Good Food Friday- on Friday even

This is a dutch oven recipe that can be made in the oven- but it can't be beat in the mountains-




not the actual photo of the one we ate- it was too dark-


Blueberry Cobbler-

2 cans of Blueberry pie filling
1 box of French Vanilla Cake mix
1 can of lemon lime pop
1/4 c butter or margarine
Vanilla
Cinnamon

Completely line your dutchoven (12 in) with foil- NO CLEANUP LATER! Fill bottom with pie filling. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and about 1 tsp of vanilla- more if you like vanilla. Next cover with the dry cake mix. Put the butter in small pats around the top of the cake mix. Sprinkle with more cinnamon and vanilla. Finally, pour the pop over the top. Place the lid on and cook with coals on top and underneath, rotating every so often to help it cook evenly. In about 30 min- you have a heavenly dessert- you can serve with whipped topping or your sister-in-law's vanilla ice cream while camping in the mountains- The mountain air is sure to cancel out those pesky calories-

AND NO TASTEBUD-CHALLENGED IN-LAW WOULD PUT KETCHUP ON THIS! At least I would hope they are not that Looney-

H H H H and sewing lessons

NOTE: There is a picture posted on the New Horizons post.

As I mentioned before, the middle patient has been enjoying learning to sew. She had so much fun that the other two patients decided that they wanted to try. Not surprising in the least. Also not surprising is the headache and backache I have had this week trying to help THREE patients learn to sew. Not a lot of progress was made with the others- the oldest did finish a pillow case (after the fourth unpick- I sort of gave up and sewed it up for him. The youngest made a pillowcase and a cute little jewelry bag. The middle made an adorable apron this week, so she has done really well.

We have also been doing swimming lessons this week- which has made for rather long days. But the important thing is that they did enjoy it and they did learn ( or at least started) a new life skill. My outpatient can knit- the inpatients are learning to sew- now if I could just get them to quit stuffing their clean clothes under the bed.

Good Food Friday (Almost not on Friday)

This is a yummy alternative to the yellow sponge cake or angel food cake that you can buy. It is from an episode of M. Stewart years ago-

SOUR CREAM SHORTCAKE BISCUITS

Makes 6 large or 8 smaller biscuits

2 Cups all purpose flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 Cup sugar plus 2 TBSP or more- for sprinkling
4 TBSP unsalted butter- CHILLED
1 Cup sour cream (not low-fat)
1/4 Cup whole Milk (although I do use 2% just fine.)

Preheat oven to 425-. Line a baking sheet with a silpat baking mat or piece of parchment ( or spray lightly). In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in 1/4 C sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture looks like it is course meal. Stir in milk and sour cream. Scoop dough into high mounds- evenly spaced on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining sugar (I like mine nice and sparkly). Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool slightly before splitting. (These are best fresh- but still good if saved- just not crispy)

Pile with fruit (sweetened) of choice- Strawberries for strawberry shortcake, peaches, blueberries, or whatever suits your fancy and whipped topping. An easy way to impress company for dessert or a treat. And I just had a wild idea that I might try these with Nut*lla, and sliced strawberries- because that just might be heaven on a plate!

Ode to the Outpatient

My sister's blog gave me an idea-

My Outpatient (the firstborn patient)- the one that has left my domain- is a great person. He is turning out to be an amazing individual. When he was a baby, he slept through the night almost from day one, he cut teeth with nary a complaint, was super social - (still is) talked like a little adult, was so happy and healthy- even though we had quite a scare for months getting him into the world. Then he turned three. That is another story for another day. But he is an easy going, but outgoing young man (weird to think he is almost the age I was when I got married- heaven forbid) He is multi-talented. He is creative, musical, artistic, athletic, intelligent,computer literate, and when the goal is his- very determined. He has a great gift for being a friend and forgiving. He has been given many talents and gifts, and has also had a few trials. He also is a young man of great faith. He believes in the power of prayer, faith, and a Father in Heaven who loves him. He tries to help others, is a good employee, and he talks in his sleep (as well as walks and has entire events occur in his sleep). As a matter of fact, he is bilingual in his sleep as well as when he is awake. He just found out that lovely info! LOL! He is crazy fun loving- a total yellow, with a heart of gold. Love him to death and even if I wasn't his mom, I would think he was amazing.

My favorite memory for now, is holding him before letting him go.

Blessings Straight from Heaven

Our oldest inpatient is a special blessing. We were so blessed to have him join our family when he was just two days old. Watching the outpatient carry that oh so tiny (compared to the half grown things my own body produces)bundle to us never fails to bring me to tears. His name has proven to be especially appropriate and we hope that stays that way. He is the first to remind us of scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening. He is so interested in all things living- so much so that he loves to hunt and fish- good news for the DR. He is soft hearted, and tender in spirit. He is a great help with doing what are his responsibilities without much reminding, and more than willing to help out the DR with outside chores. He has special places in his heart for each of his uncles- loves his aunts- but the Uncles most of all. He is getting so big- I can't even imagine how tall and broad he will become. He loves scouting. He is at odds with his sisters often, but then when you have such strong personalities co-habitating- it is bound to get interesting. He likes to share information; if he has it, he will share it. This is NOT always a good thing. I am so very blessed to have the gift of mothering this special pre-teen.



Favorite memory for now- driving home from taking the outpatient to the airport, listening to a song called- "it's your song" and hearing him cry for over a half hour. Touched my heart-

Musings on the Middle

The middle patient was quite the surprise. Born 10 years after the Outpatient, and only 1.5 years behind the Oldest, I just kept thinking- I have a baby- now I have two babies. The first few years were a blur, but the one stand out characteristic- MOVEMENT. She is and always has been very busy. She can't sit still for long, and her mind ( and mouth) are always going. She is a good student, and very communicative. She has a will of iron, and yet a soft heart. She is extremely independent, wants to do and try lots of things herself. My oldest daughter. She has a few (cough) personality traits in common with her mom, but she is athletic, graceful, musical, creative, and can be very generous. She is also very determined. She loves to sing, and dance, perform for the masses. She has turned into a chore doin' helper this summer for which I am grateful. She is soon to be in double digits. How did that happen? She loves little kids and loves to mother and play with them. She wants to dress modestly, but loves the girly stuff like hair, jewelry, clothes. She is social and loves to be with friends. She tells her sister how beautiful she is in one minute then gets bent out of shape because someone thinks they are twins. ? Hello? This is bad how? She doesn't like being the older sister who's 2.5 years younger sister is almost as tall as she is- I say- call your aunt! She can empathize and sympathize.

Favorite memory for now- watching her be baptised by her big brother- at her request.

Commemorating the Youngest.

The youngest patient was almost as big a surprise as her sister. She was by far the hardest pregnancy I had- only in part to the fact that I had three kids- two who were under 4. She made up for that by being the most peaceful, easy going baby I had. She jabbered until she was almost three which we likened to the character BOO in Monsters I N C. She is social beyond- hasn't met a stranger. She visits with anyone and everyone and is no respecter of persons. She loves and emotes without reserve. She glows when she performs and seems completely oblivious to her charm. She is making up for the easy baby years now. She is the opposite of her sister for now in the girly stuff. She wants jeans and shirts- although she can dress up upon occasion. She doesn't like her hair done most of the time. She has a great imagination and can entertain herself for hours. She names her blankets (Francis, Peanut Butter), all her dolls and animals (lots of them to name) and has had a wide variety of imaginary friends and dogs. Jonny,(crazy red hair, and freckles) Koto (white with brown spots) Kayla (pink poodle that pottied in Daddy's truck), along with many others. The girl never wants for company- and has hardly ever said "I'm bored". She is also determined- do you see a pattern? I am so glad I talked the DR into one more when we were still in a blur from the older ones.

Favorite memory for now- TaVaci Spring Concert- "Annie" number with the DR.

comments

SmAsh- anytime you feel like commenting- feel free-

New Horizons and old memories

UPDATED PIC of Case and Skirt-


Today the middle patient and I started off on a new adventure, SEWING! I have thought about it a lot, but kept putting it off until I had more "time"- yeah right- well a friend has her daughters going to the 4-H summer sewing camp. We went and she did great! She is the proud constructor of a pillow case- I will try to post a pic when she gets home. She isn't very teachable- so that can be interesting. At one point, I told her that when we got to a certain point, she would have to listen carefully to the instructions. Her very honest response- "Oh no- I don't do that very well" You are not a kiddin- sweetie! Now tell your momma something she doesn't already know. But she is an independent soul, willing to go off half cocked- so it will be good for her. She finished her project and immediately decided that she wanted to make pajama bottoms next! Nothing like going from preschool to third grade in one fell swoop. We decided on the basic one seam, elastic waist skirt instead. I did tell her that she would have driven my grandma nuts- not the 4H teaching grandma- the other one-, with all of her flitting and distractedness. I was probably her age when said grandma decided to teach me to sew- my other grandma let me sew- but it was all tube barbie dresses on her treadle machine. Grandma A made me unpick and unpick- perfection was expected. To this day, if I sew a slightly crooked something, or catch fabric in the waistband- I think of Grandma A and then, as long as it isn't horrible- I leave it. Sorry Grandma- NOT-

UGH! The DR knows!

Unfortunately my BIL has informed my dear DR that I do indeed have a blog. Now, even more unfortunately, he knows how to find it, and he read it, and he said- "you have no comments". I said- "well- that is because I only let a very few people even know that I have it, and we are not big commenters- even though we read each others blogs all the time". It is hard to say that a blog is "private" because there isn't really anything private about it, but I look at it as like a phone conversation- one that you can have with multiple people on their time frame- but not that I want EVERYONE listening in to. Weird contradiction I know-

BYE BYE FORD

Today- with mixed emotions (not really) we bid farewell to the DR's first ever truck. He waited a long time to get one, and was so happy to buy the F150 Supercrew. It has been a great truck, with no major issues- aside from that one incident with those two deer- but that can hardly be blamed on the truck. But- with the recent purchase of the cougar- it just had to be replaced with a bigger beast of a truck. So Long, Supercrew- you have served well.

P.S. photo was taken in late April to show the outpatient our snow-again-

Family Home Afternoon w/ Junior and Daniele

what to do?

I have a couple of topics on which I would dearly love to vent. I have typed out several versions. But- I doubt anyone wants to go there AGAIN- and it won't change the things at all- so I guess I will let lazy egocentric dogs lie and move on.

I am loving my laptop- it makes it easier to work 24/7, 365- Wait- is that supposed to be a good thing?

On the happier front- we are going to have the opportunity to make a return visit to Hawaii in November. We booked the flights last night. We are going with some very dear friends and it is going to be awesome- if I can loose the 20 or more pounds that found me in the last three years- UGH! The DR has more to loose than me- wish us lots of luck and more importantly- lots of determination, since that seems to get more done than all the luck in the world.

I deleted the Memorial Day post because it made a mess of my blog when I added the pictures.

This week- the outpatient sent quite a few pictures- which makes up for the ZERO we got last week. He is a bit weird, but dang cute.


Tonight- only 6 months late- The oldest patient is receiving his arrow of light- we were just told this last night- problem is- his soccer team tournament game starts at the same time- We wait 6 months for the scouting program to get its act together and they pick the ONE night this week that doesn't work for him- NICE! Well- we will do our best to do both- with the priority being the Arrow of Light- worked too hard for that baby, plus that is where his heart lies.