This past weekend, I finally was able to spend time with a woman that I had met through the HGTV Dream House blog. While commenting and posting on that blog, we realized that because I lived in SLC and she lived in Midway, Utah, that it wasn't out of the realm of possibility we could actually meet face to face. The opportunity to finally say "Howdy" in person came about because I found myself in Midway last weekend and a day with time on my hands.
We had been able to use my BIL's vacation home in Midway for some family time with kids and grandkids. They all went home after 3 days and hubby and I stayed an extra day. I decided to email Beehive (the moniker she used on the blog) to ask if she had the time to get together for a bit. She did!
From the moment that we sat down in the Fill'r Up Coffee Station in Midway-she with her coffee and me with my skim milk- we were fast friends. It's been a long time since I've had a connection like that. Over my years of marriage, we've moved a lot. I know many women in several communities, but I'd put the majority of them in the category of acquaintances. That has particularly been the case since moving back to Salt Lake City. The women that I've met since moving back here are all wonderful gals. However, because of their deep, long history with each other, it's been difficult to develop any significant relationships. And due to the nature of LDS ward boundaries, sometimes those relationships have dwindled because we moved. It's probably mostly my fault, but that's the case. Anyway....back to Beehive and me.
We discovered that we have so much in common, from having hearing loss, loving the same authors, agreeing that the worse book we had ever read was "Twilight" and using the same brand of moisturizer. It was uncanny. I asked her "Are you sure that we aren't twins separated at birth?" Beehive is a master quilter. So we went over to the local fabric shop where it was decided that she'd teach me to quilt. Then she drove me all over Midway to show me her favorite places in town. I told her that my husband and I were toying with the idea of actually moving to Midway (that's another post by itself). She then said "You should rent something to see if you like it here." and she knew of a couple of places that might be available in the future. She told me in an email sent since we got back to SLC that she could visualize me living in her neighborhood and teaching me to quilt. She's also been on the hunt for possible rentals.
I'm headed back to Midway next week to spend time with her and the local church ladies, as she calls them, to help make Swiss bread for the Swiss Days celebration in September. I'll also have my first quilting lesson. Beehive and I have both said that we were meant to meet. Funny that it would be through a public blog sponsored by a cable channel. Who would have thought?
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Getting Some Zzzzz....
It's a known fact that as people age, mainly women, falling asleep and staying asleep is a problem. I've battled this problem for years. I'll go to bed physically and mentally exhausted, but don't fall asleep - sometimes it takes hours. I avoid anything with caffine in it after about 3 pm because caffine keeps me awake. The situation isn't helped when the hubby falls asleep in minutes and is snoring loudly. It's really frustrating. Sometimes, I've used OTC sleep aids, but they take a long time work and don't always work for me. I also have a prescription for Ambien. But you can't take that every night.
Recently, I saw a piece on television or the internet, (I don't remember which) that addressed this problem. There was the usual information, except for one little tidbit..."lie still on your back, try to relax your entire body and then breathe in deeply through your nose, hold for a couple of seconds, and then breathe out through your mouth. Do this for several minutes.".
Since I had taken at least half an Ambien every night for the past week and didn't want to continue that pattern, I decided to try this three nights ago. I was skeptical. I realized the next morning that I hadn't tossed and turned for an hour or more before going to sleep. Coincidence, I thought. So I tried the method the next night. I had the same results. Still a little skeptical, I did the breathing last night and had the same results. I fell asleep quickly (for me) and slept rather soundly until I had to get up to use the bathroom at about 4:30.
Historically, if I have to use the bathroom during the night, it takes me a long time to get back to sleep...particularly if it's around 4 am or so. Often, I never get back to sleep. So I tried the breathing method after returning to bed. I slept for another 2 hours.
Could it be that I have found a solution to my sleep problem? If so, "Hallelujah!!" The true test will be when I try this when I'm away from home, traveling. Ambien is usually the solution in that scenario.
Recently, I saw a piece on television or the internet, (I don't remember which) that addressed this problem. There was the usual information, except for one little tidbit..."lie still on your back, try to relax your entire body and then breathe in deeply through your nose, hold for a couple of seconds, and then breathe out through your mouth. Do this for several minutes.".
Since I had taken at least half an Ambien every night for the past week and didn't want to continue that pattern, I decided to try this three nights ago. I was skeptical. I realized the next morning that I hadn't tossed and turned for an hour or more before going to sleep. Coincidence, I thought. So I tried the method the next night. I had the same results. Still a little skeptical, I did the breathing last night and had the same results. I fell asleep quickly (for me) and slept rather soundly until I had to get up to use the bathroom at about 4:30.
Historically, if I have to use the bathroom during the night, it takes me a long time to get back to sleep...particularly if it's around 4 am or so. Often, I never get back to sleep. So I tried the breathing method after returning to bed. I slept for another 2 hours.
Could it be that I have found a solution to my sleep problem? If so, "Hallelujah!!" The true test will be when I try this when I'm away from home, traveling. Ambien is usually the solution in that scenario.
Friday, January 6, 2012
No Kidding
My six year old grandson is a very literal boy. He has never been one to understand the kidding and joking that you sometimes do with kids. His grandpa came up with a nickname for him several years ago. Many times when Grandpa has called him "Pookie Boo", my grandson would respond "I'm not Pookie Boo. I'm Aidan.".
When he draws a picture of something, he does his best to make his picture look exactly like the object. Once he got very upset with his sister when she drew a picture of their family. She had given her mother dark hair (she's a blonde) and their Dad blonde hair (his is dark). Also, in her picture, Dad was shorter than Mom. (Dad is over 6' and Mom is about 5'3".) To calm him down, I had to explain to him about artistic license and that it was OK for Emily to give their Mom brown hair. She was the artist, after all.
Last evening, he was spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa. He overheard our casual conversation about money. Grandpa said, "Well, you know, money makes the world go 'round.". Aidan promptly told Grandpa, "Money doesn't make the world go around" ... and then proceeded with his six year old understanding of the solar system.
Of course, Aidan....thanks for setting Grandpa straight.
When he draws a picture of something, he does his best to make his picture look exactly like the object. Once he got very upset with his sister when she drew a picture of their family. She had given her mother dark hair (she's a blonde) and their Dad blonde hair (his is dark). Also, in her picture, Dad was shorter than Mom. (Dad is over 6' and Mom is about 5'3".) To calm him down, I had to explain to him about artistic license and that it was OK for Emily to give their Mom brown hair. She was the artist, after all.
Last evening, he was spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa. He overheard our casual conversation about money. Grandpa said, "Well, you know, money makes the world go 'round.". Aidan promptly told Grandpa, "Money doesn't make the world go around" ... and then proceeded with his six year old understanding of the solar system.
Of course, Aidan....thanks for setting Grandpa straight.
Friday, December 16, 2011
A Small Christmas Scene
My friend, travelinoma, has once again sparked an idea for a blog post. She has a way of doing that with her blog. A Christmas scene that I'll remember from this year occurred last Monday night. I have to admit that if I had had my way it might not have happened.
My husband and I were having a discussion last week about when we would put up the live Christmas tree. Knowing I had to make Eggless cake before this could happen, I looked at my personal schedule to see when I had time. I thought I had it all figured out when my husband said "We have to get the kids here when we decorate the tree. We've always done that." Not wanting to add another event to a busy Christmas calendar, I shot back with "That's only because they were living with us at the time. We haven't had that as a tradition." Quite a bit of discussion ensued concerning the validity of this tradition. Both of us were digging in on the issue. I evenutally realized that there was no way that I'd get his cooperation in getting the tree up without the kids involved.
I shot off an email to the local kids and suggested a couple of dates. When I told my husband that it would be a week before all the moving parts could be put together, he objected. "We can't wait that long to put up a tree. Can't we do it Monday night?". It was Saturday night. With two of our kids in the middle of college finals and the other family having two little ones that needed to get to bed early on a school night, I was doubtful that any of them would be able to come. And with my personal schedule, I didn't know when I'd find time to make Eggless between Saturday evening and Monday evening. I couldn't make it too far in advance or my husband would eat most of it before Monday. He also told me that we had to feed everyone supper and ordering in pizza wouldn't cut it.
With a bit of a "bah, humbug" attitude, I made three phone calls. Imagine my surprise when each invitation was accepted. The two college age kids told me they couldn't stay long, but they'd be there, along with my daughter with the two school age children. In order to pull the tree trimming evening off, my husband was given the task of buying a Christmas tree without my input and going to the grocery store to pick up a few things needed to make soup. I got to the task of making Eggless cake and soup Monday afternoon after work.
If I had gotten my way, I would have missed the scene of my daughter putting the lights on the Christmas tree. There never would have been the scene of Grandpa, with grandkids on his lap, as one played an educational a game on the laptop and the other played a game on his iPhone, or of them being excited to help put ornaments on the Christmas tree. I would have missed the scene of us around the dining room table visiting and laughing. There never would have been the scene of my four year old granddaughter being held up by her uncle so that she could put the star on the top of the Christmas tree.
There were other little scenes all night long. For me, the entire evening couldn't have been better. And to think that it almost didn't happen...at all.
My husband and I were having a discussion last week about when we would put up the live Christmas tree. Knowing I had to make Eggless cake before this could happen, I looked at my personal schedule to see when I had time. I thought I had it all figured out when my husband said "We have to get the kids here when we decorate the tree. We've always done that." Not wanting to add another event to a busy Christmas calendar, I shot back with "That's only because they were living with us at the time. We haven't had that as a tradition." Quite a bit of discussion ensued concerning the validity of this tradition. Both of us were digging in on the issue. I evenutally realized that there was no way that I'd get his cooperation in getting the tree up without the kids involved.
I shot off an email to the local kids and suggested a couple of dates. When I told my husband that it would be a week before all the moving parts could be put together, he objected. "We can't wait that long to put up a tree. Can't we do it Monday night?". It was Saturday night. With two of our kids in the middle of college finals and the other family having two little ones that needed to get to bed early on a school night, I was doubtful that any of them would be able to come. And with my personal schedule, I didn't know when I'd find time to make Eggless between Saturday evening and Monday evening. I couldn't make it too far in advance or my husband would eat most of it before Monday. He also told me that we had to feed everyone supper and ordering in pizza wouldn't cut it.
With a bit of a "bah, humbug" attitude, I made three phone calls. Imagine my surprise when each invitation was accepted. The two college age kids told me they couldn't stay long, but they'd be there, along with my daughter with the two school age children. In order to pull the tree trimming evening off, my husband was given the task of buying a Christmas tree without my input and going to the grocery store to pick up a few things needed to make soup. I got to the task of making Eggless cake and soup Monday afternoon after work.
If I had gotten my way, I would have missed the scene of my daughter putting the lights on the Christmas tree. There never would have been the scene of Grandpa, with grandkids on his lap, as one played an educational a game on the laptop and the other played a game on his iPhone, or of them being excited to help put ornaments on the Christmas tree. I would have missed the scene of us around the dining room table visiting and laughing. There never would have been the scene of my four year old granddaughter being held up by her uncle so that she could put the star on the top of the Christmas tree.
There were other little scenes all night long. For me, the entire evening couldn't have been better. And to think that it almost didn't happen...at all.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
For Anonymous
Anonymous left a request for the Eggless Cake recipe, but didn't leave a link so I could respond back to her/him directly. Anonymous, I hope you are checking back.
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
3 tsp cinnamon*
3 tsp nutmeg*
1 1/2 tsp ground clove*
1 1/2 cups raisins*
*My husband has requested more of the spices, so I always use heaping teaspoons. And, according to him, you can never have too many raisins or walnuts. I usually put in more than 1 1/2 cups of raisins.
Heat until shortening is completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool. While mixture is cooling, grease and flour loaf pans. (2 - 9 1/4 x 5 1/4 pans or 3 - 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 pans). Note: even though I regularly use a vegetable spray on other pans when doing baking, I've never used it when making Eggless. So I have no idea if the cakes will come out of the pans easily if vegetable spray is used.)
To mixture in the pan add:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Mix well. (This can be done by hand. I use my electric hand mixture right in the pot. I guess you could transfer everything from the pot to the bowl of a stand mixer, but it just adds one more thing to clean up.)
Stir in 1 to 2 cups chopped walnuts. (Chop if you want. I use walnut halves and pieces and just break up the large pieces with my hand.)
When done, remove it from the pan immediately on to a cooling rack. (turn pan upside down and lift it off) Ideally, it should cool completely before cutting, but that rarely happens at our house. My husband likes it cut in about 1/2" to 1" slices. My mother made a similar bread that she cut in narrower slices and served with butter spread on it.
Eggless freezes well and travels well. My MIL use to send it to Ireland to her son who was serving a mission there. This was back before the days of FEDEX. My BIL said it always arrived in good shape and tasted great. In Ireland, Eggless became known as Carol's Cake (Carol was my MIL's name).
Over the years, I have made multiple recipes of Eggless and baked it in small disposable mini loaf pans. When using these pans, I don't remove the cake from the pan after baking. These mini loaves have gone to neighbors and friends. Since I am now the only one in my husband's family who makes Eggless, I have to make sure that my BILs get their Eggless at Christmas as well.
And just in case you are wondering the calorie count? Do you really want to know? Several years ago, my husband figured it out, as best he could. One recipe of Eggless is 4153 calories and 59% fat. I guess it's a good thing that it's only made once a year, because he can easily consume an entire batch of Eggless.
There will be no picture of the finished product. I most likely won't be making Eggless for a couple of more weeks.
** When I first starting making Eggless, I had a cheap set of pots and pans. The largest pot from that set was what I used to make Eggless. Later when I got a better set of pots and pans, I still used that original cheap pot. About 15 years ago, I got a set of expensive All Clad cookware. But Eggless was still made in that original pot. I guess that I didn't want to mess with the success of the original Eggless. A couple of years ago, I decided to use the large All Clad pot when I made a batch of Eggless. I learned that cheap or expensive, it really didn't matter. That original pot just sits at the back of the cupboard, now. I can't quite get rid of it.
Eggless Cake:
Preheat oven to 325
In a large heavy pan:**
1 2/3 cup shortening2 cups sugar
2 cups water
3 tsp cinnamon*
3 tsp nutmeg*
1 1/2 tsp ground clove*
1 1/2 cups raisins*
*My husband has requested more of the spices, so I always use heaping teaspoons. And, according to him, you can never have too many raisins or walnuts. I usually put in more than 1 1/2 cups of raisins.
Heat until shortening is completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool. While mixture is cooling, grease and flour loaf pans. (2 - 9 1/4 x 5 1/4 pans or 3 - 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 pans). Note: even though I regularly use a vegetable spray on other pans when doing baking, I've never used it when making Eggless. So I have no idea if the cakes will come out of the pans easily if vegetable spray is used.)
To mixture in the pan add:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Mix well. (This can be done by hand. I use my electric hand mixture right in the pot. I guess you could transfer everything from the pot to the bowl of a stand mixer, but it just adds one more thing to clean up.)
Stir in 1 to 2 cups chopped walnuts. (Chop if you want. I use walnut halves and pieces and just break up the large pieces with my hand.)
Pour into the prepared loaf pans. Bake at 325 for about 50 to 55 minutes. Be sure to leave some in the pan because you (or in my house, my husband) will want to lick the pan, the beaters, stirring spoon......DO NOT OVERCOOK or it will be too dry! I've been making this for so many years that I can tell when it's finished just by looking at it in the oven and lightly pressing my finger on the top. I would guess that if a toothpick was inserted in the middle, it should come out fairly clean with maybe a few crumbs attached.
 |
| My 30 year old, hand written Eggless Cake recipe |
When done, remove it from the pan immediately on to a cooling rack. (turn pan upside down and lift it off) Ideally, it should cool completely before cutting, but that rarely happens at our house. My husband likes it cut in about 1/2" to 1" slices. My mother made a similar bread that she cut in narrower slices and served with butter spread on it.
Eggless freezes well and travels well. My MIL use to send it to Ireland to her son who was serving a mission there. This was back before the days of FEDEX. My BIL said it always arrived in good shape and tasted great. In Ireland, Eggless became known as Carol's Cake (Carol was my MIL's name).
Over the years, I have made multiple recipes of Eggless and baked it in small disposable mini loaf pans. When using these pans, I don't remove the cake from the pan after baking. These mini loaves have gone to neighbors and friends. Since I am now the only one in my husband's family who makes Eggless, I have to make sure that my BILs get their Eggless at Christmas as well.
And just in case you are wondering the calorie count? Do you really want to know? Several years ago, my husband figured it out, as best he could. One recipe of Eggless is 4153 calories and 59% fat. I guess it's a good thing that it's only made once a year, because he can easily consume an entire batch of Eggless.
There will be no picture of the finished product. I most likely won't be making Eggless for a couple of more weeks.
** When I first starting making Eggless, I had a cheap set of pots and pans. The largest pot from that set was what I used to make Eggless. Later when I got a better set of pots and pans, I still used that original cheap pot. About 15 years ago, I got a set of expensive All Clad cookware. But Eggless was still made in that original pot. I guess that I didn't want to mess with the success of the original Eggless. A couple of years ago, I decided to use the large All Clad pot when I made a batch of Eggless. I learned that cheap or expensive, it really didn't matter. That original pot just sits at the back of the cupboard, now. I can't quite get rid of it.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Christmas Magic
My friend, TravelinOma, asked this question on her blog, "What unique Christmas traditions bring magic into your home?". That's an easy one for me to answer.
Christmas doesn't really start at our house until I've made Eggless Cake. Eggless Cake is something that my mother in law made only at Christmas time. It's filled with nuts, raisins and wonderful smelling cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. After I had been married to my husband for a few years, he asked me to make Eggless for him. I called my mother in law for the recipe. She felt that I could only learn the proper way to make Eggless and have it be successful was to make my first Eggless under her watchful eye. I wasn't able to do that, but fortunately, my first effort was a success. I've been on my own with Eggless baking ever since. My mother in law gave me the ultimate compliment when after eating some of my Eggless, she said, "This is better than what I make.".
Eggless smells wonderful as it's being mixed up and cooking in the oven. The aroma of the cinnamon, nutmeg and clove fill the house. At some point early in our marriage, my husband insisted that I had to make Eggless before we could decorate the tree. It has been our tradition for many, many years. It takes some planning on my part to be sure Eggless baking and tree decorating coincide. I also make small Eggless cakes to give to friends at Christmas. Since none of my sister in laws like Eggless, they don't make it. So now, the only way my husband's brothers get Eggless at Christmas is if I make some to give to them.
Only half of my kids like Eggless cake and I don't think that the baking of Eggless necessarily brought the magic of Christmas into our home for them. But it did and still does for my husband and me.
Christmas doesn't really start at our house until I've made Eggless Cake. Eggless Cake is something that my mother in law made only at Christmas time. It's filled with nuts, raisins and wonderful smelling cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. After I had been married to my husband for a few years, he asked me to make Eggless for him. I called my mother in law for the recipe. She felt that I could only learn the proper way to make Eggless and have it be successful was to make my first Eggless under her watchful eye. I wasn't able to do that, but fortunately, my first effort was a success. I've been on my own with Eggless baking ever since. My mother in law gave me the ultimate compliment when after eating some of my Eggless, she said, "This is better than what I make.".
Eggless smells wonderful as it's being mixed up and cooking in the oven. The aroma of the cinnamon, nutmeg and clove fill the house. At some point early in our marriage, my husband insisted that I had to make Eggless before we could decorate the tree. It has been our tradition for many, many years. It takes some planning on my part to be sure Eggless baking and tree decorating coincide. I also make small Eggless cakes to give to friends at Christmas. Since none of my sister in laws like Eggless, they don't make it. So now, the only way my husband's brothers get Eggless at Christmas is if I make some to give to them.
Only half of my kids like Eggless cake and I don't think that the baking of Eggless necessarily brought the magic of Christmas into our home for them. But it did and still does for my husband and me.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
All Wrapped Up.
My friend over at http://www.travelinoma.blogspot.com/ has a post today about Christmas. She has asked her readers to answer some questions about Christmas magic, traditions, how to deal with the "is Santa Claus real" question and a few others. I could post a comment directly on her blog. But since my response will probably be kind of long, I'm posting it here and will link from her blog.
One of her questions was "What is the most stressful thing about Christmas?". That got me thinking. When I had little kids at home the most stressful thing was getting all the presents wrapped. For me, this project usually waited until Christmas Eve which meant that the process didn't start until all the Christmas Eve activities were over and the kids were in bed and asleep. The task of wrapping Christmas presents didn't start until well after 11 PM, if I was lucky.
One year, as my husband and I were wrapping Christmas presents, adding bows and name tags to each gift for our five kids, I said to him, "There's got to be a better way.". This comment probably came on a year when we had hosted the Christmas Eve dinner for his entire family. I was already spent and still had the present wrapping to deal with. It was probably more than 20 years ago. But I clearly remember sitting on the floor in our family room surrounded by presents, wrapping paper, bows and gift tags, exhausted and not too happy that I still had this chore to tackle.
Well, it's said that necessity is the mother of invention. So I came up with a better way. The next year, the first thing I bought was wrapping paper. I had decided that each child would have their own wrapping paper - like color coding. I had my own guidelines as to what the wrapping paper should look like. It had to be primarily green or red, and the theme of the paper had to relate to something about the child. I had fun going through all the wrapping paper selections at my favorite store, thinking about each child as I selected a pattern.
With the wrapping paper on hand, the next process was easy. I wrapped the presents as I brought them in the house. I could do this during the day because most of the kids were in school. Then I would put the wrapped packages in my Christmas hiding place. I figured if the kids found them, which I was told later that they often did, all they would find were wrapped presents. After a few years of wrapping paper coding their presents, they told me that if they found the gifts, it was fun for them to try and guess which wrapping paper held their presents.
Color coding the presents solved a couple of other stress inducers....no need for gift tags and when it came time for my husband to set out the presents from Santa, all I had to do was tell him which wrapping paper was for which kid. Next year, the left over wrapping paper was used for gifts going out of the house.
This may not be an original idea. But for me, it was certainly an "a ha moment" that made a big difference with my stress level at Christmas.
One of her questions was "What is the most stressful thing about Christmas?". That got me thinking. When I had little kids at home the most stressful thing was getting all the presents wrapped. For me, this project usually waited until Christmas Eve which meant that the process didn't start until all the Christmas Eve activities were over and the kids were in bed and asleep. The task of wrapping Christmas presents didn't start until well after 11 PM, if I was lucky.
One year, as my husband and I were wrapping Christmas presents, adding bows and name tags to each gift for our five kids, I said to him, "There's got to be a better way.". This comment probably came on a year when we had hosted the Christmas Eve dinner for his entire family. I was already spent and still had the present wrapping to deal with. It was probably more than 20 years ago. But I clearly remember sitting on the floor in our family room surrounded by presents, wrapping paper, bows and gift tags, exhausted and not too happy that I still had this chore to tackle.
Well, it's said that necessity is the mother of invention. So I came up with a better way. The next year, the first thing I bought was wrapping paper. I had decided that each child would have their own wrapping paper - like color coding. I had my own guidelines as to what the wrapping paper should look like. It had to be primarily green or red, and the theme of the paper had to relate to something about the child. I had fun going through all the wrapping paper selections at my favorite store, thinking about each child as I selected a pattern.
With the wrapping paper on hand, the next process was easy. I wrapped the presents as I brought them in the house. I could do this during the day because most of the kids were in school. Then I would put the wrapped packages in my Christmas hiding place. I figured if the kids found them, which I was told later that they often did, all they would find were wrapped presents. After a few years of wrapping paper coding their presents, they told me that if they found the gifts, it was fun for them to try and guess which wrapping paper held their presents.
Color coding the presents solved a couple of other stress inducers....no need for gift tags and when it came time for my husband to set out the presents from Santa, all I had to do was tell him which wrapping paper was for which kid. Next year, the left over wrapping paper was used for gifts going out of the house.
This may not be an original idea. But for me, it was certainly an "a ha moment" that made a big difference with my stress level at Christmas.
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