Crazy Crunch!

Crazy Crunch with nuts
Crazy Crunch plain

Courtesy of my dear mother, a wonderful memory from my childhood, and now part of my own children's memories :)

Set aside in a greased bowl-
14 Cups of popped corn
1 1/2 C. mixed nuts

In a large pot on the stove bring to a boil-
1 1.2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. dark Karo syrup
1 1/2 square butter (3/4 Cup)
3 T. water

Boil until hard ball stage (checking in a bowl of ice water, you pour a little into the bowl and can use your fingers to form a solid ball). Remove from heat.
Add 1 tsp. vanilla when it's at hard ball stage.

Pour over popcorn and mix.

Dump out onto greased foil or wax paper to cool.

Enjoy!

Thursday's Thumbs

Thumbs Up!


Game- Ok, this is the night you've waited for... a game I have in store.... LOL. The other night in my GNO post I mentioned a game that we played that was fun. The game is called Uno Attack! (or in the UK or Canada it's called Uno Extreme). This is not the Uno game of your childhood. There are exciting new cards and an electric card shooter. When you can't play a card (or if certain cards are played that tell you to push the button) and you push a button you may get no cards or it may shoot 5 or 8 cards at you! This is not a game for the jumpy! It was super fun, especially when someone is about to go out and they get a handful of cards shot at them! Yeah! Take that!


Salad- Last night we tried for the first time a Dole Salad Kit. The one we tried was a Caesar Salad. It comes with romaine lettuce, garlic croutons, grated Parmesan cheese and a convenient packaged dressing. It was super yummy! I didn't think I'd like it because I am so picky about my salads, but I am happy I was surprised. I went and bought another packet today. While I was there I also picked up the Taco Toss Kit and we had that tonight with enchiladas. It too was super yummy. It comes with crisp iceberg, romaine, red cabbage, carrots, radishes, crispy tortilla strips, shredded cheddar cheese and salsa ranch dressing. The salsa ranch dressing is YUM!!!

Crest White Strips- Ok, I was really sceptical about these little buggars. I thought for sure that the spaces where my teeth met would be left untouched and that it would do uneven bleaching, but it hasn't! They kind of bubble up with the solution of 14% Hydrogen Peroxide and get in all the cracks. The dentist told me to do it twice a day for 21 days but it only took about 14 days and not twice a day to get my teeth as white as I would like them to. I was very impressed with how quickly they worked and how easy it was. Just make sure not to eat or drink anything but water for at least 30 minutes after each treatment.

Thumbs Down!

I have no thumbs down for this session.

Groovin!

Man I'm just loving my playlist! I wish that the people hosting the music would stop making my list smaller and smaller.



Saturday I got a call from my neighbor Marge. She's a single, elderly lady that lives alone in the trailer next door. We've been pretty good about taking care of her needs as far as yardwork and plowing go. Anyway, she was calling because a niece of hers was on her way up to our city to drop her kids off for a while and go out for the evening with her husband and she wanted to bring Marge a bag of starter stuff for Amish Friendship Bread. Marge doesn't cook/bake so she was asking if I'd be interested in taking it.

I've heard it's really a long process, but I've also heard that it's really good, and if you do it right you'll be baking a loaf every 10 days. If you've ever made it, please leave me a comment on any tips for it, or how you liked it!

Now I have to think of 3 people to give it to and make sure I get it to them.



Okay, I am really late posting this.
My oldest son turned 15 on the 2nd. He's a groundhog baby :)
I can't believe he's that old! Where did my little boy go? I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 15 year old. Thank heaven's I have a 3 year old to make me feel younger! ha!
Jacob has been such a blessing in my life. He came at a time in my life where I was really out of control and not knowing how my life should be, and I wasn't living right. I needed an anchor, a direction and he came just in time.
Life hasn't been easy for either of us. I haven't been a perfect mom, and I've made a lot of mistakes with him. Thankfully he's resiliant and forgiving. I think no matter how many kids you have, they are all so different, you will end up making mistakes anyway. What's good for one, isn't necessarily good for another.
When he was really little he had very blonde hair and golden curls at the ends. His first haircut took care of that! He's always been a fun playful kid. He started in American Karate at the age of 3 or 4, I can't remember. By the time he was 8 he was an advanced Red Belt. He kind of gave up on it when his little brother was born and I wasn't regularly taking him. His next belt would have been a brown belt.
He was seven years old when his dad was baptized into the church, and he was eight when his dad baptized him and we were sealed as a family in the St. Paul temple. Those years he didn't go to primary didn't seem to harm his ability to understand the gospel. He has a strong testimony of his own, thanks to his own studying and experiences. He's going to be a great Stake President someday ;)
I'm convinced he is a very old, wise soul. He "gets it". He gets religion. He gets politics. He gets people. He has such a great head on his shoulders. He's responsible. He's reliable (unless you want the kitchen floor swept every night).
I couldn't have asked for a better first kid. He's made life so much fun and so worth sticking around for. I hope he liked his birthday. Our original plans were to go to Joe's Crab Shack, but they had closed business, so his second choice was Outback Steak House. We had a great dinner other than a few mishaps like Joel getting a drink dumped into his salad and Joyanna all over the place like a wild monkey! She was horrible.
We had family over for a Dairy Queen cake, I took pictures, but haven't emptied my card yet. He made out like a bandit with money and gift cards! Lucky duck. Sunday he had his yearly interview with our bishop and he asked for his first dance card... ahhhhh! I'm not ready for my kid to go to dances yet! However, I would rather he go to church dances than school dances.
Heaven help me next year when he turns 16. *chews on nails*
And my spell check doesn't seem to be working today.