End of Winter out of town trip to the Oregon Coast

Do you know how humbling it is for a parent when one of your kids ask you if you would like to join them on their "mini family vacation"? Glenn & I experienced this last month when Amanda and Dustin asked us to join them in Lincoln City. They rented a house for 3 days and we rented a bedroom from them:)..The house was perfect to say the least, this beautiful home sits right on the inlet on a sand spit right in Lincoln City. The wind from the ocean was blocked by the sand spit which made walking on the inlet beach very pleasant.

 Glenn & I enjoyed watching our grand kids Lucy and Lincoln dig in the sand and pick up any and everything they saw on the beach. I don't want to go without mentioning how Lincoln entertained us a Moe's Fish House, (photos below)..It was an aha moment for Glenn and I as we watched Lucy and Lincoln and all we had to do was smile or laugh but it wasn't our job to keep everyone in-toe.  Oh the joys of being the Grandparents!

What a pleasant trip we had;

Lincoln enjoying the sand

Tide pools and standing water is the best at the ocean

Glenn & I enjoyed some time at the McMenamins in Lincoln City

Lucy colors beautifully. 

Lincoln entertaining us at Moe's by using his plate as a hat:).

The kids love when Dad reads to them before bedtime, I might add I enjoyed the store too. 

Lucy showing Grandpa the crabs parts she was taking home, Lol...

More digging in the sand, you just never know what's under the surfaced, right Amanda!

Beautiful photo of Amanda enjoying her afternoon coffee and cake. 

Well here I am signing off until the next post,
Betty Jo  

    

The side roads less traveled!

I normally don't go into such personal issues on my blog but I am very excited about some very important decisions I have made. After a long long research process and due to a few physical issues that probably happens to quite a few "aging women", I decided to stray away from Western Medicine and seek another route. I am not one to take pills to "mask" an ongoing problem in my body, I want to repair, reverse, stop (whatever the term you want to use) the problem!   

Here is what I decided:

HOLISTIC HEALTH APPROACH - To guide and educate myself down this road I have made the following choses:

1.Listen to my "Iridologist"..if you take the time to look this up you will find both sides - good and bad - scared of the unknown or change? For what I am looking for this is perfect for me..DON'T JUDGE! It doesn't hurt to take a road you haven't traveled before, it might just get you to where you want to be for the time being. 

2.  Acupuncture. If I was to give you one word to describe my experience it would be AMAZING! I have received acupuncture 3 times, so I will give you more info down the road. If I have peaked your interest.

3. Deep Tissue/Muscle Weight Trainer - I adventure down this road once a week, I am not a "gym enthusiast" by any means. This workout is very slow, controlled, using every muscle in your body workout. I had no idea I could do the things the trainer asks me to do. I really feel good inside and healthier, I just bet soon I will be able to see a difference on the outside.:)

These 3 people are going to help me feel better about myself become healthier and look good while doing it. This is a life style change and I am going to follow that road, that has been less travelled so far in my life. 

As I learn new techniques on how to eat, sleep, breath (which my trainer has to remind me to do all the time) I will let you know. As for myself I really can't believe what I have learned so far and the changes I have put in place.

Here is one example: DRINK WATER and lots of it!! Add a slice of lemon and a slice of cucumber..it is a great natural detox! OK, I can do that:) I wonder what road is right around the corner? 

More later, Betty

A Genius Blog-Salsa

A Genius Blog

I am posting this here so I can refer to it when I am ready to make some. SALSA!

I will let you know how it turns out.

Hot Spice Tea!

Yesterday morning sure was gloomy, then by noon it was snowing what looked like powder sugar dropping in our drive way. For about an hour or so the snow fell and then by chance out came the sun for the rest of the day. Now don't get me wrong it still was very cold out like the 20's but the sky was as blue as ever for the rest of the afternoon. During the "snow falling" I decided I needed to make something to get me through this winter day, so I got into my cookbooks and found this recipe. I think I made the right choice, I would say looking outside with Kendall as she jabbered at the snow and I sipped on my Tea was the perfect blend to a funny winter day in Central Oregon.

HOT SPICE TEA

In a large saucepan, bring 3 cups water and a 1/12 inch piece fresh ginger (unpeeled), halved lengthwise, to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 8 minutes or so.

Add 4 tea bags ( I used black tea), 1 cinnamon stick, 8 whole cloves, 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns. and 2 cups low-fat milk (2 percent).

Steep over med-low heat until fragrant, about 6 minutes.

Strain through a sieve; discard solids.

Stir in 1/4 cup honey. Serve hot, I put remaining into a glass jar and kept in the fridge until today when I warmed up the remaining tea and enjoyed 2 more cups.

Hot Spice Tea originally found in Everydayfoods.com 

Let me know what you think. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Here's to a sweet cup of afternoon tea,

Betty Jo

Spiced Carrot Muffins - WOW!!!

This is probably the best carrot cake-muffin I have had, the good part is you don't have to add the cream cheese frosting. It taste's great with out it :).

The recipe calls for 2/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt, I didn't have any on hand so I sure 2/3 cup low-fat sour cream and added 1/4 cup 2% milk. It all worked out just fine. 

The great thing about this recipe, it is OK to freeze the dough mixture in the muffin cups here is how you do it:    Using the muffin pan, line however many muffins you want to freeze with muffin liners, fill the individual muffin liners almost to the top, place the pan in the freezer. In 45 minutes to 1 hour take out the pan and put the frozen uncooked muffins in a zip lock bag, try to get as much air out of the bag while closing as possible. Return batter filled cups to freezer until ready to bake.  When ready put frozen batter cups back into the muffin pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. 

Recipe -   http://www.marthastewart.com/337237/spiced-carrot-muffins 

You won't be sorry!

Happy baking,

Betty Jo

The Holiday's of 2012

Family Christmas! Our 4 wonderful Grandchildren!!!!

12pm good bye 2012, HELLO 2013!

New Years Eve fun times.

Enjoying New Years Eve with a few good friends. 

Glenn's mirror ball and fog machine...silly isn't he.

Laying down in the snow for just a moment while snowshoeing with Andrew and Sara, by the look on my face you would think I was heading down the mountain,   lol..

Glenn and I are excited to see what happens in 2013 at our house...

HAPPY NEW YEAR READERS11

The search for the not so perfect Christmas Tree!

Each Christmas Season Glenn and I look forward to heading up in the mountains to get our Christmas Tree. For the past few years we have taken Lucy, our oldest grand daughter with us. Lucy has been given the privilege; to pick out and bring home her families tree also.  It's fun to watch her walk through the snow (if there is any) or up the hill trying to find just the right tree. This year she was smart and brought her own tape measure so she was sure to get a 6 - 7 foot tree.

Is this tree the right height Grandma?

We feel very fortunate to live in a area where the mountains are almost in our backyard. Throughout the year this area is our main source of "fun".  Not only do we get our Christmas Tree from the mountains we also enjoy camping, hiking and snow shoeing along with other fun activities :)...

Grandpa wait for me!

If you were to look at our tree, you might smile and think well there is a not so perfect tree, but to us it is exactly what we were looking for. I hope we will be able to keep doing this well into the future with the rest of our grand kids, but I am not so sure all the kids parents will want that oh so, "not so perfect Christmas Tree" for their homes. That's ok we did raise our kids to be "self-thinkers" (that is a whole other post),  so be it, Lol. 

Make sure and tie them on good, we don't want to have one fall off

Our Perfect Not So Perfect Christmas Tree.

No matter what kind of tree you choose for your home, I am sure it's is as beautiful as our Christmas Tree we brought home from the mountains..Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!