The Crimson Kitchen

GERMAN PANCAKES

2012-02-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Recently I discovered a recipe that was a little odd to say the least. I have about 150 or more cook books most of them very old but I was browsing the Internet when I found this one. Have you ever heard of a German Pancake? I know that I had never heard of it but let me tell you, it looked delicious and we were not to be disappointed, it was fantastic! This is a very simple recipe and I am shocked that I have never seen this before. Of course my mother has heard of it, she seems to know everything. We even nicknamed her Google.

OK here is what you need

An 8 inch cast iron skillet ( there is a recipe for a 16 inch I'll put that at the bottom)

1/4 cup of butter
1 cup of milk
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract ( I used a smidge more, I like vanilla )
1 cup flour ( I used all purpose )
2 tbsp sugar
brown sugar
pecan pieces

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees

Place the butter in the skillet and place in the oven until butter is melted.

Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and beat until combined.

Stir in flour and sugar, beat until smooth. Then pour the batter into the hot buttered pan.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until it is puffed up and brown around the edges. Don't freak out when this thing climbs up over the top of the pan. Trust me, it won't go anywhere.

It will have a delish butter slick on top when you take it out. At this point is where I added my soul to this dish. Once it was out of the oven I sprinkled brown sugar all over the top and waited for that to caramelize before I cut it. The next time I make this I am going to carefully open the oven door and slide the oven rack out enough to add the Brown Sugar and the pecan pieces at about the 16 minute mark.

We poured some maple syrup over it and between me and Kim, well,,,,we devoured it!
It was light and creamy in the middle almost like a whipped cheese cake filling. It really is hard to describe, you just have to taste it for yourself.

Here is the recipe for the 16 inch skillet version. if you have a large family I recommend that you use it or bake two 8 inch skillets at the same time.

16 inch cast iron skillet
3/4 cup of butter
3 cups of milk
12 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all flour
6 tbsp sugar

I would expect that the cooking time is roughly the same, just watch the edge so it doesn't burn.

I hope you enjoy this I know we did immensely!

Tim

THE FLAVOR BIBLE

2012-02-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

well what can I say, here I am still in this truck driving my life away instead of cooking and gardening. I am in Wisconsin at the moment waiting on Walmart to get me unloaded, then I will head to Appleton and reload headed to St. Louis. From there I hope I am going home for the weekend. It is SuperBowl Sunday but I don't really care about that. I do however hope that the Giants whip the stuffin out of the Patriots.

In food news My daughter gave me a book for Christmas!

This is an amazing book! It has all kinds of secrets from chefs around the world in it. It is really a manual on how food flavor profiles work together. In this book the vast majority of the pages are filled with a flavor table of sorts. It lists the ingredient and then lists the tyoe of flavor it is, for instance whether or not it is salty, sweet, bitter, etc. then the strength of the flavor, the heaviness of the item itself (dense, light, etc) and the season that it is at its peak flavor. After that brief introduction you get a listing of the other flavors or ingredients that it goes well with. There are bolt typed ingredients that are highly recommended by the experts and then there are bold typed with an * symbol, these are the " Holy Grail " of that ingredient's flavor profile. For instance, Tomato's and Basil are a holy grail.

I have read through this book to about the half way point and have not found many holy grails, those that I have found made perfect sense to me. I look forward to inventing through this book in the future. Gotta go they just called me on the radio to tell me that my trailer is empty.

More on this book later and I have news on the garden front as well. We have a new member in the family in the cultivating category.

peace
Tim

Catching up

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Well cookie day went off without a hitch. I forgot my camera and therefore didn't get any pictures of the cookies that I made. I didn't make the pecan pie cookie bars, instead I made some pecan drops, they turned out OK except that they spread out a bit too thin. They tasted like pecan sandies. I wanted to make this blog into something really cool considering all the cook books that I have at home and that in itself is just the problem, they are at home. This trucking job is eating my life up in more ways than I want to admit. I feel like I am stuck in a vicious circle, I can't get a better job at home because there are none to be found at the moment. If there were I don't have another car to use to get to work, we only have one car and Kim uses it to get to her work. I have a passion for food. Growing it, cooking it, preserving it and writing about it. What I don't have is the time and energy to do much with that passion at the moment. Trucking takes up all of my time and all of my energy. When I get home I am so wrung out from the road that all I want to do is relax.

I don't know how to get out of this circle that I am in. I feel trapped. maybe I should change the name of this blog to "Trapped" or "Prisoner Of The Highway"? I was stuck in Salt Lake City over the weekend and got to have breakfast with an old buddy of mine. We grew up together and he is an Army recruiter out there. His wife is from Mexico and I got the recipe for the best damned re-fried beans that I ever put in my mouth. I am going to make that this weekend. I probably won't blog about so I won't lie you and say I will. Someday....

we had a great Christmas at our house, Kim's kids came up from Alabama and i smoked three halved chickens on the smoker. Nothing special just a rub bought from a St. Louis spice shop and a cider spritz to keep them moist. It was delish if I don't say so myself. Made some Pinto Beans the week after and added an onion and some smoked sausage to them. Took some of that in the truck with me. Next time I'll take some "Beano" as well LOL!

Anyway my buddy cooked me an omelet with cheese and pastrami in it with the re-fried beans on top. man was that good eating. Might post that on here later as well. Someday I might win the lottery and retire to do nothing more that garden and cook. Someday...

Cookie Day At Sarah's

2011-11-30T17:03:00.001-08:00

Every year there is an event in our family called "Cookie Day", it is a day full of baking cookies at my sister Sarah's house. Sarah has a nice big house and I think three ovens. I could be wrong as there might be four, a double upstairs and a double down stairs. This attribute makes her house the perfect place for "Cookie Day". The day is just that, those in attendance come over with their cookie baking gear in hand, I.E. mixers, bowls, cookie sheets, cook books and ingredients. It is a festive day of baking our favorite cookies and chatting with family. I have yet to be able to attend this event as my job as an over the road truck driver has kept me from it. It usually is on a Sunday but this year it is on a Saturday so I will be in attendance. I am not sure of my cookie selection yet, I have two boxes in the dinning room floor full of cookie books and I brought four with me this week in the truck.

I have the Mrs. fields cookie book from 1992, the Farm Journal Choice Chocolate Recipes book, a Time Life cookie book from 1982, and a Better Homes and Gardens "Homemade Cookies" from 1989. I like the older books because the recipes are not convoluted with a bunch of useless extra steps. As I have been reading through these this week some items stand out in my mind. Number one is the Pecan Pie Bars in the Mrs Fields cookie book. This is a basic cookie bar recipe but with a pecan pie filling. Being married to a southern gal has me loving pecan pie more than most pies so I am debating making this for cookie day. Let me explain one of the greatest things about cookie day. When all the cookies are baked and laid out on the various counter tops at my sisters house, they get divided up by the number of participants there that day! Yea baby! You got it! It is a bountiful blessing of cookie greatness to be had by all! I have to say though that not every one's cookies come out as the greatest but we just keep our mouths shut and deal with those when we get home LOL.

So with this being my first time to Cookie Day I want to make a good impression yet I don't want to be an oven hog either. There is also the fact that I need to bake enough to make the split fair as well. I'm going to have to get with Sarah and see how the RSV P's are coming so I know what to do. As far as the Pecan Pie Bars go the most expensive ingredient is going to be the chopped and halved pecans. the rest is basic.

Here is how it looks, I haven't made this yet so I don't have pictures yet.

Pastry Ingredients

1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salted butter, chilled
5-6 Tbsp ice water

Filling
5 Tbsp salted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar firmly packed
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) chopped pecans
16 pecan halves

oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl combine flour and chilled butter with a pastry cutter until dough resembles a course meal. Add water gradually and mix until dough holds together and can be shaped into a ball. You can also do this in a food processor and add the water gradually until a dough ball forms. Wrap this dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or until firm. On a floured board using a floured rolling pin, roll out dough into a 10 x 10 square. Fold dough in half and then into quarters. Place it in a 8 x 8 baking pan and unfold and press into the corners and up along the sides of the pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. They didn't say a word about greasing the pan so I'm not sure what to do about that. Maybe a non stick pan like most people use today is the answer there. Myself I like an 8x8 glass pan with a touch of real butter. Just enough to keep it from sticking.

OK now the filling
Melt 5 Tbsp of butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the the sugar and the corn syrup. Mix until smooth. If you have to double or triple the batch like I do for cookie day, you might want to use the stand mixer if you have one. Add the vanilla and the eggs and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the pecan pieces and fold in. Now pour the pecan filing into the pastry lined pan that you had in the refrigerator. Smooth out the filling and trim the dough down to just above the filling mixture if need be. Bake in the center of the oven for 50-60 minutes or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack then cut into 2x2 inch pieces. Top each piece with a pecan half and serve at room temperature or chilled.

It is supposed to yield 16 pieces

I may make this before hand and bake a simpler cookie recipe on the day. It really depends on how many people are coming. Try this one out and let me know what you think. I will be taking pictures of the grand event and the bounty to share here afterwards.

Piece
Tim

2011-11-21T20:56:00.001-08:00

I didn't get to cook anything this past weekend, Kim was at a birthday party with my camera and at home it was a dreary, rainy weekend. I didn't move much from my recliner. I am however going to translate at least one pie recipe to modern English so I have something in hand when I go to my sisters on Thanksgiving. Am debating a chess pie or one called Ozark pie. I may make both since I am going to use ready made pie crusts. I am at least going to attempt to make my own crusts but with my job being a truck driver, I may not get home in time to get that done. Heck Pillsbury makes a better crust than me anyway, like I have time to bake pie crusts while driving a truck?

That is one of the worst things about driving a Semi for a living. All your time is spent on the road thinking about the things you want to do when you get home. Then when you get home you are beat down from the road and don't want to do a quarter of the things that you thought about. My wife used to not understand how I felt when I got home. Her mentality about it pretty much followed everyone's thoughts on it. " all you've done is sit in that drivers seat all week, how can you be worn out?" Then she rode in the truck with me for two weeks and experienced the road first hand. The idiot drivers, the rough roads, weather, long hours of all the above and so much more. Plus there is the motion factor. have you ever been out on a boat all day and when you got off the lake you were worn out? That feeling is from you body constantly having to adjust your equilibrium all day long to compensate for the motion of the vessel you in. It is the same in a truck and last week was a rough week so I didn't bake anything. I did however buy a pumpkin pie from wally world. It was decent but I can make better.

At any rate look for a post on pies from the past near or just after thanksgiving.

TW

2011-11-15T19:39:00.001-08:00

I am on the road with my dog Pepper in tow and brought a couple of the old cook books with me. I have been looking at one called "Just Like Mother Made". It is a small soft back book from the Ozarks. This one is the Twelfth printing and I can not find a date on it. It looks really old though as the pages are starting to yellow a bit. Like I said, it is not a big book, more like pamphlet size and when it was new it cost $1.25. It has 72 pages and I can not wait to try some of he things in it. I am not sure when we in this country started using measures abbreviations like Tbsp or Tsp, we all know what those are of course. In this book that I got at auction they use a capitol "T" for tablespoon and a lower case "t" for the teaspoon measure. I have seen other cook books like this before and I think I remember them being from the late forties.

There are recipes in it like "Paper Sack Apple Pie" (I have no clue, haven't read anything of it but the title yet),Tomato Rolls, Mother's Gems, Ozark Pudding, and Butter Crust Chicken With Rye Dressing Balls. That is just a sample of what is in this 72 page booklet. I want to try something from it this weekend but I have not had enough time to really look it over. No rush, I'll get to it. All we have is time right. I hope this adventure of going through my cook books turns out to be a great one. I had to come up with a reason to justify my habit or addiction to buying them somehow. Why not share. I am not that versed at setting up this blog so bear with me. I will try to put tags on all the recipes so they are searchable by genre and such. I hope this blossoms into something fun. I will be using pictures as well while I try these recipes so this blog may become picturesque as well LOL.

stay tuned

Tim

2011-11-13T14:11:00.001-08:00

Tried a new recipe from the collection of cook books that I own, an old twist on french toast. This one needs some tweaking before I post it on here. It was more like a batter dipped french toast than what we grew up eating. I think it is missing something. like a bit more sugar, Cinnamon and maybe a fruit salsa or whipped cream and berries. I might try to New Orleans it up a bit. Like some pecan praline sauce or something. Look for this in the near future. I have to head out on the road this evening and I will be taking some old cook books with me. I am going to eventually build this site up so recipe's that I like can be managed from here. Maybe there will be a cook book in my future. I do have some home made recipe's that my family loves but they are in my head or in pieces on paper somewhere. Some like my spaghetti sauce and my rib rub. My mother bought me a digital scale for my birthday so now I can record these recipe's as I make them. I hope this site turns out to finally to be something useful. Wish me luck.

Peace
Tim

Silky Potato Soup

2011-11-10T19:17:00.001-08:00

This is a favorite comfort food in our house.

Ingredients: One or two medium to large onions

                  5 or 6 medium to large potato's

                  One stick of butter

                  Nearly 3/4 gallon whole milk

                  3/4 to a cup of all purpose flour

                  Salt and pepper to taste

                   Cheddar cheese (optional)

Prep: Dice one large onion or two medium ones, peal and cube 5 or 6 medium to large potato's.

This is going to be a large pot of soup that should feed a family of five with a little left over for momma's lunch the next day.

In a large soup pot (6 to 8 quarts) melt one stick of butter on medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the diced onions. Saute the onions in butter until they are nearly translucent. Slowly blend in the flour until you have a nice thick roue. Stir in the a half gallon of milk. Add the potato's and adjust the milk level until you have used about 3/4 of a gallon. At this point I add about a tablespoon of salt and the same of the pepper. If you have a pepper mill, fresh ground cannot be beat. Stir the soup well and cover. Cook until the potato's are tender and the flour has thickened the soup. turn down on low and simmer covered until thickened to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve in hot bowls. Add Sharp Cheddar Cheese and you will have a bowl of baked potato soup.

Note: this soup will stick to the bottom of the pot if you don't stay on top of it. I don't bother worrying about it so I just don't scrape the bottom. I just keep the potato's from sticking.

I hope you enjoy this comfort classic.

Been a while part 100?

2010-11-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

Oh where oh where have we been? We are still here albeit we are not very active on this blog. I am still driving over the road but looking for a way out. I am writing over at Life On The Road.com, its a truckers news and information blog. I do the Nascar stories over there. Check it out if you like Nascar. I wont promise anything but I might get this blog moving again. We'll see. There ya go. A real update from the crimson kitchen.

Snow Bound

2010-02-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well here I sit, in the T.A. truck stop in breezewood PA. with over two foot of snow surrounding my parked rig. We sat on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last night for three hours waiting for them to get another truck out of the median barrier. He lost control because I assume he was driving too fast for the conditions (blizzard) and slammed the out side rail then busted through the two foot thick concrete center divider. After that it took another hour to go 29 miles to where I am now. Last night I saw snow flake the size of half dollars! I get up this morning and steep out of my truck into a snow drift up to my knees. I turn on the C.B. and hear that the turnpike (I76) is closed going westbound due to a jack knifed rig over 60 miles west of here. Listening to the PA. dept of trans. radio on the scanner I found out that they have brought out the national guard to bring food and water to cars and trucks stranded out on the highway! Not good news!

So as I understand it, they have miles and miles of people stranded between here and Somerset PA. that have sat there all night while the snow piled up around their vehicles, so once they get the wreck cleaned up they still have to go dig out damned near everybody that has sat out there all night! What a mess! Hopefully I will get home soon! I may have to listen to the superbowl on the satellite radio. Or should I call it the big game so I don't get sued by the NFL?
PEACE

Time to return and time to do the snow dance!!

2010-01-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

Hello 2010! I realized after seeing a comment from Bernie asking where I was and if we are ok.....the bloging holiday break needs to end. Thanks Bernie for checking on us!

We have had some great holidays from Thanksgiving to my birthday. I turned 47 on January 3. Tim and I celebrated my birthday on New Years day (which it snowed!) as he would be back on the road by my birthday. His schedule this week is worked around the National Championship game between our Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Long Horns! That game is tonight and it looks like Tim will make it in time. We are so excited and ready!

During our break, Mark Ingram of the Crimson Tide won the Heisman Trophy. He is the first to do so for the University of Alabama. This season has been magical.

Tim and I only got to spend 2 days in Alabama for Christmas.... but those two days were a blast. We stayed with my daughter and son-in-law. That is them in the picture below.

Below is my son Nick and my Daughter Erica.

Now some exciting news.....at least to me. Growing up in Alabama you didn't get the chance to see much snow. Every 15 years or so you might get major snow accumulations. I am like a kid when it comes to snow. Here is what I woke up to this morning!! This for me is one of the many benefits of moving to Illinois.

Pepper had a blast early this morning running around in the snow. I will try to get some pictures of her next trip outside.

I have decided to try my hand at selling some of my crocheted creations. There are a couple specific craft show and festival here in Carlyle later in the year that I a going to have my own spot for setting up shop so to speak. I will also be including some fabric artwork, embroidery and fun sewing projects. Wish me luck. I am a bit nervous about asking someone to pay for my craft projects......But, I can't succeed if I don't try!

I am off to do some laundry and crochet. I have the blinds up and I have wonderful views of my snow from my favorite chair.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.

It is almost Thanksgiving!

2009-11-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

Wow another week has flown by me. I have been applying for jobs, crocheting, working on Christmas surprises, planning a trip to Alabama in December, watching some good movies, embroidery, framing of some of my kid's art through the years. I will definitely have to share those with you soon. Right now I have a cake in the oven I am making for my mother in law. Today is her birthday. Tim is on the road and may not make it home until Sunday.

I recieved a sweet surprise today. My kids, which is my dauther, Erica, her husband, Brian, and my son, Nick sent me beautiful Fall Thanksgiving flowers! My photography doesn't do them justice. The are so pretty and smell so good.

This next week is Thanksgiving. The time is flying past me. It seems just like it was yesterday and I was picking vegetables in some awful heat!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Kim

Monday morning musings

2009-11-09T04:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday !

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Last week seem to fly by me and before I knew it the weekend was here. Tim didn't get home until late Saturday afternoon. Friday night I made a rub for spare ribs. Tim has a Bar-B-Que bible and I used a recipe for the rub from that. I let that sit over night in the fridge and then early Saturday morning I put them in the oven on 225 and slow cooked them all day. They were delicious and so tender. So when Tim got home and after a shower and getting comfortable we had the ribs, baked potato and dinner rolls while we started the Alabama vs LSU football game I had recorded on the DVR. Alabama won with a score of 24 to 15. That game was nerve wracking. But even if it isn't pretty we will take the win!

This means we will meet Florida for the SEC Championship!

Sunday we went to Tim's baby sister's house for our niece's 9th birthday. So much fun. 3 out of 4 of Tim's sisters were there with spouses and grandparents were also there.

I have a lot I would like to accomplish this week concerning the house and Christmas presents. Good Lord willing some things we need to take care of will happen this week. One of them is calling the plumber. That is all I am going to say about that......the words "calling the plumber" makes my right eye twitch.

I will leave you with some photos Tim took a couple of years ago back home in Alabama. These are from Maple Hill Cemetary. It is a beautiful place in any season, but fall is extra special. My father and his father are buried there along with some more family and one good friend whom I miss very much. Parts of this cemetary are very old and also many famous Alabama people are buried there.

Have a great start to the week!
Kim

Something is in my yard!

2009-10-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

What is this stuff in my yard?

It is everywhere! I need to do my business but the green stuff is gone!

Did this guy who is just hanging around make this mess?

I think I have picked up trail!

Nope, now I have lost the trail.

I feel so violated. Hold me. Get me a treat, rub my belly, prepare your bed for me....

Easy going days, TV, Crochet and Quilts

2009-10-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday. My days are mixed up. Tim normally gets home on Friday night or early Saturday morning. This weekend he didn't get home until midnight Sunday. So all day Monday I kept thinking it was Saturday. We had a nice day. We went to the library then had some lunch. After lunch we both crashed. After our naps we headed out for some grocery shopping. Back home we then watched some shows that I record when he is on the road and we watch them together when he returns.

We love the show,"Next Food Network Star". We also love the show "Chopped", also on the Food Network.

There are not a lot of TV shows I really like. But I do have a few. AMC's "Mad Men" and "The Mentalist" on CBS. Other than that I am usually on the History channel or the Discovery channel. Some days I don't even turn it on.....I read. Below is the cast of Mad Men on AMC Sunday nights.

I have been known to get sucked into a movie on LifeTime and before I know it I have watched 3 movies back to back. My daughter does the same thing....it is like once you get hooked with what ever tragedy is going on....you become a LifeTime channel Zombie.

Which reminds me, LifeTime had one of my new favorite shows this past summer, "Drop Dead Diva". The main character played by Brooke Elliot is adorable.

I am currently working a new crochet project. That now means I have 5 projects all going at the same time. I have been wanting a shawl that would be good for church. Below is the beginning of the shawl titled "Have a Heart Shawl" I found the pattern on Crochetville's free patterns. That site has been a blessing for patterns. You actually begin at the top of the shawl and work your way down.

Black is not so easy to photograph.

I have several very old quilts hand sewn by my great grandmother I am going to share with you . The quilts date in the 40's and 50's Some are in really good shape and some are not holding up so well. This one is my favorite. So simple compared to her other quilts. This quilt is in good shape and I am using on our bed. It would fit a full bed or a twin better. But it is enough to cover the top of our queen size bed. I have is sandwiched in between other blankets. So cozy. I makes me smile. The flowers are all with the blanket stitch.

I will share more quilts soon.

Well that is it for me today.....It is raining and dreary. Good day to read and crochet.

Kim

Beautiful Fall Saturday

2009-10-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

It is Football Saturday! It is beautiful here today. Crisp cool temperatures, sunshine and trees bursting with color. I love fall.

Just some quick pics. Below is a pillow I made last year with felt, embroidery thread and fabric scraps. I wish now I had made a ruffle type edge around the pillow. I may take it apart and do it ....some ....day.....

Below is one of my afghans I finished this summer. Pepper loves it when I put something new on the bed, she has to test it out to see if it is up to her princess standards.

Also, I saw this idea somewhere years ago. We have a corner in our counter top / cupboard area that is deep and so dark. I tried a lamp and it just didn't seem to fit. So I got a jar and put a strand of white Christmas lights in side. It is so cozy and adds just enough light. We enjoy it even more when night falls. I am going to make a simple fabric cover/lid, but right now it is just open.

I have some things to do before kickoff at 2:30. Tennessee is coming to Big Al's house in Tuscaloosa.

Roll Tide Roll!

Havea a great weekend,

Kim

God's Will and protection

2009-10-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

I came across a post and the many great comments that followed this morning. (Link below) It caught my attention at a time that I most needed it. In the last several months the more I try to keep my faith and seek God's will the harder the devil seems to jump on me and in my mind causing me to doubt just about everything. I find it scary. I have been spending a lot of my quiet time with God in prayer focusing for him to help me get the devil out of my head and let me find the peace I know is there. Listening to the the enemy is such a waste of time and engery that could be used for good and generous thoughts and ideas. If you throw in behavior and thoughts that I am ashamed of.....no wonder the devil is knocking so much on the door to my mind.

I read several Psalms this morning and though by myself I read them out loud. Immediately the first Psalm hits my heart and tells me to trust and have courage. Psalm 27. Also Psalm 91 led me to remember God is holding me and protecing me.

I am sure someone may stumble onto my post today and think wow, this sure isn't a fun place to visit. No not fun today, but by just sharing I think is helping me already.

I think , no I know the last few weeks I have felt alone. More so than I ever have before. It is not the kind of lonely because you are by yourself or missing those you love. It a desolate type of alone I don't think I have truly experienced so stronly before.

But I know I am not alone......but.....I feel alone. I am sure I am not making any sense. But, just having God's word speak to me this morning has already picked me up some. I think I am in a very important lesson in my life......and like all life's lessons, I usually learn it the hard way. But if I didn't I don't think I would remember the lesson! James 1:2-4 tells us to count is all joy when we fall into various trials. I am trying....and will continue to keep on trying.

But I highly suggest you read the post I mentioned above. I will provide the link below.
If you stayed around reading to this last part, thank you for listening.

http://www.conversiondiary.com/2009/10/so-you-went-against-gods-will-now-what.html#

Take care,
Kim

bad photographer

2009-10-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know why my pictures turn out so blurry. When I up load them from the camera and then on to photobucket they look clear. But once I get them on the blog they are real blurry. I wish I could figure out what I am doing wrong. Anyway, I apologize for the bad pictures.

Happy Birthday Tim!

2009-10-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

The house where Tim grew up all decorated for Halloween. I love this house....parts of it are over 100 years old.

Happy Hump Day.

Monday was Tim's 44th birthday and we celebrated at his parent's home on Sunday. We started the day visiting his grandmother for her birthday. It was a full day. We had lots of chili, salad and Tim requested a carrot cake from his mom and oh boy was that thing good!

Here are some pictures. The first one is how things looked after lots of chili and cake. That is Tim's dad on the left and his uncle on the right.

Me earlier in the day seriously looking for some of Granny's chocolate cake. I don't know what was so serious when he took this picture......

Tim getting ready for some carrot cake.

Tim acting goofy. That is Tim's daughter, Lucy, who is a sweetheart and beautiful too.

We had a full fun day. Hope everyones's week is going well.

Take care,

Kim

Faith, Fall and Football.

2009-10-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

Wow Tim and I both fail miserably at this blogging situation. LOL I guess we see ourselves as too boring to write about.

I can't believe that summer is over. Fall is my favorite time of year. Today it was cool and very windy. I loved it. Tonight it feels like "football" weather. If you have to put on a sweater I think it is heavenly.

We have accomplished some major things with the remodeling and I just realized Tim's last post about that sink showed just how frustrated he was with the whole process. LOL I love, love my new counter top and sink. I need to do pictures! Trim is starting to go up and hopefully before I end up too old to enjoy my house it will be completed!

I think September was one of the hardest months for Tim and I since we moved here. Major lessons in keeping faith and also major moments of asking for forgiveness when we both failed at keeping our faith up and going. We both had a couple of pity parties. But one good thing is we were the only guest to each other's poor pitiful me parties.

This was the first time in a long time that I felt my faith was just all talk. Once the Lord brought me back around to see the big picture with a little less drama, I was then left with the feelings of shame that I let my faith shake and fall around me. Thank you Lord for your Grace and for picking us up and dusting us off with a loving shove to keep on going.

I have no doubt I will throw another pity party, but I just pray in the middle of it I remember who is really in charge. Only the Good Lord can do it and do it right the first time (even if to me I think I can do it better and faster.)....(If I was God I would get tired of me and all my stumbling.)

One really nice thing this past month......Alabama Football! Can I get a Roll Tide Roll!!!

Tim's family is learning that during a University of Alabama football game.....don't call unless you have cut an artery or a bone is portruding somewhere on your body. LOL

We don't mess around when it comes to Alabama football.......

I hope everyone is doing well and I also hope October is a good month. Who knows....Tim and I may actually blog on a regular basis.......

Take care,
Kim

THE DAMNED SINK!

2009-08-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hey! The "DAMNED SINK" is going in this weekend! We are finally done with washing dishes in a bathroom sink that is shaped like a sea shell! Whoo Whoo! More to follow on this later as I am about ten minutes from walking out the door to buy "THE DAMNED SINK"! We have had the counter top for about a month now but it has just been sitting up there loose. Today it all goes together one way or another! Stay tuned to this sporadic web site for more details later.

Slow Going

2009-08-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

I know that it has been a while since we posted so I thought that I would give you an update. The garden has been an abundant blessing. We are getting a bunch of Zucchini, green beans cucumbers and tomato's on a weekly basis. our corn didn't fare very well though. we got about a quarter of a crop. The ears didn't develop very well and some of the ears had worms eating the tops of them. No more seed from cheap ole Wal-Mart. Next year I'm going to have to use some fertilizer and pesticide a bit. I don't have the time to do it organically due to being on the road so much. I cook down tomatoes every weekend and run them through a food mill, then freeze the juice. when I have a bunch frozen I will cook it all down and make spaghetti sauce out of it and can it. My mom and I made pickles, sweet and dill, I cut some sideways and made stacker's out of them. Man was that good! We had grilled hamburgers last weekend and I put some stacker's on mine! Better than vlasic I swear! My mom pickled some zucchini and they taste just like sweet pickles! I have a lot of pictures from the garden but don't have them uploaded yet. I swear I will share them before Christmas Ha Ha!

On the home front, not a lot has been done on the remodeling lately other than we got the counter top. Its not installed yet, just sitting up there. It looks really nice except for one small problem. They or I got the measurements wrong and one end is too long. Not a big problem as my carpenter says to just buy a good high speed blade for the saw and a couple of end pieces and he will cut it to fit himself. hopefully if all goes well, we will have it installed next weekend.

work has been killing me lately and that is a good thing. In trucking you beg for more work and it has been slow of late, hence the slow pace at remodeling. Freight is picking up so I feel that we will be moving ahead a bit more soon. We decided not to finish out the dinning room and kitchen until we get the living room at the same point that those two rooms are at. Basically getting all three rooms done to the point of needing flooring and trim and finishing out all three at once. That way we don't have to worry about paint spills on new floors.

Kim is a bit under the weather so I don't know when I will get some pictures up. Stay tuned.

Peace

Garden, Fried Foods, Goodbye Job and Hello Peace.

2009-06-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

Some garden photos!

We had a nice weekend. We ate entirely too much! Friday night Tim fried some fresh zuchinni to go with some orange marinade chicken he grilled. Delicious. Sunday afternoon we had homemade fried onion rings. Oh my, they were too good and I ate too much. That is the most fried food we have eaten in so long.

I will get some crafting pictures to share. I have been trying my hand at embroidery and I am loving it. I had fun working on some granny squares with some scrap yarn.

When we moved from Alabama I left behind a really good job. I was an Executive Administrative Assistant for various VPs in the Defense and Aerospace industry. I had a 40 to 45 minute commute in traffic that could make even the best of folks cuss like a sailor. I learned when you got that promotion working with VPs that your job was directly related to them....so if they decide to leave or change positions you are left working to figure out where you stay or go. I got so tired of that. I hate to complain because the Good Lord took such good care of me and my family with that job and the insurance it provided. Plus I worked with some of the best people and friends of my adult life. I moved up quickly and that job was a true blessing. But it seem to just run it's season and I had no problems leaving it behind. My health problems added to this as well.

I knew I was stressed, but just recently I realized just how stressed. Days like today are gifts to me. I accomplish my tasks at a comfortable pace. And no more traffic! This move has had some problems and things we didn't plan, but I am so thankful to be here. Tim's family is the biggest blessing. I am an only child and Tim has 4 sisters! They are fun and hilarious with some of the cutest kids you can find. Tim's Mom and Dad are like my parents and treat me like one of their own. Tim's daughter, Lucy, is a sweetheart and I love being able to get to know her better. Tim is always thanking me for wanting to move "home". But I want to thank him for helping me find a new home.

I love this little old house and I love, love the huge shade trees in the front yard. and we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel as far as remodeling goes. I just need to remember how blessed I feel on these days that are so peaceful. I would like to find a part time job. But right now I couldn't imagine having to support a VP no matter how much money they paid me.

I hope your Tuesday is a peaceful as mine today.

Kim

Around the yard

2009-06-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Some views around the yard in heat that I did not sign up for when I moved NORTH! My husband was laughing while asking me this morning if I thought the state of Illinios didn't have summers? My reply: Not like Alabama summers!!! Ok, I will shut up about the heat now.....

I didnt' have the ability to hang clothes out until I moved here. And I love it. The poles are old and rusty so I planted some morning glories and I am now training them up the poles.

My pictures of the garden just didn't capture it as I would like. Tim is much better at photography than I. He will be home later this evening, so I will get hime to take some garden pictures this weekend. But here is one showing the corn.

My tree face......that sounds like a medical problem...I have a bad case of tree face!

Say goodbye Kim....Goodbye Kim

(Happy Friday!)

Kim is alive and well......

2009-06-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

I knew I had been quiet for awhile, but I didn't realize just how long! While taking Pepper out for her morning "walk" I thought I really need to take an updated picture of the garden. Which then brought me around to blogging. You know how you start on one thing and then while in the middle of that one thing you go off on other things....

I went to the picture files and the next thing I knew I had been looking through pictures and almost an hour went by! Then I decided until I can get a garden photo later today, I would share some older pictures I ran across this morning.

The picture above is my son and I nearly 3 years ago on a 3 day cruise to Kozumel Mexico. The food was wonderful. They had this chocolate dessert that was pure sin.

My daughter and her husband on their wedding day last November. I love this picture.

My daughter. I wish the picture was better, but you can still see how beautiful she is......if I do say so myself. :o)

The weather here in Carlyle has been HOT. I told Tim I clearly made it known that I was leaving the hot behind in Alabama. I hate this type of heat. It looks as if I brought it with me. I hope to see cooler days soon.

I have been crocheting, painting, sewing, reading and entertaining Pepper.

I am currently once again reading Sense and Sensibility. I love that story and I love the movie as well. I would be embarassed to tell you how many times I have watched the movie. Willoughby is very dashing, but I have always preferred Colonel Brandon.

I am off to get some laundry done I will return soon with garden pictures.

Have a great day! Kim