Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

I found this recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks.  Ironically, the recipe included neither orange nor poppy seeds!  So, I added them myself.  I suspect grated orange peel would also be yummy, but I didn't have any real oranges on hand!  They have a very light flavor and texture. 

Teresa and I made a thin orange juice and powdered sugar glaze to top them.

 

Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

2 1/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 1/4 cup oil

1 cup milk

1/2 cup orange juice (prepared--NOT solid concentrate)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1-2 T poppy seeds (depending on your preference)

 

Mix sugar and eggs in a medium-sized bowl; add oil.  Add remaining ingredients to the batter.  Scoop into greased or lined muffin tins and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  You can also bake it in 2 greased loaf pans and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

No Words

We returned home Saturday night with the type of message on our voice mail that no one ever wants to get.  Friends of ours lost their 10-month-old granddaughter, daughter, niece, and sister in an accident earlier that day.  Little Amaya.  We had not met, but she was born about a week after our Rachel.  My dear friend Dianne's grandbaby.
Too close to home.
Today we went to their home, although we had missed seeing them.  We did get to visit with family and Amaya's big brothers.
I used to think I had to say something in these situations.
I don't feel that way anymore.
When Luke died, I learned that words don't matter.  Actions do.  I remember so many faces, some completely unexpected, at his prayer service and funeral or arriving at the door.  I hardly remember a word that was said. 
Words weren't important.
Hugs were.
Smiles were.
Tears were.
So, today we showed up, as hundreds will, and left our humble offering of prayer, support, and bottled water. 
It's a good thing that words don't matter anymore because I didn't have any anyway.  I haven't had any since we first heard the news.
No one can fix.
No one knows what to say.
Thank God that we don't have to.
He has it all under His control.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

So Long, Thomas & Percy!

I was pregnant with Teresa when my friend Claudia came out one summer afternoon to help me paint Thomas & Percy (with the help of an overhead projector) on the boys' new basement bedroom wall.  A few months later, I added the stripes.  I told Landen that they were "Monster Stripes" to scare the monsters away, but I don't know if he ever really fell for that one, even at four years old.
The boys asked me to repaint their room and had quite elaborate ideas for murals that I should incorporate on the walls.  I suggested this--I will paint a solid color and they can choose the posters for their walls.  Landen already had this great world map.  Done.  Nathan wants a shark poster for his wall.  We will have to look for that soon. 
I have to say that I like this elephantine shade of gray.  It feels nice and cozy.  I am waiting for a new curtain and new green comforters.  The others were not big investments (either from my college days or the OLD Aberdeen Walmart), so it is time to spruce everything up in there.
The best part of this project was probably getting the boys to clean out under their beds.  Landen isn't too bad (mostly books and newspaper clippings), but Nathan stashes all sorts of treasures and wrappers under his. 
I had been missing my Reese's Peanut Butter eggs that I stashed in the pantry last spring.  (One day, I went for one as a treat and found an empty box!)  I never did find wrappers under his bed . . . I found them as I was organizing his closet last week! 
I'm afraid that kid is an incurable sneaky snacker!  Next time we are at a store together, he owes this mama a candy bar.  :o)

Good Times

The Rochester road trip was a success! 

I didn't even have time for a People crossword puzzle.  My sister was my roommate and we did some serious power shopping on Saturday before and after Kevin & Christine's wedding.  Our mom taught us well.  (Our dad is SO proud!)

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Kallas! 

On the Road Again

Tomorrow as the pheasant hunters pour into South Dakota, I will be heading out of here to Minnesota! 
Thanks to my husband, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law who will be handing most of the kiddo duties, I am able to go to my cousin Kevin's wedding as he marries his fiance Christine in Rochester.  I am so excited!  Kallas weddings are always fun.  Kevin is a great guy and Christine will be an awesome addition to the family.  We closed down the pizza place when we met them for supper after Rachel's appointments in July. 
I am reminded of the movie Date Night (and Tina Fey's fantasy) as I think of what I am looking forward to this weekend . . . remember this one?

"if anything, I fantasize about being alone! Just on my worst day. . . I'd like to run away . . . get a hotel room just so I can sit in a room by myself and eat my lunch . . . with a Diet Sprite."

Sure, the wedding is the main event and I am looking forward to kicking back and having a few drinks with my extended family.  But do you know what else I am SO looking forward to? 

A good book, the People crossword puzzle, and a quiet, quiet, quiet hotel room.  (I don't do Diet Sprite, but hopefully the hotel will have good coffee in the morning.)  :o)
I know.  This fantasy makes me sound SO old.  But, I don't feel old.  I still feel . . . eh . . . 28 or so.  I'm just TIRED, people!  Mostly my EARS are tired, God love these verbal, out-loud-thinking treasures with which He has filled this family. 
An introspective mama's gotta regroup in some silence now and again!
With her FULL attention on the People crossword puzzle. 
No interruptions.
That is, if I don't fall asleep before I finish it.