An Uneventful Black Friday

I love weekends. I adore weekends associated with a holiday.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far. It is simple. Very little unnecessary spending. It focuses on good food and family. Why don't we eat stuffing, candied yams and cranberry sauce the rest of the year?

I love the family time. Everyone gathers in the kitchen surrounded by wonderful aromas and spoons to lick, while the cook sweats over a hot stove.

Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I stood in the kitchen all day long with the radio on and baked. I made about 10 cups of fresh butter from a gallon of heavy whipping cream. Click on this good site to see how I make my own butter. I also used the 2 quarts of buttermilk that was left over, to make a double batch of 6-Week Bran Muffins. Then I made mashed candied yams and rice stuffing. I made 2 jello salads and by the time the day was over, I fell into bed in a heap.

This is a holiday jello salad made with orange jello: 2 cups boiling water, to dissolve the jello, then 2 cans mandarin oranges and then 2 more cups of 7-up (or the cheapy brand) instead of water. I put marshmallows on top. I love the tang the 7-up or Sprite gives jello!

I woke up Thanksgiving morning at 8 a.m. I went into the kitchen and found Victor cooking. He had 2 pecan pies baking, 2 pumpkin pies ready to go into the oven, dinner rolls were rising, and he was stuffing the bird. He is marvelous. We had a beautiful, intimate, Thanksgiving dinner with our children.

Friday morning, Victor got me up at 4 a.m., we left the house at 4:30, drove over the mountain pass to the next town and arrived at WalMart at 5 a.m. I experienced Black Friday for the first time in my life! Our small-town WalMart had a very controlled, polite crowd and no one trampled anyone else.

It was pretty comical. Victor was equipped with a map of where all the wild sales were scattered around the store and we gathered up what we had carefully put on our list. I can't tell what we purchased because our kids are the sneakiest on the planet and would read this and it would ruin the surprise.

My sister called me later that day and told me she knew what I was doing at 5 a.m.! The local news caught Victor and I entering WalMart. Brother!

Thankful Thursday 13

I guess in the blogosphere it is cute to make lists of 13 things on Thursdays. In keeping with this very special day, Thanksgiving, I want to list the 13 things I am thankful for. Our local radio station did that yesterday. They had callers tell one thing they were grateful for.... but it couldn't be friends or family or our health, because everyone says that. It should be more of the "little" things in life. If you read my daughter, Rachel's blog (see A Little Bit of Crazy) from last week, she did one like that. Very cute. Rachel counted in Russian, I think I will count in Finnish. My father, whom I am very thankful for, was 1/2 Finn.

Yksi (1): The first random thing I am grateful for is the Internet. It is truly a miracle, no thanks to Al Gore, and boggles my mind. Because of the Internet my children can do school homework, I can check up on their progress in each class, I keep in touch with family & friends, I found my gorgeous husband on a social network(!!), I can find the most succulent recipes, can get quilt block paterns and last but really first, I can do my genealogical research.

Kaksi (2): My ancestors. This one really doesn't count in the 'being thankful for family' department because it just doesn't! For the most part, all of my mother's ancestors landed in Jamestown, Virginia as early as 1608 (Dr. John Woodson) and were contributors to the beginning of our great Republic. One even signed the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee, my 11th great grandfather. The great General Robert E. Lee was my 4C 6xR and Thomas Jefferson was my 2C 8xR. Patrick Henry married my 7th great grand aunt, Sallie Shelton. There were thousands more who just lead quiet lives of hard work and great faith (i.e., William Barkesdale, Samuel Ferguson, John Bernard & Mary Anne Abney, Moses Steagald, Thomas Morton & Elizabeth Woodson, William Shelton & Hannah Armistead, Abraham Micheaux & Susanna Rochet, Peter Rucker & Elizabeth Fielding, William Barnett & Anne Rolfe, Alexander Sutherland and Jean Campbell, Robert DePriest & Elizabeth Randolph, Thomas Tinsley & Sarah Jackson, John Alexander & Anne Axtell, just to name a few).

My father's grandparents came from Pudasjarvi, Oulu, Finland and Madesjo, Kalmar, Sweden.

Kolme(3): I love my jacuzzi! I have fibromyalgia and sometimes am in great pain. It is warm and soothing and relaxing to muscles screaming in agony.
Neljä(4): I love horses. They are graceful, swift, sleek, grand, regal, silently proud. I am grateful for their contribution to my ancestor's lives in travel, work and pleasure. I get to watch herds of horses out my windows everyday as they are pastured all around our property.
Viisi (5): The washing machine! Oh, what a superb invention. Not having to beat the clothes on a rock while I try to scrub the filth out of my children's underpants, is such a royal blessing. Just throw the clothes in a box, add detergent and voila! The dryer is not in the same arena of inventions, just because of the 65 mph winds here, typically. Actually, I could just stand in the yard for 4.5 minutes with a pair of jeans and they would be dry.
Kuusi (6): Ah, the bed! The place where we spend a 1/3 of our day. Comfy, cozy and warm. The places where dreams are lived and muscles are rested.
Seitsemän (7): The cow! Not the stately animals that horses are but more cute and comical. They also give us steak and hamburger. I am not a big milk drinker but love, love, love ice cream and sour cream. I have also taken up making my own butter from cream. Fun and cost efficient.

Kahdeksan (8): The cell phone. Living in a society where most people have one attached to their body, 24/7, and acknowledging the arguements of the invasion to our lives, they are extremely handy. Rather than driving all over town trying to catch up with a teenager, I can just call them and save time, gas and frustration.

Yhdeksän(9): I am grateful for music. It sets the mood and changes a mood. I enjoy classical, especially piano. I love choral music, especially if I am in the choir. I love classic rock, country, folk ballads, old girl scout campfire tunes and religious music. Of course, rap is not music, so thus not listed.
Kymmenen(10): The origin of this favorite is #7, the cow, and Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry. I am thankful for Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream. Mmmm..... what a confectionary genius. Truly wonderful and can be shared with #3, the jacuzzi. Yksitoista (11): Quilting! I have blogged about this before. I love sewing the pieces together and quilting by hand. I love the history behind quilts.
Kaksitoista (12): I'm grateful for rocking chairs. I rocked babies in a rocking chair for about 23 years solid. Sometimes I would nurse the infant while a toddler sat next to me. I wonder how many hours I have logged on a rocker? I wonder how many miles I have rocked? Around the world, how many times? Generally, mine were blue, the color of the era. Kolmetoista (13): The camera, what a fantastic invention. It makes blogging easier, but really, it's use in recording history is amazing. I just wish it had been around about 2,000 years before. I would love to have seen real pictures of life in the dark ages, the renaissance era and the lives of my ancestors.

Well, that wraps it up. I have more, but there isn't enough Internet out there to list all my loves.

6-Week Bran Muffins

I have loved these Bran Muffins for years and mourn the fact that I can't eat them. I found out, about 14 years ago, that the kids and I have Celiac Disease (see links on sidebar) so I can't eat them. However, I still make them for Victor and his children and it thrills me to see someone enjoy them.

They are called 6-Week because the batter will last up to six weeks in your fridge. It's nice to scoop them out and plop them in muffin tins in the morning and have warm, fresh muffins for breakfast each day. Mmmmmm.... So, here is the recipe! My guide to my recipes is thus: C=cup, T=tablespoon, t=teaspoon

6-Week Bran Muffins

Bake for 20 min. at 375 in greased muffin tins

2 C boiling water

1 C shortening

2 C sugar

4 eggs

1 t salt

1 qt. buttermilk

5 t baking soda

5 C flour

4 C All-Bran cereal

2 C 40% Bran Flake cereal

Boil water in a small sauce pan, add the soda. It will foam. Boil for 1 min. Let rest for 2 minutes then add the rest of the ingredients (except the cereals). Cream. Fold in cereal. Don't over mix. Place in bowl with cover and store in fridge. Enjoy!