Ten More Things To Be Thankful for this Tuesday

Posted on November 20, 2012 by jphilo

Many of my Facebook friends are still participating in the November 30 days of gratitude project. As was mentioned in last Tuesday’s post, I missed the memo about when to start, and played catch up by listing 10 things for which I was thankful. This Tuesday, because I seem to have trouble remembering to post one thing per day, I’m back with ten more reasons (in no particular order) to be grateful.

My twenty-five year career as a teacher provided our family a good livelihood and was perfect preparation to be a writer and speaker.
Being an uncoordinated kid because it gave me compassion for students who hated recess.
Our warm house, preferably mouse-free, but even with unexpected company, it’s a great home for over twenty years.
My son’s early medical adventures and my father’s illness taught me to never take good health for granted.
Being raised in Iowa and raising our kids in Iowa.
Attending a church where the pastor preaches truth and makes in interesting.
A loving church family.
A mom who taught me to cook and to love cooking.
Being able to spend most Tuesday’s with Mom, though this week she’s visiting my sister in Minnesota.
Siblings who do all they can to make Mom comfortable and happy.

So what are you thankful for this Tuesday before Thanksgiving? Leave a comment…or two…or ten!

This Week’s To Do List

Posted on July 23, 2012 by jphilo

It’s lunchtime, and I just realized there’s no post yet for today. My first inclination was to blame the oversight on my age, which as of Friday will be closer to 60 than to 50. But after looking over last week’s to do list and writing a new one for this week, I decided busyness was the culprit. Take a gander at these to do lists and see what you think.

Items Completed on Last Week’s To Do List

Buy groceries to feed hungry daughter and son-in-law.
Water the flowers gasping for moisture because of the drought.
Squeeze in writing time between cooking and visiting with company.
Take daughter’s birthday meal, including homemade German Chocolate birthday cake, along with hubby, daughter, and son-in-law, to my brother’s to celebrate birthday with his family and my mom.
Buy more groceries to feed hungry company.
Water the flowers again.
Finish washing the windows with daughter. All done! Yahoo!
Make pesto from basil growing like crazy because of the heat.
Buy more groceries.
Water again.
Watch 2 episodes of the PBS series Sherlock with husband, daughter, and son-in-law. Waaaay good!
More groceries.
More watering.
Meet with friend (who organized the daughter’s wedding reception) to organize her son’s upcoming wedding reception.
Finish tweaking of book proposal and send it to agent. Double yahoo!
Groceries.
Watering.

Items on this Week’s To Do List

Get son-in-law to auto repair shop so leak in his car’s gas line could be fixed.
Buy groceries on way home.
Water flowers.
Take son-in-law back to auto repair shop to pick up car.
Squeeze in writing between cooking and talking about books and movies with daughter and son-in-law.
Water flowers.
Take measurements so daughter can make me two bras.
Watch final episode in series one of Sherlock.
Try not to cry when daughter and son-in-law leave on Wednesday.
Water again.
Prepare for Camp Dorothy by moving Hiram and me to upstairs bedroom.
Tune the television to The Price is Right, Jeopardy, Judge Judy, Wheel of Fortune, and Antiques Roadshow.
Pick up Mom on Friday for Camp Dorothy.
Water some more.
Celebrate my birthday with Hiram and Mom.
Put on Vana outfit and settle in for 5 days of Camp Dorothy fun.
Help at wedding reception on Saturday.
Water.

What on your to do list makes it easy for you to forget the most routine things? Leave a comment!

Three Coffee House Thoughts for Thursday

Posted on July 12, 2012 by jphilo

Hiram and I celebrated our anniversary with lunch out and then iced coffees from Burgie’s, our favorite coffee house. (Yes, we are raging party animals!) Our delicious anniversary treat led to these three coffee house thoughts for Thursday:

Try as I might – buy the best coffee, grind it myself, and use a French press – my best cup a joe is never as good what they serve at Burgie’s. The only thing left to do is get a couple tattoos and some body piercings so I look like a barista.
On the other hand, my chai tea holds up to any I’ve tasted anywhere. So maybe I can hold off on the body art for the the foreseeable future.
Kailen and Anne arrived last night for a week of fun. Here’s my quandary: do the four of us go out for good coffee, stay home for good chai, or make an appointment for mother/daughter and father/son tattoos?

Do you have a trick or recipe for really good java? Chai tea serving suggestions? Tattoo parlor recommendations? Leave a comment!

Top Ten Reasons to Celebrate our 35th Anniversary

Posted on July 10, 2012 by jphilo

Yesterday, Hiram and I celebrated our 35th anniversary with a second post-op visit to the surgeon’s office and then lunch out afterwards. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much by today’s mega-party standards, but we enjoyed our celebration thoroughly. Here are the top ten reasons why:

10. We could have gone dancing if we’d felt so inclined ’cause we can both still dance.

9. The doctor said Hiram can go back to work, so yesterday was his last day of being footloose and fancy free.

8. Sometimes, when we tell people we’ve been married 35 years, they say we don’t look old enough.

7. Middle-aged lovers aren’t as gorgeous as young lovers, but they’re less angst-ridden and require less energy to be around.

6. The outpouring of God’s grace that enabled us to stay married 35 years shouts, “PARTYTIME!”

5. We still like being together.

4. Baby Milo or Shiloh Philo*

3. Anne and Kailen*

2. Allen and Abbey*

1. Our marriage has lasted 35 loving, stressful, challenging, adventurous years.

*The order of items 2 – 4 is interchangeable.

What is being celebrated at your house in July? Why is your celebration worth having? Leave a comment!

More Blessings than Burdens

Posted on May 21, 2012 by jphilo

Yesterday turned out not to be one of my best days. I landed in the middle of a mess, big enough to make the memory lapses mentioned in last Friday’s post more worrisome than humorous. A mess that made me feel like our pink peony bush hit by frost awhile back – disappointed by the promise of beauty nipped in the bud. A mess big enough to make me wish for a humongous do over or a trip back in time.

That didn’t happen so I did the next best thing instead. I took my camera along on my morning walk, determined to photograph the beauty around me. First I saw a pair of goldfinches. They are everywhere this spring, and this male sat still long enough to have his picture taken,

though his dowdy wife flew out of the tree just before I could capture her photo.

Next, a red fox made an appearance, but you’ll have to take my word on that because he ran into the ditch and hid before I got my camera out. Not too much further along, a photogenic woodpecker struck a pose,

and a Grant Wood-style plowed field took my breath away.

Beside the stone culvert over the stream, the wild rose that caught my eye the other day still sported a few blossoms,

but the little shrine beside it – perhaps in memory of the high school student who committed suicide last Thursday evening – brought tears to my eyes.

I thought about the woman in our town who will soon bury her son.
I imagined how her heart is breaking,
How she must want to go back in time,
How she would give anything for a do over.

The remainder of my walk yielded no photographs. No more birds, no flowers, no scenic panoramas. Not because beauty disappeared, but because my perspective changed. Beauty hugged me close, too close for a photograph. Blessings surrounded me.My children are alive. My husband is healthy. A grandchild is coming.

Living children.
A healthy husband.
A grandchild coming.
My messes are small.
My burdens are light.
I am blessed.

Top 10 Reasons to Eat Supper as a Family

Posted on April 17, 2012 by jphilo

Have you heard or read the studies about the studies that say family mealtime is the an important factor in the future well-being of children? That eating meals together is an effective deterrent against drugs, smoking, alcohol and the like? Those studies weren’t around when our kids were little, but we had a few reasons of our own for eating together at least once a day. This weekend, when some of our kids were here visiting, a couple more came to mind. So here are my top ten reasons families should eat meals together.

10. The table doesn’t accumulate as much junk if it has to be cleared before supper.

9. Setting and clearing the table provide opportunities to earn stickers on chore charts.

8. Someday all that table setting and clearing will lead one of your children to believe parents only have kids because they want slaves to do all their work.

7. How else are little boys and girls supposed to learn knives can be used for more than stabbing bad guys?

6. Mealtime provides a captive audience for telling goofy family stories and thus preserving family history.

5. Mealtime is a perfect venue for creating new family stories – perhaps a story about a daughter who frequently fell off her chair or a son who found giggles in the applesauce.

4. Kids who eat meals with their parents want to know how to cook what they’re eating.

3. Kids who eat meals with their parents learn to cook what they like to eat.

2. Kids who eat meals with their parents eventually cook supper for their parents.

1. Once the kids are cooking meals, the parents have accomplished the ulterior and secret motive of getting ~~the kids~~ slaves to do all their work.

What do you want to add to the list? Leave a comment!

Our Grown Up Son

Posted on February 21, 2012 by jphilo

IMG 0084 300x199 Our Grown Up Son

A couple weekends ago, we visited our grown up son and his grown up wife at their grown up house in Wisconsin. They showed us the sights in the area, including a visit to his new workplace.

More than once during the weekend he said, “I have a grown up job,” with wonder in his voice and a shake of his head. “I’m a grown up.”

Allen’s sense of wonder pervaded the entire visit as he and our new daughter showed us around his office, drove us through the grounds of a nearby historical site, showed us the sites in the closest city.

The wonder invaded my soul and Hiram’s too, as we sat in the kitchen and watched this lovely, grown up couple prepare meals for us.

Omelets for breakfast the first morning,
Roast chicken and scrumptious new potatoes ala Julia Child for supper,
crepes for brunch before departure the next day.

I watched them cook and saw
our baby boy on the kitchen floor banging on pots and pans with a wooden spoon,
our preschooler sitting on the counter to peer at what was in the mixing bowl,
our kindergartener standing on a char, “helping” crack eggs (and eggshells) into a bowl,
our 7-year-old learning to make Kraft Macaroni and Cheese all by himself,
our middle schooler baking cookies,
our high schooler sliding frozen pizza into the oven,
our monk baking bread in the monastery kitchen,
our farm hand showing me how to stir fry kale,
our son and new daughter cooking for us three lovely meals.

The wonder hovered round us all that weekend. It was in the car as we drove away. It’s been in my smile and Hiram’s each day since we’ve been home. It wells up inside me and flows down my cheeks as I write. It lulls me to sleep each evening and greets me when the alarm clock rings each morning.

Our son is grown up.
He’s married to a grown up wife.
He lives in a grown up house.
He has a grown up job.
He cooks grown up meals.

In wonder, we bow and give thanks for what God has done.

Corn Bread with Corn Kernels

Posted on January 18, 2012 by jphilo

Leslies corn muffins 200x300 Corn Bread with Corn Kernels

Last week you met my niece, Leslie when she shared her recipe for cheddar cheese muffins. Today, she shares the recipe for the other muffins she made for our extended family Christmas celebration. Our celebration got so busy I forgot to take a picture of the corn muffins when they were finished. So you’ll have to be satisfied with the recipe and a picture of the baker scooping the batter into the pans. Don’t you love her red hair?

Leslie, if you can leave a comment about where you found the recipe, please do. It’s always nice to give credit where it’s due!

Cornbread with Corn Kernels

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar (I would cut this down)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cu fresh or frozen corn kernels

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease either a 9 x 13 pan or 24 muffin cups.

Put butter and sugar in a bowl and cream them until light and fluffy with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In another bowl, stir together cornmeal, flours, baking powders, and salt. Using mixer on low speed, add to creamed mixture in 2 increments, alternating with buttermilk. Beat until smooth. Fold in the corn kernels until just evenly distributed. Do not overmix.

Pour batter into pan or muffin cups. Bake pan of cornbread for 35 – 40 minutes. Bake muffins 25 – 27 minutes.

Leslie’s Cheddar Muffins

Posted on January 11, 2012 by jphilo

For the next few weeks, Wednesday’s recipe posts will feature foods our family enjoyed during our Christmas celebration over New Year’s. Today’s recipe comes from my niece, Leslie. She’s halfway through her first year of teaching English at a large Iowa high school, and it’s been a great adventure for her!

Leslie is also a talented baker. She made scones for breakfast on the day of our family Christmas celebration and two kinds of muffins for dinner. She’s sharing all three recipes over the next few weeks. Today’s contribution is for cheddar cheese muffins which were delicious. She found the recipe in a muffin cookbook, but I can’t remember it’s name. Leslie, if you read this post, will you leave the name of the cookbook in the comment box so credit is given where it is due?

Leslie’s Cheddar Cheese Muffins

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 egg
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

In largge bowl, stir together cheese and dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together egg, olive oil, and milk until blended. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add milk mixture, and mix until just evenly moistened.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle each muffin with sesame seeds. Bake until golden, dry, and spongy to the touch, 20 – 25 minutes. Best served warm with butter.

Top Ten Tips for Moving Day

Posted on December 5, 2011 by jphilo

Hiram and I are back from helping our son and his wife, our new daughter, move from Minnesota to Wisconsin. The weekend was a sequel to our August trip when we helped our daughter and her husband, our new son, move from Iowa to Ohio. Through the twin adventures, we gained some do-it-yourself-moving-tips to pass along to you.

10.   Always move in the heat of summer or in questionable winter weather. It makes for
better stories later.
9.    Make sure the house being moved into is near a decent coffee shop and/or bakery. 8.    If you a dog is moving with you, talk to my new daughter. She knows how to keep
animals calm and happy.
7.     Budget for breakage and trips to the coffee shop/bakery.
6.     Take Hiram along on all moves. He is the calmest person on earth and good at fixing
stuff. Unlike his wife who shall remain nameless.
5.    Assign the wimpiest of the moving crew, who shall remain nameless, to plan and
prepare meals ahead of time. She will feel like she’s doing her part even when
passing heavy boxes on to her husband, son, and new daughter to carry.
4.    Move on the day the new village has their annual Christmas festivals. The sound of
fireworks during supper makes the day feel festive.
3.    Take plenty of hand lotion. Breaking down cardboard boxes dries out the skin.
2.    Look carefully at cell phones before stowing them in your purse or pocket. Otherwise
you could discover your son’s cell phone in your purse and yours in your suitcase.
1.    Walk completely around the U Haul truck before getting in and driving away.
Otherwise, you could drive away without shutting its back door, scattering suitcases
and table leaves for several blocks until the loud honks from other vehicles alerts you
of the problem and you pull over just before getting onto a very busy road. Don’t ask
how I know this.

How about you? What have you learned about do-it-yourself moves over the years? Your tips would be greatly appreciated!

Down the Gravel Road www.jolenephilo.com

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