Romney for President

My last post was Feb 1 and Russ has been nagging me to please put something else up.  He wasn’t particular fond of that post.  So since today two states do their Republican primary voting, I’ll do a post on Campaigning for Mitt Romney.

Russ and I have a Romney yard sign in our yard, and Russ has placed 21 other yard signs.  We also had 2,000 copies printed of a flier we made up.  We single-handedly handed out most of those.

We also make phone calls almost daily.  And when I say “we,” I mean Russ.  He calls daily.  I’ve only called once, but I did enjoy it. I do enjoy visiting with people. We've made over 2,000 calls.

On Feb. 15, we did early voting.  It was with great pleasure that I voted for Russ.  Yes, Russ!  He is running in the 2^nd Congressional District to be a Romney delegate.  

On Feb 20, we attended a Mitt Romney rally at Boyd’s Jig and Reel in the Old City of downtown Knoxville. After the event, a reporter asked if he could interview us.  He miked us and we each spent about 1-2 minutes telling “why” we supported Romney. Then the reporter asked us if we thought Tennessee was important in the primaries.  I answered briefly, and that’s all that showed up on the news, which was broadcast on WBIR, channel 9, at 11 p.m.  It’s about three words worth, but we are seen sitting at a table earlier. You can check it out here: http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=206886

I belong to two FB Groups supporting Mitt Romney for President.  I wanted to share two pictures that members of the group designed.  The first one is by Sal Velluto.  I promised him I would mention his fund raiser when I shared his picture.  Go here to see more about his fund raiser: http://mittfitts.com/support-mitt-romney-purchase-the-original-art/

Dan Barker made up a mosaic using FB pictures of many of the members of our FB Group, “I Stand With Mitt Romney.”  If you enlarge the pix and then use a magnifying glass, you can see pix of me and Russ.  It’s not our current FB pix, but the one before. We're on the left side of Mitt's face as you look at it - by his chin.

The very first picture in this blog is one of us with Mitt Romney taken back in May of 2011.  It was the very beginning.  Even before he had declared his intention to run for office.  We’ve stood with him ever since.  Go Mitt Romney -- all the way to the White House.

Where's the snow?

January is over, and I miss the snow. Where is the snow?  Oh, yes, I remember, it’s in Seattle, WA, Oregon, Utah, and other states.  From my previous posts, it’s evident that I LOVE SNOW.  I’m beginning to worry that I won’t see any in my yard this winter.  I prefer my snow in January, but I’ll take it right up to April. So come on snow, show yourself.

My daffodils are 8" tall and almost in bloom! 

 Even my tulips think it's spring.

End of an Era

An era has come and gone. Nineteen years ago when my first grandchild was born I purchased a nice wooden changing table and put up in my (large) laundry room. I filled the shelves with diapers, burp cloths, ointments, thermometer, nose-suction bulb, even small toys to distract a baby having his diaper changed. I had every size of diaper, including pull-ups. I had small blankets and large ones. It all fit nicely on the two roomy shelves. And when the grandchildren or nieces and nephews visited from out of state, my changing table was ready for them.

But now…….yes, now. Now the youngest grandchild that lives in town is three years old. She’s passed even the pull-up stage. So I felt it was time to make a change and reorganize. I found that the changing table fits nicely into the laundry room closet, so I cleaned the shelves bare and put it in there. Next I turned it into a wrapping center, holding tissue paper, wrapping paper, bows, boxes, gift bags, etc. But I’m a little bit sad that our diaper-changing years have gone for the most part.

What’s that? Yes, down the road if we have a quiver full of great grandchildren, I’ll pull the changing table out and turn it back to what it was originally purchased for.

Cleaned out baby changing table



This plaque reminds me of what it is really all about; it stays

  

Bare spot where changing table used to be

My new wrapping closet

Ta-da!!

Christmas in Tennessee 2011

Christmas activities from the first of December to the end of December

Our Christmas gift to each other was this outdoor Nativity - It's beautiful in daylight or night

Attending Emma's School Orchestra Concert

Emma plays the violin

Afton, Lydia, Josh, and Claire decorate our tree this year

We are pleased with the results

Attending Tanner and Sydney's piano recital

Hosting the Empty Nester's Christmas Dinner

Attending Carter's School Band Concert - Carter on Percussion

Hot chocolate after Christmas caroling

 
                   Josh, Lydia, Ben, Afton    
                                                                                                            admire Polar Express          
                                                                                             

Traditional Nativity Pageant

Traditional Christmas Eve Photo of the women - me and my girls

Knowing Trey will be on his mission for the next two
Christmases, we took lots of pix with him 

Lunch at Aubrey's with Allie and Trey

This pix slipped out of
place, and I couldn't
get it back--kitchen table
setting for our
Empty Nester's
Christmas Dinner

Christmas Candy

I think making Christmas candy is one of the best traditions our family has. It has passed from generation to generation, picking up new recipes along the way. Some of my favorites include:

Bessie Thorpe’s Fudge
Double Decker Fudge
Peanut Butter Cups
English Toffee
Caramels
But today, I needed to come up with something really fast. I needed something with color to fill in a space next to the fudge, so I whipped up Cinnamon Hard Tack Clear Candy. It’s the easiest of all the candies to make. Here’s a tutorial, if you care to try it.

Mix all together in a heavy pan: 3 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup Karo Syrup, 1 cup water, stir to mix and then don't stir it again.  Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches the hard crack stage (300 degrees).  Use a candy thermometer.

While waiting for this to happen, spread tin foil on a cookie tin.

When the mixture reaches the hard crack stage, remove from heat and gently stir in 1 tsp. cinnamin oil and several drops of red food coloring--more or less depending on the color of red you want.

Pour the entire mixture evenly onto the cookie tin and let cool completely.

 Then sprinkle powdered sugar over it with a sieve.

Now take the heavy end of a table knife or a hammer and crack the cooled candy into pieces.



I love this nativity set my sister, Kathy, gave me years ago.

 Other ideas for flavors and colors: green, licorice; blue, anise

Thanksgiving 2011 Remembered -- a Pictorial

Here are some random pictures of our 2011 Thanksgiving.  I think the only picture I didn't get was one of our annual talent show, but trust me, it was great with singing, violin, piano, and summersaults--to name a few of the talents. Of course, there was the feast and the traditional free-throw basketball contest.  I love Thanksgiving and this year was extra special as our grandson, Trey, made a quick trip home  from BYU to be part of the tradition. 

The gang's all here



Claire and Lydia enjoy eating at their own little table



Fruit salad--a favorite of cousins Emma and Sydney



The kids' table

 

The women.....and girls

 

Trey takes his turn to try to win the free-throw contest



The men's free-throw challengers - - It's tradition



Grandma Thorpe's Recipe for rolls - yum!

Lori's Etsy Shop Give Away and November Roses

Lori has a great give away from her Etsy Shop, and I’m trying to enter every way I can for a better chance at winning, but you can do the same.  Click here or below to enter and see what a great selection the winner gets to choose from.

http://ammeandneb.blogspot.com/ 

I meant to post these pictures while it was still November, but somehow November slipped away from me. Don’t you just love having roses in November? Mine bloomed right up to the very end of the month and still have a bloom or two---even with freezing temps in the night and snow right around the corner.

Tennessee November Roses - Picture taken the end of November, 2011