Addictive Pretzels

Makes LARGE Amount

1 pkg Ranch Dip mix (dry)
1 Bottle Orville Reddenbacher Popcorn Oil
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. dill weed
2– 3 bags Pretzels ( I use pretzel sticks)

I use a 2 gallon zip-lock bag. Combine all seasonings and oil in bottom
of bag and squish to mix. Add pretzels and shake to coat well. Let sit
for at least 12 hours, turning occasionally to ensure all are
well-coated.

**Original recipe called for using only 1 bag of pretzels, but not what
size bag! I have discovered that this coats at least two 16-18 oz. bags
and I will often throw in another ½ to 1 bag, depending on how much
coating remains in bottom of bag after it has sat for a few hours.

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Mix:

1 c. flour

1/2 c. oatmeal

1/2 c. brown sugar firmly packed

1/2 c. butter

Combine above ingredients until crumbly. Press into ungreased pan. bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Mix:

1 can pumpkin (I used a small one.)

1-13 oz. can evaporated milk

2 eggs

3/4 c. white sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ginger

1/4 t. cloves

Combine and beat well. Pour into baked crust.

Mix:

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 T. butter

Sprinkle over filling and bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool before serving. GREAT WITH COOL WHIP OR ICE CREAM!!

November 21, 2007

Girly glitter comments from www.GirlyTags.com

Beading with Tessa

I know that I mentioned going to Tessa's class to help with beading. My biggest impression is that they keep that room much too warm. I looked at Tessa and thought at first she was not feel well. Her cheeks were so rosy red! The heat made it hard o think, I would find myself fighting sleep in that class room.

The different personalities of the children, make me very happy that I never wanted to become a teacher. Tessa really did not want my help, but she received it anyways! This will probably be the last time I get to help in her class room. I have done it almost every year since she started.

Today is soup day at work. I have a coworker that has requested I bring soup, as I guess she likes it as much as I do. I am relieved to have the care back so that I can drive the crock pot there. I hope you are all having a great day! Till next time...

Quick Post

This past weekend was nothing but frustration most of the time. The computer acting up and John and I wasting over 8 hours between us trying to figure it out is really irritating. Then I had another of those headaches that lasts all day. This is the reason that I have NOT been here to write anything in days.

Friday at work the office was decorated for Christmas, and I must say, I like this better than Halloween. The photo shows the area right over my desk, MUCH BETTER than spiderwebs!

We also put up the tree and that leaves less to do over Thanksgiving weekend. John has his company party and to be honest may not ever want to think about decorating the next day.

I have to run now, my presence is required in Tessa's class. I get to help with the beading project they are doing. I am glad the weather is nice, as I do NOT have the car. Hope to see the parents afterwards. Till next time...

A Test

November 15, 2007

I found this in an email I recieved this morning. I love drawings like this. Have a great day! It is COLD this morning!

November 14, 2007

The day started with a zipper that would not work. I must say that it was rather disappointing! The people at work always seem to put a smile on my face. Do you ever just sense if someone is having a rough time of it? This one lady left me with the feeling that it would NOT have take much to see tears. It is tough to see that and not know the rest of the story.

Alicia brought this cute little fiber optic tree for her office. I helped her set it up before I went home. Later, Tessa and I walked back to the office so that we could ride with her and Mariah to church. We first enjoyed a meal at the village Inn. I am not going to repeat the conversation on the way to Church, but Mariah had us all in stitches! I wonder where she comes up with some of the things she says. I guess she lost another tooth tonight, eating cotton candy. She really can say "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

John and I were able to spend some time together, SHOPPING! I know just how much he loves it. I did some of it while he was sitting in the mall by the fireplace eating a sub. The rest was a mad dash from store to store before he had to go and get Tessa.

It looks like I will be able to work a few extra hours to make up for having Monday off. The car crapped out and the repair was EXPENSIVE!! Thank Goodness for a service man that trusted us to make payments. Time to sign off, another day finished! Till next time...

Can you read this? I can!

Tessa sent this in email. I have gotten emails like this before. It is rather odd to actually read and understand this mess. See what you think?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed
tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was
rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr
the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit
and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can
sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos
not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig
huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can
raed tihs forwrad it.

November 11, 2007

This has been a beautiful weekend weather wise. Having the car end up in the shop, was irritating to stay the least, and I hope the part that needs to be replaced is the cheaper of the 2 options! John and I got rid off most of the old flower stalks and found one hardly little plant still blooming. The rest of the bed is SOO depressing, that I almost can not wait for the snow to cover it till it gets to be green again. My mind is tired and so I will close for now. Till next time...

Something I read and wanted to share.

Why the Senate and House Were Right to Give French President Nicolas Sarkozy a Standing Ovation

by Teresa Neumann, Nicolas Sarkozy : Nov 11, 2007 : Investor's Business Daily
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=279318921769521

"France will never forget the sacrifice of your children. To those 20-year-old heroes who gave us everything, to the families of those who never returned, to the children who mourned fathers they barely got a chance to know, I want to express France's eternal gratitude. On behalf of my generation, which did not experience war but knows how much it owes to their courage and their sacrifice; on behalf of our children, who must never forget; to all the veterans who are here today…I want to express the deep, sincere gratitude of the French people. I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one's family."

(Washington, D.C.) —On Wednesday, November 7, French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed a joint session of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Although it was an historic occasion, it is doubtful that many people were able to watch his speech in its entirety. Others, due to the translation process, may have had difficulty following his comments. Towards that purpose, excerpts from his riveting speech are provided below. (Photo: Sarkozy, Investor's Business Daily)

They are well worth an entire reading.

America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who—with their hands, their intelligence and their heart—built the greatest nation in the world: "Come, and everything will be given to you." She said: "Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent." America embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance.

Here, both the humblest and most illustrious citizens alike, know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned...America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it. And she fought for this freedom whenever she felt it to be threatened somewhere in the world. It was by watching America grow that men and women understood that freedom was possible. What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind.

Ladies and gentlemen, the men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars. The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it.

Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.

Fathers took their sons to the beaches where the young men of America had so heroically landed. They read them the admirable letters of farewell that those 20-year-old soldiers had written to their families before the battle to tell them: "We don't consider ourselves heroes. We want this war to be over. But however much dread we may feel, you can count on us."

Before they landed, Eisenhower told them: "The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."

And as they listened to their fathers, watched movies, read history books and the letters of soldiers who died on the beaches of Normandy and Provence, as they visited the cemeteries where the star-spangled banner flies, the children of my generation understood that these young Americans, 20 years old, were true heroes to whom they owed the fact that they were free people and not slaves. France will never forget the sacrifice of your children.

To those 20-year-old heroes who gave us everything, to the families of those who never returned, to the children who mourned fathers they barely got a chance to know, I want to express France's eternal gratitude.

On behalf of my generation, which did not experience war but knows how much it owes to their courage and their sacrifice; on behalf of our children, who must never forget; to all the veterans who are here today and, notably the seven I had the honor to decorate yesterday evening, one of whom, Senator Inouye, belongs to your Congress, I want to express the deep, sincere gratitude of the French people.

I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one's family.

Ladies and gentlemen, the men and women of my generation remember the Marshall Plan that allowed their fathers to rebuild a devastated Europe. They remember the Cold War, during which America again stood as the bulwark of the Free World against the threat of new tyranny.

I remember the Berlin crisis and Kennedy who unhesitatingly risked engaging the United States in the most destructive of wars so that Europe could preserve the freedom for which the American people had already sacrificed so much. No one has the right to forget. Forgetting, for a person of my generation, would be tantamount to self-denial.

What was so extraordinary for us was that through her literature, her cinema and her music, America always seemed to emerge from adversity even greater and stronger; that instead of causing America to doubt herself, such ordeals only strengthened her belief in her values.

America's strength is not only a material strength, it is first and foremost a spiritual and moral strength. No one expressed this better than a black pastor who asked just one thing of America: that she be true to the ideal in whose name he - the grandson of a slave—felt so deeply American. His name was Martin Luther King. He made America a universal role model.

The world still remembers his words—words of love, dignity and justice. America heard those words and America changed. And the men and women who had doubted America because they no longer recognized her began loving her again.

Together we must fight against terrorism. On September 11, 2001, all of France—petrified with horror—rallied to the side of the American people. The front-page headline of one of our major dailies read: "We are all American." And on that day, when you were mourning for so many dead, never had America appeared to us as so great, so dignified, so strong.

The terrorists had thought they would weaken you. They made you greater. The entire world felt admiration for the courage of the American people...For me, failure is not an option. Terrorism will not win because democracies are not weak, because we are not afraid of this barbarism. America can count on France.

Sleepover night

This is the annual Missionette Sleepover that Tessa just waits for, even though this year it is later than usual. She has a couple of friends joining her which makes it even better. Mariah will come here so that Mom and Dad can go out for supper. She is too young to sleep over night, but can be there for a couple of hours of play.

Last night I was wrestling with invisible dust bunnies or something in my closet. I must say, it all took my breath away and left me with this stuffy headache. UGH!! I need a bigger closet! Can this get anymore exciting? Tessa is disappointed that my office is closed on Monday. She was really hoping for a day to herself. I guess I will be my duty to drive her crazy. It is really hard to make up all those missed hours though! Have a great weekend! Till next time...

Science Quiz

If you need a good laugh try reading through these children's
science exam answers.

Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard, and vinegar.
Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.
Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.
Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? (brilliant, love this!)
A: Keep it in the cow.
Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.
Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.
Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.
Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.
Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.
Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? ( e.g., abdomen)
A: The body is consisted into three parts -- the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, O, and U.
Q: What is the fibula?
A: A small lie.
Q: What does 'varicose' mean? (I do love this one...)
A: Nearby.
Q: Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarian Section.'
A: The Caesarian Section is a district in Rome.
Q: What does the word 'benign' mean?'
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

November 6, 2007

To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with. Mark Twain

Happy Fall to You!

From one pumpkin to another!!!!!!!
A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"
The coworker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin." God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.
He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

What kind of blogger am I?

Hat Tip: Julie