In the New Year

The weight of this week's snow on our arborvitae.

We wish you and yours many blessings and joy in the New Year!  

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.  

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You are doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself.  Make new mistakes.  Make glorious, amazing mistakes.  Make mistakes nobody has made before.  Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work, or family, or life. 

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, do it. 

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

- Neil Gaiman

Christmas Penguin Things

Not all penguins are Christmas Penguins.

But at Christmastime the Christmas-y penguins seem to make themselves known.  And since we happen to have a lover of all things penguin in our household... the penguins are sprinkled around the house in various Christmas glory.  They warm our hearts and make us smile.  Hopefully, they will bring a smile to your face as well.

 

Loving penguins on the bed.

No penguin nativity but our penguin
keeps watch on the Christ child.

Cookie jar and penguin of HOPE.

2012 additions to our Christmas tree.
There are at least 10 other penguins on our tree.

Gotta keep squeaky clean!

Keith's sister got him this motley line-up
this year as part of his gift.  Great job!!

Advent Candles

Really liking this song as we add a verse each week at church:

V1: We light the Advent candles against the winter night to welcome our Lord Jesus, who is the world's true light; to welcome our Lord Jesus, who is the world's true light.

V2: The first one will remind us that Christ will soon return. We light it in the darkness to watch it gleam and burn; we light it in the darkness to watch it gleam and burn.

V3:  We light the second candle and hear God's holy word.  It tells us, cling to Jesus, prepare to meet your Lord; it tells us, cling to Jesus, prepare to meet your Lord.

V4:  Three candles now are gleaming and show us the true way. Rejoice, the Baptist cries out; your Lord has come today; Rejoice, the Baptist cries out; your Lord has come today!

V5 (for next week): Four candles burning brightly announce that Christ has come.  Prepare, my heart, believe it, and give the Christ child room; Prepare, my heart, believe it, and give the Christ child room!

Marching Band

There are 150 high schoolers with whom Keith spends the better part of six days a week from mid-July to mid-November.  This is in preparation for the highly competitive marching band season that takes on a way higher precedent than merely performing during football games on Friday nights.

This year's show was titled "Unchained" with Unchained Melody as the soft, sweet ballad for the show.  Band parents run fundraiser after fundraiser and spend long hours building props, making food and tending to the kids needs.  Keith and the other devoted band directors bring in talented staff to design concepts for the show to make it truly an experience for the band kids - from a week long Band Camp to the last show at Grand Nationals in Indianapolis.

The kids perform tirelessly for these four months.  Keith loves working with the kids is always excited for the next achievement the group will hurdle.  His thoughts and actions are consumed 100% by this activity... as this is what he expects from the kids, too.  I got the pleasure of being absorbed by the magnitude of this organization by helping out with the colorguard for a some practices and competitions.  We consider ourselves blessed. It is amazing what these kids can do!

Opening set of this year's show as
guard surrounds with chains. 

Colorguard photo op.

CCMB on field for awards in Akron.

Grand Nationals in Indianapolis.

On the Road: License Plates

Our Thanksgiving journeys took us on a 12 hour road trip one-way to North Carolina's Outer Banks.  The weather was lovely and the company was even lovelier.  Keith's sister, Sara, is a wonderful host and kept us well-fed and well-entertained in the OBX.  We are so thankful that she made our visit so special.

BUT she was not along for the drive where we had to keep ourselves entertained.
We listened to a book-on-CD.  We talked to each other. We played trivia games. We listened to the Browns beat the Steelers! (Woohoo)  And we resorted to a casual version of " The License Plate Game" - you remember this seek-and-find game as a kid, right?  'Casual' just means we didn't keep score ... but I probably I won because I found Alaska (10 bonus points)!

States we drove through:

License Plates we saw:

South Carolina, Delaware, Michigan, Missouri, South Dakota, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Florida, New York, Texas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio and Alaska

Wow! Everyone is on the road for Thanksgiving weekend.  But not so many got to see this and the waves of the Atlantic crash on the beach...

Beautiful Jeanette's Pier in Nags Head. 

... more reason to be thankful! 

Autumn Things

Mums, autumn leaves, candles and
apple garland decorate our mantle.

Autumn is wonderful!  It seems to be perfectly designed by our Creator as a seasonal link between summer and winter.  The life and vibrancy of summer melt into the richness of autumn's colors. And the blazing fire of colors of autumn will fall to the smoky white of winter's covering.

As Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
"Where waving woods and waters wild, do hymn an autumn sound."

Although the leaves aren't as awe-inspiring as they were three weeks ago, the air is still crisp and fall colors are still prominent.  Apples and pumpkin goodies are still on menus or even right up front at the grocery store.  Thanksgiving reminds us of warmth and sharing the bounty of an autumn harvest.  It is most certainly true that in a week or so it will be all about winter and Christmas. Even I am guilty of pushing the seasons forward to Christmas by listening to 93.3FM, which is already all Christmas songs, but let's take a moment or two to enjoy the last of fall that remains.  For it is said that "nothing gold can stay".

Pumpkin still looks great on the front porch. 

Kale will give us nice color
even as the rest of the ground looks barren.

Our 3rd anniversary this week is a great time
to celebrate and transition to cozy winter months.

On the Road: IKEA

We've had many a conversation in our house like this:  "We should go to IKEA sometime."  "Yeah, we should."  But this past weekend, we actually did go to IKEA.

Our journeys took us south to the Cincinnati area for AJ & Anna's wedding - a perfect match made in Drum Corps heaven.  The love of the Glassmen family around Anna & AJ was everywhere including the colors, the music, the wedding party and the guests.   On the drive to the wedding, our conversation went more like this: "Should we have cleared out space in the car so we could buy some things at IKEA?"  "Yeah, we should have."

Beautiful wedding with very beautiful people.

Okay... If you have never been to IKEA, to say it is massive is an understatement.  This Scandinavian Home Superstore has a showroom with designated areas for every area in your home. I got really inspired and wanted to take everything home with me.  Textiles, bedding, kitchenwares, living rooms, office, lighting, wall art, curtains, bedrooms, bathrooms, gadgets, sofas, marketplace... have to buy the Swedish meatballs.   

There is a huge restaurant. It is cafeteria-style and really affordable with kids play area.  We got bacon, eggs, potatoes, french toast sticks, Swedish pancakes, and two coffees for $7.19!

The kitchen showroom area had the most beautiful tablescapes.  This was one of my favorites- all decked for Christmas.

Waiting at checkout.  We had a full cart ready to try to get into the car. 

Carrie's Baby Shower

Now that the debut of Sweet Baby James is less than two months away, we had to have a wonderful celebration.  And it was so wonderful! With lots of love, joy, and crafting, a baby shower for Carrie and Jimmy's lil pumpkin was a success. 

Carrie's mom and Aunt Rosemary did so much for the event to be perfectly organized. It was at the lovely Country Club of Hudson on a beautiful autumn day. It really couldn't have been better. Cortney helped with the set up and Karen was ready for the games. Kate's prayer reminded us how much love surrounds Sweet Baby James and his whole family. God's love is certainly with them.

 

This baby is so LOVED!



Aunties!!




Grandmas!














Chase is on the move!



Columbus Oktoberfest

Time for our favorite fall festival... Oktoberfest!  So much for us to see, hear, taste and enjoy.  With free admission, we eagerly picked up my brother by car (parking $8) and headed out to the fairgrounds.

Brass Band of Columbus

First up on the entertainment schedule was to hear the Brass Band of Columbus in Prost Hall.  Wow! They were much larger ensemble than I expected and played a variety of wonderful songs from "Roll Out the Barrel" to "Across the Field"  to "God Bless America."   Their concert was enjoyed by young and old... the German and the not so German.

Yummm... cream puffs!

I just had to venture over to the Heidelberg Bier Hall to see the Cream Puff Eating contest.  Again, wow!  This is the stuff you don't wake up thinking you will get to witness, but you do.

We did not wander around Kinderplatz this year (though it is usually a must go stop for me, I love seeing the kids run all over and all the neat kids events they have) but instead stopped at the Columbus Historical Society area and found this lovely display case full of Columbus memorabilia:

Old matchbooks from restaurants all over town... including Dalts.  Do you remember that place?  How about the totem-like cups from the Kahiki?  Old plaques from Schmidts and a coffee mug from White Castle.

My husband sitting with my brother; can you guess
which one could be a professional photo-bomber? 

Something New: Address Stamp

There is so much excitement in regards to our new return address stamp, I really don't know where I should begin.
For a wedding gift from our wonderful friend, Christin, we receiving a lovely return address stamp.  We even used it in our wedding ceremony programs:

This is in the TOP 5 of favorite KJ wedding pics. 

So honestly when we moved this year, I was in panic mode for getting a new stamp-er.  I wanted it to be just as pretty as the one Christin got us (seen above).  But since you can remove the address part, I thought you could just buy the replacement address part.  Not so.  You have to buy the whole $45 +shipping thing!

See... the address is separate
from the center.  All parts are removable
and therefore replaceable? Nope.

As a bargain girl, I waited for what seemed like forever for the stampers to go on sale.  25% off, yes please. So I made the order over the phone because the address can only have 55 characters around the circle and with "Grandview Heights" in there I knew it would be over that limit. The girl on the phone was nice and said it was all fine.  Seven days later the stamp arrived (yay!) but with no "OH" on the address (boo!).  I called again and they were so nice.  They said it was a quick fix and not my fault so another seven days later our new one arrived, free of charge.  I guess we got two for the price of one!

Good news for you... from now until September 18th, they are on sale for 40% off! Wow!  Just click the PSA link and pick out your favorite.  You don't have to phone in your order, like I did, online orders are just as easy.

PSA Essentials - Harrington Stamp - Expressionery

Ready to send letters! Notice the new MLB All-Stars postage.

From the Kitchen: Apple Pie Bars

I am not a baker.  I like to cook but not measure... so therefore I am not a baker.

Yes, I like cheddar with my apple pie!

But inspired by my recent Julie & Julia viewing and the amazing fall weather we had this weekend, I wanted to bake an apple pie.  So, I looked up some recipes for apple pie, caramel apple pie, apple strudel pie and then found this:  Apple Pie Bars.

I thought, "This is perfect because it is so much more portable than a slice of pie... and given that the two of us probably won't eat a whole pie in one weekend these pieces can be packed in lunches much more easily. Plus I have all the ingredients (except cornflakes) so I won't have to put on socks, shoes, and a sweatshirt to go to the store... I can start now.  Hooray!"

Ready for the PASTRY

1 egg, separated, reserve the egg white

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold butter, cut into chunks

Heat oven to 350°F. Beat egg yolk in small bowl. Add 1/2 cup milk; mix well. Set aside.

Combine flour and salt in medium bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in egg yolk mixture with fork until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half.

... but 30 minutes of mixing butter and flour
then adding the egg yolk mixture,
I finally had a dough ball.

"Cut in butter" sounds so simple...

Roll out half the dough on a floured surface into a 15x10-inch rectangle or blob; place onto ungreased 15x10x1 jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with cornflakes or better yet, walnuts and oatmeal; top with sliced apples.

Did I mention I don't have a rolling pin?
I used a drinking glass. 

Walnuts and oatmeal add a crunchy base.

Ready for the FILLING

1 cup crushed corn flakes  walnuts and oatmeal

8 to 10 medium (8 cups) tart cooking apples, peeled, sliced

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 reserved egg white

2 tablespoons sugar

Combine 1 cup sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and nutmeg in small bowl. Sprinkle over apples. Roll remaining half of dough into 15 1/2x10 1/2-inch rectangle; place over apples.
Beat reserved egg white with fork until foamy; brush over top crust. Combine remaining cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar in small bowl; sprinkle over crust. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until lightly browned.

Ready for the GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Combine powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk for desired glazing consistency.  Drizzle over warm bars. 

Yum!!!

The Land O Lakes website says 5 grams of fat and 140 calories per bar.  Awesome... how big is a bar???