I had a visiting teaching supervisors training meeting this morning with a luncheon.  Tanya Ashton gave me a recipe for a soup you get at Olive Garden - Zuppa Toscana Soup.
  It was a hit.  Everyone liked it - even Dad and he isn't a soup lover!!  Here's the recipe.
1 lb. ground mild (or hot) Italian sausage
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and chopped up
7 to 9 medium red potatoes, cut in medium size cubes (not peeled)
1/2 tsp. minced garlic or 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 cup chopped Kale (I think spinach would be good too)
8 - 10 cups water with 1 bouillon cube per cup
1 pt. whipping cream

Broun sausage. Combine the broth, potatoes, onions & garlic in large pot.
Simmer till potatoes and onions are soft and tender.  Add meat.
Simmer another 10 minutes.
Add kale & cream.   Heat through until bubbling.  (at this point I put it
in the crock pot for 1/2 hour)
Season with salt and pepper as desired.

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures.  I was glad it turned out good because I had never had it - I wasn't sure what it was suppose to be like.  I'd make it again.

It hasn't been quite a month since I last posted.  Been busy and haven't taken the time!

  So we got some boxes from the shop up at the Pit place and I found some surprises.  We found another box of lanterns.  I put them up on the shelf with the hurricane lamps.

 

 

I can remember my dad using these lamps, or lamps like them when he would go out to do chores when we lived up on the homestead in Telocaset.  The bigger ones he'd use when he had to go out to milk and it was dark. 

 

These are some of the hurricane lamps.  The one on the far left I've had since before I went on my mission.   The next two I believe were Glendella's.  They came with Dad.  I don't know if the tall one on the right is the exact one I remember but we had one like that in the house on the place up in Telocaset too.  The box on the left that I put flowers in is a dinamite box.  It was just up in the shop and it reminded me of the time Dad put a 1/2 stick of dinamite in the septic in North Powder to unplug it.  Oh yea!  You probably remember the story.  Mom was doing laundry and things weren't draining so Dad decided to unplug the septic tank.  Blew the lid off, into the air a ways, blew crap, etc. all over mom's clothes which were hanging on the line over the septic.  Only time in my life I thought she might kill him!!!

 

Last night it started snowing, a very fine snow which we've had before and it never amounted to much of anything.  Well we got up this morning and had 3" to 4".  Late this afternoon we started getting ice pellets then it turned to a heavy snow, then almost to rain and I don't know what it will do during the night.  Could be interesting in the morning.  Here's a picture of our backyard.

 

Cheyanne doesn't like to have to stay outside in this stuff.  She does pretty good staying on the rug by the door.  We've been letting her in when it's cold and she is happy to sleep in the garage in her bed.

 

We are doing some Relief Society humanitarian projects.  I was assigned to be the leader of a group of eight women and we were to decide what to do.  We are making pillowcases for a group called ConKerr Cancer.  I first heard about it from the girls at St. Luke's MSTI where I have my Treasure Tower machine.  When kids are in the hospital for any kind of procedure they get their own pillow case.  Both the girls at and one of the leaders of the Idaho chapter of ConKerr Cancer said that they always are short pillowcases for boys and teenagers.  They like fun and colorful fabrics too.  So this week I made up three.

 

Jodi said that she remembers when I made shorts for the boys out of the fabric on the right.  I hope it doesn't give some poor kid nightmares!  The one in the middle is kind of hard to see here.  It's bumble bee fabrid.  Seems to be the favorite.  I'm going to work on some more this week.  Like I don't have anything to do.  Some in my group is going to get together and cut out the pillowcases and then some of us who have surgers are going to sew them up.  I could sure use up a lot of fabric making pillowcases and it would go to a good cause.  It takes about as long to cut them out as it does to sew them up.  It might become another hobby!!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

  I'm doing great posting, hu?  Good grief.  The holidays are over and here we are with a month past in the new year. 
  I got a new camera for Christmas but was so busy I didn't get very many pictures taken.  I got one of Mason wearing Jodi's glasses.  Cute kid!!

  After Christmas Heather took Grandma Clausen, myself & the girls to a salon and we all got our nails done.  Grandma was loving it and tried to tell us that it was the first time in her life she did that. I knew different but I sure wasn't going to argue with her.  I know she had it done once while they were in Karcher Estates and I think she had it done in Portland too.

 

 

Grandma kept telling me she wanted to get her haircut but couldn't decide how.  She says that this is the longest it's been for as long as she can remember.  When it came down to it and Jodi cut hair for both of them she decided she only wanted it trimmed and shaped.  So even after the haircut it doesn't look much different.  I should have taken before and after pictures of Grandpa - he was looking pretty shabby and said he thought he could get it braided pretty soon. HA

  It seems like it been forever that we've been under an inversion.  It's cold and foggy almost every day.  Up at Bogus it's a different story, of course.  A couple of weeks ago we had a big pile up on the freeway just before 10 Mile.  There was a Subaru  that got pinned under a log truck and was dragged a ways and you couldn't even tell what kind of car it was.  But, the guy was not hurt seriously and just this week the news said he was home and healing well!!  No one could hardly believe it.

  Neil & Shirley came for a few days the first of the month.  They wanted to go look at the house in Emmett that they had seen when they were here for Thanksgiving.  He brought me a couple of gifts:

Diet food!!!!  This is a quarter pounder.

This is what it says

 

  He made these and we have had some good fun with them.

  We're starting to try and figure out how to put in garden in the back yard.  I'll keep you updated on that.  We're considering putting a couple of fruit trees on the NW side of the house.  We'll see if it happens.

  A couple of weeks ago our Relief Society Presidency was released - that means me - and I've been free; until now.  The Bishop came to visit and he just made me laugh.  He tried to tell me that there are sisters in Relief Society that feel that if Sister Clausen was taken out of Relief Society it would fall apart.  Yea, right.  I am not indispensable.  Well, my new calling is the RS Visiting Teaching Coordinator.  The new president is Tanya Ashton [for those who know her] and she's already on a run.  Talked to her today and she said that my job is going to change dramatically - not just getting and doing reports.  I'll be going on visits and working with the supervisors in making sure sisters are visited.  She said that there is tons of missionary work being missed with all the inactive sisters that aren't even having any kind of contact.  The first Sunday after her call there were 3 sisters at Relief Society that haven't been to church for more than a year.  I guess I better get ready for a fun ride.

  Guess that's all for now.  If I'd do this more often my posts would be a lot smaller!!!!

 

 



  With all the crazy weather going on around the country we feel blessed even though when I got up this morning we had 7" of snow at the back door, 10" by the dog house and 6" in the driveway.  I'd take pictures BUT MY CAMERA IS BROKEN.

I'm not doing very well with keeping up to date!
  The week before Thanksgiving I was determined that we were going to get the living room painted.  Our day at the temple on Thursday was pretty slow and Jim wasn't so tired when we got home that he actually felt like doing something.  I suggested we move furniture and start taping so we could start painting on Friday.  Once we started we just kept at it and got the long wall on the hall side painted the first coat. 
  Friday was kind of a busy day so we didn't get to it early enough but we did get the second coat painted and got things moved around to get ready to paint the rest of it.  Saturday our sister-in-law, Lynn, came over and helped and by the time we got all done we were sooooo tired!  I threw some steaks on the grill and fixed dinner while Jim & Lynn were finishing up the last.
   I AM SO AMAZED AT THE DIFFERENCE.  It is so much lighter and we really like it.  Even when I get up in the night and go to the kitchen it's lighter!  And it feels so much better.  While we were eating dinner Lynn kept saying how much she likes the new and how it just "feels good".  It's really beginning to feel like "our" home now.  It's felt like home but now it's more like us.  That make sense?
  There was some touch up that needed to be done and some yellow of the kitchen that needed to be painted and I got that done on Monday, the 23rd, before Thanksgiving.  There are still a few little things I might decide to do and the little hall by the bedrooms & main bath needs to be done but that won't take to long, I hope.  Going around all the door frames will be what takes the time.
  This is a picture of our new house.  I took it when no vehicles were home, obviously! Well, I was in the Kia.  The window to the left of the front door is the front bedroom and the windows to the right is where the living room is.

   I was going to take pictures going into the house but my camera broke.  IT SUCKS.
So you go in the front door and to the right is the living room; straight back is the dining area with the kitchen to the right.  Behind the garage is a bonus room (our office) the master bedroom & bath.
  There are 2 bedrooms left of the living room, then the main bathroom and another bedroom.
  We had Christmas in July - This is our new couch and love seat.  All four seats recline!
                                    

This is the couch and you can see the door

of the front bedroom behind it.  You can

kind of seethe color which is suppose to

be an orange but Icall it tomato soup!!! 

The other wall you can'tsee is purple,

and the window sill is purple. 

Then there's the love seat.  You can see the

bar of the kitchen and the dining area to the

left.  I have a hutch and a cabnet against the

wall.  You can kind of see the sliding glass

door, going outside. The sink is on the other

side of the bar.

These pictures are after we painted.

Here's some before we painted.  Oh, the other

Christmas in July was the new TV, etc.

 

 

 

The before of the kitchen wall where the hutch is.  You can see the bathroom door behind it.

Didn't get an after because the camera broke but this is the color the living room, kitchen, hall to the left and the hall to the office was.  NOT a color I enjoyed!



 

 

Here's after of the other side of the living room. Oh, and the fireplace. You can see the door to our bedroom.  It's kind of a little hall there that goes to the bonus room and the laundry is right behind where the fireplace is.  That is probably the only thing I wish was different in this house - the laundry room, that is.  It's big enough for the washer & dryer and room to walk into the garage.  A lot smaller than what I've had/

 

 

Here's the other side of the living room & the front windows.

 

 

And here's my kitchen with my new stove and dishwasher. The door to the left is a pantry. Tried to clean the edge of it but need a better cleaner I guess because it was kind of grimmy and sticky and doesn't clean easy.  Then doesn't stay clean.

 

 

IF we can get the camera working I'll have to post pictures of the colorful bedrooms!

 

 

 

 





  Well I'm going to see how it goes in having a blog .  I haven't convinced myself to create a facebook account, partially because I don't have time to sit at the computer that much.  Maybe someday.  I use to think when I got older and we didn't have any kids at home things would be different and I'd have more time to do some of the things I've always thought I'd like to do.  Like take an art class as an example.  HA!  It seems like I'm busier now that ever.  We'll see how the blog goes for a while.
  Jodi kind of got me started but then I didn't have time to do anything so since I'm home from church today because I have no voice I thought I'd post SOMETHING!  The voice?  I've been having a sore throat in the night and in the morning for a few days but it goes away.  Friday I felt like I had a head cold coming on so I took a bunch of stuff and wasn't so bad till last night.  My throat was pretty sore - every time I swallowed it felt like I was swallowing needles or knives.  This morning Jodi called and when I answered, waalah, no voice! 
  Most of you know the story about being offered to have our place on Pit Lane bought and how within 8 weeks we sold, bought and moved.  I wanted to find some pictures of the old place and all I found were pictures in the snow or when we laid sod in the front and side of the house.  When I find someone who will teach me how to insert pictures I'll do some picture posting of our old and new homes.
  A month after we moved Jodi moved in with a friend of hers and then the first of October we moved Grandma & Grandpa Clausen to Park Place Assisted Living which is about 5 minutes from where we now live.  Don't know if that's good or bad.  Grandma thinks we should be over there all the time helping with something!  Grandpa is pretty happy and satisfied but Grandma is who she is and will probably complain about how she's greeted in heaven when she dies.
  Hopefully, in time I will learn how to do a bunch of stuff on my blog, like personalizing it and posting pictures, etc. Guess this is a beginning.