What To Do When The Weather Shuts One In

We now have ice and snow in Oklahoma land.  The day started off this morning with the Papa taking Babe, his spoiled yorkie out for her early morning potty break.  She was not a happy potty goer with solid ice on the ground.  It took time during Christmas to adjust to potty time on snow -- but ice is something else new and different.

Nevertheless, being an inside day.   I decided to do something in the kitchen.  It had to be a project done before leaving for my work at the Call Center.

Don't misunderstand the intent of this blog.  It is not a food blog, it is a therapy activity for this grandma.  But I have been following a couple of brand new food blogs from the younger generation.  This first one is from my younger daughter, Sommer.  http://aspicyperspective.blogspot.com/

And the second blog is also new and being developed by Laura, one of Sommer's friends from mission days and college at ORU.  Laura's blog has drop dead beautiful photos. (It's that special lens that does it every time.)  Laura is serious about developing an at home business promoting organic foods.  http://darkredcrema.com/

Let me back track a moment:  One of the amazing things is my 'throw away everything not nailed down' daughter wrote on recycling, reducing and reusing.   So yesterday, I put a pot roast and veggies in the slow cooker.  The roast was the norm, the new is the reuse, so the photo is only of the pot of simmering 'trash' promoted by Sommer.   Proof I'm  learning from blogers, I made veggie stock for the freezer with all the "throw aways" from the pot roast.  Can you see the celery, potato peels and carrot stubs?
Now back to today:  Remember today is icy and starting to snow:

With ice surrounding our windows and doors,  I began working on the Tomatoes from Laura's darkredcrema blog. Here are my therapy photos revealing the results of an ole' grandma learning what the younger generation is teaching.

While removing seeds from the romas (something I have never done in my whole life .... I grew up believing seeds must be eaten.)  Then I remembered what I learned from Sommer ... make veggie stock with the throw away tomato seeds.   In a pot went the tomato ends and seeds.  Can you find that photo under the ice photo?
In the meantime, the smell of balsamic and olive oil was great.

Around 11:30 AM, I left for work with the tomatoes in a 200 degree oven.
Arriving home from work, I did a  photo of my product on a plate.  However, in no way am I competing with those beautiful food blogs...I'm just having fun.  We ate tomatoes for dinner tonight.
This ole' grannie is learning to cook again.

I'll close by saying the drive home from work was not fun.  It had been snowing for 6 or 8 hours and the ramp onto the turnpike was closed. Our little blue bug could handle the sanded roads but not the untreated hills.   After being unable to make it up the local city hills,  we backtracked and drove around until we found a not-hill-route.  The 20 to 25 minute trip took two hours.     Happy evening to me.  I am now full, warm and happy.

I hope the weatherman is wrong!

THURSDAY EVENING:
Snow..klahoma Where the cold front's sweepin' down the plain. And the piles of sleet, beneath your feet Follow right behind the freezing rain. Snow..klahoma Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I Travel home from work and hope some jerk Doesn't wreak our car in passing by.We know we belong to the land But it could use some more salt and more sand. That's why we say...WHOA! We're sliding the the other way..YIKES! We're only sayin' Your slick as snot Snowklahoma. Snowklahoma SNOW_K_L_A_H_O_M_A Snowklahoma Snow_K

FRIDAY AFTERNOON:
Well a thousand electrical workers were brought in from other states to help us, as the weather prediction was gloomy. And every generator in every store was sold out yesterday.  And we do have freezing rain plus some sleet and today (Friday) it is snowing -- but nothing like they thought was coming. 
The workers are moving on to other areas and our own electricions are handling the ice damages.  Thank God, our prayers were answered.     Ken did drive me to work today so that I would not have to scrape ice and snow off my car when I get off work this evening.   I'll just walk out the door and climb into a nice warm VW Bug.    Thaks to my darling  he takes good care of me!

The Sisters Lady's Day Out

Today, three sisters had a LADY'S DAY OUT celebration.  Barbie said this was her first time for a Lady's Day Out.


We started by meeting at Cheddars for lunch. 


Paula was concerned that brother Bud might feel left out so he was allowed to participate in the lunch part only.  Then when Ken learned Buddy was allowed, he wanted to join.   




The baked potato soup was a big hit.   Ken always orders the chicken tender salad, so Paula tried that as well.     Bud and Barbie had the club sandwiches with the baked potatoe soup. 




Once lunch was over, the men had to leave.















Next we visted Atwoods looking for western duds for Paula.   The other day she bought her first pair of blue jeans.   She looked at Drysdales for boots and hats but they were not for her.   But at Atwoods, Paula hit the jackpot.

Can you picture this Grandma with her western hat, boots, shirt and jeans.   She is thinking of wearing them on the plane back home.  Her grandchildren are going to love seeing their Grandma turn Okie.






Next we visited the mall for manicures and pedicures. 


It was Barbie's first pedicure.  And she had this little man who liked her and gave her special favor with flowers on her toes.
We teased Barbie that she was flirting with him -- actually she was teaching him signs. 

Being new, Barbie had to have her toes redone three times.   The man teased her that it was OK, he had plenty of time but if it happened the next time she came in, he might bite her..


The only thing missing was our Sister Sarah.  We should have done this before she left town.

I will admit that by the end, we were a little bit tired.  On the way home, we stopped for a latte and/or mocha.

Happy Lady's Day Out to Us!

She Always Set High Goals and Dreamed Big

Sommer, our persistant and creative daughter.   I found these photos on FaceBook. They are of Sommer's Christmas Cooking Class. The photos were dark and low quality but I worked on them and here is what I came up with. A rolled flank steak, grilled and roasted. Then Chocolate Bon Bons and GingerBread Men. The other things I am unsure of.  I am very proud of you Sommer and your determination to Dream.  I love your ambition to serve others in areas you enjoy in spite of your shyness. Watch out Julia and Julie, Sommer is right behind you. She has been creative all her life and dreams of going to Culinary School once Carson is in School. God knows what is ahead.   You go sweet daughter!

My Sisters - My Family And Friends

It is amazing how very important family becomes with age and time.   I find myself feeling the need to go and vist my syblings more and more with time.    Perhaps loosing three precious ones this past year was a major awakening to the fact that time is fleeting and we are growing older.

My Sisters came to visit on January 4th.  Sarah had spent over three weeks in Wyoming with her son Bob and then came to Oklahoma for 10 days with Bud and Me.  

It was a wonderful time for all of us.  First we had a get together at my house with a few friends.   Actually there were about 13 of us.  I was so glad that I had friends to invite who knew how to sign.  And some Deaf friends came as well.       I cooked jambalya and potato/corn soup along with a few other things and it was good as our weather was very cold.   In the past year both of my elder sister have lost their spouses:  our beloved Scott Snyder and our beloved Jim Hardy.                                                                                                       Of course the camera was out so we had photos of Bud and Barbie, Ken and myself posing with Sarah and Paula.     

There was a second party on Sunday night with Bud and my children.      You will see two of Bud and Barbie's children:  Kim Hudson who lives in Mounds, OK and then Buddy 3rd who lives in Broken Arrow with his wife Beverly and three of their four girls were with us;  Jessica, Brittany and Rebecca.      Both Kevin and April's family joined us as well.         There was a visit to Bud 3rd house and a Mexican dinner.                             We visited the Deaf Praise Assembly on Sunday for church.     and the evening before Sarah left to return home, she treated us to dinner at Mimi's Cafe.         I didn't get to attend, but Bud and Barbie took our sisters out to Kim's home.   The highlight for Bud was his ride on the ATV.     Someday Ken and I might even visit as there are ponys, goats, dogs and cats in abundance I hear.    Sarah had a new hair cut and it changed her looks so much that we had to shoot more photos.  And  show off her youthfulness.    Sarah left on January 14th and we miss her so much.   However, Paula is still with us in Oklahoma until the 25th so there will be more fun events and times of bonding to share.   We love you sisters, Sarah and Paula.

Our Family Christmas is Complete

On New Year's Day, our Dallas children came to visit us.  They were the only ones we had not yet seen during the holidays.  They arrived in the evening around 7:00.  We starting celebrating with Jennifer's favorite, Re-Li for dinner.



Sydney brought little Brown Kitty with her to visit us.


And they brought the newest member of the family,
little Sophia, their Chinese Pug which Santa Brought.












And Blakely came to visit Nana and Papa.  She is now eight months old, has two bottom teeth, and is starting to sit up and likes to roll around on the floor.











The next morning, Sydney had breakfast in the sunroom.












And she entertained Blakely.  Sydney is a wonderful big sister.   Later on Saturday, the cousins all came over to visit and play.  It was a lot of fun being together.   And it made our Christmas complete.








On Sunday morning,  we did Church with Covenant on line.  This is Joel worshiping God while he stretches his back.









And Sydney decided she prefered Veggie Tales for Church.  So she worshipped in the livingroom.













And Blakely decided she would participate in the worship on Daddy's tummy while he stretched out his back and worshipped God.










Then Paster Mike served communnion.  And we participated with the on line service.  Papa had gone to Asbury this morning as he was on duty this Sunday.










Then Mommie Jennifer got up and she did church on line and fed Blakely.










After lunch, it was time to pack up and start back to Dallas in hopes that Blakely would sleep for a very long time in the car.










So the car is packed and the family is ready to leave so we hug and kiss and say good-bye and thank you, thank you, thank you for coming to visit  us.  It means so much to the Papa and the Nana.


The girls ride in the back seat together.

And daddy is the driver.  Here, Daddy looks very cold.
This coming month is a very busy month for our Joel Scriv Family.  They are buying a home and hope to be moved in by the end of January.   Blessings on them!