Monday, January 31, 2011

She Has A Flair For The Arts

Jenna's Fried Rice


Chinese Fried Rice

2-3 Tbls. veg. oil
2 cups cooked rice - cold
2tbls. soy sauce
1 tbls. Sugar
1 Tbls. rice vinegar 
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/2 stalk of celery, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas (I rinse in hot water to thaw) 
2 large eggs beaten. 

Chop and assemble and prepare all ingredients before you start cooking because the fried rice is done in just a few minutes. I also do my egg first in the same pan and then take it out to add later. 

Combine soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, and pepper together in a custard cup and set aside. Heat fry pan or wok on med. high heat and add 1-2 Tbls. of oil, along with the chopped garlic and celery. Cook for about 2 mins. and add green onions: continue to cook for another minute. Next add the rice, peas and sauce mixture at the same time. Gently stir into other ingredients.  Add eggs to the rice mixture the very last. Serve immediately.  I usually double the sauce and the rice too. 

Don’t Have Cooked Rice on Hand? :

While nothing beats previously cooked rice for making fried rice, if you don't have any on hand, here's a tip. Prepare a batch of fresh cooked rice, spread it on a baking sheet and freeze for 25 – 30 minutes. The texture of the fried rice isn't quite the same as days-old cooked rice, but it makes a handy substitute.

I got this recipe from Jenna and it is my favorite. She got it from her cooking class at school. I am sharing because it is the best I have ever eaten. 

Also I want you to see what a very mischievous little imp can grow up to be. She can still be a bit mischievous but very beautiful. She is an artist and also models for another artist in Rexburg, Idaho. She is the little girl laughing at her little brother in the "Funny Stories" And of course is one of my Grands.;) The top pictures are Jenna being bored. Both are self portraits.;) The bottom is posing for the artist that did her portraits in Idaho. 
Jenna at an early age practicing her skills. 


Jenna modeling for a painting that is hung at BYU Idaho
Self Portrait


Bon Appetit


Love,
Grammy T.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Funny Little Stories

Jenna and Timothy, and we think we have it rough :)
I think it has something to do with that sucker he has.



Our Bishops wife is the nursery leader in our ward. 
(They save the best jobs for the best don‘t they? ;)

  One of the little boys turned three so of course he graduated to the 
Sunbeam class in primary.  

After going to Sunbeams for a couple of weeks 
he told his mom he wanted go back to his 
other class. 

She asked him why and he said that he didn't like Sunbeams 
and that he wanted to go back to the class that had “Thomas S. Monson’s 
mom as the teacher.”  

Is that adorable or what?

OK, so I realize I am being very rude by not explaining 
this story so that people of another faith can 
understand it. 

Thomas S. Monson is the President of our church. 
Little 3 year olds always call a teachers husband 
"your dad" or visa versa. 

Somehow our bishop and President Monson 
got mixed up in his mind.

Love,
Granny T.

Friday, January 28, 2011

It’s All About Tonight


Tonight Papa T. and I go to the Salt Lake Tabernacle to have An Evening with President Uchtdorf. This event is for CES teachers and retired CES. I remember the first time we got to go. We lived in Idaho and my 6th baby was little but big enough to make a fuss. In fact she was allergic to all milk except mommy’s milk so we were pretty much best friends. I was so excited to see President Kimball I could hardly stand it. BUT, I knew Amy would not be as excited as me and I would wind up taking her out. So what to do? Pray you say, that was my thought exactly. So I prayed that when President Kimball started his talk that Amy would be very quiet. The music started, you know that song “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet” and we all stood up and Amy was wide awake and enjoying the lights and sounds. But when we were done with the opening song and prayer and President Kimball stood up Amy closed her eyes and went sound to sleep. When his wonderful talk was over Amy’s little eyes popped open and she was ready to help us sing the closing song. So you see  God does hear and answer our prayers.
Love,
Grammy T.

PS:
Tonight was wonderful.  President Uchtdorf  is always so inspiring but tonight after the meeting was over and we were all standing for him and his wife to leave he kept turning to us and waving like he didn't want to go. And then he put his fist over his heart and then pointed to us. It was so special. We love you too President Uchtdorf. 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

More cute Humanitarian things added



I am putting pictures up today to show you what we make for our TLC and Hospital Humanitarian Projects.





Cute baby things that we make for the hospital in our little town.

Love,

Grammy T.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Zuppa That Saved My Pregnant Life

When we left Christi and Grammy T., whom had no conceivable idea that she would be a Grammy let alone a Grammy to 26, they were sitting on a bed in the hotel in Montreal Canada.

Eventually I got a call saying that the plane was ready and to meet everyone downstairs to get on the bus to be taken back to the plane. We were to fly all night over the ocean, gulp. The ride was very turbulent at times, a lot of the times,  so I was in a constant state of prayer that my poor little baby would make it to Germany to see her daddy who she had not met yet. 

We landed in Paris and instead of getting on a plane to take us to Luxembourg where I was to meet Danny I had to change airports. But first I had to go into the women’s lounge bathroom and wait. While I was waiting a tribal women from Leopoldville with her baby came into the lounge. She undressed him and just left him in his little beaded tribal belt. And then she nursed him and I remember he played with the beads that she had on while he nursed. 

OK, so I’m 19 and I’m sitting in the same restroom with a mommy and baby that belonged to a tribe from Leopoldville, unreal. There was a French lady that was helping her and she also could speak very good English so I was able to hear the story. The story had to do with the war that was going on at that time in Leopoldville. 

After about six hours they had me get in a taxi cab to take me to the other airport. It was a Taxi cab ride from hell believe me. Just like in the movies, the driver screaming and gesturing out the window, etc.  but he could speak pretty good English so that was helpful. Scary but helpful.

Now it is getting dark and we get on a little prop plane not a jet. I was able to relax a little but when we landed my knees were like jelly and were not going to hold me up so I asked an airman that was on the same plane with me if he could carry my baby down the steps for me. He was young and single and very sweet to help me. So that was how Danny saw us for the first time. 

Oh well, it turned out OK because I told him I would have dropped the baby and myself too if I wouldn’t have had help from that very cute airman.

Everything was dark so I couldn’t see much in Luxembourg or Germany. I had been able to see Paris from the air with all of the street lights as we flew over it. It seemed very quaint and I did like that little plane a lot better than that huge jet.

What about the minestrone soup that saved my life? Oh, OK, I’ll tell you.  

Lake Como

Danny and I had gone to Lake Como in Italy for a holiday and camping and a few other European places where we had camped also. I was pregnant again by this time and had a pretty good case of morning sickness. We had pretzels and munchies but not much in the way of nourishing food. We were headed to another town in Italy after we left Lake Como. There was a lot of countryside and not much in the way of restaurants. Danny stopped to get a watermelon and that just made me sicker. And I was starting to get a little mad at my young husband who wouldn't ask direction. What is it with guys that they won’t ask directions?

Finally we came to a place that I thought I could get something to eat. It was really late by this time and the place we found was closing. In Rome that wouldn't have been a problem they stay open very late but this was somewhere in the country. The man said that they had Zuppa. And I was so excited and when brought it to me it was the best thing I had ever tasted in my whole life, I was starving and the baby I was carrying was starving for Pete's Sakes!

So that is how Minestrone Zuppa saved my Pregnant Life.

We stayed that night in a camping cabin by Pisa, Italy. And that was scary. It had spiders. Here is a picture of the leaning tower.

Love,
Grammy T.

Hi Ho-Hi Ho Off to Germany I Go



I was able to have a lot of fun experiences while my husband was stationed in Germany many years ago. Christi and I traveled to be with him when she was two months old and the ban had been lifted for dependents to travel over from the USA. You see the Berlin Wall had just gone up and the travel to Germany for dependents to live was very limited. If I had to go over there I really wanted to live in a little house like Heidi’s in the novels. Really. You know the houses where the people lived upstairs and down stairs, in the barn, is where the animals were. I wrote this request to my husband who thought I had lost my mind. Now that I am a little more mature I can imagine that the smell would have been ever so delightful. Can you imagine waking up with morning sickness to that smell, yuk, yuk!


Danny made sure that I had a blessing before Christi and I left and his Uncle Wayne came up from San Jose to do that. The plane trip over was so frightening for me. Christi and I left from San Francisco and when I hugged my parents goodbye I hung on to them for dear life because I really felt in my heart that the plane would drop out of the sky and I would never see them again. I was 19 and had never flown in my life. Or done anything else much up to that point except to live in Amarillo, Texas.

The plane was huge and the stewardesses were very nice. Christi looked so cute in her darling little outfit that my friend Linda Hunter had given her. Linda worked in the hair salon at Joseph Magnin’s in Sacramento and had gotten it there. She had also done my hair up in a funny little style that I somehow thought was cute. My now dyed,  dark brown hair (to match Christi’s) was swept up from the back up to my bangs with a little swirl on each side that looked a little like a doughnut. Very adorable, very. My hair had been blonde all through the time I had dated Danny in high school and our early married days, you know like Sandra Dee’s,  and now I was going to show up in Germany looking like a funny replica of my former blonde self with a doughnut hair do.


Christi had been started on solids early because she had a huge appetite and the doctor had me giving her rice cereal and applesauce since she was four weeks old. Once the plane went up in the air the force of whatever caused her to potty all over everything she had on. What a horrible mess. Thankfully she smelled like applesauce, but what a mess she was. I had brought one change of clothes for her, (great planning on my part) her red and white Christmas jammies. I had to clean her all up and get her dressed in that tiny little bathroom on the plane. Fun, very fun. We landed  in Montreal and had to deplane because the plane had broke down, wonderful, wonderful a broken down plane well at least we landed safely. I put Christi’s cute little bunting on her and got ready to get off of the plane. A German women traveling on the plane got a wool blanket from the stewardess and told me I would kill my baby getting off the plane in the freezing, snowing weather outside because we had to walk down those stairs to the ground and not into the terminal. You know like you have seen on the news when Jackie O walked down the long flight of stair off of the huge airplane. Like that. So the German lady was right, it was very cold outside. They bussed us to a hotel and gave me a room because I had a little baby. Everyone else went to the little pub that the hotel had. Not me, I sat in my room on the bed all alone, except for Christi. I thought they would call us right away to get back on the plane so I was afraid to do anything much but nurse Christi and wait.


Love,Grammy T.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Useful Things I Almost Forgot


A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

While getting ready for the day today my hair was flying all over the place from the static. I was really getting ticked off at the mess it was making, kind of like a flying rats nest.  “Spray your hair brush with a little hair spray, ding dong, and it will solve that problem, remember?”… “I remember” I said and quickly got my little bottle of hair spray, gave it a couple little sprays and wa-lah my problem solved.

While I was commenting to one of my favorite Bloggie’s this morning in her comment box about orphan socks on wash day I told her my solution that I finally discovered after all of my 7 kids were raised. I now put the orphan sock away where it belongs and miraculously it’s partner shows up all by itself on one of the next wash days. The problem is that I taught all of my children to have a sock box or bag and that is such a horrible predicament to find yourself in with 100 socks in there to have to sit and sort. We use to have sock matching parties but that is so ridiculous, so please, if you are reading this kids just do it the new way.

And last but not least for today, I have to get some little rag quilts done for the hospital to go with the little hats I have been making, so that I can make a delivery to the nursery.  Happy Humanitarian Day :)
So goodbye until tomorrow.

Love,
Grammy T.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Versatile Blogger Award From A Bloggie

Out of nowhere I received this today:


Guess What this is??
An award  that I just received 
from Alida 
my New Best Friend :) @
Yeah!!! I am so excited, Thank You So Much!!
So here's how this award works:



1. Thank the person who gave you the award 
and link back to them in your post. 
(I think I did that)


2. Tell 7 things about yourself


3. Award 15 recently discovered new bloggers,
Contact them and let them know 
they've received the award :)

So I'd better get busy
 and get these awards
 going to some great blogs
 that I will find somewhere 
out there. :)

Thank You Alida!!!

So here are the 7 things:

1. I was a cheerleader in High School.

2. I have lived in California, Texas, Germany, 
Georgia, Utah, Idaho and Nevada.

3. Besides my own 7 children
I have had six foster children
   that I find myself praying for 
more and more.

4. I had a little candy company 
when I lived in Nevada 
that my children 
helped me with, 
SO FUN!.

5. I wore a size 6 1/2 shoe 
when I was married.

6. My Pillsbury Grandparents lived in Sutter Creek California, 
one of my favorite places in the world.

7. TA-DAH the last bit of news is that 
I love doing Genealogy. :)

Blogs I have Chosen for the award are 
and the star means they accepted their reward:




Love,Grammy T.

Friday, January 21, 2011

No Funny Stuff, Just Soup :)

This my Darlings is a wonderful soup that I had yesterday at Carrabba's. It was so good that I decided to  make some tonight to take to Christi who isn't feeling well and a neighbor who is down and out. I will make mine vegetarian style but with a tiny bit of the Romano cheese and a tiny bit of bacon for flavor.
Minestrone Soup Like Carrabba's

Start with a basic Mirepoix (diced onions, carrots, garlic minced and celery) they are first sweated in unsalted butter and extra virgin olive oil. Then add green beans, Napa Cabbage and soften.


Then you add soup stock (vegetable or chicken) bay leaves, salt, fresh ground pepper, potatoes, carrots, stewed tomatoes, Italian Parsley and a chunk of Romano cheese. Allow to cook until potatoes and carrots are soft.


Remove the cheese rind and ham bone (if you use one, I didn't) and add cannelloni beans, kidney beans (I accidentally added pinto), and garbanzo beans (all canned with their juices), stir in grated Romano(or not) and serve. I have to tell you that this is one of the best soups that I have made in a long time.


This is from a former chef that worked at Carrabba’s.
~ Bon Appetit


Love,Grammy T.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Oh My Heck, He Ate The Red Ants

fire ant
They make me itch just to look at them.
I love our missionaries. The young men are usually about 19-21 and the young women are about 21- 23. One day when we were visiting with one of the Elders we served with in The Jacksonville Florida Mission he told us of the time that he and his companion were walking through a group of backyards and came upon a family barbecuing. They stopped to talk and asked them if they would like to hear a lesson about Jesus Christ. The father said “if you eat these red ants I will”.  Now let me tell you about those red ants, they are from South America and are killer ants! Well, they almost killed me. I was sick for a week after getting bit by them. But back to the story… Elder V picked up the cup setting on the barbecue that was full of red ants and swallowed them right down. 

Ewwwwe... I am itching all over thinking about it. My first question to him was “didn’t they bite you?"  And the answer was “yes, but it was worth it because they were the neatest family and very soon after learning more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ they were all baptized and to this day are serving the Lord with all of their hearts.” 

Bless this Elders heart he was willing to do whatever it took to serve the Lord. Now that is a story!!! 

I love you Elder V.  

Love,

Grammy T.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I am Desperate For a Hot Dog :)

Veggie Dog
Why am I so dang cold! The barometer must be dropping or something. It’s not because I’m so dang skinny that's for sure. 

I think it is suppose to snow really soon. 

Well, I have a tidbit for you today. Did you know that you can put olive oil on a carrot and BBQ it and it tastes like a hot dog? Me neither. But I must try it ;D. They say to put sauerkraut and mustard and all on it and Wa-Lah you’ve got a veggie hot dog.

I did try it and it was really good. 


Of course I was desperate.


Love,

Grammy T.

Monday, January 17, 2011

I Called 911 With Reckless Abandon

It's The Freckles
It was a cold night in Arizona and I was visiting with my two youngest girls. I had been helping my youngest daughter Jessie with the eight children that were in her care while her sister Amy was on a cruise. Four were Amy's and four were Jessie's. Amy had just gotten home and was showing us all of the beautiful (musty smelling) things she had brought home for everyone. It was about one in the morning and Amy was very tired from her big excursion and decided to go to bed. She went into her room and noticed that little Ryan was coughing a funny little cough and she came out to get a little purple strip to put on his tongue to help him breath better. It took forever and Jess and I waited for her to tell us he was OK. But when she brought him out he was not OK, he was a light blue color. Oh my gosh!! He wasn't breathing and then he coughed and it sounded like a funny little dog or seal. Croup!!  I said and into the bathroom I rushed them and turned on the shower and had Amy set him on her lap on the commode. It got steamy really fast and Ryan said "I can't breath", OK girls, I'm calling 911!! I got the phone and with a shaky hand told the dispatch lady what was happening, I picked up an envelope on the desk top so I could tell her the address and when she asked for the phone number I ran the phone into Amy in the steamy bathroom so she could give the rest of the information. Then they handed the phone back to me and the lady told me to go outside and show the EMT's where we were. So I ran out front and Wha-La an ambulance and a huge fire truck were coming down the street with lights a blazing. I jumped up and down and motioned them to the end of the street. So while one grandpa, one husband and seven children sleept peacefully, 10 Firemen and EMT's all in uniform, entered the house. One of the men told us to get a blanket for Ryan and go outside into the cold. We got the cute strip quilt that I had made for Tate and wrapped it around little Ryan. When we went outside the gurney was there waiting for us and Amy sat on it with Ryan on her lap and he looked up with his now rosey cheecks and gave his best "Dennis the Menace" grin to the men in uniform. He was able to get a little air into his lungs at last!! Then off to the hospital they rushed with Jessie following in her van. I woke up my husband, the grandpa, and told him what had happened. He later asked me if I remembered to pray. I told him I did not have time to kneel and say a prayer but I knew that Heavenly Father had guided me to put them in the steamy bathroom and to call 911. And then I prayed after they left and thanked Heavenly Father for 911. I then worked on little hats for the babies at my hospital in Utah until Tate woke up with a messy diaper and I changed him and rocked him until the girls and Ryan got home. Ryan got benadryl and a steroid shot at the hospital and benadryl for every six hours after that.

Very interestingly I had just read in Gerald Lund's book, Divine Signatures, that his little girl had a croup attack and he had been told by the doctor on the phone to go into the steamy shower with her. And now we know there is one more step, take them out into the cold air after the steamy shower trick. And if you are reading this call 911. I really believe in this instance it saved a baby's life. And once more proved that I am Super Grammy. :)

Love,
Grammy T.

This Post Is Just The Beginning :)



I just watched the movie Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep and I loved it.
 
Then I read about Mommy Blogs in the Deseret News and how women who are full time everything but mothers follow these Mormon Mommy Blogs so they can feel the joy of the simple life and feel the relaxing vibes of these mommy's, yep...  they said relaxing. :)  Maybe it's a get away for them to live the "simple life" or old fashioned life. 

So now that I have sold my facebook farm on Farmville (please don't ask me how I sold it O.K.) and have all the free time in the world I decided I'd do one of those relaxing, fun, escapist, fantasy way of life blogs. But I'm not only a Mommy I am a Grandmother of 25 and I am 71 years old and know a thing or two about life.

And Grand kids.

And Quilts.

So this should be fun.

Love,
Grammy T.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Yummy Fried Rice

Jenna's Fried Rice


Chinese Fried Rice

2-3 Tbls. veg. oil
2 cups cooked rice - cold
2tbls. soy sauce
1 tbls. Sugar
1 Tbls. rice vinegar 
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/2 stalk of celery, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas (I rinse in hot water to thaw) 
2 large eggs beaten. 

Chop and assemble and prepare all ingredients before you start cooking because the fried rice is done in just a few minutes. I also do my egg first in the same pan and then take it out to add later. 

Combine soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, and pepper together in a custard cup and set aside. Heat fry pan or wok on med. high heat and add 1-2 Tbls. of oil, along with the chopped garlic and celery. Cook for about 2 mins. and add green onions: continue to cook for another minute. Next add the rice, peas and sauce mixture at the same time. Gently stir into other ingredients.  Add eggs to the rice mixture the very last. Serve immediately.  I usually double the sauce and the rice too. 

Don’t Have Cooked Rice on Hand? :

While nothing beats previously cooked rice for making fried rice, if you don't have any on hand, here's a tip. Prepare a batch of fresh cooked rice, spread it on a baking sheet and freeze for 25 – 30 minutes. The texture of the fried rice isn't quite the same as days-old cooked rice, but it makes a handy substitute.

I got this recipe from Jenna and it is my favorite. She got it from her cooking class at school. I am sharing because it is the best I have ever eaten. 

Also I want you to see what a very mischievous little imp can grow up to be. She can still be a bit mischievous but very beautiful. She is an artist and also models for another artist in Rexburg, Idaho. She is the little girl laughing at her little brother in the "Funny Stories" And of course is one of my Grands.;) The top pictures are Jenna being bored. Both are self portraits.;) The bottom is posing for the artist that did her portraits in Idaho. 
Jenna at an early age practicing her skills. 


Jenna modeling for a painting that is hung at BYU Idaho
Self Portrait


Bon Appetit



Love,
Grammy T.