Little Bloggy Changes

 

In the category of Spring Spruce-Ups, there's a couple of things that have changed around this little blog, which you may or may not have noticed. Nothing drastic. Well, not yet, at least. But I hope you'll like them! Here we go......

 

The first little change is that I've added some pages to the blog. If you look at the top, just under our family photo, you'll see the links to the pages listed there:

 

 

I'm still toying with titles, and what [if anything] to add for one more page..., but there it is. Each of those pages has links to specific posts, and with any luck, I will keep them updated as I add posts. I'd like to think that I added those for the benefit of my devoted blog readers. Maybe they're just for me, though, and all you blog readers get them as a bonus? Heh, heh, heh.

 

Ok, so when you get a chance, take a look there and see what you think. Feel free to tell me how I should tweak it and what else you'd like to see. Stop lurking, and say something!

 

 

The other thing that I stuck in there is currently found in the left-hand column. It's a list of "popular posts". 

 

Literally translated, that means that these are the most-viewed posts on the blog. In theory, I suppose that you could change the stats by continually clicking on a particular post. I'm only listing the top 5 posts right now -- and some of them make me wonder how they even got to be in the top five. When I wrote them, I didn't think that they'd turn out to be popular.... but there you have it!

 

I am working on actual newsy-kind of post updates... but it takes me a bit to reduce my file sizes on the accompanying pictures. I hope to have something new for you soon, so stay tuned!!

 

 

Those Jam Bar Cookies

It's awful to start off with an apology.... it's just that I'm pretty behind on blog posts. Life is happening so quickly!!

 

In the mean time, here's a recipe post that I meant to get finished up a few days ago. It works for posting now, right?

 

So when I was in college, my roommate Christine R. had a copy of this cookbook:

 

 

Well, hers looked a lot better than this. Betty Crocker and I are old friends. We go way back. This was my first cookbook purchase after my wedding, because I knew there was stuff in there that I wanted. Despite its condition, Betty is who I turn to for a number of recipes..... including, but not limited to: pie crust, pumpkin bread, (this photo)

 

 

glossy chocolate "brownie" frosting, buttercream frosting, and...........  Jam Bars.

 

Ok, so Betty calls them Date Bars. But I never have dates around. And I always have jam around.

 

So here's a quick run-through. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a big bowl, mix 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cube of soft butter, and 1/4 cup shortening.

 

I just use my hand mixer for this. Cream it all together.

 

Then you mix in 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal. (Details on this stuff in a minute -- don't stop me now, I'm on a roll.)

 

Mix all of that in with the mixer.

 

It will be crumbly. Spoon it into a greased pan.

 

Now, here's the deal. The recipe calls for a 9x13 pan. Except, the first time I made these, I didn't clue in on the pan size. So I used a 7x11-in Pyrex. I'd made these a couple of times before I realized that my pan was too small. Now I won't change back, because I like these things thick. But you can use a 9 x 13 if you want.

 

Spoon HALF of the oatmeal mixture in, and then press it down really firmly. It will make a good crust and holds together best if  you really press hard.

 

Then, you add whatever flavor of jam on top -- 1 cup of it.

 

So, the great thing about this recipe is that when I make homemade jam, I can it in 1/2-pint jars. (Here's a quick jump over to where I make jam)  Don't try to start thinking through the math. Trust me when I tell you that 1/2 a pint is 1 cup. So this is a great way to use up jam that I've canned. Love that part, because there's no measuring!

 

Then you sprinkle the rest of the oatmeal mixture on top, evenly. Press down lightly, because you've got that layer of jam underneath it.

 

Bake it for 25-30 minutes if you're using the full size pan. If you go halfsies, then you only need 20-22 minutes. That point is when it dawned on me that my bars always cooked "fast" because I was using too small of a pan. Duh!!

 

Cut it apart while they're warm. Or cold. It doesn't really matter.

This was raspberry, from our bumper crop of raspberries last year.  But here's the story..... this wasn't jam, this was jelly. And for these cookies, it's really better to use jam, because it stands up to the earthy, hearty cookie dough part. The jelly ends up being too thin. But it worked.

Actually, these things really look great and taste wonderful when I use cherry jam in them. The cherry really is thick and a nice dark red that shows pretty when they're cut.

 

Ok, and some final notes here.

 

The recipe calls for quick-cooking oats, but I use whichever I have on hand. These photos are with regular rolled oats. Just don't use instant stuff. The recipe also says you can use whole wheat flour for this. Tried that, and yes you can .... but it's more crumbly. Might want to back off on the flour amount if you do use whole wheat.

 

In fact, I'm experimenting with backing off on the flour amount anyway. In these photos, I only used  1 2/3 cups flour, instead of 1 3/4 cups. Next time, I'll back it off to 1 1/2 cups. Just wanting to get the dough a little less crumbly.

 

These are great to wrap individually, and stick in a plastic lidded container (like Tupperware or Rubbermaid), and take them with you on trips. They travel well. They probably freeze well too, but I've never tried it. They get eaten before that.

 

Have an amazing day! I promise to catch up on posts.

Um..... later.

 

 

 

The End of a Softball Era

Where has the time gone?

 

Wasn't it just yesterday that we watched 12-year-old-Alyssa pitching at the Little League Idaho State Softball Championships?

 

 

Obviously not -- but sometimes it feels that way!

She's changed so much over the years. And not just the fact that now she usually wears contacts instead of glasses. And no longer wears a sliding pad on her leg. (And has the road rash to prove it, too!) But I think the "pitching look" on her face is actually the same!

 

So, last week was the final regular-season home game for the Varsity softball team. Senior Night.

The night when all the seniors and their parents actually get a little teary over softball. And it was not without smiles that evening, too:

 

 

(Alyssa was teasing the assistant coach, right before her at-bat. For Alyssa, being a senior on the team has made her more relaxed, and less stressed during games. I love that she is enjoying the game again!)

 

And her at-bats that afternoon/evening were awesome. She's hitting really, really well right now. So is Darcie -- who is cruising to being the ace player when *she* gets to be a senior.

 

 

(Alys bats 4th in the lineup, and Darcie follows her at 5th. Which is why you see Darcie in the on-deck circle in the background.)

So, it's a tradition that the senior families create a memory board for their girls -- kind of a photo collage of their life, especially their softball-centered lives. It was really windy that day, so instead of using easels, we ended up putting the posters on the wall of the building there at the fields. This is all four of the senior posters....

... and this is the one I made for Alyssa. I included photos from other parts of her life, including Prom pictures, band pictures, Junior Miss, Gold Voices, and a photo of her in her "scrubs" for her CNA class.

 

Between the two games of the double-header, the seniors and their families step out onto the field, and messages/thoughts to and from the seniors are read over the P.A. system. It was enough to make this bawl-baby softball mom get a little weepy...

Four seniors this year, and their families:

The girls...

 

I thought it was really nice that one of Alyssa's very best friends came and braved the wind and the cold to sit on a bleacher and watch Alyssa play softball:

Alyssa pitched the second game of the doubleheader (as she usually does).

And her sister, Darcie -- the amazing catcher:

 

Alyssa's long legs are a bit too long for the uniform pants. Last year, when they wore black pants, she just wore her own pants, which were long enough. This year, with the new uniforms and purple pants, she just goes around pulling her socks up a lot:

(after hitting a double out to the fence)

As hard as Alyssa works during her games, Darcie works just as hard -- as evidenced by the ice packs after the games were over.

 

The highlight of the evening was that Alyssa hit a walk-off home run, which ended the game in a mercy-rule score of 15-4 in the 5th inning!! It was an awesome way to cap her senior night, and I know she was pretty happy about that. So thrilled for her!

Because she has Darcie on the team with her, Darcie was the underclassman that brought a gift bag and flowers for her, as well as writing a personal message to be read to the crowd. The bonus is that Darcie knows her so well, she knew what Alys would like to get. Chocolate topped that list! (A girl after my own heart.)

Todd ordered a beautiful arrangement of flowers from his favorite florist, who did a great job with them....

 

Alys didn't open her gift bag until we were back home after the games, and she'd showered off all the field dirt. Can I just tell you how surprised and happy she was to get a gift card to her favorite hot chocolate stand?

 

I think that look tells it all. And a "sisters" photo frame -- so perfect for these two:

 

It was another teary moment at home, too.

 

Yeah, that says it all.

 

I love that these two love each other so very much, and that it shows. A lot of people marvel that they don't seem to argue or fight at all -- it's true, they almost never have cross words with each other. Not even when Darcie threw that softball back to Alys when she wasn't ready, and the throw was rather hard..... well, Darcie got The Look for it.  ;-)  We are so very blessed.

 

I don't know which one of these girls is going to miss the other one on the softball field more: the one who's leaving it, or the one that will still be out there, alone. Well, obviously not "alone", but without her sister. It truly is the end of a softball era for our family.

 

So proud of you, Alyssa! You are such an amazing girl and I love what the softball experience has contributed to your personality and character. It is part of you, but not all of you.

 

Alys has chosen not to pursue softball at the college level. I know that comes as a surprise to a lot of people. She's had colleges interested in her, and she plays at the level to be competitive in college softball. It was a hard decision for her to leave softball behind, but that is what she is doing. She is planning to major in nursing, and will be focusing her energies on keeping her grades high for that goal. We can't fault her for that, and we're 100% behind her on this.

 

We have a few softball games left: it's district playoffs now. I don't know how far this will take us, but I plan to be there for every one of these moments.

 

 

 

The Happiest Place on Earth

 

I do believe our teenage daughters were among the happiest children on earth as they went last month with the high school band on a trip to Disneyland.

 

Just possibly.

 

I have to thank the great teachers, administrators and coaches that made the trip possible. Our amazing band director arranges to go there, about every 3 years. (So every band kid gets a chance to go, once during their high school career.) Fundraising opportunities are there for the kids, too. While there, they did a Soundtrack Session Workshop, where the band gets to go into a recording studio, and play some of the Disney movie music, and hear it played back with the movie. It's pretty cool. I'm sad to know that this is our band director's last year here -- he will be sorely missed!

 

And, I may have mentioned this before, but in the case of Alyssa and Darcie -- they are the only two band kids that are Varsity softball players. The athletic director re-arranged the softball schedule *twice*, so that there would be no games during the Disneyland trip.

 

(Of course, if we take 20% of the batters [#4 and #5 in the lineup], 50% of the pitching staff, and 100% of the catching staff away -- it's kinda tough to play softball games competitively.) So, thanks go to the athletic director and the coach, for sure.

 

Here's a few pictures from their trip -- most of them from Alyssa's phone. We need a moment of silence in memory of Darcie's phone: which took a flying leap off the second floor in the mall... and did not survive. Man, that girl is hard on equipment!!

 

It's about a 24-hour trip on a bus.

That's a long, long time on a bus....



That's gotta be pretty crazy. But they had plenty of munchies, which is almost all you need on a trip, right?

It was extra-fun for them to be going with some of their best friends, too. And they all still liked each other by the time the trip was done! Not that I thought it would be different. They've got some really great friends, and I am eternally thankful for good friends for my kids.

 

 

That was a barbeque meal, arranged for the band group at Disneyland. Whoever planned that -- was really smart!

 

They loved the shows, including Aladdin, and Disney's World of Color:

On the final day of their trip, just before leaving town, they got to go to Huntington Beach. For landlocked Idaho kids, the ocean can be kind of a big deal. Here's our graduates....

The fabulous foursome....

 I love that picture!

And I also love this picture:

So glad my girls got to go. This is a trip that they'll actually remember -- they were kind of  young for our last Disneyland trip. What great memories for them!

Completion is Always a Good Thing...

Some projects are just more impressive than others. Dramatic "before" and "after" photos.

 

I can't say that this one is all that exciting. After all, the only thing you can really see in the photos is a blank wall. How dull is that?

 

But for us, it's been nice to move this project along, and it helps lift the Haven out of the 1970's Lockdown that it can sometimes feel like it's in. So, it's not done.... but it's getting there. And yes. It has taken a while. I bet you forgot we were even doing it.

 

We started with this:

 

 

The old mural had to go. I won't tell you how many months ago it was that I snapped these photos.

 

Ok so it was last August.

That's only 8 months, right?

That was when I returned home from Girl's Camp to find the stairway wall looked like this:

 

 And the ceiling looked like this:

 

I first told you about this project way back here.

The scaffolding over the stairs might be a problem.... but we're lucky to have two sets of stairs that go down into the basement. Otherwise, Darcie would have had to move out of her peaceful downstairs bedroom.

Todd actually took down the scaffolding before we headed into the holidays. The project wasn't done, but we didn't want to do Christmas with the whole ladders and plastic decor happening.

And after the holidays.... well, it was easier to still leave it down until he knew he was going to have the time needed to commit to completing the project.

So it stayed down.

For a while.

And then when our last preschool teaching turn was done, Todd decided to get back and get the job completed. This can mean some pretty late nights, since he mostly works on his home projects after regular working hours.

That explains the odd lighting....

This was finishing the edges up by the newly textured and painted ceiling.

We need to give the edges a second coat before we call it, "done".

And there's just a glimpse of the new accent wall color for you. Still debating on what I want to put on that wall. Maybe a big painting. Maybe some 3-D metal art thingy. Maybe a collage of family photos. Still tossing that around.

Still haven't picked out a new chandelier for over the stairs, either. Maybe we'll end up with the old one back there again until I can choose something.

Indecision is for the birds!! Any ideas??