This & That

Hawkeye Photos

With our email from PB last week, we got a couple of pictures. We don't get them very often, so it's wonderful to see his face and be reassured that he's doing OK. He says it's really, really cold there right now and that they've been "grounded" for a couple of days when it snowed more than 7 inches. Yeah, they don't want those 19-21 years boys out on the roads in it, especially if they're from somewhere warm and don't have any experience driving in it.

I'm not sure what the story is with the camel. I asked him in yesterday's email, so I hope I'm going to get an explanation. This to me looks like it would prompt that standard Minnesota weather phrase...."Cold enough for ya??"

Sweet Potato Biscuits

I know I gave you a recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits a while ago. Throw that one away, because the queen of southern cooking, Paula Deen, got a hold of me. This recipe came from last November's Food Network magazine and since The Girl is so enamored of sweet potatoes lately, I thought I would give them a try. They. Are. Delicious.

Paula Deen's Fluffy Sweet Potato Biscuits

• 3/4 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato (about 1 large, although my "large" sweet potato gave me at least twice this amount)
• 1/3-1/2 cup whole milk, as needed
• 1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking sheet. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the sweet potato and 1/3 cup milk. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the sweet potato mixture and fold gently to combine. Add the remaining milk a little at at time until all the flour is moistened. The amount of milk you will need will depend on the moisture of the sweet potato.

Sprinkle a small handful of flour on a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and knead lightly 2-3 times with the palm of your hand until the mixture comes together. Pat the dough out into a 1/2" thick round. (I put it in a rectangle and then cut it into "squares" with a pizza cutter. That way I don't have to reroll scraps.)

Using a 2 1/2 inch round biscuit cutter, cut the dough into biscuits. Gently reroll the scraps and cut out more biscuits. Place them on the baking sheet and bake until light golden brown and firm to the touch, 12-14 minutes. Makes about 9 biscuits.

 

Better Progress

A little better progress this week on the class layouts. 

This one was done with a Becky Fleck sketch and documents The Girl's love of all things Batman. It's a little different from my usual stuff, but I like it. It's going in the Personality category for the 12 class.

This one could have gone for the Personality category as well, but I needed a Seasons category layout for the month and this one fit. Man, I miss this boy and his family. We were so spoiled this past fall having them here. The design is a lift from an old CK.

This one goes in the People category and my kids will all relate to it. My mom can mesmerize anyone by tickling their face or back. She used to keep me quiet in church this way. I love the photo of her with PB when he was 7. The design for this one is also from an older CK...layout done by Brittany Beattie.

And this one goes in the Family Stories category. Yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I need to finish off last year's Project 12 layouts and it does tell the story of last October.

Only 2 more layouts to go before I'm done with the 12 for January.

Well, Duh.

Interesting research. Now, all of you that are stressed, go call your mothers.

Stuff I Know #2

As I continue on this occasional series of posts, please keep in mind that this is life from my point of view. I don't claim to have any kind of premium on the "right" answers. This is just my own experience which I'm hoping to pass on most especially to my kids. If anyone else benefits, that's an added bonus. So onto Catherine's view of Stuff I Know #2...

It's all about who you marry. I mean, it's ALL about who you marry.

DH and I have had this discussion with all of our children on numerous occasions. Whether you have a happy life, whether your kids (and my grandbabies) have good parenting, whether the trip down the road of life is easy or hard depends in large part on who you share all that with. So you have to choose wisely. It can't be a total "first rush of love" decision. There has to be some logical thought involved. Can you hold a rational, thoughful conversation on deep topics with this person? Do you agree on the big things? Can you compromise on the other stuff? (Remembering Stuff I Know #1, that basic personality doesn't change...) Do you have goals together that you're both willing to work on? Can you both act like grown ups and pull more than your share of the weight sometimes? Not ALL the time, but sometimes.

As a mom, especially a mom with lots of sons, I really fretted about the girls my boys might bring home (ok, yeah, I worry about who The Girl will eventually bring home, too). It's hard for Moms to hand over the reins of care for their precious children to someone else, because my dear, sweet DIL's, I feel for your husbands exactly how you feel about your own precious babies. That intense Mother Love doesn't go away because they are big now.  I wondered how these other women and I would get along and I really hoped I wouldn't have to grit my teeth and bear it every time they came to visit, because realize one very big thing...as a parent you have no control over this choice for your children.

You really hope your kid has listened to those conversations you've had with them about picking a spouse. You really hope that they've done all the work they need to do to be the best spouse to someone else. Admittedly, I'm only halfway through this process with my children, but so far, so good. And that's one really good thing about being a mom. You find that your love can stretch and grow to encompass these people your children choose to love, and then there are grandbabies, and that's just icing on the cake. So to my sons' awesome wives, you make my boys better men and I love you all.

Tai Chi and the Balancing Act

My nearly 77 year old mother announced the other day that she's taking a Tai Chi class.

It's offered to senior citizens at the local hospital a couple of days a week and is supposed to help them with things like reducing stress and balance. The Girl thought it was hysterical and even DH thought the image of my mom going through those motions was a little humerous, but I'm thinking hey, at least she's doing something active. If I can walk on the treadmill every day like some gerbil on a wheel, why shouldn't she do something interesting.

Mystery Solved

We finally found the elusive package of Hershey's kisses I'd bought for the Christmas Peanut Blossoms. Yes, they were tucked in a drawer in the kitchen, where of course I remember putting them....now that we've found them.

Actually The Girl discovered them while she was hunting for her retainer. Apparently brain leakage isn't limited to 50-something women. The Girl had a shindig here the other night with her friends, boys included, and got a little carried away with the cleaning off of certain counters. It's been 3 days and she still hasn't been able to find the retainer. A call to the orthodontist is next on the list, but I know as soon as we dish out the money for a new one, the old one will show up...just like the Hershey's kisses.

Cookies Worth the Calories

The Girl had these at a church function a couple of weeks ago and come home raving. The recipe was in our ward (congregation) cookbook and so I decided to give them a try. They are yummy.

 Cookies Worth the Calories (and yes, that's the name that was in the cookbook)

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large package vanilla pudding mix (instant of non, it doesn't matter)
• 2 1/2-3 cups flour
• Add-ins

Mix all ingredients together, then add anything else you like....chocolate, white chocolate or peanut butter chips, craisins, coconut, cornflakes, nuts, whatever suits your fancy. I used about 2 cups of a combination of semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

Minimally Productive

I wonder why it is that on the weeks I think I'm going to get so much done, circumstances conspire against me to just smack that idea sideways. I thought I would be able to get several of the remaining 7 layouts done for the 12 class I talked about last week. Um, no. I got this one done....as in....one. Mostly I got caught up in the catch up of my 365 album, which is almost there, thank goodness. Another week and I should be fairly current. That, and I was angsting a little about the one layout I did get finished. 

I whined to my friend, Julie, about it for 2 days before I put on my big girl pants and just got it done. I knew I had to incorporate the colors from my granddaughter's shirt and I just don't have that much purple-ish stuff. Looks like if I'm going to have granddaughters I should probably invest in some. I'm quite pleased with the final result, but am feeling like it was a fairly unproductive week all in all.

So without further ado, this was the photo I took at 11:11 on 11/11/11. For the 12 class it goes in the Rituals and Tradition category. The design is a Pagemaps sketch from this month.

Oh and, by the way, that lovely rain we've been having....that I really love? Yeah, water in The Girl's lower level bedroom closet. One of those circumstances that conspired. 

The Rains Came Down and The Floods Came Up

Most of the snow we got yesterday is gone...gone with temperatures that warmed up and turned what was falling out of the sky into rain. It rained all night and all day yesterday. Fortunately, The Girl is equipped with these:

She said this is one of the best purchases she ever made. Apparently she was slogging through puddles that were 5" deep. 

Some that are right in our front yard. The forecast is for more rain through the weekend. It's good for the ground.