The many stories of Mary.. then and now..

I would like you to meet my Mother Marjorie.. She is holding a baby but for some reason she does not know who it is. I don't think it is me but she handed me this picture bacause it looked like me. I want you to take note of her hair..Her very curly hair. I can guess she was about 17 in this shot.

Here Mom is with Me ,Ken,and Keith.

Knowing how old mom was when she had us helps me know how old she is. We are seeing her at about 24 she was 20 when she had me and had 2 before me Carol and Ken, Then Me and Keith all within 4 years.

I truly do not remember when Carol and Ken had these things on, Here is Sister Carol, Brother Ken and Me Mary, and someone is holding Brother Keith. Keith was a premie when he was born, he was 3'12oz at birth and mom kept him in a drawer behind the heater to keep him warm. To give you any indacation, Keith is only 11months younger then myself look how small he is.

Now look at us at SturbridgeVillage in Massachuettes
beside the horse is My Brother Ken, in front of him is Keith, I am in the back with the hair a mess,and next to me with the scarf is sister Ramona, sister Sue is next to Keith and the other two I do not remember their names, They were friends of my parents, kids. I can tell you that was the most fun going to that village. I always wished I could go back but never did.

Life goes on and we deal with what we are given.

next is me and pics from 1968 and 1970 I went to OlanMills for the first one I was in10th to 11th grade and mom wanted a picture i guess.

Notice the difference? The second picture is my senior class picture in the yearbook. For the first time I had ever tryed to straighten my hair. I used Max factor straight set and used large rollers to help it along. After I did that I read the paper that came from the Photo people that said don't do anything to your hair because we can't do anything either. Oh dear, I am so glad it came out ok.




now comes the time I think I was getting ready for my wedding here .This is my Aunt Heaster and me in a nice yellow coat I made .I was a big sewing nut back then and made a lot of things including My Bridesmaids dresses. I do not know what ever happened to my coat.But now that I think, I lent it to a friend. Some friend I never got it back.

As much sewing as I did, I know this next dress I did not make it was a two piece and this was at my Mom and Dads 40th Wedding Anniversary in front of their house which is now my baby brothers house.

see how Pretty I look standing there smiling I really do not remember when this was

I do not want to scare you but look at that Hair Dear Lord, I did not know it was this bad and nobody bothered to say Mary pull it back or do something LOL gosh it is alwful and I will be the first to admit it. this was My Son Jarrod"s Graduation.Jarrod has his arm around me.

Although my hair is still a frieght I have a lot more control of it when I go someplace, but not at home by no means. If I have to go someplace I wet it and go with a hat on.
Unless of course it is to work then I make sure I fix it 2 hours before I go. And Now if you look at mom and the first picture you can see just where I get this mess of hair from. God love my Mother she is the sweetest little Lady.

I fianally reached the end and am so happy to be where I live now. I have the kindest man and the best family of his I have ever met. They Love me and I Love each and every one of them.

Stanley is my love and my life, I am so lucky for him.


My life goes on and so will my stories as it happens, Take care all and be well.

Loves and smiles ...Mary

A Long, Long, time ago...Somewhere in PA

I Thought I would take you back a bit, as I was searching these photos, Memories come back.

I was looking through some old photos and came across this of my mother and myself hiking in the woods. It was cold out but who noticed : ).

We went out where my Father would hunt. He loves the woods so much and wanted us to enjoy it too. There were 10 of us out there.

Now I can say at the time it was not so bad but being in the woods was Dads thing, not mine. I walk with mom but not so sure I was happy about it.

Don't you just love the Hat I have on ?

It was long with a ball on the end.

I remember it well.

There is one other thing I remember well about that hike it was my little brother Kevin.

He was about 4 at the time, we were setting up to eat some beans and hotdogs mom packed for us to have.

Kevin took his hot dog and sat himself down in the crock of a tree holding the hotdog saying...

I like it this way and took a bite. It was not cooked or anything he just ate it .We laughed with him , he was just a happy boy . If this gives you any idea how long ago,

Kevin just turned 48 in November, looks like about 44 years ago. My how time does fly.

By the way Kevin is the big hunter now in those same woods how lovley he took after dad. Kevins son got a buck and had the whole head mounted. I have not seen that yet but I will someday I am sure.

Here is a pic of my Father. I took this of him about a year before he passed away. He always had the beard for his hunting, so, I know it was about fall 2005. I miss my dad but life goes on and he is in a good place..

Just wanted to share so I will close for now, See you on the Flip side.

Loves and Smiles .....Mary

I tried>>>>Cake Balls...

I had found something I thought looked pretty good so I went ahead and tried it.

I started with all this to make a cake, It baked and I crumbled it up like this.

Ok, this is not what I did next but I did make some Iceing after the next step.

I added Cream Cheese Frosting to the crumbled cake making a plyable cake to make balls out of.

Atter mixing that up I had to chill it awhile.Then, I thought where is Jake?..I found him on my bed.

I went back out to try to get the cake into balls and this is what I got.....

By this time I was getting a little hungry, so, I looked around and lo and behold there was one Whoopie Pie left, so, I ate it.....MMM it is so good.

So here is the fisished Product...

They look good...

The only problem is the cake with the Cream Cheese in it and the Butter cream Iceing on it is very rich.

Now you get the Idea of the I tried part.

I will try something I know is good next time but this is how you learn.......

I had fun in any case... See you on the flip side....

Loves and Smiles Mary

Comfort Foods...Ham, Greenbeans,and Potatoes..

This is what I like to use for my Ham Greenbeans and Potatoes... good start.


I peel the potatoes .....

I cube them up to make for better eating..I used 3 mediam sized Potatoes... then...

Add water to the desired amount you need for serving......Next......I......

Opened a can of greenbeans and drained them... No need to use the liquid in those.

I go ahead and put them in the pan with the taters and water...... we are getting there..

Now trying to be frugal... I found this hand dandy all ready cut up Ham.... : )

I cut open the pack and dump them into the rest........

Then I take some Pepper and put it in...........almost there ..........


but no Pepper again...........
Might as well ....

Now I put in some butter...... I used two table spoons..... but you can use to your likeing......

Not this again.... good golly miss molly...... : )

But after all here is the finished product.........MMMMM I know this will be good....

Now does this look Like a comfort food, or, does this look like a COMFORT FOOD.....

LET ME TELL YOU.... THIS WAS VERY GOOD AND NOW WE HAVE LEFT OVERS....
PSSST..Don't forget the butter bread.

Always good to have leftovers as this tastes better the next day...and next ...and next...

Loves ....and Smiles Mary

Just a quick Note...

Good evening, This has been a pretty normal day

,I went to work had a quiet day even though.. I started out rather funny like, Oh, darn the phone at work isn't working, had to use the second one . Thank goodness we have two. Then all of a sudden the register isn't working..
We then had to reboot that.
Once....nope, no go,

Twice...nope no go..

Now phone is not working and register will not boot back up.. unplug, try again for an hour and 1/2 then two hours.

Finally,,,, I sit down for a break, and, left the register to reboot for what may be the last time before we call IBM.

You know the 'ol saying "A watch pot never boils"? Well that must of been the problem because all of a sudden the silly thing started.
I used it the rest of my time at work.

As for the phone, I do believe it needs replaced it is a gonner. We will see what happens when I get back to work.

It is late, and about time for me to bid a goodnight. I will be back again

Here is a pic to keep you smiling.

xxxoooo

A beautiful sunset, taken by Stanley
Jan. 8th, 2010.

Loves..... Mary

We worked hard on this surprise for his mom....

It has been 24 hours plus and I have been worried about this blog....

I put out a cry for help and got some so thank you friend Mariam...Thank you

Stan and I had a nice day yesterday, he decided not to go hunting, we slept in till 8:30, that is so late for me seems the day flew by after that.

Anyway on to the rest of our day. Our main reason to get going was to make a picture of our Christmas at his mothers.
We went to the store for Ink for our printer so we were sure to have enough, we got home and put the ink in only to fine out the printer was not working. We had to go back to the store for a new printer so we could finish the picture collage. We never went to bed till after 11 but after all we did not get up till late, right?

I do believe this will make his mom happy.
She is such a sweet lady and her husband is a nice man.

We delivered the picture and she was very happy with it, she said now just where to hang it, it is pretty big .It stands about 37" and is about 22" wide so nice sized to see the pics.

I made it back home and now Stanley is out walking in the woods with his friend Scott. The most fun Stanley has is walking through the woods and it is such a nice sun shining day today what a better thing to do. Thank goodness Scott was able to go along it saved me from having to go out there in the dag gum cold weather.
Now it is Jake and Myself here at the house just chilling out I can hear Jake snoring sleeping in his dads chair.

How wondrerful life is to be here with my loving husband and the trusting loving dog.. Rock on Jake my buddy my pal.

I love him and his dad so much,,,,,,, I just have to say....

xxxxooooo's to you all Mary

Christmas day..... (sorry so late : ) )

Christmas day when you get older is always just another day.

Get up when you want and oh if you feel like it open the gifts you got each other,,,

That is if you decided to get things.

Stan and Myself got a few things but the best was yet to come..

I felt like... I did a good job getting Stan the few things he needed. He was happy.

As I always like to do I made us a good Breakfast.

I really do miss having family around and seeing my Grand kids open the gifts Santa brought them.

I have never had that chance, but, I look at it this way, I will get older, and, I will have a chance to be Grammie, and, go to see them first thing in th morning . That puts a smile on my face for sure. : )

OK, OK, now on to the fun at my Mother-in-laws. It is so nice of her to have the family there.

I am talking Stans, Sisters, Husbands, the grand kids, and their kids, all in ages from 40 to 1 year. We had a nice time.

This is My Mom(Stans) and her husband Glenn.

I am so happy to be in this family, they are so nice to me. like I really belong. I am not sure if that is how I felt before but it does not matter. I am happy now.
and of course here is Stanleys family. Mom on

the top step, Kathy, next left, Janet, next right

Tony on the left bottom and the love of my life Stanley.

(Nice Cliche') We all had to take pics on the steps, this was the first time in many years Mom had all and I do mean all her kids there at the same time.

So of course...

I have to show you Stan and Myself sitting on the step as well.

I really am not happy with my hair but what is a curly head to do . LOL
If you look behind us you can see his Niece and the baby being held by someone.
We were so lucky that the Ice storm they were calling for did not come. All went well and we went home.

It was a few days later when I got my Christmas gift and that is what I am using to type this up on .

You guessed it

I got my Laptop, my ever so wanted, Laptop Seee,..

And of course I had to get a pink mouse.

Till we meet again keep up the smiles.

Your all belssed in my book, Loves to all Mary

Whoopie Pies anyone...........

Two cups of sugar......1 Cup of Shortening.....

Cream shortening........

Add sugar to shortening.......

Cream together......

Add Eggs

2 Eggs and 2 Yolks

Once you get the eggs ready put them in Sugar mixture and cream them

By Starting to Whip them up

Whip...Whip..

Whip..........

And of course don't trip over the dog. Jake is my kitchen buddy...

Now put the flour together. Take 5 1/2 cups of flour, add 1/2 teaspoon baking Powder, 2 teaspoon of baking soda,cinnamon ..not sure how much I use but just dump it in, maybe 2teas





Whisk it all together

Making Buttermilk or store bought either will work. I take the milk to almost 1cup and add vinegar to one cup, Then add one cup of hot water.





Buttermilk and water.....

I almost forgot the cinnamon .Oh me oh My

Now is the time to add the wet and dry ingredients together

aternating the dry and wet mixing well between each.

Dry.......

Now the wet and so on and so on

I can use the mixer most of the time but it gets thick and a spatula and spoon wil clean it up.

This is a good batch as long as it is thick.

Chill for about an hour
Now is the time to clean up the mess

While that is chilling you can prepare two cookie sheets, Put parchment paper on the sheets.

Using two small spoons one to scoop the other to push off batter.




With the baking powder in it they will rise. Space them apart putting about 8 per sheet.

When you put it on, it is recomended to flatten and make round by patting it in place.

Put in the oven for 10 mins...

This is about 5 mins in the oven...

They are done........... Let cool ( do not lay on the top till completly cool )

Add Iceing on the bottom of one....

Put two together making a sandwich..

Wrap them in plastic wrap one at a time...( makes great lunch snacks )

All done and looking good, Husband had two already....

Whoopie pies :

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

5 3/4 cups flour .. 5 1/2 if using cocoa

1 cup cocoa or 2 to 3 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt (optianal)

Cream shortening-add sugar and eggs. , mix dry ingrediants, put buttermik and water together, Beat while alternating wet and dry ingrediants. Drop my spoonfull onto cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 375 for 10 mins. Letting cool or transfer to table to cool completly

Whoopie pie filling :

1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup shortening
dash of salt 2 cups 10 x sugar
3/4 cup of milk 2 teaspoon vanilla

Put flour and salt in sauce pan whisk in milk till smooth. Cook and stir over mediam heat 5 to 7 mins or till thick, cover and cool in refer. completley.

In a bowl cream shortening, 10x sugar, and vanilla, add chilled mixture, beat for 7 mins or til fluffy.

I hope you try this and please do enjoy... Loves ,,, Mary