Christmas in blogging years

2006



2007



2008

WHaaaaaaT??? No picture from Christmas 2008? Apparently not.


2009



2010




2011

Sunday night drive

A few weeks ago, we drove through a living nativity scene at a local church. It's quite lovely; we had driven through it last year and looked forward to doing it again. The cookies and hot chocolate are a nice touch too!



We mapped out the drive home to pass by some of the more elaborate outside light displays. This has been a challenge in years past (particularly when we lived in the woods!). It was deemed a success, and we made it home just in time to watch the finale of Amazing Race.

Oh Christmas . . .

tree . . .

We did get ours up quite timely. Robert set it up, Holly and Trevor decorated with me and chose to take pictures instead of being in them.



I'd also spent some time at Michael's during the week, looking for craft supplies for ornaments that we made. Hunh. I know I took the pictures but can't find them. But the shopping was surprisingly really fun and started my real Christmas spirit this year.

Trevor and CAP

Trevor went to his first Civil Air Patrol banquet. While parents and families were welcomed, the invitation specifically said that it really was an event for the Cadets. Trevor was happy to go on his own.



It was held at the beautiful Vinton War Memorial venue. Until that night, I'd assumed the memorial was a stone in a park. He had a great time with friends, a truly memorable night, once again part of his social life of which I am completely unaware. But I'll manage; he's turning out okay without me. ;)

Recent recipes

Potato Skins

That classic bar food at home!!

8 large baking potatoes, baked
1/4 c. + 2 T. oil
2 T. grated Parmesan cheese
1 t. salt
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. paprika
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
sour cream
green onion, sliced

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/4-in. shell (save pulp for another use). Place potato skins on a greased baking sheet. Combine oil, parmesan cheese, salt, garlic powder, paprika and pepper; brush over insides of potatoes, turn over, and brush on outside (this lets any extra oil drip out of the inside). Bake right-side up at 475 degrees F for 7 minutes; turn upside down. Bake until crisp, about 7 minutes more. Sprinkle bacon and cheddar cheese inside skins. Bake 2 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted. Top with sour cream and onions. Serve immediately.

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Basic Chicken Salad

Who knew it was really this easy?

1/2 c. mayonnaise
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 t. pepper
2 c. chopped, cooked chicken meat
1/2 c. almonds (or other nuts)
1 stalk celery, chopped

Mix all together; if possible, chill for several hours to let flavors blend.

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Chocolate Pecan Pie

Trevor's friend Kurt made this for our Thanksgiving dinner. I love pecans, I'm not wild about pecan pie, but this was delicious!

9" unbaked pie crust
3 eggs
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. margarine, melted (uh, what's wrong with butter???)
1 c. light corn syrup
1 c. pecan halves
1-1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Beat eggs, sugar, salt, margarine, and syrup with hand beater. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell. Bake until set, 40-50 mins. Cool.

Click here to see additional comments about this recipe.

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CROCK POT MASHED POTATOES

A bit misleading, as they are first cooked on the stove and then kept warm in the crockpot. But they were terrifically easy to make ahead, some of the lightest, fluffiest potatoes I've ever had! I hope I remember to make these for every holiday, whether or not we have company. It was so nice to get them done and out of the way!

5 lbs. potatoes
3 cubes chicken bouillon
8 oz. carton of sour cream
8 oz. brick of cream cheese (I used light)
1 stick of butter (relax, people, it's the HOLIDAYS)
salt/pepper to taste

Boil potatoes as usual, tossing the bouillon cubes in the water as it boils. The recipe says to save some of the cooking water when the potatoes are drained.

Mash potatoes with sour cream and cream cheese, adding reserved water if necessary.

Transfer to crock pot, cover, and cook on low for 2-3 hours. Just before serving, stir in butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ugh

I've neglected my poor blog for so long. But there is nothing new or unusual to post. Perhaps that's a sign that I need to plan something? We have not been up to anything special. Life is plugging along, routine, but not boring.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Friends came over, and we had dinner for ten, a houseful for us. We are getting ready for Christmas.

Robert is making sure all ducks are in a row to drop our land line and go with just cell phones. He's also ensuring our county roads are kept clear of hazardous street signs and poles. Or something like that.

Work has been busy in an unexpected way. With Joyce gone, the other two of us in the children's department (the third person doesn't really count) have had to pick up the slack. What a blessing that we each have different strengths; we've easily balanced the responsibility and, I think, each preferred what fell into our lap. I've been doing virtually all of the cataloging of children's books, both for our main library and the branch. I'd dabbled in it before, but I've had to jump in all the way. There are a limited number of staff trained to do this; I am now one of four, and no one else wanted to take this on. I've also taken on the ordering of all children's materials for our main library. The children's staff continues to give input as before, but I'm the one ultimately making up and placing the order. I'm very much enjoying the computer side of these jobs. Meanwhile, it appears that a new children's librarian has been chosen. I've been praying a lot about the chosen candidate, and I'm sure Joyce would be extremely pleased with the new hire. She's expected to begin after Christmas, and I can't wait!

Holly's been doing well in chemistry and got a kick out of hearing classmates describe her as "the smart one." It has not been a particularly welcomed challenge for her, but her quarter grade is 93.7%. Sometimes she'll ask for help on her homework. As if. While I'm busy googling, finding non-answers, she gets it figured out.

Trevor has been diligently following his school schedule. He's completely enjoying Life of Fred (pre-algebra). He long ago finished the first book (of two), and he's at least 1/3 of the way through the second. Looks like he'll be starting algebra before the end of the school year. He also requested that I get Dickens' A Christmas Carol for him to read before Christmas. It's on his Lightning Lit schedule for later this year, but he's been eagerly waiting for it for several months.

Pretty much the usual goings-on. We continue to plug along in school. This is the first year that I've worked every Saturday during a school year, and it's working out well for all of us. I'm much less frazzled, feel like we have a great handle on our schedule, and the kids appreciate knowing that Saturdays are truly a day off of work, a real end of the week.

Life is good.

Book Reviews

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I avoided reading this for the longest time due to its likely appeal to Oprah. I ended up liking the book well enough, with the exception of the ending for Aibileen.

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe

A pleasant read, far different from the usual TMI of tell-all autobiographies. Rob came across as funny, pleasant, and intelligent. After reading Melissa Gilbert's sordid details of her life with Rob, it was interesting that he mentioned her name a total of about three times.

Banished from Jehovah's Witnesses by Dwight A. Hayes

Interesting, self-published book written by a local man describing his life as a Jehovah's Witness, from his childhood through his years as an elder. After acknowledging Christ as his Savior, he was "disfellowshipped." The focus of the book was various JW techniques, beliefs and "teachings."

In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir by Dick Cheney

Okay, I like Dick Cheney. I liked him before, I like him as much, if not more, after reading his new book. I'd love for this man to hold the Executive Office in our country, but between his health and my belief that the idiots are running the asylum (referring to the voters), that's not going to happen.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

She's a popular author, and this book caught my attention at the library. I enjoyed the main part of the story, about two women who grew up at odds with their mother. After their father dies, the mother fulfills a promise to her husband to complete the fairy tale/bedtime story she's told the daughters since they were children. Several dozen pages are devoted to the telling of this fairy tale story throughout the book. BORING! The "fairy tale" is of course retelling events of the mother's previous life with her first husband and earlier children as they lived (and died) through the Siege of Leningrad in the early 1940s. You'd think I'd like this historical aspect, but it was stupid in the context of this book.

The daughters take the mom on a cruise to Alaska, the mom confesses her role in the "fairy tale," and they discover that the owner of a Russian restaurant who served them a meal is really the mother's long lost first daughter, who she thought died in the siege.

Stupid. A perfect example of why I shy from popular fiction.

I finished this book the morning that the clocks turned back. It's hard to complain about having an extra hour; at least I didn't waste one of the usual 24!

The Only Best Place and
All in One Place by Carolyne Aarsen

A mindless fictional story set on a ranch in Montana. Nothing stellar, but I read through both books in the storyline.

Outlier: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Outlier. A scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience.

In this case, "outlier" refers to those who have achieved success far and above the expected norm. Gladwell explores various reasons why Bill Gates, the Beatles, and others have achieved success--they were in the right place at the right time, but other factors played heavily.

An absolutely brilliant book. I've already checked out his prior book Blink and can't wait to begin!

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield

Quirky reading. Who can imagine reading through an entire 356 paged narrative on type fonts? And that it was interesting enough to continue reading until the end?

Beyond the Blue by Leslie Gould

Christian fiction with parallel stories about an infertile Oregon couple drawn to adopt in Viet Nam, and a poverty-stricken, unwed mother who desperately wants a better life for her children. I enjoyed the historical aspect of the book (effects of the Viet Nam war), the cultural descriptions, and learning a bit more about the international adoption process.

Recipe - Incredible Pork Loin Roast

Another recipe with amazing reviews that I found online. I was a bit skeptical too of the cooking time, but as I read the reviews, I remembered our favorite roast beef recipe is cooked the same way--turning the oven on high for a short period of time, then turning it off for a longer time for the meat to continue to cook.

PORK LOIN ROAST

one pork loin--the original recipe says 1 lb. Other reviewers cooked significantly larger roasts; mine was 3.5 lbs.

The success of this cooking method will depend on the accuracy of your oven and how well your oven retains heat. I guess mine is fine with both.

Determine the EXACT weight of your roast from the meat wrapper. The EXACT weight will determine the cooking time.

Preheat oven to 500-550 degrees. (Mine only goes up to 500.) Remove meat from fridge; season as desired. (I did nothing to mine.)

Place seasoned meat in uncovered roasting pan. (I added small potatoes and chopped carrots which had been tossed in oil, salt and pepper. I pushed them toward the edges of the pan so that the meat sat on the bottom of the pan.)

Bake EXACTLY 5-1/2 minutes PER POUND. Adjust +/- according to your oven's accuracy and heat retention. Turn oven OFF and DO NOT open the oven door for ONE hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for five minutes before slicing. Roast will be done, very slightly pink in the center, and very moist and tender.

For the recipe in its entirety, along with reviews, click here.

Recipe - Meatball Subs

I found a package of meatballs in my freezer and decided to use them in a dinner. I found this recipe and was thrilled by its high rating. Of course, I used my already-made meatballs instead and tweaked the recipe a little more. Everyone liked it (which is saying "even Holly," when I don't expect her to). It was sooooo easy, good, and inexpensive. I can't wait to make this for a crowd!

MEATBALL SUBS

1-2 onions, sliced
1-2 green peppers, sliced
meatballs, homemade or prepackaged; I used 6 frozen meatballs per person, which equaled one serving
jar of spaghetti sauce
sandwich rolls
provolone cheese

Pour ~1T. oil in skillet and preheat to med/med-high. Saute onion and green pepper to desired doneness; set aside.

Put meatballs in saucepan; pour in enough sauce to almost cover, but not quite. Heat meatballs thoroughly, stirring occasionally. My frozen meatballs took about 20 mins.

Cut open sandwich rolls. Pull extra bread out of the middle of rolls, so the meatballs will have a nice place to lay inside. Spray rolls with cooking spray, and place in 350 oven for 5 mins. to toast. Remove rolls from oven, fill one side with meatballs, and cover with one slice of cheese. Fill other side of rolls with cooked green pepper and onion. Return to oven, turn off heat, and let sit in residual heat for 5 mins.

Remove from oven, close sandwiches, smooshing slightly.

More photos from Virginia mountains

These were from our trip to the telescope in West Virginia last month.



Holly took all of these out of the window of the moving car.



At every twist in the highway, I would exclaim over the scenery.




Holly and Trevor got a little tired of me!



But the colors were truly breathtaking.


If summer must end, at least this is the way to go . . .

Weekly menu

This is part of my name-that-food-budget game, as in "I can feed this family for less than $450 per month." So far, we seem to be doing well, although Thanksgiving might put a bit of a dent in that.

Sun. - Greek soup
Mon. - Meatball subs
Tue. - Robert's choice
Wed. - Chicken souvlaki, hummus
Thu. - Husband's Delight, garlic bread, salad
Fri. - hot dogs?, deviled eggs, cabbage or potato salad?
Sat. - ham steak, grits, mashed potatoes, corn

On the back burner:
subs
French onion soup
pasta
breakfast burritos
giant burritos
cheeseburgers
breakfast
veal patties
chicken lettuce wraps

Sunrise this morning

No better way to start a day!

Heard at my house this morning

Trevor: This may seem totally random, but I'll never be a serial killer.

Mom: That's good, right?

Trevor: Yes, I usually have waffles for breakfast.

Oh, some of the things I find . . .

I thought this had been posted two months ago. I know I have "lost" photos that haven't made it here yet, and maybe I'll catch up some time.

Back at the beginning of September, Trevor's Civil Air Patrol squadron had its annual picnic at a local park.


It was a nice night, and the boys played soccer and football, and we had a potluck dinner.


Robert and I don't know a lot of the parents. We hung out with the one mom that we did know. Not a surprise, you know how unsocialized those homeschoolers are . . .


But seriously, it is a great group of young men from conservative families, including many homeschooled kids. For the most part, I don't believe any of the leaders have children in the program, but they are dedicated to the goals of CAP and continue to devote their time to this squadron. We are blessed to be a part of this group.

Blog musings

At the end of this month, my blog will be five years old. It's been such an amazing way to document our lives, post pictures for us to look back on, and share with family and friends just the day-to-day events, sometimes big, sometimes inconsequential. I never dreamed I would be able to do it for this long.

I've been contemplating why blogging just isn't grabbing me as much anymore. I want to do it, yet I am no longer feeling the pressure (good or bad) to make daily posts. As my kids get older, there are less "new" things. A day in the life of an 8 (or 12) year old changes more often than the day in the life of a 13 (or 17) year old. We are settled into longer, lasting routines. I'm enjoying every minute of it, but I don't feel the need to post every little bit of it either.

Oreo Brownie Bombs

Holly made these a few weeks ago. They were unique and AWESOME!

Oreo Brownie Bombs

1 box brownie mix for an 8x8 pan
24 oreos
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter (I'm sure chunky would be fine too)

1. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. For each cupcake cup, spread 1 teaspoon of peanut butter over two oreo cookies and stack them on top of each other inside a muffin cup. Spoon 2 tablespoons of brownie batter over each set of stacked oreos and let it run down the sides of the cookies. Divide any leftover brownie batter into cups.

3. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until brownies are cooked through. Let cool completely before serving.

Makes 12.

(Why don't I have a picture of these?)

Pumpkins

Robert's pumpkin came from the garden. I think we ended up with a pepper, a handful of tomatoes and a pumpkin.



Holly and Trevor waited until Monday to carve the others, while I was at work.

Holly's pumpkin

We watched the original Halloween movie with Jamie Lee Curtis. Haha!

Trevor's pumpkin

I'd asked Trevor to make me a puking pumpkin. We'd seen a similar one online last week, and I thought it was too cute!



We set the lit pumpkins out along the sidewalk to the house. We only had five trick or treaters, little kids, and I later realized we'd never turned the porch light on. :(

On the plus side, someone has to eat all that candy now. I think there are several of us here who are willing to make that sacrifice. For the good of the family, you know.

More soccer pics

A few more memorable photos that didn't make it into any other post:

Did I really not include this one already? There was one coach (not this team's) who was convinced that Holly was elbowing everyone. He made it his mission to get the ref to stop her (it didn't work). While we don't think she uses her elbows illegally, and certainly no more than anyone else, we appreciated that his team felt threatened enough by her to complain.

Maybe she can start grabbing clothing inconspicuously instead . . .
(and in the interest of full disclosure, it just LOOKS like she's touching his shirt)

If I haven't been quite so bold this season, here it is. We discovered in the spring that Trevor had been terribly underutilized and untrained in his then-soccer team. He'd played with the team for six seasons. It was usually a winning team, and the efforts all focused on offense and not defense. At the end of last season, Robert worked with Trevor just twice--and his skills exploded. The praise finally heaped on him by his then-coach and teammates was well deserved.

By moving into the new age group, he brought a new energy to our 13+ team's defense. He saw more action each game than he saw in entire seasons before. He was reliable and aggressive, and therefore played almost every minute of every game. As he has nine more seasons of play, he's clearly a force to be reckoned with.


Holly's little team's silly photo.


And I can breathe a sigh of relief that my soccer pictures have all been posted!

Green Bank

I'd recently heard about the Green Bank Radio Telescope located just a short drive away in West Virginia. ("Short" being relative: It was 2.5 hours each way, easily doable.) It's currently free to get in, but that changes next month, so it seemed the perfect time to make the trip.



And we couldn't have chosen a more spectacular time of year. There was no "easy" drive, once we left our county, it was two lane highways all the way, with the exception of I-64 that we hopped on for a bit to get into West Virginia.


The Visitor's Center at Green Bank is quite new, about ten years old, and not large. There was a wonderful hands on exhibit hall that was very informative for older teens and adults. We also saw a short presentation given by an employee, watched a small movie, and were taken on a shuttle bus tour of the facility.

Radio telescopes measure radio frequency energy from stars, galaxies and other objects in space. The telescope at Green Bank is HUGE, the size of two football fields, and is the world's largest land-based movable structure. For more info, see here and here.

Look closely to see how small the cars appear next to the telescope.

It was a quiet day. While there were more than a dozen visitors, we were the only people on the bus tour. I was amused by the driver going through his pre-rehearsed and well-practice spiel over the intercom just for us, as we sat at the front of the bus!

Due to the telescope's sensitivity to radio frequencies, the facility is in the middle of a 13,000 square mile National Radio Quiet Zone. While area residents can receive radio and satellite transmissions, there are tight restrictions on what can emit a radio signal. This means NO cell phone service, NO remote garage door openers, NO wireless internet, NO walkie talkies. All of the facility-owned vehicles are diesel; even digital cameras are not permitted within a certain distance of the telescopes.

Fascinating.

We also had registered for a Sky Lab presentation. Inside this balloon room. I eagerly crawled inside (second person even!), but once there, with the lights turned off and the projector simulating a sky, I couldn't take it and had to leave. I'm too motion sensitive and even get queasy writing about it here. I was so glad that Holly and Trevor decided to stay inside and not bail with me.



It was our first very cold day of the year, and as we headed for home, we saw snow. Quite a bit of it! It didn't make for bad driving, thankfully, as the temps hovered just above freezing, and the snow wouldn't stick.



I decided to drive home a slightly different way.


That was not the best idea, for although it was a scenic route, it was very curvy, and we got stuck behind two logging trucks. UGH!! Holly and Trevor were understandably less than thrilled.

We passed through picturesque towns, including Warm Springs, Virginia.



And oohed and aahed (okay, at least I did) from the earliest glimpses of The Homestead Resort at Hot Springs. (Can I just say, this was founded in 1766 and makes me rethink how impressive The Broadmoor seemed?!)


We were impressed by the sheer size of the MWV Chemical Plant in Covington.


It was an impromptu trip, a great day out with the kids, full of surprises, and a little bit of weather thrown in for fun. I was also a destination trip that gave us a chance to explore our area more closely. Nice day!

Special thanks to Holly for ALL of the scenery/car photos! We wouldn't have had these pictures without you!

End of another season

Another fast season, another great season.

This was Trevor's first time playing on the 13+ team. Other parents even commented on how well he held his own playing defense.



Holly made her mark in several offensive positions.



We believed last season was a time for team building; during the spring, we didn't win a single game and came in dead last out of eight teams. With Trevor as our only new player, everyone had a chance to meld together, giving us the opportunity to play a "consolation" game on Championship Night. We came in third overall for the season!


Great night, great team, great time.

GO RAMS!!