FRUGAL FRIDAY

Oops! I missed Friday, but thought I would post this today anyway.


One of the advantages of having my Christmas gifts ready early is that I can avoid mailing them when I can give them to guests at Thanksgiving who are not returning for Christmas. This year it did not work out too well because my sister and her family did not come due to illness, but I have her gifts ready and she may come for a visit before Christmas. I did have gifts ready for Son #3 and was able to send his box of gifts home with him. He also has an early December birthday, so we had his birthday party while he was here.



My Thanksgiving company (Son #3 and Nero) left about noon and it is a cold, dreary day, so I am busy making up some of my soup mixes and cornbread mixes for future gift giving. I will include these gifts in boxes that I am mailing to friends and relatives, but will also give them as gifts here in town. I put the mixes in plastic bags with directions, put them in red paper sacks and attach one of my hand-painted Christmas ornaments. I am making up a bunch, labeling them for people on my list and will keep a number of them for those surprise people who turn up with a gift for us at the last minute. I will include one of my recipes below.


Recipe for Texas Two-Step Soup Mix

1 package brown gravy mix (regular or no-fat)
2 tablespoons mild red chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
10 to 12 tortilla chips, crushed
Enough medium-size pasta (such as wheels, shells, macaroni) to fill jar or plastic bag.

Pour gravy mix into wide-mouth pint jar. In small bowl, stir together chili powder, oregano, cumin, onion and garlic salt. Pour mixed spices into jar to make second layer.
Add tortilla chips and pasta to fill jar or plastic bag. Seal.

Attach a gift tag with the following instructions:

Texas Two-Step Soup

Brown 1/2 pound ground beef in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Add contents of jar and 7 cups water; heat to boiling. Stir in 1 (15 ounce) can corn with red and green bell peppers and 1 (16 ounce) can chopped tomatoes. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Serve with tortilla chips and shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, if desired. Makes approximately 8 servings.

GIVE-AWAY WINNER ON THANKSGIVING DAY

I had my Random Integer Generator (that is Son #3), who is visiting for Thanksgiving, do the drawing as we sat around watching the Longhorns begin to beat the Aggies. The name he came up with was: TA DA...Terri Tiffany. Terri, if you will e-mail me your address, I will send you two of my hand-painted ornaments.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I tried something different this year. A couple of years ago I inherited a number of pieces of silverware that had belonged to my maternal grandmother, my mother and my paternal grandmother, and then I had my own partial set of sterling that I got when I married and I use a set of stainless that Mother got for me with Betty Crocker coupons when I acquired my first apartment before I married--more than 40 years ago. Except for my Betty Crocker stainless (which I still use daily) none of these sets of silverware provided enough to set a complete table, but I put one place setting at each place, so that Son #3 ate with Mother's silverplate, my husband ate with my maternal grandmother's sterling, I ate with my paternal grandmother's silverplate, my brother-in-law ate with my sterling and Mother ate with my Betty Crocker stainless. It was interesting to reflect on past Thanksgiving gatherings where those pieces were used years and years ago. I had a wonderful sense of family history as I put those place settings together.

We have so much to be thankful for today. We are healthy, safe, have a roof over our heads, enough to eat and a comfortable bed to sleep in tonight. I am so grateful for my many, many blessings. Thank you, Lord. And, Son #3's dog, Nero, is also grateful for all his blessings, I am sure!

THE GREAT TURKEY SHOOT

When Son #1 turned twelve, my husband promised to take him hunting. On the day before Thanksgiving they left very early in the morning and went to a ranch not too far from our home. The ranch belonged to a friend and my husband had gone there before to hunt deer and wild turkeys. On this particular trip Son #1 shot a turkey. Everyone was so excited about his accomplishment when they arrived home with their trophy turkey intact…feathers and all!

My husband put the turkey on a ledge in the backyard and everyone gathered around to admire this addition to our Thanksgiving feast. He gave Son #1 an axe and told him that it would now be his honor to cut the turkey’s head off. Son #1 took one look at the turkey and another look at his father. He decided right then and there that there was no way he could cut off the head and he quickly disappeared. The head did come off but I don’t remember who did it.

Our next task was to do something with the feathers. Mother was at our house for the holiday and she remembered that her mother used a big pan of boiling water to remove chicken feathers. We found a huge pot, boiled the water and inserted the now-headless turkey. The feathers began to come off, but not without a stink and wet feathers everywhere—luckily we were outside in the backyard.

By the time we came to removing the innards from this poor turkey, both the mighty hunters had disappeared. Mother and I finished dressing the turkey and preparing it for cooking the next morning. We cooked the turkey along with one from the store. When it was time to cut into our turkeys we found that our mighty hunters had brought home the toughest turkey that we had ever tried to eat! Everyone in our family gave thanks for the store-bought turkey. We then decided that we had gained a great deal more respect for the original Pilgrims through this Thanksgiving turkey experience.

Oops! My boys are reporting in as they read this story and they remember it a bit differently. Even my husband remembers it differently, so I will let them add their amendments to my story--as THEY remember it!

And, as always, I write these stories as I remember them, which is sometimes different than the way others remember them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A REVIEW OF MY BOOK!

A wonderful review of my new book, Growing Up in the Texas Panhandle, just appeared on Smockity Frock's blog. To read it, go to http://smockityfrocks.blogspot.com/. Thank you so much, Ms. Smockity.

This self-publishing adventure has been so much fun. I would encourage all of you to gather up some of the wonderful stories that I have been reading on your blogs and send them in to Lulu.com for publishing. It took me a while to get things in the shape and format that I wanted, but the end result has been most pleasing. And the cost factor (no outlay of cash on my part) is especially appealing during these difficult economic times.

My husband commented, as he read the book in a final edit, that he wished he had a book like that full of his grandmother's stories. I am pleased to have this book to pass down to my children and grandchildren--a book of pictures and memories.

MY BOOK IS HERE!

My book is ready to order from the link on the right sidebar. My copy just came in yesterday and I am so pleased with it. It is GORGEOUS! Lulu.com did a marvelous job with it and my copy came almost exactly one week—to the hour—after I pushed the button to submit it. I am so excited to have it in hand before Christmas. And I have ordered copies for gift-giving at Christmas, but, shhhh! That is a secret--don't tell my family members!

Now I am thinking of a couple of other books that I would like to submit. I LOVE the part about it not costing me anything up front—except for the books I order for myself. This is great! My husband did moan when I said I could see several more books-in-the-making because he helps me with the editing. Oh well, perhaps NOT before Christmas.

WE'VE HAD VISITORS!

Son #4 and family has been visiting this weekend. Miss Ella Bella and Little Brother kept us entertained for two days. Little Brother has grown a bunch and has the most beautiful smile that just grabs at my heart. He is trying so hard to talk and Miss Ella Bella has certainly mastered the art of conversation. We were watching the deer and I pointed out the buck with "horns." She told me that they were NOT "horns," they were "antlers!" Sigh! And she is only 2 1/2! I believe her parents are in for an interesting future with Miss Ella Bella to keep them on their toes. Little Brother is just sitting there watching and taking lessons so he can catch up with his big sister.








Granddaddy did yeoman's duty with Little Brother. They seemed to get along just fine while Miss Ella Bella went with me to visit the neighbors. She charmed them all with her conversation. At one house she asked to see the "pretty room" and took herself off to the daughter's room all decorated in bright colors. I'm not sure how Miss Ella Bella knew about that room, but she certainly knows how to make herself at home wherever she is!



Miss Ella Bella told Granddaddy that the deer needed food, so they went to put out food for the "poor starving deer!"

We had a great time and now the house is very quiet again. I look forward to their return at Christmas. What fun we will have then, but I have lots to do in the next four weeks. Whew!

A COUPLE OF PRAYER REQUESTS

Just a short note to ask you to pray for my friend's grandson, Rudy, who was born with serious heart problems and remains hospitalized at seven weeks. The parents are experiencing a bit of caregivers stress, so please keep the whole family in prayer. You can stay informed about his condition at http://rudysbeat.wordpress.com/.

Also, my sister-in-law, Jacki, has been given the green light for her kidney transplant on Tuesday so they are excited and also a bit apprehensive. Their sons are gathering to be with her this next week. We wish her well!