Sweet and Sour Meatballs

About a week before Christmas Mom told me about the meatballs that somebody at work brought for a potluck.  She told me they were amazing, told me the ingredients, and Keith promptly said no, he wouldn’t try them.

Then we honestly forgot what with all the blizzard excitement, so when we got over to Mom’s house the day after Christmas (her birthday by the way), we all headed for the appetizers.  Every single one of us LOVED these!  I wish I had a picture, but didn’t even think about it at the time.

And I know the ingredients sound strange, just trust me and make them.  You can thank me later.

SWEET AND SOUR MEATBALLS

1 bag of pre-cooked meatballs from Sams.  (About 1/2 big bag fills a crockpot)
1 can cranberry sauce
1 can sauerkraut (don't drain the juice)
1 bottle of chili sauce
1 cup brown sugar

Put all ingredients in your crockpot and cook on high until the cranberry sauce and brown sugar melt and the meatballs get hot, then turn it to low.

You really need to stir this often.  As the cranberry sauce melts it will make your sauce.  Until it does you need to keep the meatballs stirred up so they do not stick on the bottom. 

Enjoy!

 

I am happily linking this to Tasty Tuesday – go and look at all the new recipes that are linked!  :)

Oklahoma Christmas Blizzard of ‘09

 Sometimes things don’t go exactly as we plan.  That’s my Christmas in a nutshell.  :)  Our plan was to have the kids over on Christmas Eve morning for our family gifts, have lunch together, drive to Oklahoma City, attend church services, then eat and do presents at the in-law’s.  But mom called me Wednesday morning to say that a big snowstorm was on the way to OKC, so we kicked it into overdrive, did our family gifts while shoveling pizza for dinner, then drove to OKC Wednesday night to get there before the storm.

And I am so glad we did!  OKC ended up getting 14.1 inches of snow on Christmas Eve – an all time new record!  They actually called it a ground blizzard because the wind was blowing so hard and making big snow drifts.  Just south of the city there was a 50+ car pile-up due to the white out conditions.  It was so bad outside we weren’t even able to make it to church.  We did talk to Pastor the next day and he said that the candlelight service had 10 people there – and that counted him, the vicar and his son!

So on the plus side – we got there safe, we spent some quality time with the in-law’s and we really don’t get to see them often enough, we were warm and we had one heck of a white Christmas!  The negatives – we had a rushed family celebration before leaving, didn’t spend much time at all with my family, wasn’t able to get to my cousin’s house at all and of course the biggest negative was not being able to get to church.

But somehow things all work together for good, don’t they?  When we were at my mom’s house we were all laughing with my brother and sister-in-law about the Great Blizzard of Aught Nine….and then discovered the kids didn’t know that a zero could be called aught!  Yeah, we felt a little old at that point.

 So here’s Brooklyn all bundled up for her first time in the snow.  When we went out on Christmas Eve day she greatly preferred staying on the porch out of the wind.  On Friday when there was no wind she did have fun.

 This is my granddog Xena.  She loved the snow!  She ran from one end of the yard to the other.  And on Friday when we ventured out to start shoveling the driveway and walkways two neighbor dogs, also labs, came running down to play.  The three of them were so funny together, growling, chewing, jumping on each other.  Here she’s showing off one of her tricks – balancing things on her muzzle.  Of course, a snowball wasn’t as easy, but she managed!

 Late at night on Christmas Eve my father-in-law got out the snowblower to make a path out to the travel trailer that my brother- and sister-in-law were staying in.  They had planned to leave from OKC and head west on vacation, but it got delayed a few days from the snow.  Look at how deep that snow is!

 And this was one of the highlights for us southern folk – using the snowblower on Friday!  My in-law’s are originally from northern Minnesota, so when the came south they brought some of the northern toys along with them.  It might sound silly, but we all had fun taking a turn using this.

This entire holiday was a perfect example of learning to Let Go and Let God.  There’s not a thing in the world we can do about the weather, so we might as well relax and enjoy it.  And oh the memories we’ll have.   :)

And it came to pass.....

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.    Luke 2:8-20 NIV

Knit Christmas Tree Skirt

Nothing like finishing at the last minute!  Since I tend to spend quite a bit of time in my office/hobby room, I decided to spread some Christmas cheer by setting up a Christmas tree.  We ran across a great sale and I got a 4 foot white tree that is now spruced up with pink decorations and ribbons.  Obviously the not-so-pretty stand had to be covered up with a tree skirt and I was delighted to find a knit pattern.

Amazingly I finished this is about a week and a half, mostly because it's done in garter stitch and short rows.  I was also working on this project the week that Keith worked evenings and my daughter and spent some quality time watching tv and doing needlework together.

I'm very, very pleased with how this came out.  It completes my little girly tree.  And having a knitted Christmas tree skirt is fairly unique I would think.

Friday's Fave Five

Well looky there, it's Friday already!  Time for some of my blessings of the last week, in no particular order:

1. The first one still surprises me the way it turned out.  Keith sent me a text Monday afternoon that the remainder of the week he would have to work 12-8:30.  I was less than gracious in my thoughts because all I could focus on was all the things we had to get done this week.  But in the end it probably made for a very relaxing week.  Each night I had a task to complete - and did.  I would work on something in the living room with Lynne' and the two of us would watch tv together while she worked on a crochet project.  It's not often we get time like that - she's 24 and has her own life - and so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

2. Panini's!  I use my George Foreman grill as a panini sandwich grill and have had some fantastic sandwiches lately.  Having used a real panini grill on a girlfriend retreat I will say that the George Foreman does not do as good a job.  However, I'm using an appliance I already had, which means I'm not spending more money or having to find a place to store another appliance.  A heated sandwich is so much more satisfying than a cold one this time of year.

3. I'm doing some other crafts again!  Two of them I can't share yet (and I apologize for even mentioning it), but they are Christmas gifts and are for people that read the blog.  I'm learning that there are so many wonderful things to do and I am enjoying doing them again.

4. Bible reading.  I thought I was going to wait until the new year to start, but then decided that really there's no reason to wait.  I'm using this reading plan to read through the Bible in a year.  I've used it before and really, really like it as you read part of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day.  Since I got so caught up in Bible studies this year I've let my daily reading lapse and I"ve found that I really miss it.

5. Friends.  Last Sunday Keith and Lynne' took the atv out to the river with his brother and wife and I had the day to myself.  I still wasn't driving at that point (though I did drive last night - first time since I broke my ribs - a personal victory!), so had many tasks at home that I planned to do.  Those plans were beautifully spoiled when a girlfriend called and asked if I wanted to go with her to Joann's, Michael's and Dollar Tree - a few of my favorite stores!  It was nice to get out of the house for a bit and I even still got home in time to get some things done.  Happiness!   :)

Visit Susanne at Living To Tell The Story to see more blessing posts or to link up one of your own.

Little Brooklyn Stories

Please indulge a grandmother a bit.  I realize that my granddaughter is the most precious thing to happen to my family in a long time, so I thought it might be fun to post a few of the cute things she says.  I am very fortunate to have a daughter-in-law that loves to share stories with me.  :)

Loni (daughter-in-law) was busy folding clothes.  When she finished the folding and got up to put them away Brooklyn looked up and said "Wow, good job Mommy, good job!"  I've decided she must get a lot of positive affirmation at home and daycare.

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They have a yellow and white cat named Cheeto and a black lab named Xena.  Brooklyn is old enough now that it is her job to let Xena outside in the backyard to "do her business".  Problem is that Cheeto is an indoor cat who is very curious about the great outdoors.

Brooklyn let Xena out and Cheeto slipped outside too.  "Mommy, Mommy, Cheeto outside, Cheeto outside.  OH NO!!!"  I can't help but picture Brooklyn with her palms on her cheeks when she gets to the oh no portion of this.

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Loni had Brooklyn try on her new Christmas dress last night, the one that is a beautiful blue with a diamond belt.  I can't wait to see this on her because she has such beautiful blue eyes.  Apparently Brooklyn thought that she looked very pretty in it and looked at Loni and said "Show Daddy?"  I think it's adorable that she wanted to show her Daddy how pretty she is.