It's our 8-year anniversary! Happy Ground Hog Day!

Saturday is Opa and Oma's eighth anniversary! Time has really flown by for us (I guess I can speak for Greg as well.) It doesn't seem that long ago that we were on the beach on Maui with the preacher in the Hawaiian print shirt, the lady violin player, and a bottle of champagne.

We are actually celebrating our anniversary next weekend on February 9. We are going to the Glass Slipper Ball right here in Cranberry next Saturday night. Greg is wearing his tuxedo (he looks SOOOO GOOD in a TUX!), and I am wearing my dress from Emily's wedding if the weather permits. If it is too cold, I have a backup plan; no use freezing to death. I am really excited about going to the ball. It's sort of a Cinderella thing but is a benefit on top of the fun.

February is going to be a busy month with baby preparations at the Mowery household, a Boyce visit to Pittsburgh, and a number of birthdays and other things to do. Just a few more hours of January! I think we are going to make it!

Woo Hoo, Eyler Family!!!!

There are some things that always make me cry; i.e., new babies, people who graduate and achieve something they've dreamed about, extraordinary courage and integrity when it would be easier to go with the flow, a really great song that touches me, and people being baptized to name a few.

This morning our good friends and members of our life group were baptized together at the middle school worship service at church. Eyler's have been walking the walk for a while, and they decided to "take the plunge" together with their son, John, this morning. I have no doubt that little Christy will be coming along behind some of these days. It was just so awesome to be there today.

Congratulations and many blessings, John, Mary, and John, Jr.

A Boring Blog Post . . . It's January!

I was thinking today that I have not posted anything for a while. Not much is happening . . . except Melanie came to visit over Martin Luther King weekend! That was nice, but it was sooooo cold. Maybe this snorkeling picture will remind me of warmer days. What do you think?

The other news is that Granny tripped over the feet of her sewing lamp and fell down on her face in the middle of the house on Sunday. She blackened both her eyes and nearly broke her nose. Dad sent pictures, and I haven't got the heart to post them because they just look too sore and painful. She is doing okay, but she is one tough lady to laugh about this one I'll tell you.

Yesterday I was rummaging through a drawer and found a brand new pair of long underwear pants that had never been worn. I must have purchased these on sale at the end of last year. Imagine my excitement that I had another pair for the rotation! Then I realized how pathetic that is.

We were chatting with the people in our home group last night, and everybody was complaining that they hadn't been to the gym or done any exercise since before the holidays. Of course, sunlight isn't exactly plentiful this time of year, so doing anything outside is sporadic at best. Greg and I took a walk tonight at 7 p.m. It was 24 degrees outside, and he thought I was crazy. The only other person walking was Louie's grandma and Louie. (Louis is a Chinese Pug that lives two plans over and takes his grandma, Barb, for walks.) Nobody else was getting serious activity points for their Weight Watchers diary. By golly, we earned THOSE two points!

I get excited about body lotion this time of year, too. We buy the 40 ounce size of Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion at Costco. Otherwise, you have dandruff . . . over your whole body. I have been thinking about getting my nails done, or maybe getting a pedicure. Then I realized that I couldn't put my shoes back on until my toenails were completely dry, and I decided I didn't want to spent that much time at the nail spa or salon. Besides, Greg is the only one who will see my feet for another three months. Somehow I don't think he will be impressed with nail polish.


On the cheerier side, it is great soup weather! If you like chili and vegetable soup and potato soup and crusty bread, this is your season. There are good things to eat in winter; most of them have cheese in them or on them. Salads don't seem so appealing. Wine and chocolates, yes!!


Just one more week of January, and we will have made it halfway to March. Then we can stop saying things like, "It's going to get all the way up to 30 degrees today!" I know we can do it!

The tree is down . . . and Happy Birthday, GRANNY!

The Christmas tree is down and the needles are swept up (compliments of Greg's new Shop Vac). I am in the middle of my unfavoritest job, summarizing the financies for 2007 and catching all the year-end statements as they arrive in time for income taxes. It is also time to survey the Christmas bills and figure out the changes to the budget for 2008. No wonder I get that SAD disease this time of year . . . this is why I'm NOT an accountant!

But on the bright side, I did want to share one of my favorite pictures from the Christmas holidays. This photo of Opa is one that Katy helped me take on Christmas Eve. The reason I love it is that the smile is great and the angle of the picture from Katy's eye-level view captures a great reminder of what we look like to toddlers down there in the 30-inches tall range. Isn't this great? Our heads are kind of small and our knees are our predominant feature. If you have toddlers, don't bother fixing your hair or buying a lot of make up. Just get really colorful SOCKS and put the fabrics with the most interest into pants and legwarmers!

The other thing I want to celebrate is that tomorrow, January 7, 2008, is my mom's birthday! While I already gave her a birthday present when I was home at Christmas time, I want to take this opportunity to let everyone know just how great it is to have both my parents still as part of my life! They are 83 years young and still providing that solid, Christian work ethic and strength that comes from living through the Great Depression and the second World War. I thank God especially for my mom tomorrow as we celebrate her birthday.

I love you, Mom!

A Brief Taste of Martha . . . The Great Truffle Experiment

Every once in a while I get a domestic thing going. Yesterday we had friends coming for dinner, and I was cooking and trying to make the table look pretty by folding the napkins like the instructions in the library book I borrowed. I had to take a picture of my very simple table just for those of you who eat with us regularly and know that we don't hesitate to put the ketchup bottle on the table nor to serve you something out of a saucepan if it will stay warmer that way. So here is my table. Martha would probably call this "casual" or "country living" or something that means not-too-fancy. It is still noteworthy in my book.

I also asked for (and received) a book about making Chocolate candy (truffles to be exact) from my Dad this Christmas. I bought some dark chocolate and worked on my first batch of those over New Years. Here are some photos of my decadent creations!

The first part is making the ganache for the centers of the truffles. This is a marvelous, low-fat concoction of 72% bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, and real butter. This first picture is the centers for the truffles cooling on the parchment paper awaiting the finishing steps.

Tonight I tempered the outside chocolate, which is 60% and rolled the centers into little balls. Then I dropped the little darlings into the melted chocolate and rolled them in a mixture of cocoa and powdered sugar. I learned that you need to be fast about this finishing step because the chocolate sets up as it cools off. I had to reheat it once to finish my truffles because it started to get hard.

In general, the endeavor was a success. Here are the finished candies. They don't look like much; but trust me . . . these are not your standard, run of the mill candies. There is some powerful chocolate in these babies. Good thing they keep for a while if you seal them up. We are going to be enjoying these (and sharing them) for a while.