Man, that global warming is sure cold and wet . . .

According to REAL scientific facts and not the made up, forced conclusions of Al Gore and company, the last time there was a temperature change out of the ordinary was in 1998 and it was minimal. I always enjoy rainy, cold weather as it makes all the global summits on this 'warming' trend a bit amusing. Besides, what kind of carbon footprint did they all leave by flying into the current one in their private jets, etc.? If they let God be in charge, more would be right with the world.

Lots of sunny, California rain today. I promised myself during the last rain storm earlier in the week that I would remember to find that tin pan under the eaves that makes a delightful noise during the rain . . . in the middle of the night . . . when I would like to sleep!

Not complaining as my older daughter has taken up ice slipping for a hobby this week. The storm that hit California went on to Kansas and surrounding areas leaving them with snow and icy paths. Her record, yesterday, was five falls on the black ice and she added another one when she was talking to me on her way back to the dorm.

In spite of the dark, rainy forecast, I'm thinking about making dinner that requires long and hot use of the oven today, probably vegetable cheese pizza on a whole wheat crust. We don't use our central air so savor any activity that includes the use of the oven these days!

Just to brighten the gloomy day, here are some quotes that hit a bit too close to the truth!

"Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff."
-- Frank Zappa

"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago."
-- Bernard Berenson

"Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing."
-- Redd Foxx

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
-- Mark Twain

Christmas is coming . . .!

Rain, rain, and then some more rain yesterday! Our dogs took the rain as a personal affront but I decided it would make a great day for Christmas baking.

My early baking days (way back in the stone age of my youth!), often left the kitchen in complete shambles. The product result of those days was quite good but my baking time seeped into fixing dinner time and some of the ho, ho, ho went out of the holidays when hungry children and husband wanted something more than another cookie for dinner.

Old age has a few compensations! I've discovered organization and my baking shows the improvement. I actually got seven batches of cookies baked, iced, and packed away with time to spare. My one secret to getting a jump on the baking is to bake the brownies first. They take one pan and while they are doing their 20-minute time in the oven, I have time to mix up another batch of bar cookies. After that, comes the molded cookies likes snow ball cookies. Once the bulk of the baking is either under way or done, I get to think about more labor intensive types. At the close of baking, yesterday, I just has a few dishes left to wash (no dishwasher at our house) and an hour to work on some crocheting projects. Dinner was on time and it was definitely a nice beginning of the season. The end results of my cookie baking was white and chocolate chip cookies, almond snowball cookies, chocolate/cherry/nut cocoa snowball cookies, Snickerdoodles, brownies, date bars, Amish Sugar cookies.

Plates of cookies were distributed to friends today and the exclamation from one friend, "Oh, I'm so happy! Snowball cookies, my favorite!" made it all worthwhile.

Anyone interested in any of my recipes, please let me know and I'll post it. Anyone having a family favorite to share, please let us know and share.

A word to the wise . . . For the best (in my opinion!) spices, flavorings, and extracts, check out, on-line, Cook's Vanilla, Penzy Spices, and Spices, Etc. Did you know there is more than one kind of vanilla? Or, that cinnamon comes in different strengths and flavors?

Words of Wisdom . . .!

"Saying what we think gives us a wider conversational range than saying what we know."
-- Cullen Hightower

"Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others."
-- Samuel Johnson

"An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today."
-- Laurence J. Peter

"The trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth."
-- Charles Luckman

What's so hard with 'yes' or 'no' . . .?

I think our society has come to such a level of wanting to be nice and tolerant, they have lost sight of being practical and straight forward in their approach and social interaction with their fellow human beings. Things might improve if people had a mandatory class in good manners in their formative years.

Thanksgiving always reminds me of this. One year, we invited a friend to share Thanksgiving dinner with us. We asked a month ahead of time so he had time to figure out his schedule. We waited and waited for his response. Finally, a day or two before Thanksgiving, we asked this person directly if he was accepting our invitation or not. He said, "Oh, I decided to accept another invitation last week." I often wondered if he was afraid of hurting our feelings and thought that just not responding would be a better course of action.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be an isolated incident and I have heard from other people who has experienced this. Two years in a row, we felt sorry for a student unable to get home for the holiday and offered an invitation. Should have learned our lesson the first time. The first year, she didn't bother to turn us down until almost the day before and we found out later, she 'got a better invitation'. This year, she never got back to us and we discovered she had accepted an invitation a week prior to ours. She KNEW at the time we extended our invitation that she already had other plans! Makes you wonder if we were a 'just in case' invitation, she didn't want to say no, or she just has horrible manners.

My children have always moaned and groaned when I insisted they send thank you notes or immediate replies to invitations. I'm hoping the early training makes them appreciative and well-mannered as they go on in life.

My favorite non-response concerned a niece. She had turned eleven or twelve and we decided to send her a 'grown up' Christmas gift - her own hair dryer. About five years later, it came up in the conversation with her mother who said that her daughter had been SO thrilled with the gift and wore it out using it. She absolutely loved it!

Not to worry, however. We are getting better at selecting out holiday guests these days. Two years in a row, we invited a family with six delightful young adults who promptly accepted our invitation and showed up for Thanksgiving! We felt very blessed with the company! And those other people? Well, they don't know what they missed and we can only pray they get more blessings out of life than they are currently extending!

Don't Follow the Crowd . . .

I'm pretty good about eating right during most of the year but those candy canes and chocolates that start appearing around the holidays can often sidetrack me! It is interesting that when I've avoided candy and cookies for awhile, eating one isn't that terrific BUT my mind tells me that I used to like it so try another one! Before I know it, I've stored a few dozen cookies around my waistline.

What frustrates me when I let my guard down around the cookie jar is that fresh fruit tastes so much better yet my tastebuds get lured into the holiday season all too easily if I don't watch out.

Given this weakness in my otherwise stellar (!) personality, I'm making sure I keep the makings for green smoothies around the house to forestall temptation with something equally tasty but much better for me.

One of my children and I LOVE green smoothies and don't even mind the vibrant green color anymore. It is amazing how spinach, pears, kiwi, apple, and broccoli can taste so good blended into an icy drink. One of my daughters prefers an orange, carrot, cranberry smoothie which I've never passed up, either. We used to treat ourselves to the popular juice places that provide you with a fruit smoothie in exchange for quite a sum of money considering you are paying for much ground ice. I checked the calorie count on them and discovered it was much cheaper and healthier to make smoothies at home. The calories were lower, too.

I can't believe the holidays are upon us even as I face the cooking and baking of the next few days. Good thing I have that stash of cranberries put away because I think I'm going to need a few homemade fruit/vegetable smoothies to see me through.

A black market venture . . .

Except for canned, it is difficult to find fresh or frozen cranberries during the time after Christmas. Unfortunately, my family has a definite, year-round craving for the little red berries. I love cranberries with a beef and gravy meal. My husband wants cranberry muffins more often than during the holidays. My son likes chocolate cream pie with a cranberry glaze topping.

This year, I'm hoping to extend our cranberry fields forever! Costco is selling large bags of the fresh berries. I'm double bagging them in freezer-proof bags and plan to indulge when everyone else is looking to summer and watermelon! Okay, we have jumped the gun a bit on our stash and have almost use a whole bag on said chocolate cream pie, muffins, and cranberry sauce for a beef and gravy dinner. I'm not TOO concerned as we have a few more weeks of holiday eating and I plan to raid Costco for a couple more bags.

Just remember that when the summer heat arrives and you find me enjoying a cranberry smoothie, I MIGHT share some of my stash . . . for a reasonable price!

Getting hungry . . .

Thanksgiving is a great holiday. It is a simple one where people get together and eat. No need to shop for gifts, send flowers, or take pictures with Santa. You cook, visit, and eat! We usually have a Thanksgiving-type menu on other days of the year but turkey and all the trimmings seems to taste so much better when shared with a full table of friends and family.

I just got back from shopping. We are looking forward to having eleven people sitting around our Thanksgiving holiday table. I love to cook and enjoy going after a shopping bargain so it is a win/win scenario for me. I have been fixing Thanksgiving dinner since I was around twelve and love the whole process.

Preparing for Thanksgiving also points out our blessings, too. I have learned to never complain about not having enough room in the cupboard when I have to stock up. A crowded cupboard means God provided most adequately for us this year. We should be grateful and enjoy it.

Although, I pretty much do a straight forward menu for Thanksgiving, I always come up with an extra item or two to enhance the meal. This year, there will be a coconut custard pie joining the pecan, pumpkin, and apple pies. Bread stuffing is a positive staple at Thanksgiving and I could face eviction from the family if it didn't make an appearance. This year, however, I'm thinking about adding a dish of cornbread sausage stuffing. Bread and butter is kind of overkill with all the other food but, I'm thinking, cranberry muffins wouldn't be too much, right?

I hope everyone is anticipating a good holiday next week with family and friends. Remember to be also grateful for our freedom of Faith and the best government in the world because these things often hang in balance and we can't guarantee the same in the future.