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| This corner will be about many things including crafts, recipes, great places to visit, fun things I have done, and many more subjects. |
| Saturday, December 15, 2007 Baking for the holidays is a tradition that I have enjoyed since our children were very young. It would begin with making fruitcakes for Thanksgiving along with pumpkin, apple, mincemeat and sometimes lemon meringue pies. Then there were dozens of Christmas sugar cookies to be made. Making sugar cookies was always fun as the children would help decorate them. In later years fewer sugar cookies were made and mincemeat pillow cookies were added. We made several dozen sugar cookies because there were four growing children along with Christmas parties for school. Then of course there was the delicious peanut butter fudge to be made each year. Now that the children have their own homes they still enjoy making the traditional peanut butter fudge. I too, continue to made the fudge and one or two pies. We do not need all of those extra calories that come with these delicious sweet treats. Today, however I am baking several dozen cookies for our church outreach program. No, I am not baking the time consuming but fun sugar and mincemeat cookies; however, I am making oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. So, I still get to do something that I really enjoy without having to eat too many of the cookies. Now who can actually bake sweet treats without eating at least one cookie hot from the oven? May you each have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the traditions that are special to you. Monday, November 19, 2007 Baggy Omelets are nutritious and fun to make. This past Saturday we got together with a group of our neighbors and made baggy omelets. We also had monkey bread, biscuits, pancakes with blueberry sauce, sausage and cheese biscuits and many more goodies. For those of you that have not heard of baggy omelets it is an omelet in a bag. First you take a quart zip lock freezer bag and then you put your eggs into the zip lock bag being careful to not get any of the eggshell in the bag. Next you add any other ingredients that you might like such as cheese, onions, green peppers, ham or whatever you like. Then you seal the bag and be sure to get all of the air out of the bag. Next you put your zip lock bag in a pan of boiling water and let it cook until done. Oh yes, if there are several people making omelets at the same time be sure you have your name on your bag before putting it into the pan of boiling water. If you prefer you can mix your omelet ingredients in a bowl and then pour into the baggy to cook. There is no oil, no messy pan to clean up and it is very tasty! Thursday, November 15, 2007 This past week I participated in a "Iris Ribbon Folding Card" class. In From Darrell's Chair he referred to it as "basket weaving". It was not basket weaving but then he often refers to any craft class that I take at the clubhouse as "basket weaving" even though it isn't. Making Iris Ribbon cards is really fun and wasn't very difficult once I understood how it is done. Then again, the kits were all put together for the class so all I had to do was learn how to put the card together. To make more cards I will need to make all of the pieces necessary for the card or buy the pre-made kits. I think it will be more fun to make the kits myself. The backing and main part of the cards are made with card stock paper and then the designs on the front are made with either the ribbon or paper. There are all types of designs you can make such as a star, Christmas tree, heart, flower just to name a few. If you are a very creative person the designs are unlimited as to what you can make. When you are finished with your project you have a very nice and unique card to send to a family member or friend. Saturday, October 20, 2007 There are a few sayings about home. "Home is where the heart is" or "home is where you hang your hat". If you are a full time Rv'er you might hear "home is where you park it". Well, my home is where we park it; however sometimes there is a need for a little more than that. We have been living full time in our RV for about fifteen months. Several months ago we stopped in Virginia at a campground. This had been a long day of driving, I was tired, hungry and last but not least our GPS sent us in the wrong direction for the campground. (For those of you that know me you know that tired and hungry are not a good combination). Rather than going a few miles northwest of town we went several miles southeast of town. You might say that isn't a real big deal but there is more! You see we had to go through a quaint little town with narrow streets and then ended up on a narrow, winding road into the mountains and no place to turn a 38 foot RV around. Eventually we found a place to turn around but then we weren't sure where we needed to be and of course there was no cell phone coverage. To make a long story a little shorter, we were able to get the correct directions and finally reached the campground but not before going though the lovely narrow streets again. We reached the campground only to take a very long time to check in. Their process was very antiquated to say the least. Upon arriving in our assigned site we found that the truck was in the street and the back of the RV hung over in the street behind us. By this time (or maybe before) I just wanted to go home but didn't know where home was. Yes, I know my home was behind the truck but at this time I needed more than that. Eventually we were assigned to a very nice site backing up to the Shenandoah River. Home is about people not about a stick and brick house or an RV. These are just places of shelter that most of us call home. Home maybe different things to different people but for me home has that comfy feeling, a familiar place where I can see old friends and meet new people. It is also, a place where I have a church family to be part of. As we have traveled we have found more than one place that feels like home and as we continue to travel we will may find more places that feel like home. Tuesday, September 4, 2007 I have always enjoyed my crafts and people are curious about being able to do your crafts while traveling fulltime. Well, the answer is that it can absolutely be done. As a matter of fact that what's this lifestyle is all about - relaxing and taking time to accomplish your hobbies. I dabble in lots of crafts such as quilting, crocheting, scrap booking, tenerife embroidery, and Swedish weaving. Next I want to learn how to do beading. My problem isn't where do I store all of my supplies but how do I find time to work on all of my projects. I am currently working on two projects and just finished another. I would tell you all about them but they are secrets as they are gifts for the children and grandchildren. I will just say that one gift has to do with quilting, one with crocheting and one with scrap booking. Once we are back in Alabama I hope to learn how to do more crafts. Last winter I attended a class on silk ribbon embroidery. I enjoyed learning how to do silk ribbon embroidery but it was a bit too tedious for me at the time. Maybe this winter I will try it again as it was a fun craft to work on. Tuesday, August 28, 2007 On Saturday, August 25th we attended the installation service of Foye Belyea. He was installed as the pastor of the North Country Bible Fellowship Church in Speculator, NY. We knew Foye when he was a young boy and teenager: how wonderful it was to see how he has become a faithful man of God. We were friends with Foye's parents back in the 80's when we all lived in Connecticut. His mother, Rita and my other friends Becky and Gladys would often go out for breakfast after we would get all of our kids off to school. Over twenty five years later I am still in contact with these special friends. So, it was a great blessing to be able to attend Foye's installation service. One of the advantages of full time RVing has been that I was able to see Rita while we were in Florida last March. We attended church and then went out to lunch together. It was just like old times and so much fun. In a few weeks we will be in Connecticut and hopefully I will be able see Becky and Gladys again. Back to the installation service for Foye. When we looked at the program we noted that Kurt Carlson was going to be one of the speakers. We knew Kurt and Elaine when we lived in Connecticut. Our daughters were in the same class at North Stonington Christian Academy. While we were talking with Elaine she said we have brought someone else with us. There to our surprise was Connie and Dick whom we had also known back in Connecticut. How wonderful it is to renew old acquaintances! |