Easy Recipe

Mix together:

1 Angel Food cake mix

1 20oz can crushed pineapple (don’t drain)

1/2 cup coconut (more if you want – can be colored too!)

1/2 tsp ginger

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes in a 9×13 cake pan. The original recipe calls for longer cook time, but ours was done in 35 to 40 minutes.

This is a super easy recipe, and will be enjoyed by all.  I plan to add this to the holiday recipes I already make every year.

Fall is a-coming!

We are having an unseasonably cool day here in Missouri.  Fall is definitely on the way!  Our schedule is really filling up with lightning speed too.  Tonight is the home opener for our beloved high school football team.  The two big girls will be playing and marching in the band.  Dad and I will be in the stands with the Queen and our parent-friends, happily chatting and snapping pictures.  And probably freezing our fannies off.  Mental note: take a blanket!  Softball season is also in full swing, as is cross country.  My eldest daughter seems to think that she must have her hand in every cookie jar this year.  She is going to wear me out and then leave.  College will be here before we know it.  Sheesh…I’m not sure what happened, something about blinking and then they’re all grown up…

I’m actually craving fall after the summer we’ve had.  It’s not been a very fun summer.  Well, it got started okay but then really went down-hill.  I’m ready for mums and pumpkins now I think.  Ready to hear the leaves crunch under my feet when I walk outside through the yard.  Ready to be done with mowing.  I always look forward to those few days when we can shut off the AC and open the windows to air the house out.  Well, we shut our AC off days ago but it’s been too cool to open any windows yet.  I’ve already got my little potpourri burner going with apple-cinnamon liquid simmering in it.  It’s just dandy!  And I bought some new flavored coffee that I’ll be enjoying tomorrow morning.  MMM…

I hope Saturday is an uneventful day, I’m looking forward to lounging around with my coffee and just puttering around the house.  Sunday we are driving 80 miles to my Grandpa’s house.  He decided to get married last month.  My Grandma passed in February of 07 and he doesn’t want to be alone.  So they are cooking dinner for the entire family and having a kinda-sorta reception.  It should be nice, and I hope for good weather so we can spend part of the day outdoors.  As if I don’t have enough to keep me busy, I’m putting together a 60th birthday celebration for my mother on the 19th.  I finally got the invitations done and printed last night.  Today I have spent rounding up addresses and getting them ready to be mailed.  Just about the time I think I’m done, I realize someone else who I feel needs to be invited.  LOL  I keep saying it’s going to be a “little get-together” but it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  What a hoot!  At least it’s keeping my mind occupied and it’s actually fun planning a “little” party for someone I love so much!  I know she will definitely be surprised.

Well, I’ve probably yammered enough for this afternoon.  I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I hope I do too.    Until next time…

August 27, 2008

I just realized how long it’s been since I’ve posted.  I have had a very chaotic time recently and maybe finally be getting back on track now.  My summer started out good and then kind of went haywire following the 4th of July holiday and the success the girls had at the county fair.  One of my nephews passed away on August 2nd.  He was 30 years old and such a special little guy.  He had a brain tumor from the time he was 6 years old, so we knew all along it was going to happen eventually.  But it still blind-sided me.  I’m still having the night sweats where I wake up calling out for him and being drenched in sweat.  In some ways, he was still like a boy of about 10.  He had the biggest heart of anyone I know and wasn’t shy about telling you or showing you how much he loved you or how happy he was to be with you.  I am so happy that we got to see him over the 4th of July holiday…I posted pictures of him when I wrote about that.  We took him out in the boat for the fireworks show and had a blast.  Shortly after we returned home from that trip, he had a stroke and was mostly paralyzed on his left side.  He really went downhill fast and hospice was called in.  We made the trek back to the lake on August 1 (our wedding anniversary) and we were there for the weekend.  He passed late at night on the 2nd and we were all there together.  We decided that we’ll celebrate our anniversary later in the fall.  We’ll probably just go out to dinner (without the children) or maybe see a movie.  No biggie, but we need to do something.  We were on a mission on our anniversary. 

Now school has started.  It’s Whitney’s senior year, Kelley’s sophomore year and Emily’s 2nd grade year.  The year has gotten off to a good start with high school softball season in full swing now.  Whitney played varsity last night at 1B and then pitched the last 2 innings.  She had an awesome game, even though the team lost she posted many good stats!  Including a 2-RBI double to the fence in centerfield.  Kelley started centerfield for the JV team.  She hit the ball several times but was thrown out at 1B.  She didn’t have much action in centerfield, but didn’t have any errors either.  Emily hasn’t had any activities yet but has math homework every night and is very good about doing it immediately when we get home.  I like our little routine at the end of the day.  We race upstairs to see who can get their sweatpants on first!  Then we meet back in the kitchen and I fix us both a drink.  She does homework and I go through the mail and look at her school papers.  A couple of evenings ago it was so perfect outside that we took our drinks out on the patio and she did her homework on the picnic table while the hummingbirds swarmed our feeder.  How delightful it was!  Anyway, after homework we start getting dinner ready.  She usually likes to help me with that, but if she’s tired I let her go to the recliner to watch television.  Sometimes she’ll even have a quick nap before dinner.  But some days if I have to be at the office early, we get up by 4:30 and she’s at the daycare by 5:15 so some days she needs a little power-nap.

Whee…I had forgotten how therapeutic blogging can be.  I hope to blog again sometime soon.  Somedays I feel like there’s hardly anything to report though.  Oh, I’m having the entire softball team out for dinner on Wednesday, Sep. 3.  There are 24 girls, plus the coaching staff, my family, and I’ll probably see if the grandparents want to join us.  That’s always fun.  This year we are smoking a pork loin and brisket.  I’ll also have baked beans, potato salad, and rolls.  Probably a salad too.  One of the other moms is doing dessert and a cooler of lemonade.  It should be a good time.  And as long as it’s not raining, I’ll have all the picnic tables set up outside since it’s cooling off nicely these days in Missouri.

I did make a wonderful new (to me) recipe over the weekend for a hashbrown casserole.  Major Yummy!!  It was so good, I made it twice!  I managed to come across a recipe for potato pancakes also.  Not like “breakfast” pancakes, but they would make a nice side dish for a supper meal.  I’ll have to dig those out and post them before long.

I hope this post finds everyone doing well today.

AFA State Tournament

Well our girls didn’t do half bad at the State tournament.  They took 4th and I believe there were 17 teams in their division.  Posting a photo of our team:

Tipton Tigers Gold 16B

It was an exhausting weekend, but we love traveling at least once a season for a good softball tournament. 

Now we are full swing in the Ray County Fair.  Today is exhibit day.  Whitney took her sundress and jacket.  Kelley and Emily took more projects because they had more time to work on them.  With her work and softball schedules, she’s not had much free time at all.

All three girls did a country cured ham and they are being judged today.  So tonight we’ll find out if either of them scored high enough to go to the ham auction tomorrow morning.  Emily isn’t old enough to compete till next year, but we’ll certainly enjoy eating hers!  We usually take her ham to the store and have the meat cutter slice it up and then we fix it on the grill.  It’s so good that way, with a veggie or two on the side.  My garden is producing a little bit, so I’ve got some zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, and yellow squash to fix now.  The peppers are still struggling a bit, but I hope to have some ready for picking soon.

Well, that’s really all I have for now…until I find out the results at the county fair tonight.  I’ll try to post tomorrow and hope to include pics of the girls with their projects.    Ciao!

Fashion Revue 2008

Well my girls had an awesome showing at the County Fair Fashion Revue last night.  I’m going to post a picture!!!

Whitney, Kelley and The Queen

Whitney was awarded Grand Champion for her lovely sundress with reversible shoulder-jacket.  She gets to represent our county at the Missouri State Fashion Revue in September.

Kelley was awarded Reserve Grand Champion for her lovely short sleeved jacket and skirt ensemble.  They were the only 2 competitors in their age division.  LOL

Emily sewed her 4 piece outfit.  Tank top, jacket, skirt and coordinating purse.  She isn’t old enough yet to compete, so she’s practicing!

It was a fun night for all.  Except Dad.  He’s working out of town most of this week.  But we sent him pictures from my cell phone and I’m sure he suffered from a swollen head last night.  I did too!

First Pictures

Here goes…my first attempt to post pictures…

Whitney and Bobbie

Oowee!  Success!  Here goes another one…

LeeRoy, the Queen, Kelley, Mary

Wow, I can’t believe it.  I’ll have to post pictures more often I guess! 

Steph

WOW…that was quick!!

It really does happen that way…you go on “vacation” and it’s gone in the blink of an eye!!!  WHEE!

We did have a nice time.  Robert and I took last week off and we piddled around the house Monday and Tuesday.  We left Wednesday for the lake house, stopping on the way to retrieve Kelley from Cheer Camp and going out for a nice lunch.  The lake was wonderful (as always) and we got lots of R&R.  Robert and I found ourselves napping in the hammock at odd times throughout the day, which was absolutely dreamy!  We rode the waverunner, went boating, skiing, and tubing along with being lazy.  There was a quick trip to the fireworks factory so the kids shot off fireworks all weekend long when we were at the house.  Robert’s parents spent the weekend there with us so we got in quality time with them.  We roasted hot dogs over the fire and of course made s’mores!  We went out to eat on Friday night at the floating restaurant that’s next to the dam.  They have good food at cheap prices.  It was enjoyed by all and there were no dishes to do that evening.  Saturday night we watched the fireworks display from the boat and got back to the house late.  Sunday was my 36th birthday, and I started the morning off right…I slept in till 9!  (That’s a late morning for me)  Of course we had to pack up and travel home that day, but it was still fairly relaxing.  Robert cooked dinner and the girls did dishes.  We had his parents and my Mom and her boyfriend all out for burgers, potato salad and baked beans.  It was even better than normal since I didn’t have to do anything but eat.    Then we shot off some more fireworks at dark.  We stayed up too late, but I’ll survive.  I really didn’t want vacation to end. 

Today is the County Fair Fashion Revue that the girls compete in annually.  They are ready and their clothes look awesome (I’m biased of course).  The judging begins at 5:30 with the Fashion Show and announcement of winners at 7.  I will be taking pictures, so maybe I’ll get frisky and put some of the pictures on here…baby steps for me on the computer you know.  I’ll definitely post their results.  This is going to be a really busy week and weekend so I’m not sure how much posting time I’ll have.  I hope to do this again soon.    If you’re reading, thanks a lot!