Day Full of Memories

 

One of the best memories I have of my Grandma Trenda was her kolacky's.  I could always count on her  having  some made every time we visited her and if she came to see us she always brought some with her to share. The picture above is Grandma's recipe that she wrote out for me years ago. Now that she is gone I treasure it even more.

Well for a few years now Christa and Amy have been asking my Mom to come over and teach us all how to make kolacky's. It just never seemed to work out. Well this past Sept. when we were at one of the many funerals we had to go to Amy decided that we need to set a date and do it. We agreed that it would be fun to have all the aunts come over too and make a family baking day of it. We got a date set and were ready to go. Of course that date got changed several time before we finally made it happen.

My Mom, Aunt Sandi, Aunt Monie, Amy and Christa all came to my house bright and early on Monday morning

Aunt Sandi took the lead roll on showing us just how it was done. She is a pro at it.

                             She took us through it step by step

This is my favorite pictures from the day. My Mom, Sandi and Monie are reading out of book that I had Grandma Trenda fill out for me years and years ago called Grandmother Remembers. It is full of family pictures and stories about Grandma. It was fun to see and hear them read it out loud. They even found out things they did not know about Grandma. 

                           Sandi getting the kolacky's ready be filled

                     Showing us how to fold them over

Aunt Monie took the easy way and used frozen bread dough for her batch.

                         A pan full of kolacky's

         Sandi showing Amy how to wrap them up. Amy got it down pretty good!

          Grandma Becker taking a break and reading Oliver a story or two

I pulled out all my recipes and found all the ones that Grandma Trenda had written out. It fun to talk about them all and the memories of Grandma making them for us.

                                     Waiting to rise and get baked.

Sandi also made us some cinnamon rolls from the dough she made.

This picture got out of order. It is Amy doing her best to fold the dough over.

                               Christa, Mom and Aunt Monie

                                                     The Finished product!!!!

                            Oliver's very first bite of a kolacky. He loved it!!

I cannot express how much this day meant to me and to Christa and Amy. Not only did we learn how to make kolacky's we also had lot of laughs. There were so much talk about Grandma that day. We all hope she was watching from heaven and had a smile on her face knowing that a family tradition was being carried on.

When I took a bite of a kolacky that day the memories of Grandma flooded back. Aunt Sandi made the kolacky perfect they tasted just like Grandmas.

It was a perfect day and I am so happy that Amy and Christa insisted that we do it.

Later Sharon

"Sandbox"

                                       

                             "Sandbox"

      There are few things that can make a child smile
      As much as playing in the sand -
      Where one can build moats and castles
      With as little as their own bare hands.
      It trickles through their fingers -
      Such warm and tiny grains;
      Between the toes it is cool and squishes
      After a welcomed summer's rain.
      The sandbox is a wonderful place
      To pass the time of day;
      Where imagination is limited only
      By the child who loves to play.
                                                        Author: unknown

On Sunday Rick and I went down to Truman so Rick could see Christa and Jese's new house. We also went there so Rick could build Oliver a new sandbox since he had to leave the other one Rick made him at there old house in New Prague. He only had the little turtle sandbox to play in when they were living in the rental.

Now Oliver is going to have a huge sandbox to play in. He was very excited. To bad we did not bring sand to fill it. Christa and I dumped the sand in it from the turtle but that did not even fill the corner of the  sandbox. But Oliver still was excited and played in the little sand he had.  Christa said he has been playing in his sand/grass box all week.  Rick is going to bring a wagon load of sand down to them on Saturday. Oliver is going to be very happy to have more sand then grass in his sandbox to play in!


                                         We have been busy doing a little yard work.

The city came around and picked up brush this week so we trimmed all the bushes/trees that are on the property line. They were hanging over so far that it was pretty much impossible to mow under them. The area is also full of leaves from last fall. So I spent Monday raking. I got the wagon full and still have at least two more wagon's full to get rid of. To bad the city would not take leaves when they picked up the brush. Hopefully it will be nice out on my days off so I can finish cleaning it all up. Maybe we will even get some grass growing again in the area.

Rick also needs to get the big logs cut up from the two trees we had taken down a month ago. Then we need to rent a log splitter. We should have wood for the fire for a long time.

Since our lawn is mostly in the shade we have not had to cut it yet. With all the rain we have been getting I'm sure we will have to soon.

The deer have found our yard again. They have been coming right up the front of the house to eat acorns. I'm glad to see them so they can clean up more of the acorns. I have raked them up again this spring and Rick ran the sweeper over the yard too but there is still millions of them in the yard. I am glad that we only have a big crop of them every other year.

That's about all the updates I have for today. Enjoy the weekend

Sharon   

Finding The Good.......

What a awful news day it was in Waseca yesterday.  In case you have not heard about it here is a link to one of the many stories about the teen that planned a school shooting in Waseca It was shocking and so very sad to hear about it yesterday. Thank God the women who saw the teen go into the storage locker that he was storing his bombs in called the police when she thought he was acting suspicious. It was because of her an unimaginable tragedy did not happen.

When you hear about the school shootings you always think to yourself that it will never happen in my town. It is easy to detach yourself from it because it did not affect the people you know. Well reality hit very close to home yesterday. When I think about all the people that I know that have kids in the Waseca schools and how tragic it could have been it just makes me sick.

So I decided that after the bad news of yesterday I would share some happy things.....

Yesterday was May Day and several of the neighborhood kids came around with May Baskets.

   It is so sweet! I love that they, along with there parents take the time to make them up and then come around and leave them at our doors.  It made me smile when I opened the door and found them. Dexter loved it too since he also found them before me and was feasting on one of them before I got to it.


Today while at work I went into the business office and they also had little May Baskets for the taking. They were so cute that I had to take one when I was told to. I now have a couple treats and some flower seeds to take home.

Morgan likes to chase squirrels. She pretty much spends her day looking out the windows for them and then running out the door and chasing them up trees. She can just barely reach to look out the living room window. She is so cute. It made me smile last night watching her.

Today is Amy's 30th birthday. She was telling me yesterday that she was feeling really old turning 30 and was feeling a little down about it. Then she remember that I would now have two daughters that were in there 30's so that made me "really" old. She said that thought made her cheer up about turning 30. It made me laugh when she told me and was glad my oldness could make her feel better.

Rick had some people over to pick up strings so by the time he got upstairs it was 6:45. Neither of us had eaten supper yet and since it was already so late I figured we would just eat left overs again. But Rick decided that he was going to grill and made up some chicken for us. I was grateful to have him take care of supper for us after a long day at work for both of us. It is nice to be taken care of sometimes.

So  even if the news out there is awful and you are feeling down try to find the good in the little things. The neighbor that waves and smiles as you go by, seeing the neighborhood kids playing and laughing every afternoon, the smile of your love ones or even watching to dog get all excited by the chase of a squirrel.  It is not hard to find the good if you just look.....


Later Sharon

Good Book....

I was excited to see that another one of my classmates wrote a book. As soon as I found out I had to order it up.

The book A Country Doctor Goes To War is a must if you are a history buff or World War II buff. It is about my classmates Grandfather who was a doctor in Truman MN when he got called up to serve in World War II. It was very interesting to read about his experiences during his service in his own words through his journal. Tammy did a wonderful job telling about her family history and how and why her Grandfather became the compassionate man that he was.

Click on the link above to order the book and learn more about it.

Later Sharon

Upcycled Metal Locker

When we took our camper to my Dad's house for storage last fall he showed me a locker he had in his shed. He said it was from the country school he went to. I loved it and told him if he ever wanted to  get rid of it I would take it.
Well this spring when we went to pick up the camper he had the locker sitting out and said I should take it. I was excited to have it.

Dad said it came from the only school he ever went to. A Country School on Twin Lakes Road in  Faribault. For those of you that don't remember, country schools use to be for students that lived in the country and did not go into town to the big schools. They usually had all the grades together in one room. My Dad went there for 8 years. He then went to work on the farm. Once he joined the Army he got his GED. He took his country school education and went on to build his own very successful construction business. He was well known in the community for his exceptional brick work. When he retired he had people calling him for years trying to get him to just do one more job for them.

The locker is around 70 years old. He said the school house sat empty for a long time and then they auctioned everything off in it. He remembered using the locker so he bought it up. The school house was bought and remodeled into a house.

I loved the look of the locker with all its rust and peeling paint. Of course I could not have all that paint and rust falling off in my house so I had to do something to it. I did a little research and discovered that you can seal rust in with a product called Penetrol. 

So I took a wire brush and brushed off all the loose rust and paint. I got the Penetrol at Menards and then went to work. It was very easy to apply. I just used a small paint roller and applied it. Once it dried I was done. I love the way it looks! 

 

I now have a little piece of my Dad's history in my house. Over the weekend Dad was at my house so I got to show it to him. He got a big smile on his face and was very pleased with it. He said it had sat in his shed for years and was glad to see it being used again. He said it looked perfect sitting on my porch. 

Later Sharon

Easter Fun.....

Since  we were hosting Easter for both the Rugroden  and the Becker side this year Christa and Jese come up on Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday night. Oliver got to color Easter Eggs on Saturday night after everyone left from the Rugroden side of the family. He had lots of fun doing it.

                                 Jese helping Oliver shoot a bow on Sunday morning

                                    Eli was having lots of fun finding the eggs.

 Liam was the master at finding the eggs, but like a good big brother and cousin he showed Oliver and Eli where to find them too.

                      Oliver did pretty good to with some help from Christa

 Josie ran fast and got just about as many eggs as Liam. I was so happy that Mother Nature let us have a perfect day for a egg hunt.

                 Eli and Oliver decided the yard needed some more raking.

We all spent most of the afternoon outside. It was nice to be able to enjoy the weather.

Lastly here is my centerpiece for the table. It was a big hit with everyone. Of course now I have a lot of jelly beans to eat......

Later Sharon

Sweet fun fact.....

Did you know that sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don't drift apart.....

I just thought I would share this fun, sweet fact for your Friday to make you smile.

Have a Great weekend!
Sharon