Christmas and Stash for 2010

Last week we had a window of time to get a family picture. Marissa flew in from DC on Thursday night and Sevrine was leaving for Utah Friday evening. These are a couple of snap shots with my camera. I will post the others later when we get them back from the photographer. It has been several years sense we got a family shot and have all of the grandkids together.



I got some sock yarn so I can work on some of the sock patterns that I have had my eye on. I also got a sampler kit from Kristen which I really like.

Last Saturday I got to go to my LNS, The Attic, in Mesa, AZ and get a few patterns that were on my wish list. I had seen the Prairie Schooler chart on another blog and really wanted to get this because this is what my dad said all the time. Being that he was in the Navy and would always greet the day with this "weather wise". I also love the Lizzie Kate designs and will enjoy stitching these next year.

Christmas end up being a good day. I always stress about the day and worry if all the things I made fit or every liked what the got. All in all everyone liked their presents and the PJ's fit (some have growing room).

Christmas Theme and Stitching

Several years ago this cartoon was passed around our stitch group. At the time we all laughed but with these tough econmic times there is some truth in it's sentiment. This has become more of a Theme this Christmas as I look at the list of the things that I still need to work on. As I try to simplify Christmas and center on the reason we celebrate this holiday, I can focus more on the gift of Jesus Christ as my Savior.





Last evening I was fortunate to attend "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Theater. My friend Lisa and her mother invited me to see Mattie perform in the play. The picture will be a special reminder of friends I made while living in Chandler. With this opportunity I got to give them a present that I had made for them before they moved to China. As it gets closer to Christmas I can now post some of the things that I have been working on for the past few months. With the internet and magic jack I will still get to visit even though they are half a world away. Next week I will be adding more things from my work basket that I have finished and deliver the peanut brittle that is packaged.

Family Tradition

Every Christmas for the past 34 years I have been making peanut brittle for friends and family. It started while I was visiting my in laws right after Ric and I were married. This was my mother-in-laws recipe and she put me to work helping with this labor of love. I can not imagine the amount of nuts, sugar, syrup and butter I have used but to suffice to say that it is in the hundreds of pounds.
This project starts after Thanksgiving and continues up until Christmas Eve. We usually get requests from friends and co-workers when the holiday approaches. The question is if they are on the list to get this wonderful candy. As we have moved around, the list grows and the tradition continues.

The recipe:
Peanut Brittle
1/2 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 cup Kero light syrup
2 cups raw spanish peanuts
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring water to boil on medium high heat. Add sugar and kero syrup. Bring to a boil and add peanuts. Stir constantly and cook to 295 degrees. When temperture is reached, turn off heat and add butter and vanilla. Continue stirring and add soda. Pour out onto two generously buttered cookie sheets. When cooled, break into pieces with the handle of a butter knife.

Thanksgiving Birthday

Twenty eight years ago I gave birth to a rather special little boy. This was before the ultrasounds that could tell me I was having a boy after having two little girls. I had the planned C-section on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and this meant that the holiday dinner was clear broth and jell-o. Ric did bring up a thermos of Wassil so I could have a little bit of the Holiday in my hospital room. I had mixed emotions on this day,(some of which I will not go into here) but I can say that I have been very blessed to have Kelvin as my son. He is kind, tender-hearted and compassionate young man. He is genereous and responsible father and friend. He now has a little boy of his own.

When Kelvin left on his mission he gave me the book, Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch. The message he wrote inside still makes me cry and reminds me of what a remarkable son I have.

So on this Thanksgiving Day I will give thanks for many blessings that include my children, husband and especially the "Turkey" that came 28 years ago today.

Anticipation

With Christmas around the corner, I am looking forward to this bounty during the holiday. This variety of citrus is called Arizona Sweet. They are very sweet and will make for some nice juice and tasty snacks.

My sister Diane came through town on her way home to Oklahoma. Enjoyed the brief visit and catching up on her family while she was in town.

Holiday Prep

I did find some time to make hats for Warming Families. You can read more about this charity on Bev Qualheim's site. http://bevscountrycottage.com/warming-families.html





These are some of the things I have been working on for Christmas, Birthdays and a new baby. I still have a few more items in my WIP basket and will post as they are finished.


Shortbread Cookies

2 cups butter
1 cup sugar
4 cups flour

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl. Take dough and spread out onto a cookie sheet 1/4 inch thick. Poke with a fork. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle sugar on cookies.
Return to oven for another 5 minutes. Cute into squares and then let cool.

Saturdays

For the last few Saturdays Ric and I have been able to spend time with our grand children. We attended the Gymnastics meet for Will and Kaitlyn and Halloween parties with Hailee and Sevrine. (My picture of Hailee didn't turn out and I need to get a copy of her and Payton's Halloween costumes from Ashley.) We are very fortunate to have all of the kids close enough to get to have these experiences.
This Saturday (today) we head over to Gilbert to celebrate Elizabeth's third birthday.

Post Season

Every summer my dad would watch baseball on our television. We only could get one station and until we got 'rabbit ears' did we pick up the network feed from Salt Lake. October would come and there would be play offs. This meant my dad could watch baseball on whatever station carried that night's game. Out of boredom I joined him in the living room watching the post season and world series. I liked the Cincinnati Reds with Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, and Hank Aaron. I don't remember who my dad liked but it was usually a different team. He would make bets on who would win and the loser would pay up with Tootsie Rolls. These were not the bite size but the rolls that cost a nickle. I looked forward to the games and took a special interest in who was playing when a tootsie roll was on the line. We equally got our share of Tootsie rolls during the different games each fall.

Now it is October and the post season. I still watch baseball hoping for my teams to get to the world series. There are still Tootsie Rolls to snack on and a special memory of the time spent with my dad.

Back to the Blogging World

This past month has been very hectic to say the least. I am still going through boxes and will probably be working on this for a while longer. I am de-junking and deciding on what I really want to keep here in the house.
September we celebrated Payton's 2nd birthday and a week later we got together for Ric's.
Yesterday was our Stake's Preparedness Fair and I taught the class on Water storage. (Ric forgot to take a picture of my display/class.) Ric attend the classes on Gardening and checked out the Dutch Oven cooking. There were some great handouts as well as recipes for us to try. With our new calling we are super excited to incorporate many aspects of preparedness in our own lives and teach it to our ward family.
I have been working on a little stitching and will post my finishes later this week. I am in the process of putting together the list of things I hope to make for Christmas and need to get down to work if I expect to finish on time.

Marissa's Famous!

For those of you who don't know my youngest daughter Marissa works in Republican politics. She's working in Virginia with the statewide elections that are just a couple months away in November. This is the newest TV ad that Bob McDonnell is running all across Virginia for the next couple of weeks - take a look at the attractive 20-something at about the 13 second mark.



It's great to see her in the ad and all grown up as a young professional. It's only a few second shot, but still exciting to see her with the future Governor of Virginia.

Too Busy to Blog!

It seems that I have neglected my Blog. I have a good reason. I have been busy setting up my craft room and Kitchen. I love having my pan rack up. This should open up some much need cupboard space. See you in a couple of weeks.

Life and Little More Stitching

I can always tell when life gets stressful. I all I want to do is stitch. With that being said, I am putting the projects asside to get ready for the transition at the end of the month. The burp cloths and bibs are for several friends who have had babies recently. I have added to the wash cloths as these have become the mindless knitting I do at night. I worked up a pattern that I saw for a baby blanket and adapted it for the wash cloths. It is super easy and I like the look of the rib.

Southwest Horizontal Rib Stitch:

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: *K1,P1* repeat across row

Row 4: Purl

This is the pattern along with the Garter Borders.

My WIP is the picture "O Jersalem" by Greg Olson. I had the opportunity to meet the artist earlier this year and set the goal of finishing it. This has been a long process and hopefully I can get it done.

FHE with the Bromleys

Monday Ric and I had the opportunity to go to see his cousin's performing group who were in town for concerts and sight seeing. They have been running the Showbiz group for many years and pattern it after the Young Ambassadors from BYU that they once belonged. It was a great preformance and we got to see their family as well as Diana's girls. Some of the songs were from Wicked, High School Musical, and other movie tunes. Jacob did a solo from Newies that was very good. He had just returned a week ago from his mission to South Carolina. Part of their activities included a service project to an orphanage, Phoenix Children's Hospital and the Grand Canyon. All in all it was a great evening in spite of the heat.

Recipes

I have had these recipes that I wanted to post. I tried the chicken recipe from the Honeysuckle Tree . Tanya shared this recipe and I couldn't resist trying it out. It was yummy and I will put it on the menu.

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken

4 chicken breasts cut into thirds (12 pieces)
Bacon slices
salt and pepper
garlic powder
chili powder
brown sugar

Cut each breast into 3 pieces, season all the chicken with the spices, then wrap a bacon slice around each piece. Roll in brown sugar and place in a shallow baking dish that has been seasoned with olive oil.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until chicken is cooked through and the bacon is brown and crispy.
Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetable.

Marissa shared the cookie recipe and I loved the sweetness of the sugar cookies but not the work of rolling them out and decorating. Go to her blog and she has a link to the Pastry Queen's book.

Giant Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies (from the Pastry Queen)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola or sunflower oil.
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for topping
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract, or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter in a large bowl on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the vegetable oil. It may not fully incorporate with the butter, but that is ok. Add the granulated sugar, powdered sugar, egg and vanilla, beating on medium speed until each ingredient is completely incorporated.
Stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt all at once using a wooden spoon or the mixer set on low. The dough will be soft and a little sticky.
Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour or freeze for 15 minutes just so it is easier to handle.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or foil, or greased generously with butter or cooking spray.
For large cookies, dollop 2 Tablespoons of cookie dough onto the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. For smaller cookies use 1 Tablespoon. Press the dough evenly with your fingers or palm to 1/4 thickness. Generously sprinkle with sugar on top of the cookie dough.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes for larger cookies, or 8 to 10 for smaller cookies. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely.

The Hamburger Roll-Up recipe is Ric's. This has been an old family stand by and a great recipe to use with your food storage.

Hamburger Roll-Ups

1 lb. hamburger
Salt and Pepper
Minced Garlic and Onion Flakes
Bisquick mix or Biscuit recipe if making from scratch
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Milk

In frying pan, brown hamburger meat. Season with salt and pepper, and onion flakes and garlic according to taste. Add 2 Tablespoons flour and 1/4 cup water to make gravy. Set aside.
Make up biscuit recipe following directions on bisquick box. Roll out into a 1/2 to 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
Spread hamburger mixer on top of biscuit dough. Roll up like you would cinnamon rolls. Cut every 1 1/2 inch and place in a greased muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
Sauce: 1 can cream of mushroom soup diluted with 1/2 to 3/4 of a can of milk. Heat through and serve on top of hamburger roll-ups.

A Little Stitching

These last few weeks I have been working on a few things in my WIP basket. Besides making a little progress on the ABECEDAIRE I worked on a few Dishcloths and made the new Christmas ornament that is on the Blue Ribbon Design site. I realized that I am not a big fan of linen and will only pick small projects if they require it. I would much rather work on aida cloth but sometimes the design is a 1 over 1 like the cannaries and aida cloth would not look as nice. I have been eyeing the Mary Wigham sampler. This is a Quaker sampler done by one of the girls at the Ackworth school in 1790. It has an interesting history around the motifs and the school itself. I am still deciding whether to use the threads suggested or change the palette to suit more of my taste.