"I" equals INCREDIBLE views!

There are Incredible views all over this country! 

 Some of my favorite places are in the mountains of east Tennessee but then if you've followed my blog for any length of time you know of my fondness for that area of our country.  We were able to spend a week there again last fall.  Pure bliss I tell ya!  :)

The beauty of an Oklahoma wheat field.

However, I certainly don't want to discount some of the Incredible scenery we have here in the Midwest 

 It's hard to beat a Midwestern sunset.

 There is Incredible beauty all around us, no matter where we live if we just stop moving long enough to notice. 

H is for Healthy

H is for Healthy!

Healthy isn't typically a term used when referring to cookies but a friend at work gave me this recipe for Breakfast Cookies the other day.  

Quite honestly, if she hadn't brought one for me to taste, I doubtfully would have ever given the recipe a second look.  I've tried other so called "healthy" dessert or cookie recipes only to be disappointed in either the taste or the texture

.  

These aren't a chocolate chip cookie[wink] but if you are looking for an alternative type cookie or for something grab-able as you're running out the door in the morning they're really pretty good!

I'll share the recipe using the tweaks I made ...

BREAKFAST COOKIES

2 cups old fashioned oats (pulsed 5 times in a blender to make them slightly powdery)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup almond butter (peanut butter or sunflower butter could work as well)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or honey)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds (or shelled pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed(I forgot to put this in this time but I will when I make them again)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

You could always add chopped nuts but I didn't this time.  These are very adaptable to whatever your preferences for add-ins might be.  I think I might try some blueberries next time instead of the dried cranberries or raisins.

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.  

Combine all ingredients together using a mixer until well combined.  The dough gets pretty stiff and sticky.

Drop approx. 1/4 cup dough onto prepared cookie sheets.  Slightly flatten to a desired thickness.  These will not spread much in the oven.

Bake for 14 - 17 minutes or until edges are slightly brown.  Allow to cool slightly on the cookie sheets before removing.  These keep well at room temperature for up to a week but also freeze good so you can take out how ever many you need whenever you need them.






If you can't stand the thought of a "healthy" cookie, adding a bit of this on top of a warm cookie fresh out of the oven could be the answer for you.  Not that I'm speaking from experience though. Nope, not me. ;) 

 

G is for Goodness

G if for Goodness, amazing BBQ & husband Goodness that is!

It's finally warming up enough here to use our grill and knowing the way to my heart, DH prepared smoked country ribs for supper last night. I'm not even a huge rib fan but these were amazing!  

 We topped these delicious ribs with the little bit of Sonny's BBQ sauce we have left from our trip to Tennessee last fall.  We can't purchase Sonny's here in the Midwest.  We can buy other sauces that are good but we've yet to find one as good as Sonny's.  And of all things, when we were in New Orleans in January, I completely forgot to stock up [face palm].

F is For Fancy Farmhouse Architecture

We went east to visit one of our sons and his wife yesterday, J & K.  While taking a short drive to the grocery store...doesn't everyone go to the grocery store just for fun while visiting someone? It was a Mejier!  I had never been to a Mejier Grocery Store but this won't be my last time.  Soooo much nicer than the dreaded WalMart....anyhow, back to "while taking a drive"... we came across two old abandoned farmhouses.  There were "For Sale" signs out front so doesn't that mean they're free game to pull in the driveway, look in windows or what once was a window and maybe even wander through the house.  If the door is unlocked and open, wouldn't you?

The architecture of old houses just blows me away.  The builders often took extra care in little details, like the embellishment above this window and the panel that was next to the front door.

I can only imagine what these windows looked like before they were salvaged or stolen.  I don't think they were just broken out as the ones that were missing were roundtops or might have likely been leaded or stained glass.  I'm hoping someone salvaged them and didn't just throw them out.

Can't you imagine a cozy sitting area in this corner of the house?

The houses had been vandalized with graffiti and plaster pulled off the walls to get to the copper wires which people steal and sell for cash. :(  Raccoons also seem to have taken up residence as evidenced by the gifts they've left behind. :(

Both of the homes were obviously high end homes in their day.  I would guess the above home to have been built in the early 1900's and maybe the one below in the 1930's or 40's.  

I can't help but wonder what these homes and the surrounding property might have looked like back in the day.  It makes me sad to see beautiful buildings fall into such sad shape.  

E is for Ella and Emery

"E" is for Ella, our second grandgirl, a 3 year old(as of next week), rambunctious, adorable, independent, animal loving basket full of laughter and joy!

 This little stinker-poo never ceases to make me laugh with her antics and expressions.   

Miss Ella has a knack for falling asleep in the strangest places.  She just goes and goes until she can't go anymore. :)

"E" also stands for Emery who came to be part of our family in October when her momma married our son. 2 year old Emery is adventurous and can often be found on the tractor with her new daddy or in this picture, it's a loader bucket.

"Eme" is very creative and loves to paint and draw.  She even left this grandma a gift of her art work on a plastic tub the last time she visited.  LOL  Such a cutie!  We can't wait to get to know her better. 

I have a feeling these two "E" cousins will come to be good buddies.

"D" is for Dancin'

I ran across this video 4 years ago and posted it to my blog.  It's been a favorite of mine ever since.

Dancin in the Minefields - Andrew Peterson

Doesn't it describe married life to a tee?  DH & I married relatively young and have encountered our share of minefields and storms.  We haven't always weathered them as gracefully as we would've liked but we've come through, a bit torn and tattered but we've hung in there.  

On April 12, we'll have danced through 34 years of those minefields.

I love you baby and will dance through much more with you any day!

"C" is for Corn

If you are familiar at all with the Midwest, you know that Corn is everywhere and is in many things, from Ethanol fuel to much of what we eat(the dreaded high fructose corn syrup - meh).  

We also burn corn for heat in our multi-fuel pellet stove.  We burn wood pellets and sunflowers too but that's a story for another time.

We even use corn in our decorating, believe it or not.  From corn shocks on the front porch to table decorations at a down home rustic wedding reception.  Our new daughter-in-law found this idea for their wedding reception last October on Pinterest.  Side note:  Don't ya just love Pinterest?  It's a mason jar filled with corn and a votive candle in the middle.  

As we were on our way to their  new home for the wedding reception when we received a call from our son, asking if we were going by a feed store along the way and could we pick up a bag of corn for them as he had forgotten to get some from the neighbor?  We were already too far to stop any place plus there is just something not right about paying $5 for a small bag of corn when the farmer gets paid $5+ per bushel.  Know what I mean?
Well, lo and behold, God provides!  We're bookin' on down the highway and see piles of corn along the road!  DH looked at me and asked if we should we go back?  Uh, yeah!  DH was such a good sport about it.  He pulled over, threw the car in reverse and backed up on the shoulder for approximately 1/4 mile. LOL
We had a few bags in the trunk with reception supplies, so we emptied things out and scooped up as much as we could carry.  
We were very thankful that this highway is mostly used for grain semis heading to the river so it wasn't very busy on a Saturday and for the trucker who was likely overweight and pulled over to dump a bit of his load off before he ran across scales the state troopers probably had set up.  All of this equals provision for us!

Again, for those of you not from this area, our grain semis are limited to weight of 80,000 lbs. A few of our farmers/truckers might overload their trucks on occasion. ;)  Every extra bushel on a truck makes for less trips to the river.  Not that it makes it right but it is a reality.  Many times,  especially in the fall, our law enforcement will pick a spot and set up what is called "temporary scales."  If the scales are out, all trucks must stop and weigh.  The fines for being overweight can be pretty hefty.  We're pretty sure this was a trucker dumping off some extra grain before he got to the temp scales which he was likely alerted to by other drivers over the radio or phone.  We'll never know but were thankful they were there for us!

"B" is for Barn

"B" is for Barn.  

I've always had a thing for old barns.

  

I see so many of them being torn down, including the one in this picture. 

More folks are moving to country and if they don't have livestock, a barn is just another large building to keep up.  Some let them just rot away while others tear them down and maybe put a metal shed in its place.

I'm sure these old barns could tell quite the stories if only given a chance.

There is just something about that weathered red paint.

 How many many of these wonderful old buildings left in your area of the country?

April 1 - "A"

First Day of the Challenge and we start with letter "A".

The letter "A" to me signifies a new beginning.  It's the beginning letter of the alphabet and it also signifies the beginning of "Grandparent-hood" for us.

Our first grandchild, a granddaughter, Ava arrived in our lives 7-1/2 years ago and our world changed forever!  

 I just realized after I uploaded this picture that I look a bit scared, don't I?  The grandparent thing was a new world for us to navigate and we wouldn't trade it for anything!  

This young lady captured our hearts those first hours and still does today.  She has a sweet personality, is smart, creative,sensitive, compassionate, and a fashionista to boot! She put this outfit together for the Daddy/Daughter dance in February herself.  She might have gotten a bit of Grandma's creative gene but her sense of style is way out of my league!  Love her to pieces! 

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the letter "B".  I already have the letters "E" & "O" planned out. It's the ones in between that I better get to thinking on. :)

So, I've went and done it!  I've signed up for a blog challenge, my first in a very long time.  OK, who am I kidding?  This is my first post in a very long time!

I'm hopeful this will jump start me back in to the blogosphere again.  I've tried, I've really tried to sit down and write a post on occasion.  I place my fingers carefully over the keyboard and pause and then go "eh" and wander away from the desk.

Not any more!  I'm not sure what I'll write about but would guess I'll center around family, fun, my faith, quilts, quips and other random thoughts, so here goes....on to the letter "A"!

A-Z Blog Challenge
You can click here or on my side bar to check out all of the other blogs who are participating.