An Autumn Hayride for Snow White

Each Autumn friends from church invite the entire congregation to their farm for a hayride.  It is something the kids all really look forward to and the adults enjoy it as well.

This year the hayride wasn't on the usual wagon with hay bales.  It was a bit more uptown, having bench seats and everything.

We enjoyed entertainment from a real cowboy while we waited.  I like this photo.  Do you see the after-shine where the lasso had just been?  I thought that was cool.  I've no idea how that was captured but it no doubt has to do with my remarkable photography skills.  No?

For those of us who don't live on a farm, just seeing a horse close-up is a real treat.

These cows seemed a bit suspicious of me and were trying to get their babies closer to themselves.

I soon left as I didn't want to make them nervous.

Some of the kids enjoyed bobbing for apples.  I just thought they looked pretty.

We enjoyed our meal together, eating in one of their outbuildings.  It felt quite Western.

The best part for me, though, was the late arrival of Snow White.

After waiting and waiting and waiting for Halloween, Cordelia had been sick that day and missed out.  Her parents promised a Halloween II for her and last night was it.  They'd taken her trick-or-treating to a few prearranged homes before coming to the party.  She was so beautiful!  

For me, the thought of showing up at a party in a costume and discovering that everyone else was in regular clothes is rather a nightmare.  Not Cordelia, though.  She has great self-esteem and it did not bother her one little bit that she was the only one in costume.  I guess princesses are just used to standing out in a crowd.

Since she is a Wyoming Princess, adding a jean jacket to her gown seemed appropriate.

I loved this photo of my friend, Nicole, holding Elise.  Elise wasn't in the mood to wear her matching Snow White costume.  She carried off the casual princess look with class, though.

It was a peaceful and beautiful Wyoming evening. 

I wish everyone had a chance to experience this kind of evening in the middle of Wyoming.

The Face of Joy

May you be open to pure joy today.

Finding Your Strengths

Have any of you done the Myers-Briggs personality test?  If so, you'll know what I'm talking about if I tell you I am an ENFJ.  You?  Do you think your assessments were accurate?  I am about to embark on another journey to find my strengths.  At my age, I think I'm already pretty tuned in to what my strengths and weaknesses are, but I'm sure I've more to learn.

I am a board member for a non-profit organization.  We've decided, as a board, to each go through an assessment of our strengths. We then will try to learn ways to use our strengths.  That's the key, don't you think?  For instance, it does little good to learn that you are good at leadership if you never take a leadership role.  We are using a book by Tom Rath, called Strengths Finder 2.0 to do this.  I've not yet taken my online assessment nor have I read the book, but I've done a little sneak preview.

In the introduction of this book the author speaks of working with a team of Gallup scientists.  They began with a goal to "start a global conversation about what's right with people".  OK.  He went on to explain that they wanted to do something different than focusing on ways to fix people.  What they learned was that people have more potential for growth if, rather than trying to correct deficiencies, they were encouraged to use their time investing in their strengths.

So, now we kind of know the premise of this book.  Are any of you familiar with it?   I decided I wanted to document what I THINK my assessment will show before I even start.  I don't yet know how this program categorizes or what terminology is used, but I am going to say what I think are my top three strengths.  I believe I have a strengths in empathy and communication.  For the third spot I'm debating between peace-making or encouraging others. Hmmm.... oh wait!  It's my blog so I can make the rules.  I guess that instead of my top three I will list my top four.  However, top four seems weird so I'm changing my rules again (I didn't put consistency as one of my strengths).  I will add another to make it a top five list.  My fifth strength is loyalty.

So, in no particular order my top five strengths are...

•  loyalty
• communication
• empathy
• encouraging others
• peace-making

I will let you know what I find out.

How about you?  What do you think are your top five strengths (or three or twenty or whatever number you wish to list)?

A Clean Heart

This morning I wasn't needed for patient care at work but I did put in a few hours there cleaning.  In fact, I spend a lot of my working hours cleaning.  Between every patient we (nurses and/or nursing assistants) wipe down all the surfaces with a germicidal.  We clean the clipboard on which the patients sign their consents, the pens with which they write, door handles, everything.  In the morning, even though each room was cleaned at the end of the previous day, the rooms get wiped down yet again.  This is important in order to reduce the risk of surgical infections.

What I was doing today, though, was a monthly cleaning.  We are each assigned an area that gets an even more thorough cleaning once each month.  I cleaned two patient rooms today.  Working as fast as I can it takes about an hour per room.  EVERYTHING is cleaned!  The walls, ceilings, all equipment, chairs...

All of it is scrubbed down.  Every item must be removed from the cupboards and drawers.

We use a bleach solution to clean inside and out.  Today I took my cell phone and used it as an MP3 player, listening to worship songs.  It was quite pleasant!

All this cleaning brought another song into my mind.  It is part of the liturgy we sing at church.  Liturgy is actually Bible verses or teaching put to music.  This one is found is Psalm 51:10...

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and 

renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and uphold me

with your free spirit.

I've always enjoyed singing that.  Every bit of it is just so meaningful.  The first part helps me remember that I don't yet have it right and that I can't do it myself.  The second part is a plea, acknowledging that I want to remain close to God and to have is Spirit always with me.  The third part is the best part.  When I'm frustrated with my own nature, or when the ways of this world are draining my strength, I remember that God offers true joys... and it is free.

The Ladies From the Beauty School

Last night (Halloween) was not quite as expected.  Read here if you want to know about Cordelia's trip to the ER.  Poor little girl!

Anyway, I'm running short on time (sometimes that work thing gets in the way of my blogging time!) so I'm going to leave you with this photograph I took at work yesterday.  These lovely ladies drove up in a convertible.  They were dressed as ladies getting beautiful at the beauty school.  They came to the surgical center and made lots of people smile.  I don't know most of these women.  One, however, is a physician that does surgery at our facility.  It was fun.  Hope you like it, too.

Carving the Turnip

I have been dabbling with geneology a bit.  Mostly I use ancestry.com because I can let other people do most of the work and then I swoop in and tap into their information.  That's not lazy; it is just smart.  With all this swooping I have definitely confirmed that I have plenty of Irish roots.  I like that, but I don't really know why.  I don't really know all that much about Ireland but I really do like Irish accents.  Of course, who doesn't?

Last night I was online looking up things about Halloween.  I'm not much of a Halloween enthusiast although I certainly did enjoy it as a child.  That was BACK IN THE DAY when people gave kids full-size candy bars!  It was always fun to me.  I think I was always a gypsy for Halloween.  It was easy, just borrow clothes and jewelry from my mom.  Since we moved a lot, the gypsy persona kind of fit for me.

I know;  I'm rambling.  I was going to tell you what I learned about Halloween.  I learned that the tradition of trick-or-treating was thought to have come over with the Irish.  They had a tradition of going door to door collecting yummy things for a community harvest feast or something.  If someone didn't cooperate, they played mean tricks on them.  That doesn't sound very nice but that's not the part that made me smile.

The site I was reading (I've forgotten where it was or I'd tell you) said that the Irish used to carve out turnips and set lit candles inside of them.  I guess it made the feast more festive or something.  

(photo from molempire.com )

When the Irish came to America they found the pumpkins here to be more fun to carve than turnips.

  This story may or may not be true. 

 Now you know. 

Up-Scaling a Plain Orange Vest = Heroism

It's like I told you, up-scaling really is a form of heroism.  Think about it.  We go out on a search and rescue mission, looking for pieces that deserve a second chance.  We take them home, in essence, saving them.  Recently, one such piece caught my eye, a plain rusty orange corduroy vest.  I took it home and loved it up.

I found vintage lace and fashioned it into an accent bow.  I enhanced the bow by centering a coppery button on it.  Do you like it?

 I took off the dull, ordinary buttons and replaced them all with the fun, coppery ones.  I think they give rather a western look to it all.

I like the snappy, fresh look now.

But wait!

There's more!

The real party is happening on the back side!  We also have been doing a search and rescue for vintage, maybe even antique doilies.  Among our findings was a large one in great condition.

It fit perfectly AND it had a pretty coordinating peachy edging on it!  I was so excited when I paired them together!  It was as though I were a talented match-maker!  Here, just take a look...

This vest is a size large and it is for sale now at Wyoming Rose Boutique!

Have a great day and remember to live creatively!

The Story Behind the Photo

So, what do you think of the new look?  I'm liking the water.  I really, really love water so I think we'll go with that for awhile.  I hope you like it, too.  At the top, you'll find where to share my posts on Google+ if you have one of their accounts.  Under the more "more" you will find easy ways to share my posts on Facebook, e-mails, etc.  If you are new to my blog and want to check out some of my older posts, explore the Blog Archives by clicking for the drop down menu.  Or, if you scroll down and look to that right sidebar you'll see some of the recent popular posts.  I hope you'll take the time to look around a bit, leave comments or even suggestions.  The interaction makes me happy so, thanks!

Also on the right sidebar you will find a few samples of the work Maria and I do for our shop, Wyoming Rose Boutique.  If you'd like to learn more about our shop, just click on any of those pictures and you'll be able to explore it more.  If you find something you like, I want to let you know that we have a discount code for blog-reading friends.  When you are checking out, type in the word, FRIENDS, in all caps.  It should make the shipping charges disappear!

Anyway...

Last night our daughter, Maria, and her husband, Eric, came by for supper. They bring the entertainment, our granddaughters Cordelia and Elise. I never take for granted how blessed we are to have them living nearby!

Last night, near the end of our evening together, I remembered that I write a daily blog (duh) and that I should take some photos.  Maria was out of the room feeding Elise, so I turned my attention to Cordelia.  She was having fun with Grandpa, drawing on the toy shown in this photograph.  I think Cordy became bored with it before Grandpa Mike did.

I took this photo of Cordelia.  She was just lively and silly so I snapped the picture.  It wasn't until I uploaded it to my computer that I noticed the story going on in the background.  Apparently, Grandpa Mike was pretty proud of something he drew, making sure Eric admired his work. 

Cordelia then started playing with a doll house she received from her Great Aunt Karen.  Camera still in hand, I started clicking.  Again, when I uploaded it later I was tickled.  Can you see that it is Buzz Lightyear she is putting to bed in the upstairs room?

Cordelia was getting tired.  It was apparent she had missed her nap.  She didn't want to stop playing, though!

But even perfect evenings have to come to an end.

Did you have a good week-end?  I really enjoy reading comments on my blog so let me know if you did something exciting.

Through the Generations

My Sister, Tina

My Mother With My Daughter and Granddaughters

My Mother With Great-Granddaughters

 My Cousin, Ann Marie and my Aunt Michelle with Elise

My 2nd cousin, Megan with Cordelia and My Nephew, Steven

Generations Connecting...

Psalm 33:11

But the plans of the LORD stand firm

forever, the purposes of his heart through

all generations.

Reality TV and Blogging

I really don't like most reality TV shows.  I know they aren't all bad.  I like some, such as home decorating ones.  Many of the reality television shows, however, leave me feeling very disturbed.  Do any of you feel that way?  So many of them feature people who are willing to proudly show their worst side.  I won't name any of those shows but I will say the courtroom shows may be my least favorite.  No, wait, the ones revealing the surprise paternity results...yes, I hate those!  Either kind usually end with people screaming at each other.  I hate yelling.

So, what does that have to do with blogging? Well, imagine my surprise the day I realized I was just like those people who are featured on reality television.  Well, maybe not just like them, but we definitely have two things in common:

1. I am sometimes prerecorded.  Yep.  It's true.  I want to post a blog everyday and for the most part, I do write one post a day.  Occasionally, though, I write some posts ahead of time.  If we go on vacation, I sometimes write several posts so that I'm not worrying about it while travelling.  Often, I write a post the evening before.  This post is an example of that.  I am typing it out on Friday night after an exhausting day at work.  Do you see my feet up?  I hadn't even taken off my work shoes.  I knew I had plans for Saturday morning, so I chose to write this post ahead.  I learned how to delay the publishing time so it is quite easy to set it up to publish while I am at work, snoozing on my pillow or just having coffee with my husband.
2. Also, like those on the reality shows, I tell things about myself but in a rather one-sided way.  The people on those shows are generally sharing their worst side.  I expect they accentuate the negative to make things more exciting.  Well, I pretty much tell the positive side of my life here.  I really do have a lovely life, but it is not all perfect.   Like a lot of people, there is a skeleton or two in my closet as well.  Like everyone, I have cranky moments.  Sometimes I talk too much.  Sometimes I can't think of anything interesting to say.  Often I feel uncertain.   

So, here's why I wanted to talk about this.  Someone was recently talking to me about an article in a local magazine, featuring a local family.  After reading the article she commented about how some families are just so perfect.  I noted that I was certain they weren't perfect but that of course they would only show their good side for the magazine.  I pondered how that nice family article seemed to make this person feel kind of bad.

I realized that I do exactly that, show my good side.  I don't plan to change that, actually.  I learned to blog from my daughter, Maria.  Her blog, Little Things are Big, is her way of focusing on all that is good around her.  I like that!  With all the struggles and challenges that we all face, I think it is refreshing to have a place to look for some good stuff.  I don't always stick with that plan but I usually do.  

I hope that I never make someone feel bad about themselves.  Know that I am not a great cook, I have been known to grump at our dog, I almost always find more interesting things to do than clean our home, I can be lazy and my life is not perfect.  It's just my life.  I don't always hit all the right notes.  Like you, I'm just doing the best I can.  That's my reality.

The Truth About Snow

"There's one good thing about snow, it makes

your lawn look as nice as your neighbor's."

Clyde Moore

What a Difference a Day Makes

This photo was taken in our backyard Tuesday afternoon...

And these photos were Wednesday...

I was happy about the snow, actually.  My arms were about to fall off from all the leaf-raking!

What kind of weather are you having?

It's a Girl! Documentary Film

I have something important I must share.  The film, It's a Girl!, is so powerful.

You need to try to see it.  Please take the time to click on the website link and watch the trailer.  If you can find the movie in your area, attend a screening.  Or, the website tells you how you can host the film yourself.

It’s a Girl! Documentary Film – Official Website

This documentary shows how widespread the killing of baby girls has become, focusing mostly on India and China.

This woman killed 8 daughters.

In one scene, women in India were standing around talking with the interviewer, telling him the different ways they had killed their baby girls.  They did not seem remorseful and it was explained that they felt they'd been merciful as they knew their daughters would live miserable lives.

One of the highlighted problems was the dowry system.  Parents of girls, at the time of their marriage, must give money and possessions to the family of the groom.  Additionally, that family also gets their daughter.  Everyone wants a daughter-in-law as she will be there to care for them in their old age.  A daughter, however, just costs them money to raise and then they lose them, as well as the valuable dowry.  Also, if a bride has a baby girl, she is often pressured to kill it.  She herself may be killed for having girls.  What a messed up system!

Couples in China tell of forced abortions and forced sterilizations.  China now has something like 35,000 more men than women.  It would seem that women would then become more valued.  Well, sort of, but not in a good way.  Brothels are huge businesses.  Little girls are being stolen by families with sons, raised to be brides.  What a mess!

They are asking for our help, mainly to speak up.  If you have any social media power (Facebook, a blog, etc.) please consider using it to let others know how common these horrible practices have become.  Look around the website to learn of other ways to help.

Thanks for reading this. I know it wasn't my usual kind of post.  When asked to blog about it, though, I knew it was a story needing told from everyone with a voice.

Crock Pot Cake!! No, I'm Not Kidding!!!

I'm telling you, I am going to be your best friend now.  You will love, love, love me forever for what I am about to tell you.  I'm going to give you the secret to happiness.  Well, maybe that is a little overstated but I've got something sweet to tell you...something VERY sweet!

Before I start, and to help you understand just how important this is to me, let me tell you about my cake-baking history.  It's not pretty.  First, when Maria was turning 4, she was having a birthday party.  My mother-in-law was there to help (we were living in the Seattle area) and I was very pregnant with Ben.  I'm thinking I was a bit hormonal because everything about that day still kind of makes me feel discouraged.  However, the part about the cake...  I had baked a cake for the party and when I was turning it out of the pan, it broke into 5 parts.  That's right.  I managed to break it into that big of a mess.  I believe I started to weep.  Mike's Mom handed me some money and told me to go buy a cake, which I did.

Now, fast forward to Ben's 4th birthday.  We had just moved to Harlowton, MT a few weeks before his birthday.  He didn't really know enough kids to invite for a party so we invited the one little friend he had, a little cowboy named, J.C.  We also had J.C.'s whole family over as well.  When it came time for the cake Ben took a big breath and blew out his candles.  When I asked him to tell me his wish he again took a big breath and as he exhaled he muttered, "Iiiiiii Wiiiish for a better birthday cake."  Wait, what?!  Well, that gives you just a little background into my great cake-baking abilities.  Don't even ask me about frosting cakes.  Let's just say that no bakery has called me to come work for them.

So, last Saturday we were invited to a little get-together with friends.  I was to bring appetizers and a dessert.  That didn't sound scary until the hostess said something about the dessert being cake as we were celebrating some birthdays as well as the recent wedding of one couple.  OK, I guess dessert was expected to be cake.  Yikes!  Luckily, last week our local paper came out with some new crock pot recipes and one was for a cake!

I know what you are thinking, a slow cooker is not appropriate for cake-baking.  Well, in my desperation, I gave it a try.  I'm telling you, it was soooooo goooooooood, just writing about it makes my mouth all watery.  So, I'm going to share this magnificent find with you now.  Although I tweaked the recipe a bit (as always), the original one comes from "Best of Country Slow Cooker Recipes" by Reiman Publications.  I just want to be sure to give credit where credit is due.  Also, I'd like to mention that there are no eggs in this recipe so lick the bowl when you are done, with no worries about salmonella.  The chocolate chips, butter, milk and ice cream could all be switched out for vegan versions of the same.

Hot Fudge Cake

Use the recipe as written for a 3 quart crockpot.  I also have one of those larger, oval ones so I doubled everything and it worked great.  First, the ingredients (for the smaller version)...

1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar, divided                  2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour                                           1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons baking cocoa, divided                        1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons baking powder                                     1 3/4 cups boiling water
1/2 teaspoon salt                                                    Vanilla ice cream for topping
1/2 cup milk                                                           Cinnamon (my addition)

In a bowl, combine 1 cup of the brown sugar, flour, 3 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder and salt.  I dumped in a lot of cinnamon as well, because I bought too much cinnamon and need to use it up, because it is good for you (as if that was my top concern here) and because I always change recipes in some way.

Use another bowl to combine the milk, butter and vanilla.  Mix stuff up together in their own bowls then mix the contents of the two bowls together just until combined.  Spread that mixture around the bottom of a 3-quart slow cooker (crock pot) that you've already sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray.  It looks like a weird thing to put in a crock pot but you're going to have to use some faith here.  It gets more strange yet.  Dump all the chocolate chips on top of the batter, spread around of course.

If you have left-over chocolate chips, eat them while you are working or just dump them on in.  The more the better as they become the hot fudge.

Grab one of those bowls you've already used.  Rinse it out if you feel you must but it doesn't matter.  Combine the remaining brown sugar and cocoa.  If you, too, have purchased two large containers of cinnamon, add more of it here.



Stir in the boiling water.



Now, pour that whole bowl of brown soup right on top of the chocolate chips.  It won't look right but don't panic.

Just put the lid on, set it on high and come back in about 4 hours.  In my case I had it on high for 3 hours then turned it to the lowest setting for a few more hours.  When I went to the party I plugged it in there and left it on low for another hour or more.  It worked out just fine.  I even bet it would work if you did 8-9 hours on only the low setting.  It won't matter if it is a bit crunchy around the edges or a bit gooey in the middle.  Serve it scooped into bowls.  It will taste perfect when topped with the ice cream.  The hard part is not eating so much of it that you make yourself sick!

So, go try this recipe.  Impress your friends!  Impress your family, and then tell me who your bff is now!

A Day Full of Joy

Last evening was so beautifully golden!  We had great family fun, playing in the leaves.  I think one of the best things about having little children around is that any of us can again choose to abandon grown-up inhibitions and just play again.  Mike is better at that than most adults.  Sometimes, watching him with our granddaughters, I just think my heart will burst with the joy of it.

Earlier yesterday I met up with a group of friends.  We all once worked together caring for oncology patients.  Most of us still live in the same town and see each other from time to time.  One friend, Pam, moved to North Dakota several years ago.  She was back in town and we were all so excited to get a chance to visit with her.  Our time together was short, but good!

I could tell you some great stories about each of these women but I will just say, I have been blessed with some remarkable friends over the years.

Did you all have a nice week-end?