Almost That Time of Year

SPELLING BEE

BY BEA WESTERBERG

My pep talk to myself has paid off in the telephone department. Yes, world I still have that thing called a land line. In part because the telephone receiver is still bigger than the cell phone and is easier to find and I do have 5 land line hand sets! Husband Larry always handled answering and getting rid of the messages on the phone. I tried a few things to see if I could guess how to do it and that only messed up things. Daughter Nissa, who has her Dad’s type of mind, figured out to hear and clear the messages. We had lots of practice time before she went back to her home and I think I can say I have it down 99.90 percent. I am allowing myself a tiny bit of room for a mess up now and then.

The SNOW did come! No more guessing if some snow came. It has about a billion “diamonds” to a square foot so it is hard to see outside in the day time without sunglasses. In most places it is still brillant white and it will take awhile before the grays and icky looks come into play. I was reminded that the yellow Mustang was not ready for winter on my trip to Eagan last week on that first lick of snow to get us in practice. The car was only driven in the summer and had summer tries. The first thing we did last year when we got it in December was to get snow tires for the back of the car and that made a world of difference. They get taken off in the spring and the summer tires were still on for the Eagan trip. I lost track of how times I almost got hit and how many times I almost hit someone during the back and forth trip on the snow practice day. Almost everyone was in the same boat and a few crazy drivers who were thinking they were in Florida made for a prayerfull trip. I got home and parked that puppy in the garage and said it was not moving until it was a clear day and good roads to get down to the Ford garage and get those back tires changed over to the winter tires. Right now my “yellow turtle” is grounded and the pickup is the vehicle of choice.

I put the call downstairs to CHARLES BROWN, the Christmas tree, to get himself upstairs for the holidays. So far no action so I guess I will have to go down in person. The attic trip for tree supplies is not high on my list so I think its going to be lights and bears tree this year. We do have a LOT of stuffed animals so I think I can make that work. Gone are the days of finding the widest possible tree to fit in that 12 foot across room and also how many boxes from the attic I could use to decorate it. I can look back and say “Ah, those were the days”. Much less needle problems now and I am also not sure if Pumpkin, the new cat, has an plans to attack, climb or destroy a Christmas tree.

Glad to hear a number of you Loyal Readers are enjoying the cookie recipe from last week. Got room to add a few tips. If you want to make bigger cookies, go ahead and do so; just add more of the filling and it will work out well. If you find that the dough might be a bit thick after you get done cutting it out, remove that piece to a separate place and just re-roll it a bit. You can sprinkle some sugar, rather than flour, on the roll out area. I roll out on a large piece of canvas fabric so I can just toss the whole thing in the washer when I am down and no countertop cleanup. The Solo brand does work the best for filling but I think it has become hard to find this year. Try what you have on just one cookie to see if your homemade or other jam will stay in the cookie and do a trial bake. I do cut the edges of the roll out before cutting into pieces and I do use those ends for one re-roll. I bake them separate for “at home” cookies. Most people cann’t really tell the difference anyway so don’t stress over it.

A big thank you again to all who have sent messages and cards. A number of people have requested my home address and here it is. Bea Westerberg, 9859 140th Street East, Hastings, MN. 55033 My email is [email protected] Special hugs to all!