Happy Anniversary!

Today is my parent's anniversary. They have been married 42 years. If you ask them they'll tell you that they are more in love now than they've ever been. It's hard to imagine... because they were "oh-so-mushy" when I was a kid and teen. We would walk in on them kissing in the kitchen. "Ewwww..." we would say. But they knew we were only teasing. We loved that they were in love. So how could they possibly be more in love now than they were then? They are, though. I believe them. Know why? Because my marriage is just as great is theirs is... No coincidence at all. I had a perfect example to follow!

It occurs to me that I've been married half as long as they have (I guess this is the only time that will happen!), and I'm more in love with my husband than I was 21 years ago. And guess what? Our kids walk in on us kissing in the kitchen. "Ewwww..." they say. But they are only teasing. They love that we are in love!

I pray the tradition continues to the next generation!

My Favorite Things

Here's a fun "meme" I picked up at Kimberly's Cup...

These are a Few of My Favorite Things
A Authors
Classic: LM Montgomery, Gene Stratton Porter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Isabella Alden, Grace Livingston Hill
Contemporary: Philip Gulley, Frank Peretti, Francine Rivers, John Grisham, Lawana Blackwell
B Books
All my favorites are Classic Childrens' Books:
Anne of Green Gables, by LM Montgomery
The Blue Castle, by LM Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside, by LM Montgomery
Daddy Long Legs, by Jean Webster
The Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton Porter
These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
C Coffee
Caramel Machiatto
D Dessert
Cherry Cheesecake
E Elegant Object You Own
China tea-pot that my mother brought me from England. It's white with a cluster of violets on it. Since then a dear friend gave me a coordinating-but-not-matching tea-cup and saucer to go with it, and then later my mother gave me yet a different coordinating-but-not-matching cup-and-saucer. I love my eclectic tea set!
F Flowers
violets, pansies, roses, daisies
G Guests for Tea
my mother, my daughters, my sisters, my nieces... and dear friends
H Home
Wherever my husband and children are! (I don't especially care for the place we live now, but I learned long ago that home is not a place...)
I Inspirational Authors
Thomas Williams, Francine Rivers, Max Lucado
J Jane Austen book
Emma
K Kitchen Gadget
My 3-in-1 coffee/espresso maker.
L Laundry Help
We keep a free-standing hanging-clothes rack in the laundry room. Clothes can be put on hangers and then on the rack right out of the dryer. If they never get put into the cloest, that's okay. We know where to find them!
M Musical
The Sound of Music
N Naptime
Sunday afternoon. It's a tradition!
O Organizing Tip
"A place for everything and everything in it's place." Ha! Wish I could live up to that!
P Pride & Prejudice Character
Hmm... I'm not sure. I never thought about it.
Q Quote
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. . ." Robert Frost
R Recipe
Coffee Cake. It's quick and easy and I almost always have the ingredients.
S Scent
Vanilla.
T Tea
Peppermint with honey.
U Underwater Creature
Goldfish?
V Voyage You’ve Taken
I've never been on a voyage by sea. Lotsa road trips, though! My two favorite road trips have been: from Kansas to Pennsylvania in 1991, and from Idaho to California via the Grand Canyon and historic Route 66 in 2006.
W Water Feature; Lake, Creek, Ocean, etc.
Lake Coeur d'Alene
X X-tra Special Treat for Yourself
A weekend away with my husband.
Y Thing About YOU!
I'm tall! Is that my favorite thing? I dunno. It's just part of who I am.
Z Zoo Animal
I love to watch the otters!

Cheese Log

The ladies over at 5 Minutes for Mom are having so much fun with their Ultimate Blog Party! In the spirit of the party I have decided to offer a copy of my family cookbook as a prize. It is a comb-bound book with hundreds of tried-and-true everyday family recipes. Each party guest who comments on my site during the party will be entered in a drawing. I will contact you through your blog if you win.

I also thought I would share some of my favorite "party" recipes from the cookbook throughout the party. Hope you enjoy!

Cheese Log
This is a recipe I came up with just experimenting with ingredients we like. I like to shape it into a log because then it slices nicely to put on crackers without having to worry about breaking the cracker when you spread it.

2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese
1 package dry Ranch or Italian dressing
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 jar dried beef, finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup black olives, finely chopped (optional)
1/4 - 1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup finely chopped nuts

Mix all ingredients except nuts. Adjust amount of sour cream used depending on how dry the mixture is. You want it to mix thoroughly but still hold together nicely. I mix it with my clean hands. Shape into a log or a ball. Spread the chopped nuts on a sheet of waxed paper and roll the cheese log until coated. Allow to chill several hours before serving.

We're planning our summer vacation. Fun thing to do on a snowy late-winter day, huh? We finally got the date and place for our family reunion pinned down, so now we can plan our route and any sight-seeing we want to do along the way. We love road-trips!
Last year we made a southerly loop to the west coast and back up, hitting the Grand Canyon and historic Route 66. This year we will be making a northerly loop to the mid-west and back up, hitting a couple of the middle northern states we haven't been in before-- North Dakota and Minnesota.
My husband planned the route and the overnight stops and then handed me the list and asked me to find points of interest. The first thing I did was Google for the state tourism website for each state and request travel brochures. When I got to the Minnesota website, I thought of going to Walnut Grove to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder home there. So I looked it up on the map to see how far out of the way it was from our planned route. It wasn't right on our route, but close enough that I thought we could possibly re-plan the route. I suggested that to my husband, and he was okay with it. (Love that man! Of course he's not interested in Little House on the Prairie, but he's always willing to take me anywhere I want to go!)
So we re-planned the route. We will hit Little Town on the Prairie (De Smet, South Dakota) one afternoon and tour the buildings there. The next morning we will visit The Banks of Plum Creek (Walnut Grove, Minnesota) before we continue on our journey.
Can you tell I'm a life-long fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books? Now, like the good home-school mom I am, I need to find a unit study we can do between now and then! Any suggestions?

Traveling with Kids

We take several road-trips a year. Figuring out how to keep the kids entertained has always been one of my favorite parts of the trip. (I'm serious! I love thinking of ways to make it fun for them.)

Someone posted recently on one of the forums I frequent asking for ideas for traveling with young kids. She had a DVD player but wanted to use it sparingly. She got lots of good suggestions about things to take along... coloring books, audio stories, suprises from the dollar store, special snacks...

Another good suggestion was to stop frequently at interesting places along the way. We love to do that when we are on vacation, but we often travel for business and can't take the time to stop "just for fun." So here's a tip I shared that came in handy especially when our kids were younger and we needed to keep moving:

We usually eat at fast-food places as we travel and we buy "happy meals" for the kids (even though we don't always ordinarily), so they got a new toy every day or even a couple times a day. Each kid had an "activity bag" (a small tote or one of those small diaper bags) in the back seat with them, and they enjoyed collecting their happy meal toys in their bags. If the restaurant will cooperate I usually try to get them to give each child something different, so they can swap toys when they get tired of their own.

We always tried to find the fast-food restaurants with playgrounds. We let the children play while we ate and took their happy meals "to go". That gave us a short break from needing to entertain them, ran off some of their energy, and gave them something to do (eat!) when they got back in the car.

And that's my tip for this week's Works-for-Me-Wednesday!