Saturday, October 1, 2016

Heads Up (the game)


Here's a game I've never heard of until my kids started playing it. You use a smart phone. 

One team shows the clue to the other team who gives hints to the first team to guess the answer. 



If they get the correct answer they tip the phone forward to the next clue. If the second team wants to skip, then the guessing team flips the phone back. 




There are different categories and some are played like charades. 


Very fun!

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Foodie Friday~ Motherless Auditor

Have you ever watched Stranger Than Fiction? 

Harold Crick is an IRS  agent who has to audit Ana who owns a bakery. After days of making his job hell, she finally pities him and does something no one, not even his own mother, had ever done for him. She makes him fresh baked cookies. 

He comes downstairs to say goodbye, and she has to bully and guilt him into sitting down to eat what she had just baked especially for him. 

As he takes his very first bite of a warm, chocolate chip cookie, I have in my mind the exact taste that he's experiencing. 

This cookie has cooled just enough that it isn't hot but still slightly bends if held by the edges. The outside has a tiny bit of crispness that your teeth break through before meeting the soft gooey middle. The semisweet chocolate chips are melted and coat your tongue while you chew. The aroma of vanilla floats up through your sinuses. There's a background flavor of which you know you know but can't quite place.  (Oatmeal) And finally, the slightly caramelized bottom of the cookie creates just a tinge of toffee flavor. This toffee flavor fights with the bitterness of the chocolate, wanting to be the last thing you taste before you wash it all down with cold milk. 

This. This moment of warm, gooey goodness pours comfort into your soul. 

Even if you never had a mom who greeted you after school with a plate of fresh bashed cookies and a cold glass of milk, even if you're  39 years old and are too proud to admit that sometimes life is hard to bear, these cookies can make you feel better about life.


 Tiana's Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1-1/2 c Crisco
2-1/2 c brown sugar 
4 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp vanilla
2 eggs

3-1/2 to 4-1/2 c flour 
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder 
1 tsp baking soda 

3 handfuls of quick oats

11.5 ounce bag of your choice chocolate chips 

(Milk or semisweet work great. I used Guittard brand semisweet for the first time today cuz they were on sale which was AMAZING.) 

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a mixer (I use Bosch) with whisk attachment whisk crisco and sugar on high for 15 seconds. Add eggs. Reduce to low speed and add vanilla and milk. 

Add salt, baking powder,and baking soda. Add 3-1/2 c flour until well mixed. Add Oatmeal. If needed add 1/2 to 1 cup more flour for a consistency like very soft play dough. 

Change to paddle bit. Add entire bag of chocolate chips. Stir until chips are mixed in evenly. 
 
I line 3 or 4 cookie sheets with foil (or you can grease the cookie sheets) then use a scoop to place 8 cookie dough balls on each sheet. 

Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes until slightly goldened in spots. 

The rest of the dough I scoop tightly onto a sheet that fits into my freezer.  After they're frozen they go into a zip lock baggie so we can enjoy fresh baked again with ease. Frozen cookie dough balls bake at 375 for 10-11 minutes. (Also on foil or greased.) 

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Genealogy Moment~ Alamo Veggies?

This young man was born the 8th of 11 children. In 1930 he was a 9 year old kid living with his parents where their families had been raised in MchPerson, Kansas. 


In 1940, I found his father living in the Bishop Hotel. That's odd, I thought. What's he doing there? See the big "D?" He was divorced. 
So, then I tried to find Edwin in 1940. This is the only thing I could find, so far. Could he have gone to Texas to work? I haven't noticed a connection between my Edwin and the people that Hidalgo Edwin is lodging with. It does say that Hidalgo Edwin was born in Kansas, which is where my Edwin was born, but I just don't feel like I have enough to be sure.

I googled Alamo Fruit and Vegetable, Hidalgo, TX, 1940. Here are some laborers getting shipments loaded.

On Ancestry, there is a person who has a photo of a newspaper announcement about Edwin. I was so happy when I saw it. Then, I read it. 
So, here I am, a 43 y/o woman in Wyoming trying to find out if Edwin Maddox had any family members that may need temple ordinance work done for them, and I discover sadness, and coincidentally, an island connection between he and I.

Whatever your story was, Edwin, I hope you have found peace in the Savior.


(In case you can't read the article in the above image, here it is.)
COMMITTED SUICIDE

"Edwin Dale Maddox, employed by the Shira Drilling Co., as a tool dresser ended his life Monday night about 10:30 o'clock, at the home of his brother, Howard L. Maddox, 404 East Third street by shooting himself in the right side of the head with a 25-20 calibre rifle he had sent home from war service in the Pacific area.

"He did not leave any note, nor give any indication to his brother or sister-in-law as to what he was intending to do. He had arrived at the home of his brother a short time before and went to his room. His brother and wife were at home and when they heard the shot, they rushed to the room and found him dying. The bullet entered the right side of his head.

"He saw a lot of hard service in the late war, serving with the marines on Bouganville, Marianas, Solomons Islands, Guam, Volcano Islands and Iwo Jima, receiving his discharge February 14, 1946.

"He made Hoisington his home for the past eighteen months, working as tool dresser for the same crew in which his brother, Howard, is a driller. He was due to go to work with his brother shortly after he ended his life.

"Surviving are his parents, his mother, Mrs. Ella Maddox, living in Wichita, and his father, J.D. Maddox living in McPherson where Edwin Dale was born. He also leaves six brothers and four sisters. The brothers are: Alfred, Harold and Howard of Hoisington and Orrie of Kinsley. The sisters are, Mrs. Glendyne B. Wilkins of Los Angeles, Mrs. Maxine WIlliams of Manhattan, Mrs. Maxine Williams of Manhattan, Mrs. Doris Cumley and Mrs. Eva Garrett of Wichita.

"Funeral services will be held at the Quiring Funeral Home at McPherson this afternoon and interment will be in the McPherson cemetery."

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Marry Us?




Today, my second born child, my oldest son recruited us to help him propose!




Friday, November 20, 2015

Following Immigration Laws (can give you such a crick in the neck)

So, this morning my oldest daughter, who has been married for a year and is still waiting for her husband's visa so he can move out here, posted this on FB:


So, I had Kiki create this:


We're ready to riot for you, Lawrence! 


Star Wars Prepping

Mirror Brains

Here's how my brain works:
A. Need to find my swimsuit. 
B. It's probably in the clean pile of clothes in the laundry basket. 
C. Clothes have got to be folded anyway, so I'll fold them while "looking for" my swimsuit. 
D. Swimsuit has been found and laundry has been folded. 

Everyone other brain in this house: 
A. Need to find {socks}
B. Dig through clean clothes in laundry basket with not much effort to keep any from falling on the floor. 
C. Find two socks that don't match and leave the mess I just created.