9 little kittens who lost their mittens........

i have held on to these mittens for 30 years now....or at least 1 of each set :) i am not much on sentimentality.  i am pretty much a suck it up and move on kind of person.  i toss things that aren't needed.

except these mittens...for some reason.  and they always came out when it got cold and we would sort through them and put the unmatched ones and the ones that didn't fit any longer back in the box.

until 8 years ago.

in our kitchen, we have a huge window....ok...in the nook/dining area.  i love the light it lets in!  but it is a big, bare window.

during our first christmas season in this house, it turned cold.  we pulled out the mittens and gloves.  there was this huge stack of mismatched and too littles.....and i had a lightbulb moment.

why not use them for decorations?  I hung a string from end to end of the window and hung the mittens like a clothesline.

it has become one of my most favorite decorations.  and it's always is the topic of conversation...whether with friends or family....who's is who's and who wore that one and remember when's........

to fill in the empty spaces on the line, we even put our current, matching sets up there....its kinda funny when it snows and they are hanging up, to have the kids go get their gloves from the line :)  they'll even wear them mis-matched, which makes for great pictures!

i went to go find them last night.  they weren't in their regular spot.  my heart skipped a little.  remembering back on last year, i remember pulling them out of our ever growing box (that couldn't close any longer) and deciding they just needed to go with the regular decorations. we bagged them up and put them with the decorations.

they aren't there.

this brings tears now, as i type....i am going miss all those itty bitty mittens....one pair was from my oldest when she was 6 months old.  they all held lots of memories

i am thankful for the tears...it means there is a part of my heart that is healing...a part that holds on to things that mean a LOT....a part that is sentimental :)

i am praying they are just misplaced.  i have this feeling they ended up in a 'let's clean the garage and anything that doesn't belong needs to go' spree.....

whatever the cause for the missing mittens....i am so thankful god prompted me to take pictures of them....just last year.

and i am thankful for the memories these little mittens hold.

warm meal on a COLD day!

Well, its cooooooold here in north Texas!  we have wind chills into the below's :)  .  The kids are out of school and it is crazy around here.  We have done our traditional making donuts out of canned biscuits and home made hot chocolate for breakfast.  We have not been able to make it to Starbucks (our other fun tradition for the first snow of the season) because the roads are too bad.  Everyone is still in pjs and we are looking forward to having a warm dinner, sitting by the fire and watching the school closings in hopes of another day tomorrow (ok...they are...not necessarily me--just being honest :)).

One of my favorite cold weather meals is beef stew.  I have made it for years, and it was *ok*, but when we lived in McKinney, we frequented the pantry, a homestyle cooking restaurant.  The food served was, again, *ok*, but the desserts were to die for  good and I loved going in the afternoons during nap time, when the older ones were finishing school work.  I could just escape for a bit and breathe.  They have a cookbook that I honestly got for some of those yummy desserts, but after looking through it, decided to try some of the other recipes...oh, so glad I did....this one is one of our favorites out of the book.  Once we tried it, my old way of making beef stew became a forgotten memory...this is how it is done from here on out....enjoy!  oh, one of the main tricks to this recipe (and any like this using potatoes) is to cook the potatoes ahead of time...what I do is have a baked potato dinner the night or two before, making enough for this meal...once cooled, they are a cinch to peel and cut up and they don't dissolve in the cooking process....makes it really, really yummy!!!

beef stew

• 1 1/2 lbs stew meat
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, diced coursely (if you have read earlier posts, you know I blend these up in the liquid that is used--much more accepted by the kids)
• 3 Tablespoons beef base or beef broth ( I ALWAYS keep chicken, beef and veggie base on hand)
• 2 Cups celery, sliced
• 4 potatoes, baked and cooled overnight--then on cooking day, peeled and diced
• 4-6 carrots, sliced (depending on how much you like)
• 1 can peas ( I never use these, since if I did not one person would TOUCH the whole meal--I put in corn, either canned or frozen--I like frozen better)
• black pepper
• kitchen bouquet (i don't use this--I add a couple of tablespoons of worcestershire sauce instead
• 6 Tablespoons flour
• 1/2 Cup butter, melted

In a large pot, cook beef in oil until browed on the outside.  Add onions, beef base and about 4-5 cups of water.  Cook on low heat for about 1 hour. Add celery, carrots, potatoes and corn, if desired.  Continue cooking until vegetables are tender (about 30 minutes).  Stir flour into butter.  Slowly whisk into stew, until desired thickness is achieved.   Add peas.  Season with pepper, kitchen bouquet and /or worcestershire sauce.

I always make these yeast rolls with this stew...it is a given now...to be able to sop up the juices and gravy with these rolls and then to eat them for dessert with butter and honey.....ewwww weeeeee!

I actually think I got this recipe in Home Ec in High School....YAY, Mrs. Clark.  Thank you!  I think they are the little angle biscuits we made first year, but no matter...they are so good!  We have them now at most Holiday meals because you can make the dough ahead and pull it out when you are ready.  SOOOO good!!!!

refrigerator yeast rolls

• 1 package dry yeast (I use bulk and use 1 Tablespoon)
• 1/2 Cup warm water
• 1/2 Cup shortening, melted ( I use butter)
• 4 1/2 Cups flour
• 1/2 Cups sugar
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400*.  Dissolve yeast in water and let stand for 5 minutes.  Stir in butter.  Combine dry ingredients in another bowl.  Add to yeast mixture.  Mix and turn dough.  Knead on a floured board until a good texture (don't ya love detail--its from high school...sorry)....I just knead until its easy to handle and not too gooey.  Shape dough into ball, place in a greased bowl and cover till ready for use.  When ready, make small balls (size depends on your need and desire--we have had them the size of golf balls and the size of softballs :) ).  Put on a 'pammed' cookie sheet ( I put them just barely touching to make them rise up and be soft on the sides).  Bake for 8-10 minutes in 400* oven.   Sometimes, I will brush them with butter as they get out of the oven.

snow ice cream!!!

Around our house, when there is snow, we have several traditions.  The first one :  When the snowflakes start, we head to Starbucks for hot chocolate.  This tradition started when I was HUGE pregnant with Autumn (#8); we were homeschooling; it snowed and I didn't have the energy to fight all the changing of clothes.  So, I loaded everyone up and we went to Starbucks and played MadGab.  What a memory!!  That started something big....so big, that after breakfast yesterday of hot chocolate and donuts the kids came running down stairs (on their sugar high) and informed me that we MUST get to Starbucks before its too icy to make it....I vetoed that for the second tradition:  SNOW ICE CREAM!!!!  No matter how little snow we get, if it takes scraping off the wind shield and pulling grass and leaves out of the snow, we have ice cream.  I know everyone knows how to make it, so to make this worth reading, I will share some of my tips for making it yummy, and fun....1st...use CREAM....instead of all milk.  I had some half and half that needed to be used, so it went in also....but that makes it so much creamier!  We also color it...this time it was pink....its always the fight...which color...and of course the boys want yellow....and everyone runs around yelling...don't eat YELLOW SNOW :)...

The next tip---and I use this one all the time---is powdered sugar!  If you don't want to taste the grainy-ness of sugar that won't dissolve, use this!  I use it with my home made whipped cream, in drinks that I need a quick dissolve and when I don't have regular sugar~I am always running out of the most important ingredients at the most in opportune times....so I have learned to make do with what I have...

Once its made, we all sit down and enjoy this yummyness that only comes every so often.....and the fun that goes along with it.....

Everyone enjoys snow days!!!!

hmmmm......