Sweet ‘n Salty-Neighbor Presents

Pretzel rods will please even the pickiest pallet-or the neighbor you don’t know very well-but would like to. I know this idea isn’t new and you’ve probably either made, consumed or purchased pretzels rod sometime in your life.

They look so pretty all lined up and ready to be eaten.
For this decadent looking but simple to make treat is:
white and chocolate almond bark
a hammer
wax paper
peppermint candies
pretzel rods.

 

I wanted each household/neighbor to have 8 pretzel rods each. That meant that I needed 88 rods total. I picked out all the full rods from my bag, setting aside the broken nubs to be consumed by yours truly.

 

Next, I hammered all of the peppermints while they were inside of a thick waxed bag (cereal bag or something similar works great).

 

By microwaving the almond bark in a tall glass, the pretzel rods were easy to cover in chocolate, leaving about 2 inches at the bottom for a finger hold.

 

While the chocolate was still warm, I rolled half of my rods in the crushed peppermint.

The other half I drizzled with alternating types of chocolate.
Yum.

 

The leftover chocolate was used on my reject pretzel nubs, or eaten with a spoon by a certain Biceps and the mother of a certain Biceps.
So simple, so pretty and oh, so good.
Merry Christmas neighbor’s!

Small Town Parade

I grew up in a small town in Kansas. A traffic jam might occur after our hometown football team–the Kansas State Wildcats–would win against Nebraska-causing the agricultural students to pull out their tractors and zoom 5 m.p.h. down our main drag.

 

Graphic courtesy of: albumelossless.wordpress.com
The only signs I witnessed of the “big-town” mentality was a coffee shop (that flopped) and the outrage over Metallica coming to play at our stadium-only to be greeted by a bunch of picketing conservatives.

 

Now that I live in the booming metropolis of Tulsa (which is really still considered a mid-sized town), I miss my hometown roots. I miss knowing the old men hanging out at the donut shop, the guy bagging our groceries and the names of everyone in my church.
I miss the small town parades full of “Sunflower Queens”, insurance company-sponsored floats, tractors, horse poop and candy.
So, I was elated when Biceps’ fire department participated in their district’s hometown parade just outside of Tulsa.

 

I grabbed my cute mother-in-law, made some coffee and headed out in hopes of witnessing combines (pronounced kom-bines) going down the road, noisy high school bands and scary clowns.

 

It became immediately clear that I would not be disappointed.

 

Of course, the Shriner’s were there. It’s not a real small town parade without them.

 

I don’t understand what exactly the “Shriner’s” are or even what they do-but I like seeing their very weird cars and eating the candy they throw at me.

 

The horses are typically put at the end of a parade-due to what comes out of their back end. However, these furry dudes were smack dab in the center of the parade.

 

Right before the fire department made their grand entrance. The boys had to dodge heaps of you-know-what.

 

This guy here is a good friend and belongs to the same fire department as Biceps.
He’s one of the sweetest men you’ll ever meet and lucky for him-he’s married to one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met in a long time. And yes, this is his really cute Dalmatian.
Too perfect.
The fire department was one of the highlights of the parade-at least for me and my mother-in-law.

 

We were so proud of this guy that’s throwing candy. At me and his mother.
He is so naughty. But you already knew that.

 

Boy, does he think he’s funny.
With my need for the small town parade satisfied, mother-in-law and I loaded up our candy booty and headed off to pick up the naughty boy, while dodging the horse poop left on the street.
Ah, I love the small town parade. It will tide me over until I can go “home” sometime soon.

Makin’ a mess for the Neighbors

Biceps and I enjoy making food-type gifts for the neighbors and our tenants each year. Even some of our friends make the cut, and perhaps a few family members that insist on having a loaf of my “Beautiful Banana Bread“.

When they receive their nice little food package from us, they have no idea what a mess I had created in my kitchen.

 

40 Bananas-mushed.

 

To a pulp.

 

That’s forty banana peels. The recipe was octopled – scientifically, that means the recipe was made 8 times. Every bowl, measuring cup, spatula and bread tin was implemented in this all out food-fest.

After wrapping each gift, I added a card and our crazy Christmas Picture and delivered them one by one to my neighbor’s and tenants. This made it feel like Christmas.
So, Merry Christmas, everyone. Hope you enjoy tasty foods and seeing my mug standing on your front porch.

Merry Christmas-the inside scoop

Dear Readers:
Not often do I share my faith in God on this site. I know that some of you believe the same way that I do, and some do not. But, I want you to know why I believe in the one true God, in His Son that died on the cross to save us from our sins and from death, and the Holy Spirit who guides us and comforts us.

 

My journey with God has been long one. It has been very painful at times, but in the end-even the pain has been beneficial to my growing and to my present faith. Just like a child learning what “no” means from the parent’s lips, so have I learned what “no” means from my heavenly Father.
I have made major mistakes (still do) when I haven’t listened to him. Ones that have caused heartache for myself, for my family and for those closest to me. What I learned is that I am forgiven of these mistakes and my slate has been washed clean. And yes, I have been forgiven, but I still have to deal with the ramifications of my sins.

 

So, I desperately need God on a daily basis-He is my compass and the one I look to when everything around me is crazy. He is the one that takes those consequences of my sin and helps me learn from them, ask for forgiveness, and then move on.

Without God in my life, I would be a mess. An uptight, legalistic, selfish mess. Even with God, I trend towards this lifestyle on a really bad day. Just ask Biceps.

I cannot imagine the pain God had to feel when he saw his only Son die on a cross-to save me-a dirty mess. I can’t begin to know what it would feel like to loose a child, and not only loose a child, but to offer that child as a way to save the world.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

 

I am thankful for the God that knows me and my dirty mess-why I do things like dress up with curlers and take pictures hammering the air-and still loves me enough to die for me. There just isn’t any other way to live life. If you have questions about God, or want someone to talk to and pray with you-send me an email (rebekahgreiman at gmail dot com).

I don’t know everything, trust me. Like I said, I am on that journey myself.

But I do know that God is relentless, He will find you and love on you, if you’ll just let him.

I really hope this year you will receive the best gift of all-Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas.