This morning we enjoyed a wonderful Sunday School class and church service thanks to the drama team from Bob Jones University.  I've always enjoyed both their drama teams and their music teams.  The theme for today's drama was the second coming of Jesus Christ.  What a blessing it was.    

 Our dinner at Lynn and Al's home was wonderful.  It's always edifying to fellowship with like-minded believers.  We enjoyed beef stew and salad (with lots of broccoli!) and a delicious strawberry cobbler.  Thanks, Lynn.  We found out later that Lynn had had some unexpected visitors that day.  When it rains, it pours!  What a champ!

 We exchanged Christmas gifts with Adina, our violin teacher.  Usually the gifts are homemade...and I really like that.  Adina made two bars of soap (I already finished one!) that were unlike most soaps.  Very creamy.  And they smelled of delicious citrus. 

 Adina also made this lovely pillow for us!  I laughed when I read the inscription,  "Violin Outfits:  Consisting of violin, bow, box, and teacher, sent to any part of the United States on 1 to 3 days' trial before buying."  Thanks, Adina.  I love it! 

 Maggie took the above panorama picture on Christmas morning to show me this feature on my new camera.  I look forward to trying this.

 Recently we were learning about the line of Griswold cast iron and how that line is superior to all other lines of cast iron.  We were told the Griswold is much smoother...more like a non-stick pan.  I started looking on eBay to find a cheap Griswold skillet to see if this is true...but I ended up buying a good deal at our local antiques store. 

 It didn't take a rocket scientist to see the difference in quality!  The dealer told me that the recent kitchen fire in our county happened when someone was frying chicken in their Lodge cast iron.  The hot oil split the skillet in two causing an immediate fire.  Since most of my everyday cast iron is made by Lodge...it got my attention...especially since I recently experienced two large cracks in two Lodge pans!

I brought my new Griswold (no longer manufactured) home and re-seasoned it, then stirfried some baby carrots in it for dinner.  Delicious!  Definitely a keeper.  My only sadness is that Griswold rarely made any large cast iron skillets...and my everyday skillets are 13, 15 and 17 inches.  

 When we were in Florida this past Thanksgiving, Grandpa told us he'd like to eat fries once in a while...but Grandma doesn't make fries.  We were all surprised when she agreed to let us buy some frozen fries to bake!  So I told Grandpa I had to take a picture to remember this momentous occasion.  I took the first picture and then told him he had to smile and look happy about it!  He obliged. 

Well, I have a minute left before leaving for evening church.  Next Saturday our church will be showing the movie, Courageous, for men and their teen sons.  Our family will be serving cookies and drinks...so this week we will be busy baking.  If you live locally, please send the men in your family to see this life-changing movie. 

Many blessings ~ Kathie

This past week, Maggie and I went to Silver Springs to keep Maggie's appointment with Dr. Yvette Ross-Hebron at The Doctor's Point. Dr. Hebron is one of two people who is responsible for Maggie's healing. She has tried many different therapies as well as given her life-changing acupuncture.

We love her like family. Now that she has her own medical practice, we have fallen in love with her hubby/receptionist/accountant. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Mr. Hebron and I both grew up in Glen Burnie...practically across the street from each other! Thank you for all you do, Dr. Hebron! You gave us our Maggie back.

 This past week was my hubby's 59th birthday.  Maggie and Lizzie made carrot cake cupcakes complete with a pecan brittle on top.  Delicious! 

 My parents invited us over to celebrate with a spaghetti dinner.  My brother Simba and his family came too. 

 It's always fun to see family. 

 I took salad and dairyfree garlic bread.  Simba brought the best fried oysters I've ever tasted.  Thanks, Simba!

 This week Grandaddy is taking Anna to get registered to vote.  Three down and three to go!  Next month my twins will be getting their drivers' permits.  This will be one busy family with 120 hours of driving to accomplish:-)

 This past December, Lizzie, Allen, Mike, Maggie, and Anna (l. to r.) all sang in the local Cosmic orchestra's performance of Handel's Messiah.  This is the first time for the twins.  We already knew how well Lizzie could sing...but we were astonished at how well Allen held his own with his new bass voice.  (We have enjoyed teasing Allen on being able to go from singing a soprano to a bass in one year.)

 Of course, we were glad Meemaw and Grandad were able to come.  We also saw Lyn and Harold as well as Doris and Dick, all from church.  Allen's Tang Soo Do teacher came to the first performance.  (We all came to the second performance on Sunday afternoon.)

If you ever need a good laugh...ask Maggie to perform the bass rendition of "Thus Saith The Lord, The Lord Of Hosts."  Hysterical!  I don't understand how my ultra-soprano can also be a bass!

 Ruthie has decided she would rather play violin in the orchestra than sing in the choir.  Fine by me!

This past month, Mike helped me rip out the straps on my kitchen sofa.  This is a vintage/antique sofa probably dating in the 1940s-50s.  The straps were brittle and were breaking. 

All done!  The new stretchy straps have nice metal brackets so we were able to screw them to the wood.  A lot of work...but worth it.  Sometime I hope to make cushions for this sofa...but until then, I just have foam rubber cushions that I cover with a sheet.  Thanks for helping, Mike.

This has been a funny week for meals.  We ate at Mom's on Thursday, took a meal to a friend on Friday, and are eating at Lynn's tonight.  I like that!

The weather has turned cold.  Today we are doing serious cleaning.  (I'm on break to do this blog post.)  Lizzie and Maggie are using their break to play violin and piano...playing celtic hymns.  Sounds wonderful!

Enjoy your Saturday while preparing your heart for Sunday's sermon. 

Many blessings ~ Kathie

 We got our first snow dusting this week.  It's unusual for us to not have snow before January 11th.  But we will take what we can get!

 Tonight I made a fast and easy dessert called Sopapilla Cheesecake.  I see this recipe is listed on many blogs and websites.  Go here to find a copy.  I followed this recipe except I used Tofutti's nondairy cream cheese and Fleischmann's unsalted margerine.  I also used Pillsbury's sheets of crescent rolls instead of the individual crescent rolls.  Same ingredients.

 Since I got my copy of the recipe from Feb/Mar 2012 issue of American Cowboy, we've nicknamed this dessert Cowboy Cheesecake.  See the creamy cheese filling?!  I am sure this is a rich dessert if you use real butter and real cream cheese.  I got to use my real vanilla flavoring that Lizzie gave me for Christmas.  Yummy!

 We all loved it.  Sorry...there are no leftovers.

Back in early December, I bought this beautiful oak bread box at our local thrift shop for $4.  It was filthy dirty and greasy, so I cleaned it up well with vinegar.  (I think it must've sat near someone's range top.)  Then I sanded it down, restained and sealed it.  I also replaced the 32 hardwood plugs with oak plugs.  What a difference it all made!  

It wasn't until I was sanding the bread box that I noticed the engraving on the bottom, "By JH 11-10-88 Joseph Horst."  Well, I knew we had an old order Mennonite family across the highway whose last name was Horst.  I checked with them and they assured me they have no Josephs.  

This photo shows 10 of the 32 oak plugs.

I looked on anywho.com and found 4 Joseph Horsts in Maryland...one of whom was related to my cousin...and he happened to be a woodworker!  I sent them pictures and created quite the buzz on facebook.  Yes, their Pappy made my bread bin 24 years ago!  I sure wish we could figure out how my bread box travelled from Carroll County down to southern Maryland...3 hours away.  It's a small world...and getting smaller everyday. 

In the midst of all the excitement, I saw my friend Deb's bread box on her blog.  Her hubby, Tom, made it years ago as a gift.  I like the window on hers.  I may be tempted one day to replace the heart on mine with a window...but it's not gonna happen anytime soon!  Thanks for letting me share your photo, Deb.  

I learned something new about making basil vinegar.  When Maggie went to strain the basil out of her vinegar...we found an intriguing "skin" on it. 

Evidently this is normal.  It's called a "mother" and is formed from the residue of the basil.  Interesting. 

The vinegar mother is harmless but Maggie put hers in the compost pile.

Now she has basil vinegar ready for use in our salad dressings.  Smells wonderful!

Our family has started studying the book of James for family Bible study.  I know this is going to be painful!  James teaches about the touchy subjects of the tongue and temptations.  The editorial in my Bible reads, "An authentic faith requires an authentic Christian lifestyle."  My heart is open to learn all I can...and I'm praying I will be just as open with the application part.

My friend, Lynn, has invited us to dinner this weekend.  Anticipating the fellowship (and the food!) has added a spring to our step! 

Many blessings ~ Kathie

 The Christmas season flew by, and as usual, I am behind in blogging.  My pictures uploaded haphazardly, so I will do the best I can.  Sarah's friend, Rebekah, flew up from Alabama for a week between Christmas and New Years.  We had a lot of fun with her almost 2-year old, Khy.  (I will get pictures of them off other cameras.)  Rebekah gave me the above plaque for my kitchen.  I love it!

 Ruthie and Allen helped me wrap my gifts.  That was a real blessing! And we didn't wait until the last moment! 

  As usual, we made lots of Christmas gifts.  Maggie made this ladybug ornament for her therapist...who loves ladybugs.  Lizzie and Maggie made the usual plates of homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate, seasoned nuts, teacakes, almond crunch, and cookies to give away.     

 This is Anna on her way to sit in front of a DVD while she sews eyes on her elephants for all her baby relatives/friends.  I love these cute elephants! 

Here's a finished elephant with his eyes.  So adorable.

Gotta have a food picture.  Walmart has been selling avocados for 50 cents each for almost the whole month of December.  Here we combined two favorites...Shrimp Ceviche and guacamole.  Delicious!

Christmas Eve we went to church for a lovely candlelight service.  Maggie, Anna and Lizzie sang, "Mary Did You Know" while Meemaw accompanied them on the piano.  I wish I'd taped it.  

After church, we drove around looking at all the Christmas lights.  We usually attend a second service at 11 pm, but since we had church the next morning...and the girls were singing again...we decided it would be better to get a good night's sleep.  Wise decision.

Christmas morning was a blur as we got up early to exchange gifts, then headed off to church.  In the afternoon, we headed over to my brother's home for the day.  

One of the highlights of the day was a goofy game that Natalie and Simba organized. Everyone was given a wrapped gift.  (We normally have 26 folks in our family, but Leslie was home with sick boys.  Not counting babies, we had 19 people play this game.  The more people, the more fun the game.)  Simba read a paraphrased version of the Christmas Story...and every time he said right, we had to pass our gift to the person on our right.  Every time he said left, we had to pass our gift to the person on the left.  It was hysterical.  By the end we were laughing so hard we didn't know which way to give our gift!  

The above pictures were taken at the beginning of the game...when we were still in the "This is easy!"  part of the game.  At the end, we all got to open our gifts.  What a wonderful game.

I found many different versions of this game online.  Simba used the Nativity Story that I found here. 

Brothers Mike and Simba.  "I don't know.  He said right...but everyone was passing their gifts left."

Simba chose to make Italian dishes for this year's food.  It was soo good...and yes, I completely forgot to take any pictures until the end.  The italian shrimp was my favorite.  We had lasagna ("Remember everybody...the Landmann's lasagna is on the left:  Landmann, Lasagna, Left!")  The Landmann Lasagna was made with goat cheese.  Thanks, Simba.  I always look forward to Simba's dairyfree meals.

I had a hard time getting Abigail to stand still for a picture.  I have a dozen blurry pictures of her!  I want to show you her darling outfit that she wore all day.  What a princess!

Maggie kept her distracted so I could get a picture of her high heeled shoes...complete with Minnie socks!



This is my brother's stepson and daughter.  The babies have sure grown this past year!

I was pleasantly surprised to see the nativity displayed in town!

We weren't going to have a New Year's party...but at the last minute we invited a family friend and his Mom.  Matthew lives in VA and is going through medical school.  We had fun asking him lots of questions.  

One last picture.  I made this kale and bean soup since kale soup recipes were in every magazine this month.  It was delicious.  I got this recipe from the December issue of Cappers. 

This was probably the fastest holiday season I have ever lived through!  I have to admit that while I enjoyed shopping in warm weather...it didn't seem like Christmas without being cold!

Hope you enjoyed this season.  Many blessings ~ Kathie