Caramel Onion!

Yes - you read correctly!  The owner at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory agreed to put caramel around an apple AND an onion.  We were at girl's camp last night and gave a short lesson on how deceptive the adversary can be when he wants us to do wrong.  How he makes good things seem bad, and bad things appear very good. 

Through a variety of short eliminations, we chose two girls to participate.  They were able to pick their apple, and then we announced that it would be an apple 'eating' contest.  Girl one just dove right into her apple - girl two was a bit more tentative, and just starting peeling off the caramel a bite at a time.  When she got a large patch of caramel eaten - she looked down in preparation to take a big bite and said: "I'm not eating that!" 

So - because she was tentative, we didn't get the reaction we were hoping for....but maybe being a little tentative and aware as we navigate this life isn't such a bad thing!

Move over Kraft Caramels, here comes RMCF!

During one of our last full weeks of school - we had Staff Appreciation Week.  One of the things our wonderful principal gave to all of the staff was a caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  Oh. My!  It was so wonderful!

These apples have to have some of the softest, most amazing caramel on them that I have ever had!

It's Girls Camp this week for our church.  The youth leaders (girls 16-18) will be the only ones there tomorrow and tomorrow night along with their adult leaders.  The rest of the girls won't show up until Tuesday morning.  It's become a tradition for the Stake Relief Society Presidency to visit camp on this first night - enjoy some time with the girls - and present a short thought/lesson.  It's going to be a good one.  Caramel apples will be involved!  Can't wait to see the girls' faces!  I love surprising them!  Check back soon to see pictures of what I'm talking about.  You'll love it too - I promise!

In the meantime - if you have a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory near by - you should check them out.  If you are in NW Missouri, check out the one on St. Joseph and tell Leslie that Korine sent you!  

Chevron Afghans

Long before Chevron was 'the thing' - I was making Chevron afghans - but back then we just called them 'zig-zag'!  Isn't it funny how things circle back around, but we call it something else to make it seem new and different?!  Hip-huggers (which I also lived through) came back as 'low-rise' pants, bell-bottoms are now flare and so on!  So enjoy some of my personal Chevron blankets (formerly known as afghans!). 

This was the first afghan I ever made.  It was in the early 70's and I was so happy with the colors!  Seriously?!  But really, the orange, yellow and brown were all the rage.  How many of you remember that orangeish-brownish kitchen carpet that was all the rage?  We used to call it 'pizza carpet' because we figured you could drop a pizza on it and never find it!

In the mid-70's my mother made this one.  It is big enough for a queen-size bed.  She had a tight stitch, so it's thick and heavy.  Perfect for a cold night and hot chocolate!

And this is one I made just a few years ago.

I never knew I was so stylish!  I've always considered myself 'behind the curve' when new fashions or styles come about - but maybe this time I was way ahead of the curve!

I'm sure the Chevron Company is enjoying all of the extra advertising!

What other 'old' things can you think of that have come back into style with a different name?

New Furniture

Do you know when the last time it was that we purchased a bedroom set?  Um.  Never!  When we got married we were given the bedroom set that had been his grandparents.  It was made back in the day when they stitched your name in the mattress.  Like this!  Amazing isn't it?  But it's old enough that it truly was like grandma's feather bed.  Very soft.  And low.  And old!

So......we bit the bullet.  After looking at this bedroom set for a couple of years, we did it.  We. Purchased. It.  It's Amish made.  We ordered it from our local furniture store, who then put the order in to the company in Ohio that makes them.  From scratch.  They grow their own trees!  It is beautiful furniture.  And Homestyle Furniture inspected it with a fine tooth comb when it came in after 10 very LONG weeks of waiting.  There were a couple of small imperfections, which to them were unacceptable.  A small varnish run, and small places where the wood had been chipped during assembly.  The bed was put together for us today, but a new headboard and footboard have been ordered and will be here the end of May.

It smells wonderfully new.  It's beautiful.  And we have room for everything.  No more stuff sitting on the floor because there's no place to put it.  This is something I never thought I would have, and I think how much my own mother would have loved this furniture set.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

May snowstorms bring......?

 Seriously Mother Nature?  I am NOT impressed!  Some of these snowflakes have been golf ball sized.  They are HUGE!  My lilacs are just ready to pop.  I'm thinking instead that they will stay inside of their protective bud and die.  Instead of beautiful purple blooms, I anticipate dead, brown bud pods.  It makes me so sad.  They are predicting 3-5" by tomorrow morning.  Wouldn't it be crazy if we had a snow day in MAY!   I'll keep you updated.  Someone needs to send Mother Nature chocolate!