Although today is Danny's official birthday, we decided to celebrate with family last night. He decided he wanted dinner at home with all the kids there and that's what we did. His menu choices were, lasagna, corn, Olive Garden style salad, and any kind of cake, so I made a butter sponge with strawberries and Cool Whip. I also made brownie bites and a really nice shrimp and pasta with a pesto style dressing, which turned out to be a real winner. We had a pretty good turnout for such an impromptu party, my dad, Danny's mom, David and Florence, his brother and sister-in-law, Laura and family, Krysta and Brian and of course Pete. The evening just flew by and by the time I had to fit in play time with the boys, it was time for all to head home. Grandpa Long is excited about the Grand Canyon trip and wants plans made, Grandma Helen was in her usual crazy and fun mood and the kids were very lively, only getting in trouble a couple of times, but not from me! I am going to post pictures and more about my wonderful husband later, but this is all for now. I will try to update Kitchen Dandy in the next couple of days also. Have fun in the beautiful 60+ weather today. Love to you all!!
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Boys, BBQ and Bones

End of an evening adventure with a ride in the yellow Tonka truck at Wal-Mart.

Pete and Laura choosing dog treats for Dutchess, Laura is taking this very seriously!

"Help Memaw" This is a really big bone for some lucky dog, just not Dutchess.

Two snakes for Dutchess, what a good dog she is.

Just a little pre-supper snack in Papaw's truck.

Jordy, so serious.

Laura and her boys, Jayce now likes to whisper what he wants in your ear.

Dutchess, her royal doggieness.

Jordan getting ready to slam dunk the basketball.

Watch out for this kid, 15 years from now. He will be high points shooter.

Our Jordy

Since Papaw hadn't seen his boys in a couple of weeks, we had to head to Camdenton yesterday afternoon and while I was very tired and snotty-nosed from yet another head cold, I wanted to go too! We didn't get to see Jared as he was scouting a basketball game at Rogersville, but I think we were a source of entertainment for Laura and the boys on a slushy Saturday afternoon. When we got to their house, of course we had to head upstairs to the playroom for basketball and what ever else we could fit in before supper. Of course basketball with Jordy, coloring and stickers with Jayce, meeting the new family dog, Dutchess, who is so cute and very well mannered. She is so sweet, she can fetch and sit,and seems very devoted to Laura, as she met us at the door with a bark and warning, stranger danger. After playing for a while, we decided to go for a ride in Papaw's new big truck and decided to eat BBQ at Osage Beach. It was very busy there, I guess everyone had cabin fever and wanted out. I think all of us had ribs except Laura and Jordy who had a baked potato with bbq and a grilled cheese, respectively. We decided to stop by Wal-Mart and while we were their we checked out the pet aisle and Laura and Pete had a hard time deciding between the microwave bake pet cake or the cheez whiz in a can for doggie biscuits. Jayce also found a very large bone, that I think was almost as big as he was. We didn't get the bone, but we did get the snake for Dutchess to play with. We also picked up a new toy for the playroom, a couple of the $1.00 boxes of movie candy, I think Gobstoppers and Good and Plenty and Jordan picked out a nice fresh fruit cup, purple pears, in produce he wanted, food is very important to Jordy. After finding the guys, Pete and Papaw, who abandon us for the electronic department, we loaded up and headed back home. We all had a fun time and Memaw was worn out, but we always enjoy our time with our little guys. Love to you all!

Let It Ice, Let It Ice, Let It Ice!

Everyone was prepared for the worst, a not so distant memory of downed power poles and lines, no electricity for 2 weeks and dark despair not ever having lights again. But, so far the ice and sharp as shrapnel sleet has decorated our highways and walkways locally. Danny and I traveled to Springfield yesterday, because I had to re certify my CPR and we figured we could beat the storm home. Well, at 3pm, I excited St. John's and within 30 minutes or less the roads turned to ice with a wet rainy glaze over everything. It took us over 2 hours home, with speeds averaging about 10-15 mph. Semi-trucks, car and vans sliding into ditches and guard cables in front us blocking travel, thankfully no one hurt. It was so good to pull onto our little gravel road and see the lights from home. This afternoon I went out to take a few pictures with my new camera and really enjoyed the crunch under foot and the sharp bit of the wind, we tossed food to the birds and I chopped an apple for a treat for them. Boo kitty followed me around and then returned to the warm garage where Danny had started a fire in the wood stove to thaw out iced vehicles from overnight, (too many cars or too small of a garage). I hope everyone stays safe, thankfully Danny or I haven't been called into work, yet. Enjoy a hot cup of coffee, tea or chocolate on me and keep your feet warm. Love to you all.

Kitchen Dandy

Above is the ingredient list for my first listing on my new food blog, Kitchen Dandy. I came up with the name by looking at the names given to old wood burning kitchen ranges used in the late 1800's. Several names came along with the article to include, Mealmaster, Kitchen Queen, Farmer Kettle and Kitchen Dandy. I liked the last one best, I thought it had a nice homey ring to it. I am going to try and up date each week, probably on Sunday or Monday, a new recipe, either from my secret cook book or from requests. I also got a new camera, because I really wanted one and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to purchase a nice one, I am still learning how to use it. It is a Kodak Easy Share Z1012 IS, if this means anything to anyone. What a fun new hobby to include three of the best things I love to do, cook, photography and writing. I hope you find this of interest, but if not I am having a heck of a time doing it. Love to you all.

Blasts From The Past

I am going to randomly scan in old pictures of my liking without any rhyme or reason. The three I picked to scan tonight include: An old copy of a photo of my paternal grandmother, Anna Chastain Long. I'm not sure of her date of birth, but I think she was about 17 when this picture was taken. She was at a local carnival/festival/gathering. This had to have been in the early 1900's I guess, probably over around the Blackfoot community where her family lived . The family was actually pretty prosperous, her father owning many, many acres of land and was well thought of in his community. She is holding hands with Charlie Berry, who was a cousin, I hope farther back than first or second, maybe they were just best buddies, who knows, I guess she didn't marry him or my name would have been Sherry Berry (ouch!) Oh, the torture I would have been put through in school. The next picture is of my favorite brother Steve, when he was 2 years and 11 months by my mother's handwriting. He was the favorite, the oldest, the golden one. The reason I scanned it was that everytime I look at it I see Jayce, I think it is the eyes. I just think he is awfully cute in his little ironed shirt and his little head tilted. The last one is of Krysta and mom, about 3 years before she died, I thought is was a very good picture of the both of them. They both were smiling at the camera and looked so happy. I know Krysta was always very close with her grandma grandma and really enjoyed her birthday spent with her. Well, I guess I will end this blog for now, look forward to many more lovely old photo's at my choosing. Be careful of the ice and snow tomorrow or if you live in Arizona, be careful of heat stroke? Love to you all.

Just About Jayce

Jayce Andrew O'Quinn was born in June, 2005. He was our first grandchild, from our oldest child. It had been like 15-16 years since I had been a part of a newborns life, I felt like maybe I was 3rd in command, you know like a retired General called back into active duty, very exciting and scary, hoping it's like riding a bicycle. I remember his sweet round head, so much like Laura's when she was a newborn, perfectly round with lots of dark hair. He looked very much like Jared though, and It took me a while to get to know this little creature. Jordan on the other hand, felt like I had known him for years. Jayce was always serious and kinda hard to get a smile or laugh from. All of his baby photo's show him with a little old man look on his face like he had to think about things before he had a decision. I never want to treat my grandchildren different, I want to enjoy each one for whom they are, I want a specialness with each one, I want them to know how much I love them and how incredibly special they are to me and papaw. But, having said that, I can't help but have a little special place for my first grandchild, I'm sorry, I can't help it, I won't love the others any less, but Jayce was the first. Now, Jayce decided to come to stay overnight by himself on Saturday night, I picked him up and after shopping for jeans for Pete, we went to their house to pack an overnight bag. Jayce traveled back over the hills and hollers with me and Pete for a night of fun and adventures. We played shark attack, where we move furniture to line up a pathway between the recliner and couch. This is like a gangplank of the ship and you have to be careful not to fall into shark infested waters below. At any given time, the shark could be memaw, Pete or Jayce. We also had a tea or coffee party in the living room. Did you know that they don't make little boy tea-sets? Well, they should, maybe a coffee chat set, or does that sound too gay, maybe a lumberjack mug-o-coffee break time playset, anyway, I had to buy a Tinkerbell set, but the point was that we had fun, he got to serve me fresh coffee (water) into my cup, we got to stir with with the spoons, we had tortilla chips and salsa on the plates and bowls. The we played Hot Wheels with the old garage set from Pete, also fishing from the pirate ship (recliner). All the fun slowly dwindled down to a big foamy bath, with all the tea party set in the water. Afterwards, we watched some good shows on Sprout and then got ready for bed. Jayce got to sleep with memaw in her big comfy bed since papaw was at work, it took alittle bit of flashlight time and ceiling watching before he drifted off. Memaw slept pretty good too, considering she had a monkey in the bed who slept sideways. The morning brought french toast and more playtime, then regretfully time to pack up and head back home. We made a drive-thru stop at McDonald's for a Happy Meal, with not too much of a breakdown over not getting to play in the playground. We met mom at Decaturville, about 1/2 way home and I think Jayce was getting droopy from too much fun at memaw's house. With sweet hugs and kisses until next time, we always make big plans for next time, Jayce went back home to mom, daddy and Jordy, but memaw has an awfully quiet house now. Goodnight Jayce, Love to you all.

Amazing Apple Dumplings

While I give credit for this recipe to PioneerWomanCooks.com, I have found this same recipe from several other folks who have made this amazing and wonderful fruit dessert. I have made this recipe three times in the last week, I must stop or things are going to get uglier than they already are. Here is the following recipe:

2 cans of refrigerated crescent rolls

2 granny smith apples

2 sticks real butter, salted

1 1/2 cups sugar

cinnamon to taste

1 12 oz. can Mtn. Dew (not diet)

Peel and core the apples, then slice each into 8 slices for a total of 16 slices. Unroll the crescent rolls, each one forms a triangle, so place the appleslice at the wide end and roll up into a precious little bundle. Place each bundle in a buttered 9x13 size pan, continue until you have all 16 bundles wrapped and neatly tucked into the pan. Then, in a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the 2 sticks of butter and add the sugar and cinnamon to taste, just mix a little, this can be lumpy and bumpy, it's ok. Pour this melty, buttery, sugary sauce over the dumplings in the pan. Then, final step, open and pour the entire can of Mtn Dew around the edges of the pan. That's right use the whole can, it will be soupy and sloshy, but it will make a delicious sauce that our little beauties will soak in. Finally bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm and to cut the sweetness, just add vanilla ice cream. While the cinnamon rolls were from Satan's sister, these little jewels are a bit of Heaven, maybe they are little angel poops, okay this probably grossed most of you out, call them angel kisses if you have a thing against bm's.

These were so easy and so tasty, make them for someone you love today or someone you want to impress, like your boss. Look forward to a new blog from me, hopefully soon. I will be formatting a new blog site with lots of pictures and recipes, exclusive to cooking. Many from my top secret cook book. Love to you all!!