Sunday, April 10, 2011

Life With Chickens

Since we decided to bring home MANY chickens it has seemed like our life has revolved around them. We hope the payoff will be worth it in the end.  The coop is ready and now home to almost all of our little chickies. (Thanks to the hard work of my wonderful husband.) We are all exhausted, but honestly it is always fun taking on projects together. I love that Mal is outside all day right in the middle of it all with us.  Plus, it gives me the opportunity to take some great pics of my favorite subject...... like this one.



Saturday, April 2, 2011

Chickens, Chicks and Ducks oh My!!


Our babies, so cute. They went from this,


and this....



to this. They have grown so much and now demand larger accomadations.


The ducklings are sweet little babies. So fun.

March 2011 Snowmobile Trip



Saturday, March 5, 2011

I love Her, Moustache and All

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

A certain young man in our household has a birthday next week. Red Velvet is one of his favorite cakes. We decided to put a bit of a spin on it this year. Hope he likes them......

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Cake Balls

"Mmmmm"..... red velvet cake balls.

Mal is such a big helper in the kitchen. I believe I have mentioned this once or twice. She also has some pretty good ideas. She suggested we leave some of them undipped and keep them in the freezer. Bingo! They are now our new favorite dessert, or mid afternoon treat or "hey, I'm passing by the freezer I think I will have a cake ball" reward to self. The texture is great, yummy and addictive and for some reason the frozen concoction makes the box mix taste practically homemade. Mal even suggested making them into ice cream sandwiches. Genius!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Gymnastics

My big girl after gymnastics. She has moved up another level. She is a head standing, hand standing, cart wheeling, round off sticking kind of a girl. I mean aaallll daaaaay long.....

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Typical Saturday

Together Mal and I made......

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas(yum)


Naan

Pasta with white sauce and sauted spinache and mushrooms (per Mal's request)

Baked cheesecake with blueberry,strawberry and peaches

and puppy biscuits for the four legged members of our family. Mal requested we make smaller ones next time as well so she doesn't have to break them up for the kittens lol


and we played.








Today(sunday) we will be eating salad, just salad.




Epiphany with Bread

I watched Oprah this morning as I folded uhmm about "cough" five loads of accumulated laundry. Pathetic I know. This episode of Oprah was an interview with Debbie Reynolds and her daughter Carrie Fisher. I laughed and I cried and then I laughed until I cried. It may be some hormonal issues at work coming through here but I still think it was a really good interview.

I plan on getting Carrie's book Wishful Drinking as soon as I can. Like tomorrow? So anyway as I was folding my heaping mound of laundry and laughing/crying along with Debbie and Carrie, I was also taking bites of the naan I made yesterday (recipe from Tasty Kitchen of course) which was nicely doused in cinnamon and sugar. Somewhere in that chaos, mid chew, I realized that this naan happened to be a favorite childhood treat of mine. It hit me that this delightful naan I had made with my own hands yesterday was just like the Indian Fried Bread my grandmother would have ready for my brother and I as an after school snack on occasion. I always looked forward to the fried yummy goodness and was happy with it only after it had melted butter and cinnamon sugar running off the sides. She always called it Indian Fried Bread, which I took to mean bread that the Indians/Native Americans cooked over an open fire in a cast iron skillet.(Okay, so I was in some serious need of a few history lessons). Huh, well how about that? The Indian portion of Indian Fried Bread referred to the Middle Eastern country far away from Southwest Kansas. Now I have been to restaurants that serve naan and I have eaten it, but never prepared it myself.........wait for it........except when I was making my version of Grandma's Indian Fried Bread!!!  So there lies the epiphany. This knowledge has put my grandmother in a whole new light. Well just imagine, we were eating Indian Fried Bread/Naan before eating Naan was cool. (The italics should be sung in your head to the Barbara Mandrell tune please.)

Naan will probably become a regular in our household again, or at least until I am sick of it. Though I'm sure I never will be able to eat it without thinking of several things.......my grandmother, Native Americans bent over an open flame or the size of Eddie Fisher's penis. ( Please see video.)

Friday, February 18, 2011

Missing My Mom Today

There are days I miss my mom more then others. Like today. I think about her constantly but there are times when a song or a phrase can trigger the memory of a precise moment in time. That song or phrase has the power to make me a little girl again, even for just a few seconds and I get the joy of reliving a really great moment with my beautiful mother. She absolutely loved music. If I have anything retro(love that phrase btw lol) playing inevitably it will evoke a sweet memory.





But then there are the dreams. Early on after she died I literally would pray to God to let me dream about her, and I did. A few times. Even now I only dream about her occasionally. Last night though I was able to dream about her. "Thank you God."  It was a silly dream. We were in Las Vegas of all places, riding in a limo. I was pointing out sights, but more interestingly I was pointing out important people to my life. "Oh mom look there's ______. You remember _______ don't you? I wish you would have been able to meet _______ before you left." We were having a great time, but I never was able to see her face. That is how it is in my dreams anymore. I can touch her and hold her soft hands but I can't see her face. Unfortunately that is how it was when she was alive too. I know now how I took her for granted and never took the time to really SEE her. I mean she was my mom after all. Right? What more was there to know?


(My mom, Marsha, watching over her niece and nephew.)

If somebody back then had presented me with a long list of questions about her I probably would have been able to answer them. Even the ones asking about her hopes and dreams, but when I looked at her then I still just saw my mom. My mom/best friend. That was all that was important to me.  Now things are different. When I have a distinct memory where I am able to imagine her or even when I look at a photograph I don't see just my mom. I see all the many things she was to so many people. I see all the reasons why so many people still love her. I see the reason why my dad is still in love with her ghost after all this time and why there never EVER could be another. I see why his heart is broken. When I "look" at her now I see a smart woman who accumulated a lot of friends and memories in her life. I see not only a wonderful mother but an amazing wife, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend, to all of us that loved her.



She was my "go to" person on everything, which I think is typical for most mother daughter relationships. I had a question about my children? Why open a book when I can go to my mom? A question about marriage, God, groceries, cars, animals, wounds..... you get the picture. I would go to my mom, and yes occasionally she would tell me to open a book. To be honest I didn't always follow her advice. For a lot of years after I lost my "go to" person I would either just figure it out on my own or leave it be. Not something I recommend. I also was very stingy with her memory. I would love to sit and visit about her with somebody that loved her like I did, but there was no way I would waste a precious memory on say a co-worker or a neighbor who "gasp" had no clue the person she really was. But now I am beginning to enjoy sharing stories about her to everyone. I love telling them to Mallorie, who loves hearing them just as much. With my being able to share her I also have managed to partially fill her void with many "go to" people now.


Now over the years I have accumulated a nice, long list of highly important questions for her, ones that I always thought only she could answer. So lucky for you all that most of you reading this blog are my "go to people". I know that I will simply put the questions on here, presenting them to you and get the amazing answers that I need. Right? But most importantly I feel like the "go to" people in my life are the people I love and that love me back. I am fortunate to have you all.

It is a wonderful Friday for me. I believe I will enjoy a cup of coffee then turn on some Manilow or Bee Gees and Mal and I can boogie our way to a clean(somewhat) house. Just like my mom and I used to do.

Terrie

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Smile

          This is the smile I get at 3:17. It is magical. I look forward to it everyday.
I'm choosing to believe that the glaring rainbow effect bouncing off the school bus along with some horrible picture taking on my part is really just Mallorie's radience and essence coming through to us all. lol
          

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I'm Tard

It is a beautiful, I mean gorgeous, I mean a completely breathtaking day here in Southwest Kansas. Having acknowledged that I must say my brain is mush. My legs feel like jello and I practically can hear my pillow calling out to me. "Terrie you must come here. I am soft, cool and I will hold you". The adolescants of a certain middle school completely wiped me out today until I must dig deep, REAL- deep to tune out that soft pillowy voice.  Thankfully the great outdoors has a louder call. Mal and I are heading out to take in some sunshine and warm air. We are breaking out the bike and the tennie shoes and maybe even a dog leash, ya know, in case Mal has to drag me back. Ha, no, for Abigail of course. Being the sweet, devilish, loving, and wonderfully abnoxious puppy that she is, we must take her along. Right? sigh......yeah right. Ok I'm going. I'm getting up. I'm ready. (Yawn.) "Coming Mal!"

Just More Pictures