PRALINE DELIGHTS
1 box graham crackers (the ones that separate into 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 pieces)
2 sticks butter or margarine (I used butter)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 cups pecan halves
Place graham crackers close together on jelly roll pan. Place 1-2 pecans on each cracker and set aside. (I made one pan using chopped pecans and sprinkled them on the crackers that way instead - it was almost better than the whole pecans)
In a saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar. Bring to a boil until the butter is dissolved and add vanilla. Spoon mixture on graham crackers (doesn't have to cover completely - will spread out in oven). Bake for 10 minutes at 350.
Remove from oven. Cool in pan for 3-4 minutes - then separate the sections. It works to use a small metal spatula to separate them.
Enjoy. They're REALLY REALLY good when they're still hot!
Monday, April 30, 2012
RAINY MONDAY
It's a rather gloomy, rainy day here today. Jerry went to Bloomington to spend time with Nathan and Heat as they have the day off school; and since Heather has Monday's off work, I believe she joined then for lunch and whatever else they might do.
We had a very busy morning yesterday as it was our turn to "give dinner" at church. Friday and Saturday I made 4 pans of Rice Krispie/Peanut Butter bars and 4 batches of Praline Delights (pictured below), which is made with graham crackers, syrup, brown sugar, and pecans! (Janice's recipe) It is the most delicious thing ever! By bedtime Saturday, I was sick to my stomach from eating all the broken pieces and licking the caramel from the bottom the pan. Of course had to check every pan of the PB bars also.
I've just begun boiling some Navy beans. We had lots of ham left over and I think ham 'n' beans with a little Jiffy Corn Bread/syrup sounds really good on such a rainy day. Too bad all y'all aren't closer, we'd have enough for everyone!
We had a very busy morning yesterday as it was our turn to "give dinner" at church. Friday and Saturday I made 4 pans of Rice Krispie/Peanut Butter bars and 4 batches of Praline Delights (pictured below), which is made with graham crackers, syrup, brown sugar, and pecans! (Janice's recipe) It is the most delicious thing ever! By bedtime Saturday, I was sick to my stomach from eating all the broken pieces and licking the caramel from the bottom the pan. Of course had to check every pan of the PB bars also.
I've just begun boiling some Navy beans. We had lots of ham left over and I think ham 'n' beans with a little Jiffy Corn Bread/syrup sounds really good on such a rainy day. Too bad all y'all aren't closer, we'd have enough for everyone!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Bathroom/Utility/Kitchen Upgrade
Some of you might be wondering if we ever got our house back in order after the fire. It is taking us a while, but little by little we make progress. Right now we are waiting for the new floor to be installed. In the last picture, the walls appear yellow but they are actually "apricot blush" --- the same as the picture above it. We have some bare walls to decorate, but that still needs to be decided. We may just have Maria put up "Simply Said" messages for us. She is a dealer. We are forever grateful to Casey, especially, and also to Brandon and the others who worked to put out the fire. ---- Carol
PS I know wallpaper is "out of style" but we are sort of old fashioned. We like it anyway and decided to use it in the utility room.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
My youngest grandchild, Cooper
While Daddy Aaron came to Peoria for a business trip, little Cooper came along and spent the 48 hours with Grandpa K. I took this video (about my favorite video of all time) and it shows Cooper's contageous enthusiasm. If our Blog accepts a video, I've posted it here. If not, with time and desire, go to this website and watch the 55-second video....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCWTH66yZzo&feature=relmfu
Almost everyone thinks Cooper also looks like a famous male singer (when I put my reading glasses on him!). To see a 30-second separate video of him impersonating this famous singer, go to this website:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLcWhGKNnPc
Any guess of who he looks like can be posted in the Comments section here.
Grandpa K.
Almost everyone thinks Cooper also looks like a famous male singer (when I put my reading glasses on him!). To see a 30-second separate video of him impersonating this famous singer, go to this website:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLcWhGKNnPc
Any guess of who he looks like can be posted in the Comments section here.
Grandpa K.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
It Doesn't Add Up!
Mom gave me a Woman's World magazine, which I was looking through this morning. It is full of tips and hints from gift-giving, to cleaning, to food and dieting. This is what I found out:
If I drink diet soda I will have a 70% larger waist in 10 years. Does that mean if I stop drinking diet soda I will have a 70% smaller waist in 10 years??
If I read novels I will experience a 68% drop in stress.
If I chew 40 times per bite, I will eat 12% fewer calories at a meal.
If I drink 64 oz of water daily I will cut my risk of colon, breast, and bladder cancer 45% or more.
If I have 20 minutes of daily sun exposure I reduce the risk of breast cancer 36%. And if I do it in the morning, I can cut my risk of skin cancer as much as five-fold!
If I eat one clove of garlic daily I will cut my risk of digestive-tract cancers by 30%, and 1/2 cup of daily strawberries prevents up to 75% of the damage caused by carcinogens and toxins. I should also switch to unscented laundry products.
I can cut my cancer risk another fivefold by having a few close friends.
Eating 2 Brazilian nuts daily can cut my risk of pancreatic cancer 33% or more.
If I snack on 1/2 cup of soy nuts daily I can lower my blood pressure as much as 10% in eight weeks...and sipping cherry juice will give me an extra 20 minutes of sleep a night.
If I'm constipated I could become a bed-wetter!
I stopped on pg. 16 because I don't think I can stand to get any healthier than this!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
KILROY WAS HERE!
Last night we had the pleasure of watching Grace play the role of Kitty Evans, a tap dancer, in the Jr. High musical KILROY WAS HERE! The story takes place at a U.S.O. complex in New York City during WW2. It was a very talented group of kids - great singing, dancing, and mystery solving. And I'm sure they learned a little about WW2 also.
I took several pictures, but this was really the only stage picture that wasn't either glaring or way too dark. Grace was just getting ready to perform her dance when the siren went off and they all had to rush to the bomb shelter. Fortunately it was just a drill!
Those kids were all so cute all dressed up in their 1940's attire. Oh, and they DID solve the mystery and caught the spies that might have changed the whole course of that war!! But that would be way too much detail to go into here!
After the show, we went to the Cold Stone ice cream place, then arrived home at 11:59! Not a bad night for a couple of old fogies!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
HISTORICAL INTEREST
May 1901 fire ravaged Gridley (see above post for link to Pantagraph article).
November 13, 2011 2:00 pm • By Bill Kemp Archivist/librarian
McLean County Museum of History
The day after the May 3, 1901, fire, Gridley businessmen took
sad measure of the destruction along the west side of Center
Street. (Photo courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History)
The large blaze several weeks ago in downtown Minonk, which
ended with the loss of six buildings, including one built in 1888,
serves as a reminder that fires have plagued the commercial
districts of Central Illinois communities for more than 100
years.In 1894, for example, unrelated conflagrations devastated
portions of Chenoa and El Paso, and one year later, Heyworth was
beset by the same misfortune. Bloomington, of course, lost much of
its downtown in the “Great Fire” of June 19, 1900. The reasons for
these periodic, destructive fires were many, including lax or
nonexistent building codes, inadequate firefighting equipment, the
large percentage of wood frame building stock, and insufficient
municipal water pressure to douse flames.On May 3, 1901, a little less than a year after the Bloomington
fire, it was Gridley’s turn to face such destruction. Fed by
bone-dry weather and high winds, the fast-moving and unpredictable
fire “swept away” the better part of two blocks of the village’s
commercial heart. At the time, this small but vibrant community in
northern McLean County claimed a population of a little more than
700 (today, it’s roughly double that figure).The best account of the 1901 fire comes from Charles S. Rowley,
the editor and publisher of The Gridley Advocate. Around 3:40 p.m.,
Howard Tarman, the village’s fire marshal, was leaving his Center
Street furniture store when he spotted flames coming from a nearby
alley. Shouts of “Fire! Fire!” soon rang through town.Tarman hastily returned to his place of business in order to
retrieve valuable papers kept in the upstairs workshop. By that
time the widening blaze had transformed William Settle’s meat
market and William Fritz’s barbershop, located immediately south of
Tarman’s store, into a “mass of roaring fire and smoke” And just as
Tarman darted out of his building and onto the street, “flames
entered his store overhead, leaping like some giant wild animal in
search of prey.”Residents of all stripes, including women and children, manned
hand pumps to pull water from several street cisterns, including
one near the Christian Church. Despite their efforts, the
wind-whipped flames jumped across Center Street, and one building
after another “went down like houses of cardboard.” As flames
engulfed the better portion of the town’s business district,
water-soaked stock boards were used as shields to save the Kent
Brothers brick store at the northwest corner of Center and Fourth
streets.Meanwhile, fearing that much of Gridley was under imminent
threat, frantic residents emptied their homes and placed furniture
and other valuables in the middle of streets or at the village
park.Although his shop was a complete loss, African-American barber
Albert P. Scott fought the flames side-by-side with his neighbors,
and he even helped save the W.D. Castle residence. “In the race to
the house [Scott] outdistanced my father,” recalled Drew Castle
years later. “Vividly I can see him jumping over the fence and
grabbing the ladder my father had laid on the ground. He placed it
in position, rushed up on the roof and jerked the burning shingles
off with his bare hands.”Fire Marshal Tarman and his men had the fire under control by
5:40 p.m., though in those two frightful hours much of Gridley’s
downtown—three-quarters of Center Street between Fourth and
Third—had been reduced to smoking rubble.In the age before the automobile, interstate travel, and box
superstores, even relatively small towns were home to a large
number and variety of shops, stores and offices. The list of
burned-out Gridley businesses, for instance, included two furniture
stores, a meat market, two implement dealers, restaurant, bank,
clothing store, two saloons, jewelry store, hotel, offices for two
doctors and one dentist, harness shop and a combined dry goods and
grocery store.Total losses were estimated at $100,000 (or more than $2.6
million today, adjusted for inflation), with personal property,
mainly store goods, accounting for $60,000 of that total, and the
buildings themselves the remaining $40,000. Thankfully, there was
no loss of life.In late October 1901, nearly six months after the fire, The
Pantagraph marveled at Gridley’s recovery and building boom, which
included a new $10,000 bank building complete with tile floors,
ornate fireplaces and bronze cages for the cashier and bookkeeper.
It was the “vim, pluck and energy” of the residents, the newspaper
noted, that “transformed a burned and almost despondent town into
one filled with handsome, new stores and residences, with clean
streets, cement walks and contended people.”
November 13, 2011 2:00 pm • By Bill Kemp Archivist/librarian
McLean County Museum of History
The day after the May 3, 1901, fire, Gridley businessmen took
sad measure of the destruction along the west side of Center
Street. (Photo courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History)
The large blaze several weeks ago in downtown Minonk, which
ended with the loss of six buildings, including one built in 1888,
serves as a reminder that fires have plagued the commercial
districts of Central Illinois communities for more than 100
years.In 1894, for example, unrelated conflagrations devastated
portions of Chenoa and El Paso, and one year later, Heyworth was
beset by the same misfortune. Bloomington, of course, lost much of
its downtown in the “Great Fire” of June 19, 1900. The reasons for
these periodic, destructive fires were many, including lax or
nonexistent building codes, inadequate firefighting equipment, the
large percentage of wood frame building stock, and insufficient
municipal water pressure to douse flames.On May 3, 1901, a little less than a year after the Bloomington
fire, it was Gridley’s turn to face such destruction. Fed by
bone-dry weather and high winds, the fast-moving and unpredictable
fire “swept away” the better part of two blocks of the village’s
commercial heart. At the time, this small but vibrant community in
northern McLean County claimed a population of a little more than
700 (today, it’s roughly double that figure).The best account of the 1901 fire comes from Charles S. Rowley,
the editor and publisher of The Gridley Advocate. Around 3:40 p.m.,
Howard Tarman, the village’s fire marshal, was leaving his Center
Street furniture store when he spotted flames coming from a nearby
alley. Shouts of “Fire! Fire!” soon rang through town.Tarman hastily returned to his place of business in order to
retrieve valuable papers kept in the upstairs workshop. By that
time the widening blaze had transformed William Settle’s meat
market and William Fritz’s barbershop, located immediately south of
Tarman’s store, into a “mass of roaring fire and smoke” And just as
Tarman darted out of his building and onto the street, “flames
entered his store overhead, leaping like some giant wild animal in
search of prey.”Residents of all stripes, including women and children, manned
hand pumps to pull water from several street cisterns, including
one near the Christian Church. Despite their efforts, the
wind-whipped flames jumped across Center Street, and one building
after another “went down like houses of cardboard.” As flames
engulfed the better portion of the town’s business district,
water-soaked stock boards were used as shields to save the Kent
Brothers brick store at the northwest corner of Center and Fourth
streets.Meanwhile, fearing that much of Gridley was under imminent
threat, frantic residents emptied their homes and placed furniture
and other valuables in the middle of streets or at the village
park.Although his shop was a complete loss, African-American barber
Albert P. Scott fought the flames side-by-side with his neighbors,
and he even helped save the W.D. Castle residence. “In the race to
the house [Scott] outdistanced my father,” recalled Drew Castle
years later. “Vividly I can see him jumping over the fence and
grabbing the ladder my father had laid on the ground. He placed it
in position, rushed up on the roof and jerked the burning shingles
off with his bare hands.”Fire Marshal Tarman and his men had the fire under control by
5:40 p.m., though in those two frightful hours much of Gridley’s
downtown—three-quarters of Center Street between Fourth and
Third—had been reduced to smoking rubble.In the age before the automobile, interstate travel, and box
superstores, even relatively small towns were home to a large
number and variety of shops, stores and offices. The list of
burned-out Gridley businesses, for instance, included two furniture
stores, a meat market, two implement dealers, restaurant, bank,
clothing store, two saloons, jewelry store, hotel, offices for two
doctors and one dentist, harness shop and a combined dry goods and
grocery store.Total losses were estimated at $100,000 (or more than $2.6
million today, adjusted for inflation), with personal property,
mainly store goods, accounting for $60,000 of that total, and the
buildings themselves the remaining $40,000. Thankfully, there was
no loss of life.In late October 1901, nearly six months after the fire, The
Pantagraph marveled at Gridley’s recovery and building boom, which
included a new $10,000 bank building complete with tile floors,
ornate fireplaces and bronze cages for the cashier and bookkeeper.
It was the “vim, pluck and energy” of the residents, the newspaper
noted, that “transformed a burned and almost despondent town into
one filled with handsome, new stores and residences, with clean
streets, cement walks and contended people.”
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Roses and Turkeys
There's a post on my blog about the three years' succession of knockout roses in our side yard, but they are so beautiful right now I wanted to put a pic. on here also.
Also - although they're difficult to get a picture of, we have three wild turkey hens living in our backyard and in the woods behind the yard (you can see the general area in the small area at right in the picture above). Occasionally one or more will come all the way out to the road - it's a little disconcerting, and also fun, to look out the kitchen window and see a turkey walking between our house and the neighbor's! We've put some shelled corn out, way back by the woods, to keep them coming. Fortunately, since they are hens, Mary Lee or Mike by law can't find them at the end of a shotgun.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Update on the Knobloch's
Time for an update, I suppose. It's been a fairly quiet spring.
I went to Florida with a girlfriend for a 2-week vacation, which I highly recommend to any wife whose husband would encourage you to go. The weather was perfect and it was a restful time away.
Here's the beautiful beach we stayed at...and my feet to prove I was there!
Dave is anxious to plant corn, but he is waiting on rain. There is hope that the next few hours will give us a little more than the .2 we got yesterday.
I'm looking at a date for the annual K5K so watch your mail for a postcard...coming soon. No big reunion this summer...unless someone else steps forward to host. Otherwise, my heart is in it for next summer.
We received this picture from Shelley. As you can see, I was coming up the stairs when I saw Dave performing this amazing stunt for the kids. As Shelley said, "Straight as on arrow!"
I went to Florida with a girlfriend for a 2-week vacation, which I highly recommend to any wife whose husband would encourage you to go. The weather was perfect and it was a restful time away.
Here's the beautiful beach we stayed at...and my feet to prove I was there!
Dave is anxious to plant corn, but he is waiting on rain. There is hope that the next few hours will give us a little more than the .2 we got yesterday.
I'm looking at a date for the annual K5K so watch your mail for a postcard...coming soon. No big reunion this summer...unless someone else steps forward to host. Otherwise, my heart is in it for next summer.
We received this picture from Shelley. As you can see, I was coming up the stairs when I saw Dave performing this amazing stunt for the kids. As Shelley said, "Straight as on arrow!"
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Another Letter from Grandma
Been kind of slow on here for a few days. Some weeks are like that. I had a very busy week - we had a "science night" at school last night, one of those PR things that the students just love but that takes a lot of prep work. So I've not been thinking about much else for several days.
You may remember that a few months ago I posted an old letter from Grandma and mentioned that I had a couple of them that would make good posts. Here is another one. She wrote it to me the summer before my senior year in high school; apparently my siblings and mom had been in Illinois but Dad and I had not come. I had taken a course at the junior college that summer and that is what she refers to partway through the letter. It's a typical newsy Grandma letter. I hope you enjoy it.
Gridley, Ill. July 17, 1974
Dear Ann,
Not another day shall go by without a letter to you. Your mom and dad told me you might come up for a visit in the near future. I want you to be sure and know I am looking forward to seeing you and hope this time you really get to stay once. I hear you were sick while you were home alone with your dad. Then I also had a letter from Rhoda and she said most of the family had the flu when they got home from Ill. I was so glad they arrived home safe and sound.
I think the two girls had a good time with us over the 4th. Mary had a little bad luck but she was so good about it and tried to hobble along wherever we went. Most of the time she had to lie on the bed with ice packs on her foot, and swimming was out for her after the first afternoon, but she never complained. She just kept saying to me "Everyone is so good and nice to me."
Tell your mom that it was in my paper this morning that Emma Weyeneth died. She was at the home in Peoria and your mom saw her there.
It is still very hot up here and we don't get any rain. Some kids are now getting called to come to work in the fields detasseling corn. Mark had thought about doing it. Lots of kids always do it but I always feel sorry for everyone that does it. I think it is a miserable job. Especially for girls. Alice did it but I never did let Ada do it. I guess I always did shelter her as she was my baby.
Perry & Carol are soon going to be moving to Gridley. I already knew it for several weeks but they still didn't want me to tell it but now it's no secret any more. He has a new job and will be working in Pontiac. The company he will work for is paying for a moving van to move them down here so there should be no problem in that. Carol will have to change doctors as soon as she can as her baby is due by the end of Sept. and they will be down here by then.
Catherine and Cathy are both spending the week with Ralph in Chicago. Cathy started to work in the office for Ralph on Monday. She will probably work as much as she can until school starts. Ralph can always keep everybody busy as he believes in work.
I have a few beans to can and I must get busy at them. I get up at 6 o'clock and still the day is not long enough for me. I can always find so many things to do.
What were your classes like this summer? Did you think it worth your time? I hope so. Let me know if and when you are coming and also tell me some of the things you would like to do. I think we will have a good time anyway if you can stand it for a few days around your Grandma. She loves you very much as I do all my grandchildren. I have always thought there are no others that compare with them and they are very dear to me.
See you soon hopefully and if the Lord willing, Grandma.
Monday, April 9, 2012
HELLO ON A SUNNY, WINDY MONDAY
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We went to the annual Easter Breakfast at the Fellowship where we enjoyed delicious food, great music from a mixed group, and an inspirational message from Doug Wettstein. Then we went to church for the morning service.
We had a lovely dinner and enjoyed the afternoon with Jason and his family and Angela and her family. I must say that Zac is almost as tall as Jason! Noah and Miles have also grown since we last saw them. Of course, Nathan is in gloryland when he can spend a few hours with his cousins.
I spent last week and this morning finishing another quilt. I think I'm going to have to make one for myself one of these days.
We had a lovely dinner and enjoyed the afternoon with Jason and his family and Angela and her family. I must say that Zac is almost as tall as Jason! Noah and Miles have also grown since we last saw them. Of course, Nathan is in gloryland when he can spend a few hours with his cousins.
I spent last week and this morning finishing another quilt. I think I'm going to have to make one for myself one of these days.
Here I'm trimming the batting and backing to fit the quilt top. Notice the points that are sewn on to the top.
Here I'm folding/pressing/and pinning the back to the top.
The last step was hand-stiching the back to the top - impossible to take a picture of myself doing that, but here is the finished product. There is also a small 4-square wall-hanging.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Our Daughter the Turkey Slayer
7 a.m. 4/4/1222 pounds
Beard 11 inches long
For those new to this topic, that is a BIG turkey!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Out of Kid's Mouths
Tania Dutton had the younger students at LCCS make cards to send for my birthday. I appreciate each one even though some of the names were unfamiliar. Most of the comments were the typical ones you would expect but several were amusing such as:
"I hope you like South Carolina and have many friends."
"Tell Bro. Lynn Hi!"
"Tell Bro. Lynn I love him."
"I hope you enjoy having time with Bro. Lynn."
The clincher was from an autistic eleven year old: "I missed you a little but not much." He was honest!
"I hope you like South Carolina and have many friends."
"Tell Bro. Lynn Hi!"
"Tell Bro. Lynn I love him."
"I hope you enjoy having time with Bro. Lynn."
The clincher was from an autistic eleven year old: "I missed you a little but not much." He was honest!
Flat Stanley
If you have school-aged kids you may have met Flat Stanley before. He's a book character who travels the world, sending pictures back to his classroom. Stanley arrived at my house after I had already left for a 2-week trip to Florida. It was too bad, because he would have loved the boat ride we took with dolphins jumping in the wake of our boat, and the beach.
The woman in the beach chair is the friend I traveled with.
So I took Flat Stanley to the gym with me this morning. I took a couple of pictures of him lifting weights...and then I couldn't resist asking these 3 big guys who were working hard at their physiques to pose with him. They were proud and pleased to show off for the camera. I was disappointed that the flash showed in the mirror as I hoped I had blocked it. It's not the best picture, but boys were those big guys thrilled.
The woman in the beach chair is the friend I traveled with.
So I took Flat Stanley to the gym with me this morning. I took a couple of pictures of him lifting weights...and then I couldn't resist asking these 3 big guys who were working hard at their physiques to pose with him. They were proud and pleased to show off for the camera. I was disappointed that the flash showed in the mirror as I hoped I had blocked it. It's not the best picture, but boys were those big guys thrilled.
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