Prayers for the Neuharths

As I checked my Facebook feed Monday morning, the very first item told me something was very, very wrong. A text to my friend Tina confirmed something even worse than I had imagined in the few minutes before her response.
Her parents and grandma were in a car accident Sunday afternoon. Her dad and grandma had passed away, as well as the driver of the other car, and her mom had been taken to Minneapolis in critical condition.
I spent lots of time with their family growing up. The thing about our group of friends is that we all come from close families and none of us ever went through a phase where we hated or avoided our parents. Our parents and many of our grandparents, too, have all been interwoven in our story as friends. To lose a dad, grandma, and have a mom from our group so seriously injured is, well, unimaginable, and beyond painful for all of us. My heart is broken for my friends and how this wonderful, close family has been turned upside down.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help the family with expenses. You may visit it at
Neuharth Family GoFundMe Page.

Gypsy Day!

Saturday was the 100th Gypsy Day for my alma mater, Northern State University.

Our day started early as the girls and I dropped Landen off at school to meet the bus. We had a few (yes, actually just a few!) things to pick up at Walmart, so we did that before we went to the Gypsy Day parade. All was moving along fine until I looked in my purse to pay and --little moment of panic-- no credit card.  Hmm . . . no time to wonder where it is. 

Not enough cash . . . ok, write a check. 

Great idea, except you gave your pen to Teresa last week!  

Ask the cashier.

He doesn't have one either because no one writes checks anymore!

Now he is looking to the checkouts on either side of him, too. 

Look, look, look. . . nope, that's a pencil.

Then I hear a nice man beside me say, (something to the effect), "I have a pen you can borrow."

I look to my left and see none other than my high school idol and local celebrity of his NSU days.

If you know me, you know who I'm talking about.

Well, if there's a way to make a 36 year old woman immediately rewind to 16, the best way to do that would be to hand her a pen.

I thanked him very much and wrote my check as quickly as I could (because I didn't want to blush as I remembered that embarrassing fan letter I wrote him circa 1995).

Got the check written, pen returned with a gracious thank you, and the girls and I were on our way--calm, cool, not blushing.

Until he met me at the entrance with one final item I had left on the baggage carousel. 

Oops.

Then we were off to the "horse parade," as Rachel called it because our final word of advice to Landen was the #1 rule of marching--March THROUGH the horse poop.  Only rookies step over it.

I know I've told you all about the EHS glory days there. This year it was time to pass the baton onto my son.

In the end, they received a Silver Rating. They all looked and sounded great playing "Uptown Funk" and "Bang, Bang."

As the parade came to a close, I reached to my back pocket and found--my credit card!

Rachel and her puppy had to take a break while waiting for Landen to march by.

My boys have been infiltrated by the SDSU alumni of the family, but so far I still have my Teresa who says she is going to be a WOLF. :)

Homecoming 2015

Yesterday was our homecoming, and as I always say, one of the best things about small town schools.

It was Landen's first parade marching, too.

I have to admit it made me a little emotional (in a good way!) to watch him and the band go by.

I have such fond memories of marching band days and now we've passed the tradition on to Landen. I love the new snazzy new uniforms, too!

Magic & Memories

Magic bars have been around a long time. When I first told my mom about these delicious bars served at Lincoln Dining Hall at NSU in 1997, she knew exactly what I was talking about. (Why she was aware of these and yet never made them for me--even to this day--is a mystery . . . .) :)

Besides happy memories of finding magic bars in the serving line, these delicious little bars remind me of my friend Brian, who passed away following a car accident in 2001.

Brian was engaged to a friend of mine from Eureka. It was their Junior year, but just my Freshman year. At a time when eating alone was one of the worst things I could imagine, it thankfully worked out that Brian's schedule often coincided with mine and we would have lunch together.

Whenever there were magic bars, you could bet Brian would have a pile stacked up on his plastic tray. It's a reminder to me how something so simple in life can make an impact on another person.

I came across this recipe in the Northwestern Band Cookbook last weekend. (If you don't own one of these books, let me know!) I had never made them myself before. 

They are AWFUL-ly DELICIOUS and may rival the scotcheroo in terms of addictiveness.

Truth be told, I misread the recipe and used 1 1/2 cups  of coconut, so there is a little extra on top. Next time I will pour the condensed milk over all, too, so that it all gets gooey together.

No matter how you pour it in the pan, as my mom would say, "It will still taste good!"

Magic Bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter

1 (14oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/3 cup coconut

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread crumbs in 9x13 pan. Cover with rest of ingredients. Bake 25 minutes.

WalkMS 2015

We walked for MS this past Saturday!

Once again, we would like to thank everyone for supporting us.

We raised approximately $1500, and the Schwan's fundraiser will continue to add to our total. Schwan's contributed a third of that total, so we are also grateful for their generosity and giving back through these fundraisers.

The walks held in cities all over South Dakota brought in $100,000 to help in the fight against Multiple Sclerosis.

See you again next year!

The End

Cresbard High School was demolished quietly this past weekend, a little over 11 years after its last students left for the last time.

Eleven years ago, it was difficult for us to think of this building that was so full of life and memories at the same time being no more, but after an attempt at using it for other uses (followed by several years of vacancy,) its demise (at least for me) is met with more relief than sadness.

This was the scene yesterday:

(Photo by Judy Gabler on Facebook)

By today, it is mostly cleaned up. A local farmer and son bought the three buildings and will be able to use the gym and elementary buildings, as well as the north addition to the high school building.

Ancestral Recipe

I was listening to a radio show a few weeks ago, and the person being interviewed said she lived in an "ancestral home." What immediately came to my mind is she must live in a cave or something . . . not so! She just lives in a home that is 100 years old. :) 

Although we live in the home David's great grandparents originally built, I had never thought of this as an "ancestral home," but I suppose it is. Even though we have changed every corner of this house on the inside, except for a tiny hall closet, the shell is still the original 65 year old home his great grandparents. Really, ancestry is something that crosses my mind every day, either by a memory of a grandparent or by flipping through my recipes.

I have many of those special recipes, but this is the most requested at the Melius table.

My Nathan loves his knepfla--he even writes about it at school.

I don't have photo of the finished product because I never have a chance to!

If you end up with tiny dumpling-like pieces of dough, you did it right.

This is the recipe my Great Grandma Pfeifle used. She immigrated from Russia as a girl and married my Great Grandpa Ben Pfeifle in South Dakota. They were farmers north of Eureka and survived mostly on what they had--including flour and eggs!

We hope you enjoy this ancestral recipe as much as we do.

Knepfla

Great Grandma Christina (Schumacher) Pfeifle

2 cups flour

3 eggs

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Cold water to make a stiff dough

Bring salted water to a boil. Cut knepfla into small pieces into boiling water and boil for about 10 minutes.

Drain and serve with cup up (cooked) bacon.

If you are a real German, you will also cover this in sauerkraut!

Are you ready for some football?

As I've said before, this will be a year of firsts for Landen as we begin the new phase of middle school!

Yesterday was his first football jamboree, which we have learned, is a bunch of 30 minute games played on 35 (or so) yards of field. Yesterday, there were 10 teams there and each team played 3 games.

Landen is #72, and played Center and Left Guard.

Don't ask me what that means (see below). :)

Two things I need to add to my shopping list:

1. Bright shoelaces so I can see my son easily.

2. Football for Dummies. I need to know what's going on a bit better than I do!

As you can see below, Nathan was also enjoying his role of water boy, too!

Finished Pottery

Rachel and I received our new pottery in the mail this week!

Rachel put a black "monster" on the back of her plate.

 She started with polka dots, and then it became more abstract as she waited for us adults to finish. :)

 And . . . presenting my new favorite coffee mug!

 I took friend Rachel's idea and wrote inside the mug after I was finished painting. I often need this reminder in the mornings, as morning is not my best time of day. :)

Tonight I am going to a Wine & Canvas Event where we will learn how to paint a fall scene.

After that, there are some screens that have been waiting in my basement to be painted for over a year now . . . I'll keep you posted. :)

Nathan's discoveries

We returned home Monday evening after a fun Labor Day celebration with the Melius family.

Nathan and the girls immediately headed outside to work and play.

Soon it was bedtime, but Nathan insisted I come outside first. He was looking up and said I needed the camera. What could possibly be in the tree that I hadn't seen before?

Monarch butterflies--that's what!

I agreed with him that was definitely something to see.

And I ran back inside to grab my camera.

Before he could come into bed, there was one more discovery he had to share.

This one, I admit, was also definitely worth seeing.

The clouds were beautiful over our South Dakota sky!

12th Birthday Egg Challenge

We have had Uncle Dann here helping us occasionally this summer and fall, and yesterday he got to be here for Landen's 12th birthday!

Dann had done this with his son Jordan, and he thought Landen might like to do it, too.

He was right and we had just as much fun watching!

 Each of them had to choose an egg and crack it to see if it was hard boiled or raw. Landen chose wrong the very first time.

Uncle Dann came out the winner, with one less raw egg on his head than Landen.

I'm sure Landen will remember this forever.

If you'd like to see a video, you can find it on my Facebook page. :)

Happy 12th Birthday, Landen!

Shh! It's a secret.

• It is now zucchini season!  Time to throw some on the grill . . . and hide the rest in baked goods!  I only have one zucchini plant, which has still provided me with plenty of zucchini to both eat fresh and grate/freeze until later. I recently came across this recipe for Zucchini Brownies on Pinterest and wanted to share it with you. If you are egg free, this is a recipe for you! And if you are not, you will love them, too.  Be sure to follow the recipe and only add the minimum amount of water needed.
• 
  
• I've made them twice and no one has guessed they have zucchini in them.Shh! It's a secret.

Follow this link for the recipe: Zucchini Brownies - Crazy for Crust