Month: December 2018

Welcome 2019

I don’t make resolutions – I set goals.

As the old year goes away most of us reflect back to decide if it was a “good” year for us and if we look hard enough we will find that the good is always mixed in with some not so great times. Unfortunately, that is the way life happens.  I usually set close to the same goals every year and keep them posted on my memo board to remind to do them.

This year’s goals:

  1. Continue to attend church on a regular schedule
  2. Go to the gym three times a week in addition to walking with Shoes.
  3. Lose  20 pounds.
  4. Find some thing positive about each day.
  5. Do a Spanish lesson daily
  6. Go to the gun range at least once a month.
  7.  Help a person or organization monthly.
  8. Deep clean one room of the house each month.
  9. Learn, do  or try something new each month. (I really like this one!)
  10. Plan to meet with either family or friends  at last once a month.
  11. Play my guitar and shoot my bow more this year.
  12. Eat healthy

Pack Rat? Hoarder? Or just want to get organized?

Did you know that clutter causes ANXIETY and definitely causes us to feel over whelmed  and out of control.  Experts say that clutter can lead to many negation side effects, including stress, fatigue and illness, as well as an increased risk of safety hazards.

One definition of a pack rat is some one who collects  especially unneeded items and rarely throws anything away.

The ADAA lists these signs and symptoms as warnings of hoarding behavior:

  • Inability to throw away possessions
  • Severe anxiety when attempting to discard items
  • Great difficulty categorizing or organizing possessions
  • Indecision about what to keep or where to put things
  • Distress, such as feeling overwhelmed or embarrassed by possessions
  • Suspicion of other people touching items
  • Obsessive thoughts and actions: fear of running out of an item or of needing it in the future; checking the trash for accidentally discarded objects
  • Functional impairments, including loss of living space, social isolation, family or marital discord, financial difficulties, health hazards

Need a few tips for getting organized?

  1. First learn to stop hoarding  useless clutter – newspapers, magazines, etc.
  2. Start small. I will not lie to you. Removing the clutter from a house can be hard and overwhelming to think about – so don’t over think it! Pick a room and start with one area – an example would be to clean the area  the kitchen table on one day and clean under the sink the next day. All you need to do it set aside 15 to 20 minutes a day to clean and declutter one area.
  3. Take before and after pictures. This is actually what jump started me to declutter over three years ago. I noticed how much stuff was in the photos. We as humans tend to overlook what we are used to living in – the picture seems to make everything “jump out ” at you.
  4. First the quickest way to gt organized is to get rid of the trash each day – old newspapers, shopping list, wrapping paper, plastic shopping bags, etc.  Having trouble deciding if it is trash? Ask yourself these questions:
  • Do you use this item regular or have you already used and really don’t need it again?
  • Do you love it?
  • Do you believe that you have to keep it  because  either it was  gift or has sentimental value?
  • Do you have multiples of it and do you need more than one?
  • Is it broken?
  • Could you use the space for more important things?
  • Do you have something else that does the same job easier?

5. Remove clutter  from  viewing areas  (counter tops, tables, etc.) first than work on the hidden areas  (closed cabinets, drawers, closets, etc.)                                                                                                            6. Thin out things you have multiples of.  How many travel mugs, coffee mugs, stuffed toys do you really need? Keep only what you have room for or need.                                                                                                  7. Make a plan and start. I have found a great declutter plan  online that I have used for the last three years. Yes, I said three years!  I revisit each task yearly to make sure I keep the clutter down and there are a few projects that I am still working on , like that photo project (it takes awhile to organize 60+ years of pictures LOL).                                                                                                                                                                      8. Last, don’t expect a declutter house overnight. It took years to get into the mess you may be facing and it will take a while to straighten it all out – but it is well worth the effort. The house will “feel” lighter and it will be easier to clean.  You will soon find that it will become a habit to go around each night and pick up and put things away once you have decided were they really belong.

 

 

Apple Cake

Apple Cake
I decided to try out my new Tree shaped cupcakes. The cake taste wonderful however  the cupcakes did not want to come out of  the forms.  A little green icing  will take care of that problem.
I do not think I will try this recipes as cupcakes in the future as the apple pieces make for an uneven surface.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup oil
6 medium Gala or Fuji or Honey Crisp apples
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon and oil. Peel and slice the apples and add to mixture in bowl (coating as you go to keep apples from turning brown.) Mix together the baking soda and flour and add to the ingredients in the bowl. Mix well (best with a fork) until all of the flour is absorbed by the wet ingredients. Pour mixture into a greased one 9×13 or two 9″ round pans. Bake for approximately 55 minutes.

My new toy – A Food Dehydrator

Okay I broke one of my rules – never buy something without getting rid of something the same size – and I am not sure were I am going to store it but I brought a food dehydrator.

I won a gift card in the weight loss contest last November and decided to use the card to buy a food dehydrator. I always wanted to try drying foods and this way it never really cost me anything. – So if I don’t like the machine I will not feel bad selling it.  LOL

The instructions say it is good for drying apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, cherries, cranberries,  figs, grapes, kiwi, nectarines, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, rhubarb, strawberries, asparagus, beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, corn, mushrooms, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes,chives, cilantro, and parsley.

I don’t grow all those  things but there are enough on the list that I do try to grow to keep me busy. Of course I can’t let the machine set until summer to try it out and lucky I don’t have to since I still have some pears left from the fruit sale.

I started with some pineapple, cranberries, pears, bananas and apples. Five hours later everything but the cranberries were dry. I was going to take a picture of the finished food but I wasn’t fast enough – so much for storing up to a year. They were like eating candy!

Frozen Apple Dumplings

My family loves Apple dumplings and we look forward to having them during the annual Oktoberfest.  Seymour Evening Lions Club sells fruit between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I usually buy a bag of pears to make pear honey  but this year I decided to also buy a bag of gala apples to make some apple dumplings and to make that  apple cake. I also wanted to try dehydrating  some of them.

 

Apple Dumplings

Syrup:

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

Dough:

  • 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup vegetable shortening (not oil)
  • 1/2 cup cold milk

Apple Filling:

  • 6 to 7 small apples or 4 to 5 large apples
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

 

To make the syrup: In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in 2 cups of water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until it has started to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the softened butter. Set syrup aside.

Now make the  dumpling dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Once combined, cut in the vegetable shortening until your mixture becomes crumbly. Slowly stir in the cold milk until the dough is completely moistened. Using your hands, form the dough into a large ball. Roll out the dough on a floured dough board until it becomes a large rectangle.  Cut dough into 6 to 8 squares. If your dough is a little sticky, add a little more flour.

Wash, peel and core your apples. I  slice my apples into wedges. Place into a large mixing bowl and add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the slice apples. Gently stir by hand until they are well coated with the sugar mixture.

Split of the apple filling according to how many dough squares you rolled out. I usually  separate it into 6 to 8 portions. Place one portion of filling on the center of one of your dough squares and dot the top with a pat of butter. Moisten the edges of your dough and fold corners up to enclose your filling inside the dough.

Lightly spray a large rectangular baking dish with some nonstick cooking spray. Place your finished dumplings inside the baking dish. Using a ladle, spoon the syrup on top of all of the dumplings.

 

Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until they are done.

These taste great right out of the oven but in case you got a bargain on apples or lucky enough to have an apple tree these can be frozen for up to 6 months.

 

You can freeze the  completely baked dumplings by placing them in a freezer/microwavable safe container or by  individually wrapping each one in plastic wrap. Once they are wrapped, place several of them into a zipper close freezer bag or plastic freezer container.

When you are ready to use them, defrost in the microwave on the defrost setting for 5 minutes. Then set your microwave on 75% power and reheat for 4 to 5 minutes or until they are heated through.

 

Count down to Christmas

Christmas is almost here and I am ready for it. I have all the cookies made, the gifts wrapped, cards sent, and house decorated so  why did I spent the whole day in the kitchen baking and cooking? I had a huge bag  each of pears and apples that had to be used before they want bad. Bill left to go to town before 8:30 and woke me up to say he was going. I tried to go back to sleep but it was a lost cause so got up to feed the animals and start some laundry.

Then I started making the pear honey. I decided to try something different this year, since it was hard for us to use up the whole container so I froze the honey in ice-cube trays. Once frozen I popped them out and put them in freezer bags.  Now we can just remove as many cubes as needed.

I recently found my mother’s peanut butter fudge recipe so decided to try and make it. I did say I tried. The fudge taste very good but isn’t as pretty as I remembered hers looking. This was my first time making fudge that needed to be cooked and I was taken by surprise when her instructions only said to beat the peanut butter into the mixture until is smooth. She never mentioned that it would set up instantly! I never got to the pour in it the pan stage – it was more like press it into shape and pray it sticks together.

I still had a full bag of apples so I made some Apple dumplings and apple cake cupcakes. I also had extra apples, pears, pineapple, bananas and cranberries to work with so I decided to try my new dehydrator. At the end of the day Doug was home from Ohio, we knew when Aunt Gloria’s visitation and funeral will  be,  the fruit supply was down to a reasonable amount and the freezer is full again.

I checked the greenhouse and little green leaves are poking up from the last planting.

New Life for an Old Sled

This summer my husband and I finished cleaning out the old homestead and we found some “old’ things from my childhood. Of course there were things too badly damaged by age to keep but a few things  were still in good condition and are being used during this Christmas season.

I found the Santa and our “original” elf on a shelf  with the sled and reindeer that my Grandpa Green made with my mom. They are flying across the fireplace mantle this year with their original paint.

We also found a box of her old Christmas ornaments and sadly not all of them survived but the ones that did have found a place on the tree this year.

My mother had made a lot of different fabric decorations and she also had made a wooden stable which we are using this year.

We also found my old sled the one that my dad would pull me around on when I was very little. It is still all in one piece but I do not believe it or I should be out sledding in the snow at out age so I sanded it down and gave it a coat of paint.

Once that was dry I painted it with  snowflakes, a snowman, and the saying :Let it Snow!” I think this will look great on the porch for the winter!

2018 Christmas Letter

Thanksgiving has come and gone again which means Christmas is approaching fast. How is it that when we were young the holidays could not come fast enough and as we age it seems we just turn around and another year is in the history books!  We hope that you had a good year and pray that the coming year will bring you happiness and good fortune.  Our year was full of traveling, gardening , craft projects, and doctor appointments.

December of 2017.

Bill and I helped with the local Seymour Evening Lion’s Club annual fruit sale. We sold a lot of fruit even in the super cold weather.  I knew enough to dress warmly in my snow suit but didn’t know how hot that little space heater got until I reached down to rub my calf.

The sad thing about this was that after all that work at the gym I had finally lost enough weight to actually fit into the suit again!  We attended the Lion’s club Christmas party ,  Bill’s family party and hosted our immediately family during the Christmas week. We also traveled to northern Indiana to have lunch with an old college friend and his wife.

January 2018

The weather turned cold and the chickens started laying “frozen” eggs which meant a lot of trips to the coop to collect eggs. We continued to go to the gym three times a week. I decorated the house and the tree for Mardi Gras. The cold weather kept me inside so I crocheted a Mardi Gras afghan, put a puzzle together and made the decorations for Mardi Gras. We attended the Lion’s club meetings , the Indy home show and made weekly trips to Kentucky. Our old washing machine died so we had to purchase a brand new one.

February 2018

It was too cold to work outside so we continued going to the gym, the Lion’s club meeting , the shooting range, our trips to Kentucky and we also attended the Jackson County annual Purdue club meeting. We also toured the local trout farm and got together with Bill’s brothers and sisters for lunch one afternoon.  I ordered my gardening stuff and started spraying the fruit trees for the year and also started some seeds indoors. The Sand hill  cranes have returned and are a sight to see each morning.

March 2018

This was a very busy month we were still going to the gym, traveling to Kentucky, going to the Lion’s meetings, the shooting range, and church. We met Shawn and Desiree for dinner at Edinburgh one evening. and Bill went to the annual road school at Purdue for two days. I cleaned the greenhouse and planted inside.  we traveled to Columbus, IN to have lunch with old friends one afternoon. There was snow on the ground so I deep cleaned another part of the house and made pillow covers for the living room. Doug came home for a weekend to visit. We also started cleaning up my parent’s  old homestead and accidentally burnt down the old shed. That accident actually made the place look a lot better.

April 2018

We traded going to the gym for cleaning out the old house and gutting the insides out of the place. We still went to the Lion’s club, the annual Mardi Gras party and helped with the Lion’s food trailer at The Pickers Meet.

Sadly that was the last picture I took of my “baby boy” Golden Rod as someone shot him while we were in the garden. I have no ideal why someone would stop and shoot him from their truck  especially when I was within 40 yards of the cat – but they did. Planting the rest of the garden was hard after that happened but I managed to get it finished but it took longer this year and was not as much fun. We met Shawn and Desiree a few times for lunch this month. Bill took another class in Indy and had his regular doctor’s appointment but this time with his new doctor since our older doctor had retired. I painted my wind spinner, a mirror for Shawn and make a new wreath for the door.

May 2018

Gym has been put on hold as things got busy around the house. Garden was planted and I started landscaping around the swing. We dug it out, laid fabric, added stone and plants to the area – no more poison ivy !  We had a few snakes visit the goldfish pond but they didn’t stay and I just took pictures of them and waited for them to leave. The flowers were starting to bloom and the birds were loving the bird garden. I painted the old milk can and some sticks. I also got tired of dumping the water out of the fire pit ( for some reason the drain holes never drained the water even when Bill drilled them out ) so I designed and made a checker board top and added lava rock and gel cans inside – no more logs to deal with or water to dump! Doug came home for a week’s vacation.

June 2018

We had a groundhog problem at the homestead so decided to buy a new rifle – no more groundhogs and I love the way it shoots! LOL  I just love to shoot and would be at the range more often if it was closer.  We made a few trips to Ohio to visit  and met Shawn a few times to have lunch. We attended the Greene family reunion and got together with Bill’s side of the family for lunch. Bill had his eye appointment and I scheduled mine for later. We went to the usually meetings and church. I  designed and painted a wind spinner and a fish board for the side porch.  By this time I had all of the first floor and basement deep cleaned and was ready to start upstairs that meant starting a new “major” project which will take months (if not years) to finish. After cleaning all the bedrooms I started on the library which has a build in bookshelf. The bottom of the bookshelf contains old photo albums that are falling apart plus mom’s old loose photos. My new project is to scan all the photos into the computer and place them in photo boxes.

July 2018

The mosquitoes were getting very bad so I sprayed the yard a few times this month and also sprayed the fruit trees. We poured a slab of concrete next to the driveway for a future shed and went to the county fair to listen to our neighbor sing.  I went back to the shooting range to practice some more. I also decide to retake our back yard so I started cleaning up trees and shrubs. The old dog kennel was completely covered in vines and weeds which took a few days to clear. The fence needed painting and I am not sure which had more paint when I was finished: me or the fence! I had my eye appointment and ended up with new glasses. We also have a new “garden” cat – she isn’t Golden Rod but she stays by my side like he did when I am working in the garden. We have no ideal were she came from and the other two cats hate her and they are always fighting even to this day in December. Of course I had to work on a craft so I started making soda can flowers which I am still making,

August 2018

We made a few trips to Ohio during the month and a trip to the State fair. The regular meetings plus a few golf committee meetings for the annual Lion’s golf scramble. Bill continued to work up the road at the homestead and I made a few things at the house. I refinished and tiled an end table for Shawn, designed and painted a sign for the dog kennel turned “chicken park” and another sign that I wood burned for the park. We relaxed one evening listening to TOG band at Scoop the Loop. I turned 65 so had to decide what to do about Medicare – went to a seminar which helped a lot! Doug came home the weekend of my birthday.

September 2018

More golf committee meetings and finally the Golf Scramble! We made a trip to way up north to visit with Bill’s cousin and a lot of little trips to Indy to  meet family and friends for lunch.  I had a great time helping a friend paint her new house – I know I am crazy but I love to paint!  Fall came early so I put up the Halloween decorations.  We had a lot of rain so I had to spray for mosquitoes again. I did some more work in the chicken park and made some self feeders which work great until they get wet – so have to come up with a way to keep them out of the rain.

October 2018

Doug came home for Oktoberfest weekend.  Bill had a few outings with friends – he played golf with an old high school buddy and went to the Purdue/Ohio game with another friend. I want to the shoot range and enjoyed shooting with a friend. We attended the Lion’s meetings and had dinner with some old friends one evening. Bill had the extension to the homestead ready so we ordered bricks and a team of brick layers to finish that part of the house. Shawn invited us to go with him to the Keeneland Race track and we had a great time – lost more than we won but that’s okay. We went to a friend’s Halloween /house-warming party and helped with the Lion’s Halloween parade and contest. Bill had his regular check up and was told that he didn’t need another one for a whole year  – no more every six months!

November 2018

This was a busy month but  I got very little marked off of my “to do”  list.  It started out with us missing Shawn’s birthday party because Bill had out-patient surgery the day before.  The next few weeks we did not go many places and I did most of the driving. We knew about the surgery for the last month so we voted back in October.
Bill was released to drive and we made  a weekend trip to Ohio before Thanksgiving. Later that week Bill had an in office procedure. Doug came home for a week’s vacation so he was here for Thanksgiving day. We had a house full with Doug, Shawn, Desiree, Chris  Henderson and Martha. The weather decided to prove me right when I said it was an early fall because we woke up one morning with super cold temperatures and ice covering everything outside. We did get the Lion’s club Peace contest winner awarded and published in the local paper.  I did got a few more soda can flowers made and a new porch sign designed and painted but mainly I have been baking,cooking and cleaning.

That’s our year in a nut shell.

 

Cookie Press

Christmas has always meant homemade cookies and candy to me. My mother started baking cookies and making candy the day after Thanksgiving and never stopped until the day before Christmas.  No matter how cold it was outside the kitchen was always warm and smelled of fresh-baked goodies.  My father would take little boxes of candy and medium boxes of cookies to work and sell them to his co workers so they would have extra money for Christmas. The rest of the cookies/candy were divided among us and family as gifts.

I never realized how much work was involved in making cookies until after she died and I had to bake them myself.  She would have most of the work finished by the time I got home to help and all I had to do was decorate them – that was the fun part! Even as I got older  making the cookies was fun because it was something we did together and we no longer baked as many since dad had passed.

I have to admit the first few years after her death were very hard and the Santa face cookies were made with tears in my eyes. I especially cried the day I broke the Santa cookie cutter!  Luckily I found the exact cookie cutter at Wayfair. I have all her recipes that she baked every  year in a book called Christmas Recipes from Grandma up the Road , however I do not bake all of them every year.  I still don’t know how my mother managed to bake them all!

There was one cookie that I remember her making but I could never make it since I did not have a cookie press. I really wanted to make those cookies so last year Bill brought me a cookie press. (The cute thing was that we found my mother’s original press while cleaning out her house this summer!)

I had never used a cookie press before so this was a first. I also used the recipe that came with my press which is a little different. Mon’s recipe had to be chilled whereas the new recipe is use as is.

Not having to chill the dough made this go so much faster. I just filled the barrel with the cookie dough and screw on a cookie disc  and pull the trigger – instant cookie!  Of course I had to try all 12 cookie disc before I finished.  Afterwards I checked  mom’s press and it has six more disc that are different so next time I will try them to see what they look like in cookie form.  I like this little cookie press so well that I ordered an addition Holiday disc  set as soon as I got back on the computer that evening. I just hope it gets here before Christmas so I can try these out! We may be eating Christmas cookies for a long time.

I had 14 dozen shaped cookies  made and in the freezer in one afternoon!  It takes  me days to make this many rolled out shaped cookies. You can even add color to the dough for more interest!

The recipe that came on the box:

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract ( I used regular vanilla extract)

1/2 teaspoon no color almond extract

3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder’

1 1/2 cups butter (softened)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Step 2

In bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. (This takes a little time but wait for it!)  Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat until combined. Do not chill. Fill cookie press with dough and with desired disks, press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Step 3

Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet on cooling rack. Remove from sheet; cool completely

Apple Maple Spice Cake

I found this recipe in the November issue of Better Homes and Garden and made it for Thanksgiving. We liked it better without the topping but either way it was delicious!

Apple-Maple Spice Cake