Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe that Christmas is 2 days away! Even harder to believe is that all my shopping and prep work is done!! I just have to wrap the gifts and hope to have that done by noon.

David and Rachel arrived from Michigan in the wee hours this morning, and after a late brunch we're all heading to Elizabeth and Troy's for an over-night visit. They also plan to come here for a few days beginning late afternoon Christmas Day. Karen (my sister) and Wayne will be coming for Christmas dinner and family time following church, so things are getting exciting around here.

Last Sunday evening was our church's Christmas Celebration which was very nice. People volunteered to do special music or readings and these were interspersed with explanations of some of the names of Christ. As Ed briefly talked about a name and its meaning, someone added an ornament they had made to represent that name to the Christmas tree. This idea came from our CBM friend. Thanks, Ellie!

After the service everyone followed us to our home for an open house - our Christmas gift to our church family. We really enjoyed the evening of visiting and, of course, eating!

My tip for the week is one for desperate times. We have a fireplace but choose not to burn wood. I found a nice fireplace candle holder (at an estate sale for $3, of course) but the candles were really burned down into the middle. You couldn't even see the flame anymore! Soooooooo, I cut them off almost level with the wick,

Big chunks at first . . .

and then shave it level.

used a lighter to smooth the tops,

Yes, there's actually a flame!

and voila - "new" candles! Think of the money I saved ; ) !!

 I love candlelight - everything looks good when you can't see all it's details and flaws! So that's what we had for the open house.






I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Don't forget to plan time to remember what it's truly about.

iT'S A MARSHMALLOW WORLD

We had a rare and wonderful treat recently. We got to keep all 3 of Elizabeth's little boys - at the same time! It was going to be 2 1/2 days and 2 nights away from Mommy and Daddy, so we planned to keep them so busy having fun they wouldn't realize that. And the time flew by!

The work bench and tools were a huge hit.

 

Having fun in front of mirrored doors

Seth watching cartoons. . .

. . . Ryan playing games. . .

. . . and Reed having fun with all the toys.

Reed was so good - and loved the pretzel rods!

But the best part of all was MAKING MARSHMALLOWS!

They each helped carefully add the "gredients"

AND OUT CAME MARSHMALLOWS!!

This was a really fun project and one I'd never tried before, but I'll be doing this again. For those of you with a descriminating sweet tooth, here is the recipe.

2 tsp butter

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1 cup cold water, divided

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract (clear is nice but I used the regular)

Toppings or garnishes (See below)

Line a 13-in x 9-in pan with foil and grease the foil with butter (don't skimp or you'll be sorry!); set aside.

In a large metal bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water; set aside. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 240 degrees (soft-ball stage).

Remove from the heat and gradually add to gelatin. (I transferred all to a glass bowl because that's what fits my mixer stand and it worked fine.) Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and the volume is doubled, about 15 minutes. (Mine was ready in half that time.) Beat in vanilla. Spread into prepared pan. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 6 hours or overnight.

Using foil, lift marshmallows out of pan. With a knife or pizza cutter coated with cooking spray, cut into 1-in. squares. Dip or drizzle marshmallows with toppings if desired or coat with desired garnishes. (Better plan on doing this because these things can be sticky!) Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

To finish, try one of these:

Roll in candy sprinkles, colored sugars, chopped nuts, crushed candy, or (my personal favorite) cocoa.

or

Dip in melted chocolate or candy coating

You can also try different extract flavors like almond, peppermint, lemon, or chocolate.

We're Back!!

Wow! What a trip we had going to Arizona and back! We loved all the different kinds of country we traveled through - snow capped mountains to desert, miles of flat "wasteland" to lush forests. It was all beautiful. We enjoyed seeing the petrified forest and painted desert, but the highlight for me was the desert botanical garden in Phoenix. Amazing! Our favorite pictures from the trip are on the photo album page; you'll find it at the top right under "pages." (I'm finding it doesn't work, but you can try if you want.)

But, of course, the absolute best part was seeing Jonathan, Josalyn and Jagger! It was so good to see their home and all the places they frequent. Jagger is just as sweet as he looks. We didn't hear him really cry the whole time we were there; he's one patient little guy! We saw all our grandchildren during the 2 week vacation, and now we need to see David and Rachel to make it all complete. Maybe if they had a baby around . . . . (Just kidding ;) ) Besides that, I don't know of anything we could have added to make our time any better.

Jagger with Mommy and Daddy

Since we got back we've gotten the "built-in" bookcases finished. They just needed a second coat of paint. They actually look good if you don't get too close. I also got the flooring finished - couldn't until I knew exactly where the bookcases would be - and got all the quarter-round cut. Hurray!!! All that remains is to paint that and finish the step up into the dining room, and we know how we're going to do that and actually have the supplies. Woo-hoo!! The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter.

Well, I'm heading outside to finish readying the "garden" for the bulbs that are due to arrive any time. On nice days I've been moving and arranging large rocks previously used around the pond and hope to finish that today. The ones I don't use for this will be used somewhere later, so there will still be plenty of work on my to-do list.

Projects Make My World Go 'Round!

Where would I be without projects to be working on? Probably in the looney bin! I don't know if these projects are making me old or keeping me young because I don't have time to notice. No, I'm not working too hard. I have plenty of down time whenever I want, but I love checking things off my lists. Somehow, though, the list is still getting longer because doing one thing results in adding 3 more things.

Some projects are at a standstill - like the back yard. We haven't had rain for weeks and the ground is as hard as a rock. If you succeed in digging, it comes up in clumps that refuse to break! The tree stumps and roots are all dug up except for 2 entertwined with the fence and 3 that we are killing with poison. Now the cable people have come and marked the lines, so as soon as we can we'll rent a tiller and get the back corner ready for the garden/landscaping. I have ordered 100 bulbs that will arrive for planting in October, so it's got to be ready by then.

Project #2: We got a patio set earlier this summer for $10. It's wrought iron and needed lots of work. I went over them using a wire brush pad on a drill to get them ready for painting and today got them primed and a first coat of paint on them. They are looking pretty good already even though they need at least another coat of paint. We found some cushions and an umbrella at another sale, so in no time we'll be sitting in the shade sipping lemonade! Well, we'd have to look at that awful back corner, so guess we'll have to wait a little longer to sit around.

"New" patio chairs

Project #3: New built-in bookcases. We've wanted to get some put in on each side of the fireplace since we bought the house (they had been removed), but that's an expensive undertaking. So. . . I've been on the lookout for something that would work and finally found a set of matching bookcases at a consignment store called Stuff. We had gone for a day out with Karen and Wayne who found something they wanted, too, so we all went back again with Wayne's trailor and brought them home. Here's what they looked like when we started, and here's how they looked after a day's work. Of course, most of the work was getting tools out, setting up, and taking the crazy things apart. They're built to last with glue, screws, and staples. I'm excited to use our new nail gun and air compressor! That will have to wait a couple of days now, though. In the meantime, I'm (with Ed's help with the big pieces) cutting all the wood pieces to be ready.

Ugly, but good bones!

A good start!

Kristen

Timothy

During all this we've been praying for Michael. So far he's responded well to the treatment, but we don't know what's ahead. We did know that we wanted to surprise him with a newly decorated room when he came home from the month hospital stay, and the plan worked out very well. We went down and got the 4 kids for a few days to relieve Mark and Jennifer from trying to be in 2 places at once and had a great time with them. I took them to Elizabeth's for a couple of those days (7 kids!), then back home again. I stayed for a couple of days and was able to paint the room, fix new curtains, and then Jennifer and I put up a border Michael liked and they had gotten.  It went from a little girl's pink nursery with rosebuds and lace to a real he-man room. None of the kids breathed a word about it and Michael was really surprised. Fun!

Katherine

Jeffrey

Reed

Ryan

Seth

We're excited about an upcoming deputation meeting and then on to Arizona to see Jagger. Jonathan and Josalyn, too, of course. I had fun making the bumper pad and bed skirt for his crib and we'll be taking that to them. I read about a new way to make the skirt - the kind of thing that makes you wonder why you never thought of it yourself - and I'm hoping it will work. Time will tell. Any recommendations for things we should see on our way out and back?

Jagger wearing Daddy's baby outfit!

Guess what. For the first time in weeks it's raining! In June it wouldn't quit, and since then it wouldn't start. It's been nearly 2 1/2 hours since the rain began, and it's still coming down. Guess those rain dances Ed performed really paid off. We're so glad that all of our east coast family are OK after Irene went through.

Well, that's about it from our neck of the woods. What's happening in yours?

Blogging Again!

Hello, everyone! After several months off, I've decided to get back into blogging. We've been fine but very busy. This spring brought a number of graduations and weddings, making up for several quiet years. Add to that the new grandbabies, and it has been a season of celebrating!

Of course, the best news is of Reed, born on May 23. He's an extremely good baby; looks like he'll be laid back like his daddy. He has already slept 6 hours at night! His 2 big brothers love him and are very sweet with him. When he was just 4 days old, he went with our entire family to a park to have family pictures taken. We're all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the entire collection because it will be some time before all of us are together again. I'll share some of them next time.

Reed William Rider (4 days old)

Seth & Reed

Grandma & Grandpa and Reed

Ryan & Reed

Quilt I made for Reed

We all enjoyed the baby shower for Jonathan and Josalyn who are finally feeling encouraged after their baby specialist told them yesterday that they'd hold out for 34 weeks and no longer. That means next Friday, June 24. (Anyone recognize that date?) After being told "next week," "32 weeks," "34 weeks," "any day now," "35 weeks," they're relieved to have something specific. Everything looks good and the baby healthy, so that's what really matters. A new project for me is to make the bumper pad and bed skirt for the crib since Josalyn is not able to have that ready as originally planned. Should be fun!

Last week we celebrated our anniversary by taking a day to go to some historic sites and antique shops around Bonaparte, IA. Turns out we had met the tour guide at a birthday party. She invited us to have lunch with her, so we ate at the Senior Center! Romantic, no? Antique shops aren't as fun as they used to be - we see too many things we have had, played with, remember, etc! I feel like an antique myself by the time we leave. We also went to a little cheese "factory" run by a family that uses only local milk from local farms. They entered a world-wide cheese competition and their new cheese won the gold medal out of nearly 2,000 cheeses from 29 countries! Wow!! Was it ever good!!! You'll probably never see it anywhere, but it's called Prairie Breeze. We returned home after eating dinner at a well-known restaurant.

Thought I'd send you some pictures of what is keeping me out of trouble these days - or should I say weeks. The back yard is absolutely overwhelming, so I'm attacking it one project at a time. The first 2 pictures are of the pond we thought was in the corner of the yard when we bought the house. Last fall Ed cut the trees, and this spring/summer/fall I'm getting rid of the old broken-down pond. Lois, you can understand how much work this is! I've enjoyed your pictures - they're inspiring!) The whole thing would go a lot faster if it would quit raining. Next week is forecast to be sunnier.

Back corner behind pond

Turning right to see pond

Pathway made from stones moved from pond



Pumping out water, over and over!

Weeds behind pond - trees/bushes gone or trimmed

Moving tons of rocks, removing liners 

Beginning to fill in with dirt from mound (full of tree roots)

Other than working outside, we're getting ready for a family camp in Minnesota in 2 weeks. Ed is the main speaker and I'll be doing a continued missionary story with the children as well as accompanying music. Most of you know I'm not wild about going to camp, but I truly expect this week to be fun in spite of it being camp.

Well, that's about it for now from our neck of the woods. What's happening in yours?