Caramels by George

2 sticks butter
1 cup light Karo syrup
2 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 to 3 cap fulls Vanilla 

Begin melting the butter on low heat. Add Karo syrup, then brown sugar and heavy whipping cream. Turn the heat up just past medium until it starts to boil.

Prepare your pan. Turn 8x8 cake pan upside down. Place foil shiney side down and tuck the corners to create a tight corner. Moce the foil from bottom to inside the pan. Put a teaspoon plus a little extra butter in the pan. Heat on high for 30 seconds until you can spread the butter.

Stir occasionally until it starts to boil.

Then stir constantly for about 45 minutes. The stirring stops thr caramel from boiling over.

When the caramel gets lighter with bubbles over the top (you know those big ploppy bubbles which look like a lava pit).

Put in the candy thermometer in the pan. Make sure it is about an inch off the bottom and that you can still stir.  You need to let the caramel get to 252 degrees ... exactly!

Move quickly! Stir the vanilla in and pour into the pan.  I didn't say it before but you should have a pan large enough to handle the reaction when the vanilla causes the caramel to bubble up towards the top. 

Let the caramel cool in a refrigerator for about an hour thirty minutes. Cut and wrap.  

...and that is Daddies delicious delectable dandy candy caramels! By George

Grandma's

I saw this on the menu and I couldn't resist: Chicken wild rice soup! Yum!

Dad and I went to Grandma's in Virginia for supper tonight.

Throughout the restaurant are original antique signs. That has taken some time to accumulate.

They have half size servings available.  After all, I wouldn't want to eat a full size salad. Haha 

Dad wanted me to get a close-up of the Howard Rotavator (tiller) sign.  I took a close-up of the sign for him and this one for the story.  I grew up seeing Dad till all the gardens in the neighborhood with his orange Howard Rotavator.

Don't drive by Grandma's Virginia Grill.  They serve fabulous comfort food.

They're here! The Man I Was

Since my co-publisher is going out of the co-publishing side of business, I am buying back my stock of books in their warehouse.

Along with this buy back I will receive full rights to this book.  That means I can re-publish The Goodwill Mystery series as a trilogy.  

I am so excited!  

It is time to share a little more with you!

In reflection, I realized today, that if I needed to describe myself with a single word it would be "sharing".  I am an introvert but I enjoy sharing.  I share in this BLOG, on Facebook, in my everyday job and in my books.

Last night I hosted a meeting at my place and my sister and I provided supper before the meeting.  We shared small serving sizes of several tastes including; roll-ups, wantons filled with cream cheese, black and green olives, homemade tomato soup with 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich, french onion soup with swiss cheese, homemade salsa with chips,whipped cream cheese cake (coconut, dark chocolate and mint) and to top things off a dark chocolate/mint dove candy.

 I signed up with Young Living on September 18th.  In October I went from beginning distributor to Young Living Star and I shared with one person who decided to share in the venture of health and wellness.  The meeting last night was to set goals and determine a realistic plan to reach them.  I retire in about 14 years.  I would like to be supplementing my retirement income by $2000 a month when I retire.  The key is sharing and helping other people reach their goals.  My goal will fall into place by showing others how to let their inner star shine!

Last night I also received my oil carousel.  It is so exciting to organize the oils!  I am two steps into meeting my goal.  If I haven't shared the toxin free product with you and you are interested, please ask me!  Young Living is a Win Win for all of us!

Alien message?

I was walking in from the guinea house when I noticed some interesting markings on the roof of the garage.

The antenna and the cancer ribbon.

Okay, so it wasn't aliens. It was probably a cat.  Climbed up the tree came down in a loop, across the bottom and twizzling aroung to create the design on the right. 

Hmmm a creative cat?

I'd like to share!

As all of you know, I approach everything in life with passion.  I have been using Young Living products for years.  I moved to the farm for better control of our food.  

In October I signed on as a Young Living distributor. It is about time that I begin sharing the things which make me feel better! 

You will begin seeing more posts from me about the exciting changes! ... one step at a time.

That 4 letter word "SNOW"

One day the leaves were dropping.

Then it tried hard to snow. Pellets and tiny flakes sputtered down from above. It wasn't enough to accumulate.

This morning on the other hand we woke up to about 3 inches of heavy wet snow. The guinea hens were not impressed.  They flew to the top of the chicken coop and found the open beams on the other side.

Twa-la! Fall has gone and winter has come.