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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Rhuberry Bluebarb...Raspbarb Blue something.....

I spent the morning with my friend Shannon working on a surprise for a fellow teacher who is moving to Wisconsin. We will have a going away dinner on Sunday and share fond memories and stories that are mostly true. Tim has taught here for 23 years, there are many stories to tell, where will I begin? Things will feel much different next Fall when school begins with a new principal, but we are set for the challenge and ready to welcome our new staff members with open arms.

The weather is very stormy tonight. Tornado sightings here and there and somehow we have managed to miss it all. Another blessing that often goes unnoticed.

For supper we had brats and a lettuce salad with greens picked fresh from our garden! After we ate I started peeling rhubarb for my special jam that I make only once a year. It's one that my kids really seem to like, I do like the flavor quite a lot. It came from a country school cookbook that has the cutest illustrations, they are all drawn by the children. Anyway, I'll get right to it.

Rhubarb Blueberry Jam

5 cups rhubarb, peeled and cut fine
1 cup water
5 cups sugar
1 can blueberry pie filling
2 3-oz packaged raspberry jello

Cook rhubarb in water until tender, just a few minutes. Add sugar and cook for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add pie filling and cook 8 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in jello until completely dissolved. Pour into jars with screw on canning lids. Store in freezer of refrigerator. This fills 5 16-oz jars.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A whole new world....online

I've made a fabulous discovery....I always knew that TV shows were available online, but I have never pursued that venue. I missed the finale of Grey's Anatomy and thought I would check it out and OH MY!! I was able to watch both episodes and now am caught up on the drama. To bad I have to wait until Fall to find out what will happen next, blast those cliff hangers!

I went to my classroom this morning to start packing things up. I'm getting ready to move to a new classroom and it's going to be a good thing. Time to sort out 16 years of "stuff" that have accumulated. There's "stuff" hiding in my closets, filing cabinets, shelves, etc.... I'm looking forward to being more organized and having a different room equipped with a bathroom for my little people.

I want to share something with you today besides a recipe. My friend Shirley sent me this email and it should be shared with many more people... like YOU! Read this and think about who packs your parachute.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.

Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.


One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. "I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude.

The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept pondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform - a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."


Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory- he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead. As you go through this week, this month, this year...recognize the people who pack your parachute!

As you can see my friends Shirley and Doug gave our neighborhood a physical thank you for helping to pack their parachute! It still hangs on our tree 2 weeks later, and will be there until something unforeseen tears it down. I smile each time I pull into my driveway and think of my wonderful neighbors who in turn are helping pack MY parachute.



Monday, May 26, 2008

God bless those who have gone before us

Today is Memorial day, I just looked online to find out about events happening in the cemetery's to honor fallen soldiers, but found nothing. Sigh. I guess we'll take a drive through the cemetery and admire the carpet of flowers and decorations, stopping by a few loved ones to pay our respects. Mike's dad and sister Margie, our next door neighbor Norm, our dear friends Ann & Dave's son Aaron who tragically drowned last June. It really makes me choke up when I think about what a tough walk Aaron's family has had this last 11 months. I pray for them often and hope their hearts are able to focus more on wonderful memories than the tragic event. He was an example of a fantastic young college student growing into adulthood with dignity and a smile on his face each time we saw him. He is missed more than words can explain.

I am going to be better at posting this summer....really! Mike was off work Thur, Fri, and today so it's been an unusual schedule for us. We went to Lincoln on Friday and found the perfect dress for Heather to get married in. Guess what... it's white and sparkly!!! I may have found something for the mother of the bride, but I'm keeping my options open yet at this point.

Saturday I drove to graduations at NELHS in Waco with my friend Kristin. It's a high school that our church supports and I knew several of the graduates there, 3 of them were preschool alumni. Wowser! It was a very fun day, I saw tons of people that I knew, my favorites were my Bible study sister/friend Carol from Texas! Hug hug hug. It ended on an off note for two reasons, #1 I sat on a dark chocolate something and had it all over the rear end of my light tan colored pants!! # 2 I started to get a horrific cold which has overtaken me last night and today. I'm all congested in my chest, and I feel like typhoid Mary....great.

It was a weird night sleeping with this cold, I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror and my hair that was straight and slightly turning under when I went to bed was flipped up quite uniformly this morning like someone broke in and styled my hair in the night! Even in my weakened state I couldn't help but laugh when I looked in the mirror, how strange! Mike and Maddie both say they did not do my hair, I'm not so sure. Hmmm.

I've been thinking for days what I should be posting for a recipe. See, just because I'm not writing doesn't mean I'm not thinking of all of you! We have cooked beer can chicken, salted nut roll bars (April 8th post), bacon wrapped smokies (Feb 3rd), boursin cheese spread, spaghetti salad, ham salad, oatmeal crunch bars, yada, yada, yada. I think I've decided, OK here it is:

Spaghetti Salad

8-10 oz spaghetti
8 oz bottle Italian dressing
chopped onions
chopped tomatoes
chopped cucumbers
black olives sliced in half
2-3 T Schilling Salad Supreme (don't skip this )
a hand full of fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti as directed (I always break mine in half); rinse with cold water and drain thoroughly. (Don't rinse or the dressing doesn't stick to the noodles as well) Immediately stir in the salad dressing and chopped vegetables. You can add or subtract any veggies that you like. Stir in the salad supreme and Parmesan cheese, mix well. Chill a couple of hours before serving. Easy cheesie!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Spring-Sprang-Sprung

Today was a beautiful day...tomorrow is supposed to be awesome...it finally feels like Spring. We went to two graduations, and we have a few more tomorrow.

I'm checking some things off of my personal list to be ready for my Preschool graduation Monday night. With all of these other events it has been a little hard to stay in my classroom for any amount of time. Tomorrow I'm afraid I will be a prisoner to my list. Still to do: finish report cards (28), print diplomas, power point, put elastic and tassels on hats that were glued today and are drying, set up stage in the gym, put together a program then run it off. Think of me Monday night at about 8:30, it will be done and I will be smiling.

I can't believe that I haven't posted my recipe for this dessert pizza. I looked over my list 3 times thinking I was just overlooking it, but I did not see it. IF I were to post it twice it would be OK because it's so yummy - you should have another chance to think about making it! This one came from my good friend Leslie.

Triple Peanut Pizza

1 tube (18oz) refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
1 cup (6oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped peanut butter cups
(I use the small ones and cut them in 4 pieces)

Press cookie dough onto a greased pizza pan. Bake at 350* for 12-15 min until golden. Sprinkle with chocolate chips; let stand 4-5 minutes. Spread melted chips over crust. Freeze for 10 min or until set.
Meanwhile beat cream cheese, peanut butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Spread over the chocolate layer and sprinkle with the peanut butter cups. Chill until serving.
Refrigerate leftovers.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day

It was a fun weekend, we got to spend time with Mike's sisters Katie, Betty & Nancy
(+ husbands) as well as my son James. Saturday it rained, rained, & rained.....but today was beautiful! I did a little bit of planting in the back yard and hope to get more done tomorrow.


The Mother's day projects at school turned out so cute, I'm going to slip a picture in here so you can so how charismatic they are!!
Aren't they cute??? They have magnets on them so they can be hung on the fridge and hold precious papers.

We made a mother's day cookbook to go along with this gift, I will have to post a couple of the recipes for you in the next couple of days. They are priceless!

Today's recipe is a snack mix that is super crunchy and has to be partially good for you because it's made from Oatmeal squares cereal.


Praline Pecan Crunch

8 cups (one 16-ounce package) Quaker Squares, Brown Sugar or Cinnamon
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons 70% vegetable oil spread (in sticks, not tubs)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 250° F. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine cereals and pecans in pan; set aside.
In 4-cup microwaveable bowl, combine corn syrup, brown sugar and vegetable oil spread. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds or until boiling.
Stir vanilla and baking soda into mixture. Pour over cereal mixture; stir to coat evenly.
Bake 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Spread on baking sheet and cool completely; break into pieces. Store tightly covered.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

On your mark, get set, go!

Today was not a day for the faint of heart. I managed to cross the finish line (classroom door) with 10 smiling preschool children holding 10 mother's day cook books and 10 brown bags stuffed with tissue paper and a very cute caterpillar refrigerator magnet! Sigh. Tomorrow I will do it again with 28 more smiling faces. Then I will RELAX!

The next ten days will bring 2 field trips, 38 assessment reports, end of year height and weight measurement, a review of our Bible stories from the entire year, printing out diplomas, having a picnic the last day, making graduation hats, putting together a power point and more final hugs than I care to think about. I truly miss my families when the year ends, I wish we had school all year long with breaks here and there.

I just re-read that last paragraph and it made me tired just thinking about it! I really haven't been sleeping well because of my abscessed tooth. The dentist can't get me in until the first part of June....great. I'm taking my mass quantities of ibuprofen whenever time allows, and I wish I could just get it over with. I don't love the idea of a root canal.

Last night I made a cake that was divine! I think that I have made it before, but it's been years. I highly recommend it if you love chocolate, caramel and nuts all mixed up.

Chocolate Turtle Cake

1 package devils food cake mix
1 bag (14oz) caramels
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350*. Grease bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan. Mix cake mix as directed on the box. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 25 min.

Meanwhile heat caramel and milk over medium heat about 10 min, stirring frequently until caramels are melted. Pour and spread caramel evenly over warm cake in pan. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate chips. Spread with remaining batter. Bake 25 minutes longer.

Run knife around the sides of the pan to loosen. Cool completely and store covered at room temp.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Flowers, flowers, and a kit kat.


Hello to all! Today was the start of teacher appreciation week. I have to say I'm feeling very loved at the moment. Here are some of the flowers I received. There are 2 mums, a Gerber daisy, 3 roses, 2 carnations, 2 bunches of daisy's, 3 tulips, and a water pitcher full of pixie carnations. What a great idea to put them in that kind of a reusable container! I will definitely 'borrow' that idea. I also got a gazillion kit kat candy bars and a package of my new favorite chocolate candy from Hershey, they are called BLISS. Aptly named I must say. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! Last year we had a recipe day, and I heard that is not happening this year, they forgot about it. Tooooo bad!






And have you ever seen a better use of dandy lions in your life?? By the time I took this picture they were wilting, but when this came in they were bright yellow and sassy yet!


In honor of Cinco de Mayo I'm going to post a Mexican food recipe. I used to make this quite a bit, I'd kind of forgotten about it. By the way, thank you to those few brave souls that leave me a message on these pages. I love it when I have a comment waiting for me! I wondered if anyone was reading it at all which is why I put on the counter on the top right corner. Thanks for stopping by!

MEXICAN LASAGNA
1 1/2 lbs hamburger
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
flour tortillas
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce
sour cream
salsa

Brown hamburger and onion;drain. Add taco seasoning, tomato paste, tomato sauce & water. Line baking dish with tortillas. Mix sour cream and beaten eggs. Layer hamburger, sour cream mixture, shredded cheese and tortillas. Repeat, ending with shredded cheese. Microwave for 6 minutes. Serve on a bed of shredded lettuce and top with sour cream and salsa.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Happy May Day!

May Day holds many memories for me. When the kids were little we went from door to door with may baskets. Ours were really large plastic cups that had a handle punched in them filled with popcorn, m&m's, and other candy. The idea was to leave them by the door, ring the bell and run like fury....because if you got caught you might get kissed!

I remember sending James (when he was in grade school) next door to deliver a may basket to Tami (who was in high school) after I saw her pull into her drive way. He thought she wasn't home, so he was very cavalier on the approach to the door. When he saw her waiting for him he sprinted like I've never seen him sprint before into our house locking the door behind him!! I guess it wasn't fair of me to call and tell her he was on the way, but it was funny!

I got 6 baskets today from students, 3 of them were delivered to my door. We made baskets at school and took them to each of the teachers. The children laughed so hard as we ran down the hall trying to avoid hugs and potential kisses.

Now here is something I probably should not admit to, but since our kids have been grown and gone we have been doing May baskets with our dog. I call them May Biscuit Baskets and they go to our friends dogs. I bought a cute cookie cutter that is shaped like a dog bone, and the recipe I use has very few ingredients, but our dog Maddie gives them 2 paws up! If you have a family dog that is a little bit spoiled, try making these. I keep them in the freezer because not only do they keep longer (no preservatives) but Maddie likes them frozen in the summer.

Madelyn's "Pea-Mutt Butter" Dog Biscuits

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup water
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
(this time is used half wheat, and half white flour it seemed a little stiffer)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine oil, peanut butter, and water.
Add flour, one cup at a time, then knead into firm dough.
If dough is to stiff, add a little more water a tablespoon at a time.
Roll dough to 1/4" thickness and cut with cookie cutter.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.