Chocolatechic

Rose of Sharon. That is what this little plant is called. I have rows of them on either side of my house. This particular one is only 3 years old. It stands about 5 and a half feet tall. I love this one because the flowers are so beautiful…and pink.

I love pink.

These are 4 years old and stand 8-9 feet tall. Don’t they make a lovely “fence”? I can not wait till the ones on the other side of my house are this tall.

These are the ones on the side of the house that I have had to plant and replant and replant. See the string. I have it left up there so that the neighbors will see where their property ends, and keep their dogs out of my yard, and from ruining my plants.

See the little puny ones, those are the 3rd plantings. I planted them this spring….ok, the guys planted them this spring. The tallest one is the 3 year old one in the first picture. See how fast they grow. That is one of the reasons that I like this plant so much.

That, and they are pink .

Which one do you like best, the single blossom, or the double blossom?

My niece and nephew are up from Missouri for a few weeks.

Last week, the chips and I went over to visit. Dad was in the middle of baking bread. Dad makes very good bread. We were hungry and the smell of baking bread didn’t help matters in the least! We tried to distract ourselves by taking pictures.

~~on a side note, do you see the knife holder hanging on the wall? The knives in that are older than I am.~~

We chatted some

We even tried to ignore the smell by watching a video.

It didn’t work.

As you can see the agony of waiting began to overcome some of us.

Fiiiiiiiiinally it was done.

I got my favorite piece, the heel. I love the heels of home made bread. Don’t give me the heel of a store bought loaf! Warm fresh bread, melting butter, what more could a person ask for?

Maybe to actually be able to eat a slice.

Dad graciously provided the recipe.

Copied from my email….

DADS FAMOUS HOME MADE BREAD

4-5 cups of bread flour

1- cup instant potato flakes

1-1/2 TSP. yeast

2-TSP sugar

1-1/2 tps salt

2-cups water(110 degrees)

1-cup milk

2-TSP butter

1-beaten egg

( I use Kitchen-aid mixer w/ dough hook)

Put sugar & yeast in water, set aside let it work till foamy.

Put remaining dry ingredients in mixing bowl.

Add butter to milk, in separate bowl, heat until butter is melted.

Add water mixture. milk mixture and beaten egg to dry ingredients

Mix, add remaining flour until desired consistency is reached.

Let it raise in warm place until doubled. Punch down, let rest 5 min.

Coat loaf pans with“Deans quick lube”. Divide dough in half. Place in loaf pans.

Coat with a egg wash if desired (1 egg,3TSP milk) any wash left over can be used in scrambled eggs. perforate all over top of each loaf with fork to allow trapped air to escape. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Coat top of each loaf with melted butter.and enjoy

Does the smell of baking bread drive you to distraction? Does it make you want to ride an exercise bike? How do you like to eat your home made bread?

The boy and I are not the only ones with new wheels in our family.

Dad and mom got a new vehicle. The other day when I was over there, and dad was in the shower

the boy and I went for a ride!

Come on! Let’s go!!!

He is very serious about his driving.

So am I. I love driving. I like to go fast. That is why cruise control is so important to me. I hate to pay tickets.

I remember after I got my license we took a trip out of state. Dad let me drive. He climbed into the passenger seat, leaned back, folded his arms, closed his eyes and said “you pay your own tickets.” I will never forget that as long as I live. He trusted me enough to go to sleep.  Then I almost sideswiped a car in Indianapolis.  He went back to sleep.  I wonder what mom and my sister were doing in the back seat all that time.  Were they biting their nails,  planning escape routes, laying on the floor with all the pillows on top of them, or did they fall asleep too.   I am clueless!!!

What do you think they were doing?

This is the corner of my house.   I am guessing that my house did indeed get jealous from all the other houses in the area getting repaired.

This is the corner of my sons bedroom.   I am concerned.   He said there is nothing to worry about.  It is just the outside of the bricks.

So tell me, does this worry you?  It worries me!!!

Just to tantalize you.

The boy made these chocolate chocolate chip muffins the other morning for breakfast.

They were beyond good!!!

Just thought you’d like to know!

This past weekend, Roscoe Village had its 8th annual Civil War Encampment/Re-enactment. We went early, so there weren’t many people there. I don’t much care for crowds, so this was a good thing for me.

They had a few originals on display. I especially liked the colt .45.

Speaking of colt .45’s

This gentleman had 2. This is an officers every day pistol.

This is a presentation colt .45. It was used when presenting a medal or a promotion of some sort. I liked this one best. It is shiny and has an ivory handle. My dad always told me a wink and a smile would get you anything, but it didn’t work. He wouldn’t give it to me.

President Lincoln was there. He was watching to keep things peaceful.

Alas, the rebs were up to no good.

They began sneaking up on the yanks.

Suddenly, there were cannons to the left of us

and cannons to the right of us.

The fight had begun.

oooOOOooooo look, my favorite building in the entire village of Roscoe. The House of G.A.Fisher~~jewelers.

While we watched from the side.

With all the standing around the yanks did, I am amazed that we even won the war.

We soon tired of all the smoke and noise.

As we were walking to the car, we turned to find that Mark Twain and his family following us up the hill. I just know that he was wanting some editorial advice, I just know that he was looking for help. See his face~~he is bursting to ask me all I know. I am in such demand!

This was one of the better Civil War weekends that Roscoe offered. I really wish that we could have stayed longer.

Who is your favorite author?

This past week, I have been very busy planning and writing and highlighting, printing,  and concentrating for this upcoming school year. See, I have all I need for this type of endeavor. Paper, highlighters, colored staples, pens, pencils, books, smelly candles, a lighter, the ever wonderful post-it notes, and THE most important thing…..a bar of Dove dark chocolate.

Dove dark chocolate stops your head from swimming when you are trying to figure out Grammar or Economics or even Government.

I will be doing more planning in the days to come. Looks like I need to go get more chocolate!

What is your favorite chocolate?

I like granola.

When I was a little girl my dad’s sister, Aunt Marty, tried to extol the virtues of granola, carob, and bean curd to a 9 year old who doesn’t really care about gross stuff like that. Bring on the chocolate, baby!!!

Now that I am much older and wiser, I find that granola isn’t half bad. In fact, it is delicious! It is fairly healthy too. Making my own makes me feel like a hippy. I feel like I need to have long hair, wear mis-matched clothing and stop shaving. I could never be a hippy. I can’t stand carob, tofu, mismatched clothing or prickly armpits.

I get almost giddy at making something myself for less than half the cost of store bought, and tastes better too. I like foiling the system! I like being a rebel.

Making granola is so easy. It just takes a long time to bake.

This is what you do. ~~Check out the recipe over to the side~~.

Make sure you have everything. You can make substitutions and even add in dry fruit after you bake it, but I am not a fan of dried fruit. I like to add fresh to mine.

In a VERY large bowl, put 6 cups of oats~~not the quick kind~~

Some slivered almonds

cashew bits~~my favorite nut,~~

sunflower seeds

and oat bran.

Mix well.

Doesn’t that look wonderful? I almost feel guilty liking something this good for me.

Almost. I do like broccoli, too.

In another bowl~~dontcha just love this little bowl? It is so cute, so homey, so old fashioned…sigh…sorry~~mix oil, maple syrup,

vanilla~~again, I don’t measure vanilla~~

and salt. Stir a bit to combine everything.

Pour into your oats. You need a very large bowl for this, because you have to

stir and stir and mix and fold till everything is coated.

It should look like this, and you will be able to arm wrestle a NFL defensive back when you are finished and win.

Then you divide it into 2 pans. I generally make this in 2 large jelly roll pans, but since we are using our summer kitchen, they don’t fit.

These do nicely in a pinch. I just have to bake them 15 minutes longer.

Into the oven it goes.

Set your handy-dandy timer for 15 minutes.

Stir when your timer goes off. Do this for at least an hour and 15 minutes.

When it is done, cool it. It will be all crisp and brown.

Store it in an airtight container.

You can eat it on ice cream, ~~I prefer hot fudge on my ice cream~~or sprinkled over yogurt.

Me, I will stick to eating it with flavored coffee creamer. Vanilla Toffee Carmel to be exact. I am still being healthy. It is granola after all! Go make some today. Be healthy, or at least pretend to be and eat some over yogurt.

Do you like tofu?

As I have mentioned before, I adore antiques. I also love anything that is shiny and sparkles. Moreover, it must be the real thing!!!

Take this little beauty for instance.

Last Wednesday when my parents were here for the daughters surgery, I stole took borrowed this from my mother’s finger. My sister is always borrowing things from her.  I rarely do.  When we were teens, I was able to wear her dresses and shoes. My sister and daughter now borrow her shoes. I just  borrow her real jewelry.

This ring was my great great relatives ring ~~ note to self, when stealing taking borrowing something from mother, refresh your memory of it’s history first~~.

Anyway, I had the diamond set in it for my mother for her birthday a few years ago. This ring likes me. It really wants to stay here with me. I clean it daily. I think I will continue to borrow it for a little bit longer.

OH, and kiddo……..mom wants her polka dot shoes back.

Did you borrow your mother’s clothing/shoes when you were growing up?

Every Saturday during the summer our town has a Farmer’s Market at our fair grounds. The boy likes to go, so generally I go with him. We like to hang out together.

Anyway, yesterday they were holding a car show. I love old cars. I love just about anything that is antique. I like to see the old cars restored in original condition.

The ones that are supped up are nice, but to me it is destroying history.

This is the only one that really caught my eye. A ‘57 Chevy. I went over and found that the owner of this car~~a little old couple~~ are the original owners. Everything in it is original, and in excellent condition. I was tickled pink to see that. I hope they won.

They also held a rough truck competition last night at the fair grounds. The men went. They had a good time. To advertise for it, they had this in front of all the old cars.

I am not necessarily into car crushing. I have crushed to many cars, personally, to really enjoy the sport.

On the way home,

this cut in front of me. I wasn’t upset because I was waaaaaaaaaay to busy drooling over it.

What a gorgeous piece of machinery!!!

Do you like old cars?