Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

The other day I had soup in the crockpot, all ready for supper. Then I was reading blog posts and saw a post from my friend Carrie at Northwoods Scrapbook. She shared a recipe for biscuits that she said went well with soup or chili.  They sounded good and I had the ingredients on hand to make them. I made a half recipe which made 5 biscuits.  They were light and fluffy and so good with our soup.  Bob enjoyed the leftovers in the next few days.  I know you would enjoy them too!

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cold buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled for 5 minutes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Then stir in the cheddar cheese.
In a separate bowl, stir together the buttermilk and butter until small lumps form.
Add buttermilk mixture to the flour mix and stir just until dough has formed and ingredients are no longer dry.
Lightly grease a 1/2 cup scoop and scoop mixture onto a light colored, lightly greased baking sheet. You should have a total of 10 biscuits.
Bake for about 12 minutes until biscuits are golden.
While biscuits are baking combine 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley.
When biscuits are done, brush this butter mix over all the biscuits.
Serve immediately.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Fall Photo Day

Every year we try to get out in the Fall and get a photo of us with our grandkids for our Christmas card.  Saturday was the day we planned to do this.  It was cold!  We had our first hard freeze and as we drove to the park around 10am it was only 38 degrees! So, we were pretty chilly while taking these pictures.

The park we went to is near my childhood home, and we used to have family reunions there every year.  I love going back and reliving those memories.

The park has stone stair, streams and springs. There were quite a few other people there, braving the cold to get some photos.

However, we were having issues!  Connor wanted nothing to do with being separated from his mom.

He was fine for their photos.

We got some nice ones of Aaron, Laura and family.

"I want my mom!"

This is how things went.  Our card this year, will feature one screaming child.  Andrew suggests that the card message should be 'Joy to the World!'

It's ok, we made memories, right?

Latest Project

Bob's been working on another project here at home.  This one was much smaller than the storage shed he put up this summer.

This is the before. It's a wall in our living room.  We decided we wanted to have a faux fireplace with the tv hanging above it.  So, Bob went to work.

Here he is building a frame.

Shiplap is up and knotholes primed. You can see the opening for the electric fireplace. The opening on the top is where the tv holder will be. He's put electrical wiring inside for the fireplace and tv.

The wood is being primed. On this day, Alaina and Ruby were there and wanted to help.

On the side, Bob put in this hidden door.  The Wii game is in it and it will also let us get to the electric cords and plugs if needed.

The trim is on, everything is painted and the tv and fireplace are in place!

This is the hidden door, all painted.  The only way you see it is by the little knob.

Mantel is up!  Good job Bob!

All done!  The fireplace can put out heat, and we'll be sure to enjoy the ambience of a fire this winter.

Friday Funnies

 

Cooking Thursday

We had a church potluck last week (We have a lot of them!) and I brought these meatballs to it.  A recipe for meatballs in a crockpot is perfect potluck food and these are so good!  BBQ sauce with just a little heat makes them tasty.  I came home with an empty crock pot, just the way I like it.

Sweet Heat Meatballs

26 ounces frozen meatballs
1 bottle Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce 
1 cup crushed pineapple
2 tablespoons steak sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Stir together the BBQ sauce, pineapple, steak sauce, soy sauce. honey, garlic and red pepper flakes in crock pot.
Add meat balls and stir to coat.
Cook on low for 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

Wordless Wednesday

 (Still seeing some wildflowers on my walks)

Up North Weekend

I'm back from my little blogging break. We had a nice weekend in Northern Michigan, and enjoyed a little Fall color.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great.  We had quite a bit of rain up there, some wind and pretty cool temperatures, but we still had fun.

Our plan was to drive along the 45th parallel, across northern Michigan.  This is the mid point between the equator and the north pole.
We went with my sister Terri and her husband Dave and we left Friday morning. We headed for Alpena, MI, about 5 hours from our house. We live in SW MI and Alpena is in the NE portion of the state.

We saw some pretty color along the way, and thought this sheep pasture with the colorful trees was very picturesque!

We stopped and had a little lunch here, on the shores of Lake Huron.

When we arrived in Alpena, we had supper and then wandered around a little while.  They had some great murals on the sides of buildings, including this one with 3D fish.

Here's another one that we liked.

The next morning, we set out on our trek along the 4th parallel.  We saw several of these signs along the way.

This was our view for much of the day.

This is the welcome, on the edge of Atlanta MI.  It's the Elk capitol of MI and this one is encased in glass as you drive in.

Another lovely scene along the way.

Our next stop was Gaylord, Mi, where they have a large Elk park.

Isn't he majestic?  I had to do a lot of walking to get this picture as he kept walking off to different areas when I tried to take his photo.

Next we drove to Elmira MI and hiked up a messy, muddy hill!  We were a mess, but it was worth it to see this view from Dead Man's Hill.

Bob and I at the top of the hill.

Here's the 4 of us!  Bob, Me, Terri and Dave.

This Cairn is in Kewanee, MI.  It was built and dedicated in 1938.  It has a stone from each of the counties in the state of Michigan.  I live in Ottawa County, and you can see our stone here.

We've now made it to Lake Michigan. These stones are usually all under water, but the levels are very low this year because of drought.

This is the Old Mission Peninsula Lighthouse, our last stop on our 45th parallel tour.

We would be spending the night in Traverse City. We stopped here, at the Grand Traverse Commons, an old psychiatric hospital which has been renovated and is now home to restaurants, stores and condo's.  It's a beautiful place.

We also stopped at the Grand Traverse Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful even at this time of the year.

The next day, it was time to head home.  We took a scenic route home, including a drive on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Loop.  It was raining again, so our photo stops were minimal.

This covered bridge is on the scenic loop, so pretty!

We had a fun time together and saw lots of fun and beautiful things.

A little break

I'm taking a short break.  Bob and I are going on a little getaway to northern Michigan with my sister and BIL.  We're hoping to see a little Fall color.  I'll tell you all about it when I come back.
See you soon!

Wordless Wednesday

 

A day with Cassie

Last week we had Cassie over for the afternoon.  She loves to come over, but still isn't great about staying overnight.  So, she came to have an afternoon of fun.

I picked her up and asked her where she wanted to have lunch. Not surprisingly, her choice was Chik-fil-A.  Here she's holding up her food so it shows in the photo.

On the way home we stopped at the Dollar Store. It's a hard place for a little girl - so many choices.  She chose a Barbie doll "with the prettiest dress", a Barbie bed and a bee antenna head band.  She also chose a little car to take home to Connor.

When we got home, we started on a craft using popsicle sticks. She did a good job of painting them herself.

While the paint dried we went for a walk. We saw 3 woolly caterpillars along the way.

We walked down to see the horses.

On the way home, we checked out the neighbors tire swing. (Yes, we had permission and Jenny - Bob checked to make sure it was stable!)

When we came home, we finished the popsicle stick project - a cute little scarecrow.

Then, we had one more easy project.  I had done this quite a few years ago with Alaina and Ruby and Cassie was asking to make one too.  You take a clean water bottle and collect little things like a safety pin, rubber band, pearl, button, penny... Put some of those things in the bottle alternating with bird seed.  

Fill the bottle almost up, leaving air space so it can move around.  Glue the top on.

When it's done, you have a find it bottle.  You roll it around, looking for the little items inside.

Cassie and I then went for an "adventure walk" in her words.  We wandered around the yard checking things out. She was very excited to find a feather which she took along to preschool the next day to show her teacher.

She had to play on the swing for a little while.  (Notice the shoes?  She put them on herself and they are often on the wrong feet.)   :)

Then, she had a silly string battle with Grandpa.  It was pretty one sided as she was the only one with silly string!

Soon it was time for supper.  We met Heather, Andrew and Connor at the restaurant to "celebrate" Heathers diaversary.  What is a diaversary you may ask?  It was the 20th anniversary of the day Heather was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. It's not really something to celebrate, but we celebrate how well she has handled it, the advances in diabetes management and how God has taken care of her through these years.

Connor was really goofing off at the restaurant! He had gotten his first hair cut that day and doesn't look like a baby anymore.

It was a fun day!