Vacation highlights

We recently took our "winter vacation."  The first stop on our trip was to a new destination... St. Louis, Missouri!   There were lots of attractions in that city, but the ones we most wanted to see were these five sweet faces. 

 

If you visit St. Louis, a MUST is a stop at the City Museum - it defies description!  The museum is more then just "hands on" for children... it is "climb all over everything and into every little space" museum.  In a world full of rules and regulations ... this was an amazing contrast!  And this grandma tried very very hard to not utter the phrase "be careful!"   It was a blast, actually.

 

Our son and his family live close to the wonderful zoo, so that was another treat.

 

The seminary campus where our son is studying has fabulous architecture.  I went out one morning just to take some pictures of the fine buildings.

 

This is one of the many buildings that house apartments for the seminarians and their families. 

 

Our intent was to continue our vacation heading west, but a major winter storm was brewing so we thought perhaps we would skirt it by heading south a bit to Branson.  The storm covered such a vast area that we wound up in a hotel for 3 nights in Branson waiting out the storm.  We then abandoned our "westward" plans because ANOTHER winter storm was going to follow after the weekend... so we just decided to head on towards home, with a stop in Minneapolis to see these two grandkiddos for a short bit.  Now we look forward to our March weekend with another 5 grandchildren and their parents at a waterpark.  It better not be a snowstorm then!!

Breakfast is ready

I loved waking up to breakfast and coffee; both set on the timer. Here is what I have been doing in the crockpot and hubby and I both love it. I place a 4 cup pyrex bowl in the crock pot and put water in the crock pot around the bowl a few inches , cover it and put it on low overnight. In the pyrex bowl is 1 cup of steel-cut oatmeal, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of water, 1 T butter, a dash of salt and then whatever I choose to add: usually some brown sugar, some cinnamon, some raisins and some chopped pecans. I have also added a chopped apple or craisins. You can vary it. Since it is just the two of us, we don't eat it all in one morning and it microwaves nicely the next morning.

Fun with cookies

 This week had a little time to bake and decorate some cute Valentine heart cookies. 

I was bringing dessert to a friends home and I knew sugar cookies would be a welcome treat.

They were!

My therapy is decorating cookies.  Not eating them though.  :)

Rocks in a jar

I saw this cute visual for folks wishing to lose weight.  I fall into that category; it would be so nice to wear more of the clothes in my closet if I could shed a few pounds.  Since I am petite in height, every pound really shows - and if I could drop a few of those pounds, I would be very happy, indeed.  So I am using this idea someone posted on facebook - you put marbles or any object of your choosing into one jar - each marble/item represents one pound.  And as you lose the pound, you transfer the object (in my case, a chunky river rock) into the empty jar.  I look forward to filling up the empty jar by making good food choices, portion control and exercise.  

Brain training

I am proud to say that I have completed the above lego sets.  I won't actually mention the length of time it took to do so, but I can freely admit that it was a challenge.  The sets are circa 1988 and I am circa 1947....    and it was good brain training for my aging gray matter.  Just like sudoku.  Or learning a new language.  Or other brain challenges. 

I also take some pride in the fact that I had the boxes, the directions and most of the pieces to achieve this accomplishment.  Not sure what that says about me, but there you go.  Either an organized mother or one that suffered from OCD.  I'm going with the former. 

Snow fall

 Last evening it snowed.  It was a wonderful snowfall; no wind and the temperatures were not bitterly cold as they had been last week.  It was a beautiful snowfall.

 

 This kind of snowfall, when the snow falls straight down, is so amazing as it outlines every single branch... it is amazing because one doesn't quite realize how many small, medium and large branches are outside our window..

 

 A myriad of snow laden branches!! A network of branchy roads for the squirrels..

 

And a beautiful, clean and peaceful view.

I sure am glad I'm not in Hawaii today.

Right. 

Opening the box..

 It started with opening this box - after many years... and wishing to find all the pieces to this and 3 other "castle" style lego sets from... oh say, 20-25 years ago.  Our eldest son remembered that this castle was his and I am happy to see if his son would like the challenge of putting this set together at some point.  But I don't want to give him a set that has lots of missing pieces so...

 

 My compulsive need to assemble and account for all the sweet little pieces kicked into high gear.  I started with the easy things - the knights and their horses...

 

and moved on to the soldiers.  Armed and ready. 

 

But then I thought it might be a good idea to sort the large "everything else" lego supply housed in a large rubbermaid container..  (and used by our grandchildren these days.)  I dumped it all out on a large white sheet and got to work.

 

I had this crazy idea that I would sort them! I got a host of plastic containers from here and there in the house and sorted all the bricks into sizes. Nothing fancy, just by size.  Then the "other then regular brick" pieces got sorted by color. 

 

Then I wondered if perhaps I could, at least, assemble the smallest of all the castle/outpost forest sets.  I mean, how hard could it be?  The box says it is for ages 7-12.

 

After all, my young grandchildren, 10 years old and UNDER, follow lego directions and amaze me at their patience and understanding of how to build sets.   But YIKES,  I am more amazed then before!  Here I am struggling away... only at step 13 of 25....  !!!

 



I guess I'd better get back to work.  I have a looong way to go...

The real deal

You know how people can take a photograph and put it through photo shop and just highlight a certain area of the picture in a specific color, leaving the rest black and white.  Well, I just need to go on record as NOT having done that with this picture.  But it sure looks like it, doesn't it?  All I did was crop the original picture once I noticed how fake his red crest looked. 

 But it is the real deal.

 

This is our largest woodpecker, Mr. Pileated.  He can barely get on this birdfeeder..

Cold air, hot soup

I snapped this picture this morning at about 8 a.m.  It is a very cold day here in Minnesota and the high is expected to remain below zero.  The HIGH.  Well, we should not be surprised, but... none-the-less, it is cold! 

 

It's just the kind of weather for a good bowl of hot soup.  Here is my mom's easy vegetable soup recipe:

In a large pot, brown 1 lb of ground beef and drain. To the drained beef add 4 cups of water, 2 cans of stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz can), 1 can tomato soup (15 oz can), 1 envelope dry onion soup, 2 teaspoons sugar and a large package of frozen mixed vegetables (@ 26 oz). Bring to boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Easy and delicious

I usually try to have these ingredients on hand. 

Add some homemade bread and you have a great winter supper!

Artisan bread

I received this cookbook for Christmas about 2 years ago and I am still loving it!  It is such a great and easy way to make wonderful artisan bread - and if you have never baked bread before, you can do this! Yes, you can!  And it is just perfect to made a big pot of homemade soup and have this warm, delicious, fabulous smelling bread

 

I have done a picture tutorial for you to show you how easy it is and how it looks, in case you are a very visual learner. 

You start with a container - even an clean ice cream bucket works well.  You put 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast and  1 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt into it...

and then you add 3 cups of  water, warm but not hot and stir it up.

Following that you add the flour. 6 1/2 cups of flour  you stir it up so that it is all moist.  You do not have to knead it, just get it well mixed.

Here is what it looks like mixed.

Then you set the container on your counter for about 2 or 3 hours.

This is what it looks like after that time.  The bread has risen!  Doesn't it feel like magic?  I still feel that way every time I work with yeast. 

Then you put it in the refrigerator and you can keep it for up to 2 weeks.  You can make a few loaves of artisan bread from this dough.  (If you want to make a loaf right away, you can do that too.  Then put the remaining dough in the refrigerator.

When you take it out of your refrigerator, this is what it looks like. You can dust the top with a little flour if it is really sticky.



You pull off a hunk. You can make 4 small round loaves or 3 medium size loaves. (That is what I usually do.)

Here is the dough shaped into a ball.  You can shape it into more of an oblong if you so desire.  The dough is set upon a "pizza peel" (like they use in the pizza places) but you could use the upsided down side of a cookie sheet - you just want it to be able to slide off the sheet.  I have put corn meal on the pizza peel to act like "little balls" to help the dough slide off when it is time to transfer it into the hot oven.  I also often use parchment paper instead of corn meal, which is much easier. 

The dough raises on the pizza peel for about 40 minutes.  After the first 20 minutes, you put a pizza stone and a pan into the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Yes, that is hot.

Now it's time to put it into the hot oven.  This is the "tricky" part but it's not tricky, you just have to be fast to keep the oven hot.  You slice the bread dough right before putting it into the oven.  Then you quickly slide the dough from the pizza peel onto the hot stone with a nice quick shift- shifting the dough off the peel.  Then you quickly pour one cup of hot water into the hot pan that is on the bottom rack and quickly close the oven.  The steaming process is the key to this artisan bread. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

And look at this! Just like a european bakery, isn't it?  It is cooling right now. 

 

So, can you do it?  I think so.  I can, so can you. 

Amazing!  And perfect with a bowl of homemade soup on a cold Minnesota winter evening!

Turning ten

There is nothing like the joy grandchildren bring.  You hear about it before you are a grandparent but, just like becoming a parent, nothing compares to when it really becomes reality for you.  We have been so blessed by this, our eldest grandchild!  Happy 10th birthday to a very sweet girl!!

Scarlet

Though you sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Isaiah 1:18

 

The beautiful world around us, winter, spring, summer or fall, all testifies to me of a creator; my  redeemer.  For me right now, as I look out the window in our lovely, pristine white world with the splash of the cardinals, this verse comes to mind.   The other day snow was so gently falling and I thought how God's mercies fall so gently and generously to me.  Then as I drove into town the snow was sparkling everywhere - and it felt like another reminder of the abundant grace of God all around us if we have eyes to see... and ears to hear.  May you feel the blessings of a God who loves you this coming year.  A God who chose to redeem us with his death at the cross because we were unable to make ourselves right with our own efforts.  We need a Saviour!

Perspective

Happy New Year to you!  We had a sweet, quiet New Year's Eve in our own home.  Hubby made a crackling fire in the fireplace and we had a nice veggies/cold cuts/ fruit/salmon little meal for two.  It reminded us of a light meal we were once served in Banff, Alberta which followed a long walk in the brisk fall air.  We couldn't completely recreate that moment, but we enjoyed our evening, none-the-less.

 

We tried to be healthy!

 

 

Instead of making a new year's resolution, the last few years I have chosen a word or phrase for the year.  In 2011 the phrase was "how may I help?" and in 2012 the thought was  both "serve" and "be a team player."  This year my word for 2013 is "perspective"... and my desire is that I can keep things, big or small, in the proper perspective.  To be more specific, may I be able to consider things through God's perspective and His eternal plan!  

Cuddle time

Christmas time was so wonderful.  All of us gathered in Adam & Andrea's home and we all slept there for 3 nights. 8 adults, 12 children.   Lots of activity, lots of food, lots of games (rook especially!) and lots of time for rough-housing.  But most of all, lots of time for cuddling.....    one can never give enough time and hugs to grandchildren.  Never.