Warming Up Any Way We Can

I drove to Kansas for a few days with my folks so we could spend time with my nieces during their spring break. Usually it is 10 - 15 degrees warmer down there than in Michigan, but this time it was cold! In fact, the sleet and snow came down the night before we were to come home. The roads were horrible, especially in Missouri, and we decided to stop driving when even the trucks were going 35mph. The heat was off in our hotel room when we arrived and I snapped a photo of my Mom trying to warm up under the curtains billowing out from the heater.

Leafy Cardigan

I finished my Wallaby sweater! A picture will come later since I need someone else to operate the camera if I'm wearing the sweater. I can post a picture of this baby sweater that I made for a friend's new baby. I like the leaves on the bottom.

Cheap Bathroom Makeover

I thought my bathroom cabinet needed some cheer. You know those beautiful pieces of paper that scrapbookers get to use? I bought 6 pieces at the craft store and some double sided tape. Now the inside of my bathroom cabinet looks like this:

Beautiful Friends

Last weekend I went to Lancaster, PA for the 40th birthday celebration for my friend, Beky. We've been friends since college days. Actually, I'm pretty sure we were also in the same cabin at Camp Friedenswald when we were kids, but we really became friends when we lived next door to each other as Freshmen at Bethel College. Our friend, Christy, flew with me from Chicago. These are the kind of friends that feel like family. We covered just about every topic we might need or want to talk about in the 3 days or so that we were together. It is great to have friends who have known me for so long and for whom time and distance cannot separate. I hope each of you are lucky enough to have such friends, and I am grateful to have that type of friendship with others out there as well. Thank you, my friends.

Dinner Ready When You Walk in the Door

I went to Kalamazoo for the afternoon, but first I put this in the crock pot. It was nice and hot when I got home!

Chicken and Barley
3 pounds skinless, bone-in chicken (or 1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts)
1 tsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp thyme
1 cup pearl barley
1 can (28 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth


Place chicken in crock pot. In saucepan on stove, saute onions, celery and bell peppers until softened. Add garlic, salt, pepper and thyme and cook 1 minute. Add barley and stir. Add tomatoes and wine or broth and bring to a boil. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.

Mmmmm...granola

This morning I made super-easy granola. Yum!

Granola With Almonds
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup light brown sugar
6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP vanilla
4 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 cup sliced almonds

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, butter, salt and vanilla. Add oats, wheat germ and almonds. Mix well and spread on cookie sheets. Bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir again. Cool completely.

Santa Must Be Real

After going to KS, I drove with Rodney, Carmina and my nieces back to Illinois for Christmas with my folks. From there we drove to Michigan for a couple of days and then on to Canada. We made it there in time for one of our favorite Christmas traditions: Christmas Eve service in Baden, Ontario with warm apple dumplings for dessert when we get home. Thanks, Aunt Gladys!

On Christmas morning we were surprised to discover that "Santa must be real because he ate some of the cheese and cookies and drank all of the milk." He even wrote a note to Ember and Cheyanne and SIGNED it!

Cheyanne's favorite present was the pretend ice cream that she got.

Ember's favorite present included body crayons, which were great entertainment on the 22 hour drive back to Kansas.