Back Into Civilization

Well,

The 2009 Ice Storm took me out of civilization for a few days. It started freezing rain on Mon night. It turned changed off from freezing rain to sleet all day and night. Wed morning we woke up to another 2 inches or so of snow on top of the ice and sleet.

My power went out on Tuesday night about 8:00 pm because we had trees and power lines down everywhere. So for 4 nights we were without power. Bright side, I didn't work 4 days this week and still get paid for it. It's amazing how much we rely on power. So we camped out in our living room because it was the only room with heat, had very little water none of it hot (we have a well with an electric pump), and enjoyed each other's company. We were lucky we had a gas stove so we ate a hot meal every night. It might not have always been done (I cooked some pretty rare hamburgers in the dark) but it was always hot!

Jerrod was off work a few days, his job didn't have power either and we had a pretty exciting day on Thursday. We went out to Ron's and borrowed the generator to recharge our freezer. Since we had the generator here Jerrod wanted to charge the well so we could fill up the holding tank. We charged the well as as Jerrod was putting the well house back on got crooked and slide on the ice breaking the water line from the well to the holding tank. Here we are standing in our ice covered yard with water shooting all over. All we could do was laugh.

We fixed that problem and was going down a road when an electrical truck was stopped in the middle of the road. The electrical truck started backing up in the middle of the road. We thought he saw us and was turning around in the next driveway so we backed up to give him plenty of room. Next thing we knew he gunned his big electrical truck in reverse. So here we are going reverse on a ice covered road in 2-wheel drive trying to keep from being hit by the electrical truck. Before it was said and done, we were flying backwards at about 20 miles per hour, screaming, honking, flashing lights all while Jerrod was kicking the truck in 4-wheel drive and driving very fast backwards. Jerrod shot backwards into a driveway and the big electrical truck just flew on past the driveway and all the way down the rest of the road. It actually got pretty scary when we could no longer see his license plates or tail lights. Thank god for Jerrod's good driving skills and push button 4-wheel drive!

Wow, that was a lot of typing. I added a few pictures to show you our area if you didn't get to see if for yourself!

Crochet Cuffs

I whipped up a pair of crochet cuffs.

I think they are really cute.

They keep my hands warm and let me type at the same time.

I found this pattern on ravelry.com yesterday and thought I'd give 'em a shot.

I like them, but I'm wondering if there is a nicer stitch to use on the bells.

These are done w/increasing half double crochets, not the prettiest stitch.

Maybe do about three rows w/the hdc, then do something else to finish it off.

The pattern suggest a curly edge, I wasn't to keen on that idea either.

Maybe I'll try something to see what I can come up with.

Be sure to look at the pattern so you can see the ones that the designer made.

Mornin' all!

Hey everybody, mom just called me to let me know they are home and doing ok. They don't have any power (again), so you won't be able to call. If you Reeaaalllly need to get ahold of them, she has dad's cell phone, but they don't have any way to recharge it.

Jo, I'm totally with you on the good cup of coffee. A few ideas....putting the vanilla in the sugar and using regular half and half. Ask mom about this, Crissy and I both love her vanilla sugar, and you can recycle the cardboard creamer container. Another thought is using the flavored coffee syrups like the coffee shops use in a regular cup o' Jo. A little goes a long way, so even if the plastic container isn't recylable, you wouldn't be throwing one out every week and you can get it at Wal-mart. I like keeping some of the syrup around...in the winter I add it to coffee, and in the summer you can mix it with ice cream and club soda to make an Italian Soda. Mmmm I can't wait for spring!

That cocoa recipe sounds yummy! It reminds me of the Mexican hot chocolate that I love so much. In our Mexican food section at the store you can get Abulita as bars or packets. Yes, it's weird searching between the refried beans and jalepenos to find hot chocolate, but it's worth the search. I like the bars, cuz I can break off as much as I want for each cup. It's in a 6"tall, yellow box with like six sides and has a picture of somebody's grandma holding a cup.

House up north

Yes the bathroom is purple and yellow, but very cheerful. Thought you all might want to see the house where we are staying.

Dad got bored

This morning we got up and it was cold and snowy. RedDog isnt working today so he is all the bored. He got out a machine and did our drive, part of the street, and Tanner's drive just to have something to do. So I was bored to and took pictures of him working.

Tuesday night knitting class

I went to knitting class at Sticks and Stones in Jacksonville last night. It was soooo fun, not like a real class that is boring. We all sat around knitting and talking and everyone was helping each other. I told them I was just visiting my husband working in Franklin and a lady piped up and said she lived in Franklin and taught at the school. I asked her if she knew Tanner and she is his driver's ed instructer and had driven with him just that day. How cool is that?
I think we all crave a connection with other people with similar interest to ourselves. I know you are all my best cheerleader squad for the things I do, but just talking to a group of women that do I what I do was quite a heady experience. I was telling my mom last night and she said she used to feel that way when she went to a beautician convention .

Creamer Question

I agree with you Jo, a good cup of coffee is almost like heaven. When I was visiting Kat and Crissy last week, I had forgotten how good the coffee tastes in Mattoon. I think the recipes with canned milk sound yummy, I bookmarked the page and I am going to try it since i have all kinds of extracts from making schnapps. The book I am reading had a recipe for hot choclate mix.

1/2 cup sugar
1 T flour
1/4 c cocoa
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t clove
1/8 t a llspice
1/4 t salt

Mix all ingredients and Store in airtight container until ready to use
To make ho t choclate
3/4 c mix 2 cups water Simmer 4 minutes Stir in 6 cups milk and reheat

I love vanilla coffee creamer

UPDATE: I finally tried out a recipe:

French Vanilla

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla

It turned out ok. I have kept several glass jars over the years, so I picked out a large jelly jar for the job. I had to spoon the condensed milk into the jar. There is a lot of sweetness in the condensed milk, I'm not used to that.
I used the vanilla that I made from vanilla breans and vodka. I used 2 Tbsp, because its flavor seemed a bit weak.
Then I wiped the jar down, put the lid on securely and gave it a good shake.
All in all it was good.

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jan 2009
I struggle with the pros and cons of buying and using commercial products all the time. I usually go against my conscience and just buy the damn packaged good. Yet I still wonder...

I love a good creamer in my coffee. I love the flavor, the scent and how it makes my coffee seem so rich and creamy. I'd rather have a good cup of yummy coffee over just about any sweet there is.

The problem lies in the large plastic container that I'm tossing out ever week. Yes, I put it in the recycle bin, but it still pains me. (that along with all the other recyclables...)

So, I'm wondering if there is a cheaper more eco-friendly way to get the same creamy goodness?
I found a few recipes online, some call for powdered non-dairy creamer, and quite honestly, I'm not looking to ingest cotton oil. Another calls for a can of sweetened condensed milk, is that a good way to go?

What do you all think? any good recipes out there for me?

Happy Monday

My newest computer lesson was from Kathy, she taught me how to rip and burn a cd or make my own playlist on my windows media. How fun was that, I loved it. We got to see Bella on Thursday night and I have new pictures of her on my crazy women site. She is a real cutie.

Aunt Kathy and Bella went hunting bears in Gma Martha's bedroom which seemed like a funny place to keep your bears

Mississippi At Dawn

It was a chilly 47* at 6:45 this morning, just what I needed to wake myself up, so I went out on the back porch to drink my cup of coffee. The fog was just starting to lift, the roosters were crowing and the sun had barely started to peek through the trees in the back yard. About half way through my cup of coffee I saw the most beautiful thing! The sun rise was reflecting off of the fog (that was now about half way up the tree trunks) and the entire sky turned red and looked as if it were on fire! It was truly beautiful. I have never seen a sun rise quite like that one.

You know that George Strait song "I saw God today"? I did!

Libby's new tooth

We had quite an eventful day yesterday!! Libby had her friend spend the night on Sunday, and they were playing the Wii, when all of the sudden Libby comes running into the kitchen yelling "MOMMA!!!, LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!!" she was holding her hand under her chin and half of her front tooth was missing. I guess her friend had accidentally hit her in the mouth with the Wii remote and broke her tooth right in half!! This was our first Wii related injury. I had always heard that you should put the tooth in a glass of milk and take her to the dentist as soon as possible. Well, the dentist was closed and she had already swallowed the half that broke off. So we got an appointment first thing Monday morning and got a temporary cap put on it. We have to wait a month to make sure that the tooth doesn't die before they put a permanent porcelain cap on it. If the tooth does die they have to do a root canal before they put the perm. cap on. $$$$$$$$$$$$$ I figure that after insurance has paid their part of the bill, her new 1/2 of a tooth will have cost about the same amount as our new refrigerator!!

we are up north

we made it up here about 4:00 this afternoon and ran in to ice on the way here, yuk. the weather is not nice up north. I will be going to my moms on Wednesday and then Thursday I plan to see Kath and Crissy and at 5:00 I get to see Bella. She wants a baby alive doll for Christmas so you know I am now officially on the hunt for the doll.

Going North

I am going up north with RD this week. I plan on going to visit my mom and Bella. To reach me by phone call RD's phone 2174735844 after 5;00.

Candy's bloody mary

This is a recipe I made up after having a Bloody Mary at Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville.

Any kind of tomato juice you want
About a 1/2 cup beef stock
About a 1/2 cup of pickle juice
Paprika
A dash of Cayenne pepper
I like to use Peppered Vodka, but use whatever you like
Make skewers with cocktail onions, pepperocini peppers, celery, olives,cheese, or anything else you can think of a place in glass.
A lot of times I make up the skewers ahead of time and marinate in pickle juice. I put the mix in a pitcher and let everyone put their own vodka in to suit themselvesl

I am back on line

We went yesterday and bought me a new laptop, that I love. I got a toshiba that has a number keypad and all kinds of new features. I will be using a new email address, knoxieanddog@gmail.com . I used a new antivirus called avast, cause my new computer didnt like avg, but I am happy with it. I cant tell you all how much I have missed the blog and all of you.

Mmmmm Sounds good

My mom makes a salad just like that and it is one of my favorites. Let me know how yours turns out without using the cabbage. Hope you all have a good time.

Chinese Napa Salad

This recipe is a family favorite. My cousin LuAnn makes it for almost all of our family gatherings, I think I'm going to make this on Sunday. Although, I have no idea what napa cabbage is, so I got some Romaine Lettuce instead.

Chinese Napa Salad

This is the recipe for the Weidner reunion LuAnn Strobel
1 large or 2 small Napa cabbage, washed and shredded
1 small chopped red onion
2 pkg. Ramen noodles; use crushed and dried. (No flavoring)
1 bag Crispy Chinese Noodles
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds ( heated in 1 tbsp. margarine).
Mix well together
Dressing:
1 cup oil
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 tbsp. Soy sauce
Mix well together. Pour over salad when ready to serve.

Vegetable Pizza

Here is a recipe that should be pretty light and tastes really good. It's Ron's mom Marje's recipe and we eat it every Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Ingredients
2 - 8 oz. packages of Crescent Rolls (you can use the reduced fat)
1 - 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 tsp Dill Weed
Various vegetables
Shredded Cheeses

Directions
1. Roll crescent roll dough out on a 9x13 cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes.
2. Mix cream cheese, dill weed, and mayonnaise.
3. After crescent rolls cool, spread cream cheese mixture filling on crescent rolls.
4. Add various chopped vegetables (usually you want to chop the veggies kinda small to keep them from falling off and add shredded cheese.
5. You can refrigerate this a few hours or just eat it, whatever you prefer. We cut it in square pieces.

Jello Shots

I told everyone here on New Year's Eve that I would post the recipe for jello shots and of course it has taken me forever to get to it.

Ingredients

1- 3 oz Package of any flavor jello

1- Cup of Boiling Water

1/2 Cup of Cold Water

1/2 Cup of Vodka

Directions

1. Put jello packet contents in bowl.

2. Add cup of boiling water.

3. Stir until jello is dissolved

4. Add 1/2 cup of cold water and 1/2 cup of vodka into jello mixture.

5. Put in small cups (I use a resturant style ketchup bottle to lower mess and you can use the plastic dixie type cups if you don't have containers like this. The containers can get expensive. The ones I used on New Year's Eve were free!)

6. Refridgerate 4 hours and serve.

Some Ideas

Hummus is healthy. You could make mini pizzas with english muffins use salsa instead of pizza sauce. I found this on line.

Football in a Blanket Bites
Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated reduced-fat crescent rolls
About five lower-fat turkey franks (such as bun-length Louis Rich®)

Preparation:1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Unroll roll dough; separate into eight triangles. Cut each triangle in half to make two triangles.2. Cut each hot dog into three pieces, about 2 inches each (depending on the length of the hot dog)3. Place each hot dog piece in the center of one of the small triangles of dough and wrap the dough around the hot dog. Place on nonstick baking sheet. Repeat with remaining crescent dough and turkey franks.4. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until dough is golden brown.5. Serve these with ketchup, mustard, or even BBQ sauce.
Yield:16 Bites (8 servings)
Nutritional Information:Per serving: 270 calories, 11 g protein, 22 g carbohydrate, 15 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 50 mg cholesterol, 0 g fiber, 990 mg sodium, and 50% calories from fat

Have a great party.

What is going on....???

I need some "healthy-esque" cooking ideas for a football party this weekend... come on girls, help me out!! Julie is making red beans and rice, Michelle is making Buffalo Chicken dip, so I need something on the lighter side. Hmm... maybe pickle ham wraps?

Candy, please post your famous Bloody Mary Recipe!! Doesn't that sound yummy??

I want to crochet a cowl... but I'm having trouble finding a good pattern, thought I'd take a stab at making up my own. any ideas?

Make Your Own Household Cleaners

Have you ever wanted to make your own household cleaners?
I've done it before, but haven't tried all of the products that Jolly Mom makes.

Sun-Dried Tomato & Garlic Dip

In case I did not mention this before, my Mom, Ginger, is collecting recipes for a family recipe book. Isn't that a neat idea? This recipe was submitted to her from my cousin Cheryl, who lives in Ft. Lauderdale Florida.

Sun-Dried Tomato & Garlic Dip
1 tub 8oz Cream Cheese Spread
½ cup Miracle Whip dressing
½ cup Sun-Dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained, chopped
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Mix all ingredients until well blended.
Chill, the longer, the better, up to 24 hrs advance.
Serve with crackers and/or cut up vegetables.
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Cheryl says that this is one of her Mom's (my Aunt Karen) favorite dips.
I made this today for a football game party that we went to.
In Jo Knox tradition, I did not have all the ingredients.... I substituted the tomatoes with roasted red peppers, also drained and chopped. I buy these by the jar at the dollar store!!!
We like to keep jars of roasted red peppers on hand, they are so nice for sandwiches and dips!!!

AeroGarden

Ok.... I buckled under hunger.

Here we are watching Emeril Live cooking pasta using fresh herbs and I'm like... I love to cook. I love fresh herbs... I need an AeroGarden.

So, I says to Chuck... Honey... doesn't this show make you hungry? He said, no I'm not hungry.

This did not deter my desire for fresh herbs, then I said... Honey.... what store were we at where we were looking at the AeroGarden, he thinks it was Target. I think it was BJ's. Then I said, I think I'd really like to have one, cuz I love to cook w/fresh herbs.

He said that he talked to two people who had them, and said that they do grow like mad and you better be ready to use all that it grows... I was like... ahh Honey.... I know how to make pesto and how to make herb ice cubes, so it won't go to waste. Then I decided that it was what I wanted for my birthday. So, I've placed my order!!! We'll see how it all turns out in a few weeks.

Western Maryland At Dusk

Hey Ya'll!! I hope that everyone has enjoyed the holidays. I know that we have!!!

Today, Charlie, Brett and I went for a drive in western Maryland. We drove through Gambrill State Park, then through the Catoctin some, then just took random state roads.
We stopped everynow and again to take pictures. We passed this orchard at dusk. It was really pretty.

Then we ended up in Thurmont and found The Kountry Kitchen, so we stopped for dinner.
I had broasted chicken, Charlie had a fried pork tenderlion and Brett had grilled cheese. It was soooo yummy.

Check out more pics from our road trip.