Old photos

We're going through a bunch of old pictures for the slideshow at my mom's memorial service. There were soooooooo many photos! She stored them all in boxes and never got around to placing them in photo albums. We laughed a lot as we went through them. I had really bad hair.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve at Geri & Dave's house

Christmas Day at Barb & Sy's house

A foot of snow in Seattle?!

Snow day!!!

Unfortunately, the university didn't decide to close down until AFTER I got to work. My usual 20-25 minute drive to work took me 1 hr 15 min today. Note to self: buy appropriate shoes for snowy conditions.

View from my window at work:

Gone from my sight

Chita T. Braceros
16 April 1948 - 9 December 2008

29 January 1973

Gone From My Sight
by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!" There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying.

Granny makes us laugh

Last night, Granny was eating her coconut and Hope decided to tie her hair up. Don't ask me why. Anyway, we started giggling about it and I grabbed the camera. Then, Hope pulled the rubber band off and Granny's hair stuck up like a faux-hawk.

Pie overload

Well, Nathan went back to Seattle today. Mom has been sleeping most of the day. Hope is working and Dad is doing whatever it is that he does. I caught up on some reference work and wandered the internet looking for something to amuse myself. In the end, I ended up baking--of course =) I made a chocolate cream pie and a banana cream pie. Dad thought he had died and gone to heaven.

I found the following recipes in my mom's collection. She used to make this particular banana cream pie all the time for church. As for the chocolate... I cheated and just used the recipe on the Dream Whip box =)

CRUST
1 c. butter, room temperature
2 T. sugar
2 c. flour

Cut the butter into the flour and sugar. Divide the dough in half. Press one half of the dough into a 9" pie pan and the other half into a second pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.

BANANA CREAM PIE FILLING
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese
2 (3 oz) boxes vanilla instant pudding
3 c. milk
3-4 bananas
whipped cream

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the pudding and mix well. Very slowly add the milk to the cream cheese mixture. (You will end up with lumps if you incorporate the milk too quickly!) Slice bananas and layer them in the baked pie crust. Cover the bananas with the pudding mixture and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Top the pie off with whipped cream.

Itty bitty cheesecakes

Who doesn't like a mini cheesecake? I whipped up a few at Hope's request.

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
24 Nilla Wafers
1 small can of blueberry pie filling

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Place 1 vanilla wafer on the bottom of each paper lined muffin place.
3. With an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Divide this mixture evenly among 24 muffin places, making sure to cover the vanilla wafer evenly.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Cool and then top with a teaspoonful of pie filling.

Prep time: 15 minutes - Baking time: 15 minutes - Makes 24 servings