Advent Conspiracy

My awesome friend Elysa posted this on her blog.

Thanksgiving Day

The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbour by William Halsall

"The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving."
~H.U. Westermayer

Honey Bunches

Yummy, Yummy, YUMMY!....and no sugar.

Honey Bunches

1 stick of butter
1 1/2 c. quick oats
1/2 c. coconut
1/2c. chopped walnuts
1/4 c. flour
2/3 c. honey
24 walnut halves

Preheat oven to 350. Butter mini-muffin tin. In small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine oats, coconut, chopped walnuts & flour. Once butter is melted, add honey to saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Pour over dry ingredients- mix well. Press 1 TBSP of mixture into each mini-muffin cup. Bake until just beginning to brown...15-20 min. Remove from oven-- immediately press walnut half into each honey bunch. Let cool 10 minutes in pan before transferring to wire rack. Cool completely. Store in air tight container. Deliver to 246 East Mountain Creek road.... ;-)

Memories!!!

My girlfriend Elysa tagged me with this Childhood Memory Meme. (I have no idea what any of that means. It's Bloggerese, I guess.) It's much easier to do these things with my sister Robin, so I hope she'll comment and fill in whatever I left out.


1.)Romper Stompers...little yellow upside down buckets with green plastic straps for handles. LOVED 'EM!

2.) Government cheese...awesome. Seriously.

3.) I remember seeing a lobster in the fridge and I PROMISE you it had blue eyes. I screamed and closed the door.

4.) When it rained in the summer time, mom let us play outside in our swimsuits. Until it started to thunder, of course, and then we ran inside and mom then made us sit in the hallway (no windows there) until the storm passed. Both activities were great fun!

5.) Playing cards every Saturday. And losing. Badly.


6.)When I was 2ish, we lived in a tenament in New Bedford. The lady downstairs from us was named Mrs. Borden, and I think she used to babysit us. All I remember about this woman is her vast amount of candy sticks she kept on a sideboard in her apartment. I can still see the rows of swirled colors and remember how hard it was to choose one!

7.)I used to kick my sister when I got mad at her. Or bored. (I was a pesty little sister. I know it's hard to believe.) AnYwAy, she quickly learned to grab my foot when I kicked her, putting me in a very vunerable position while also providing proof to mom that I had been kicking her. One day, I must have really ticked her off. When I kicked her, she grabbed my foot REALLY quickly ...and hard, like she meant it. She put so much into it that she flipped me right off my foot and I *WACKED* my head on the not-carpeted-and-hard-as-a-rock floor. I don't remember it hurting. I just remember opening my mouth to scream bloody murder, and she was on me before i let out a peep, her hand over mouth and whispering, " I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry....sssshhhhh, please don't tell, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I think I laughed. It was pretty durn funny.

8.)"Freshen Up" gum..it squirted some green goo from it's center when you chewed it. It was supposed to freshen your breath. It was reeeeaaaaaallly sweet.

9.) My favorite soda was Mellow Yellow....I can't find it anywhere.

10.)We used to go rollerskating at Lincoln Park. You rented skates with metal wheels and skated on a wooden floor rink. Boy, you got up quickly when you fell there! Those metal wheels HURT. Everyone was really excited when a new rollerskating rink opened up in the next town. It was called "Hot Wheels" (late 70's y'all) and it had a shiny floor (vinyl, maybe..i don't know) that looked really slippery. The skates had plastic wheels and (gasp!) rubber toe stops. I remember how excited I was skating around that rink with my Shaun Cassidy jeans and shiny red satin Shaun Cassidy jacket!!! wooooo, baby!

11.) Decorating the Christmas tree...there is a right way to do this folks, and you had better NOT throw clumps of tinsel! Mom always played Christmas music (Supremes, Brenda Lee, Dean Martin, Beach Boys...and Elvis, of course). We ALWAYS, i repeat ALWAYS had a real tree. Sometimes it was a little skinny, but it was real and it smelled Gooooooood! Homemade unbreakable ornaments on the bottom and middle, delicate antique ornaments higher up. Be careful not to touch those bulbs because they are HOT once they've been on awhile!(I wasn't allowed to handle the delicate ornaments very often, for good reason. In fact, as a child my nickname was "Crash!") They claim I pulled the whole tree over on myself one year, but I don't remember that.

12.)One year we got a Blue Spruce Christmas tree..we decorated it with blue velvet ribbons and silver garland. It was beautiful. Just don't touch the dang thing because the needles will break skin. We had to wear gloves to decorate it.

13.) My sister had a doll that stood 3 feet high. She had a Laura Ingalls looking dress, petticoats and a bonnet that matched her dress. She stood in the corner of our room. One day, I gave her a haircut...I tried to feather her hair. Nobody was happy about this. She looked HORRIBLE! She only had hair in spots..it didn't feather..it was just gross. I'm still sorry about that. Not so bad that I stopped cutting hair though, as once can see my looking at my baby girl's new "supposed-to-be-a-shag" haircut. It's not a shag.

14. ) Mom's bedroom was OFF LIMITS! It was like the inner sanctum, the holy of holies...you go in there, you die. Now that I think about it, I need mom to come teach my children that about my bedroom. They just barge right in like they own the place. Anyway, my bedroom was directly across the hall from Mom's. When I was banished to my room for smart mouthing (my usual offense), I would take great pleasure in running across the hall into her room, looking into her dresser mirror and whispering, "I'm in your room!!!" and running back into my room. I felt like a spy...sneaking up to the doorway, peaking around the corner...then darting across the hall! Sometimes when I looked down the hall, I could see her...this really made it fun!!! She would be in her Boston rocker, recipe box in her lap, back to the hallway. ZIP! Across the hall, dance in front of the mirror, touch St. Teresa on the head, zip back. I wasn't allowed to touch ANYTHING on mom's dresser, least of all St. Teresa. I only did that once or twice, because I knew my history of breaking things would catch up with me and then I would be in it DEEP!

Man, I'm so dead after mom reads this.


15.) Camping, bikerides, picnics, lots of outdoor stuff. We were not girlie girls, no sirree!

16.) Tuesday nights were my favorite TV nights. Laverne and Shirly and Happy Days. My sister had plastic Fonzy cups!

That's all for now...I'm sure I've left out stuff that my sister will remember. If Mom doesn't kill me for the room thing, I'll post whatevr Robin sends.

*Friday 11/21/08* Robin's Memories

Boy are you going to be in trouble with Mom after she reads the room thing!!! Even I wouldn't be brave enough to tell her about ever entering her room...which of course I didn't...really.

For the record, you didn't pull over the Christmas tree. That was the year we decided to string cranberries and popcorn for the tree. However, since the tree was in a corner, we only put them on the front. Who knew cranberries were so heavy?

Romper stompers were great, but even better was waiting for Miss Diane from Romper Room to look into her "magic mirror" and see us. I waited week after week for her to say "...and I see Robin". I can't remember if she ever did. Maybe Mom does.

Rainy Saturday afternoons were also great for watching Godzilla on TV, playing ALL of Mom's 45 records (and of course singing along, badly!), and hot chocolate. Or maybe the three of us washing each other's hair in the kitchen sink. That was a treat! I still do that for Dani when she's had a particularly bad day.

The Thanksgiving you dropped the mashed potatoes...I'm still not sure what was so funny about that, I just remember we found it hysterical. Maybe it had something to do with the "plop" they made as the whole thing landed on the floor.

There were the summer evenings around the picnic table in the backyard with all our friends from "the village". We would have the radio or record player outside with us and just listen to music and talk for what seemed like forever. And Mom would always have something home baked for all of us to munch on.

The Blizzard of 78. I thought it was going to snow forever. We lost power and had a whole week off from school! I can still see the three of us suiting up and taking Shep for a walk to Apponagansett Beach. There were almost no cars on the road and it was so quiet. The snowdrifts were so high we walked OVER fences without realizing they were there!

Vavo's candy/doll room. We could look and admire, but never sit on or touch anything in that room! It was typical of every Portuguese grandmother to have a display room like that. It was reserved for family pictures, collectible dolls and figurines, beautiful glass and ceramic candy dishes (always filled!), and mementos from the "Old Country". A smart grandchild learned early not to touch! But in the kitchen, nothing was off limits. She would feed us the most wonderful food, until we were so full we couldn't move, even foods Mom would never let us have! With all that wonderful homemade Portuguese food, it was still such a thrill to have soda and Ring Dings. I pretty sure I can still get my foil wrapper smoother than your's!

I could go on forever, but my house isn't going to clean itself. Thanks for the walk down memory lane, it was wonderful. Feel free to post whatever you want. Love you!

Love, Robin

Isn't she great?

I'm Thankful

Here's a picture of the kids a couple of dogs ago. Abby wasn't here yet!

Here's my girlfriend AnnMarie Barnett and here sweet family, plus my kids. The Barnetts are one the main reasons I miss Texas. We're best buddies, our husbands are friends and our kids are friends and although we miss them terribly we usually get to see them once year. The Barnetts vacation east of us (Florida, Gulf Shores,etc.) so they stop in on their way home!


Abby & I when she was still shiny and new!!


I have alot more to be thankful for,but I'm out of time for now!

In case you need to know...

Only 42 days until Christmas. Click on Santa in the sidebar to view exactly how many days, hours and minutes until Christmas day!

Veteran's Day

My husband made this. He's awesome. Enjoy.

Eat Your Vegetables!!!

One thing I love about southerners is their ability to take a questionable vegetable, add the right amount of sugar and butter and make it dessert. Tonight we had chicken, green beans, rolls and butternut squash casserole. (or "Squad" if you ask Sammy.) The casserole really did double duty as dessert, and if you don't believe me, here's my proof. All, and i do mean ALL, of my children tried it. Four of them liked it, including Wyatt Henry, who asked for more! Ben gave the only "thumbs down", but the boy tried it! Anyway, here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Casserole
1 medium to large butternut squash
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 c milk
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp. coconut flavoring

Peel and chop squash, discard seeds. Boil until tender, drain. Mash (you need about 2 cups mashed squash). Combine all ingredients. Pour into lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until fimr in center.

Attention Jane Austen Fans!

Wyatt and I watched a great movie last night that no Austen fan should miss.... "Becoming Jane" starring Ann Hathway. Sooooooo GOOD! My only issue was that one of the main characters was James McAvoy, who played Mr. Tumnus in The Lion The With and The Wardrobe. After we recognized him, it was really difficult not to picture him as a fawn.

Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, check it out!

Missing you

A Few Good Posts

Over the past few days, I've read several different articles about the outcome of the election. Here are some links to my favs:

http://www.thewardrobeandthewhitetree.com/2008/11/day-after.html

http://russellaroberts.blogspot.com/2008/11/president-obama-and-daily-distribution.html

(this one makes a really good point re:daily distribution. A must read for "nail down your stuff" scaredy-cats.)


For the record, I didn't vote for Obama. I'm not doing the Obama dance. But I'm pretty durn sure he's not the antichrist.

I'm just sayin'....!!!!

Hymns, Tozer and Stirrings in My Soul.

I recently read a book..ok I'll tell ya, it was Zora & Nicky by Claudia Mair Burney...that talked briefly about the meaningful hymns that are being replaced in our churches by choruses. Shortly after that book, I saw a comedy act where the choruses we sing were compared to cheers...Our God reigns, sis boom bah, lalala Our God reigns. This got me to thinking and browsing my hymnals. I came to know the Lord when I was in my early 20's, in September of 1992. I was attending an Assembly of God church. I grew up a non practicing catholic. I'm not someone who sits in church and thinks, "I miss the hyms we used to sing." because I've not ever really sung anything in church except choruses, and more recently, contemporary praise and worship songs. Except for Christmas, when we might sing "Joy to the World" or "Hark! The Herald Angel Sing." But after reading a few hymns, I think maybe we're missing out a bit. After all, the hymn writers weren't trying to win a Dove award. They were serious.
A few nights ago, I started reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Listen to what he said:

"Hymnody is sweet with the longing after God, the God whom, while the singer seeks, he knows he has already found."

I love that! Continuing to seek God after you've found him. Which brings me to another point. Tozer goes on to say:

"Our fathers sang only a short generation ago, 'His track I see and I'll pursue", but that song is no more heard in the great congregation. How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of 'accepting Christ' (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the bible)and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls."

I wonder how true that is of churches today. I know it's not true of my church, but my church is not the norm. Let me just encourage you to keep seeking God, even after you've found Him.

Election Day

Okay folks. I admit it. I'm not excited about the choices of candidates this year. The man I want to vote for is already running the show. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father and he's got a much better view of things than me. So I can't cast my vote for Him. But, I can cast my vote for SOMEONE! And so can you. Good night nurse, would you rather go back to Egypt? Are either one of the candidates Hitler or Saddam Hussein or Musselini?? Man, people are crying and feeling nauseated and freaking out and getting depressed. I'm not feeling depressed, which is saying something because I am a depressed person! Plus my candidate is probably going to lose. C'mon now people....GO VOTE! Be happy you can do it without being threatend or killed. Be glad you can do it at all! If you want, I'll give you one of my prozac. I know it's serious, but sheesh!!!

Go, be mavericky. Then rest in His love and perfect peace. And some chocolate, of course.

What are little boys made of?

Our 3 year old son Sam was eating breakfast and watching TV this morning. Sid The Science Kid was on. The following conversation took place between Sam and my husband:

Sam: "Sid the Science KID!!! Sid is made out of clay!"

Wyatt Sr: "Are you made out of clay?"

Sam: "No!!"

Wyatt Sr. "Well, what are you made of?"

Sam: (very proudly) "I'm made out of PEOPLE!"

Changeling

Wyatt and I had a date (gasp!) last night. We went to see Changeling, starring Angelina Homewrecker Jolie. (Great date movie, right?)As you may have guessed, I do have some issues with Ms. Jolie, but I think she's a great actress. I really wanted to hug her.
Anyway, it was very moving flick. Not the feel good movie of the year and really hard to watch. But we were intrigued, so we checked it out. Like I said, she was great. Jeffrey Donovan(the police captain)was good too, because I really needed to slap him.
Anyway, if you're looking for drama, check it out. But don't say I didn't warn you!

FALL BAAAACKK!!!!

Don't you just love falling back? It's yet another reason to love Autumn. We were actually EARLY for church this morning!!! Let me tell you something folks, that is something to mark on your calnedars. It probably won't happen again till next year.