So Far at the Goossen's

Hello, Hello!

I wish I had something really interesting and exciting to tell y’all! Sadly, I don’t! Life just keeps moving on at the normal pace here – FAST.

Saturday - we went for sushi with some friends. Was quite tasty. And I washed mine down with a scoop of Ginger Ice-Cream!

Sunday - we had a reception at church and since my dear man is usher, we spent most of the day there! One nice thing tho, was that the reception started at 5:30 so it didn't get so late like those things tend to do!

Monday - I did laundry, books, and went to a friend’s place for lunch. Stopped in at Tara’s Shoppe, which is one of the youth girls little gift/fabric store and bought me a couple pieces of fabric! They’re knit and I just Love them!

Tuesday - spent clear till 3:30 finding excuses why I really couldn't cut out a dress… but I finally ran out of excuses so cut out a dress! In the evening, I picked up a fellow states-girl-married-to-a-Canadian (Maria) and we went to Ada’s baby shower. (She’s Walnut Hill, Hilda’s niece for any of you that care to know that) She has the absolutely sweetest little Mia Nicole! Marie’s guy was off singing at the Manor and Kelly was off to Winnipeg on the ambulance, so after the shower, I went back to Marie’s and yakked for a long time.

Wednesday - today I worked at K-tec all day. I’m supposed to be teaching Bible Study tonight but am working on the ambulance instead. And I should really think about working on that dress I cut out!

So…. Good-bye for now!

Brownies & Ice-Cream!

      

Ultimate Double Chocolate Brownies

3/4 c. baking cocoa                                   2 eggs  

1/2 tsp. baking soda                                  1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2/3 c. butter or margarine, melted,             1 tsp. vanilla

          divided                                            1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. boiling water                                    1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans                                    

2 c. sugar                                                   2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips 

In a large bowl, combine cocoa and baking soda; Blend in 1/3 cup melted butter. Add boiling water; stir until well blended. Stir in sugar, eggs, and remaining butter. Add flour, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the pecans and choc chips. Pour into greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 350* for 35 to 40 minutes or until brownies start to pull away from sides of pan. Cool  

Now! Don't be too disappointed if you make these and they aren't all they were 'yakked' up to be! Because I haven't tried making this recipe yet and I'm not 100% positive they are the same thing we had at sewing, but they are from the Geiger Cook Book! So... if you make them before I do, let me know what you think!

Guess What?!

... It's very cold, windy, and snowy here!! The wind chill has been -40's most of the week! Sure glad it's not that cold all winter! 

... We had sewing on Tuesday and did we ever have a super good lunch there! We just take turns bringing lunch and did they ever do it up right this time! We had Chicken Alfredo (with grilled chicken), sauted mushrooms on the side, home made Alfredo sauce, and Caesar salad! And THEN to top it off! Oh Sharon you would have just loved dessert! Brownies and ice-cream and chocolate sauce! But the brownies... at least the ones I had... I've never had anything quite like them! They're in the Geiger Cookbook. I'm going to post the recipe as soon as I can get. All in all it was definitely worth going to sewing! Even tho it didn't seem like I was very productive other than eating!! lol 

... Then in the evening Alisa, Kyla, and Nathan came over for supper. (They're Russ and Meletta Goossen's kids, and Russ is the boss at K-Tec) Anyhow Russ' are gone so told the kids I'd feed them. Had a funny meal of ham quesadillas, corn, chips and salsa, and yogurt. And then we sipped on our smoothies while be played Bonanza, aka the bean game. Kirk (one of our tenants and Kelly's fellow paramedic) came to join in on the smoothies and laughter. Was a really fun evening! 

...  Otherwise, I've been working at K-Tec the rest of the week.

.... Now Kelly just got home, so I'm gonna whip up some cornbread to go with my ham and bean soup that has been simmering in the crock pot since lunch! Mmmm Y'all are all welcome to come and join!

COLD!

As I write this, I'm sitting here by my little, fireplace heater trying to stay warm! It is so miserably cold out that it freezes your nose hairs! But the sun has been shining so that is a huge plus! 

Today I cleaned this dirty house of mine and got all the laundry done and then went and worked at K-Tec until 8 this evening! But don't worry, we didn't skip supper! I had a ham sitting in the fridge so baked that this morning and took it to work for supper! First time I've actually baked a ham!! I know, know... I should have a long time ago! But really, ham isn't my first choice of meat so that's why I haven't tried baking one ever! lol 

Do y'all like smoothies as much as I do? Cause I was introduced to one of the best things ever for making smoothies! Pure 100% Mango Juice! Nothing added, so of course it's healthy too! Up here, I get it from Costco, but I'm sure you could get it from other places too! Today I my concoction was frozen peaches and strawberries and mango juice. Was So Good! Sometimes I like to add a few squirts of lime juice too, just for something different. Here's a picture of what the can looks like.

Well.... till next time!

Monday...

... why does it seem some days you try so hard to be a good wife, christian, neighbor, or whatever and the harder you try the more you feel like a failure! That's kind of how I've felt for part of the day today, but then I seen this quote:

...I decided to just keep trying! It hasn't been all bad! :) I was outside for a couple hours this morning clearing snow and it was right crisp out! Felt good tho! Now, I think I'll go make some scotcharoos! Haven't made any since before we were married (4 yrs ago!) Anyhow I got hungry for them so got the stuff when I was at the store this afternoon!

Blizzards, Fires, Wrecks...

Just a few facts from the last couple of days.

• Friday morning the angels were busy at work for a dear friend of ours! The RR Crossing lights didn't work at a crossing or at least not until it was too late. He didn't see the train either until there was no time to stop (he was pulling a trailer and skid steer), so his options were to be hit by a train and most likely not make it or to take the ditch and hope for the best! The ditch was his choice, and a good one since he walked away, but not before Kelly nearly lost it, as he was first on seen! He is Very lucky to be alive!
• Kelly got off work at 12 because of the blizzard that was coming. (I thought we would have a relaxing day at home!)
• Morris Fire was called to help out another local fire department at a house fire. Kelly and a few of the others went right away. Then they called for more members to attend so 3 more of us went along with 50 bottles of Gatorade! Well, the house was a total loss already, so we were basically just trying to finish putting out the fire. But the storm was rolling in and we all knew if we didn't leave soon we'd be stuck there for the night! One of the truck pumps had already frozen solid so that truck was no good, another one had hit the ditch (due to blowing snow), and the place had no water hydrant on it so we were having to haul water in... and like I said the roads were getting to be really bad already! So, we left it to burn!:( Poor people were on vacation in Florida!
• It took us 50 minutes to drive our 9 miles back to Morris! That was after many yells of 'Go Left', 'Now Right', 'Center', and 'You're Doing Good'!
• This morning I opened the door to a waist high drift! So..I 'waded' through it!
• Our first call on the ambulance today was at 11 or so and we still couldn't always see the road! (Why do people think they can drive in blizzard and then just call 911 when they hit the ditch?!)

And there you have it... Now we're home relaxing and hoping the pagers don't go off again tonight, because it had turned really cold!

Well... Here I go!!

I can't believe I'm actually doing this!! A blog? Me? I'm sitting here laughing! Oh well, we'll see how long it last! I think it might be more fun than keeping a diary, tho! And it's definitely something to do when there's a blizzard blowing outside!