Cooking it up 50’s Style

I inherited my Grandmother’s old cookbooks when my sister was cleaning out some thing she found in their garage.  I haven’t gotten around to looking at them until now.

Most of them have a published date of 1950

They have little extras in them like “Note: These are delightfully salty.”

Isn’t that delightful?

And fun illustrations.

This one is from 1976:

My son laughed and said “Men like all foods”.

A ward cookbook that is approximately 60 years old.

and an unidentified one that needs more TLC than the others:

I am looking for suggestions on how to best repair these.  A lot have un-attached covers, and of course there is the last one, which I fear is a lost cause.  In the mean time, they will likely live in a binder in sheet protectors, but I definitely intend to use them.

Photo Re-cap of What I’ve been up to (instead of updating my blog <sigh>)

 

Preparing for an emergency, just in case:

Water, 72 hr. food kits x7, 72 hr. emergency and ‘bug out’ kits  x7 (1 extra for my Man at work)

 

and a lot of things that were MORE FUN

I grew a Mandrake!

I am extremely satisfied with how well my garden did this year, after having such a difficult time getting things to grow in western Washington.  I still have a little more canning to do with the end of season tomatoes and peppers.  It makes me sad that it’s almost time to prepare the garden for winter.

Summer also marks ‘birthday season’ for my little family with 5/6 of us having birthdays within a month of each other, so it’s pretty much a constant party.  (I guess we didn’t plan so well hehe).

In addition to gardening, canning, enjoying the sun and dirt, etc.  I have also been engulfed in studying history.  Specifically the 14th-16th centuries.  I’m completely absorbed some days.  A lot, actually.  I love it!  More on that later.

Sorry I’ve been gone so long.  The time just kind of slips away when you’re having fun!

Beautiful Gifts and Other Treasures

My Sister gave me another faerie this year. This one has Princess Leia style buns. She looks great on my bookshelf.

The gifts from my Uncles are always the most beautifully wrapped things. My youngest son’s special nutcracker was no exception. He brought it home in a beautiful green and gold, fabric wrapped box with removable lid. He got a second nutcracker from his dad and me this year too.

We found an amazing, old, electric train engine in my Grandpa’s old work shed while on vacation over this last summer.

One of our new neighbors brought me a great unexpected gift - A dozen eggs from their hens. German pancakes are on the menu for breakfast tomorrow morning. I hollowed them out tonight, and they’re just waiting for me. I’m so excited!

It’s a Good Thing I Love Him

Meet Tucker:

Now, what you need to know about that picture, is that it was taken not this past Christmas, but the one prior (2009).  It’s been a seasonal game his entire life keeping him out of the Christmas tree.

Fast Forward to this year:

This was not the first, or even the second time he toppled the tree this year.  The third time, he actually managed to break the thing.  We had to completely improvise to get it standing upright again.  After that, he continued to manage to knock branches out of their sockets daily.  The difference is – I no longer attempted to replace them.  Needless to say, our tree looked quite sad by Christmas morning.

First item on my Christmas list for 2011:  A New Christmas tree with folding branches that can’t be knocked out.

He is cute though, isn’t he?

Because Sometimes We All Need a Little Reminder

 

You are what you are, and what you are is beautiful.  Strong enough.  Good enough.  Bright enough.

Unexpected Grieving

My family and I underwent another relocation a few weeks ago. We’re so happy to be back home with our family and a great deal of our friends! The whole move was quite an experience which I hope to never need to recreate. Now that we’re here, and getting settled, albeit still living with a lot of boxes, things are great. The kids are happy. Really happy. We’re happy. We love it!

While we were living in Washington some major changes happened in our family back here. The biggest of which were my Grandma dying in January of 2007, followed by my Grandpa in July, and then my Dad in May of 2009. I was very close to all of them, and their deaths all hit me hard, in different ways. It was really hard for me, at the time, to be so far away from everyone, and this played a big part in our wanting to come back home.

Life is too short to be so far away from the people you love.

I didn’t expect to have more grieving to do once I got home. I guess I was sheltered a little bit, being away. I got to deal with each of their deaths in a different way, but I didn’t feel the complete hole that is left by them not being here anymore. Since being home, I have felt the profound emptiness each time we go someplace or have a family activity they would normally have been at. This caught me by surprise, and I wasn’t prepared for it. I miss them so much! I know they are happy where they are, and we’ll all be together again, and that gives me comfort. But, things are different now for all of us that are still here, and I am only now getting to deal with that aspect of their deaths. So this last Tuesday I took a trip to the cemetery to be alone with my grieving and just let it flow. It was very healing.

Creepers

 

It’s been so hot here lately!  We don’t have air conditioning so I’ve been melting.  Trying to do any kind of work around the house is out.  The thought alone of cooking raises my body temperature a good 5 degrees.  It’s days like these you just need to sit and do nothing.  Except I can’t just ‘do nothing’.  It’s not in me.  I need to read, or something.  I’ve never been one to sit in front of the television.  Besides, televisions emit heat, and I’m trying to avoid that.  My solution: crochet toys.

When I was in high school I started crocheting.  I made a few blankets and hats, and really enjoyed it.  Then for some reason I just stopped.  I don’t remember why.  I just got busy, I guess.  I still have some cool squares I was going to make into a blanket, but never finished.

I was originally going to teach myself how to knit.  However, since the project I had in mind was circular, that proved to be frustrating.  I ended up undoing (on accident) more than I was doing.  Then I remembered.   Hey!  I know how to crochet.  At least I did once.  I bet I could figure this turtle out easier in crochet than knitting it.  (I still plan to learn to knit, but I’ll be sticking to hot pads for a bit I think.)

The first toy I did was… well… clunky, for lack of a better word.  My stitches are uneven among other oddities, but it refreshed my memory.  The second attempt was much better in my opinion.  My daughter liked the first one though, so she got to keep the little guy.

Hers is the one on the left.  The one on the right we did a toy drop with the following weekend at our local library. 

My youngest really wanted me to make him something too, so I made a caterpillar.

After it was finished, he told me he didn’t like “how it’s all bally”.  He asked me to make him one with a straight body instead.  I thought he might like green more than yellow too.

I think they’re both pretty cute.  So now I have another toy that I can leave for someone to find and take home.

So all this really is just to say that I’ve been playing with string.  I’m remembering that I like it.

This weekend we’re going to the Midsummer Renaissance Faire.  I’m really looking forward to that too.  Maybe I’ll get to release my not-so-inner nerd.  At any rate, I’m excited.