• Sweet January birthdays…

    January 24, 2013 / 4 Comments

    Three of my eight precious grandchildren were born in the month of January.  It has been a month of celebrating their sweet lives.  I am beyond thankful for each of them…

    Night before last, my now eleven year old granddaughter (today is her birthday!) called me on my iPad to tell me her package had arrived.  We had a wonderful visit as she shared what she has been doing.  For one thing, she won the Spelling Bee for her class and now competes school wide.  She proceeded to quiz ME on some of the words she is expected to know how to spell in just a few short weeks.  Even though I was an English major until my senior year of college when I switched to nursing, I had never heard of some of the words!  She plays the piano beautifully and played three songs for me.  I love Facetime!  😉  She opened her gifts before school this morning and emailed me a great big thank you and the pics below.  She loved her gifts.

    Featured photo above:  A couple of the birthday gifts that I sent to her. 

    Below:  She loved the adorable purse below. 

    Inside was a soft leather money pouch with a little money in  it!  😉

    Yesterday, was my firstborn grandchild’s fifteenth birthday!  We celebrated last night.  He asked his Mom to prepare homemade chicken enchiladas and they were delicious!  For his cake, he asked for homemade butter pecan.  Soooo good!  He is now taller than his Dad and TOWERS over me!  He loves that.  He got his learner’s permit a few weeks ago to drive and I wanted to be the first person to give him a soft leather Levi’s wallet (a little money inside) so he has a place to keep his learner’s permit and his future drivers license!  I came up with a few other gifts as well.  He liked everything!  He is a freshman but has competed with the high school swim team this year and lettered!  He was excited about that.  He says he needs a “letter jacket” now.  Well, yeah!  Before the final high school swim meet, the players shaved their heads…all that beautiful very dark brown hair.  He asked his mom how long it would take to grow back!  I also love to hear him play the piano.  He’s gifted at the piano as well as swimming!

    On January 12th, we celebrated this sweet one’s 4th birthday!  Lots of wonderful presents and a scrumptious all chocolate cake.  He loves chocolate!  He’s a joyful, cheerful sweetheart and thinks my role in life is to be a grandmom!  He’s right.  Just this afternoon, I stopped by for lunch and to pick up my camera which I’d left there last night.  Of course, I was easily convinced to play a couple of rounds of “Where is Sock Monkey?”  with him and his sister.  I gave it to him a couple of years ago and we have just about worn the board out!  He loves it.  We also played hide and seek with his 8 year old sister.  After that, it was back home to sew on his 13 year old sister’s new dress.

  • The dining nook…

    January 22, 2013 / 5 Comments

    When I posted “a little tour” of my new home, I mentioned that I would share photos of my dining nook when I purchased a table and chairs.  My daughter, her two youngest children and I ventured to the furniture store before Thanksgiving.  Grandchildren are very helpful and actually wise beyond their years (especially my 8 year old granddaughter) when it comes to selecting furnishings.  It “had to fit all of us for Sunday dinner” according to my sweet girl and she proceeded to explain how this would work.  There are two extra chairs in my storage room on the lower level.  The table has a hidden leaf which can be opened to an oval which seats six when needed.   We actually scoot in the computer chair too and it seats seven!  Otherwise,  the table looks like this.  Right now, there is a protective cover on the table and my sewing machine!  It’s the perfect place to sew and watch old classic movies at the same time if I so choose.  😉

     

    In past years, I have used the shelves on the hutch for favorite dishes.  This time, I’m enjoying using it for photos framed in black.  I still have several more photos to frame for the buffet.  The perfect place to enjoy my family on a daily basis.

    I have so many books that I needed one more bookcase.  Although I ordered the identical bookcase, the stain on the one on the far left was a little lighter.  After putting it together all by myself, there was no way I was returning it!  Come Spring, when I can open windows, I will try to darken the stain to match.  In the meantime, I really don’t notice the difference and am living with it!

    I love this little setting.  The antique was a gift from my children’s dad on our twelfth anniversary…many years ago.  The angel was a gift from my daughter and her family.

  • Ozark Mountain Apple Cake…

    January 13, 2013 / 10 Comments

    A long-time reader emailed me one day this week to ask for the recipe for one of my favorite desserts:  the Ozark Mountain Apple Cake.  I had featured it in My Southern Heart a couple of years ago.  She had baked it then and loved it, but lost the link.  I emailed her back with the recipe.  Since then, I’ve had this cake on my mind and wishing for a warm slice right from the oven.  It is moist, apple sweet and absolutely delicious.  It’s actually even better the second day!  So for a sweet repeat, here’s the recipe for Ozark Mountain Apple Cake.

    I baked it this afternoon and the wonderful scent of cinnamon and apple filled the apartment.  I’ll enjoy a couple of slices, share some with my next-door neighbor (I am Southern after all) and then take the rest to my daughter’s house.  😉  I really shouldn’t eat a whole cake all by myself…right?!   Enjoy!

    Ozark Mountain Apple Cake

    2 cups sugar (The original recipe calls for 2 cups but this makes for a very sweet cake.  I usually reduce the sugar to about 1 & 1/2 cups or 1 & 3/4 cups if you’re using tart apples like Granny Smith.)

    1/2 cup butter or margarine or vegetable oil

    2 eggs, beaten

    2 teaspoons cinnamon

    1 pinch of salt

    2 teaspoons of vanilla

    2 cups flour

    2 level teaspoons baking soda

    4 cups peeled and diced apples (McIntosh or Rome Beauty) (I didn’t have those particular apples and it still turned out great!)

    1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

    Yellow raisins (I used about 1 cup regular raisins)

    Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately.  Combine well and pour into greased and floured 13 x 9 pan or a large cast iron skilled sprayed with Pam or other vegetable spray.  Bake 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.  Serve warm or cold.  May refrigerate.  Great with whipped cream!

    A bowl full of Granny Smith apple chunks…

     

    The dough will be thick and you’ll wonder if it’s going to work…but don’t worry – just stir as well as you can, spread it out, bake and enjoy!

     

    Fresh out of the oven and a slice cut before I remembered to take a photo! 😉

  • A little Déjà vu…

    January 7, 2013 / 4 Comments

    I was thirty-four years old when my youngest child was born.  His older brother and sister were twelve and ten.  Needless to say, he never wanted for entertainment.  It’s a wonder he learned to walk before he was one year old, since someone was always carrying him, but he did.  When he started talking, it was in paragraphs with an extensive vocabulary.  His outgoing and sweet personality was evident early on.  He still has it.

    He grew up, graduated from college and married his beautiful college sweetheart.  Now, they have an amazing baby girl.  She has the sweetest disposition to go along with her beautiful blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair.  Her mom says she’s just like her dad…and she is!

    Above and below:  love their similar expressions!

      

     

    Below:  walking with her Dad, wearing her Urlacher jersey with her tutu and Mary Janes!

  • Snowfall…

    December 20, 2012 / 18 Comments

    Snow fell last night.  I awoke to a beautiful blanket of  white…over a foot deep.  Snow was banked high against the doors of the garages and the tarmac looked icy.  Only one garage had been shoveled out – that of a young man about the age of my younger son.  (Most of the people living here are retired.)  I wondered what this young man does for a living that required his being out in this.

    Of course, I remember the days of snow storms and severe thunderstorms of years past before I became a “retired” Registered Nurse.  It didn’t matter what the weather was…I had to be there.  I’ll never forget coming out of the hospital one January night after midnight.  It was -18 degrees and snowing like crazy.  A few of the nurses had automatic starters and stood at the window on our floor, pointed it in the direction of the parking lot and started their automobile.  They came out to a nice warm vehicle.  I didn’t have one!  I just prayed my automobile would start…thankfully, it did.  I’m glad that my little 154,000 mile Camry is now parked in “her” garage.  Maybe not warm – but dry.

    Snow always brings back memories.  Sledding with the kids, building forts and snowmen, snow “cream” with vanilla and sugar (we didn’t know to worry back then and were always careful where we got the snow for it!).  If I could get to my daughter’s house right now, I could be playing in the snow with my grandchildren as I did during a visit a couple of years ago.  I’m sure there will be plenty of snow here in the Midwest and time for that over the next few months!

    The featured photo above was taken on March 22, 1968.  Sixteen inches of snow had fallen in a rare snow storm in Memphis, Tennessee!  I wrote it about it in My Southern Heart…the Stories.  I wrote My Southern Heart…the Stories for my children and last Christmas published it in book form for them and the rest of my family. 

  • One week from today…

    November 14, 2012 / 5 Comments

    One week from today, I will be in a mini-van with my daughter and her family (seven of us) traveling (11 hours!) home to Memphis for Thanksgiving.  Memphis is where I grew up, fell in love and got married (39 years) and had three wonderful children.  My three sisters (two now in Heaven) and I spent so much time together in Memphis and Mississippi.  My nieces and nephews are so much a part of my life there.  The closer I get to Memphis, the more the memories come flooding in…whether I’m flying into the airport there or on a rare drive.

    The last time all of my children and grandchildren were in ONE location (always my dream), was in June 2010 in Chicago.  What a wonderful time we had!  My precious little Peruvian granddaughter – never shy – walked in first to the hotel room where we all were and proceeded to introduce her big sisters and then herself.  A perfect introduction.  Of course, she didn’t realize that she was the one everyone  was meeting for the first time!  (Except for me of course – I had been to Peru in 2008 where my son was a missionary doctor.)  Special memories.

    I’m looking forward to making more special memories as we are all together in Memphis with my late husband’s sister Penny and her family.  This time, my younger son’s fourteen month old  baby girl will be there too!  I can’t wait to hold her!  Although now she is so “busy” I probably won’t be able to hold her for long, but we can definitely play.  She will be so excited to be with all of her cousins!  My precious niece Sharon and her husband will come over for a fun barbecue dinner.  I can’t wait to see them!  I miss everyone and wish that we ALL lived closer to one another!  My youngest says “but, Mom, you gave us roots and wings”!  Let that be a lesson to me – about the “wings” that is!  😉

    Chicago 2010

     

    Featured photo at top:  Sweet baby girl!  She will have so much fun with her cousins in Memphis!

    I would be tempted to stay in Memphis and visit a while longer then fly back home to Iowa; however, I do not want to miss the first birthday that my baby girl and I have been able to spend together in a very long time.  My birthday (and her late Dad’s birthday also) is December 1.  Her birthday is December 4th!  She was almost born on OUR birthday.  She took the photo below at arm’s length under flourescent lights the night of the Great Pumpkin Party at our church!  Please remember:  flourescent lights are not kind to anyone!  😉