"Oh, Hi! Ohio!"

Hi there! A lot has been transpiring in our lovely lives! :) Memorial Day was memorable; we celebrated by hanging out at Daniel's mom's with family and friends, eating monstrous burgers and of course lots of sweets! I took homemade vanilla ice cream to go with brownies, and the delicious "flag" cake topped with cherries and blueberries that Ms. Margaret had made. We stayed night in Pace, so Alisha, Mom, and I could hit the river the next morn in kayaks. It was a blast! So peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing! Saw some huge turtles sunbathing, and Alisha even spied a little lime green snake slithering up a vine. Cute! :) As long as he (and his snake friends!) stayed on the banks, we were happy! I drove home in blinding sheets of rain, along with hail and streaks of lightning popping all around ~ Needless to say, I was very glad to be at last safe and sound at home again! I loved seeing the majestic lightning show though! Alisha flew home today ~ sure enjoyed being with our sis again! It felt like I had to drag my bedraggled self out of bed far too early this morn to bake a pecan pie to sell to Kerra at "The Coffee House." So thrilled that Atmore now has a quaint lil gourmet coffee shop again. This one even has wi-fi! Aren't we coming up in this ole world?! Kerra is having some of us Mennonite girls bake fresh pies and pastries for her to sell along with the coffees. Then I dashed by the library to pick up the The Journal of Best Practises by David Finch that they had purchased at my request and were holding for me! I can't wait to read it; it's about a man that was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, and how that revelation helps him understand himself and become a better husband. Of course it was my week to be in charge of cleaning church; (ALWAYS seems to fall on the busiest weeks!) so I almost made it there by 10 to get with it. After church was spic and span, I went to Rhonda's to get the monogrammed towels that we are giving to Mervin and Lydia for their wedding. Ended up staying there for lunch. Once home, I frantically sewed on Melanie's wedding frock that MUST get finished tonight! Also, I must get packed up and be ready to leave for the wedding tomorrow at 7! I'm going up to Ohio with my parents; we will be driving all day tomorrow; then we are stopping near Cincinnati at some museum about the creation of the world Friday morning. The family supper will be Friday night, then the wedding is Saturday morning. I'm really excited to be going! Couldn't bear the thought of missing my dear cousin Herb's wedding!! :) Danl was so sweet to encourage me to go ~ wish he could come with, but we can't "round-up" all the grass in time! I'm being very sanguine about this journey as I don't have my ride home lined up yet! (I do have lots of possibilities though!) So we shall see how it all plays out! I may not be blogging 'til I'm back, so until then ~ Goodbye! And wish me luck, because...

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep. ~ Robert Frost

Last Day of School Picnic :)

Today was one of my favorite days of the year! I love everything the day entails....education, homemade ice cream, volleyball, and softball! I still can hardly believe that the kids I taught in 5th grade are out of school now! They mentioned our pet garter snake and it's funeral in their memories....took me back to the days of the classroom; I really miss those days sometimes! Maybe someday I'll teach again. This year's program commemorated the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic. Twas sad; I even got misty-eyed at one point. Six different flavors of ice cream cheered me right up though! :) I tried chocolate, mint chocolate chip, orange pineapple, birthday cake, German sweet chocolate, and vanilla with caramel pecan sauce. I stayed until 5:30 playing ball, but I left feeling sunburned and tired, but happy! Daniel's dad is down for a couple days, so we went to Uncle Kevin's for supper. He cooked us steaks, grilled veggies, and garden salads. That definitely hit the spot! Now I think I will retrieve the dasher from the ice cream maker from the freezer and grab me a spoon to scrape it clean before hitting the hay! G'nite y'all.

happy birthday Danl and "SURPRISE!"

Well, first off I want to say Happy 28th Birthday to my amazing husband!! :)
I wanted to blog this post yesterday, but it didn't happen! The day began with Danl opening his presents, (I got him $$, bullets, and a fishing lure). Then we headed down to Pensacola where we devoured a cheesy cheese pizza at Mellow Mushroom. Next stop was the Pensacola International Airport to pick up Danl's birthday present coming in from Canada - ALISHA! We had known for a month that she was coming to surprise Mom and Mr. Bill. And was it ever a fun surprise! Danl and I walked in to Mom's and Danl soon said, "Come out to the car and see what I got for my birthday." So I opened the back car door and out popped Alisha!!! Not the dog or gun Mom was expecting to see! She was SHOCKED to say the least! Then we piled in and went to Bill's office and surprised him! It was great. Next stop was Sake Cafe. We managed to make a huge dent on our "cruise ship" of sushi! Alisha let it slip that it was Daniel's birthday (much to his chagrin!) and they came out with ice cream topped with a lit candle while clanging cymbals and singing Happy Birthday! Back at Mom's we had delicious Baskin Robbins ice cream cake out under the pergola and Danl got to open more presents. So his birthday was a festive, shocking day that was enjoyed by all!

Key Lime Poke Cake

Mel and I took lunch to school for the teachers today. This scrumpdiddlyupmtous cake was dessert!  It's a Better Crocker recipe I had spied on Pinterest. We frosted it with homemade whipped cream cream cheese frosting instead of a tub of store-bought. Also, after eating it, we decided it would be better baked it in a 15x10 inch pan with the Key Lime filling doubled! Then it wouldn't be as "cakey" and would be even more fattening and refreshing! :) I don't think you can't go wrong serving anything Key Lime in the South! Or North, East, or West for that matter! Try this simple cake next time you need a quick and easy dessert! Key Lime is probably my favorite flavor....following closely after chocolate, mocha, strawberry, dewberry, pineapple, caramel, birthday cake, pumpkin.....guess I'll just quit now while I'm ahead! (have yet to find a dessert that I didn't like!)

Cake

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix

1 1/4 cups water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 large eggs

Key Lime Filling

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

3/4 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup Key lime juice or regular lime juice

1 teaspoon grated lime peel

4 drops yellow food color

1 drop green food color

Frosting

1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting

2 teaspoons grated lime peel

Garnish, If Desired

Fresh strawberries                     

Key lime slices

Lemon leaves                                           

 

• 1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour.
• 2 In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
• 3 Bake 27 to 33 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. With handle of wooden spoon (1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter), poke holes almost to bottom of cake every 1/2 inch, wiping spoon handle occasionally to reduce sticking.
• 4 In medium bowl, stir together filling ingredients (mixture will thicken). Pour over cake; spread evenly over surface, working back and forth to fill holes. (Some filling should remain on top of cake.) Refrigerate 1 hour.
• 5 Spread frosting over cake; sprinkle with lime peel. Garnish as desired. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

 

"Hello again!"

"Hello again!"
"Hello!"
"Do you like my hat?"
"No, I do not like your hat!"

Name that book! :)
Anyway, it's good to be back on the ole blog! Yesterday was so very frustrating as my faithful red Dell decided it had charged enough in its somewhat short lifetime, and simply REFUSED to take another charge! It proceeded to completely give up the ghost and died, apparently never to be revived again. I tried to be calm, and not focus on how much no computer/internet affected me. (Scary!) But I couldn't check my email (what if I had sold something on eBay?! I wouldn't know to ship it!), couldn't check the bank account (what if we were about to get an overdraft?!), couldn't pay any bills (do NOT want to be late!!), couldn't log how much food I had eaten on "MyPlate" (how many calories did I have left for the day?! what if I tremendously overate?!!), and neither could I blog! I missed writing about life and its endearing perplexities. So I sat myself down, and prayed that God would somehow just MAKE my laptop charge again! I had called Southern Computer earlier, and was told that I most likely needed a new charging port installed which would cost approximately $140, a sum that we did not have floating around at the present moment. My prayer felt somewhat selfish, but I knew that God cares about every little thing in our lives. The charging light remained black. I preceded to go about my day, and did manage to pay a pressing bill by using Danl's laptop, which is cumbersome and annoying to me. I just really like my OWN stuff! Then, later in the evening, I happened to glance over at my laptop, which I had not touched since my prayer, and noticed that the charging light was ON!!! Yippity yay!!! I guess God just wanted me to be patient for once! :) Don't you just love answered prayers? I do! Makes me feel so unworthy of God's attention. I decided to just leave my poor laptop alone for the night. This morning, it fired right up, fully charged and ready to go!

P.S. Our fabric arrived!!! I love the piece with the lil black flowers...but the other piece I ordered???? Far too fuchsia for me and my red head! :(

Happy Birthday Neil!! {and birthday cake ice cream recipe}

Last night, we celebrated Neil's 3rd birthday.{which is today} Wade grilled some awesome hamburgers over charcoal, and we ate outside. Rhonda did a "Construction" themed party; the carport looked very festive adorned with balloons, caution tape, and strings of lights. The cake she made looked even cuter than the one pictured here that she used for the idea! Neil was so thrilled about his birthday; it was so funny after we sang "Be Present" for the prayer before supper he said "I didn't like that song!" So then we sang "Happy Birthday" and asked him if he liked that one! He said "YES!" and looked so pleased with himself! Later he told me so seriously "I've been 2 for terrible long!" Lol! I made homemade ice cream to go with the cake; a 6 qt. of vanilla, and 1 qt. of birthday cake! I had made it last year for the Last Day of School Picnic, but of course {sanguine me!!} did NOT write down anything about how I made it! So I'm back to experimenting and combining recipes and ideas to come up with my own. The following recipe is what I came up with; we all really liked it, at least those of us that tried it! Danl is a die-hard vanilla fan and doesn't appreciate my dabbling with creating various flavors! I may try adding some frosting yet; a lot of recipes and store-bought versions have it in. But, I don't want it to get TOO sweet.

Sharon's Bday Cake Ice Cream

Make 6 qts.

6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 box Junket vanilla ice cream mix
3 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups yellow cake mix {dry}
1 T. French vanilla extract
2 cups rainbow sprinkles

Beat the eggs and sugar until light-colored, then add Junket and beat on high for 5 minutes. Add the whipping cream, salt, cake mix, and vanilla stirring until completely mixed. Pour into 6 qt ice cream freezer, then add milk until 1 1/2 inches from top of can. Freeze according to manufacture's directions. For sprinkles, either add near the end of freezing, or stir them in after it's done. Happy eating! :)

I just had a bowl for an afternoon snack, and did it ever hit the spot!

bridal shower

Tonight I was privileged to attend Erica Holdeman's bridal shower. Shawna Mininger hosted it; twas a lovely "country/farmer's wife" themed outdoor event. They had all the guests bring their own lawn chairs, and we sat in a circle surrounded by tiki torches and lanterns. Hay bales draped with bandannas and cowboys boots filled with flowers completed the decor. First item on the agenda was "Pass the Victoria's Secret Bag!" while Teacher Mel read the Dr. Seuss story about the "Empty Green Pants With Nobody Inside Them."  When the story ended, whoever happened to have "the bag" was supposed to model its contents! Crystal was the lucky one! And the little black British-style hat that she pulled from the bag fit her just perfectly! Lol! Next they quizzed Erica about Ben; questions such as "What kind of deodorant does Ben wear?" and "What is his favorite song?" For each question that she answered wrongly, she had to chew a piece of Double-Bubble gum! She missed 6 and had quite a wad! It was funny to watch her chomp as she tried to answer more questions! Then several ladies were asked to tell interesting/embarrassing moments from their honeymoon or engagement. We had some good laughs! The girls that put on the shower sang "Sweet Violets." Finally it was present time!! On the invitations, they had requested each person to bring a kitchen item that Erica could use at (for example) 6:30 a.m., which was my time. I painted some wooden spoons from a pinterest inspiration, and gave them with a box of grits for my "time" gift; also gave a 4 cup measure, kitchen towel, and a whisk. Anyway, it was interesting to see what items people gave for each time. Some that I remember were coffee mugs for 6:00, ice cream cones and scoop for 12:30, SOS pads for burnt pans at 1:30, Lipton citrus tea for 2:15, Kleenex for lonesome tears at 4:15,  and roach spray for midnight...The refreshments made my heart go pitter-patter! I'll list all the yummy goodness they served us: Grilled Chicken Wraps, Cheesecake-Stuffed Strawberries, Mini Lemon and Red Velvet Cupcakes, Olives and Pickles, Seasoned Oyster Crackers, and Cherry Limeades. I think that was everything! Needless to say, I feel fat and happy! G'nite....