Joy of giving

Don't you just love it when you give a person the right Christmas gift? Our oldest's expression says it all.

Copycat Lipton's Onion Soup Mix recipe

This is delicious! I almost had Hubs buy a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix yesterday while he was out running errands, when it dawned on me that I could probably find a perfect recipe online that had ingredients I already had at home and/or could tweak a bit. Sure enough, I found this one at RecipeZaar. We have celery salt and celery seed, but no crushed celery seed. No mortar and pestle (adding it to my mental to-get list), so we used the celery salt. Our beef-like powder from my food co-op (probably years old by now!) seems lighter in sodium than beef bouillon, so the celery salt was a good match for it.

We used low fat sour cream (Publix makes an awesome low fat sour cream, as does Daisy, but avoid WalMart's - yuk!). Couple that with Ruffles Reduced Fat chips and yummyyummy!



Copycat Lipton's Onion Soup Mix

SERVES 4 , 19 tablespoons, approximately

3/4 cup instant minced onion
1/3 cup beef bouillon powder
4 teaspoons onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed celery seed
1/4 teaspoon sugar

1. Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.
2. About 5 tablespoons of mix are equal to 1 1¼-ounce package.
3. To make onion dip: Mix 5 tablespoons with one pint of sour cream.

Get well, Rush

I've been a fan of Rush Limbaugh since the early 90's. He's a passionate man of strong conviction and I deeply respect him for exposing government lies every day on his show and bringing clear thinking to every subject he discusses. So it was very distressing to hear that he was suffering chest pains yesterday while on vacation in Hawaii and was taken to the hospital. It looks like he'll be okay, though, so I'm thankful for that.

I often wonder how these talk show hosts can talk day after day about the mess our country is in and not have heart attacks from the stress. It makes me ill just listening to it all.

Rush, get well. We need you! You are America's Truth Detector.

Speaking of truth detecting, that made me think of my favorite scene from Elf:

Resolutions

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but one thing I am resolving to do in the coming year is to get over my recent bouts of timidity. The first thing I did to work on that was to allow Google to sweep my blog. So now my blog posts will be visible to anyone doing a Google search. This was a biggie for me as I have become more and more turtle-like over the last few months and it's got to stop. If I'm going to blog publicly I ought to really be public. Lots of other bloggers do this every day and think nothing of it.

I'm really trying to open up and come out of my shell and be like I used to be.

What do you desire to work on in the new year?

Blue moon tonight

Happy New Year!

We get to witness a rare occurrence tonight in that it is a blue moon (the second full moon in a month, but not necessarily blue in color) and it's New Year's Eve. This is a once-every-19-years event. Can you imagine what tonight will be like in the emergency rooms and police stations? I shudder to think!

We'll be doing our usual home celebration with lots of yummy snacks, a viewing of our traditional Babe dvd and watching the new year come in on a local tv channel with some large, roundish lit object falling for the last minute of the year.

Will you be going out tonight or staying in?

Even the rats get Christmas gifts

For Christmas, Littlest crocheted a scarf for our laziest boy, Barney. She even made him a card and read it to him. :)



He was only mildly amused, most likely scheming up a way to get that thing off his neck.



How much longer??

Gross

Guess I should keep a better eye on the bread basket in our house. I totally overlooked this one.



My littlest brought it to me with glee.



As homeschoolers, our first thought was "science experiment". ;)

Something I noticed

Could it be the addition of new blinds to our front living room and foyer windows that could be contributing to my low spirits these days? I admit that I don't go outside often enough, and our house used to allow lots of sunlight in before the blinds were installed. I try to open the blinds every day, but it's a battle to keep them open. Seems certain children prefer them closed and have their way with them when I'm not looking.

Thinking back, I do recall that my mood has steadily gotten lower since the blinds were installed. Living in a cave just ain't for me. Must exert some parental authority, me thinks.

Is the end in sight for free tv?

We're one of those families who haven't hopped on the cable/satellite bandwagon, so we usually watch very little live television. Maybe some PBS on Saturdays, but that's about it. We watch a lot of dvds, though. And there's Hulu and YouTube.

It looks like the free tv networks might be considering dropping their free status and using the pay model. Personally, I wouldn't miss it. There's so little of value on regular tv these days and the commercials are so thick that they chop up the shows so badly it messes up the plots. There was a controversy about just that recently when A Charlie Brown Christmas was chopped to bits to make room for the overload of commercials. I'm thankful we own it so we don't miss a scene, but I felt bad for those who only watch it when it comes on tv. I watched it that way growing up, just like everybody else, but not any more.

Personally, I think free tv is past its prime and needs to fade away. Not only are the commercials overtaking the shows, but they're often morally reprehensible, so the tv has to be turned off during commercials. Of course, cable and satellite don't keep us from a heavy dose of commercials. When we go on vacations we get a taste of them at our families' homes.

So, what do you think? Would you miss free tv if it disappeared?

More 70% off items found at my local mall

These rubber mats were a steal at $3 each (regularly $9.99). I was in Target the other day and saw some that were very similar for $14.99. I also bought a third mat (not shown) that is a half round. So for less than the price of one I got three! The store is called Home Elegance and is located in the Mall of Georgia.

(I made this pic black & white to avoid the look of black against our mauve carpet. Blech.)

Drunk on the Senate floor

These people are running our country. Oh, goody. I feel so secure.

Merry Christmas!

May your Christmas be one of joy and peace. Our joy and peace doesn't come from the government or the stock market or everything being perfect or perfectly done, it comes from our faith in the One who was born to set men free from sin, Christ the Lord.

Prancer

Melissa introduced me to this sweet film. It's 20 years old (hard to believe except for the 80's bangs on the main character's friend).

A lonely little girl encounters a reindeer that's wounded his leg and nurses him back to health so she can return him to Santa. It's a very poignant film about faith and perseverance.

Big mirror

Here's another one of those items I got for 70% off. This mirror was almost $80, full price, but I got it for $24. It's really big, probably 2' x 4'. I plan to put it up in our foyer by the front door. I've always thought a mirror would go well there. I love it's rough-hewn look and the beveled glass.

Christmas prep, a doctor visit and food talk

Last night, Hubs and I tackled wrapping all the gifts we've bought for the kids and each other. We also did a test run on stocking stuffing to see if we had enough. Too often I've guesstimated and ended up with too much once the stockings were filled on Christmas Eve. This year I saw what the stockings would look like ahead of time and was surprised at how full they already were. So I doubt I'll need to get anymore stuff. I really don't relish getting out in the traffic today any more than I have to!

On Monday, I got a TDaP shot (the grown-up version - I needed the tetanus, but the doctor asked if I wanted to get the TDaP instead). The pertussis part (the "P") is usually the troublesome part of the TDaP. But my doctor reassured me that it was a killed version. No fever, thankfully, but I had a monstrous headache all yesterday. That's one of the side effects that hits 44% of people who get the shot. It's mostly gone today.

Also decided to get back on the blood pressure meds (part of why I went to the doctor). This president and congress are doing a number on my blood pressure. Holy cow, are we in America anymore?? The democrats in this congress are a total disgrace! They need to be booted out next year! Shame on them for ignoring the will of the people!

Okay, better calm down. This stuff gets me going.

Today, the plan is to make 2 pies, a sweet potato casserole, and cranberry sauce. Since we did Thanksgiving with family in Texas, we didn't get to enjoy all the leftovers. So we're doing our Thanksgiving menu for Christmas:

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Corn
Cranberry sauce
Rolls
Sweet potato casserole
Pecan pie
Apple pie
Cheese ball and crackers
Veggie platter with Ranch dip

We have everything bought except the turkey. We're getting a fresh one today, so no need to thaw.

Hope you're almost ready for Christmas. It's almost here!

The Twelve Days of Obama Christmas

The little elves who live in my house created this little ditty. Hope you enjoy it.

On the 12th Day of Christmas Obama gave to me:

(12)...a trashed Constitution
(11)...a Congress full of losers
(10)...big, fat carbon footprints
(9)...endless wasteful spending
(8)...a worthless health care bill
(7)...a big pack of lies
(6)...free Obama money
(5)...long boring speeches
(4)...a nice Obama plush toy
(3)...lots of unemployment
(2)...debt up to my eyeballs
(1)...and a big fat stimulus check!

Merry Christmas, America!

Free Christmas music at Amazon

Here's a list of free Christmas music from Amazon. They also have a 25 days of free Christmas songs thing going here. Enjoy!

If you view my blog through Bloglines...

...you might notice it's not been picking up the feed. If you resubscribe using this link it should work.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/TFJw

Repost: Robert's Awesome Chex Mix

Hubs makes this every Christmas. We love it!



Robert's Awesome Chex Mix

3 cups Corn Chex cereal
3 cups Rice Chex cereal
3 cups Wheat Chex cereal
2 cups pecan halves
1&1/2 cups Cheez Its, or other cheese crackers
1&1/2 cups pretzels
9 TBLS butter or Smart Balance
3 TBLS Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp seasoned salt
1&1/2 tsp garlic powder
1&1/2 tsp onion powder

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Measure out first 6 ingredients into a baking pan (we use an aluminum roasting pan). Set aside.

In a microwavable bowl, melt the butter/Smart Balance. To the melted butter/SB add the Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, garlic powder and onion powder. Mix thoroughly and continue mixing as you pour it evenly over the cereal, pecans, cheese crackers and pretzels. Using 2 wooden spoons, stir the cereal mixture well.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, removing every 15 minutes to stir. Let cool. Store in airtight container.

Incredible deal on a Canon Rebel!

Amazon has the Canon Rebel DSLR camera for only $409!

This is the newer version of my camera, which I love. It also comes with a nicer lens than mine came with (I've since upgraded to this one).

If you've been waiting for a super deal on a digital SLR camera, here you go! Mine was about $100 more than this one!

Yawn

Activity is going on all around me, but I just feel like sitting here. Hubs has already been buzzing around cleaning up a couple of car seats we need to donate, and he and son are working on getting the garage tidied while the girls are cleaning up their room (THE messiest room in the house).

I don't feel like doing a thing. Not a thing. I'm usually the busy one, but not today. Just no energy.

Tonight I hope to get in some shopping. Crazy, I know. The Saturday before Christmas? I better perk up if I'm going to face the crowds. Yaaaawn.

Two of my 70% off finds

I'm going to be sharing piecemeal because I've not photographed everything yet. With this gloomy, gray weather the lighting ain't so hot.

I found this cake plate, regularly priced at $24.99 for around $7.50.



And I found the glazed oval dish for $3.60, regularly priced at $11.99.

Normally, when I see 70% off I figure I'll find little I can use, but I was so pleasantly surprised when I ran across these deals!

Today

The plan is to clean the bathrooms, dust our bedroom, and make pizza for supper on top of the usual laundry, dishes and school. A typical Friday.

It's dark, rainy and cold here this morning and the rain is supposed to go on all day, so I'll probably feel like taking a nap all day long (overcast days do that to me). But having all the inside Christmas lights on will help. Surely, we'll put a fire in the fireplace at some point.

After pizza, we'll have dessert and watch Elf (our altered rated-G version). Big fun!



Last night Hubs got the lights up in the windows and put up the lit wreath and garland over the front door. All that's left is the yard snowman and the candycane walkway and we're set.

Hope your day goes well!

Thank You!

To those of you who have been praying for me, THANK YOU! I am no longer experiencing the crushing oppression I had been under. As you can see from my most recent posts, I am feeling more myself again and believe it's due to your prayers on my behalf. Thanks again and God bless you!!

Easy frosted animal crackers

We have been up to our eyeballs in white almond bark lately. It tastes so good! We love covering pretzels and animal crackers, as well as Nutter Butter cookies (great for snowmen). But this year we've mainly done animal crackers. It's so easy. Just melt the almond bark (add a tbls or more of shortening to thin), dip the cookies and sprinkle with nonpareils.

Yum!

Saying Merry Christmas

I've been making a greater effort to say "Merry Christmas" to those I interact with out in the world. And I've noticed that every single time I've said it the other person mirrored my greeting. I think a lot more people want to acknowledge Christmas than we think.

I figure that if I run into someone who's offended by it I'll just wish them a Happy Holidays instead. No biggie.

It does feel good to hear others say it, doesn't it?

Encouragement for family members of a prodigal

This article I found recently was a great encouragement to me. I wanted to pass it along.

Caring for Prodigal Children and Parents

Great afternoon

The teens and I went to the early afternoon showing of A Christmas Carol (IMAX and 3D) and WOW, was it even better the second time around! What a treat! A truly amazing production. The kids loved it. The scary parts were just as scary for me the second time. That Marley's Ghost was eerie! Jim Carrey shows his genius with the many characters he portrays. My favorite was the Ghost of Christmas Past (the candle). Totally awesome! to coin an old phrase. This movie version certainly drives home the power of Dickens's redemption story. As Colin Firth says in this clip, it's "a feast on every level". A delicious feast.



On the way out of the theater, the kids wanted to stop at a store outside the mall that sold houseware items and home decor. This place had a 70% off room that we quickly made our way to. I found some wonderful deals that I'll try to share pics of soon. It was a fruitful stop!

Stopped for gas at Sam's Club on the way home and had some Domino's pizza (1-topping large w/extra cheese - $5.99 deal) for supper.

It was a great afternoon!

Up early...

...and enjoying the peace and quiet. I love getting up before the sun comes up and experiencing the way the house changes as it gets brighter and brighter. Today I hope to take the 2 teenagers to see A Christmas Carol at the IMAX theater. Hubs and I went on our anniversary and were blown away by it.

I hope you have a lovely day, my friends!

Confession

I have been feeling like a shadow of my former self lately. I've been battling depression. One of my grown children is a prodigal, and I have not been handling it well. I have allowed the Enemy to pound on me and belittle me and turn me inside out with self-blame, some of which I actually deserve. But I am praying and working at getting back to being myself, forgiving myself for feeding the problem. God is in control of my daughter's life whether I see it or not. I just need to rest and trust in Him.

So forgive me for being a total flake these days. I want to get back to my normally cheerful self on here.

Esophageal dilatation

Hubs had to have a procedure done today to stretch his esophagus. Did you know some people need this done? I didn't. Apparently, it has something to do with acid reflux, which he has. I had no idea that he had been struggling a lot with swallowing his food for quite some time. Why don't men tell us these things??

He had found out that avoiding caffeine was really helpful for his acid reflux, but recently had been back on the caff coffee wagon. We found out he has a classic case of :

Acid Peptic Stricture - This condition is very common. The stomach produces acid which, in turn, can reflux into the esophagus. This event is usually made worse by the presence of a hiatus hernia. Over time, the acid and peptic stomach juices injure the esophagus, causing inflammation and then scarring. The fibrous scar then contracts and narrows the esophageal opening.

This morning they put him out and did the stretching with a balloon device. It was over in 5 minutes and we were out of there within 30-45 minutes. He was groggy, but felt good. He seems himself this evening, but we're making him rest. Liquid diet until tomorrow, so Jello, broth, Sprite, apple juice, etc. until tonight. Then son is going to whip him up one of his favorites: Butterscotch malt!

Mrs. Meyers free shipping

If you order $50 or more at Mrs. Meyers you can get free shipping until Thursday.

Squirrel shakers

You can find the cutest things at Cracker Barrel. These salt and pepper shakers (the nuts are the shakers, the squirrel is the holder) were 50% off after Thanksgiving. Cute cute cute!

27 years

I am the most blessed of women to have been married to this man for 27 years. Happy Anniversary, my love!

Cleaned the pantry and the shrimp

Well, it's now Thursday and I am finally done with the last 10 lbs. of shrimp. Yesterday, I just didn't do anything more than chores and school. I guess it was my recovery day from getting back into town from our 2 week trip. Today, I got a wild hair and tackled the pantry which has been in pitiful condition for a long time. I had intended to only do the shrimp, but I was more interested in doing the pantry. Then I had to do the shrimp because they couldn't wait another day. Ugh, I think I overdid things. I am whooped! Why do I do this to myself??

But at least I have something to show for it: nine pounds of shrimp in the freezer ready to use, and a clean pantry.

Brian Regan fun

Our family loves Brian Regan. He is just so funny! In this clip he says a couple of minor cuss words, but otherwise, the humor is clean. Enjoy!

Cold water wash

It's now been about 6 months since I started washing every laundry load in cold water. I have to say that I see no difference in the way our clothes look. Not a thing has changed except our electric bill. It's definitely much smaller since I instituted the change. I don't soak my loads, even the really nasty ones like scout camp clothes and grimy towels. I just wash them like I always do. I still occasionally use a little baking soda with the detergent in some loads, but only when there are odor issues. It truly is amazing how clean everything gets in cold water.

Think on these things

It's good to be back to blogging again. When life gets ugly it's refreshing to have a place where you can go to that's focused on the beautiful and right in life, and more so, to share that beauty with others for their edification.

This world is full of darkness and it's easy to get overwhelmed by it. It pours forth in torrents some days, so much so that it can carry you away with it if you have nothing to hold on to. Thankfully, I have Jesus Christ to cling to. He is my only hope in this dark and depraved world.

His words grabbed me today:

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

How often do I call Him Lord, but don't listen to Him? Too many times than I can remember. He goes on to say:

"I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

Without obedience to Christ, when the storms come, and they will, my foundation won't hold. Only with obeying His word can I sustain the torrents. I am more aware of that these days. No amount of trying to go my own way will sustain me. It's like trying to live on Twinkies and fast food. It's emptiness.

I thank God for the great feast He gives me from His word. How filling it is, how satisfying. Now to be more diligent about putting what I read into practice!

His word tells me to think on the good things, the pure things, the noble things; not on the bad, not on troubles. Sometimes it's hard to see the good when you're focused on the bad, but it's there, right in front of you. God knows we need hope, and He provides it partly through the good things in this world.

I think I'll add this scripture to my sidebar as a reminder:

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Phil. 4:8

I think I'll start with Robert's jambalaya leftovers. A really excellent and praiseworthy thing!

No treats from Ob@ma - too funny!

(h/t: Mommy Life)

Sweet donkeys

Donkeys are a very common sight in Texas. They are good "watch dogs"! They can live among other livestock and will chase away coyotes and other predators.

Here are 2 that my parents own. Aren't they cute? They love to eat and are always looking for handouts!

Louisiana shrimp

When we visit family we typically go to Louisiana and Texas. Sometimes we travel at just the right time of year for special foods that are available in season. In the early spring it's strawberries, all summer and on into the fall it's seafood, mainly shrimp. We just got back and brought home 20 lbs. of 16/20 count shrimp and only paid $2.75 per pound, heads on, of course.

Today, I dealt with 10 lbs. of them and not only deheaded them, but peeled and deveined them. Man, I was tired! Tomorrow, I'll try to finish the other 10 lbs. I got about 5&3/4 lbs out of the first 10 lbs. Lots of work to save some money, let me tell ya! But I like buying wild-caught shrimp rather than farmed, and fresh is always better.

The guy we bought them from wrapped them in 5-lb. increments, so 4 bags. I was almost done with bag #1 at this point.



Here were some after the deheadings. These are nice sized shrimp!



After deheading, shelling and deveining them, I flash froze them and then bagged them in Ziplocs - one pound each.



I wish I could show you the delicious shrimp/sausage jambalaya Hubs made for us tonight. It really utilized the shrimp. Yum!

Crazy behavior

Please forgive my crazy behavior lately. Some things in my personal life have been making me feel like circling the wagons, big time. I may explain later. Holding things in is never healthy, but how much to share is the tricky part. Suffice it to say that being a parent doesn't always get easier after the kids are grown. Being a good parent can be even harder.