Happy Halloween!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Keeping Creative Kitchens---Another Use for Ketchup

In this edition of Keeping Creative Kitchens I want to share with you a use for ketchup that just might come in handy one day. We are forever getting those little packets of ketchup at the drive through window or from the condiments bar at fast-food places. Since I am not a ketchup eater, I always wondered if these packets multiplied secretly in my refridgerator while I was not looking since it always seems that there are a TON of ketchup packets in my house. Of course, that could be a part of my upbringing, as most of my family members save all little free things that they can get their hands on. I used to laugh at my Granny for that....oh my gosh I am turning into her! It must be her house rubbing off on me after 3 years of living here!

Anyhow...back to the purpose of this post. IF you find yourself in an abundance of ketchup I suggest you put them to good use on your copper bottomed pots. My wise mother shared this with me one day and I was amazed at the results. If your copper bottomed pots have discolored from use, all you have to do is squirt ketchup straight onto the bottom of the pot and scrub with a Brillo pad or something similar. The result? Shiny, just like new pot bottoms! The acid in the ketchup eats away at the grime on the bottom of the pan. Then simply wash with your regular dish liquid, dry, and enjoy the new look of your weathered pots.

And as always, be sure to check out Alaina's page for more examples of Keeping Creative Kitchens!

It has begun...

Snowflakes have begun to drift toward our little part of Small Town USA today, where it is a chilly 37 degrees. Ugh, snow already? And it's not even November? It's going to be a long winter...

Out of the Darkness

Over the weekend Patrick, Morgan, and I were in southern WV to participate in the 2nd annual Out of the Darkness Walk for the Prevention of Suicide. Like walking for March of Dimes or Relay for Life, we raised money to help the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention continue their programs to help increase awareness of suicide prevalence and suicide prevention.
For those who don't know, Patrick is the State Coordinator for the West Virginia Suicide Prevention Council. He is very passionate about his current work, more than I have ever see him be engaged in all of his other jobs. As the coordinator, he has vowed to attend all of the walks in West Virginia (Huntington is currently the only one) to help increase awareness in the state.

My sister-in-law Amy and our niece Julia joined us once again. The weather was a little (OK a lot) colder than last year, but the Lord was kind enough to clear the skies long enough for us to walk without rain.

It is a bittersweet day for most of the folks who came out to walk. Almost everyone there had been touched by suicide in one way or the other. The Huntington walk is coordinated by a woman who lost her husband to suicide in 2006. I also saw at least two teams who were walking in memory of family members who had completed suicide in 2008. I pray that this walk helps the healing process for those touched by suicide, and I am thankful that we have not experienced suicide in our lives so far. At the beginning of the walk there was a balloon release. Most balloons had notes on them in rememberance of a loved one lost. Then the entire group walked in support of those there who had suffered lost, those who wanted to help the healing, and those who didn't know what more to do other than to say, we love you.

Within our family, we had a friendly competition to see if we can both raise our goal of $150 each. I am very happy to report that as a family we raised $305 to support our 2 mile walk. Morgan and I reached our goal first, so Patrick owes us a treat (either ice cream or cookie cake)!

Thank you again for your prayers and for your donations. We hope to continue working to raise awareness of the national epidemic that is suicide.

Omaggins

My sister-in-law, Cecelia, has a wonderful grandmother. She is from Germany, and like all good German or German-American children, Cecelia and her sister call her Oma (which is German for grandmother for those who didn't already know that).

Oma is a master knitter and has made several knit winter hats for her children, grandchildren, and others. A few years ago, when we were at Oma's house, Patrick decided that instead of calling them toboggins (as we do here in WV) that we should call them Omaggins. He even went so far as to make up a jingle to market these Omaggins. I can't remember the whole thing, but it included something about not getting frost bite on his bald spot because he wore his Omaggin on his noggin! It was hilarious.

We have been surprised twice this year with Omaggins for Morgan. She looks so darn cute in them, and since she LOVES hats she is always really excited to get a new one. I wanted to show off Morgan in her Omaggins (some from last year, some from this year) and take this opportunity to once again say DANKE OMA!!!

Keeping Creative Kitchens--simple centerpiece

For this week's edition of Keeping Creative Kitchens, I would like to show off my very first ever homemade centerpiece. I am hardly creative at all and I am quite pleased with the final outcome from this endeavor.

I spent a grand total of $3.00 on this centerpiece ($1.50 for the plate it is sitting on, $0.50 for the plastic pumpkin, and $1.00 for the florals) which I thought was pretty good. I got the corn for free while wandering through the corn maze at Rich Farms during our trip to the pumpkin patch. Patrick made fun of me for taking the corn, but my rationale was that I paid to get on the farm so I could have a few ears of leftover corn. I even shucked it myself! The runner was a gift from someone else, so that too was free.

I have always wanted themed centerpieces and have been inspired by my friend Catherine's different pieces as well as her post last week for how she keeps a creative kitchen. And although it's simple, I think it's a great way to dress up our table. It also helps me keep the table from becoming a junk holder because I want everyone to see my masterpiece!

For more tips on how to keep a creative kitchen, please see Alaina's blog!

Enjoying Fall

Get Ground Steak Delivered For 36 Cents a Pound! No Kidding!

**UPDATE--apparently Omaha Steaks has reviewed their policies and are now only allowing the $25 gift card to be used on orders of $100 or over. Check out Catherine's site for the full update.**


My friend Catherine clued me into how to get Omaha Steaks to send you ground hamburger for 36 cents a pound! Delivered...right to your door! Rather than reprint the whole thing here, follow this link to Catherine's website and follow her very detailed instructions.

Just a few things to mention....it took about 7 hours or so for the e-mail to come through linking me to the site for the coupon code. Once you are on the site, you need to log in to the Geico site before you go to Omaha Steaks. If you go directly to the Omaha Steaks site you will only see a $10 off a $50 order offer.

I have just completed my order and really did only have to pay $1.98 for all this ground beef. It also appears that others have tried ordering different items (polish sausage, etc.) and had the same result, as long as the food items you choose do not total more than $12.99.

Good luck! Hope it works for you.

An Evening of Random

My bloggy friend (and super mom of THREE boys...whew!) Alaina tagged me to share six random things so here it goes!

1) My dream job, if I could pick any in the world, would be to run my own wedding consultation business. I would call it Wedding Belles and would run the business end of the business while my co-owner and sister-in-law would do all the fancy, creative work that brides really appreciate. (On a side note, my SIL is on her way to getting her wedding consultation business started. I am so jealous, and SO supportive! I hope one day I have the opportunity to join her on our joint dream.)

2) I love pictures. I love taking pictures, editing pictures, looking at pictures. I most enjoy professional photos, so much so that we had monthly portraits taken of our daughter for the first year of her life, and if I had my way (or more likely if I had the money) I would still take professional photos of her every month. However, I don't want to invest the time and money into developing the skills myself. I much rather enjoy someone else's work. And if it wouldn't be 100% tacky, I would wallpaper my entire house in pictures.

3) Two of my life goals are to visit all 50 states and 6 continents. So far I have 3 continents (Asia (where I was born), North America, and Europe) and 31 states.

4) I am an empty box hoarder. If I see an empty box, I want to bring it home, and most of the time I do. I have a section in my basement completely filled with empty boxes that I think would be someday "perfect" for shipping, storing, moving, or whatever else you use boxes for. I also have many boxes that are totally empty in my garage (just ask my husband). Perhaps it comes from years as a miitary child, moving often, and saving boxes for TVs, computers, and other items that required special packaging. Maybe I am a closet pack-rat and am constantly looking for places to stick treasures. Who knows.

5) I could eat pizza every day of my life and be totally happy. I am a pizza junkie. My favorite pizza is sold in Morgantown, WV at Milano's Pizzaria/The Original Pizzaria (2 shops, owned and made by the same family), but I will eat just about any pizza, to include some frozen pizzas. I am picky about toppings, but will gladly pick off anything that I don't like. Three toppings that are banned from ever touching my pizza: black olives, onions, and anchovies.

6) I love to bake and hate to cook. Cooking is so exhausting to me. Planning meals, preparing, and actually cooking the meals makes me so tired that by the time dinner is ready to be put on the table I am no longer hungry. And then there's the clean up. Ugh. The first thing I will buy if I ever win the lottery will be a personal chef for my family. Not to say "oohh laa laa" but to simulate eating out every meal without the high fat/bad for you food but with the perks of only having to eat the meal while someone else worries about the rest. But I do love baking. Maybe because I don't just have a sweet tooth, but a sweet mouth full of teeth! I am considering taking a baking/decorating class through the local community college in the future. We'll see.

So now that you know some random things about me, I'll tag Melanie and Jim to share some random things about themselves, for fun of course!

God's West Virginia Fall Tapestry

The tree at our house (technically not WV, but it's a pretty tree!)

I-79 Corridor

I-79 Corridor

Route 20, Webster County

Route 15, Braxton County

Fall is definitely upon us here in West Virginia. My friend Jim wrote a post last week about how dusky the fall colors have appeared this year. It is so very true. Pollution has reached Almost Heaven, and that is very sad. Luckily, we were still able to enjoy some pretty sights of the Lord's patchwork tapestry in the West Virginia forests.

Making Apple Butter

Yesterday we got the opportunity to participate in a wonderful Tenney family tradition. Every late October Patrick's grandparents, their siblings and families come to Ralph and June's (Patrick's grandparents) house to make apple butter.

Making apple butter is a LONG process I learned. First, you start off with 10 gallons of applesauce and a copper pot. Well, I guess first you need to make the applesauce, which involves peeling and coring apples then running them through a grinder. But we didn't have to do that part because June had done it already.

Next (or simultaneously) you build the fire.

Then you bring the applesauce to a boil (it took about 90 minutes to bring it to a full boil) while stirring the pot constantly with a weird-looking utensil that can be likened to a fork.

After you bring the applesauce to a boil, you add 6 pounds of sugar (or more to taste). You continue stirring for another 45-60 minutes.

To make the apple butter red, you add cinnamon dots (red hard candy), and continue to stir for another 30-45 minutes, until it "looks right" and is thick enough. At this point you keep cooking the applebutter at a boiling rate until it has cooked down to the thickness you like.

Next you take the pot off the fire and add 6 vials of straight cinnamon oil and stir the heck out of it.

Finally, you set up an assembly line and fill jars, cap, and seal as fast as you can so the heat of the apple butter will help seal your jars. Only then can you lick the wooden stir stick!

We ended up making 84 pints of apple butter in about 4 and a half hours. Everyone took a turn stirring (some more than others), and we all helped out with canning it. I was mainly on kid patrol because stirring the apple butter REALLY hurt my back. But I am really glad that I was able to participate in this fun family tradition and look forward to doing it next year.

If you are in the market for a free pint of apple butter, let me know. My grandmother-in-law has a TON from as far back as 2004, and she says the longer it sits the better it is!

Keeping Creative Kitchens---Fabulous Pumpkin Mousse

This week, in honor of our visit to the pumpkin patch, I am sharing with you the best pumpkin dip/mousse I have ever eaten. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of pumpkin, as far as my food goes. In fact, pretty much the only other pumpkin item I like is pumpkin roll (and that's hardly considered something pumpkin-y). This mousse truly IS fabulous, and is best served with graham cracker sticks.

Fabulous (and I do mean fabulous) Pumpkin Mousse

2 small packages sugar free vanilla pudding (instant)
2 cups milk (skim preferably)
1 cup to 1 can Pumpkin (depending on your taste)*
½ tsp Pumpkin pie spices (or cinnamon & nutmeg)
1 cup Sugarfree Cool Whip

Beat pudding, milk, pumpkin and spices with a whisk. Fold in Cool Whip. Refrigerate for at least two hours (longer if possible, overnight is best).

Keeps 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator. Yields 4 servings of 2 Weight Watchers points each. (Very big servings). Can also be used to make pies. Use a baked pie crust or graham cracker crust. Makes 2 pies for 2 points at 1/6 pie.

*I use a whole 15 oz. can of pumpkin.

Enjoy! And be sure to check out Alaina's (the host of Keeping Creative Kitchens) website!

Sleeping Angel

Even though I didn't submit an entry in the Sleeping Angels contest (to win a bedroom set for your baby) because I didn't find out about it soon enough, I still wanted to post a couple pictures of my sleeping angel. Doesn't it look like she just dropped from heaven?!

To see some of my friends' sleeping angels, check out Catherine's and Alaina's kids' blogs!

Help Wanted Ad

If I could have published a help wanted ad last night, here is what it would have read:

Single Mother with Migraine seeks someone to look after rambunctious, rather cranky toddler for the evening. Must be able to administer medication shot to mother and tolerate continual whining from both child and mother. Ability to clean up medical waste is a MUST (in case mother's head explodes from pressure. Pressure may be caused by migraine, or by toddler's constant disagreement with mother.). Someone who will work for free preferred. Don't bother sending a resume, just stop by NOW!

I have always held single mothers in high regard, since they must contend with everything that is thrown their way while taking care of their babies. I don't know how they do it. I thought I was going to die last night! Thankfully Morgan was in a better mood this morning, and my migraine has retreated into a more tolerable headache. So now it's Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Off to Work I Go!

Kid's Day at the Farm

Today was our second annual trip to Rich Farms and their pumpkin patch. We want to make this an annual tradition, and enjoyed our visit. The weather was unseasonably warm (83 degrees by the time we left the farm!) but gorgeous. There were many activities for the kids to do, including a petting zoo of farm animals, hay ride (which was mysteriously void of hay), haystack mountain (plenty of hay here!), tire trampolines, see-saws, a corn stalk maze, and the biggest hit, a giant dinosaur bounce house.

Morgan was working on a short nap, so she was slightly cranky for the day. She did really enjoy picking her pumpkin from the patch and decorating it in the barn. We stopped for ice cream cones on the way home, which was the perfect end to the day. Make sure you check out Morgan's site for videos and more picture of the day.

30 by 30

Pounds to go: 21

Months to go: 5

Keeping Creative Kitchens--Quick Cake

One of my bloggy friends, Alaina, has started hosting a weekly post on keeping creative kitchens. I'm not a cook, by any means, but I hope to be inspired by posting some new things on this blog. That being said, here's a new twist on making a cake:

Here is a VERY simple recipe for cake that takes only 2 ingredients, and if you or anyone else is doing Weight Watchers, one cupcake counts 2 points. I make this all the time and it is delicious!

Quick Cake

1 box cake mix (any flavor)
1 12 oz. can diet soda (any flavor...sprite works best, I have used lots of different sodas and have never been able to taste the soda in the cake, unless it is a strong flavor like Cherry cola or root beer)


Mix the cake mix and can of diet soda together in a bowl until smooth. Bake according to cake mix box directions, adding 5-7 minutes to the cook time to allow for a denser cake mix. **You do NOT add any other ingredients (i.e. eggs, oil, etc. Just the mix and the soda)**

Topping Options:

powdered sugar OR 1 container of sugar free cool whip (which works great with food coloring)

This cake is so simple it is scary, and it tastes great. I made a strawberry cake with Diet Pepsi last week and they were yummy. One good harvest/Halloween variation, if you use a yellow cake mix and diet orange soda, you get BRIGHT orange cake/cupcakes, which is always fun for this time of year. I love this recipe for when my husband calls in a panic needing cupcakes for a bake sale the next day, and I am (always) out of eggs. As long as there is at least one can of diet soda in your house, you can make this cake. I hope you enjoy!

I want to be a fire fighter when I grow up!

Today as I was returning to work from a day trip to Elkins, WV I was required to do one of those "other duties as assigned" that I never thought I would have to do.

It was raining and quite miserable outside. As I stepped out of the car I sniffed the air and thought to myself, "What stinks? It smells like something is burning." Thinking I was just smelling things, I popped the trunk of the rental and prepared to get my display materials out of the car. As I started toward the door I saw the plastic cigarette disposal container on fire (flames coming from the top about 3 feet above the disposal and on both sides) right next to the building! I panicked for about 5 seconds, then quickly went inside (past the fire) to find something to put the fire out. I passed the fire extinguisher and thought, "I think I can put it out with water", plus I will admit that I don't really know HOW to use a fire extinguisher. I was able to put out the fire using water (making 3 trips with 1 big bowl and one pitcher full). I was afraid that every time I opened the door that the smoke from the fire would come in and set off the fire alarm IN the building. Thankfully the only thing it did was make me stink.

Upon dousing the fire, I was finally able to see the damage. The plastic on the disposal container was completely melted, and the wall behind it was charred. The plant which sits right next to the door was fine, but I do believe if it had not been raining the plant would have caught fire and done a lot more damage. I think I have earned a right to pass the buck next time one of those "duties" comes along!

My Football Boyfriend

Most people in the USA have at least one "popular" person who ranks in the top five people that you would date (given, of course, that you are single and available). My Fake Boyfriend comes from the NFL. He's not someone you would immdiately think of when you think of football, but every time he's on I will tune in. Patrick loves to yell "Your BOYFRIEND (while rolling his eyes) is on TV!"



Can you guess who it is?





I bet you'll never get it.





OK--here's the answer. Played college ball at University of Texas El Paso (UTEP). Got into the NFL in 1990. Been to 2 Super Bowls. Number 85.

Head referee Ed Hochuli.

By now you should be hearing that cheesy romantic music that you hear on movies when the guy sees the beautiful girl and the music gets all sappy. That is what is playing in my head right now! To use a line from South Park, he is total beefcake!


Now some of you good football fans are probably saying "But he has been involved in some controversial calls this season already". Yes he has. And yes, he is old enough to be my dad (in fact he is two years older than my dad). But no one can be perfect right?!?! I'd want to have my picture taken with him if I ever got the chance to meet him. AND he's a lawyer in his "real" life. He's got SIX kids, but unfortunately is on his second divorce. I always tell Patrick that should he meet his maker early in life, I'll be marrying Ed Hochuli and Morgan and I will be well taken care of. HAHA. I am sure that is a HUGE comfort to my hubby, who I have noticed has been inspecting his food recently :)


Just thought I'd share since he's the head ref of Monday Night Football tonight as the Vikings battle the Saints (who are currently up 7-0 at home enjoying both Reggie Bush and the return of Deuce McAllister). We will now return you to your regularly scheduled football game.