Pumpkins

I've been wanting to try this pumpkin soup I saw in a book Craig brought home years ago. I never got around to buying an extra pumpkin at Halloween. This year, I decided I wanted to try it. The cool thing about it is you fill up the pumpkin and cook the whole thing in the oven. It seemed really fancy. So I filled this pumpkin up with a ridiculous amount of cream, Gruyere cheese, and toasted french bread slices with some thyme and cooked the whole thing for 2 hours. Then I scraped the wall of the pumpkin and mixed it with the rest of the filling. It wasn't too bad either. (probably because I love Gruyere cheese) You couldn't even really taste the pumpkin though, which for me, was a good thing. I'm not a huge pumpkin fan.

Above was the end result. Yummy and cheesy. I think I even ate 2 bowls of it. I'd like to find other ways to use pumpkin other then pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread. I made a pumpkin pie with Abby's pumpkin patch pumpkin from school and it was ok. I don't know if it was good because I don't really like pumpkin pie. I want to grown my own pumpkins nest year for Halloween and I need some good pumpkin recipes so I can cook whatever we don't carve. Any one have any favorite recipes?

Grandma Ney

This morning I found out that my last living grandparent had passed away. I got a call right in the middle of church (how embarrassing - I didn't turn off my cell phone) It was my mom who had left a message for me to call her. I didn't even check the message until after I had come home. I was nursing Charlie and the thought came to me that it was probably about my Grandma. My mom is not usually one to call on a Sunday morning. She died in her sleep early this morning and it was really a blessing. I think that's the way I would want to go. She suffered from dementia and alzheimers, so although we are sad, we are happy that her suffering has ended. I'm sure there is great rejoicing in heaven today and I think she is mostly happy to be back with my grandpa again.

Here are my favorite Grandma memories:

I remember her always having red hair until one time we came to visit and it was grey. I almost didn't recognize her. She said she just stopped dying it. I was shocked because it never occurred to me that old people dyed their hair.

She loved to cook eggs in bacon grease or butter. yummmmmmmmm

She had a bunch of Hummel figurines stacked on her tv and she had a record player too.

When we'd go visit her as kids, right after we got there she would send us downstairs to get a soda or juice. For us this was quite a treat.

She always kept a candy jar in her dining room, which we helped ourselves to quite often.

She could never sit still and had to be reminded to sit down and quit working.

Finally, the last time we were able to see her was last Christmas. She was pretty coherent that day. She really opened up when she saw babies. My favorite comments from her that day:
She told Dan he had a nice neck and my mom started talking about Mr. Potato Head and she interrupted and said she didn't care. Too funny. The picture above was taken during this visit.

I'll miss my Grandma, but I'm glad she's back home with her Heavenly Father and my grandpa.
She was 88 years old. A good life lived.

Feelin' Thrifty

Today, I'm feeling pretty thrifty and pretty dang proud of myself. Last week, I roasted a whole chicken and we ate it for dinner. Later that week, I used the leftover meat to make chicken enchiladas. Today I used the bones and gizzards to make some chicken stock and then I canned it for later use. Talk about stretching out $5!! I try not to waste anything, so this was perfect! I used every part of that chicken. Booyah!

Earthquakes

A couple nights ago Craig bolted up in bed while I was changing Charlie's diaper and said, "Was that an earthquake?" I calmly told him no while I called him a freak under my breath. He was half asleep and didn't remember it the next morning. The next night he asked again but was joking. And last night, or morning, I should say there really was an earthquake!! A 3.5 right here in town. What are the odds?? Craig must be psychic. Maybe I should put Samson in a bag so he won't suffocate like he told me in his sleep when we first got married.

Rice Krispy glue?

Is it just me, or does any one else think that rice krispies are made out of glue? I give them to my kids and they, of course, spill all over the table. If I'm feeling particularly lazy and don't clean it up right away, it hardens and sticks to the table. I think last time I had to scrape it off with a knife. Come on, Snap, Crackle, and Pop-I expect more from you.

A trip down memory lane

When I'm nursing my baby, my mind usually wanders all over the place. Sometimes I remember things I need to do. Sometimes I think about how fast my kids are growing up. And then I usually fall asleep or become very drowsy. This afternoon, as I was about to drift off to dreamland I remembered something from a long time ago:

Do you remember Reese's peanut butter?? I remember when it first came out and I was so excited. Why so excited about peanut butter, besides the fact that it is so yummy and delicious? You see, I expected it to taste like the peanut butter in this:



I was sorely disappointed. It just tasted like normal peanut butter and not the candy peanut butter I had come to love. I mean, how good would that be in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?? Reese's, I'm still waiting for my jar of candy peanut butter.

Foxy Roxy

This is Roxy. She is our new puppy. Here's the story. A friend from Craig's work found this dog in the street about to get run over by a car. She saved her and brought her home, but couldn't keep her because her pit bull was trying to eat her. So she asked Craig if we wanted it. We were thinking about getting a boxer pretty soon anyway, for whenever we end up buying a house. This dog is a boxer mix and is so well-tempered that we went ahead and took her. This is the best looking stray I've ever seen. She is so good with the kids and she loves to cuddle. Yay for free dogs!!