Great Grandma's Cookies

It has been two years now since my Grandma passed away. I miss her most in August when I would normally be taking the kids up with me to celebrate her birthday with her, just after our annual Watermelon Day visit with our friends.

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Today, in the cold, dreary afternoon, we were in need of some comforts....a warm oven filled with Grandma's cookies fit the bill perfectly. And though Grandma was stingy with her recipes, we are lucky enough to have this particular one written by her own hand, given to my son, Michael, when HE asked her for this yummy cookie recipe several years ago when he was just a little guy. How surprised we were to receive this in the mail back then! Her note on the bottom clearly says, "Michael from Clem". So now, I will share this gem with you. Ignore all the fat in the recipe...seriously. Just close your eyes and dump it in. You need to make these at least once. I assure you, the texture alone will transport you back to happy days in that tiny little house on Mendenhall Avenue. And at this time of year, those memories will keep you warm and cozy!

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Ranger Cookies

1 cup margarine(I use butter)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

3-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup rice crispies

1 cup coconut

6 oz chocolate chips if you want(I don't remember these in Grandma's cookies, but we put them in this last batch and they were good!)

Drop by teaspoonfuls on cookie sheet or make small balls and press down with a glass. Bake at 350 degrees (11-13 minutes, til golden in color).

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Enjoy!

Singin' 'bout Jesus Ain't Just for Sunday School

It's also for head bangin', song screamin', hard rockin', musically kickin', smokin' hot, crazy concerts.I was lucky enough to be Bob's date for this event last night after the snow storm(as apparently Alex has grown out of these two groups---they are too tame for his taste). It has been a long time since we have been to a concert together. The last few have been the likes of Billy Joel, Bryan Adams, and Michael W. Smith. Yep, we were in for something completely different last night.

With out VIP tickets, we were among a smaller group of people who were present for an audience-asking interview with the lead singers of TobyMac and Skillet. They were nice, ordinary looking guys, who seemed to deal with the same types of issues in their families and as dads and husbands, just as the rest of us. These guys were strong Christian men. These guys were rockers (well, Toby's a bit more....hip hop?). And when these guys performed on stage, they were anything BUT ordinary.

Our main drive to go to this concert was for TobyMac. It had been one of the first groups that Bob had really started listening to at the time that it was Alex's favorite. We both were figuring that Skillet was a crazy screamo group we would just have to "suffer through" as we waited for the star of the show. Judging by the fact that we were about the oldest people in the place, we were certain that we were way out of our genre. Boy, were we wrong.

We LOVED it. Totally and completely LOVED the Skillet show. It was crazy. Fire balls. Smoke towers. Fireworks. Stage elevators. Heavy metal cello and violin. Preaching about Jesus and the Gospel message. Crazy. But oh so very good! Having no high expectations, this show just sailed through the roof for us. We would have been completely satisfied to leave and go home after that.....it was worth the ticket price.

Toby came up next, which meant listening and participating in some songs we had actually heard before and familiar with....and with which we could understand the words sung. We had great seats on the floor, only 4 rows back in the chairs, and only several feet from the singers when they walked down the center peninsula. TobyMac spent quite a deal of time in this center stage as he and his crew sang a few of their songs----plus a fun rendition of "Pants on the Ground" for us Minnesotans-----with only the lead guitarist and his right hand singer Gabe, by his side, it created an intimate atmosphere in the crowd of 13,000. It was so much fun! Now excuse me, as I wait for my hearing to return.....(but sooooo worth the loss!)

Our First Snowstorm of the Season

And with the exception of my 3 hour drive to the airport to drop off a friend in the thick of it this morning at 9am....seeing at least 40 cars in the ditch......

.....we are all pretty pleased as punch to welcome winter!

Last Nice Day of Fall

This has been such a lovely fall. The weather so mild. The scenery so beautiful. Just so very pleasant, all the way around. We keep getting gorgeous days like today....almost 70 degrees once again. The weatherpeople keep telling us "this will be the last nice day". Yet, each time, more beautiful days continue to follow.

So today, (in hindsight), we really DID appreciate this last nice day of fall. As I cleaned up the yard and the basement garage, making room for winter necessities, the kids played outside. Playing like kids do, they spent hours on the swings, trampoline, and in the sandbox.

It was a glorious day.

And then the rain came in the evening.

Which eventually led to.........