for·ti·tude/ˈfôrdəˌt(y)o͞od/ noun: fortitude courage in pain or adversity. Fortitude is my word for this year. The courage to look at what needs to change in my life and make the decisions on what needs to be done. To look at my life with strength of character, spirit, and mind and know that I am making…
Category: About Us
New Year’s Eve
We are not big party people but this New Year’s Eve feels different than any other. I think we have such high hopes for the coming year and all that we may be able to do again it feels charged with hope and tinged with fear. This year my son will graduate high school. Both…
Hot Cocoa Bar
We have been doing some fun things to make staying home, which we have been doing since March 12th, seem special. One of these was to make a little hot cocoa bar. We made homemade hot cocoa with whole milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, and vanilla extract and then all the toppings and stir-ins we…
Old-Fashioned Apple Kuchen
This is one of those recipes that has been handed down in my family forever, well at least 60 years. I remember my mother making the dough every December 23rd to bake on Christmas Eve morning. She learned it from my grandmother (her mother-in-law and the German ladies at church). Then twenty-five years ago my…
Check In: Day 287
Week 41: This Christmas was the same, yet different. We are very fortunate in that the four of us can be together. We have plenty of food, shelter, and heat on these cold nights that moved to single digits on Christmas Eve. We are blessed. But, a Zoom or Facebook call for Christmas just made…
Christmas Day
Wishing you a Merry Christmas! I hope your days are filled with self care, passion for the things that bring you joy, and love for those around you. May 2021 bring you health and happiness!
Christmas Eve
I wish I could send you all a card individually to say, “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!” I hope you all know how much I greatly appreciate your coming here daily to comment, like, and share. I love chatting with you all finding out about you and your families. I hope will we continue this…
Trends in Food for 2021
Every year about this time I start researching food trends for the following year. Just what do the food industry, restaurants, and grocery stores think will happen in the next year. It seems like 2020 would turn that on it’s head. In some ways it did and in other ways it went just as expected….
Check In: Day 280
Week 40: The guiding word I chose for 2020, well before Covid-19 was even thought of here, was breathe. Little did I know how important that word would become to us. I haven’t used it as much as I have as some of my other guiding words in the past but it was none the…
Check in: Day 273
Week 39: We are not completely decorated for Christmas yet. We had a bit of a set back in that my son’s room had a slow leak in his window and it softened the wall board and warped the baseboards. Having a son with autism means he cannot let it go so he picked a…
Check In: Day 266
Week 38: Wow! How much time has passed since this all started. As we are heading into the Christmas season I am beginning to wonder about all the traditions and things we do trying to figure out what we really want to do this holiday season. I think this is the perfect time to reassess…
Chocolate Chip Snowballs
Lots of cookies will be made over the next month. We have so many favorites which we make year after year but this year we are making a few favorites slightly differently. We love Snowballs, Mexican Wedding Cakes, or Russian Tea Cake cookies which are all basically shortbread with nuts rolled in confectionery sugar. Some…
What's for Dinner Moms? 