Building a life...

Today my husband and I are celebrating 22 years of marriage. I am VERY proud of how we have persevered through the trials and tribulations of building a life together...work, raising children, building a loving and lasting relationship.

We are so blessed to have had two beautiful children come from our love for one another. Thank God for all our blessings.

Jon, Me, Frank, Morgan

Today was wonderful. Even though Morgan has moved out on her own, she came and spent the day with us. We put steaks on the grill, made roasted cauliflower and broccoli and pudding cream pie for dessert.

I couldn't ask for any better!

It's in the blood....

This past weekend was our final weekend of drag racing for the 2013 season.

It's a bitter sweet, exhilarating and exhausting time.  Our fellow racers are like family. And many of them we only see during the summer. The kids have formed friendships that will last a lifetime.  It's really great to watch them fiercely compete then come back to the pits and hang out, laugh, ride 4-wheelers, etc...

I guess I should start with a brief description of drag racing and some of the "lingo" we use. We compete in 1/4 mile bracket racing. Which essentially means the slower car gets a head start equal to the difference between the times the cars dial (the drivers estimate on how long it will take to travel the 1/4 mile distance. Each driver lines up at the starting line. There is a pre-stage and stage bulb on the tree...once both bulbs are on for each driver they are lined up at the exact same point. There will be 3 bulbs come down, then it's go time. If you leave too early it produced a red light and you are disqualified. If you leave too late, you've given your opponent too big of a head-start. Each race is called a "round" and eliminate half of the cars in the class. Rounds continue until the final, where there are only 2 cars left...the winner and the runner up.

We were at the track until VERY late Friday and Saturday. But every lost minute of sleep was well worth it. Hubby races a 1967 Chevy Camaro. This car is his baby...he has owned it longer than I've known him. It started as a primer stock car and has morphed several times through the years. It was white with a black checkerboard down the side for a long time. A couple years ago he put a fiberglass front end on (decreases weight = faster car) and painted the car a custom black cherry. Many people enjoy watching him race because not only does it go fast, he covers the 1/4 mile in 9 seconds going 148 mph, but he usually pulls an amazing high wheelie. There were approximately 140 cars in Hubby's class Friday and he lost in the semi finals...3rd place. I can't believe to tell you how exciting and proud I am.

I am thankful for a friend who takes amazing pictures. MC pix took this series of our first pass...what a ride...what an awesome set of pictures.

Our son races a junior dragster. It's essentially a mini dragster aka half scale. The juniors run under the same rules except they only race 1/8 mile, which our son covers in just over 9 seconds going 75 mph. The kids who race these cars are from age 8 - 17...awesome kids who exhibit amazing sportsmanship. So proud of each of them. Son had a rough night Friday but Saturday was a different story. He won the whole junior event.

Pumpkin cake/pie...

 PUMPKIN CAKE

Mix 1 box of yellow cake mix, 1 egg and a stick (1/2 cup) of butter/margarine together. Reserve approx. 1 cup and press remaining crust into bottom of a 9x13 baking pan.

Blend together 1 large can of pumpkin puree (29oz), 3 eggs, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 tsp. each cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin spice.

 Spread on top of crust.

Combine reserved cake crust mixture with 2 tablespoons of butter/margarine and 1/2 cup of chopped nuts. Crumble over top of pumpkin mixture.

Bake at 325° for 50 to 60 minutes.

Brew a cup of tea or coffee, invite a friend over and enjoy.

The Sun will come out Tomorrow...


A good friend of mine has recently began performing in Live theater. He has performed in two plays so far and they were both wonderful. His most recent was "Annie". While my guys went hunting, his wife and I went to see the performance. The talent on that stage from the children, the adults, the orchestra and the dog was FANTASTIC! The little girl playing Annie is 11 years old and WOW....what a talent! Her voice is strong and beautiful.



Annie, Sandy and Lt Ward

This was Medfords first scene with the extremely talented Courtney, and of course her beloved stray dog, Sandy. He played three different roles for this particular play.

Orphans

The girls who played the orphans were funny, adorable and positively brilliant. Medford said backstage they were typical little kids...running around being mischeivous. But when they were given their que to be ready they snapped to quiet attention. He was as impressed with their professionalism behind the scenes. Strong voices, well learned choreography and cute as the dickens...yep they had it all going on.



Tap dancers...WOW!

When the dancers added their tap shoes I was so excited! Not only because I could listen to tap dancing for hours, but because my Mom tap dances and was looking forward to sharing how good they did with her. 



Annie and Sandy

And lastly, but in my opinion, the MOST important part...Sandy! The dog is NOT a professionally training dog. Nope, he is from the local shelter. He is beautiful and was very well behaved. Courtney and her family took him home so he could get used to them. As luck would have it, they fell in love with him and adopted him. AND there was a little beagle puppy in the scene with the dog warden and he too has been adopted by a cast member.

I just can't say enough about what a good time we had. If you have a theater close by, take the time to go see something...you won't be sorry.

Nature's bounty...

I thoroughly enjoy cooking, baking and preserving food. There's nothing like eating summer fruits and vegetables in the middle of winter.  This is a good thing because my family LOVES to eat. One of my husband's favorite sweets is blackberry jam. He is not a big breakfast person but offer him bacon and french toast w/ blackberry jam and he's at the table before you say it's time to eat.

We have a small patch of blackberry bushes by the barn but not quite enough for making jam or cobbler. But plenty for picking as you go by, enjoying on some ice cream or by themselves. So I put a request on facebook and got a wonderful response. The next day my son and I went picking and WOW did we hit paydirt. We filled up half a bucket within an hour and a half. If Jon would have put all the one's he picked in the bucket instead of his mouth we probably would have had another quart or two...haha.

The Ball Blue Book has a very simple recipe for jam. It's simply berries and sugar. Wash the berries in cold water and remove any bad ones or leaves. Crush your berries and mix them with the sugar. Cook it to gel stage and them process it in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Remove to a towel and wait for that tell-tale "pop".  Sooo good! When my husband tried it he said it was better than Smuckers. From one recipe I got 10 small jelly jars and 2 larger ones...and for only the cost of the sugar.

 

                                      

Jon had football practice BEFORE we went picking. Within 10 minutes of walking in the door he was sound asleep on the couch. And stayed there for well over an hour.

Happy Father's Day...

It's pretty much our tradition that on a persons special day, be it birthday, anniversary or Mother/Father's day, they get to do whatever they want. We try to do or buy things that mean a lot to that person. I think we nailed it for my husband this Father's day.

My daughter and I started the day with church and hubby and son got a few extra zzz's and some early chores done. For lunch we cooked BBQ chops on the grill and made Daddy's favorite dessert...mixed fruit...strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and grapes. We also picked up a chocolate cake and had them put his 'stage name' on it...which as you can tell by his face meant the world to him.

And to top off the evening we went and picked up his pheasants, which I ordered a couple of months ago. He is super excited...has wanted them for years. They are in the chicken pen for now but we plan on building their own run and possibly getting a few more. We'll see how it goes.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

What a difference a year can make...

Less than a year ago I had surrendered to the thought that I couldn't lose weight. I had given away all of my "small" clothes, ditched my "goal jeans" and given up. I was disgusted with myself. I weighed the same as I did when I gave birth to my daughter, who's now 20. I had tried watching what I ate...went to the gym...and made a LOT of excuses.

Jon coming out of the mud crawl

Me coming out of the mud

Then a friend of mine told me her and her daughter were using Weight Watchers (WW) on-line. I decided to give it a try. IT CHANGED MY LIFE!!! It wasn't a "DIET"...it was a lifestyle change. I had been using most of the pieces...I just didn't have them in the right place. For those of you who don't know...WW focuses on real food...fresh vegetables, fruits and protein. If you are hungry on WW...shame on you...I ate all the time and I wasn't hungry.

Jack & I at the 7th obstacle...the slide

I've lost 30 pounds since this past September (9 months), go to the gym on a regular basis and eat when I'm hungry. I have always been an active person. Enjoyed roller skating, softball and swimming as a young person. Our family has a small farm so there's always plenty to do. Since I've re-gained control of my body...instead of IT controlling me...I've awakened a passion in myself I didn't know was there.

Jack & I ...WE DID IT!!!

Pushing my body to it's limit..then a little further is an amazing feeling. I decided to sign up for the Race for the ROC, a 5k obstacle course set for this past weekend. I ran it with my dear friend Jack (probably the reason I started back to the gym...thanks for the push buddy), my handsome 14 year old son Jon and a family friend, Sue.

Sue, Me & Jon

The course was 3.2 miles long with 8 obstacles including mud crawls, chest deep EXTREMELY cold water, round bales to jump over, cargo nets and more. I finished in 38:31 minutes, 14th out of 29th in my age bracket and 175 our of 272 overall. It was such a GREAT time. So great, as a matter of fact, I signed up for the Warrior Dash in August. It's 3.12 miles with 12 obstacles. It benefits St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. My goal is to raise at least $250 for St. Jude's, if you would like to donate please visit my web page to contribute.

Jon & Jack refueling with some chips