Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 pkg. (13 ounces or about 36)
miniature peanut butter cups

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and
vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to mixture and
mix well. Cover and refrigerate one hour. Roll into 1 1/4 inch balls.
Press a cup into each; reshape balls. Place 2 inches apart on
ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

For drizzle:
Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in double broiler, then add
1 T peanut butter and
1 t shortening until smooth.
Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Cookie Exchange

Polvorones de Canele
(Mexican Cinnamon Cookies)

Ingredients

* 1 cup butter
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and
butter until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and 1/2
teaspoon of cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture to form a stiff
dough. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Mix together 1 cup confectioners'
sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; roll balls in cinnamon mixture.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven, or until nicely
browned. Cool cookies on wire racks.

Good Friday

The boys are on Spring Break this week. We didn't really have a staycation (don't you have to actually go places to do that?!) But staying home day after day has been really nice. A couple of sweet neighbor boys came for a couple of the days and caught frogs and salamanders in our pond. Just boys being boys. Those are the kind of Spring and Summer days I remember from my childhood. You know; bike riding, running around in the sunshine, kicking back with the dog, relaxing with a book. Sometimes in our video-game, movie-watching, "entertain me" culture, it's easy to forget the simple things in life. I'm so glad one of the boys accidentally destroyed the Playstation 2 years ago. I don't know if the great outdoors would have the appeal that it does now with such a tempting distraction.

I'm happily plugging away learning all I can about my new business venture. I'm an independent meal planning consultant with Homemade Gourmet. www.homemadegourmet/BWMcNeely
I haven't received my food kit yet, but I'm waiting for it to arrive. It's supposed to get here April 14th, but I've scheduled my Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting for April 16th! Just under the wire! I'm praying it gets here today :) Of course, UPS will have to drive up into these mountains, and it seems like it takes 4 extra days to get all the way across America. (Homemade Gourmet is a Texas-based company)

I've been having lots of fun on Facebook, so that's why I haven't posted here. Hopefully, I'll get back to blogging. Anyone out there?!

Welcome 2009

Where does the time go? We are in the midst of a snow fiesta. We feel totally unprepared, without the right tools or knowledge. Thank the Lord for neighbors! One has plowed our driveway a couple of times, and one came and got the van unstuck last night. (We missed the gravel path initially, so we got stuck in the snow/mud). This Texas gal can't get over how the snow has literally stayed for over 3 weeks now. Apparently this is an unusual phenomenon for this area too.

Zucchini Festival

Hopefully, I'll remember to take the camera to the festival and get some pictures of all the zucchini potluck dishes that are coming! Jonathan and I will be performing some Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Patsy Cline today. It's a 20 minute set, but most of the golden oldie songs are so short, we can get in at least 8-10! Jim will hopefully join us on a couple of songs; but he likes to do our acapella songs (ok, the computer won't let me spell that any way, so sorry if it's misspelled:)
The boys are LOVING school! Their teachers are exquisite and everyone is so friendly. I'll probably be helping out with the PTO. In fact, I might actually be the President or Vice-President :) I'm pretty good at delegating.

I'm praying for all of my Texas friends and family who are under flood watches and evacuations. JW (James) didn't have classes on Friday at Texas Tech because of all of the water. (He said 2 1/2 feet on campus!)

It's been so incredibly sunny here for DAYS, I even forgot what rain feels like. Strange, isn't it?!

Blessings on your day!

Here's a picture of Jim and his friend Liege on a hike when they went on the Men's Retreat from our church. AWESOME!
The Retreat I just went on was at Cedar Springs and it was wonderful and refreshing.
Somewhere in my earlier posts are pictures of Cedar Springs, I think :) Well, off to Coffee and Conversation!

September Already!

Wow. Has it really been 5 months since my last post? We had lots of visitors over the summer. It was a wonderful, busy time! I guess the latest news is that Jim went to start the riding lawnmower and it exploded and caught on fire. The image of him trying to douse the flames with the cat's water has kept me in stitches for almost a week. We went out that day and got a fabulous Husqvarna since it was a John Deere that blew up. Actually, Husqvarna has quite a good reputation, even amongst the Lowe's employees.
Come see our lawn; it looks great!

Hello Again

OK. So I've realized that I don't like to post unless I have a picture to go along with my words. I think I'll just have to get over that. There will be no illustrations today. Only updates.

I'm completely enjoying working at Kid's Place at our satellite campus in Nooksack. (It might be Everson, but it definitely isn't Sumas). Anyway, we meet at the Nooksack Valley High School. We have between 17-20 kindergardeners through 5th graders, and usually two to three different high schoolers who help out each Sunday. They are all so fabulous. I'm hoping when JW comes in the summer, he can help out too. I get the high schoolers to lead small groups when it comes time for that, and some have even acted in the skits, etc. I hear through the grapevine that they think it is "awesome." Well, I think THEY are awesome. Jonathan leads worship. He is getting so good on the guitar. He really amazes us with his talent. Joseph and Joshy help out too, getting the place set up and cleaning up afterwards. Joshy wants to be called "Mr. Joshy" on his nametag, and that is fine with me.

I've been singing a lot lately at different venues. I got to actually play the guitar and sing "How Great Thou Art" at Coffee and Conversation last week. Yes. I actually accompanied myself on guitar. Thank God the hymn writers of old only knew three chords. I'll be singing at a gal's birthday party in a couple of weeks. I think she will be 90. (My personal belief is that you aren't getting "old" until you are 110. Even 109 is spry; but you get up to 110, and you can start getting your senior discount for sure).
She wants me to sing "I left my Heart in San Francisco," "Over the Rainbow" (my new signature song), "You are My Sunshine," and "On the Wings of a Dove."

Jim will be flying to Texas the first weekend in June for JW's graduation. The boys will still be in school, so we won't be going. (Besides the fact that flying us all down there would be monetarily prohibitive, especially because I would need to take the train or bus since I'm not a good flyer)

Well, that's enough for today. Make it a great one!

God's Fabulous Creation

Yesterday, a bald eagle swooped down and landed in our pond. He sat there majestically, taking a drink every once in a while, but mostly just eyeing the surroundings... not in fear, mind you, but with absolute confidence that he was at the top of the food chain. After about 20 minutes of having me completely mesmerized, he took to the skies and flew to one of the huge trees that line the road of the properties here.
Today I happened upon a blogger's site who had posted this video. Apparently someone from her church had set Brian Doerkson's song to clips from the BBC production of Planet Earth or something like that. Click on the rectangle above (or whatever is showing above the text here :) ENJOY!

More Pictures

This is a picture looking towards the pasture from the other acreage. We have access to it right now so we can walk the owner's dogs. Does anyone have any wisdom/experience about what an animal we should get to be a mammalian lawn mower?

Here's a picture of the entrance into the property. If you go on the gravel road to the left, you come to our house. If you go to the right upon entering, you can take a look at the other 10 acres the owner has for sale. (assuming you are here and actually driving on this road:)

It's a beautiful, sunny, clear day here today. We wake up every morning and still have to pinch ourselves!

We are in!

We are the proud owners of "a little peace of Heaven" in Sumas, Washington. 10 pristine acres, and a 2070 square foot home with 3 bedrooms, a small office, and another office/library in the master suite! The owners, who we've become friends with, did a fabulous job with this property. This is a picture of the picnic area complete with charcoal grill and fire pit. There is a pasture, where we are actually entertaining the idea of getting a beef cow or two. We moved in February 16th, and I couldn't really post until now.

This is a view from the back of the house. Yes, that is a hot tub on the the massive porch. The house is backed up by a foothill which is part of the 10 acres. Only twice have bears been seen on the mountain, so we've been told. There is a fellow who lives at the top, on the other side side of the mountain, so he'll be the first to deflect any wildlife, I'm sure:) There are 3 apple trees that draw lots of deer in the summer, although we are keeping the owners' dogs until they get settled in Idaho, so we might not see them as often as we would like. I know there are coyotes that come around, and we have inherited a nice barn cat who has already left us a mouse on our walks.

This here's the wood stove that is practically standard issue in Washington. There is a separate little gated building which holds several hundred logs... enough to last a couple of winters, I'm sure, although Jim has actually used the CHAINSAW to make some logs and an axe to make some kindlin'. He's in heaven for sure. He loves to make the fire every morning, although he did buy a small blowtorch, which he feels is "cheating." :) We learned from the best, though: Some friends from church let us stay at their house for three weeks while we were waiting for the house to close and the sellers to move out. He is the one that showed us how to really make a fire in a woodstove.

There is another 10 acre lot next door which they are trying to sell also. It has the water well already dug, electricity, and the septic is ready to install, if any of you would like to move out to the gorgeous northwest and join us!

One of the bedroom's is completely set up as a guest room, with built in queen bunkbeds! Come see us! I'll post more pictures as soon as we take them.

What do you think?!!!!

Our House

We've made an offer on this home and land. If you want to know more details, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEAVE A COMMENT!
Thank you and Goodnight.

Happy New Year!

My only resolution this year is to allow God to shine His Light through me. Whatever that entails....May He do the same in you.
Here's some pictures from the last few days. It was so incredibly wonderful having JW here in Washington with us for Christmas and the New Year. He's leaving on a jet plane... tomorrow morning. I'm NOT looking forward to that. Over the holidays I've realized what awesome children we have. Sure, they accidentally break windows in our 100 year old rental home... Yes, they "miss" when they are in the restroom... Of course they generate messes like it was a full-time job... But, they are talented and sweet and sharp as tacks, loving and full of life and confidence... And, they LOVE God! Who could ask for anything more.
Here they are all lined up for their Baptisms on December 23rd.

Christmas Eve Eve getting to open one present

JW came into our room at 3:11 a.m. and announced that it was Christmas. (to his credit, it WAS 5:11 a.m. in Texas-time, which he was still acclimated to). Suffice it to say, we told him to go back to bed, but since we couldn't sleep after that, we DID get up an hour later!

Some wonderful new friends not only invited us over for dinner after the Christmas Eve service, but they gave us access to their cabin in Glacier on the road to Mount Baker. Jim took the boys overnight and they did lots of sledding down the steep incline at the cabin. In the morning, I came to get them and we took a walk at the Nooksack River; resplendent with snow on the trail and trees and rocks.

Family Portrait at Bob's Burgers in Sumas. (Yes, that's a stuffed turkey behind us. It was that, or the moose head over the fireplace...)

WE ARE BLESSED!

Results of our second snowfall...

Here is Joseph's snowman. He made it all by himself while we were bringing in all the Christmas decorations. The next day, it began to rain which caused all that flooding in Chehallis. Up here, it just melted all of our snow, and left a few lakes where there weren't any before....

To the left of the Dead End sign and in between the cut corn stalks lies the road to our house. As you can see, or NOT SEE, there is no road! It was tricky driving around the little bit that we did, because it was anybody's guess where the road was!

The snow got pretty deep around here in just a few hours. This is a fire hydrant which hopefully conveys how much snow there was! It was absolutely gorgeous.

Jim's birthday was yesterday and he took the day off! We went to Red Robin in Canada for a lunch date, then after school we took the boys to see Enchanted. What a wonderful movie! I encourage everyone to see it. On Saturday night we went to Lynden Lighted Christmas Parade. Companies and individuals put light on their vehicles for the parade. There were 70 entrants, including the Well's Fargo stagecoach! Since this is farming land, there were all kinds of huge farm vehicles (that I embarrasingly don't know the names of) in the parade. The winner in the commercial division was this entry by our favorite dairy, Edaleen. They have a storefront that you can visit to buy milk, cheese, ice cream, etc. and they serve up the BEST fresh ice cream in cones at the lowest prices I've ever seen! We try to go once a week to get our milk and enjoy the new flavors.

SNOW!

Our first Washington snowfall happened last night! I had asked Joshy to go feed Zoie (the cat that came with the house) and he ran back in and said, "It's snowing! I'm not kidding!" We grabbed our coats and fought our way out the door to see big old flakes of gorgeous white purity making their way down onto the trees and yard! First of all, we Texas folk aren't used to a continual downpour, or for it to actually accumulate and provide us with enough snow to have a decent snowball fight! I have pictures, but I don't know how to download them.... I will post them when they are ready!

Unfortunately, it's in the upper 30's right now, so the snow is melting. There is more in the forecast, though, so we are totally pumped!

A couple of weekends ago Jim and I went with another couple to Leavenworth,a charming Bavarian village that is literally a Christmas wonderland. 2 million visitors come throughout the year to visit this amazing town. We ate German food, went to the little shops, and took lots of pictures that I will eventually post... Here's one from the website to wet your whistle:


On November 29th, Leavenworth will be featured on "Good Morning America Lights Up the Holidays" at 7a.m. Pacific Time. (9:00 a.m. in Texas?) It ranks as the number one Christmas Village in the United States. No wonder.

http://www.leavenworth.org/

It snowed on our way home, (which is one of the most beautiful drives up here;) there are dozens of little waterfalls literally coming out of the roadside rock walls, and there is the most gorgeous river that winds its way alonside much of the road up the mountain.

On November 16th, Jonathan and I performed at the Lynden Community Center for over 200 people. Besides his Johnny Cash numbers, I sang "Jesus Take the Wheel", "Over the Rainbow" (Martina McBride's version) and an acapella rendering of "Amazing Grace." It was SOOOO fun and the people were wonderful. The gals that had scheduled us for the Trailblazer's event were there with their husbands, and during one of our songs, came up to the stage and each threw a dollar bill on it. More people came up and threw some dollars here and there, then afterwards a few came up to us to press some bills or change into our hands. When all was said and done, we left with $70! We don't charge anything for our performances, so to be blessed with that kind of monetary gift blew us away!

Inevitably when I sing, someone always comes up and tells me they want me to sing at their funeral. I never know which way to take it. Is it a complement? I mean, they won't REALLY be in attendance, now will they. I guess there aren't enough occasions on earth to have a song sung just for you. We need to make some up so they can hear it now!

Comments and emails appreciated!!!

Smooches,
Betty

WIndy Washington

Jonathan won Second Place in the Talent Show! First place went to a Bagpipe player who really was quite good; he was dressed in a kilt and everything. Being friends with one of the judges' mom, I found out that there was quite a debate going on to make Jonathan first place. Finally, one of the judges said that the bagpipe was INCREDIBLY difficult, and he knew for a matter of fact that the fellow practiced many many hours.... They should come to our house! Jonathan was thrilled. I'll post pictures later.

On another note :).... some Southern winds blew out the power in 4 towns yesterday! (they sound like a train which is about to come through the house) We were without electricity Monday morning until some time last night. We decided to go ahead and stay in our unheated house. It wasn't too bad... I've camped in colder weather! The boys thought it was quite the adventure. They all slept in the guest room with a huge flashlight at the ready, and Jim and I got a battery-operated Coleman lantern in case we needed to see. I slept like a baby, all toasty under the covers. The broken branches all over the property are overwhelming, however. We feel very fortunate that one didn't land on our vehicles or roof, or come through the window!

Speaking of things coming through windows, though, Jonathan accidentally kicked the soccer ball through our front door side window on Sunday WHILE OUR LANDLORD was visiting. Talk about embarrassing....

Conferences for school report cards start this week on Wednesday. The boys will be released for the next 6 days at 12:50. Fun fun.

How is it in YOUR neck of the woods?

Singing in Washington

On Monday I sang with four other gals as part of the Sister Act choir. We sang "O Happy Day" and I get to take the solo on "I Will Follow Him." It's quite fun. We might be doing it in December at another fellowship I attend once a month. (Stonecroft, an international organization that hosted the retreat I went to at Cedar Springs a couple of weeks ago) Tonight, Jonathan and I are singing at a talent show. He'll be doing a Johnny Cash song, and I've been asked to sing Amazing Grace for the finale!

I have sang Amazing Grace quite a bit since I've been here. The Lord has used that song SEVERAL times to bring the listeners to tears. He is so precious. His grace has been SO amazing in my life, I think whoever hears me sing it can sense the reality of each word in my life. God is so good!

Who knew?!

Cedar Springs water wheel

One of the four or five lakes at Cedar Springs

"Sister Act"

WOW. Since I last posted, we've been one of the entertainment acts for a western night (150 in attendance!), I've helped lead worship at a retreat, have sang at a sweet women's fellowship I attend on Monday's, and am gearing up to sing at a talent show next Friday, and with a group of robed-gals to do two Sister Act songs at that same Monday group next week! When you ask the Lord to open doors for your gift, He oftentimes swings them really wide!

Jonathan gets to perform at school every week on Fridays. He dresses in black, to honor Johnny Cash, and does a few of his songs. This week he did expand and do a Weird Al song parody of Achy Breaky Heart. He was really the main performer at the western night (I sang Coal Miner's Daughter by Loretta Lynn, Walkin After Midnite by Patsy Cline, God Bless the Broken Road, Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Martina McBride's version) and Jim and I did Praise in the Wilderness by Jim McNeely :) Jonathan performed the balance of the show in two 30-45 minute sets. Jim also did a hilarious lecture on how to "tawk raht." He showed them words like "bob war" for barbed wire... you know the drill.... It was really funny.


The retreat I went to was at a place called Cedar Springs. It is only 5 minutes from our house in Sumas. Gals (and a couple of gentlemen) came from all over BC, Canada and Northern Washington. We did the Sister Act songs there, and led worship three times. Very, very sweet. These pictures don't convey how absolutely gorgeous Cedar Springs is; there are swans in the lake, beautiful well-kept gardens all over the property, and it is nestled in the "foothills" of Sumas.

Leave me some love if you read my blog!

Skagit Valley Farm Tour

Saturday we went on the Skagit Valley Farm tour. We could only make it to 5 farms on the tour out of a dozen, but it was wonderful!
(We also went to a farm tour at Cloud Mountain Farms, which wasn't a part of the tour, but they do it the same day).

Cloud Mountain had fruit tasting inside a huge greenhouse. Over 200 varieties of apples, grapes, pears, jams, etc. We bought three pears for $6, but they are the size of small cantaloupes! 5 of us can feast on just one. It was one of our favorites, because the Prozac Mountain Boys bluegrass band were playing in one corner of the greenhouse, and we actually ran into a sweet couple from our church who are berry farmers.

Our next stop was 45 miles away (then we backtracked) to a Dairy Farm. It was too cold to enjoy it much, but we got to see a 5-day-old calf and got a free ice cream bar. (Joshy wanted to milk the artificial cow, but it was just too cold to wait in line) Each farm offered free samples and info; this one had coloring books, rulers, "got milk" pens and "cheese" erasers!

An oyster farm, situated on the ocean, held the most interesting farm items! We never even considered oysters farm animals! Jim liked the generous free samples of clams and oysters, but the rest of us couldn't really stomach it. (although Joseph did try them). They serve them right in the shell! There was a lighthouse made out of oyster shells. (you can see most of this in the pictures; check out the link)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jim.mcneely/20071006_farm_tour
We also got to touch some sea urchins, starfish, and other slimy sea creatures. There were costumed characters, which you can see in the photos. We missed the crab race, but got to talk to the crab lady as she was taking them back to their habitat. Apparently, they got into a wrestling match and tore off some limbs, but they GROW BACK. God is too fun.

On to a Beef Farm where they had Highland cows. The meat samples were delicious, and Jim and Jonathan each bought a shish kebob and the boys split fresh twirled fries (made on a Pampered Chef type potato peeler while we waited!) Joshy rode a pony, and I enjoyed the bagpipe players!
The one picture of me and the fellow with huge earrings was taken because he arrived in a kilt, and wasn't even a part of the farm tour! (The picture apparently doesn't show the kilt; the whole point of the picture. Oh well) I asked him if he wore it all the time, and he said his workplace frowned upon it usually...

By this time, it was way past lunch and we were really hankering for the organic beef cheeseburgers we heard were being served at the Skagit River Ranch. Just a short drive from the other one, it was probably our favorite farm. It was everything you learned about in grade school; it had free range chickens (which we just knew we were going to accidentally run over if they didn't watch out!) pigs, turkeys, 5 day old baby chicks in an incubator!, horses, goats... you know, Old McDonald's kind of farm! We went on a very cold horse-drawn wagon ride to see where the cows are allowed to eat grass which hasn't been sprayed with insecti-or pesticides. WOW. The hamburgers were THE BEST ones I've EVER put in my mouth. I didn't know grass fed beef would have such a different taste. Afterwards, we bought 6 frozen patties for $12 and can't wait to eat them on the grill at some point. If you come visit, I'll make the trip back to get some more. It's worth the drive! (the store is open on Saturday's). Every turkey was already spoken for. I wanted to place an order for Thanksgiving! I'll have to do it earlier next year!

We rounded out our day at another apple farm, and bought several pounds of the sweetest, crispest apples I've ever tasted. I didn't realize there were so many varieties... even though Washington is the apple state! I mean, have you ever heard of Sweetheart, Jonagold, Tsugaru, or Honey Crisp?!! Absolutely yummy. We also got some fresh apple cider, and could have went to a wine tasting, but we were ready to make the 45 mile trip back home, which was just spectacular. The leaves are turning shocking yellow, red, and orange, but there are all the evergreens interspersed in large quantities. We passed several Christmas Trees farms and a couple of Alpaca Farms, which were on the tour, but we didn't stop.

That was our Saturday!!!!!!!!

Vancouver

This weekend we went to Vancouver, BC in Canada. One of the wonderful places there is this Suspension Bridge. It's very touristy, but you get what you pay for! There are people in period dress wandering around, live music, and "first nation" folks giving tours and describing what life was like in the late 1800's.

When you get across the bridge (which makes you feel like you are Indiana Jones, and you pray it doesn't break... which it wouldn't, (I saw all the cables underneath on the other side!) The steps going up and down feel so rickety, though, and the river below is so rocky....Anyway, there are smaller suspension bridges from tree to tree.

You walk from tree to tree which doesn't disturb the ground below. It's really quite fun. You feel like you are in an Ewok Village! It's really beautiful, and there are signs everywhere explaining different aspects about the habitat. There are ponds below, and huge trees everywhere.

Canada and the "first nation" people have this thing about Totem Poles. They even carved one to look like me while I was there. I felt very honored, considering I don't have one drop of any first nation blood in me :) (we call them native americans...)
It was an expensive day, (usually our weekends are free) but really, it was worth every penny. If you come up here, you will have to budget your shekels to visit this place with us. (Of course, if you come visit, you'll have to allow about 17 days to go everywhere we would want to take you, and then you would need a vacation!) That settles it; some of you are just going to have to move up here with us!