Great Marriage Advice

My sister in law gave me some of the best advice I have ever been given on how to be happily married. At the time she gave it to me she had not even been married yet, and is also almost 15 yrs. younger than me. So what was this advice? She told me to accept my husband who he was.

Now I don't know about you, but as a woman that was SHOCKING to me. Try not to improve the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with?

We had many years of fighting and trying to figure out how to get along. We tease now that the only reason we don't fight like we used to is because we are just too tired and old to fight anymore. But the truth is I kept hearing those words, "Let him be him." The more I tired to back off and try to understand why he said or did certain things the more I began to understand and appreciate him. In fact, it was only then did I realize how really funny and wonderful my husband was. That he actually could handle life on his own without my input and that he was a better human in ways I had never thought to be. Seems I'm not always right! Go figure?!

 Have you heard?  Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean. And so between the two of them, they licked the platter clean. Or even the saying  "opposites attract"?

Recently we have been stocking our new camp trailer, getting it all supplied with the necessary equipment needed for our new adventures. My husband was looking for the camping fold out table, when he asked me where it was. I replied, "you mean that one we won at the company Christmas party yrs ago. The one we never even used yet?" He says "yeah".  I had to remind him that HE HAD GIVEN IT AWAY!  As we continued to look for things I had to keep reminding him that he had gotten rid of the items he was looking for.

Now instead of getting upset about having to go out and buying these things again, I stopped and thought about who he was. He was a man who came from a home were his mother kept everything, and things where not always put away or even kept in an organized way. Me? I had a mother who NEVER kept ANYTHING! She didn't even have knick-knacks in our home because they were considered clutter. So for me I keep things around like the camping stuff because even though we don't use it everyday, I know we will use it when we go camping. But when my husband decides to clean  he starts throwing everything away.

This made me realize we really balance each other out. He keeps me from collecting too much, and I help him have more toys and things to play with. LOL.

So you see, if I tired to make him change to my way, we'd probably need a bigger house, and garage. But, if he tired to change me, he'd have no toys and things to play with.

Being opposites is a good thing for us. We compliment each other, we keep each other balanced, and definitely we keep each other guessing.

SWEETEST PUMPKIN I'VE EVER SEEN!!!!!



Can you tell the real pumpkin here? Yep, it's the one in the middle. How many of us mother's  have not called our own sweet children 'our little pumkins'. Well, here is the proof they really are!
This is my niece who is due to have her first baby this month. She had her baby shower this last weekend, this is really a new and creative activity for the party.

 Want to see more fun Halloween Ideas? Go check out this site.

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN BAKING!

When my child who is in the Navy wanted more zucchini bread  to be sent to her, I was delighted because her roommates wanted more also. In fact, they told her "We order your mom to make more".  A plea to send two batches of them was the request.

Well, I also have a child away at college in a dorm room, and I knew this kid loved this bread too. So I thought o.k. I'll make a double batch and send some  bread to to both of them. But, then my hubby and third child said they wanted some too.

Now I have only doubled this recipe, so I thought I'll just triple this recipe and give one to the Navy kid, one to the college kid, and keep one for us here at home.

I was so careful to make sure I had tripled every ingredient  going into the mixer. Six eggs, nine teaspoons of vanilla, you get it, large amounts of each ingredient. When I got to the needed NINE CUPS of flour, only four cups fit into the mixer, still needing five more cups of flour and SIX CUPS of shredded zucchini! Now what? I looked in the pots and pan cupboard and found the largest kettle I had. Now I had to dump the mixing bowl of half made batter  into the kettle and hand stir the rest of the flour and zucchini.  Goodness gracious! Talk about wrist hurting, arm pumping exercise workout in the kitchen. How did I not know how much this would make?! So for the next two and a half hours I baked bread and muffins. 

What was I thinking? This is where I still had another 9 cups of ingredients still to go.




This picture does not really show how FULL and  BIG  thing darn thing was.

If you'd like to make some of these yummy things here is the recipe. But! Remember only double if you have too.


Zucchini Bread or Muffins
3eggs                                         1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup oil                                      1 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 c. sugar                              2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini
3 tsp. vanilla                               1 cup chopped nuts (optional) my kids don't like nuts in their bread
3 cups flour                                
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Combine eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Add sifed fry ingredients and mix well. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 60-70 minutes. If you're making the muffins about 30 min or so, depending on size of pan.