Just Checking In

I did not expect the eclipse to be as fabulous as it was. Here, on a sunny 70 degree cloudless day in the 100% zone, it was FABULOUS. (last year it snowed on April 8). 

My grandkids were ready. 

My neighbor with a great camera. 

Me. (you can see one neighbor in a driveway behind me).  The most exciting part was that when we reached the total eclipse our whole town erupted in cheers. It was unexpected and just perfect. I could hear voices from streets away! 

A local amusement park sold tickets to ride the roller coasters during the event. Here is a picture from their facebook page. 

My husband's family decided to go to a location closer to home instead of traveling to us which meant I did not have to overhaul the guest room or cook, LOL. 

Yesterday I ran to the drug store and when I came home there were five girls about 10 years old riding their bikes down the long slope of my sidewalk yelling like they were on a roller coaster.  And I wanted to be them so badly. 

The daughter is married. Everything went off without a hitch and we are so happy. At the last minute, everyone scattered to their own homes to get fancied up so it all worked out.  I worried for nothing. 

I'll share just one picture.  Here is my squad, my two daughters and two granddaughters who are 13 and 7, but super tall.  My hair is courtesy of my hairdresser Kim who knows how to use a flat iron? I love it, but I am afraid I would get third degree burns. I told her to remember what she did for my 50th class reunion in August. 

This is my wedding dress. It started as a mother of the bride dress, I think it was a mother of the groom dress, too.  One season I wore it to a nephew's wedding in June, a friend's daughter's wedding in July and my niece's wedding in October. I wore it to a mystery dinner theater once when the plot was who killed the groom. I can't count the weddings it has attended. I bought it for 39.99 on the clearance rack at David's Bridal about 10 years ago. It was a "petite" so I did not even have to alter it. 

My husband met my ortho who drained his knee yesterday and he is feeling 80% better already!  We are praying for his oldest sister who had a hip replaced yesterday and his youngest sister's husband who had a critical case of cellulitis manifest in a short time and was hospitalized until today. He was released with home healthcare for his affected feet and hands. That family! 

Today I woke up with a renewed sense of energy and managed to empty six big dresser drawers and bag up about half of those clothing to donate. Then I attacked my jeans pile and donated about three sizes worth of pants that are too small. I decided if and when I ever wear that size again, I will enjoy shopping to replace them. 

I am so looking forward to tomorrow! I am attending our state genealogy conference which is driving distance from my house. Tomorrow is my easy day as sessions start at 10am.  I am skipping the luncheon and taking myself out to lunch at the Olive Garden up the road. Friday and Saturday will be more challenging since sessions start at 8am. I might just go to Olive Garden on Friday too, but I remember that the venue has dance and cheerleading competitions in another area on weekends so I am packing my lunch and have volunteered to sit at the chapter table on Saturday.

It's Go Time

Thanks for the comments on my last post. Hubby's bursitis knee did not improve so I called and registered him as a new patient at my doctor's office (since he had not been to the doctor since the 1990's) and they got him right in. She was terrific, ordered everything from a colonoscopy to blood work to a scan of his chest (smoker). She also referred him to an orthopedist who got him in this coming Tuesday.  We got the blood work results yesterday and everything was perfect. Which greatly relieved him.  

I think he is of the belief that if you ignore a health issue, it will disappear.  I am trying to convince him (and so is his new doctor) that catching things early will make treating them easier. We will see how that goes. 

Meanwhile - wedding tomorrow! She did a final try-on of the dress yesterday and somehow now the straps are too long. I did the alterations this morning and hopefully we are ready to go. I have pizza ordered for a houseful of sons and grandsons while the ladies are getting hair done tomorrow, then I guess everyone is dressing in my tiny one bathroom house and heading to the venue.  

Friday morning anyone who spent the night is coming over for breakfast that I am making. Our town had a big restaurant that was closed due to family issues for a few years and just reopened. I called for breakfast reservations and they aren't going to start breakfast for two more weeks. So that makes me the chef.

I was sewing while she hit the craft store for last minute centerpiece flowers since Amazon said the order was delayed until Friday. After she got home, the order did arrive . . . 

Then a last minute dash for suspenders for the ring bearer.  I am excitedly looking forward to the weekend, LOL.   

Our town was featured on the news as the 16th best place in the country to view the eclipse. Once the wedding festivities end, I need to scrub my house for guests coming to view the darkness.  We waited until today to put gas in all our vehicles and it was too late. Prices rose 30 cents a gallon overnight. 

Laundry is calling my name!

Special prayers to my friend who is starting radiation treatments tomorrow and Debbie and her family  at https://debbie-dabbleblog.blogspot.com/   who are experiencing a challenging health situation. 

Getting Over Ourselves

My husband and I both think we look much younger than our actual ages. When we see classmates, we snicker when back in the car - "can you believe we went to school together?" "he looks twenty years older than me". 

This week I caught a cold. We have had a number of sick children scattered over past weeks, but this is not a bug they shared. Mine started with a sore throat, not strep or covid, and moved to a sinus infection that knocked me out.  I don't seem to rebound back like I did when I was younger. 

A week ago Friday all the kids got picked up early and hubby decided to show me his knee. A quick trip to urgent care showed that he had a severe case of bursitis which started when he smacked it into something three weeks ago. Of course he waited three weeks to mention it. He is now in the recliner with his leg raised on pillows, alternating ice packs. It is getting better, but he is very frustrated with trying not to bear weight.  And now he has caught my cold. Of course it is much worse than mine because it is a man cold. 

And I can't talk about him because I haven't been to the doctor either. There were two late nights I thought about it, but I find my doctor so frustrating I have decided to weather it out. 

We are feeling our age.  Today, instead of grocery shopping, I clicked a list at our Aldi, drove over and a nice girl put it in my car.  I don't know why I resist this. I was even thinking other shoppers in the lot were looking at me, thinking why can't she go inside and shop for herself? The big baby.  

Tomorrow three out of five of my grandkids schools are closed for a teacher thing. I usually have big plans (I will share this year's edition of Chopped soon). But  I am just worn out.  I have no plans for the kids, no trips planned and told the parents we will not be preparing dinner or sending any food home like usual.  I am just too tired and old. 

Tuesday is yet another election in our state. Actually the first one of 2024.  Last year we had at least three.  I need to be there at 5:00 am because I am on machine set up and I stay until almost 8 pm as I close out the machines (with a member of the opposing party as a teammate).  The good thing is that many in the community have "early voted" so hopefully it won't be the same madhouse as the last election.  

Okay, done whining.  I guess this old lady will fix another cup of tea.  

I forgot to mention my youngest daughter. Put fiancé's house up for sale, sold in 6 days, closed Wednesday and had to be out Friday. Bought the new house on the same time table, moved in on Thursday. Today they took our vehicles to move some things from her house. Once dad is better, he is going to paint and take care of the small things so they can list that too. Wedding countdown is 18 days.  Then it's 4 days until the big eclipse with house guests.  

Recipe Contest

My god-daughter has a beef farm in Wisconsin and sponsors a recipe contest every year.  She provides the recipes and, if you live near her, you can purchase all the meat and some of the specialty items in a package. I had previously shared week 1 and week 2, here are the rest of the recipes. 

Week 6: last night.  We really enjoyed the Pesto Butter Skirt Steak with Crispy Garlic Butter Parmesan Potatoes and Asparagus Spears

Week 5: Beef Shank Asian Lettuce Wraps. Good, but our beef shanks were a little greasy. Where is the lettuce?

My hint to keep grocery prices down is to shop at one store. And this was what lettuce looked like when I was there. The fancy ones were brown and the iceberg was doll sized. 

My husband had his on hamburger buns. 

Week 4: Smothered Italian Sausages. This was another big hit with my husband. 

Week 3: Raspberry Balsamic Pork Roast with Mascarpone Polenta. Well.  First, her package provides the polenta grain from a small farm near her. The only grocery in my small town with polenta was (gasp) (groan) Walmart and all they had was premade polenta in a TUBE. I found directions to make it creamy.  I truly hope this isn't what polenta is supposed to taste like.  I also had to search for mascarpone cheese.   All in all, this was a very expensive dinner and neither of us really cared for it.  But it was pretty on the plate. 

That is the end of the recipes (I had shared 1 & 2 earlier).  Now I have to think of what to have for dinner all by myself! 

When I was going through my food porn, I found a few more pictures. 

A itty bitty village near us has a cafe with new owners. They are the cutest couple, both named Adam, and this is the Tuesday Special, chicken and biscuits. And tea comes with a teapot!  I do lunch once a month with my "glass class" girls, who were in my stained glass classes at the senior center. After covid the classes never resumed. Neither did most of the other classes.  Now they are building a four million dollar senior center with Biden bucks which is requiring a new higher operating levy on our ballot this month. 

I run a diner for grandkids and grampa on weekday mornings. Some teachers hear about the menus and threaten to join us. I took these pictures to stop them in their tracks. As I ran through the choices one morning, these two chose leftover spaghetti from my frig for breakfast. 

This morning we had an inch of snow. Tomorrow we have a forecast in the 60's.  Yes, it's March! 

Missing in Action AGAIN

Still here - somewhere! 

I had some ideas and photos for posts. Maybe someday. 

I am still working on recipe contest entries for the contest for my goddaughter's farm. That might be a post, someday.

Grandkids keep having days off school - we had a cooking contest on President's Day. I took pictures!

The weather has been crazy. Today we were in the high 70's.  Our normal weather would be snow drifts. 

With 38 days before the wedding, the ladies of the family went shopping for a wedding dress - and found a gown on the rack that fit perfectly and doesn't even need a hem (hint: tea length). Today is day 31 days on the countdown.

It's 9 days until they sign papers selling one of their houses and papers buying a house together. Then we get to get the other old house ready to sell. 

Oh, and they have 10 days to move after that.  

During those 10 days we bought tickets to "Beauty and the Beast" at one high school and "Nemo" at another high school. 

Sunday I competed in the preschool's Chili Cook-Off. I did not win. 

Today I "early" voted in our state's primary election and I'm set to work the polls in two weeks. 

My best friend's second mastectomy (after chemo, a mastectomy and reconstruction five years ago) is scheduled tomorrow morning. 

Our small town is one of the best places to witness this very special solar eclipse that is happening on April 8. We have been officially warned about the expected crowds (at this point there is one bar renting parking spaces for the day for $75). And now we have out of town relatives making reservations to park at our house (it's free). My concern is if and when they will be able to depart, lol.  

Tonight I attended a preschool concert and art show. 

Another former co-worker passed away. My friend and neighbor Diane and I are now referring to ourselves as "funeral buddies" since we keep attending visitations and services together. 

Do I sound all over the place? Because I am all over the place!  Maybe I can get my act together soon.  Maybe.  Meanwhile, I enjoy reading everyone's blogs in the evenings. 

Taco Tarts

My goddaughter is a very successful woman. After graduating from THE Ohio State University with a master's degree in nursing home administration and starting a successful career, she married a great guy, added two lovely daughters to the family and settled in a lovely home. 

Then her husband was offered a fabulous position out of state just as the nursing home where she was employed began to downsize and - she was off to a new adventure! 

She grew up on a beef farm and decided to start her own! She (and her husband and lovely daughters) began raising beef, selling quarters and halves and manning an adorable booth at farm markets to help market her homegrown, superior, straight from the farm beef products.  The farm has also branched out to pigs and chickens when the lovely farm girls joined 4H and I have spotted some handpicked bouquets at the farm markets, too. My goddaughter even offers home delivery in her area if you order from her website. 

A few years ago she started a recipe challenge contest and if you live close enough, you can purchase a meat bundle for the recipes. We are on Week 2 - and to my pleasant surprise the recipe is one I gave her at her bridal shower when we filled a recipe box for her! 

I found the original recipe in Taste of Home recipe back in the late 80's I believe.  I think I slightly altered it - but it has been a family favorite from the first time they tasted them. Here is the recipe I shared with her and the recipe I made for this year's entry: 

I had planned to have these as our Super Bowl snack, such as it is. My husband watched football, I was set up in the kitchen for the season finales of Miss Scarlett and the Duke and Funny Woman as well as the latest tear jerker episode of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS.  Somehow the Diocese of Toledo decided to schedule confirmation for my twin grandchildren and 92 of their classmates at 3pm on Super Bowl Sunday. This meant I had to leave my house at 9:30 am, drive 1 hour and 45 minutes to their house for a luncheon, then to a church in the middle of a city (by drive I mean I was driven), then sit in a wooden pew for about 2 hours, leave the church and drive home. We were home by 7pm - I don't think he missed much of the game and my shows didn't start until 8pm.  But instead of taco tarts, we picked up tasteless burgers.

But tonight, since it was Monday, we celebrated with taco tarts.  

I wanted to update everyone on the young man I mentioned in my last post.  I had interviewed him at my volunteer position. He was homeless, but employed loading produce trucks overnight. His boss was letting him "sleep" in his car in the parking lot during the day (in broad daylight with semi trucks driving in and out). He was pretty depressed with life and so very tired.  I called from the church phone to check in with him and he has connected with an agency that I referred him to that is actively contacting landlords to find him an apartment he can afford. He was so much happier, hopeful and thanked me for my help the previous week.  We have put his application on hold in case he needs help with his deposit or moving expenses. It's always nice to have good news. 

This week's clients held more challenges, but I think we can stick our fingers in the dike for them.  

Ground Hog

 Wow. I just can't get away from the ground hog.  Here is a ground hog made from homemade salt, pepper and sage ground hog from our local butcher. I have a 1/4 of a steer being processed but they took the employees for a winter getaway last weekend and it is taking a few extra days to get to me. We ran out last night since I did such a good job clearing the freezer and I picked up a few things. 

I stayed up late and made some chocolate chocolate chip mini muffin groundhogs to celebrate, too. They were a hit! 

When I worked in an office, I would organize potluck lunches with a Groovy Groundhogs Day theme. Then I would invite my family over for a Groovy Groundhog Dinner. I had a file of themed recipes. 

Now I just make a few breakfast items for the bus kids. Must be getting old. 

These darn kids keep passing germs around. I have had a least one school kid home all week. Today a mom stayed home to see if she could get one into the doctor and got a call from the school about kid number 2.  Meanwhile, two preschoolers and another "sick" school kid have completely taken over the living room and constructed a fort. 

It was a rough week at my volunteer job.  We had two families seeking help and I am calling it immigration week.  We are a rural community. That said, we had a woman come in who is married with 2 teenaged children born in this country.  Her mother has cancer.  Her husband, who has been here since he was a young child, was recently deported. Because he worked here without a permit, he has zero path to apply to ever come back into the country or be with his family who are citizens. He had worked for over 20 years at this job and supported the family. Now mom is trying to move her mom in to take care of her while trying to find full time employment to support the household alone. 

The second family, a little younger, has a citizen who married a man who came here at 6 months old and who has a work permit.  He has been working with a lawyer for many years to try to establish a path to citizenship. He has to pay $1500 (this is to the government and in addition to the lawyer on retainer) every two years for the permit and apply 6 months before it expires. Unfortunately it can take 6-12 months for a new permit. And that is where they are again. His permit has expired, the new permit has not arrived and he has to sit home not working for up to six months and hope it shows up. Luckily his employer is willing to hold his job. Mom is trying to pick up extra shifts to pay the bills and had even put some money aside in anticipation of a late work permit.  Then her father died unexpectedly and tragically and she had to pay for a minimal funeral.  They have two small children, also born in this country. 

We periodically get these cases of people who paid the money, sent in the renewal on time and then have six months with no paycheck.  

There has to be a better solution for honest, hard working people.  I have no idea what it is but surely some smart person can come up with something. 

Then my last client (after 2 more horrible stories) was a young man who just turned 30. He came up here with a family member seeking a better job. He has a job nights loading semi's for a big produce dealer And has worked there for a few months. The problem is housing.  There is zero affordable housing in my area, apartment rents are astronomical and there are no openings. His employer lets him sleep in his car in their parking lot during the day, but he is exhausted and is having trouble sleeping 1. in a car, 2. in broad daylight in a car, 3. in a his car in a noisy parking lot full of trucks.  He was almost in tears.  

It was challenging because all I can tell him is that he is doing everything right and the situation is wrong. He tried a hotel but they took extra money and he had to call the police to get reimbursed. And if he stays there, he can't afford to buy food.   He was already aware of something I just learned - that if you go to our city recreation center, they will let the homeless take a shower in an old locker room at the back of the facility. This is a word of mouth kind of thing with our mayor's blessing. I spent lots of time talking with him, trying to come up with places he could call for help, not sure if they can help. He did calm down and was so grateful.  At Christmas I bought a ton of $10 gift cards to area fast food places for prizes in games at family Christmas and I did give him two, one for a pizza and one for Subway. He was so grateful.  I also talked to him about just being upfront. If you go to a food bank, say you are living in your car temporarily. A box of mac and cheese won't help. Neither will things that need refrigerated. It isn't their first rodeo and they can find food stuffs that you can use.  He is one of those cases that haunts me. He has no one here.  I do have a phone number and can call him from the church on Monday and check in on him. 

We have a "metro" office that qualifies people and issues vouchers for free or reduced housing. Unfortunately, that doesn't create housing. In December almost 100 local metro vouchers for my county expired because the families could not find an available apartments. Then they have to reapply, all the paperwork needs redone and then they have another 90 days to try to find one.  Actually a lot of landlords have turned our rentals into Airbnb places that generate a lot more income than a rental.  I don't know the answers, I am just venting.  

The week before I had a woman who walked 3 miles on a 19 degree day to come to my office and fill out an application to help with the deposit for a metro apartment they found (she is 40's , disabled, a niece who is 20 and has 2 small children). She was frozen.  I let her warm up, charged her phone, gave her coffee and then gave her my hat and gloves when she left.  I was in the middle of too much to give her a ride, so I made her a map home and marked stores, the library, the police station - places where she could go inside and warm up.  We were able to help her move in the new apartment - it's a 2 bedroom and they were hoping for 3 (impossible) but they are just so grateful to have a place of their own.  She almost cried telling me about begging people to stay on their couches or use their bathrooms. And as nice as some people can be, you always feel horrible about it. 

I don't know if I mentioned I have joined the county homeless task force as a member from my agency. I attended one meeting and I am mostly there to gather information.  We have no homeless shelters or anywhere that they can stay in our county.  We are near two entertainment areas - a NHRA sanctioned racetrack and an amusement park and our hotels and motels are expensive and booked. 

ANYWAY - Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Have a great weekend! 

Sunday Funday

I finished frying the sauerkraut balls. I got all the frozen balls out of the freezer and went crazy. Please remind me to never go that crazy increasing a recipe again. I have a bag for my middle son, a bag for my youngest son, a bag for a friend who has been patiently waiting and a bag for my husband and I for later this week. 

They are a lot better fried in oil. Less Healthy I am sure, but much better. I will reheat them in the air fryer. 

My grandchildren had school on Friday! No weather warnings! Monday, however, is a planned two hour delay for teacher meetings.  I do better with a heads up before they are here.  I am planning a snow theme for tomorrow's breakfast.  I am hoping to make some snowman pancakes, snowman cinnamon rolls (from the tube) and we are serving blue polar frost juice. Doesn't that sound delicious?  And of course we will have the regular menu of eggs, sausage and cereals.  

I am hoping I remember to make hot cocoa for the thermos carafe, too.  And I hope I serve enough foods since I think they go to lunch the minute they finally get to school.  I am not a fan of these announced delays either. I am glad they have grandparents who can care for them and make sure they can get to school two hours late. When I was working with small children, I am not sure what I would have done. 

I would say I have 90% of my Christmas decor stowed away until next year.  The remaining 10% are items I keep spotting as I walk through rooms.  I even had the kids wander around in a circle looking to make sure I didn't miss anything. I guess they are as blind as I am.  There was  an interesting time today when I took all my Christmas dishware and glasses out of my cabinet so I would replace it with pastel dishware and glasses and got distracted and emptied two drawers onto the table, too.  I wondered if I could even catch up to where I started, but I prevailed.  

All the Christmas things are stored in the bottom cupboard (I hope all of it) and all the pastels are behind the glass doors. And it all fit.  I did break one bowl, but I don't think I will miss it. I don't believe it is an heirloom and it isn't the Easter egg colors I have been amassing. I think it was a vintage Goodwill find. It is what it is. 

I have my 100th sinus infection of the season with clogged nose and ears. I think I am on my 99th zpack of drugs which I am sure I am immune to by now. This has been a very long winter for only being January.  In the words of Taylor Swift, It's me, Hi, I'm the problem, It's me.  We messed around and never got our vaccines in time.  We did finally get the covid and the RSV, but it was only 5 days before my grandson was diagnosed with RSV (and who knows how long he had it before the appointment) and it takes two weeks to take effect. That was how we spent Christmas vacation.  We were going to get the flu and pnumonia vaccine that week, but since we were sick, we waited. And I swear we have continued being sick with something every weekend since.  Next year we will be vaccinated against everything in sight by October 1. 

My friend who is battling with breast cancer for the second time was diagnosed this week with Influenza A. It was just days before her chemo and infusion, but due to being vaccinated and approval of Tamiflu from her doctors, she was able to go to her treatment.  Her doctors told her the vaccine meant her case was a mild one (thank goodness). Her son and daughter in law welcomed a new baby girl this week, too, so she is waiting until she is given the all clear to go visit.   

Still Frying Sauerkraut Balls

A quick note of thanks for all the comments on the sauerkraut balls.  I forgot they are kind of a German-Ohio thing. I think our great grandmas were looking for something to disguise yet another leftover dinner from the New Years Day pork roast and sauerkraut and knew deep frying anything carries it an extra day. 

You really can order these in any restaurant from an ice cream stand to a sports bar and even restaurants as an appetizer.  And I hope that no one else did the recipe times 5.  At this point I still have 9 dozen still frozen in my outside freezer. 

My recipe, which is my family's and also in several other families since I see it in church cookbooks, is the cream cheese version. I meant to ask my friend for her family recipe which has sausage, ground up ham, sauerkraut and other items that are not cream cheese, LOL.  

My mother never made sauerkraut balls (her family wasn't German) but she did make "sausage balls" which I can only remember as very dry. 

Anyway.  Last week we had Martin Luther King day -so no school. Then we had snow days on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. This means I had the elementary grandchildren in addition to the preschoolers.  I replenished my cereal, sandwich and snack supplies just in time for today which was a 2 hour delay for my local elementary bus kids and a day off due to ice for my three further away elementary grandchildren whose mother teaches at a school that did not delay or cancel.  

I am hoping that our schools are open the rest of the week. Fingers Crossed. 

Sauerkraut Balls

We love Sauerkraut Balls. We especially love Sauerkraut Balls on New Year's Eve.  When my kids were little I had come up with a way to make enough for five children and two adults for our celebration even though I always had to work the week between Christmas and New Years. 

This is the recipe that I submitted to our 4-H cookbook. And it is the recipe I still use. 

I would work on each step at night when I was washing the supper dishes. Chilling in between the steps is really important. The recipe is easily doubled or tripled. It is messy to bread them all so I always did a huge batch and frozen some before frying so I wouldn't have to make the mess twice (or three or four times).   

I haven't made them since before 2020. Every year my kids beg me to make them.  This year I told them they could come over the week in between Christmas and New Years and help me.  I bought supplies to make the recipe times five.  Yes, 5 lbs of sausage, a case of sauerkraut, etc.  

Then Mr Merry and I had a really bad respiratory infection the week after Christmas and they did not get made. 

I got tired of tripping over the case of sauerkraut and decided I would make them this week. Sunday I thawed the cream cheese and browned the sausage.  After mixing the recipe, it completely filled a Tupperware fix and mix bowl (just so you can estimate quantity).

Our schools have been cancelled for weather for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday I had a house full of children and the recipe remained chilling. Tuesday I began to roll the balls. My ten year old grandson helped for a little bit but it took me HOURS to roll them all. 

I spent all day today breading them. It turned into an endurance test very quickly. I knew if I tried to do half today and half tomorrow, I would never be able to stand and do it tomorrow. I kept estimating when I would be finished. It was almost 2 more hours than I thought.  

Now they are all in more Tupperware waiting to be frozen, fried or packaged for pickup.  I did come up with a science experiment where I tried to use the air fryer. My solution was 7 minutes at 400 degrees.  My middle son took his already and said he sprayed them with cooking oil before cooking and I am going to try that tomorrow.  

I hate to say it, but they are good in the air fryer. But they are GREAT deep fried. So tomorrow I am going to deep fry some for Mr. Merry and I when we watch tv in the evening.

I am also having a stern talk with myself. Between the arthritis in my hands and bone spurs in my back, I cannot stand and roll all those sauerkraut balls. I had a big reality check of Miss Merry in her early 40's vs Miss Merry in her late 60's.  My first thought was never again. But now that I have taken a bunch of meds and am sitting in my chair, maybe the sane choice would be to just make one batch of the recipe. I always overdo!!

I have a funny story and a sad story. 

When I was making the sauerkraut balls, I told my eight year old grandson that a local burger place has sauerkraut balls on the menu at 6 for $15.  He was stunned. He wondered why people would pay that much when they can just ask their Mimi to make them for them! 

Last night was an exciting night on our scanner.  There were reports of a mass shooting at a little country bar, out past us at a crossroads. They have a great fish fry on Fridays and lots of farmers stop there during the day for lunch. Tuesday night was pool league. Evidently a young man had too much of something and got into some arguments. He decided the way to settle it was to shot into the bar.  Two people were seriously wounded and life flight had to come and pick them up. Today's news is better and they are both expected to make it. Unfortunately guns are very prevalent in my state, open carrying is what the cool kids do and in my gun sanctuary county, you can even bring guns into bars. You just aren't supposed to drink if you have one.  I'm pretty sure most of the guys there last night were armed. And yet they took down the gunman with a punch and a whack with a bar stool. 

Behind the Scenes

I thought it would be fun to share my "shopping process" for the Christmas Getaway (30 minutes from my house).  

I was googling Christmas dresses for chubby grandmothers on Amazon and came upon this one. I was thinking I could sew up the vee neckline and wear it as a tunic top over black slacks. It was the only one left, 80% off and 2-3 sizes too big for me, which I liked because I did not want it to cling. I figured it was worth the 9.99 and ordered it. 

This is what arrived: 

It weighs a ton, and is fully lined. The neckline was cut down past my belly button and the length was past my knees. 

It was also slit up to my belly button and the dress only closed with one tiny button. This was not going to work! 

I did not want to try to sew the heavy sequins on my sewing machine. I actually put on the dress and marked the middle.  I did some folding and arranging and sewed up the middle by hand. I put it on again and decided to raise the shoulder seams by 2-3 inches. Every time I put it on, I would pin higher up the neckline. I think the weight kept pulling it down. 

I decided to use the sash to try to change the shape of what was now a red sequin sack into a more fitted look. 

It worked! Just don't look too close at the stitching. 

And here I am in the dress. I was pretty satisfied with my ten dollar creation! 

I think I could have added a few more stitches at the neckline that night, lol. 

Missing in Action in December - Sawmill Creek Resorts Season of Joy

I think I'm realizing I can't participate in activities and document activities at the same time. I am really in awe of how often you all post and all that you share. I love reading your blogs! I wish I could do the same! I do want to share this is not a sponsored post. 

During Covid when I was online way too often I learned that Ohio has several Christmas Inns, you know, like Hallmark! I started decorating my bedrooms for Christmas because I realized my dear husband would never ever go to a Christmas Inn.  A nearby resort even had a special event last year. I was talking to my youngest daughter in September and she mentioned she wished she had gone too! 

Well. I had money burning in the envelope in my undies drawer, earned from working the three elections Ohio decided to have this year plus my money from serving on a practice zoom jury for a law firm. Reservations were made. 

I knew this would be my opportunity to live my Hallmark dream so I spent all my free time drawing up a schedule of our activities, planning meals and outfits, even making several calls to the resort to clarify as they were rolling out the event. 

My partner in crime, my seven year old granddaughter, was totally on board with the Hallmark magic.  Luckily we already had sequin dresses for our Taylor Swift concert in our car at the drive-in and I was busy shopping sales to outfit us all. Including her four year old brother who is still able to be talked into things. I drew up a complete schedule of events with little Christmas trees to mark our many outfit changes during the two night event. Excessive? Why, yes. Have you ever counted outfits in a Hallmark movie? We even noted necessary accessories. We also made sure her doll had appropriate attire. 

My advice, if you want to plan something like this, is to go into it with the attitude it will be totally magic and wonderful. It will convince everyone else how wonderful it is too! We could not have had a more special experience from the moment we arrived. 

I would recommend Sawmill Creek Resorts "Season of Joy" to everyone of any age group. The vibe is defiantly adult, but with your planning I do believe it is perfect for everyone. 

We started with the most polite and helpful check-in on Friday night when we arrived in our semi casual Christmas outfits. I had made reservations at the Millers Table, their best restaurant. I studied the menu prior to arrival and we did see sandwiches for our first night. We planned to split a plate for the children. We were pleasantly surprised to find they had a children's menu!. We also met the most wonderful server we have ever seen, Laura. She made our whole experience extra special and was so wonderful with the kids, too.  

Our gourmet burgers were delicious and the kids felt very special. During dinner we spotted two elves that we did not know would be part of the experience. As you can see, both Candy and Cane were part of the magic we will never forget! 

I rarely drink alcohol. My children kid me because I buy a six pack of hard cider in the fall and bottles can remain in my refrigerator by the next summer. But, as part of my vision as a sophisticated Hallmark Christmas heroine, we did order the special Christmas Cocktails when we got a chance. 

After dinner we remained in our casual outfits to attend two music events, The Misteltones and the Fireside Family Christmas. My normally shy grandson even answered a call for volunteers, although I think he regretted it the moment he got up in front of people.

We retired to our room to put on our matching pjs (of course) and it turned out the movie "Home Alone" was on television. The kids pretended to watch it as I think it was a little over their heads. 

The next morning we put on our Saturday daytime attire and went to the buffet breakfast. As early risers, I think we were the first ones there. The staff could not have been more friendly and helpful, even serving the kids. As more people came to breakfast we realized we were really getting special service. 

Unfortunately a friend's mother had passed away a few days earlier and I wanted to attend her memorial service. My daughter had found a nearby box store was having a gingerbread house activity so we did leave late morning and returned in the early afternoon. 

The resort offered a series of "Christmas Boot Camp" activities for an additional fees such as cookie decorating, charcuterie board making and cocktail mixing, all geared more toward adults. I did ask the children if they would like to decorate cookies, but they had seen the pool and we spent the afternoon swimming, mostly by ourselves. 

It was a great way to get their wiggles out and I think they enjoyed it more than an organized activity. We toured the entire resort which was decorated to the nines and they posed for us in front of every setup. Later in the afternoon Candy and Cane began to appear in various locations, too. 

The resort offered s'more kits and hot cocoa for an outdoor activity in a decorated terrace. Unfortunately it rained the entire weekend, but we did sneak a peek at the decorations. 

Again we made reservations for the Millers Table for our special Fancy Hallmark Dinner. We retired to our room so we could wear our Fancy Christmas Clothes and headed to the restaurant, attracting lots of looks and smiles from other guests. There was a long line at check-in for some corporate Christmas parties and they were all quite taken with my grandson's tie. 

The hostess greeted us and admired the outfits so much she begged to take our picture in the restaurant lobby. Note for next year - lose the purse. 

We were then seated directly in front of the Christmas tree and discovered our favorite server Laura was assigned to our table again!  

We had studied the menu knew our order. We started with a fabulous charcuterie board. My granddaughter abandoned the children's menu for a big girl meal. Luckily her brother had extra chicken tenders to share since grownup food was not what she had expected. I cannot tell you how delicious the food was. I am still dreaming about it. All leftovers were safely packed and stored in our room's refrigerator. 

After dinner Laura asked if she could take pictures for us and paraded us all over the dining room in front of every Christmas arrangement. We felt like royalty.

We returned to our room for our Saturday evening wardrobe change and then attended three music events, The Carolers, The Mistletones and the Fireside Family Christmas. 

We were pretty tired after all the festivities and slept well. 

Again in the morning we dressed in our Sunday casual Christmas outfits and were first to arrive at the luscious breakfast buffet which we enjoyed greatly.  After breakfast we returned to the pool until shortly before checkout. 

He loved breakfast - this is his "Grinch" face.

Our Christmas getaway was exactly as I had hoped and pictured it and I couldn't wait to make my photos into a scrapbook. I worked on a Shutterfly album and I decided there was no way I could justify the cost. I remade the book at Walgreens and picked it up on Monday.  Then Shutterfly ran a very good special with half off and free extra pages and the price went from unaffordable to astronomical and I ordered it too. 

Hopefully I will be back soon to share the events after December 3rd!  Yes, this was just the very very first of December!