Your eating what

speaking of tongue, do you ever find yourself talking to friends and saying "ya for sunday dinner at our house we had cow tongue" and then seeing the ghastly appalled faces reassure them that it wasn't too bad.  Do you remember we used to eat shark?  And pig liver or some kind of liver, I am suprised we survived.   can you just picture two little kids sayin; what are you havin for dinner?  oh we're havin spaghetti again, what are you having?  cow tongue and pig liver.  ha ha just kidding.  i actually used to like cow tongue,  i'm not sure if i could stomach it now that i'm older and wiser :)  good times, good times!

No Bake receipe

Since my recipe for no bakes got mentioned and I occasionally get calls asking how do I make them I thought I would through together the recipe as well as some interesting factoids on their development.
I started making them as a poor starving nursing student who had to ether eat at the hospital cafeteria or make his own. Not having had cooking lessons like Mom tried to do with you I ate the two things that I had learned to cook from my Mom, no bakes and Mac and Cheese with Velveeta cheese. I never made no bakes into cookies but had a Pyrex 9x13 pan that I would grease and mash them into a big solid chunk and cut them into bars as I would eat them during the week. I figured that I was getting my veggies (chocolate) grains (oatmeal) and then would fix a hamburger or mac and Cheese for my starch and protein. When I first started dating your mother she asked what was my favorite cookie and outside of chocolate chip oatmeal raisin, no bakes was at the top of the list. So one day I get a package with crumbly light oatmeal covered in what looked like milk chocolate. You see your mom didn't have any dark baking chocolate but had Nestles quick and tried to make it using that as a replacement. I will say this that 1. because I truly love your mother I ate them and 2. That is the only thing that she has made in the 35+ years that she has made things for me that I haven't totally enjoyed what she has cooked for me. I figure that isn't a bad record as she has cooked a lot of meals for me and you guys and they always seem to come out tasty. ( I would have never thought I would like tongue but I do)
Now how have I come upon the recipe for No bakes, they came from a cook book the ladies of the Moose lodge put together in Quincy. I have tried to perfect it by changing from Crisco to margarine, and ether use a thermometer or time the amount of time that they cook to get them "just right" The thermometer seems to work the best to avoid the too gooey stage but without a thermometer I cook the sugar,milk, margarine, salt, vanilla mixture for 3 minutes at medium boil. then add the dry ingredients and put onto waxed paper to cool.
Ingredients are:
3 cups of Oatmeal ( I also have mixed 1 1/2 cup each quick and regular together as straight regular seems to make them dry and straight quick makes them gooey)
1/2 cup of baking choco powder
Mix these in a bowl and add to the other ingredients after boiling
Mix in sauce pan:
1/2 cup milk
1 cube margarine
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (less if you use mexican vanilla)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cook on stove top until at least 110-115 degrees F. or 3 minutes different stoves reach the temperature faster/slower and boiling for 3 minutes seems to make a reasonable cookie.
Now that you have the family secret (oops) recipe you can try it and let me know how it works. For choco-hollic's having them a bit gooey just means you get to lick your fingers more. They seldom make it past the first day and if they do they always have dried enough to not be too messy. So enjoy Maybe I'll make them along with Kellee's chinese chooies.

Dancing through life

so there is something that has been my goal for a while more like since i was little. and finally it is a reality ! So on wednesday the 20th I had ballet auditions for jr. company. and to make this short and sweet and to the point. after my loverly class, i found out if i made it or not, and I DID and im really super duper happy, even though i will have no social life. like i said earlier its been my dream, to be one of the cool big girls and be on company, my next goal is sr. company and we will see how that goes next year. i really dont know what else to say about it but i really had a fun time.
random side note: i love high school, and my teachers and my friends and thats about it

Happy Birthday Savanah

So i am late posting this but my baby girl is now a year old.  I remember thinking when she was born what a long time a year is, and now it has come and gone.  Looking back with Makayla, time seemed much slower.  I remember each milestone in that first year, and with Savanah I feel like I blinked and she is one.  Maybe it is the fact that I had all day to stare at Makayla, and the pace of life was a bit slower.  I am doing my best to enjoy every minute of their growing up because as I am learning it goes by in the blink of an eye.  I'm actually not having a hard time with getting enough pictures of Savanah because she is so adorable. I might be more guilty of getting too many of her...which isn't really a problem, I think.  Savanah has been our little angel.  She has such a fun personality that we see more of each day.  She loves being around Ben and Makayla and she absolutely loves it when Ben takes her for rides on the rhino.  It was so funny to see her the other day fighting over it with a neighbor.  Emma who is three and Savanah, were each trying to get in the rhino.  I have to say for a one year old she put up a pretty good fight!  Another thing I love about her is she is very assertive and is very good at letting you know what she wants.  Every morning when she wakes up we sit in the rocker and she drinks her bottle.  One morning I didn't have the bottle ready before she woke up and I started to walk downstairs to make it.  She started squealing (the dogs outside started barking it was so loud) and was pointing to the chair.  I would walk back to the chair and she would smile.  I've had to learn to make bottles at turbo speed to appease the shrill scream!  She is such an animated and dramatic little girl already, it makes me wonder what the future will bring.  One thing is for sure, everyday no matter how many "incidences" we may have, I get a smile on my face when I peek in their rooms and they are fast asleep.  I think of the story by Robert Munsch, I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be.  Happy first birthday Savanah!

Georgia

Hello,
from Athens. So far on my little adventure I have been able to use a GPS, which is so cool!!! I have been able to go swimming in the Baxters. Relax and Frank and Becky bought me a birthday present a day at the spa. a new hair cut and a massage and facial and pedicure. Tonight I am going to visit with some friend Lise, and Carmen. I also have seen Morning Vail today too. Tomorrow Is Sunday and I am excited to goto church and to see some old friends.