Elf on the Shelf

While at Mom's, we had the girls open their gifts from us so that Mom could see them open what she got for them since we won't be together for Christmas this year. Camry liked the purple squishy ball we gave Lacey. (click on arrow for video below)

An Elf on the Shelf came for Lacey! I hadn't heard of them but wow, what a great idea! The elf watches the kids to see if they're being good (or not) and then goes to the North Pole every night to report to Santa! In the morning when Lacey wakes up, the elf has come back and is somewhere in the house! A book came with the elf to explain all of this. Lacey named hers Ollie. At first as Diane was reading the book to her, she did NOT seem happy to have an elf watching her behavior, and we thought it looked like she wanted it to get lost! But she ended up being excited to find him every morning and was anxious to see if Ollie would find her at home in Iowa - and he did!

I Googled it tonight and have read some interesting things you can do with the elves for more fun (click HERE), and one woman said her kids are delighted when their elf shows back up each year.

We're Back

We got back last night from a quick trip to Indiana for Thanksgiving. We had planned to drive halfway Wed. night and stay in Moline, IL, but we had freezing rain all day Wednesday. We decided to try for leaving at 6 am on Thanksgiving.

Since we were delayed, we had a nice, but short, visit Wed. night here at our house with Bill's cousin Kelly, her husband and son who were visiting her parents, Tim & Bette Jo. They hadn't been to our new house yet since they live in Kansas.

Diane and girls went with us to Indiana. They hadn't been to Mom's since Dad died in the fall of '07 so Lacey didn't remember Grandma Dunk's house or anything - she would've been 2 then. We had good roads Thurs. morning so headed out and got there about 5:30. Mom had our yummy Thanksgiving meal ready.

Both girls were really good on the long trip even though Lacey had a bad cold and Camry has an ear infection. (I had a cold too) Uncle Bill was the only guy on the trip - he is still healthy so far!

Diane and I did a little Black Friday shopping Thurs. at midnight. She and the girls visited their other Grandma & Grandpa on Sat., and we all met Aunt Jan, Uncle Neal, Aunt Dana, Uncle Dale and cousin Jodi and her family at Mongolian BBQ Sat. night. Then Uncle Dale took us to the fire station to see Carmel's new $1 million ladder truck which Bill and Lacey were really wanting to see. (Uncle Dale was on the fire dept. for many years) Diane was also interested in the new ambulance they have since she's been an EMT.

After a nice time, too soon we were back in the Pilot for the return trip (yesterday). We did get home in time that I got to watch the Colts on Sunday Night Football. Even though they're not playing well at all with so many out with injuries, I'm always glad to get to watch a game since they're not all on here.

We were tired and sleeping great when Bill got a fire call at 1:30 am this morning. A drunk guy had wrecked and didn't know where he was but had started out from the bar here in our town. So lots of firemen were out looking for him. He ended up being just outside Gilmore City so their fire dept./ambulance took care of him.

There was another wreck tonight. A single car had missed a curve and gone off the road. One woman with a broken ankle on one leg, the other leg was broken and her car was totaled. These things seem to come in 3's . . .

Black Friday

Hope all of you readers had a nice Thanksgiving!

Diane and I went out on Black Friday at about 11:00, got some White Castles, and then drove around to see what the shopping situation was. We had seen on the news that people were camped out in tents at a Best Buy. Sure enough, they were here too! While we were munching on our sliders and watching, a vehicle showed up with more blankets & hot drinks for the tent dwellers.

Then we checked out the line at Old Navy. Diane talked me into waiting till midnight with her - she said it would only take her a few minutes to "grab" everything she needed. She neglected to tell me that the check out line would be as long as the one we waited in outside! It eventually wrapped around both main aisles! Luckily Aunt Cindy got done shopping pretty quick and got in line while Diane loaded up her shopping bag with "deals". We were home and in bed by 1:45 am.

Diane thought the crowd here was very subdued compared to what she was in last year but her highlight was 2 honking vehicles going around the roundabout repeatedly by Old Navy with guys hanging out of the windows.

Stampin' Up! Online Spectacular!

Just a quick post about the sale just announced today! It's just from today through Nov. 30th. I'll be getting an e mail with details out to customers this afternoon. In the meantime, you can click on the Online Spectacular picture in the right column here, or as always, go to my Stampin' Up! web site - top right or click on the Order Online 24/7 picture in the right column! Lots of items 20-50% off including My Digital Studio at half price or $39.98! (software for scrapbooking fast/digitally!) Lots more information about My Digital Studio at www.mydigitalstudio.net.

Deer in our Yard

A few minutes ago, we watched 7 deer come up from the creek to our back yard and start munching on our new grass! Before moving here, I was like most "city" people - thought deer were really neat animals. But after marrying a farmer, I've seen that they do a lot of damage. Not long before we got married, a guy that everyone here knew hit one while riding his motorcycle and was killed. Almost everyone here has hit at least one while driving - usually more. And, I've seen how much of our crops they eat. One of these just had one antler!

Bill & Tim got all of the big equipment moved north yesterday from Tim's to the big machine shed and put away for the winter. They waited until the gravel roads froze so that everything wouldn't get dirty when moving it after just getting them cleaned up.

Bill's been helping his mom move some furniture. She's having some painting done tomorrow.

I got to see Glenn & Amy yesterday (along with Diane & girls). They left to go back to Texas this morning. Glenn has a bad cold so didn't feel good for visiting and the long drive.

Looking forward to getting to see the Colts' game although they may not play too well with so many starters injured and the Patriots are always a tough team to beat.

Homemade Cheesecake is Easy!

I really enjoyed watching Pioneer Woman beat Bobby Flay in their Thanksgiving Dinner Throwdown Wed. night! After reading her blog quite a bit, it was fun to see their ranch and watch and hear her on the show. She included mashed potatoes in her Thanksgiving meal but Bobby chose to have brussels spouts instead which may have helped her win. She made pecan pie with a cream sauce, and Bobby made a pumpkin bread pudding for dessert. I wouldn't be surprised to see her with her own Food Network show one of these days.

Lots of people have never made cheesecake, but I think it's one of the easiest desserts you can make! And it seems like some men really like cheesecake. There was a guy at Mom's church that LOVES this and always asked her to bring it to the pitch in meals. Glenn LOVES it too so I made one yesterday per his request to take to him and Amy for lunch today. They are here on a quick trip this weekend. They're going to be babysitting Lacey & Camry.

You just make a graham cracker crust and I use the already crushed graham crackers, melted butter (not margarine), some sugar and cinnamon. Bake in a spring form pan for a few minutes. A spring form pan is one that after your dessert is baked, you can unlatch and then remove the side.

Just mix together some cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla and bake.

Then top with a sour cream, sugar & vanilla mixture and bake at 500 for 5 minutes. (this makes it like the Sara Lee cheesecakes) That's it! Or you can leave the sour cream off and top with canned cherry pie filling.













CHEESECAKE
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
6 T. melted butter
Mix graham crackers with sugar, cinnamon & butter. Press into bottom of 10" spring form pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

3 - 8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla
Beat cream cheese well, add sugar gradually and then eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Pour over crust and bake 1 hour and 10 minutes at 300.

2 c. sour cream
3 T. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
Whip sour cream with a whisk lightly, add sugar and vanilla. Pour carefully over baked cheese cake. Bake at 500 for 5 minutes. Let cool and then refrigerate several hours before serving.

A Few Days in Des Moines

Bill and I have been in Des Moines for a few days. He had an insurance convention with the Board that he's on. Some of the wives go, and we attend some things - mostly the meals & entertainment - and then head out to shop when we can! I got 3/4 of our Christmas shopping done so really happy about that!

We left Sun., the day after our first big snow but we were surprised that there was no snow past Humboldt - not far from here. So our drive to Des Moines wasn't bad at all.

Our entertainment Mon. night was a group of 3 guys called New Odyssey or 3 Guys and 30 Instruments. Link HERE. If you're ever in charge of entertainment for a mixed age group event and need a good group, book these guys! They've been together 30 years and are very talented AND entertaining. They all live in Illinois.

Bill had a dr.'s appointment re: his shoulder this morning. It's been bothering him for 4-5 years and he finally decided to get it taken care of even if that meant surgery. After having an MRI recently, the dr. told him this morning that it's tendinitis. So no surgery, just some therapy and exercises at home. Good news!

He and Tim are having a new disc delivered today, and I'm doing laundry and putting things away.

While we were gone, a 17 year old boy shot - and killed - a gas station attendant in Algona and then in Humboldt within an hour - both towns that we go to all the time. People were very shocked since things like that don't happen here. People here really take their safety for granted. Luckily they did catch the kid soon after thanks to cell phone calls from a couple of people.

Pioneer Woman is on Food Network tonight - Throwdown Thanksgiving Feast - with Bobby Flay! 8:00 pm CST and 9:00 EST.

Already????????

I was going to just title this "No Words Needed" and leave it at that but I have to talk about it a little! :)

This 7-10" came mostly during the night. It's a heavy, wet snow so at least it shouldn't blow around. Lots of power outages for several hours around. Ours just kept flickering or was off for 10 or so min. here and there.

The roads in town and the highways are plowed but not the gravel roads. Pretty deep between the tracks!

Very unfortunately, this caused the Women's Conference at our church to be canceled today. Lots of work put into that for 200 women to attend. They're going to serve the lunch after church tomorrow.

Bill's mom had chili for lunch today for the pheasant hunters and Bill & I. Since I had an unexpected free day, I hung around and visited with Peggy most of the afternoon which was nice.

Misc.

No pictures again but thought I'd post an update.


We have a group of 4 pheasant hunters here for 3 days. They're from Wisconsin and come here to hunt every year. They always stay at a hotel in Emmetsburg. Bill went out with them yesterday. They shot 7. Today we've had icky weather with some slushy stuff falling and a weather forecast that made Bill decide to get the snow blower ready and some other things.


I got to babysit Camry today. She is teething so was a little fussy but still so cute and easy to take care of!


Last night was a stamp class here with just 4 attending. I had 3 cards for them to make including one using bleach that they did very well with. I demonstrated a couple of other things for them like faux suede.


We are in a winter storm warning until 3 pm tomorrow. I'm hoping this doesn't change my plans for tomorrow. I'm going to a Women's Conference at church that 200 will be attending.

Box for the Troops

I went to a P.E.O. meeting yesterday. Our little project for the day was bringing things for a member's son who recently arrived in Afghanistan. A great variety of things were collected and the 20 lb. box was mailed out today hopefully to be received before Christmas!

Some of the things included: Ramen noodles, instant oatmeal, Blistex, hot chocolate, popcorn, butterscotch hard candy, granola bars, a CD, gum, a toothbrush, Easy
Mac, a crossword book, Chicken Soup for the Soul word-finds book, sunflower seeds, pens, pencils (with sharpener!), jerky, gum, a mini summer sausage, big bag of Blow Pops, Twizzlers, instant apple cider, tea bags, Wet Ones, Pringles, 2 local newspapers and more! He's going to love it all!

We also got word that our application for a $5,000 P.E.O. grant has been approved to help a woman in town with some special needs after a serious illness.

P.E.O. is a philanthropic organization where women celebrate the advancement of women; educate women through scholarships, grants, awards, loans, and stewardship of Cottey College; and motivate women to achieve their highest aspirations.

Thanksgiving

The church was packed today. This is the pretty fall display that's been up front. The puppets did their thing along with the kids doing a couple of other skits and a song in sign language. After church, we went to the Community Center for the omelet breakfast fundraiser the Catholic Church did. They had a good turnout. I haven't had to cook the last few days - always a good thing! I am trying a new recipe for roast tomorrow.

A Fun Day

It's another windy day. Mom, Dad and I had usually visited NW Iowa in the spring and fall and it was usually windy so I was pleasantly surprised that there are lots of days in the summer and some in the fall when it's not windy.

Today was a bazaar and lunch in Plover. Five of us went for coffee (water for me!) and pie and then brought our lunch home since we were there at about 10:30. They were serving hot turkey sandwiches or BBQ pork with choice of a homemade salad and pie. Those church ladies are good pie bakers. They were also selling bags of nuts like whole pecans, whole cashews, almonds, trail mix, etc. which has been part of their fundraiser for many years. Then there were other baked goods for sale like kringla (popular in this area and north), caramel rolls, pecan rolls and other stuff.

Tonight is our town's soup supper (homemade chicken noodle, and hot or "normal" chili) and then turkey bingo. I'm helping serve soup and may stay to see if I can win a turkey. Homemade chicken noodle soup is something I never make but it's a popular soup here.

The Colts game is not on TV here tomorrow so I'll have to watch the NASCAR race in Texas instead. Glenn got 2 free tickets for it so he and Amy will be there.

Wild Rice Chowder

Bill & Tim have gone to another town this morning to look at trading a piece of equipment. This afternoon Bill's going to Algona to get his hair cut (at his aunt's) and then look at trailers. It's a cooler, windy, sunny day today, but the weekend is supposed to be in the 60's again.

We had one of Bill's classmates over last night. They had only 21 in their class! He has lived in Las Vegas for the last several years and is back to see his parents and help them get to Arizona for the winter. I had thought I'd make lasagna but found out he's lost 55 lbs. and is eating healthier so instead I made a recipe from a Carmel friend that I had been wanting to try - Wild Rice Chowder. Recipe below. Also had a salad, had the bread machine make dough for oatmeal/whole wheat bread with some dill and garlic in it and made apple crisp. All after having too much fun with a couple of friends having lunch at Sum Hing in Emmetsburg.

We all really liked the soup (thanks Buff!) - hope you try it!

WILD RICE CHOWDER

2 T. butter
1 onion, chopped
1 c. celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 box of Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild Rice Original
8 c. chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 c. boneless chicken breast, cooked & diced (or used canned to save time)
salt & pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrots. Saute for 5-10 min. or until onion is translucent and carrots start to get tender.

Add the rice and seasoning packet. Stir to coat. Then add the chicken stock and the bay leaf. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

Remove the bay leaf. Add the heavy cream and puree 2 cups of the soup in a blender, food processor or use an immersion blender to thicken the soup. Return this to the pot and add the chicken. Stir well and allow to heat through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Prep. Time: approx. 10 min. Cook Time: 1 hour Makes 6-8 servings

Stampin' Up! Regional in Des Moines

I just realized that I hadn't posted anything about the Regional I went to in Des Moines back on 10/16. I went with my recruit from Pocahontas, Bobbi Jo Clark, in the 1st picture on the left. This was a half day event so we didn't have to be there until 12:30. There are always lots of samples on display to give us ideas at these events (2nd picture) and that we can take pictures of.

There were WOW demos done by demonstrators from the area. I was contacted to do one but I didn't have any WOW ideas right now - that's why I was going to the seminar!

We always get to stamp at these events. Back when I was new that was a big deal, but now I use that time to take pictures of the displays when it's not so crowded. I figure I can stamp at home.

I've been a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator for 14 years and have been to many SU! events all over the USA so have many friends from all over. It was fun to see a group from northern Illinois that I haven't seen for a few years. Stampers have lots in common so it's always easy to talk!



Here are some Simply Adorned charms that people were wearing. They're much prettier in person than in the catalog! You buy the charm and then stamp the insert - or you could put a picture in them. To see them in the catalog from my web site, click HERE. There are 5 sizes available plus 2 chain lengths, a bracelet and now baubles. The black, pink, clear or vanilla pearl baubles are in the Holiday Mini catalog.

We've been working on getting things cleaned up and put away before cold weather. Bill & Tim are working on cleaning and putting away tractors, etc. I'm doing things here at the house. The weather is still nice but a cool down tomorrow for a couple of days and then 50's again for the weekend. Bill has a fire dept. meeting tonight. I'm having lunch with two P.E.O. friends tomorrow (Chinese in Emmetsburg).

So happy the Colts won on Monday Night Football - even without several of their starters!