I wanted to thank everyone for your beautiful comments yesterday in regards to my late brother Robin’s birthday. He was a special young man. It was coincidental, or maybe not, that the matriarch and one of the daughters from the Freddy Hill Farm family was in the store yesterday. I had to write her a rain check, and writing the date reminded me again of Robin’s birthday. We had a touching, brief conversation about Robin. She echoed my thoughts for the day, that Robin was a very very special young man. We wondered what he might have become had he the chance to return from the war.

So on to today! Tuesday, and it is my day off.
Today, day #12, I am thankful for my DAY OFF. Now, I have two days off every week, but in recent weeks, those days off were not all MINE! I love having time off when Tara is in school, and no one else has plans for my time. Once again, I will more than likely spend the day in my bedroom, once again trying to find the flat surfaces, which so quickly become cluttered! I have 12 Christmas movies recorded on the DVR to watch, so I am looking forward to the time! (It’s only 7am, and Tara is already throwing a twist in my schedule. I keep forgetting she needed an immunization for school this year, and she wants to get it today (she is MAD at her German teacher and does not want to go to the class today. She has decided getting an immunization is LESS painful than Frau Rudy!)

Now, on to some Randomness! Stacy @ Stacy Uncorked continues to host Random Tuesday Thoughts!


I can’t believe the weather we have been having. So warm for December, but I am sure we will pay for this weather in some way later in the winter. The next ten days however are looking pretty good!

I have been meaning to share this simple recipe since I used it Thanksgiving week. We had a “pot luck” lunch at work, and I decided to make an old party favorite from our recipe box.

They go by many names – Grape Jelly & Chili Sauce Meatballs, Sweet & Sour Meatballs, etc. The first name pretty much sums up the recipe!
32 oz Grape Jelly
2 15 oz jars Chili Sauce
2 lb bag of Frozen Meatballs (or you can be daring and use cocktail sausages too!)
(I actually used 16 oz of jelly and 1 jar of chili sauce when I made them the other week, and they were plenty saucy!)
Mix the jelly and chili sauce together. Some folks heat it on the stove, but on the day I made it, I simply mixed everything together in the crock pot at work. I put the crock pot on high for about and hour and then turned on low.

The “boys” raved about how good the break room smelled during mid-morning breaks, and taste tested them for me! They thought they were AMAZING. When lunch time came around, the “boss” could not get enough of them! They were a huge hit. I think I will make them for our Christmas Eve pot luck too. This time, adding in the sausages! You can eat them as an appetizer, or make a meatball sandwich on a nice roll!

I have not really started my Christmas shopping. I don’t have too many gifts to buy, mostly for Tara. She keeps changing/adding things to her mental list. I told her the other day she needs to put them on paper. Telling me when we are in the car does not help me when I get to the store. We keep it pretty simple for the rest of the family. I actually would prefer to just buy gifts for the “kids”.

Hopefully some evening this week Tara and I can go out on a Christmas Lights adventure. We love driving around looking at all the lights. We still remember how much fun we had in Florida. We would get hot chocolate and turn the A/C in the car way up, put on Christmas music and drive around all the surrounding neighborhoods.

Last night we drove through town to see the “Lansdale Tree” light up. I love this years tree! I took this with my iPhone. I didn’t grab my camera before we ran out!

My dog goes crazy over squirrels, but on two recent mornings, there has been a rabbit less than 10 feet away from her, and it has not phased her? I can’t figure that one out!

Hopping on the Tuesday Train!

I am going to set aside one hour of my DAY OFF, to do some blog visiting.

Thanks A-LATTE for stopping by!

Martha