Grandma's Rhubarb Cake

Topping

1 1/4 c. Sugar

1/3 c. Flour

1/2 t. Cinnamon

1/2 t. Nutmeg

6 T. Butter or Oleo (softened)

1 c. Chopped Nuts

Combine all ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter, set aside.

Cake

2 c. Flour

1/2 c. Sugar

1 t. Baking Powder

1 t. Salt

2 T. Butter or Oleo (cold)

1 c. Milk

1 Egg

4 c. Fresh Rhubarb

1 pkg. (3 oz.) Raspberry or Strawberry Jell-o

Method

Grease 9x13" pan. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. Add milk and egg, mix well. Pour batter into pan. Spoon rhubarb evenly over batter. Sprinkle dry jell-o over rhubarb. Sprinkle topping on and bake 40-45 minutes at 375 degrees or until topping is light golden brown and rhubarb is bubbly. If fresh rhubarb is not available 2 cups (20 oz. pkg.) of frozen rhubarb thawed and drained can be used.

This cake is a family tradition for us. Grandma used to make it every year when the rhubarb was ready for picking. I just made it for the first time myself and it was so yummy. We enjoy it warm with vanilla ice cream. Let me know how you like it if you try it!

Missing You

Helloooooo! Long time, no crafting, eh?! I just thought I'd pop in and post this sweet little card I made for a small swap I participated in with some of my girlie-friends. The swap was for kid-cards, and I took my inspiration from a little girl I know who saw two of her besties move away within the last year or so.

I have more stuff (cards and embroidery and floral arranging of all things) to post as soon as I get my act together and get organized around here. I've been busy painting and organizing and my craft room is next in line for a make over. Maybe I'll share a few pics when I'm done. It's nothing special, but it's mine and I love it. Or I will once it's all clean and organized again!

Happy stamping!

A Mother's Day Wish From Heaven

A Mother's Day Wish From Heaven
By Jody Seilheimer


Dear Mr. Hallmark,

I am writing to you from heaven, and though it must appear
A rather strange idea, I see everything from here.
I just popped in to visit, your stores to find a card
A card of love for my mother, as this day for her is hard.

There must be some mistake I thought, every card you could imagine
Except I could not find a card, from a child who lives in heaven.
She is still a mother too, no matter where I reside
I had to leave, she understands, but oh the tears she’s cried.

I thought that if I wrote you, that you would come to know
That though I live in heaven now, I still love my mother so.
She talks with me, and dreams with me; we still share laughter too,
Memories our way of speaking now, would you see what you could do?

My mother carries me in her heart, her tears she hides from sight.
She writes poems to honor me, sometimes far into the night
She plants flowers in my garden, there my living memory dwells
She writes to other grieving parents, trying to ease their pain as well.

So you see Mr. Hallmark, though I no longer live on earth
I must find a way, to remind her of her wondrous worth
She needs to be honored, and remembered too
Just as the children of earth will do.

Thank you Mr. Hallmark, I know you’ll do your best
I have done all I can do; to you I’ll leave the rest.
Find a way to tell her, how much she means to me
Until I can do it for myself, when she joins me in eternity.

Timmy the Goat

Does the little boy on the cover of this book look familiar to you? Depending on how long you've been reading my blog, you may recognize him as our son Henry. We lost Henry almost 18 months ago to a rare genetic disease that we didn't know existed until after his death. One of the many ways we are working to keep Henry's memory alive is by writing a series of children's books. The series is called "The Adventures of Henry", and this is the first book in the series: Timmy the Goat. The books are fully illustrated, and include teachable topics in the back to help engage your little ones and teach them about the different animals and terms in the book. The story itself is a bedtime story that Henry created with his Papa. They used to tell it every night before bed; it was one of his favorites.

The profits from the sale of this book are being donated to the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). Each book will benefit a different cause, as we try to help other families out there who are living with rare diseases in their children.

How can you help? Well, there are lots of ways. Here are a few thoughts:

1. Buy a book! The book costs $14.99 + S/H, and is available for sale at the Adventures of Henry website we have created for the series, or at Amazon.com. Don't have any little ones that you need gifts for? Consider buying a copy to donate to a local library or elementary school, OR, if you'd like, you can purchase a copy to be donated to a child who is currently admitted to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and we will deliver it with a card noting your donation with or without your name attached - it's up to you if you want to remain anonymous.
   
2. Share this blog post with friends. Feel free to copy and paste all of my text onto your own blog post, or share the link on your Facebook page, or email any friends/family/co-workers who may be interested.
   
3. Join the Adventures of Henry group on Facebook, and suggest that your friends do the same if you are comfortable doing so. Anything, great or small, that helps us get the word out about our series and our story would be awesome. We'd love to see the books all over the country, and would love to make a huge impact at CCFA and other organizations that help children who are suffering from rare diseases.

This is a labor of love, and is benefitting a great cause in memory of one of the sweetest little boys. Henry's famous line was, "be good to the aminals!" He loved his animal friends at the zoo (we visited daily!), and was always looking out for their welfare. We're so proud to be able to honor him in this way, and hopefully help other families before they walk the road of bereavement we're walking now.

Thank you so much for your help, whether it's joining the Adventures of Henry Facebook group, a purchase for yourself or someone else, or a prayer for healing, it all means the world to us.

God bless,

GLEE Notecards

Do any of you watch the tv show GLEE? Do you love it? I like it. A lot. It's kind of a love/hate relationship for me though. I love the songs and the dancing, but the plot lines sometimes are just too far out there for me. I'm not sure how I feel about some of the things the teachers and students are saying to each other in school, etc., but it's fun to watch and they do have some hilarious quotes in the show.

One of my girlfriends recently had a "Glee" themed birthday party, and I wanted to get a gift that tied in with that theme. I searched Etsy for stuff, not sure what I was looking for exactly or what I would find. Turns out you don't find a whole lot on that topic. The only matches that came up were for notecards with quotes on them. I was *this close* to ordering some when it occurred to me that I, too, make cards.

*facepalm* Doh!

So, I whipped up a quick set of six for her. My original intent was to keep them all very simple, similar to the Lady and the Tramp card, but with different colored bases and ribbons. As I got started I decided to embellish a little more, but they still are pretty basic. I think I finished all six in about an hour and a half tops. I have been out of the loop for so long, I forgot to take nice pictures, but I did take some quick snapshots with my phone, so I'll share those:


I seriously have no idea who she would send these to other than another "Gleek", but I still think they're fun. And, it was fun to be stamping again, too. I joined a card swap recently, so it's a good little warm up for me before I have to get started on that next project.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

I just got an envelope from my friend (and Pampered Chef consultant) Jackie yesterday, and in it was the current Season's Best Recipe Collection. In that booklet, I found this recipe and I knew I had to make it. Like, NOW.

The best part was that I had just about all the ingredients on hand (LOVE when that happens, by the way). I'm a sucker for a Rice Crispy treat, and love those ones with the melted butterscotch and chocolate chips on top (we call them "Scotcheroos" in our family, but I've seen different names).

This recipe makes a bar that is kind of a cross between a Rice Crispy treat and a Take 5 candy bar. NOM! It's the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 c. Dry-Roasted Peanuts, coarsely chopped

1 2/3 c. Coarsely Crushed Pretzels, divided

3 c. Crisp Rice Cereal

3/4 c. Butter, divided

1 bag (10.5 oz) Mini-Marshmallows

1/2 c. Light Corn Syrup, divided

1 bag (10 oz.) Peanut Butter Morsels

1 c. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Start by mixing 1 1/3 c. of the coarsely crushed pretzels (reserving 1/3 c. for later use) and the rice cereal in a large bowl. Melt 6 T. of butter, then add marshmallows and heat/stir until marshmallows are completely melted. Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal mixture and stir well (Hint: spray your spatula with non-stick cooking spray before mixing - that way it won't stick to the spoon). Spread mixture into the Pampered Chef Medium Sheet Pan, if you have one, otherwise a 9x13 pan would work as well. It should look something like this: Next, combine 2 T. of butter and half of your corn syrup until melted, stirring often. Stir in the peanut butter chips and mix until all the chips have melted. The mixture will be very thick - almost like real peanut butter (which kind of made me wonder why they didn't just use real peanut butter, but whatever. It probably wouldn't set up right). Spread the peanut butter mixture over the Rice Crispy base like so:

Finally, combine the remaining butter and corn syrup and melt it. Once melted, add the chocolate chips (sneak a few as a snack, I always do). Stir until all the chips have melted, then spread evenly over the peanut butter mixture. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and reserved pretzels. You can either stick it in the freezer for 5-10 mins to set the chocolate, or just let it set on the counter if you have the time and/or willpower to wait longer before you eat it. When all is said and done, it should look like this:

Yield: 24 bars Serving: 2 bars (LOVE that part)

Calories per serving: 260 (are you KIDDING me? That's awesome for as good as this tastes)

Total Fat: 12g

Sat. Fat: 9g

Cholesterol: 15mg

Carbs: 35g (Seriously, if you're worried about carbs, why are you making this?)

Protein: 4g

Sodium: 410mg

Fiber: 1g

As I was eating my first piece, I was thinking that if you really wanted to knock this out of the park and impress your friends, you could stop after the peanut butter step, then cut into small bite sized squares and set them in the freezer to set. Then, instead of making the ganache, melt a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1-2 T of shortening (to thin it) and DIP the frozen squares in the chocolate (OMG), then roll them in the pretzel/peanut mix (though your pretzels would have to be way small for this to work properly).

*drool*

Enjoy, and as always, let me know if you try it. Also, if you're in need of a Pampered Chef lady, take a peek at my friend Jackie's page. She is very sweet, and goes out of her way for her customers. I really can't say enough good about her. I don't get anything for it, so please don't think I'm trying to sell something. I just like to enable people, that's all.

Party Like A Jedi

My littlest boy turned three yesterday(!), and to celebrate we had a little "Yoda Party". Jack is very much his own person with a stubborness I have never seen before in any child (although if you ask my mother she may claim to have had one other experience with such a streak, but I have no idea what she is talking about). When grandma asked if we were going to eat before we opened gifts, I thought, yeah, right. Sure enough, as soon as the gifts started coming in, he was having a fit because he couldn't open them. If this first picture was a a video clip you'd be hearing "WHAZZINDERR? WHAZZINDERR??" over and over and over and over and, well, you get the picture....


How sad he looks while he stands guard to make sure no one takes his beloved Yoda bag (which, by the way, has become as much of a toy for him as the toys it contained). Jackie got lots of fun gifts, including some books we've been wanting (Llama, Llama, Red Pajama, and Oh, The Places You'll Go) and both LOVE, some Star Wars guys, clothes, a Star Wars chair, a Hot Wheels track, etc., etc., etc.... and this light saber from grandma. Never mind that that is one child. With six light sabers. He neeeeeeds them, don't you know?! We will soon be holding Jedi training for the block. Watch your mailbox for info... (heh.)

Here is a picture of our traditional cupcake tower. I cheated this year and bought these cupcakes rather than making them. I felt like a bad mom, but everyone lived through it so I guess it wasn't so bad. And, most importantly, Jack absolutely loved the "Darf Ader" cupcakes. He still carries that candle holder around with him (in the aforementioned Yoda bag) and thinks it's a toy. Remind me again why I buy this child expensive gifts when he's happy with a gift bag and a candle holder?!

His favorite part of the whole day, however, was NOT Darf Ader. It was NOT Yoda, nor even the gifts. It was all of us singing the Happy Birthday song. :) He demanded an encore. And then another. I'll bet it was the most curtain calls many of us - myself included - have ever gotten. We finally video taped it the third time around because he was so stinkin' cute the way he'd run around laughing and dancing and then clap at the end. I'll have to remember to share it once I get it uploaded to YouTube... Here we are with his godfather, Tod, clapping after the first round of song... Aaaaand here we are with our Star Wars hat (a.k.a. my table centerpiece). And what, you ask, is that underneath it? That would be his train shaped Easter basket. Because he thinks that - and just about everything else - is also a hat. This from the child that would NOT wear a hat for love nor money for a full two and half years (once he could reach it to pull it off). I also love this picture because I feel like it's a foreshadowing of photos I will see some twenty years from now after other parties where maybe a little too much fun was had.

Mama.... Where am I? What time is it? I had the craziest dream. There was all this singing, and all these light sabers and I think we demolished the dark side....




Yes, yes you did, little man....

Thank goodness the galaxy is safe once again!

More Towels...

Thought I'd take a minute to share another embroidery project I finished recently. This is a set of three towels I made for a girlfriend for her birthday. She and her fiance have a cottage up north, so I opted for a wildlife theme. I love the way these turned out - especially the Canadian geese on the moose towel. I've switched from using three strands of DMC to two, and love the cleaner lines it gives me!

I have a couple more embroidery projects in mind as well as a few crocheting projects, and need to make a couple cards in the near future, too. OH! And I have some yummy recipes to share as well. Hopefully that means the blog will see a little more action in the coming weeks!



These were all made using Aunt Martha's Northwoods Lodge (#3999) pattern set.

The pheasant (above) is not pictured on the front of the package, but was included as a "bonus" inside. I've been using this brand of transfers for years, and that's the first time I've ever seen them include a bonus image. Not that I'm complaining, because the pheasant is one of my favorites in the group!

My mother had serious issues with that moose (above).

Mom: "Why don't you give him an eye? He needs an eye."

Me: "Mom. It's an outline. There's no eye in the pattern."

Mom: "You can add things that aren't in the pattern you know."

Me: *sigh* "Yes, I know. But it wouldn't look right."

Mom: "Oh, sure. The deer gets an eye..."

Joy! Joy! Joy?

Jack and I were watching a new show on Netflix on Demand (love that, by the way) today. I don't know the exact name of it, but it's something similar to Baby Einstein except with a Christian theme. This particular one was about the story of Jonah and the Whale (or "Big Fish" if you want to get technical, which they apparently do not). Most of the show is filled with instrumental music of songs that I remember from Sunday School, but at one point children start singing along to one, so I decided to sing along with them.

"I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart! Down in my heart, down in my heart!"

Jack loves when I sing, and tries to mimic me with words a few seconds too late and knee slaps a bit off beat, but he's so stinkin' cute those things don't even matter. He's smiling and laughing and I'm smiling and singing....

"...and I'm so haappy! So very haaaappy!....."

We're really on a roll here!

"....I've got the love of Je *sniff* s *sob* us in *sob*..."

Aaaaaand I can barely choke out that last sentence because I am bursting into tears. Jack looks at me like I have three heads and two of them just managed to spontaneously combust. Not only did I muff the song and further disrupt his knee-slapping, belly laughing fervor, I started *crying*! In a song about JOY!

HELLO, MAMA! We're singing about JOY here!! DuH! I can just read it on his face...

My little man does not realize yet that there are happy tears and sad tears. He doesn't understand the feeling that you are losing every single thing you love in the world, and the only thing you have to hold on to is that love of Jesus this very song sings about that is etched deep in your heart. He doesn't realize how very much that love means to you on your darkest days, nor how you're really not entirely sure you could survive without it. I remember the doctor coming in to tell us they had done all they could do for Henry. When he left, the first thing I said to my husband was "Thank God I was raised in Faith." Because I knew then that I needed the assurance of Jesus and His word to get me through that day, and every other day for the rest of my life.

I am grateful for the diligence of my mom and grandparents who insisted I attend worship every. single. week. (sometimes two or three times a week!) as a child and young adult. We lived in the country, and I can remember massive snow storms that my grandpa would drive through to get me to Sunday School, when even city kids were absent. God bless you, Grandpa. You didn't know it then, but every trip you took added up and you may have single handedly saved my life some thirty years later.

When we would ride in to town, I would sit next to Grandpa and sing to him for the duration of the whole 20 minute trip. I would be willing to bet that I even sang this song a dozen or more times. Who knew how it would define me all these years later? Grandpa always loved listening to me sing - he encouraged it. His favorite song for me to sing was "I'm in the Lord's Army (Yes, Sir!)" I still remember the whole (short) song, and it brings tears to my eyes to even think of it because he loved it that much. As a military man himself, I think he could relate to it. It said what needed to be said, and was short, direct, and to the point, much like himself. His least favorite song for me to sing was The First Noel. Because he said I was always off pitch on it. He was a military man and a painter by trade, but he couldn't sing a note so I blame his ear rather than my voice.

Ha. Kidding, Grandpa. Just kidding.

Anyhow, when you look at me, or read my blog, or hear me talk, and think, I just don't know how she does it... Remember this blog post. Remember Jesus. He is how I do it. He is my strength.

I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery. I may never fly o'er the enemy, but I'm in the Lord's army. Yes Sir!...

Love and Laughter

For those who don't know me and haven't heard the news, I'll admit it here: I have loved John Ritter my entire life. Some of my earliest memories include watching Three's Company with my mom, and although I didn't get most of the jokes and inuendos until years later, Jack and his antics had me rolling from day one. I was obsessed, and credit Mr. Ritter (along with my grandparents and mom who are all downright hilarious in their own right) with being much of my comedic inspiration in life. I have followed his career religiously, catching sitcoms, movies, and interviews whenever possible. The fact that I have a child named Jack is no coincidence. I was even watching a Three's Company marathon in the hospital while I was in labor with Henry. Laughter truly is the best medicine, and despite all I have been through, I still agree with that statement. That, and: sometimes you have to laugh just to keep from crying.

When I read about the release of this book, I knew I needed to read it. The last few chapters of the book hit closest to home as they detailed the events of the days surrounding John's death and then the emotions his wife faced afterwards. It's the first book I've ever read about grief and loss that I could have written myself. It's refreshing to me to read about other people who try to laugh and live through their pain. So many books I've read about bereaved parents talk about people who could not listen to music ever again, or could not bring themselves to laugh for at least ten years, etc. I will not judge them, because every grief process is different, but I truly felt like I was either defective or in denial. It turns out I am neither (the first being more debatable than the second). She spoke about how much heavier she felt after John's death. About how gravity seemed to have a greater pull on her, which is not unlike my post about The Weight of Grief. That alone gave me comfort. She went on to describe her grief process in ways that were nearly identical to mine. The trudging forward, despite wanting to curl up and cry. The days when we let ourselves do just that. The hope with which we look to the future, and ways we try to keep the memory of our loved ones - in her case a husband, in mine, a son - alive.

Amy wrote, "My life now is not what I expected when John and I fell in love. It's not what I intended, nor what I was creating. Gravity took the life I imagined and added its own spin. The struggle is accepting that fact and still finding beauty and meaning in what remains."

Amen, sister.

She also included in her book a portion of a letter that John wrote to his daughter Carly, two years (to the day) before he died. In it, he quotes Thornton Wilder's famous novel The Bridge Over St. Luis Re. In his letter, John was relating the quote to the attacks on the Word Trade Center (the letter was written the day of the attacks, September 11, 2001. He died two years later on September 11, 2003, which also happened to be his daughter Stella's fifth birthday). The excerpt reads:

But soon we will die, and all memories of those five will have left Earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for awhile and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living in a land of the dead and the bridge is love. The only survival, the only meaning.

Beautiful, isn't it?

I loved reading about John and his family. Like so many others, I always felt like he was a part of my own family. I was surprised to learn that he could not cook. *grin* I guess the naivete of childhood had engrained the idea of Jack Tripper going to cooking school equating to John Ritter learning as well. I love that his family has become so active in informing others about aortic aneurysms and dissection, even lending the family name to the "Ritter Rules", a list of guidelines about the disease. It reminds me in many ways of how active my husband has become in the world of primary immune deficiencies. The world has lost some precious boys here, but in their absense has gained advocates for some very worthy causes and hopefully in doing so has saved several other people from the same fate.