Ice Cream Toppings

The kids wanted ice cream with chocolate and/ or caramel on top. I didn't have any, but fortunately Angie had just written this. So I made it and the kids loved it.

 

 

At the same time, I made a caramel topping I found when I googled. I chose one from Food.com entitled, "Kittencal's Easy Caramel Sauce or Ice Cream Topping.

 

 

It is really good. It is runnier than a squeeze bottle from the store, but it tastes oh so much better. And why wouldn't it with real ingredients like butter, brown sugar, whipping cream, and vanilla?

Here's how to make it so you can enjoy it yourself, I mean, your kids can enjoy it.

In a saucepan melt 1/2 cup butter.

Add 1 cup brown sugar and whisk until combined and thickened, about two minutes.

Whisk in 2/3 cup whipping cream until thoroughly combined, about two more minutes.

Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

 

Isn't that easy? The note on the recipe says it will thicken more when refrigerated, but mine didn't. But it doesn't matter, it tastes so yummy, we haven't minded that it is more liquid in form.

Enjoy!

 

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Flabbergasted Friday

If you want ice, please visit another home.

 

 

 

 

How is this even possible?

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I Think It Is Cool

From State to State

My father-in-law married a girl from Iowa.

His first son married a girl from Illinois.

His third son married me, a girl from Indiana.

His second son married a girl from Ohio.

His youngest son married a girl from Michigan.

I've always thought that was a pretty neat pattern. And how these Viking-loving men avoided one particular close state.

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Troll Empathy

In all the good stories, trolls are angry, often demanding payment for all who cross over their bridge.

I completely understand.

For the last two weeks I've heard footsteps and power tools, banging hammers and scrapping shovels as three men worked to put a new roof on our home.

Does that noise ever drive one a bit crazy.  Not to mention the feeling of being spied upon, not that they did that - but by the nature of the job and the shape of our roofline, they had to be outside some of the windows.

I'm glad it is done.  The roof looks great.  The shades can be open.  And I feel less trollish.

Hello, My Name is Glenda

I thought I might need to introduce myself since it has been awhile since I blogged.  Is there still anyone out there wondering when I will post?  I didn't know when I wrote about not spending so much time on-line that I wouldn't write for almost three weeks.  Since you must be sitting at the edge of your seat anxiously waiting to hear what's been happening in my life lately, I'll proceed with the boring details.

From July 3rd - 6th I was at the Higher Things youth conference in Maryville, MO.  Wow was it a hot week, but so totally awesome.  Twelve was my first Higher Things conference and having experienced one, I can understand why so many want to return year after year.  I chaperoned Hannah and Ellie (you can read their summaries here and here) along with their two cousins, Bre and Becca.  Their other cousins came too, and I had fun watching those seven girls hang out together and remembering all the times they've done that through the years, like being silly:

In Birth Order, Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Bre, Melinda, Cora, Hannah, Ellie, Becca, Emma

And I got to be with my friends too!  Melanie and I were roomies and most of the time we ate with Ruth and her hubby.  But what fun to catch up with other homeschool mommies, both old and new.  Here is the one picture I took of some of us after the closing service.

Left to right Back Row: Melanie, Me, Becky, Ruth
Front Row: Nancy, Michelle, Carol, Julie

After getting home, I couldn't sit and relax, we had a busy weekend including a wedding and a beer brewing class,  plus laundry and cleaning to get ready for a week of company!

On Monday evening Angie and her family came to stay with us.  We were their B&B while they visited her in-laws.  The boys loved sleeping in the tent and playing (the detritus of darts and nerf guns all over the house was a monument to that), Twirly Girl and Abby loved being together, and us adults enjoyed talking and doing fun things together.  For instance David and Larry took three of the boys to a soccer game one evening, and one day Angie and I spent the day working on our scrapbooks.  Well, she actually did pictures on a page, I simply taped all our receipts we had saved from our Europe trip onto card stock and put them in my binder.  Another day Angie and I took all the kids to the pool, which in this heat, was a real treat! We sent them on their way to Melanie's Sunday after church, brunch, and a bit of target shooting out in the field behind Rhonda's.

That brings us to the current week which has been filled with shuttling Hannah and Ellie to work, a family birthday dinner for David, taking Nathan to camp, some more cleaning, time at the pool, and time to finish reading one book and progress on another.

Whew, no wonder I didn't blog.