Having Fun

Well, I pulled a dumb thing.  Not the first time in my life.  LOL

When I started my spaghetti sauce making, and I follow the recipe very carefully, but I had a 3# package of ground beef, instead of the 2# the recipe calls for.  So...I figured, I'd just increase the rest of the ingredients.  Right?

5 hot Italian sausages for the little meat balls, instead of 3, another can of diced tomatoes, a little more tomato sauce and juice.

It all looked great, until I tried to stir the amount I had in my big stock pot.  It was so thick and heavy that I broke the wooden spoon!  Then, as the cooking progressed, I noticed it started to stick to the bottom of the "guaranteed non-stick" pot.

I halted all production and pondered.

I got out my Crock-Pot, a much smaller one than I used to have.  The one I gave to my sister as I would no longer need a Crock-Pot and then two months later, bought the smaller one, because I DID need a Crock-Pot.

Luckily, it held half the sauce, so it cooked on high for 5 hours, then I put it in the fridge to "meld" overnight, and cooked on low, 6 hours the next day to thicken.  Put it back in the fridge overnight because it was late in the day, and the next day, put it in the quart bags to freeze.

Then yesterday, I took out the other half, that had been in the fridge and put it in the Crock-Pot.

Instead of a two day process it has taken me 4 days, but you know what...........cooking it that way seemed to end up with a much thicker sauce that won't slide off the cooked spaghetti.  I hate spaghetti sauce that slides off and doesn't stay on the noodles.

I have decided to purposefully do the second batch the same way--as once again I find myself with a 3# package of ground beef.

It takes more time, but I have lots of time, so.........

Started and done:

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With sadness, I mailed out the genealogy this morning.  I always feel a little sad when the genealogies are done, because I want to keep on searching, even though, by this time, (20-30 hours)I know I have found everything I am capable of finding, without traveling to the Country where the family originated from to find their ancestor's graves and other family members.  As usual, I held the mailing box and asked God to continue to bless the family, before I took it out to the mail box.

This was a fascinating genealogy.  I know, I say that about all of the ones I have done, but, this one really was.  The family immigrated here and when WWII came, 5 of the 6 sons enlisted in various armed services.  The Father was a serious citizen, a registered voter.  The other side of the family homesteaded in Oklahoma and had a nice farm, until the dust storms came.  Did they pack up and head back East?  Of course not!  They went on to California and worked in the migrant camps, picking vegetables and fruit for the farmers out there.  I even found photos of the great, great grandpa playing his fiddle at the dances the workers at the camp held.  In fact, the camp they lived in was the exact same one that John Steinbeck visited and wrote about in his novel, "The Grapes of Wrath".

It's amazing what can be found if one searches long and hard enough and follows every little hint of that person.  There are a lot of places to search and research and yes, it takes a lot of time reading and collecting facts and getting them in chronological order.  Printing out family group sheets and scanning all the reports I have found.

Then I get to put all I have found in their book; photos, census reports, stories of the family.  That is my favorite part, the writing of their book.  Making it understandable, like a story.

It does take a lot of time, but like I said above, time is what I have a lot of.
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Now, I sit here with nothing to do, except smell spaghetti sauce cooking, cross-stitching and watching TV.  

I have to write!  I have always had to write.  In 5th grade I wrote my first children's story--about a hermit that lived in our woods.  I even drew a picture of him.  He looked like Cousin It---25 years before Cousin It was even invented.

I showed it to my teacher.  My teacher loved it and had me read it to the whole class.  I was failing basic math, but my story was an A+, although since it wasn't a required lesson, I got no credit for it.  HAH!

So...I have decided to take ALL of the children stories I have written, except the Hermit one, which I have forgotten and probably got thrown out,  and put them in a book form, and get a book, much like the genealogy books, printed and bound.

I used to have a Website with a whole lot of children's stories I had written.  Plus the 3 published children's books.  The Website is no more and the older grandchildren all have a copy of the 3 published books.  But...what about Evan, who is 6 and just learning to read?  What about Della, who is only 1 year old and likes stories read to her?

Aha--a whole knew generation to enjoy those stories.

This is what the book cover will look like--the cover photo on my old Website.

Gramma's Tales

by

Gramma Judy

This is the first story in it:

I had a Woozle, a very fine Woozle

And I asked him outside to play.

But I got a refusal from my fine Woozle

Inside for a snoozle he’d stay.

I found a stout rope put it over his moozle

Tugged and pulled him down the hallway.

When we got to the porch, he got scared of course

And dug in his claws to stay.

I pleaded and begged and tugged on the rope

I was going to have it my way.

But my Woozle was strong and he broke the rope

And promptly ran away.

So if you have a Woozle, a very fine Woozle

And he doesn’t want to play.

Then accept his refusal, let him be a Woozle

And snoozle inside all day.

That ought to peak their interest to read on.  

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By the way, if you would like your genealogy done, just e-mail me and I will send you a brochure of what would be included and the prices.  I do a basic, no charge research first, just to make sure we have enough to make it worth your while, before I begin.  I promise I will do a good job for you.