Yes, me. The one who would rather have a root canal than watch a political debate.

So what changed? Why now?

One man – Bob Vander Plaats.

I heard him speak in June – my husband made me – and I was blown away.

This guy was clearly addressing the problems in our state, and – even more amazingly – gave clear and concise answers on how to solve them. He made sense and I understood it! And boy did I agree with it!

I wanted to cheer!

By the time he finished I looked at my husband and said, “Everybody in Iowa needs to hear this guy! My friends and neighbors need to hear this guy!”

The next thing I know we’ve signed up as volunteers and are planning an event.

We rented a space, sent out invitations, put ads in the paper, made lots of cookies, and prayed that people would come.

They did! And I actually stood up in front of them and introduced Bob Vander Plaats. Do I look as nervous as I felt? (Don’t answer that!)

It was amazing to watch the faces of the people in the crowd as Mr. Vander Plaats spoke – they went from skepticism to excitement, just like I did.

He very concisely laid out his 4 priorities as governor. His points were so clear even the 4th graders in the front row understood them! He then spent several minutes answering questions and personally spoke to every person in the room.

This guy is a class act  and I am honored to be a small part of his team.

So what’s the most important thing that I have I learned so far in this venture into politics?

Get involved early. Find out who’s running and get behind the one you really like. If you don’t get involved now – you have no right to complain about the name on the ballot in November.

Oh… and Republicans like cookies!

The garden is done for the year – and the harvest is in. Now it was time to do some baking!

The fragrance of baking squash and cinnamon rolls linger around me as I write.

We made a tradition with the grandchildren to make Cinnamon Rolls when they came. We would roll out enough dough to cover the length of our dining room table and would have a contest to guess how many rolls we would be able to make!

We found a recipe that uses squash in the batter. It makes them extra moist & more heart healthy! It is a treat to serve when friends come for coffee so we keep a batch in the freezer ready to defrost in the microwave making them taste freshly baked!

To prepare the squash I sliced it in half and baked it in a 350 degree oven until soft.  Then I scooped it out and put it into bags for the freezer.

All except a cupful – that is what it takes to make a batch of these yummy cinnamon rolls!

Cinnamon Rolls with Squash
(From Nana Shirley’s Kitchen)

1 packet (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
2 Tablespoon warm water
1 cup mashed cooked butternut squash
1/3 cup warm milk
¼ cup oil
1 egg
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 to 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water.

In a mixing bowl, combine squash, milk, oil, egg, brown sugar, & salt; mix well.

Add yeast mixture and 1 ½ cups flour; mix well. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn out a floured surface; knead until smooth & elastic, about 6-8 minutes or use dough hook on mixer. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover & let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down.

Roll our to about ½ inch thickness. Spread with softened butter or margarine. Spread with brown sugar. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll from long side. Cut into 1” to 1 ½” sections and turn on end as you place them into a greased sheet cake or cake pan.

Let rise until doubled. Bake 350° until done. (15-20 min?) They will be brown on top and will sound hollow when you “thump” them with your finger!

Take a spatula and loosen from pan while still warm in order to get all the “goodie” from the pan.

Let cool until just warm to touch. Frost with Powdered Sugar Frosting. (Recipe below or can use canned)

Powdered Sugar Frosting:

Mix together in a small bowl 2 cups powdered sugar, ¼ cup softened butter or margarine, 2 tsp. vanilla, (1 tsp. maple flavoring—optional) ¼ cup cold milk. Add more milk or sugar as needed to make the frosting of spreading consistency. It is best if you put it on the rolls while they are still warm.

Rolls can be frozen after they are cool. Defrost and/or warm in microwave before serving to give a fresh baked flavor!

Yield:  12-18 rolls

Until next time,

Nana Shirley

It is now a staple at our family reunions. Actually – I’m not sure we’d let Teresa come if she didn’t bring some!

So… when it was my turn to host my husband’s family a few weeks ago – I got the recipe and made it for them.

It was a rainy, cold and dreary morning. But the recipe was so fast to make that Aunt Julie and I had the toast in the oven and smelling delicious as everyone made their way to the table.

It was a huge hit and it sure brightened that morning!

Oven French Toast

1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
12 slices Texas toast
1 1/2 cup milk
2-3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together the melted butter and brown sugar. Spread it evenly over the bottom of a greased 11 x 17 inch baking pan.

Lay the Texas toast over the butter and brown sugar.

In a separate bowl mix together the milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour evenly over the toast and bake at 325 degrees for 1/2 hour.

When the toast is done, carefully remove each piece from the baking dish with a spatula and invert it to the serving platter or plate.

These can be served with maple syrup, or fresh fruit, but I love them hot out of the oven – all by themselves!

The hubby and I loaded up our passel of young’uns and headed for the big city the other day.

Ya’ll know the big city? It’s the one with traffic lights and more lanes of traffic than I have lines on my clothesline.

We aren’t like most folks who head right to the mall when they hit town. No – we drove right on past it and stopped at Goodwill. Figured some other silly person can pay full price, wear it 6 months and donate it. Then we’d buy it for a few bucks.

Works real well.

We also hit the DAV and came away with real nice camo jackets for the whole crew, even found camo hats for a few of them.  We’ll be styling this fall!

Then we headed off to find us some vittles. There were lots of fancy eating places – but we kept driving until we saw Arby’s . The sign said 5 regular roast beef sandwiches for just $5. Now that’s our idea of good eating!

After a stop at the Arctic Cat dealer and a scenic drive we finished our day at Sam’s Club were we had a mid-afternoon snack of free samples.

And that’s what happens when the country folk hit the big city – some might call us cheap, but I think it’s just frugal family fun.

Photo by Leon7 / Wikipedia Commons

She said she was laying in bed the night before exhausted and discouraged, thinking about all the things she had done wrong that day.

She had herself so worked up over everything that it carried over into the next day.

I knew exactly what she meant. I’ve done it myself – often.

Years ago, when I was a young mom, a very wise older woman shared with me that I should never review my day just before sleep nor should I make any life changing decisions.

Why? Because at that time of the day I am exhausted and it’s the perfect opportunity for Satan to come in and twist the days events until they are all out of focus.

I would mentally beat myself up over my failings, fall asleep and wake up feeling like a failure.

Instead of replaying the days events, this very wise older woman told me to just give them all to the Lord, confessing your failures and claiming His forgiveness.

Then, in the light of day, armed with scriptures, make the necessary changes.

Don’t doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light.

You are His precious child, your loving heavenly Father is ready with open arms to forgive and grant you rest.

“I will both lay down and sleep in peace…” Psalm 4:8

My secret to having guests – especially guests with big appetites (read- teenage boys) – is to serve something cheap and filling.

With pork prices so reasonable, I have picked up several pork roasts for $0.80 – $0.99 a pound. These are perfect for barbecue pork sandwiches.

These are so fast and easy to make! You can even make them in advance and freeze them. The recipe can be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.

Served on homemade whole wheat buns, these are a filling, but frugal company meal!

Barbecued Pork Sandwiches

4-5 pound roast
2 cups ketchup
1 cup chopped onion (or 8 teaspoons onion powder)
8 tablespoons lemon juice
8 teaspoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Roast the pork in the oven slowly until tender. Cool slightly and remove the meat – shredding it into bite size pieces. (Your hands are the best tool for this job!)

Place the shredded pork in a crock pot.

In a separate bowl combine all of the other ingredients. Pour the sauce into the crock pot and mix. Be sure to coat all of the pork.

Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours.  Serve warm on buns.

If you are making this ahead, put the meat & sauce mixture into a plastic bag or container and freeze. When you need it, just thaw, put in the crock pot and heat through.

These should make about 25 sandwiches.

Enjoy!

Yes, paint ball.

We discovered this fact last weekend when a friend from church hosted his birthday paintball party here.

They brought a lunch, birthday cake and a trunk full of paintballparaphernalia to share with my kids.

After decking out in camouflage -

My kids learned how to load and handle the guns. Then they did a little target practice on the grain bin out back -

Now we have our very own paintball Picasso!

Then they jumped on the 4 wheeler and headed out to the ravines where they had a blast for hours.

They didn’t even realize how cold it was – or how late it was getting.

We almost had to peel the guns out of their hands.

Now you’ll never guess what my kids want for Christmas!

Despite the early freeze – they’ve come.

Just as soon as the sun came out and the temperatures rose – they came crawling out of the soybean fields where they spent the summer, shaken loose from their homes as the combines sweep through the fields.

What are these dreaded creatures? Some call them the Mexican bean beetles, others say they are Asian bean beetles.

I call them pests.

They swarm in the air so thick you could hear the buzzing.

They congregate on the walls of the houses looking for the tiniest holes to walk through.

They surround the windows and doors making you walk through a gauntlet to go outside.

They land in your hair, on your clothes, even on your face.

Not the nicest part of fall in the Midwest – but definitely a reality of rural living.

Rumor has it that some intellectual dude decided it would be a good idea to introduce these little buggers into soybean fields to eat the soybean aphids.

Nice idea. I’m all for using a natural method instead of spraying a chemical.

But nobody checked to see if they have any natural predators.

They don’t.

Even my chickens won’t touch them.

So now they multiply, swarming through the country side every fall when the fields are harvested, and invading our homes.

Maybe that dude should come and run the vacuum at my house for a few days – sucking up those smelly little varmints.

He might just think twice about his next big idea.

We all want them.

We all pray “Bless me Lord!”

Yet when the blessings come we often complain. Why is that? Maybe it’s because most blessings come with work attached.

Think about it.

My husband’s job is a blessing – in a time when many are without, he has a steady paycheck. Yet this job requires him to work.

We have a large garden and are “blessed” with much produce this year. That produce required our diligence to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, weed and water as needed, and finally -  harvest the vegetables.

My new house is such a blessing, yet I need to continually dust, vacuum and clean to maintain it.

My health is a blessing, but I need to do my part to maintain it by exercising and eating right.

I think we would all agree that children are a blessing, but to bring them into the world requires labor.

I feel sorry for the new mom who wasn’t prepared for the sacrifice and work involved in raising those little ones. Motherhood isn’t all smiles, stroller rides and photo opportunities (although there are plenty of those!) There are a lot of dirty diapers, long days, short nights, and loads of laundry.

Yet they are a blessing.

I think we sometimes live in the “happily ever after” fog believing that we just need the perfect job, the perfect spouse, beautiful children and we will be happy.

But that just isn’t going to happen in this imperfect world in which we live.

But still, we are a blessed people. We live in abundance, surrounded by blessings every day.

Maybe it’s time for us all to stop complaining about the work involved and take to heart the line from the song “Blessed Be Your Name” -

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise…

I have a new addiction.

It’s a card game that should be in every home across the nation.

SET.

It’s even made by the amazing company that invented my other addiction – Quiddler.

I will admit that the first time I played SET I didn’t get it. I was playing with my college age nieces and nephews, and they were blowing me away.

But it didn’t take long for me to figure it out and fall in love with the challenge.

The object of the game is to find sets in the cards that are dealt. Sound easy? It isn’t. Each set of three must be alike in some way, but different in others.

You look at shape, color, design and number to find the sets – forcing you to see the cards in a different way – to be creative.

If they are all diamonds, they need to be a different color, a different design, or a different number.

It’s fast-action fun!

And with Christmas coming up it would make a perfect stocking stuffer.

Trust me on this one – you’re gonna love it!