a bit of trouble...

Having a bit of trouble on the Walmart Photo site....go to preview it and it won't let me back out!! LET GO!! I've done it twice, and then had to start all over again... but I really should preview my work because I want our names spelled right and we don't want eyes that are closed....

Or some too wide open, either... or just being ALMOST ready...

Go back to here and see how they've changed...
Kind of scary!!

Dad's Deal...

The diagnosis is in.. My dad has Lymphocytic Leukemia. He received the confirmation on Friday, along with his first treatment of Rituxan. He will have 3 more Friday dates for treatments at the Regional Cancer Center in Erie. We will see after that. He is feeling very good and has a positive outlook. I think that's half the battle. He was not sick at all from the treatment and after being checked this morning at the hospital, he was able to come home. They are quietly sitting at home this evening. The nice Amish boy across the road stopped in for a short visit tonight...he saw my dad sitting in his chair in the window and thought it would be OK.... It was....and it will be...
Good night...

Light the Advent Candle two...

Light the Advent Candle 2

Think of humble shepherds who,

Filled with wonder of the sight,

Of the child on Christmas night.

Candle, candle, burning bright,

Shining in a cold winter night.

Candle, candle, burning bright,

Fill our hearts with Christmas light.

**this goes with advent candle week #1

There are 4 friends this Christmas, with matching candles, who are burning together with Hope. Light your candles and join us.

Counting down the days...

Isn't this cute?? I saw one for big bucks in a catalog when my kids were little, so I made one myself. Everyday you take a star out of the bag and button it onto the tree. I sewed the bag to the background, so it wouldn't be separated from the tree. We stick it to the door with magnetic clips lately. It works for us!! I put it up and later noticed that someone had put the stars on. Even though things here are a little unsettled right now, there is comfort in tradition.....
I think I made 2 of them, but I can't remember who got the other one....hmm.mm...

BRAGGIN' RIGHTS...

Last night was Once-A-Month Bowling night, but first it was the Athletic Recognition program at school for fall sports...
Andrea brought home a certificate for being name on the 1st Team Volleyball All-Star Team and this lovely trophy for Most Valuable Player... great end to her highschool volleyball career..

Dan played all year on Varsity as a freshman and was named on the Second Team Football All-stars....
I bowled over 100 all three games and had food, too. All in all the evening worked out OK...

try 1040.com/bensinkcpa that's where I'm at today!

Workin' on the website. I've waited long enough that I had to call and find out how to get into it again!! I'm thinking of putting this on the top.

French Cream Cookies - the ones with 'delicious flavor'

When my oldest was very young, our friend made these and gave us the recipe and Alex said "Can we make the cookies with delicious flavor?" I'm sure no one but me remembers it, but I think of it each time I run across this recipe, which is spattered and torn and wrinkled. Easy Peasy, too. Someone asked me for this recipe, so here it is.

French Cream Cookie

Cream: 1/2 c margarine
1/2 c Crisco
Add: 1 1/3 c powdered sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
Sift together and add: 1/2 t salt
1 t soda
1 t cream of tartar
2 c flour
Chill. Roll into ball; flatten with fork & bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

This is not a big batch, so you may need to hide a few...for later... you know, in you nightstand or something.

Missing Mom #13 of 52 Nov 30,2009

Went to one of those fun jewelry parties last night and I had my camera in my purse and when I went to get my checkbook I thought PERFECT TIME for a missing mom picture!! So I took one of them....
And then Willowe jumped out and I jumped in and she took one with me...

Can you see how short my hair got?? But I like it...of course I'm going to have to wear a scarf on my neck, but that's OK!! Winter neck warmer is gone!! We were at Amanda's house - she's #2 from the left...Cheryl is first and then Anndrea is beside me...Cheryl and Anndrea are SIL's and I think they were working out some Christmas exchange deals... and I won't tell you what Willowe was doing, but Amanda had some AWESOME dip and you know me and dip are joined at the hip, so I had to leave before I ate it all... One of my weaknesses....

My failed project this weekend...

This is my faithful assistant posed with light on his head... see we were trying to replace this light switch and I thought it was a 3 way. Although I've never done one of those before, I was confident that we could figure it out, just by following the old example...not so...

After unscrewing and re-screwing the wires onto the little screws on the side right side up, upside down and checking the internet numerous times, we still had no juice and then I stumbled upon another possibility and when I looked at my old switch - low and behold! It was a 4way switch. So I made a detour to Walmart, but Walmart doesn't carry such beasts... neither did Kmart, so it was off to Lowe's. Those things aren't cheap, but I was determined to succeed, so we bought it, brought it home, went through the same operations, and still no success. So in a fit of desperation, I put the old one back one, that only works every other time you flip it and set the smoke alarm nearby! Someone will come here to do something and I will sign them up and it will be done and right in no time flat!!

Does this picture scare you a little. OF COURSE I shut the electric off at the box, Mom!

This was our success for the weekend. Looks like something yummy, but only my washing machine knows for sure. Couldn't find the recipe I used with the Fels-Naptha soap for liquid laundry soap last time, so I found another on the internet and discovered at the end, that it made a bigger batch than before! I am storing some in old milk jugs left over from my spring mini-greenhouses. Along with the other containers that I had ready for this job.

And you know, if you grate the Fels-Naptha and then put it in the pot with the hot tap water and then take the dog for a walk, by the time you get home, most of the soap is already melted...it speeds up the actual watching-it-cook operation. Enough to last me for awhile, and that's what I wanted.

Advent starts today...

Light the Advent Candle One,

Now the waiting has begun,

We have started on our way,

Time to think of Christmas Day.

Candle, candle burning bright,

Shining in the cold winter night.

Candle, candle burning bright,

Fill our hearts with Christmas light..

This was how the Advent wreath poem started that we used every year in preschool.... After each time, the kids got better and better with it and by the end, they could do it by themselves...

Let the little children come to me...