Wow! There is a sun!

We saw the sun today!  Yea!  I just sat with my face towards the window for a few minutes to soak up the warmth of the sun this afternoon.  Today the kids and I cleaned under beds and vacuumed floors, took down Christmas and boxed it up for next year.  We opened all of the blinds and dusted them off.  I opened curtains and then I realized...my house has been neglected for a long time!  I could really see the dust now!  

The snow has stopped and now we can see just how much we got over the 3 days of snow.  Our house is in piles of drifts!  Tonight while I was driving home from the grocery store I was thinking about the movie "Fargo".  Have you seen "Fargo"?  There are some scenes where they are driving and all you can see is snow and flat for miles.  That is what the landscape reminded me of tonight.  Snow as far as the eye can see.  

In the midst of our cleaning today, Grace put in her new Taylor Swift cd that she got for Christmas....just as loud as she could crank it too!  It was so funny because she was singing as loud if not louder than the cd player.  We ALL now know the words to "Love Story" and "15" and every other song on the cd.  After she cleaned her room, she then went down stairs and made a Mii on the Wii that is named Taylor S.  I think she is channeling Taylor Swift at this point.  But hey, her room is clean!

Tomorrow we are going to be making treats to take for a couple of New Years Eve parties.  One of the things we are going to make is Cherry Squares.  These are Jerry's favorite treat and a recipe that I have adapted from his mom.  When ever he would go home on leave from the Air Force, she would have some of these waiting.  They are really easy and oh so yummy!  

Have a safe and wonderful New Year!

Cherry Squares (a recipe from my Mother-in-law Elaine)

2 sticks of butter (yes, butter!)

2 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

4 eggs

3 c. flour

2 cans of cherry pie filling

pinch of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

Cream together butter and sugar until they are smooth.  Then add the vanilla.  Mix in 1 egg at a time stirring constantly.  They key to this recipe is stirring and mixing.  It will be a cookie dough like batter.  Add flour 1 c. at a time.

Spread about 3/4 of the mixture onto a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet covering the bottom evenly.  Spoon on the 2 cans of pie filling over the dough.  Drop the remaining dough over the pie filling in "globs" (no other word to describe the look of this, sorry!) and try to smooth it out over the pie filling.  Bake this @ 350* for 45 minutes until the top is golden and you can see the sides golden. Pie filling will be bubbling.  

From my home to yours...Enjoy!

 

The Weather, always the weather!

As you may have heard, we were pounded with snow the last few days.  It started on Christmas Eve and really didn't let up until Sunday.  The totals for the snow are coming in anywhere from 18 to 22 inches in places.  It made for a really nice White Christmas, but oh my gosh, enough already!  Jerry and I were really glad that Santa brought a Wii for Christmas because it really helped keep the cabin fever at bay.  

But with snow comes freezing rain and cold.  Last night we had a power outage that was on and off all day.  It was really interesting, because just when you thought power was on and you could shower and use a hair dryer...not so much!  It was out.  Luckily, at about 9 pm it came on to stay and we were warm once again.  I sure hope at some point I get used to this country way of life.  I may need not just a bubble bath moment but a full size jetted tub moment!  

All in all, the snow has proven to make some pretty wicked snow hills for the kid's out on our 10 acres.  Jerry has been trying to keep ahead of the snow with the skid loader during our storm.  Coco loves the snow!  She feels like the queen of the hills!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family near and far!  I am starting this blogging adventure to see what I can accomplish by keeping everyone up to date on our fun filled, busy life here in Minnesota.  Oh, wait, that's pronounced Mini-so-dah.   We live 11 miles outside of a small Minnesota town called Marshall.  Small to me is less than 10,00.  Remember I'm a city girl!   

I also want to do this blog to share recipes with my family and friends that have shared with me for so many years.  So let's see what happens and take off!