treat" shirt from Church. We have been doing Trunk or Treat for the past few years. always a great time. I'll be helping serve cider and donuts. I have my hat and gloves ready if I need them. I popped a couple of Advil for the knees, so I should be good for a while. 

I can't wait to see all the princesses and witches, super heroes and clowns that come to visit. I love seeing all the kids and their parents. It's a great time of fun for all of us. 

I hope you get some great treats tonight and NO tricks..  have fun and stay safe. 

Soup's On...

The one thing that Husband and I look forward to each fall is fall food. We sometimes refer to it as Winter food too. The good hot and hearty stuff that sticks to your ribs. We have just come off a summer of grilled steaks, burgers, dogs, and polish sausage. Lots of yummy fresh vegetables from the garden and mounds of Salads, tossed, potato, slaw. All that quick and cool food for the hot days of summer. The days when you don't want to "heat" the kitchen up.

The last week or so has been cool. We've had several frosts now and the garden is done. Husband picked the very last bits of it yesterday. A few puny tomatoes, some summer squash, and the last of the green peppers. He conveniently reminisced about how his mama would take the last of the garden stuff, beans etc. and make up a huge pot of soup. She added add some white beans and onions. Meat if she had it. And then all those lovely vegetables. Husband also remarked how much he loved that soup, and it was just the perfect weather for some Homemade Soup.

Today I cut up the rest of our roast beef (I've been craving a roast with carrots and onions for days) from Sunday along with the carrots. Then I added onions, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, the summer squash, the peppers and some canned great northern beans. It was wonderful. You would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he saw the soup pot on the stove.

I hate to see the warm weather leave. It's not gone yet. We will still have a few 70 degree days, but they are fewer now. I've brought out the flannel sheets and the blankets. I have dug out the sweatpants and long sleeved shirts, the sweaters and jackets. I've turned on the heat. I'm turning it back down. It warmed up nicely today. Hopefully I won't have to turn it on again for another week or so. I'm thinking Winter food now. Big pots of Chili, meat loaf, dumplings with Chicken, and Beef stew.  Homemade bread, Batches of cookies, and pies. Maybe even some pumpkin muffins.