I Have a 30-Year Old Kid {Milestone}

As a middle aged parent, milestones happen, but they become fewer and farther between. October 29 was a milestone. A big one. My first born child turned 30. 

And what did I do to mark this momentous occasion?

I wrote a birthday poem and posted it on Facebook!

It's October 29 and oh my wordy,

Today my first-born celebrates birthday #30!

The year was 1984 and in the morning wee hours at 3:46

A nurse place a baby boy in my arms, ahhh motherhood bliss.

Your favorite stuffed animal was Doggie the bear

And with you he went everywhere!

As a little boy your food tastes were a little bit picky

You really loved fish sticks and thought Grandpa's steak was icky.

Soccer was your sport, starting at the Y when you were 5

And playing through the days at Fairmont High.

Miles and miles we put on the cars

Driving to practices, tournaments and games...some were really far!

From your first day on the school bus to your move to Columbus,

You've made Dad and me proud, but I'm not going to gush.

Yes, your 20s are gone but 30 has begun

This is the start of plenty of new fun!

Thirty years ago
You forever changed my life
First born baby son

First Dog

A couple months before my 40th birthday, my first real pet, a chocolate lab, came into my life.

I was not an animal lover and at that time in my life a dog was the very last thing that I needed or wanted. My daughter was on vacation with her best friend when I got THE phone call. 

"Mom, Sally had her puppies and Campbells said I could have one since I helped deliver them!" 

My reaction was not an excited one. I was not happy about that 40th birthday staring me in the face, I was working on my Master's degree, my four kids were in 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th grades, all playing soccer and involved in lots of other activities, Hubs traveled a lot. All of them wanted a puppy. The kids PROMISED they would take care of the dog. I would not have to do a thing...I was outvoted 5-1. I tried my best not to like this puppy but he was persistent and would follow me around, giving me the look that said, "You know you like me." It took very little time until he found his spot in our crazy family routine and in my heart. 

Fast forward to 15 years later and another first. Old age had taken its toll on Coby and his legs gave out on him. He was not able to walk. I tried to call the vet but I could not get the words out to make the appointment to euthanize him. Hubs had to make the call.

The whole family was devastated. Coby had been my oldest child's dog for over half of his life. My daughter brought him into this world. My third child wanted a puppy more than another sibling. She followed me around the house with a cheer she made up: "P-U-PP-Y, Get one, Get one!" The youngest was in 2nd grade and he and Coby grew up together. My mom loved Coby. She called him a fine, fine dog. And he was. 

Today is the first year anniversary we said good-bye to our beloved first pet. I miss seeing him on his spot on the lawn. I miss him cocking his head when I would talk to him, me thinking that look meant "I love you," but it probably meant "When are you going to feed me?"I miss him always being ready to go bye-bye...such a great car companion. I miss his gentle, sweet demeanor. I miss seeing him laying in the corner in my bedroom.

Loving Coby brought great joy to our lives and saying good-bye to him brought great sadness. But we were blessed to have him be a part of our family for 15 years. That treasure will never be forgotten.

Coby and his spot

So happy to be going bye-bye

See how everyone changed in 15 years ~

Little Black Book

My unassuming little black book is filled with delectable and luscious information...things that I will never forget and don't want to forget,  some tasteful and some spicy memories, goodies that people beg for. 

It's my handwritten recipe book where I copied recipes from my mom's little black book, wrote down recipes from my mother-in-law's collection, got recipes from friends or from a magazine that was in a waiting room. It sits on a shelf with other recipe books, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem, and lots of other cookbooks collected over the years.

For Mother's Day, hubs, first child and I went to FIndlay to visit my in-laws. Mother's Day is one of those days where restaurants are busy all day long and waits can be horrendous, especially if you don't have a reservation because this was a last minute trip. I wanted to make an egg casserole and a coffee cake in advance so we could have a nice, leisurely meal at my in-laws' house, sitting around the table and chatting as long as we wanted.

Nowadays it's so easy to hop on the computer, type in what you want to make and voila!...thousands of recipes pop up. I searched for a coffee cake recipe and the perfect Mother's Day coffee cake was no where to be found in cyber-space. And then a bolt out of the blue hit me. My mother-in-law used to make a danish at Christmas. The recipe made two buttery, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth pastries that are frosted with a powdered sugar icing. And I knew exactly where that recipe was...in my little black book.

Danish 

(recipe shared as exactly in the little black book. Where the directions say to use margarine and oleo, I substituted butter)

Cut 1 stick of margarine into 1 c. flour. Add 2 T. water. Mix into ball. Divide and spread dough on ungreased cookie sheet into 2 long strips.

Mix 1 stick margarine & 1 c. water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat & add 1 t. vanilla or almond extract. Add 1 c. sifted flour immediately. Beat in 3 eggs, 1 at a time. Beat until smooth & spread on dough. Bake at 350, 50-60 min. until raised and golden brown. Frost while warm.

Frosting

2 c. powdered sugar

2 T. milk

4 T. oleo

1 c. vanilla

                             

Valentines Day ♥

It's Valentines Day...fill your hearts with love!

Four hearts for four kids ~ 

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.
~ Charles M. Schulz
(Esther Price Sea Salt Caramels...enough said!)

And what would Valentines Day be without a homemade
card with a cheesy message...

XOXOXO

– ♥ –

Mac and Cheese...Half-Sized

Before hubs and I got married, my mom gave me Betty Crocker's Cookbook. Back in 1979, this was the new and revised edition, mentioning that the book included microwave recipes! I still use this cookbook, and especially well-used are the pages with the recipes for macaroni and cheese and chocolate chip cookies.

This is my family's favorite homemade mac and cheese recipe. One of the kids wanted to make sure I wouldn't forget this page so he or she grabbed a highlighter and circled page 117! (Ah, the small things that bring a smile...)

Back in the day I would triple this recipe because there were times when one or more of the kids existed on macaroni and cheese. And then there were times when the neighborhood gang just happened to be at the house right around dinnertime. As the kids got busy with extra curricular activities and everyone sitting down at dinner at the same time became a fond memory, once a week there would be a tray of mac and cheese in the fridge for someone to make their dinner whenever he or she got home. That's when the microwave came in handy...put a mountain of mac and cheese on the plate, throw it in the microwave and zap it for a minute or so. And then the kids began to leave for college and mac and cheese as a staple in our diet began to wane. When one would come home, I would make a huge panful to send back for the housemates.

Now it's 2014 and this Ohio winter is crushing January. On a day when comfort food was needed, thoughts drifted to my dog-eared Betty Crocker Cookbook. I looked at the recipe and it hit me. There are two people in this house. I don't need a full recipe. Wow...no more tripling the recipe. I cut it in half!

It looked so small. Empty nest slap of reality.

But it tasted the same and it brought comfort on a day when the wind chill was -25. And the lopsided circle around page 117 warmed my heart.

Celebration {Sari's Birthday}

In 1987, on a brutally cold winter day, I was in the hospital undergoing a non-stress test to see if my baby was healthy. In my heart, I knew she was, but the doctor wanted to make sure because she was so little. I didn't have to wear maternity clothes until I was 8 months along in my pregnancy. (And back in that day, that was a blessing as maternity clothes were so ugly!)

She is now 27, living in Brooklyn, and I do wish I could be with her to celebrate her birthday. But since she is there and I am here, she gets an original, cheesy birthday poem...

On this 21st day of January,

A little girl was born, her nickname is Sari.

The year was 1987,

Our first daughter, Todd and I were in heaven!

Sara is our second child,

Cute and sweet and a little bit wild!

Just wanted to take this moment to say,

Love you, honey, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Cheers to my birthday girl! 
(Check out the date on the milk)

The Howard Tree

For me, putting up and taking down a Christmas tree is a lovely experience because it brings back lots of memories. There are the ornaments that hubs and I bought at an after-Christmas sale at a charming family garden center, DeHaven's, in Findlay, when we were engaged so we would have ornaments to put on our first tree after we were married. Those ornaments have been around for 33 years! My parents gave me a couple ornaments they purchased when my dad was stationed in Germany and where I was born 56 years ago. My brother and I made some wood ornaments 30 years ago to put on the lower part of the tree to satisfy my then 2-year old son's curiosity. There are ornaments that depict our family: a Cleveland Browns helmet, two chocolate lab ornaments, stockings that I made from a classic 80s sweater that hubs finally decided to give up. After my dad died, Mom gave my siblings and me the Waterford ornaments that he so lovingly collected.

Last year, I was behind on my Christmas decorating (I usually have it done the day after Thanksgiving). Due to pine allergies in the family, we have an artificial tree, and when I got the tree out, it was obvious that the tree needed to be replaced. A section of lights wasn't working and a few of the lower branches were droopy. My mission for that day was to find a tree so off to WalMart...no luck. Next stop Meijer. Found one but a bit pricy. Sears came to mind so off to the Dayton Mall to see what was there. 

I found my tree! But there were none in stock. 

A very nice salesman looked online to see if any were available in the area stores...no luck. He sat down at the computer and typed in the information on sears.com and found one. It would be delivered to my doorstep in two days. As I thanked this kind man, I looked at his name tag. His name was Howard. My dad retired from Sears, his name was Howard and his favorite holiday was Christmas.

I do believe I met a Christmas angel and had a hello from heaven that day.

I have a pair of mittens that belonged to my dad. One of them makes the perfect tree topper.

Comfort Food {Scalloped Potatoes}

Dinnertime on a snowy day in Ohio with a surplus of potatoes and some ham left over from Thanksgiving...what to do? It's comfort food time and time to go back to an old family recipe, one that isn't written down, one that has been passed on by word of mouth, generation to generation: scalloped potatoes. It's so easy and so good and even better the next day. 

This recipe is so versatile: it can feed an army or it can feed 2 people. Potatoes are the main ingredient but there are so many vegetables that can go well with potatoes. I happened to have a few Brussels sprouts on hand so I sliced them up and tossed them in. Adding ham made it a one-dish meal.

In this recipe I used potatoes, ham, Brussels sprouts and onions and used a 2 1/2 quart baking dish. So here's what you do...my apologies for not having exact amounts. This is one of those recipes where you eyeball the size of your baking dish and figure out how much stuff will fit in that dish. Cut up a little more if you need to fill it; make an extra if you cut up too much! This dish freezes well, too. Put it in the freezer the day after you bake it.

Instructions

Cut up all your ingredients:

• Thinly slice the potatoes. I used a mandoline set around 1/8 inch. I tried slicing the Brussels sprouts on the mandoline and ended up slicing them with a knife.
• Cut up the onions.
• Slice the ham.

Put a layer of potatoes, ham, onion and Brussels sprouts in a baking dish. 

Cover with a 2-3 T. of flour and dot with 2 T. butter. Stir this layer to incorporate flour and butter. 

Layer again, sprinkle with salt, dot with butter and stir. Keep repeating this step until your ingredients are gone or your dish is full.

Pour milk over the dish to almost cover the ingredients. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The liquid will be soupy so serve in a little bowl if you don't want liquid to go all over your plate. 

I also made a casserole for my son while making our dinner. He doesn't like Brussels sprouts so I used carrots in his. 

Thanksgiving Traditions

Every family has its Thanksgiving traditions. 

I start with sending texts to the kids asking what they want for the meal. The requests don't change, but I ask every year.

Then comes the list making...

My grandma's pumpkin bread recipe is a favorite and someone always takes a slice when it's right out of the oven.

The stuffing always gets made in a huge mixing bowl that my dad brought home when the restaurant closed at the Sears store he managed.

Dinner gets set out on the table. My mom is always washing the dishes up until dinner is served. That way there isn't a big pile of dishes to wash after the meal.

On Saturday after Thanksgiving, I make soup from the turkey carcass. I boil those bones and the meat falls right off, add some veggies and noodles, and then freeze a few jars for easy meals in the upcoming busy Christmas season.

Veterans' Day {November 11}

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, an armistice between the Allied Nations and Germany went into effect, thus ending World War I.

In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service..."

At first, Armistice Day's purpose was to honor WWI veterans, but in 1954, after World War II and after American forces fought aggression in Korea, Armistice Day was changed to Veterans' Day in order to honor American veterans of all wars.

The observation of Veterans' Day is always November 11. This date preserves the significance of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and it focuses attention as to the purpose of Veterans' Day: to honor America's veterans for their patriotism and love of country, and for their willingness to serve and sacrifice.

My father-in-law is a world War II veteran. He was a senior in high school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and he and a couple of buddies wanted to enlist right away. The only thing was, he was 17 at the time and his mother would not give him permission to enlist early. He waited to turn 18 and to graduate from high school before signing up to join the Navy.

Upon enlisting, he had a choice to serve on submarines or airplanes. He told the recruiter, "I'm going air. I can see a heck of a lot more from up there than I can from down there."

He went to boot camp at Great Lakes and to Norman, Oklahoma, for aviation ordnance school, radar school and aviation gunner school before being shipped to the naval air station in Jacksonville, Florida. He and his crew flew a PBY, a patrol plane that could take off and land on water. Their job was to search for pilots and crew who had been shot down off the East Coast and to look for enemy submarines that might be spying along the coast. 

At 19 years of age, he was sent to Espirito Santos in the New Hebrides Islands to serve with Combat Aircraft Service Unit (CASU) 10. That job entailed servicing and reconditioning planes that had been damaged and ready them for service.

At one point, Dad and another airman were on a bombing mission with four other planes. They made several bombing runs and then made a strafing run. The pilot was killed; Dad bailed out of the plane at 500 feet off the ground. He landed in a banyan tree on a small, uninhabited island in Japanese territory and stayed there for a couple weeks by himself, subsisting on a chocolate bar and whatever else he could find. The Japanese searched for him but he hid in the roots of the banyan tree and avoided captivity. "I was afraid to go out in the daylight because they'd see me, and I knew damn well they wouldn't bother to haul me in. They'd just kill me." Finally, he decided to walk on a coral reef to a neighboring island, where he met a U.S. Army soldier. He spent a few days in the sick bay and then returned to his unit.

Dad spent 18 months in the Pacific. He returned home just in time to marry the love of his life. They have been married 68 years.

His story of service is one of love: love of God, love of country, love of family.

House Dust

This week I had a visitor, a BIG visitor...Ted!

And yes, this is typical of how the week went! Ted is a big bundle of puppy love energy. Between Ted and my dog, Hunter, there were 200 pounds of dog craziness in the house: teasing each other with toys, chasing each other, vying for my attention. Hair flew and dust bunnies grew! 

When Ted left, out came the Dyson, the Shark and furniture polish for an attack on the doggy dust. I emptied the Dyson canister three times, sneezed a lot as I dusted, and did a move-the-furniture-and area-rugs floor washing. Serious dust removal...

The area rug in the front hallway is pretty big and I wrestled around with it to center it and to settle it over the non-skid pad. But there's always that last little piece that wants to be difficult...

Not in the mood to negotiate that little bit hanging out, so yep, got the scissors out and evened things out with a couple of snips! Done deal. 

Since my kitchen floor sparkled, the counter tops needed to as well. A "recipe" for an easy, effective, and inexpensive granite counter top cleaner...

1/4 c. rubbing alcohol  

1/4 t. of Dawn dish washing soap

2 c. water. 

Put in a spray bottle and use as needed. 

Kills the germs and leaves no streaks. 

Delco Park

Walking my dog is a daily event. There are times when walking around the neighborhood gets old so recently I've been changing up our routine.

On a gorgeous, sunny September afternoon, Hunter and I took off for Delco Park. Just briefly, Delco holds a big place in the city of Kettering's history: Charles F. Kettering was one of the founders of Delco, which stood for Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. The company was sold to United Motors Corp in 1916 and eventually sold, under the new name of Delco Light, to General Motors in 1918 after United Motors Corp. and Chevrolet Motor Co. merged into General Motors. In 1995, Virginia Kettering convinced GM to donate the land to the city.

For Hunter, this trip to Delco was a walk in the park and for me, a walk down memory lane. Hubs and I spent quite a few years at the Delco soccer fields in the blistering heat or the freezing cold, varying degrees of rain showers/storms, and also plenty of gorgeous days cheering for our favorite soccer players! There were the early morning games when a walk across the road to Krispy Kreme for donuts and coffee was the course of action and well-timed phone calls to bring the thermos of Bloody Marys were known to happen, too. Grandparents sat on the sideline to cheer for their grandkids, family dogs came along, the siblings of the soccer players became buddies. Good times, good friends, good memories!

August

The month of August has no widely recognized holidays. Maybe the Dog Days of Summer, if anything...

There are ten national holidays in the United States. March and April have no federal holidays but they do have St. Patrick's Day, April Fools, Passover and Easter. 

From July 4th to Labor Day (a span of two months), there are NO holidays. Nothing.
Zip. Zilch. Nada.

But who needs holidays when celebrations abound?

August 2...Hubs and I celebrated 33 years of marriage! He has had this shirt FOREVER! And he wore it at the birth of each kid.

August 4...My mom's 82nd birthday. Mom and I traveled to Bald Head Island, NC, on the 4th and as we were driving to the vacation house, we passed my niece and her boyfriend, who were walking to the beach. They came back to the house all smiles and at dinner, announced they were engaged! It was a beautiful birthday present for Grandma!

August 10...Pelotonia bike ride in Columbus. This was the biggest Pelotonia yet. All proceeds go to the James Cancer Center at Ohio State for cancer research.

August 11...My in-laws celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary (they were married August 11, 1945). My father-in-law returned from his WWII service in the Pacific theater and was on a train crossing the United States to return to Ohio for his wedding. Due to delays, he almost didn't make it on time. He was also under 21 so he had to get permission from his mom to get married. Here's to long lasting love!

August 12...Our last college tuition payment EVER! Four kids...47 payments (two went to a college that was on quarters, along with a few summer sessions). 

August 19...Aviation Day. Being from Dayton, OH, home of the Wright Brothers, this one is special. By presidential decree Franklin D. Roosevelt created this day and it falls on Orville Wright's birthday.

August 26...National Dog Day. The four furry friends in my life: Hunter, Clark, Ted and Bernie.

August 30...My #3 child celebrates her 25th birthday.

Yep...from beginning to end, August life is good! 

Big Dog in a Small Car {Sugarcreek Metro Park}

Monday was a very sad day for my family. We said goodbye to our 15-year old chocolate Lab. He was our first family dog. He was my first ever dog.

On Tuesday, my other dog and I needed to get out of the house and out of the neighborhood. Dayton has beautiful metro parks and we hit the trail at one of our favorites, Sugarcreek. Sugarcreek MetroPark is home to the Three (now two) Sisters, which are 550-year old oak trees, a tall grass prairie, woodlands, some steep trails, and of course Sugar Creek.

Hunter gets so excited when he sees me put on my tennis shoes and then go to the closet for his leash. He knows what's coming up. Right now my son has my Tahoe, so that leaves me with my small car and a 90-pound dog. It's quite a picture!

What I didn't think about was that it rained a lot on Monday. 

Rain + dirt trails = lots of mud. 

At first I tried to navigate around the muddy areas on the trail but that turned into quite a joke and it was stressful. We came here to get rid of stress. Shoes can be washed, dogs can be washed, cars can be washed. Our hearts needed some healing from the pain of losing our long-time dear pet. We walked through the mud, we splashed in the creek, we had a marvelous time!

A wish and a prayer for our dear old dog ~

Prairie flowers

Steep enough for you?

Sugar Creek

Hunter and the woodlands

Muddy, muddy, muddy!