Monday, December 31, 2012

Open the door and let 2013 in.


Another year is about to come to an end. It has been a pretty good year. No major changes, no major health issues. And at our age that is a good thing.
Soon it will be time to take down the Christmas decorations. The house seems so bare for a few days, even tho, I get out some of my Snowman collection. But since I enjoy college football, I won’t start till the bowls
 games are over. I plan on taking the tree down on Wednesday. My mom always left the tree up till the New Year. And on New Year's Eve, like on Christmas Eve, the lights stay on all night. She always said it was bad luck to greet the New Year with no tree and no lights. Another thing she did was, at midnight she would open the front door to welcome in the New Year. Now that we spend a quiet New Year’s Eve at home, watching football, I find myself doing the same things she did. Maybe not the opening of the front door, it is suppose to be below zero out there. Brrrr. But I do leave the tree up and the lights on. Amazing how we follow what we grew up with.
Do you have any family traditions that you follow? Do you make New Year resolutions?

Happy New Year to all.

Stay warm,
Rose

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph


The Feast of the Holy Family honors the family group of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This feast developed only in the 17th
 century. Built on the Gospel accounts, this family is looked
upon as an excellent domestic unit representing the ideal family life. To promote family life and build up devotion to the Holy Family, a feast was established for the Universal Church in 1921 (under Pope Benedict XV), and it is currently celebrated on the Sunday after
Christmas or on December 30 when Christmas falls on Sunday.

Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one body
. 
Col 3:12-21



Have a Blessed Sunday

Friday, December 28, 2012

Friday Funnies- Snake Slithers into man's pants

Need a laugh today? Check out this  Friday Funny.


KCCI-TV Meteorologist  Kurtis Gertz got quite a surprise during a live broadcast from the Iowa State Fair on Aug 8, 2002 when a snake slithered up his pant








Enjoy the weekend.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

OH NO, where did he go?????

I was catching up on the newspapers yesterday. Didn't get them read over the holiday. This one reminded me of some our family Christmases. With 13 grandkids and 10 adults sometimes we had quite the mountain of wrapping paper.


Have  a good day.


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Here's to warmer weather.


For all of us who have had enough of winter already. I know, it has just started. But it was minus 1 when I got up this morning with a feel like temperature of minus 12.  The high forecast for today is 17. And with the winds, even tho low, it is going to be another very cold day. And more white stuff on the way for tomorrow. 
Enjoy the video. 




Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas




Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
"Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." Luke 8-14


Have a blessed Christmas with all your family and friends. Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Scripture


When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb
. Luke 41

Have a Blessed Sunday.




Saturday, December 22, 2012

Dancing rainbow dots


A bright, sunny day here in Iowa. And, boy, do we need it. Some of our Iowa interstates are still in bad shape. Travel isn’t recommended on some, even this morning. But the sun will go a long way in make that situation better. It is pretty out, especially for those of us who can stay inside.
Iowa will definitely have a white Christmas. And, I would bet, the roads will be good by evening.


One blogger recently talked about shadows on sunny days Check out the shadows in the snow pictures above. My favorite are the dancing rainbow dots. This time of the year, the early morning sun, is just at the right angle to cause rainbow dots on our living room walls around 8 each morning. This is caused by the sun shining on the crystal balls on our anniversary clock. As the pendulum spins, the rainbow dots dance on the wall. So pretty to watch. Great way to start my day.





                       Have a relaxing, blessed weekend.



Thursday, December 20, 2012

Not fit for man or beast!


Welcome old man Winter. The blizzard arrived as scheduled. The weathermen predicted it would start snowing around 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon and it did. Actually, it was 2:55. Early. I wouldn’t have cared if it didn’t come at all. My yardstick measured 10 ¼ inches of snow. And the winds have and are still blowing in the 35-40 mph range.  Roads are closed, travel not recommended. The Blizzard warning is in effect till noon today.  Wish the wind would go down. The last Blizzard we had was Christmas Eve 2009 and we lost power for 8 hours. Our house got down to 40 degrees. Let me tell, you 40 degrees indoors when the wind chill outside is 20 below zero isn’t much fun. We borrowed a friend’s four wheel drive work pickup, he owns two, and headed for a motel. Roads were being closed behind us as we headed to the city. Our lights just blinked. Hope that isn’t a sign of things to come. And the birds are huddling as close to the house for warmth. No feeding them for now. I had six pair of cardinals fighting for food before dark last night. Along with a lot of other birds. I think they knew what was coming.

Me and my big mouth. Just as I finished writing this and was going to insert pictures the power went out. For 2 hours. It got down to 58. A bit chilly. Hope that is the end of power outages for this winter.



Patio picture taken in the dark at 10 p.m. Other patio picture at daylight this morning.






Never had so many cardinals at the feeders at one time.


               Stay warm and stay safe. And those of you in warm climates, think of us that aren't.

P.S.  Check out my daughters blog today. It is very interesting and has a lot of fun activities for kids on these snowy days.    http://promotingsuccess.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Monday, December 17, 2012

Fun packed weekend.


We had our family Christmas this past weekend. It was a wonderful time. Lots of laughs and lots of food. Always fun to spend a weekend with our four daughters, their husbands and all 13 grandkids plus a grandkid to be. We have a granddaughter getting married in June 2013. Every year, up to this year, we have rented 5 rooms at the motel, for the Saturday night of our family weekend. But now that the kids are all older (11 the youngest and 23 the oldest) they aren't as interested in a weekend with a pool. So this year we had it at Daughter no 2’s house. She has a big house with a kitchen, living room, dining room, family room and an all season room so we knew there would be room for all of us. We had a couple of extras people this year. Our No. 3 Daughter received her Doctorate this past Saturday. Her in-laws came for the ceremony, too.  So we had a double celebration. We went to the ceremony in the morning, had lunch after at the No 2 daughters house, opened gifts in the afternoon and in the evening all of us invaded the bowling alley/pool room. Hubby and I didn't bowl but it was fun to watch. Hubby loves to shoot pool and he had a few kids join him in the pool room. It was a fun time for all. Then it was back to the Daughters house for more food and fun. We had a hotel room and, boy was I glad. It was nice to leave around 10. We knew they all would stay up lots later doing their thing. And we were right.  We love them all dearly but we were ready for some quiet.  It was a bit hectic in the morning, but most of us did make it to church on time.

              
 Hope all of you have as much fun as we did at our Christmas weekend. 


Thursday, December 13, 2012

What were they thinking? and Why?


Dec. 13.
Got my new computer a couple of days ago. WOW. It is really nice. It is taking me a while, though, to get the hang of Windows 8. It is so different. I am the only one that uses my computer so I have never have used a password to log on. Windows 8 insists on you using one. What a pain. Took some time and a lot of googling but I found how to do away with the password login. Had an" h" of a time opening a new email. I was using Windows Live Mail on my old computer, not on this one. Microsoft decided we need to learn a new one, again. Grrrrr. I went with Outlook.com. Very similar to Windows Live except it doesn't accept Pop Servers. Back to Google. After some more "hours" on Google, I finally got that figured out. As you can tell, Microsoft decided for some unknown reason to “hide" everything in Windows 8, even the start menu button. Finding anything from Control Panel to Shutting down or Restarting is hidden in Windows 8. Wonder what their thinking was? and what the heck was wrong with Windows 7. I really liked it. Some of this stuff is becoming easier but I still find everything more time consuming. My newest problem is saving pictures to a folder. Now Microsoft insists I use Skydrive. I am still very much undecided on whether I like it or if I am going to uninstall it. It will be interesting when I do daycare books at the end of the month. I was using Excel 2007. This computer came with Office 2010. Sure hope there isn’t a lot of difference there. One think I do like about this computer, no actually two things, NO DUCKTAPE and it starts every time without jiggling the screen or rebooting 10 times for it to come on. They say it is good to challenge your mind as you age to keep it working and alert. Well, after I figure all this out, I should be VERY alert and all brain functions should be good to go or I will be a total basket case. Hopefully, in a couple of months, I will decide that I like Windows 8 as much as I did Windows 7. 

Keep your fingers crossed.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Dancing Nativity scene


Our little 3 yr. old daycare gal has been enjoying the nativity set in the bay windows. She rearranges them every morning and we put them back like I think they should be before she heads home. This morning she arranged them totally different than the past mornings. Doesn't it look like some sort of dance going on? She takes dance and the Christmas recital is coming up, so she is constantly practicing her moves. She must have thought they should dance, too. And shouldn’t we all. Out of the mouths of babes.

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10 -11

Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! Psalm 149:3





Notice the camel. Not sure what the point is of the dog on the camel. Hee hee
                                                           
                                                           Enjoy the season.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Things that go 'bang' in the night.

What a night. The wind blew all day yesterday and most of the night. One of the things about old houses, something always rattles or bangs during winding nights. Another thing about our house, when the wind is in the North, it is super warm in here. In fact, our bedroom is like a sauna.Way too hot for a good night sleep. When the winds are in the South, it is cold in here.  Winds, out of the North, gusting to 40 miles a hour, something banging in the night and a hubby still coughing, made for one short night. I am tired. This could be a long day.

It is 3 above zero with the wind chill minus 15. Here is the view out our sunroom this morning. Don't think we will be using that room for a while.


Have a good Monday and if you are where the weather is cold, stay warm. I am hoping I can stay in all day. 

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Easy Homemade Salami and Old Fashioned Fudge


Slowing but surely, I am getting ready for our family Christmas next week. Yesterday, I made homemade Salami.  My mother –in-law gave me this recipe fifty years ago. She made it every Christmas and it was always a hit. My in-laws owned the local locker/butcher shop back then so the meat was always the best around. I have been making it every year since I received the recipe. It is so simple and makes a great gift. Kids love its mild favor. And so do adults.

Homemade Salami

4 Lbs hamburger. Can use half ground pork and half beef.
 2 cups water

Add to the water:

4 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp onion powder
½  tsp garlic powder
5 Tablespoons  Morton Tender Quick Salt( a curing salt)

Add to meat and mix well. Your hands work the best. Wet hands and Shape into 3 rolls. Wrap in foil shining side in. Refrig for 24 hours.
Poke holes in bottom of rolls and place on a cookie sheet with a rack.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Before baking, ready for its 24 hour curing time.
After time in the oven.

And, of course, like every year, we have to taste it. Make sure it is good to give as gifts..
Salami

I am hoping my hubby is up to making fudge today. Every Christmas since we had kids old enough to eat fudge, my hubby makes his old fashioned  fudge recipe. It, too, is a recipe from his mother.

Old Fashioned Cocoa Fudge

2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ cup milk
¼ stick butter
1 tsp vanilla

Lightly grease 9” pan thoroughly. Combine dry ingredients  in a heavy sauce pan. Stir in milk. Bring to a bubbly boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once boiling, boil without stirring to 234 f (soft-ball stage) or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a soft ball.
Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla. Do not stir*. Cool at room temp. to 110 ( pan is barely warm to touch) Beat with wooden spoon until fudge thickens and loses its gloss. Quickly spread in pan. Coo completely cut into 1 inch squares.

*Hubby starts beating instantly at this point.

No marshmallow crème for him or candy thermometer.
This, too, we give as gifts.

As one granddaughter said when I mentioned that, maybe, Grandpa wouldn’t be up to making fudge this year “ wouldn't be Christmas without Grandpa’s fudge”.

Have a good weekend.



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Have you ever cooked/baked with Lavender?


This morning, while checking my twitter account, I noticed a tweet about culinary Lavender. Never knew there was such a thing. Decided to check it out on Swagbucks. As I figured it is dried edible lavender flowers.  The first site went on about making sure you used safe Lavender, free from pesticides and chemicals. That made sense. I wouldn’t want to make anyone sick or worse, dead. It said that some Lavender is better suited for cough drops, some salads, cookies or tea. “A bundle added to the grill to smoke meats adds a lovely flavor”. Now I was curious. I wanted to know what it tastes like. So, on with the hunt.  

Here are a couple of answers I found.
You can substitute lavender for thyme or marjoram.
A sweet flavor with just a touch of citrus.



 But the best answer I found was this:
“At first bite, lavender tastes exactly like it smells: a little bit like evergreen, a little bit like  mint, a little bit like rosemary and a little bit like flowers -- spicy flowers. Lavender is surprisingly peppery.”

You can read more about it here.

Found recipes here:

I used to grow lavender. I think I will plant some come spring.

Have you ever cooked with Lavender? Did you like the taste?
Let me know, please.

Take care.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Orange and yellow car.


I decided, that since I am not doing cartwheels just yet, that I would do Wordless Wednesday. Or, at the least, fewer words. Hubby and I are feeling lots better but not up to par, yet. Did do daycare today, tho.


Take care, and stay well.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Weather matches how I Feel

A dreary Monday morning here. Matches how hubby and I are feeling. He is back in bed and I am sitting here waiting for the Dr. office to open. If we hadn't had the flu shots, I would say we have the flu.  I haven't  called off a daycare very many times over the years but I knew, if I didn't, it would be a supper long day. Hope the Doc gives some magic pill.

I felt pretty good yesterday evening. Even took a couple of shots of the sunset. I never get tired of it.





Have a good Monday.

A big P.S. We DO have the flu. And we had the flu shots. What a bummer.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

It is a very foggy moring in my part of the world. I have a ton of things I want to get done today, but here I sit, watching football. I do have a pot of hamburger/vegetable soup on the stove simmering. Oh and I did venture out to feed the birds. It is like a warm spring day out,except it is December 1. Not your typical Iowa morning. Came back in and grabbed my camera. I should just hang it around my neck. That way it would be handy. Seems like I am always finding something to capture with it. 



Take care and Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Time for Christmas Decorating-Nativity sets


I always start my decorating by setting up my Nativity sets.

And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2:12  

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16  
 

This is the first Nativity set that I purchased, 50 years ago this month, for our first Christmas. It has many nicks from being "loved" over the years, but it is still a favorite.


This one has been nice because the kids can re-arrange it without a problem. It is pretty indestructible. 


As you can tell, it has the touch of a three year old.
"Animals on the one side and people on the other side"




The next two are fragile so they are up where little hands can't reach.





            And last but not least, The Willow Tree Nativity Set.


     Oh, A Crocheted Finger Puppet Nativity Set, for the kids.
                      


Here is a Nativity set I made for my daughter and family, 20 plus years ago. Made from Plastic Canvas.




If all goes well, the tree and the Santa collection will come out this weekend.

Have  a good weekend, everyone. Enjoy.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Hot tub for the birds.




I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen Tuesday morning getting dinner (our noon meal) in the oven. And there was a steady parade of birds between the feeders and the birdbath. I think the key to a lot of birds in the winter is a heated birdbath. It is a hot tub for the birds and they love it.  So do the squirrels. They had a drink or two but I had my hands in the meatball mixture and was unable to  get a picture of them at the birdbath.

Top left, clockwise: nuthatch, flicker, blue jay, junco



Top left, clockwise: Goldfinch, more goldfinch, blue jay, house sparrow.





Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Oops, I goofed


I had some problems posting yesterday's post on my blog. The script was highlighted and I had no idea how to get rid of it. Somehow, not sure how, I got it right. Well, I had various versions on my blog so I decided to delete the highlighted ones. And you guessed it, I deleted the Sky is on Fire post, too. Some days,  a person should just let it go and do something else. Some of my followers have asked about it, wondering where my sunset pictures went, so I am re-posting the sunset pictures.





See you tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Iowa Eagles



Just about everyone here in Iowa has heard of the Decorah Eagles. Their nest is 80 ft up in a cottonwood tree, above a fish hatchery in Decorah Iowa. The Decorah Eagles have been a pair since 2007. They have fledged 14 eaglets since then. We have been very fortunate to have the Decorah Eagles live cam program. The Decorah Eagle cam went worldwide in 2011 and has had over 250 million viewers in almost 200 countries. It is very popular with school kids world over. My daycare kids love watching the eagles, from the time the eggs hatch till the eaglets fledge. Sure hope the Eagles choose the old nest over the new one.

Mom and Dad

  
“Oct 26, 2012: The Decorah Eagles Have Surprised Us With A New Nest.
In addition to working on their nest, the Decorah Eagles have begun building and alternate nest. Multiple nest building is fairly common among Bald Eagles and we don’t yet know which nest they will choose for 2013. We absolutely cannot install cameras at the new nest tree this year, so we may not see the Decorah Eagles for the rest of the 2012-2013 season. We’ll miss watching them online, but it is exciting to see them building their new nest. Once again, Mom and Dad are giving us fresh insights into the lives of bald eagles! Stay tuned for updates and information as the season progresses. If the eagles choose the new nest, we will post mages and possibly video to facebook and our blog”


This is a very interesting documentary on the lives of the Decorah Eagles.

PBS Documentary of Decorah Eagle

Friday, November 23, 2012

Too Windy for Me


Dinner was at number 1 daughters this year.  The daughters rotate so it at a different daughter's every year. Daughter number 1 lives in rural Iowa, about a half hour drive from Des Moines. 





It is about a 2 hour drive for us. Almost all interstate, so it is a pretty easy drive till you reach D.M. Then the traffic can get heavy.

Des Moines is the state capitol of Iowa. It has a very impressive capitol building. Yes, that is real gold on the Dome of the Capitol building.. 





This year the weather was warm, with temperatures in uppers 60’s. But so very windy. Daughters and I had planned to take a walk after dinner instead of sitting around .But the winds changed those plans. They sat on the deck enjoying the warmth of the sun and the scenery. I stayed inside, I hate wind.




Iowa is so windy most of year that a lot of wind farms have sprung up. There are a couple of pretty good size ones not far from our town. I find them very fascinating.  Love watching them spin.



It was a very relaxing Thanksgiving. Lots of visiting, some football watching and lots of laughs. A very good Thanksgiving. 


Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.


Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for: Our family, our health, our homes, our jobs, living in a country where we don’t have to worry about roadside bombs or missiles, refrigerator and pantry filled with food, for friends and freedom to worship as we please.

These photos were on a social media site today. I think they are ones that we should keep in mind,especially in the next few days.





"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 107:1




HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Enjoy your families and friends.






P.S.  Know anyone who might want to be vision or mobility teachers?  All in this program thus far have been hired in Iowa. Iowa has quite a few TVIs who will likely retire in the next few years, so this is a  good  opportunity.

IESBVI Staff,
We have re-opened the Grow Your Own Scholarship program and will be taking applications through December 14th, 2012. As active members of the vision community, your referrals are the strongest encouragement to get others interested in the field. Please forward the attached announcement to anyone you think might be interested in starting, or continuing, a TVI or O&M program.

More information, including an informational presentation and application, can be found at - http://www.iowa-braille.k12.ia.us/vnews/display.v/ART/50aa3d0449ce7

Thank you!

Justin Ruegg
Director of Human Resources
Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Iowa Braille School
1002 G Avenue
Vinton, IA 52349
Phone (319) 472-5221 x 1226
Fax (319) 472-4371





Tuesday, November 20, 2012

It’s for the Birds.




I have bird feeders out my kitchen window. Takes your mind off the chore at hand, when you can look out and see what birds are out there. Today,I glanced out, as always, and the feeders had the usual goldfinch feeding. We have a huge flock of those around all the time. But there was this bigger red bird sharing the feeder with them. At first, I thought it was a cardinal, till it turned  around. And, oh my, what a strange looking beak.It has a thick,curved bill with crossed tips.I grabbed my camera and, lucky for me, he  isn't a timid bird. I was able to take a couple of pictures.






When the kids were taking their naps today, I sat down at my computer  and did some searching. It is a Red Crossbill.  Seems like this isn’t it natural range.

This is what I found on allaboutbirds.org.
” A stocky finch of mature coniferous forests, the Red Crossbill is dependent on the seed cones that are its main food. Its peculiar bill allows it access to the seeds”.

Sounds like seeing it in our area is rare. I checked a couple of times  during the day, and never did see  it again.

Speaking of “ its for the birds” is anyone doing the Black Friday sales? I think they are for the birds. Maybe not the sales, but getting up that early to shop is definitely “for the birds” in my book.

Enjoy your evening.


p.s. I added three new cards to my Christmas Cards page. Check them out.