As I was getting ready to put away Mom's notebook that I referenced in an earlier post, I saw this recipe. I dare you Camper's to make it....I'll be eagerly awaiting your verdict on how it tastes! Oh, and for the record, I don't remember my mother ever making this, thank God.
Prune Medallion Pudding
Dissolve 1 package Raspberry (jello?) in 1 pint hot water and prune juice. Add 4 tablespoons sugar, dash each of salt and cinnamon, 1/3 cup cut raisins, and 1 cup cut cooked prunes. Chill until slightly thickened, then fold in 1/4 cup broken nut meats. Turn into mold. Serves 6.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Mom's daydreams
I found out this afternoon that this acorn didn't fall too far from the proverbial tree. I was going through yet another box of stuff from my parents' house and found a notebook that I think was in my mom's "recipe drawer" at the house I grew up in. The recipe drawer as I remember it was a kitchen drawer full of clipped recipes, product recipe booklets (like 100 Ways With Jello), etc. I didn't usually go through the drawer when I was growing up because Mom rarely actually used the recipes in it. She cooked from memory, or referred to recipes in one of her hundreds (no, I'm not kidding) of cookbooks she had elsewhere in the house.
This particular notebook was literally falling apart...it had no front cover, and was a three-ring binder that was just marginally holding together. At first I thought it was just some recipes she had written down from friends or relatives, but the more I looked through it, I realized that it was her version of what I called my "idea file" and I had actually THROWN OUT my own idea file just an hour earlier. (Remember campers...I'm trying to get rid of stuff in this house!). Anyway...Mom started this notebook while she and Dad were newlyweds and continued to use it well into their early marriage once he returned from overseas. There are handwritten recipes, clipped recipes from magazines like Ladies Home Journal, McCalls, Good Housekeeping, etc.; and there are floorplans. Mom had drawn out floor plans for what I presume was her dream house. She had attached clips of pages from magazines of specific rooms and decorating ideas she liked. There were also recipes for making things from scratch that you couldn't buy during WWII because of rationing.
The thing that struck me most about the notebook was how many different types of things Mom kept in it. It wasn't just a way to organize her recipes or household work, it had poems, and drawings, and daydreams in it. Needless to say her "dream house" never looked like the one she sketched out, but one of the clippings she had kept had a built-in glass cabinet wall separating the kitchen from the living room, that looked somewhat like the china cabinet in our home between our dining room and living room.
I have clipped recipes from magazines for years now, and tried to keep them in a folder where I could use them when I wanted...now with the internet I can much more quickly look up recipe ideas and have them in front of me in moments, rather than looking through a notebook full of clippings, so that's why I threw out my recipe book earlier today. But I'm keeping Mom's notebook. Even though some of the recipes in there are SO disgusting, in a Leave-It-To-Beaver-sort of way (Beet and Lima Bean Salad, anyone?) the things that she kept, that were important to her for some reason, are worth my reviewing from time to time.
This particular notebook was literally falling apart...it had no front cover, and was a three-ring binder that was just marginally holding together. At first I thought it was just some recipes she had written down from friends or relatives, but the more I looked through it, I realized that it was her version of what I called my "idea file" and I had actually THROWN OUT my own idea file just an hour earlier. (Remember campers...I'm trying to get rid of stuff in this house!). Anyway...Mom started this notebook while she and Dad were newlyweds and continued to use it well into their early marriage once he returned from overseas. There are handwritten recipes, clipped recipes from magazines like Ladies Home Journal, McCalls, Good Housekeeping, etc.; and there are floorplans. Mom had drawn out floor plans for what I presume was her dream house. She had attached clips of pages from magazines of specific rooms and decorating ideas she liked. There were also recipes for making things from scratch that you couldn't buy during WWII because of rationing.
The thing that struck me most about the notebook was how many different types of things Mom kept in it. It wasn't just a way to organize her recipes or household work, it had poems, and drawings, and daydreams in it. Needless to say her "dream house" never looked like the one she sketched out, but one of the clippings she had kept had a built-in glass cabinet wall separating the kitchen from the living room, that looked somewhat like the china cabinet in our home between our dining room and living room.
I have clipped recipes from magazines for years now, and tried to keep them in a folder where I could use them when I wanted...now with the internet I can much more quickly look up recipe ideas and have them in front of me in moments, rather than looking through a notebook full of clippings, so that's why I threw out my recipe book earlier today. But I'm keeping Mom's notebook. Even though some of the recipes in there are SO disgusting, in a Leave-It-To-Beaver-sort of way (Beet and Lima Bean Salad, anyone?) the things that she kept, that were important to her for some reason, are worth my reviewing from time to time.
Stop Loosening Your Skin!!!
It never pays for me to look through boxes of old stuff from my parents' house. I found this clipping from an old Life or Look magazine (not sure which). This wasn't the reason they had kept the clipping...there was a story about someone they knew on the back of this, but I'm still laughing about it.
Friday, May 25, 2007
bees
Sign seen on Interstate 55, approx. 5 miles south of Cape G., Mo. today....(on one of those flashing highway dept. signs)
ANGRY BEES AHEAD!
DO NOT STOP AND GET OUT OF CAR!
ANGRY BEES AHEAD!
DO NOT STOP AND GET OUT OF CAR!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Financial Report to Campers
Since this blog originally started out as an ongoing rant against rampant consumerism, mostly fueled by my personal angst at how much of our income I spent at Wally World, I decided to do a quick check to see where we're at five months into my "boycott."
As faithful readers know, I DO still darken the door of the Store of Doom. There are just certain times where sheer proximity and lack of time makes it too cost prohibitive to go elsewhere....either on my checkbook, or my sanity. However, I HAVE made a dent in how much of The Reenactor's hard-earned money is now going to Bentonville, Ark.
Since I'm a Quicken-a-holic, I can easily throw these numbers out:
From Jan. 1 to May 22, 2006 we spent $3016.10 at W.M.
From Jan. 1 to May 22, 2007 we spent $630.90 at W.M.
20 percent of our original purchases!! TWENTY PERCENT, campers!!!!
As of today last year I had spent $2490.16 on groceries....almost entirely at W.M.
As of today this year I have spent $2805.87 on groceries....almost entirely all at either the locally-owned grocery store, or at Kroger.
Similarly, on "non-grocery" items, as I have them tagged in Quicken (things like paper towels, laundry detergent, etc.) I spent $656.19 as of 5/22/06; and $517.46 this year.
Sooo...I AM spending an average of 12 to 13 percent more on groceries, but 21 percent less on the non-grocery stuff.
I will add a caveat to the increased grocery prices....in addition to shopping the non-wally world way, we have also increased our purchases of organic products, namely organic milk, which is about three times more expensive than regular (but it is wayyyy yummier!) I have been spending a lot of those extra grocery dollars on food choices I was not making last year, and I account a lot of that difference in that way.
For those of you who still doubt that it is financially feasible to shop at stores other than W.M. (and I was one of those last year!) I would offer that it is definitely financially viable to find alternate sources for groceries and household products.
I find that once I got out of the habit of going there, and got my bearings as to where to get the best deals on different kinds of products, I really didn't miss shopping there at all. It no longer seems the obvious choice that it was this time last year.
As faithful readers know, I DO still darken the door of the Store of Doom. There are just certain times where sheer proximity and lack of time makes it too cost prohibitive to go elsewhere....either on my checkbook, or my sanity. However, I HAVE made a dent in how much of The Reenactor's hard-earned money is now going to Bentonville, Ark.
Since I'm a Quicken-a-holic, I can easily throw these numbers out:
From Jan. 1 to May 22, 2006 we spent $3016.10 at W.M.
From Jan. 1 to May 22, 2007 we spent $630.90 at W.M.
20 percent of our original purchases!! TWENTY PERCENT, campers!!!!
As of today last year I had spent $2490.16 on groceries....almost entirely at W.M.
As of today this year I have spent $2805.87 on groceries....almost entirely all at either the locally-owned grocery store, or at Kroger.
Similarly, on "non-grocery" items, as I have them tagged in Quicken (things like paper towels, laundry detergent, etc.) I spent $656.19 as of 5/22/06; and $517.46 this year.
Sooo...I AM spending an average of 12 to 13 percent more on groceries, but 21 percent less on the non-grocery stuff.
I will add a caveat to the increased grocery prices....in addition to shopping the non-wally world way, we have also increased our purchases of organic products, namely organic milk, which is about three times more expensive than regular (but it is wayyyy yummier!) I have been spending a lot of those extra grocery dollars on food choices I was not making last year, and I account a lot of that difference in that way.
For those of you who still doubt that it is financially feasible to shop at stores other than W.M. (and I was one of those last year!) I would offer that it is definitely financially viable to find alternate sources for groceries and household products.
I find that once I got out of the habit of going there, and got my bearings as to where to get the best deals on different kinds of products, I really didn't miss shopping there at all. It no longer seems the obvious choice that it was this time last year.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
78 years
That is the combined years of marriage celebrated tomorrow in my family.
65 years ago this week my father called my mother long distance from Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and asked her if it would work out for her to marry him as he passed through her town in Missouri in a few days on his way to Ft. Knox, Kentucky to his new post as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Turns out it was the same day my mother was scheduled to graduate from college, so they just made a day of it...a wedding, commencement exercises, then a big family breakfast in their hometown as they made their way east on Route 66. The wedding was planned in just two or three days, and my mother had to celebrate this most important day of her life without her parents, as they lived in California and couldn't make the trip. It must have been the one small shadow on a day that I know she remembered so fondly all her life.
My parents knew each nearly their entire lives. They grew up just miles from each other, and attended the same small high school. But it wasn't until Dad was a college senior that he and Mom finally started dating, and the rest, they say, is history. Since Mom's passing last year I have been transcribing letters they wrote to each other for years as they dated, and after they married and he was sent overseas to fight in World War II. It is clear that they were passionate about each other from very early in their relationship...a passion that was evident until they were both very ill and shared a room in a nursing home together.
It was 12 years ago that I married The Reenactor, and I thank him for a dozen wonderful years of fun, travel, friendship, great days, and awful days, and the blessings of our children. I was thrilled to walk down that church aisle to him on that day, and would do it again any day that he asked. I feel darn lucky to be his bride.
And it was just one year ago that we witnessed the marriage of my niece and That Guy. It was really one of the best weddings I have ever attended, because it was full of joy, laughter, music, friendship, and so much love. I hope they are having a splendid first anniversary...I love you both!
65 years ago this week my father called my mother long distance from Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and asked her if it would work out for her to marry him as he passed through her town in Missouri in a few days on his way to Ft. Knox, Kentucky to his new post as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Turns out it was the same day my mother was scheduled to graduate from college, so they just made a day of it...a wedding, commencement exercises, then a big family breakfast in their hometown as they made their way east on Route 66. The wedding was planned in just two or three days, and my mother had to celebrate this most important day of her life without her parents, as they lived in California and couldn't make the trip. It must have been the one small shadow on a day that I know she remembered so fondly all her life.
My parents knew each nearly their entire lives. They grew up just miles from each other, and attended the same small high school. But it wasn't until Dad was a college senior that he and Mom finally started dating, and the rest, they say, is history. Since Mom's passing last year I have been transcribing letters they wrote to each other for years as they dated, and after they married and he was sent overseas to fight in World War II. It is clear that they were passionate about each other from very early in their relationship...a passion that was evident until they were both very ill and shared a room in a nursing home together.
It was 12 years ago that I married The Reenactor, and I thank him for a dozen wonderful years of fun, travel, friendship, great days, and awful days, and the blessings of our children. I was thrilled to walk down that church aisle to him on that day, and would do it again any day that he asked. I feel darn lucky to be his bride.
And it was just one year ago that we witnessed the marriage of my niece and That Guy. It was really one of the best weddings I have ever attended, because it was full of joy, laughter, music, friendship, and so much love. I hope they are having a splendid first anniversary...I love you both!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
finally, a kill
After months of trying to get our cat to kill one of the gangsta mice that lived in our house this winter—a task in which she was totally disinterested—she has made her first step toward earning her keep. This morning as I left the house a "gift" of a dead mole had been left for me on our front door mat.
Thing 2 was impressed, but wary. He circled it many times, but kept a distance. Thing 1, on the other hand, has her paternal grandmother's commonsense approach to dealing with dead critters, and picked it up and threw it in a bucket.
The drawing above is by Thing 2. He documented the corpse well....down to the weird pink nose.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
mother's day
I just finished a wonderful, funny book called "We're Just Like You, Only Prettier" by Celia Rivenbark. It is a more "Southern" version of my favorite parenting guide "Confessions of a Slacker Mom." First of all, a big thank you to my friend Whitney for loaning me this book...I have laughed and laughed reading it.
I'm going to quote a passage from this book...it is the only passage in the book that was serious, and given the last year in my life, very meaningful. It is the end of a chapter about making kids crafts out of macaroni.
********************************************************
...I know something more: that on those ong days when we in the sandwich generation feel squezed and spent and are tempted to grouse about being either mother or daughter, we should be fall-on-our-knees grateful to be both.
Because the truth is simple. Our time is fleeting and dear. As a good friend explained it, one day it is our mother who is buying us the Chatty Cathy that we begged for; the next, or so it seems, we find ourselves taking a baby doll as a gift to a mother in the nursing home. It has always struck me that women in nursing home beds almost always have baby dolls in their rooms. I suspect it is because they remind them of the happiest time of their lives. I know it is mine.
One day in a hospital room somewhere, you will hold a hand that you can't even recgnize anymore. It may be thin and dry and tiny, the rings way too big even with the guards you bought for her at the jewelry store.
Look closer and you'll recognize the hand that pushed you in the swing, the one that felt your burning forehead when you were sick, the one that stroked your hair the first time you had your heart broken and cried for a solid three hours.
For all of you mothers, for all of you who want to be mothers, for all of you "other mothers" who nurture children not your own, may you have a lifetime of Mother's Days filled with your own brand of macaroni magic.
I plan to.
********************************************
Thank you, Celia...that is a beautiful tribute.
I'm going to quote a passage from this book...it is the only passage in the book that was serious, and given the last year in my life, very meaningful. It is the end of a chapter about making kids crafts out of macaroni.
********************************************************
...I know something more: that on those ong days when we in the sandwich generation feel squezed and spent and are tempted to grouse about being either mother or daughter, we should be fall-on-our-knees grateful to be both.
Because the truth is simple. Our time is fleeting and dear. As a good friend explained it, one day it is our mother who is buying us the Chatty Cathy that we begged for; the next, or so it seems, we find ourselves taking a baby doll as a gift to a mother in the nursing home. It has always struck me that women in nursing home beds almost always have baby dolls in their rooms. I suspect it is because they remind them of the happiest time of their lives. I know it is mine.
One day in a hospital room somewhere, you will hold a hand that you can't even recgnize anymore. It may be thin and dry and tiny, the rings way too big even with the guards you bought for her at the jewelry store.
Look closer and you'll recognize the hand that pushed you in the swing, the one that felt your burning forehead when you were sick, the one that stroked your hair the first time you had your heart broken and cried for a solid three hours.
For all of you mothers, for all of you who want to be mothers, for all of you "other mothers" who nurture children not your own, may you have a lifetime of Mother's Days filled with your own brand of macaroni magic.
I plan to.
********************************************
Thank you, Celia...that is a beautiful tribute.
Friday, May 11, 2007
the winner!
By the way, the winner of the "name that shrine" contest was from my eldest niece.....
"Gnomenclature"
excellent!
Prizes will be forthcoming!
"Gnomenclature"
excellent!
Prizes will be forthcoming!
field trip
So it turns out to this novice public school parent that once the standardized testing is done at schools these days the whole idea of academic lessons being taught post-testing pretty much goes out the window. Thank you, Shrub, for that whole no child left behind idea. Apparently it applies to no child being left behind at the school from the field trips, movie marathons, fundraisers, etc. that spring up like dandelions in May.
So as to not sound TOTALLY like Scrooge here, I understand the value of rewarding the kids for a job well done in learning their material, and having some fun at the end of the school year. But, just this week, Thing 1 has had a "fun" day that included playing on an inflatable bouncy castle, watching a movie about Vincent Van Gogh (o.k.....THAT was cool); eating a ton of junk food; doing "gross" science experiments and I don't even remember what all happened.
Then the next day, her class (and I think some others) went on a field trip to ....ta da....Wally World. Yes. They. Did.
I asked her what exactly they did at WM, and she said they looked around the warehouse and saw where they put the bikes together. She came home with the second employee name tag with her name on it in a 6 weeks (see previous post "career day" from March). After WM, they went to McDs. So in one day they were "treated" to two major corporate experiences. And, for the record, once each week the lunch in the school cafeteria is Dominoes pizza. Thing 1 is now a fan of Dominoes, and only Dominoes. She is skeptical of any other pizza.
Granted, it certainly is NOT the first time Thing 1 has been in WM...lo, she spent much of her formulative years there. But I guess of all the possible field trips they could have made in this town that one seemed especially commercial in nature. There are museums here, historical and artistic; the library, the courthouse...whatever. Why WM?
I cannot remember going on any field trips when I was in elementary school. Of course that was a long, long time ago. So you younger whipper-snapper Kate's Campers.....what was your favorite field trip?
So as to not sound TOTALLY like Scrooge here, I understand the value of rewarding the kids for a job well done in learning their material, and having some fun at the end of the school year. But, just this week, Thing 1 has had a "fun" day that included playing on an inflatable bouncy castle, watching a movie about Vincent Van Gogh (o.k.....THAT was cool); eating a ton of junk food; doing "gross" science experiments and I don't even remember what all happened.
Then the next day, her class (and I think some others) went on a field trip to ....ta da....Wally World. Yes. They. Did.
I asked her what exactly they did at WM, and she said they looked around the warehouse and saw where they put the bikes together. She came home with the second employee name tag with her name on it in a 6 weeks (see previous post "career day" from March). After WM, they went to McDs. So in one day they were "treated" to two major corporate experiences. And, for the record, once each week the lunch in the school cafeteria is Dominoes pizza. Thing 1 is now a fan of Dominoes, and only Dominoes. She is skeptical of any other pizza.
Granted, it certainly is NOT the first time Thing 1 has been in WM...lo, she spent much of her formulative years there. But I guess of all the possible field trips they could have made in this town that one seemed especially commercial in nature. There are museums here, historical and artistic; the library, the courthouse...whatever. Why WM?
I cannot remember going on any field trips when I was in elementary school. Of course that was a long, long time ago. So you younger whipper-snapper Kate's Campers.....what was your favorite field trip?
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
coming attractions
Thing 1 is going on a ...shall I say..."interesting" field trip today. Very appropriate blog fodder.
More later!
More later!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
The shrine
All right Kate's Campers...I'm accepting your most creative name for this lovely shrine to ...um....ceramic things bought at flea markets? I pass by this every day on my way to take Thing 1 to school, and it has always amused me. Bunny on the left holds a sign saying "don't even think of eating the flowers" (there are no flowers anywhere near this thing); and bunny on the right's sign says "Critters welcome." Most of the other things are teddy bears, except for the elderly couple looking at a book in the background, and there is a little boy doing something in there...and the rocks around it are mixed in with sea shells.
What is an appropriate title for this?
The jam plan
To quote Monica on "Friends" -- I have a plan, and the plan is jam.
Here's my 100-mile strawberry jam. One jar already opened and sampled on biscuits....YUM.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
boys 'n NASCAR
I knew it probably had to be just a matter of time before one of my children, specifically my son, started being fascinated with cars, and, although it pains me to say it, NASCAR.
We are surrounded by NASCAR culture here....you see driver's numbers plastered all over cars, jackets, lunchboxes, tshirts, caps, etc. You can't go into a store without seeing some NASCAR-licensed item on display.
So Thing 2, who is totally into Matchbox cars now, asked the other day if he could buy a "race car with numbers on it." I thought he meant just a regular Matchbox car, so as a reward for putting up with a long boring day running errands with me I told him we could go buy one. When we got to the store he made a line right for the NASCAR Matchbox cars....wouldn't even entertain the idea of a "regular" one. He laid out all eight of the different cars they had their on the floor and carefully considered which color combinations (in the paint jobs) and which numbers suited him best. His ultimate choice, much to my amusement, was Jeff Gordon's car. He liked the numbers on it (24) and the colors (blue, with red flames on the hood). He didn't know, or ask, whose car it was.
When we went through the checkout the cashier exclaimed loudly, "OH ARE YOU A JEFF GORDON FAN? DIDN'T HE WIN THE RACE ON SUNDAY?" Think 2 looked at her like she had lost her mind. When we got outside I told him that the reason she had asked him that was because the car he had picked out was Gordon's. Well you would have thought I had said he just won a bushel basket of chocolate bars...."JEFF GORDON....I HAVE JEFF GORDON'S CAR???" Turns out all his peeps at school are Gordon fans, and they were going to find this new purchase to be COOL.
So now as I write this, Thing 2 is in the living room acting out a NASCAR race, announcing all the action using the names of three actual drivers, and pretending that they are looping and chasing each other around the track he's made. At school yesterday he was the most-favored boy because he had his 24 car with him.
A friend of mine, who has two young sons who actually watch NASCAR occasionally with their dad, and actually do know what the heck it is, told me that her sons are captivated by the drivers and their cars too. She summed it up this way, "to them, the drivers are Superheros. They have no idea who they really are, but they just like to throw their names around like they do."
Now if I could just get Jeff Gordon to convince Thing 2 to eat vegetables.
We are surrounded by NASCAR culture here....you see driver's numbers plastered all over cars, jackets, lunchboxes, tshirts, caps, etc. You can't go into a store without seeing some NASCAR-licensed item on display.
So Thing 2, who is totally into Matchbox cars now, asked the other day if he could buy a "race car with numbers on it." I thought he meant just a regular Matchbox car, so as a reward for putting up with a long boring day running errands with me I told him we could go buy one. When we got to the store he made a line right for the NASCAR Matchbox cars....wouldn't even entertain the idea of a "regular" one. He laid out all eight of the different cars they had their on the floor and carefully considered which color combinations (in the paint jobs) and which numbers suited him best. His ultimate choice, much to my amusement, was Jeff Gordon's car. He liked the numbers on it (24) and the colors (blue, with red flames on the hood). He didn't know, or ask, whose car it was.
When we went through the checkout the cashier exclaimed loudly, "OH ARE YOU A JEFF GORDON FAN? DIDN'T HE WIN THE RACE ON SUNDAY?" Think 2 looked at her like she had lost her mind. When we got outside I told him that the reason she had asked him that was because the car he had picked out was Gordon's. Well you would have thought I had said he just won a bushel basket of chocolate bars...."JEFF GORDON....I HAVE JEFF GORDON'S CAR???" Turns out all his peeps at school are Gordon fans, and they were going to find this new purchase to be COOL.
So now as I write this, Thing 2 is in the living room acting out a NASCAR race, announcing all the action using the names of three actual drivers, and pretending that they are looping and chasing each other around the track he's made. At school yesterday he was the most-favored boy because he had his 24 car with him.
A friend of mine, who has two young sons who actually watch NASCAR occasionally with their dad, and actually do know what the heck it is, told me that her sons are captivated by the drivers and their cars too. She summed it up this way, "to them, the drivers are Superheros. They have no idea who they really are, but they just like to throw their names around like they do."
Now if I could just get Jeff Gordon to convince Thing 2 to eat vegetables.
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