Christiansen's Comments,Hinds County Gazette Deember 3 2009

Good Morning! Good Morning! I for sure will not be keeping you long today…I need to get cranking, we are having a bridal shower here at 201 Saturday, for Evan Allen, the soon to be bride of Adam Rydbeck, the son of the pastor at the Presbyterian Church.




I am decorated for Christmas, but I must put out a few touches of wedding…rearrange a bit of furniture. I have a Pete fountain CD playing, “New Orleans Jazz”…. I better take it out. Put something else in… before I get started…. or the decorations, instead of wedding or Christmas….might just take on a decidedly Mardis Gras appearance.



I was full steam ahead…. until my stride got broken by a plumbing crisis. But it could have been much worse…I found a plumber who works on Saturday. While he was here he cleaned out my slow moving drains.



It is a big mystery to me why there are not more plumbers…he was here 2 hours, his labor charge was $225.00. Mind you, I am not complaining, it was worth it to me to get it fixed….uncontrolled water can do big damage in a hurry, more then the $225.00 for sure….I have wood floors.



Well, here I go …..to get to work on the embellishments for Saturday…if I don’t get started, I can’t get finished. And of course when I finish…I won’t be done! I have told you my philosophy on that, “It is not done, until it is over done!” Over done is just a few steps past tacky….it takes nerves of steel to go to tacky… let alone past it…..some never get there…many stop at tacky….. But take heart you to can got to “Over Done” or at least to “tacky”….for some reason “tacky” and “over done” come easier with age.



Oh! I have a new favorite holiday dessert! And it is so pretty I have served it twice so far to rave reviews! And you don’t have to get out the mixer!!!





It started out with Martha Stewart’s Orange Cornmeal cake recipe, but I fixed it…I wasn’t crazy about the cornmeal…It is very easy Mix, ½ cup of oil, 2 eggs, a cup of sugar, ½ cup of wine or Orange juice, and the zest of 3 oranges, Martha only used the zest of one orange. Then add 1 1/2 cups of flour to which you have mixed with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of salt….mix until smooth, Pour in a prepared 8 or 9 inch cake pan, sprinkle top with 1/3 cup of sugar and bake at 350, until done…my oven it was about 30 minutes.

This is the Gloria part of the dessert…what to do with the zested oranges? I peeled them and sectioned them like I was going to make Ambrosia, sprinkled a little sugar over them…. added some maraschino cherries …then when it came time to serve the cake I dipped out a big ladle of the oranges and cherries poured it over the cake, I served it in a flat soup bowl…..Fabulous!



Call if you need me….

"Christiansen's Comments" For the Hinds County Gazette...November 5 2009

Hinds county Gazette

Chritiansen’s comments

November 5 2009

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose” Well…… none of that is happening it has been perfect for wiener roasts and marshmallow toasting….roasting weenies and making S’Morhere in Mid-Mississippi. The rain finally stopped and the weather has been perfect for many, many days in a row now. I have finished lots of chores that I have been putting off…some of them for years….like painting the porch furniture.



And it’s sitting around a fire barrel is just about my favorite fall activity. I certainly have plenty of sticks and fallen limbs to burn.



My Christmas tree is up…and mostly decorated…. This is early even for me to have the tree up but, opportunity knocked and I answered! Grandson Garrett came for the weekend…I paid him to do it.



Life lesson # 1046 : When children are young and are too little to be much help….they beg to help….when they get old enough to be of real assistance you have to pay them.



To Garrett’s credit he did tell me I didn’t have to pay him. But, way on after while, I got to wondering…. Grand kids are quite skilled in the manipulation of grandmas. Reckon, he said that so I would give him a big tip? If he did, it worked he got his tip.



I have baked a fruitcake it’s ripening, all snug, wrapped in cheese cloth, soaked in dark rum. I know you all think I am rushing the season….I am not. I am calling myself getting prepared. Now days, the holiday season begins so early and lasts so long. Actually, Halloween through Super bowl Sunday….so if I don’t get started…I get behind.



We all have days driven by panic. I am not fond of days driven by panic…but I can handle them ….I have them… so I know I can. But at holiday time, the hectic, hurried, panic days that are self created… exasperate me. So I go on and get the tree up…The biggest dirt clods swept out the door, the most noticeable cobwebs pulled down, and the fluffiest dust bunnies vacuumed up. And I’m ready to enjoy the season‘s events…







And I like to have lots of time to leisurely enjoy the holidays, time to cook and bake, time to have friends in for nibbles…time for working in my shop. Time for late evening visits to Kay and Doug Turner in their shop, they make a birdhouse every Christmas….This year’s Turner Christmas birdhouse is the Edwards Baptist Church.



As usual I am crafting most of my Christmas gifts and as usual I have to get advise/help from Doug on how to proceed with my plan. Ideas and plans are easy to come up with…the difficulty comes in the execution….of said plan. I think Doug has the kinks worked out of mine now…so I shall began building in earnest this week.

Love to all

PS.

Here is my advise to you….During the holidays, don’t be grinning…..adopt a “Poor me” face, take lots of deep harried breaths and act busy…. Because if you are not scurrying around in a panic, …chances are you will be perceived as having nothing to do…and almost certainly shirking your holiday responsibilities. ..No doubt somebody is going to have to step up and carry your load….That person already in panic mode probably …so don’t be acting happy….act busy…Only when you are by yourself, do you dare smile, hum Christmas Carols and contemplate on the birth we are celebrating.













“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose” Well…… none of that is happening it has been perfect for wiener roasts and marshmallow toasting….roasting weenies and making S’Morhere in Mid-Mississippi. The rain finally stopped and the weather has been perfect for many, many days in a row now. I have finished lots of chores that I have been putting off…some of them for years….like painting the porch furniture.



And it’s around a fire is just about my favorite fall activity. I certainly have plenty of sticks and fallen limbs to burn.



My Christmas tree is up…and mostly decorated…. This is early even for me to have the tree up but, opportunity knocked and I answered! Grandson Garrett came for the weekend…I paid him to do it.



Life lesson # 1046 : When children are young and are too little to be much help….they beg to help….when they get old enough to be of real assistance you have to pay them.



To Garrett’s credit he did tell me I didn’t have to pay him. But, way on after while, I got to wondering…. Grand kids are quite skilled in the manipulation of grandmas. Reckon, he said that so I would give him a big tip? If he did, it worked he got his tip.



I have baked a fruitcake it’s ripening, all snug, wrapped in cheese cloth, soaked in dark rum. I know you all think I am rushing the season….I am not. I am calling myself getting prepared. Now days, the holiday season begins so early and lasts so long. Actually, Halloween through Super bowl Sunday….so if I don’t get started…I get behind.



We all have days driven by panic. I am not fond of days driven by panic…but I can handle them ….I have them… so I know I can. But at holiday time, the hectic, hurried, panic days that are self created… exasperate me. So I go on and get the tree up…The biggest dirt clods swept out the door, the most noticeable cobwebs pulled down, and the fluffiest dust bunnies vacuumed up. And I’m ready to enjoy the season‘s events…







And I like to have lots of time to leisurely enjoy the holidays, time to cook and bake, time to have friends in for nibbles…time for working in my shop. Time for late evening visits to Kay and Doug Turner in their shop, they make a birdhouse every Christmas….This year’s Turner Christmas birdhouse is the Edwards Baptist Church.



As usual I am crafting most of my Christmas gifts and as usual I have to get advise/help from Doug on how to proceed with my plan. Ideas and plans are easy to come up with…the difficulty comes in the execution….of said plan. I think Doug has the kinks worked out of mine now…so I shall began building in earnest this week.

Love to all

PS.

Here is my advise to you….During the holidays, don’t be grinning…..adopt a “Poor me” face, take lots of deep harried breaths and act busy…. Because if you are not scurrying around in a panic, …chances are you will be perceived as having nothing to do…and almost certainly shirking your holiday responsibilities. ..No doubt somebody is going to have to step up and carry your load….so don’t be acting happy.



Only when you are by yourself, do you dare smile, hum Christmas Carols and contemplate on the birth we are celebrating.

Halloween Learned Mississippi Christiansen's Comments...Hinds County Gazette

Jacqueline preparing for the trick or treaters

Margret Sue on her front porch....learned Mississippi

Good morning, I wasn’t here last week, because my computer got sick, very sick, a virus….it had to have a new hard drive to bring it back into the world of cyberspace, of face book, Google, map quest, email and online banking.

I missed being online, to the point of having symptoms of withdrawal….nervous and anxious wondering what was happening on face book, having to go to a real cookbooks to find recipes, and the worst was having to look up phone numbers in that big heavy book…what a pain that was…..

But I must say, it was not all bad…In fact, it was an eye opener, to see how much time I actually spent on this computer….. And even more amazing, to see how much I could accomplish…. When I wasn’t being tempted by the all the distractions out there in cyberspace. My shop is de-cluttered and straight, and the shed, it is a sight to behold!….I got rid of the junk that lived under it….most of the junk….some of the junk….well, I tidied up the junk….and now there is much more room for the lawn mower.

I saw somewhere that Halloween is becoming one of the year’s more popular celebrations…more folks are decorating and taking part every year…. I have always like Halloween….I have grand childhood memories of running from house to house to get treats.

But why now? The children are far more sophisticated now then when I was a kid….their toys have lots of bells and whistles…much too complicated for old Brain. A pile of rocks and bucket of sand would not hold their interest long…..Back in the day, we would spend hours in a pile of dirt and sand building forts, and towns …we even had dams and running streams.

Many of the children around this area go to Learned to do their trick or treating….for sometime, I have wanted to go to Learned to see the kids all dressed up…So this year, Jacqueline and I packed up treats and headed over…Margret Sue graciously allowed us to set up on her front porch. (What a treat Margret Sue’s house is to see, she lives an old store…it still has the long counter and tin ceilings, she has it decorated so nice, I wish I had taken a picture…Why didn‘t I? I had my camera) Margret Sue lives next door to Gibbs Grocery/ restaurant…so we were slam in the middle of all the activity.

Passing out candy from Margret Sue’s front porch…it came to me why, the 31 day of October is becoming popular even now….in these complex, modern times.
First of all, it has little to nothing to do with Halloween…in fact if the preacher had not reminded me last week, of the pit falls of celebrating Halloween in the wrong way…I am not sure the dark side of Halloween would crossed my mind….

I have come to believe, Trick Or Treat Day has become so popular because it is truly a family day, with out the stresses of some of the other widely celebrated days. It is not a day that you are commanded to or feel obligated to spend time with the all grandmas, cousins and old aunties.
Halloween requires no long distance traveling, nobody asks, …“Where are you going for Halloween?” There is no mandatory shopping for gifts.
Halloween is not expensive…the homemade costumes are as cute or cuter then the purchased ones….

Halloween!… is not busy! Not like Christmas has become…Back when I was a kid, we had a Christmas program and a draw name gift exchange at school …then Santa Claus lead a parade to town….Santa Claus came in a cattle truck ….he stopped at the lumber yard and passed out bags of goodies; candy, peanuts and there was always an orange in the bag…..That was it. Everything else for Christmas took place at home, making fudge, baking cookies stringing cranberries and popcorn to decorate the tree, etc, or church related, practicing carols for the church celebration and my favorite, walking through the streets caroling, stopping at the homes of the elderly and the shut ins….ending with hot chocolate and cookies. Christmas is crazy now…

Halloween is simple…uncomplicated…October 31 is a day that even the dads can enthusiastically take part in…showing off their knife skills by carving the pumpkins, children are impressed with dad… watching him turn a pumpkin into in to a jack o lantern. Dad doesn’t have to get dressed up for Halloween… he can go straight from deer hunting, still wearing his camouflage garb and work boots right to the Halloween festivities…..

Call if you need me