How Times Have Changed!

When my grandbabies come home from the hospital, they ride in a comfortably padded, safe, state-of-the-art, carseat. In fact, before the parents can remove the baby from the hospital, the car seat is examined and deemed worthy to cradle the precious cargo on the way home. The newer model cars have hardward built in the seat that will allow the infant's car seat to fit tightly, with no chance of movement.

34 years ago, things were a little different. Look at the picture below. Of course you can look at the beautiful babies, but, what I want you to focus on is the "infant seat" on the left side of the picture. THAT, my friends, is what cradled my twins as they made the journey from the hospital to our home. (There were two infant seats, of course)

The nurse carried one of the babies, in the seat, while I held the other baby, in the seat, on my lap while Andy pushed me out to the car in a wheelchair. He put one baby's seat on the passenger floor of our old 1963 Chevy Impala. The nurse placed the other seat next to the first and I sat with my feet straddling our two infants. The nurse wished us luck, shut the door and away we went!

So there you have it, for the next 2 months, we drove around with Candice and Camille on the car floor; in a piece of cheap, molded plastic, with a slightly padded plastic cover, and a narrow piece of metal that supported the whole thing ! It's a good thing I was a good driver!

Am I the only one who had such "good" equipment?

Betty Crocker - You Da Man!

Who knew that Betty Crocker made lotions and hand soaps? They smell, Do they help keep our hands saturated and soft? Who cares! Enough of the questions. I got these lotions at the....Dollar Store! Each lotion and handsoap has a recipe attached.

I made the recipe. So simple!

Put 1 cup Bisquick ( I used my homemade pantry mix)

1 cup milk and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg in an 8x8 baking pan and stir.

Melt 1/2 cup butter. Stir into the batter

Drain a 29 oz. can of peaches (I used my bottled peaches)

Stir 1/2 cup sugar into the peaches.

Spoon on top of batter.

Place in 400 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until golden brown.

Wasn't that simple and doesn't it look good? This peach cobbler and the peach cobbler lotion both smell good. I'd rather EAT the peach cobbler in the bowl but just rubbing the lotion on my hands is lower in calories...what a dilemma!

Speed Demon!

This was the picture that my 18-year-old son sent to my phone while I was at work.

The text read:

"My car's better than Jordan's!"

He's had this car only a month. It's a 1979 280Z.  After hearing my ranting and threats against him, he assured me his speedometer is broken. 

For his sake, I pray it is!

Sidenote: He said that he thinks he was ONLY doing 80!

In Remembrance of George Washington

The pinch of the shot, the sound of the drill, the smell of the tooth being ground down to nothing, the horrible taste of the medication-soaked string, the muck of the impressions, the tired, sore jaw, the numbness of the tongue, lips and ear, the crooked smile, the pain that is evident after the numbing is gone.  I HATE going to the dentist!

George's mythical wooden teeth may not be so bad after all!

I'll feel better tomorrow!

CELEBRATION!!

Jill's having a Blog-iversary! This party will last all week with giveaways and, of course, Jill's words of wisdom!  Head on over and join in the celebration!!



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Cooking with Connie - Brownie Bites

Have you had one of these chocolatey, moist, brownie bites from Costco? They're one of my favorite treats.

I decided to try my hand at making these.  They would be perfect in a cellophane bag with a ribbon tied around the top and given to a friend.  Or, how about this little saying for the VT message for February; "Don't bite off more than you can chew, stay out of debt!"  The possibilities are endless! 
Here's how I did it.  I used the Betty Crocker low-fat fudge brownie mix and mixed as directed.  I got out my mini muffin pans and sprayed well.

I put about a teaspoon of brownie mix in the bottom of each muffin indentation and then, to add the extra chocolate that's in the center of the brownie bites, I placed a half square of Hershey's chocolate on top or 3 to 4 semi-sweet chocolate chips.   It made 36 brownie bites!

Put more brownie dough on top of the chocolate, not too much, then bake in 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

When I pulled them out of the oven, they looked like this! 

Yikes!  What happened?  What could I do to save them? 

Oh well, it's all in the presentation...right?

Come back again for more Cooking with Connie! 
(What time does Costco close?)

Is There A Barber In the House?

When a boy reaches the age of almost 5, he is given some rites and privileges.  Just ask Corban.  He'll start kindergarten AND barber school in the Fall!
The other day, while his mom was fixing a tile in the bathroom, Corban quickly and quietly got a pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer, went downstairs and did a makeover on his 3 year-old sister, Izzy.

Come on Corban, that rat tail is SO 80's! (side note - see Corban's toes in the top right of the picture?  That's his time-out spot)

 

Lucky for Izzy, her mom was able to save the disaster

and finish the makeover - with successful results!

Fast forward a week.  Corban, who must think he's Samson, finally consented to have a haircut.  Mom got out the clippers, then looked down (that was her mistake) to get the right sized guard.  Corban turned on the guard-less clippers and took a swipe on the top of his head.  I told you he was fast!

Mom made the most of the situation and aged him 70 years with this haircut.

Ahh, here he is.  All smiles and no hair! 

BTW, this was the conversation between Corban and his Dad the other night:
Corban, "Dad, I'm smarter than you!"
Dad, "Oh, why do you say that?"
Corban, "Because I have a hypothesis and you don't!"

Here's MY hypothesis:  Corban's kindergarten teacher better have eyes in the back of her head!

Facebook Blues!

My husband, who is a bit anti-social and doesn't like being on the computer unless he has a good Spider Solitaire game going, signed up for a Facebook account.   The reason I knew is because of the email that came to our shared account that welcomed him.  

I was surprised. 

This morning there were over 20 emails for him from Facebook; so and so has added you as a friend, so and so has tagged a photo, so and so has confirmed your friendship.  I brought that to his attention.  He shook his head and in a forlorn voice, lamented, "All I wanted to do was win some money in a Snickers contest!"

He got more than he bargained for!

Making Memories

Today I rode to Ogden, in this car, with my son and daughter. 

I visited with my parents, my sister, my children, my grandchildren, and my niece.

It was a great visit as we ate good food, looked at old photo albums, reminisced, laughed, and gave hugs.

It's wonderful to have family. It was good to have a day off to spend time with my family.

My friend, Kazzy, is a beautiful singer.  Each Monday, on her blog, she sings a song.  Today was the Sarah Mclauchlan song, "I Will Remember You."

"I will remember you

Will you remember me?

Don't let your life pass you by

Weep not for the memories."

Listening to her song, makes me realize how important it is to spend time with our loved ones so we can make good memories. 

BTW, I got to drive Jordan's car.  Once it's in the 6th gear, that thing really flies! I had to be careful though, I have too many memories of flashing lights in my rear view mirror and speeding tickets that prevented me from really letting that car reach its potential! 
Have a wonderful, memorable day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love comes in all shapes and sizes.

Brother and Sister love, whether he wants the kiss or not!

Cousin love.

Sorry, had to add this picture.  That animal at the Bean Museum looked like he was puckered up.  Can't just leave him hangin'!

Newborn love.

Quadruple love!  These 4 beauties were all born in 2007.

True Love! My Mom and Dad have been Valentines for 60 years!

♥♥   Have a great day.  Give someone you love a hug!  ♥♥

Chocolate Milk and Help for Haiti!

If you've been following my blog for long, you know that I love chocolate milk!

Google image

It makes me happy when I drink it and I figure I'm building strong bones while consuming the ambrosia. (I have to justify it some way!) Tonight, while tending my grandkids at their house, they asked for some chocolate milk. I took the half-full gallon container of the rich, chocolatey goodness out of their refrigerator. I placed 4 glasses on the counter; three for the grandkids and one for me, of course! I started to pour the ice cold delight and noticed a drinking straw floating in the jug of chocolate milk! What does that mean? I'll tell you what it meant to me, I put my glass back in the cupboard and I didn't drink any!  After being at an elementary school all day, I figured I'd had enough kid germs!  It could be that my daughter put that straw in to keep me from drinking all the milk! If that's the case, she figured out how to do it!

Speaking of figuring things out, Julie from Rarely Home Mom is having a bake sale to raise money for Haiti! What a sweet deal for everyone! I went to her house and actually found her home! She was just pulling out the chocolate chip bars from the oven!

It was a good thing I had them in my back seat or I would have been eating them while driving! They are delicious! Go here to find out what you can do to help.  There's also a list of items that could be donated.  Some people talk about doing service, Julie's actually doing it!  Let's support her in her efforts.  Good job, Julie!

Candied Walnuts and Musicals

Today was our Special Ed lunch at school. I was in charge of the salad. Wanting to make a salad that was good and good for us, I opted to have fresh spinach, leaf lettuce, madarin oranges, green onions, feta cheese, and candied walnuts. I took one of our many bags of walnuts and candied them this morning before going to school. Here is the recipe.

Put half as much sugar as walnuts in a heavy sauce pan. I used 1/2 cup walnuts for this particular tutorial so I used 1/4 cup sugar.

Place pan over medium heat. Stir sugar until it melts and turns an amber color.

Remove from heat and pour in walnuts. Stir quickly until all nuts are coated with the melted sugar.

Place on a plate or pan, break apart and sprinkle with sea salt.

It's so simple. You just need to keep stirring the sugar so it doesn't burn. A word to the wise,(or not so wise) don't use anything plastic; spoon, rubber scraper, etc. The sugar gets extremely hot and will melt the plastic. I found out the hard way - had to throw out a whole batch this morning when I discovered, midway, that the plastic serving spoon I was stirring with, was half gone!

You can use the candied walnuts in a salad, sprinkle over ice cream, use in a parfait or just snack on them.

One more thing. My husband loves musicals, especially if it's a black and white. He prides himself in knowing the songs and teaches them to the kids and grandkids.

Here's C8 singing the latest classic.

Do you know the name of the song and the movie?

If you're having a hard time figuring it out, here's a link that will take you to the answer! Oh yeah, nothing but class, here!.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

A First!

I'm a late bloomer.  Yesterday, in the mail, I got something that I've never had before! 

That's right, my passport!

Posing for the passport picture, I was told I could smile, just can't show any teeth.  I look like a chipmunk!  But it's all good!

  According to the literature that came with the passport the world is now mine!!

Until 10 years ago, I had never been farther east than Colorado.  In June I'm going to the Far East.  I'm going to China!  I'll be traveling with my friend, Lorie, and meeting our friend, Joan, who lives there with her husband.   I hope my husband and kids don't realize they can get along without me!  I'm scared AND excited!
I have a feeling, getting the passport won't be the only "first" in this adventure!
Tell me about your traveling adventures!