Green Bean Casserole

I have had numerous requests for Kent's green bean casserole recipe, so here it is. 

Buy 3 cans of French cut green beans, two cans of mushroom soup, one can of fried onions.  Send them with your mom to your sister's house. 

Sister assumes she is to put together the casserole.  However, in the meantime during the three hour drive on Thursday morning, talk about how you are going to make the casserole and that you forgot your recipe.

When you get to your sister's, you learn that it is all taken care of.  Try to hide your disappointment.

The result?  Success.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had fourteen people here for Thanksgiving.  Everyone helped by bringing food, so it wasn't much trouble and we had a fun day.  Thanks to my mom for making the dressing and gravy so it tasted like hers instead of my counterfeit attempt.  She also brought cranberry salad, and my sister made homemade rolls and five pies.  Jill is truly a grown-up now as she contributed the sweet potatoes.  And you will just have to ask for my brother's green bean casserole recipe, but he may not give it up.  After dinner there was a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit.

Suzanne, Madi, and Abby were a great team and looked great too.

 

Blake and Tamara came up on Saturday and Sunday.  We had a relaxing weekend with them.  Kyle and Blake cleaned some trees out of a pasture and did some horse riding.  Tamara, Abby, and I did some shopping in beautiful downtown Clay Center.

 

Paige and Russ were on an anniversary cruise, so no pics of them. 

Shopping for Thanksgiving

The grocery store circulars come out in the paper on Tuesday evening, and it is time to do that shopping for the Thanksgiving dinner we will host next Thursday.  How does one decide on turkey?  Is Best Choice at $.67 per pound really the Best Choice?  Honeysuckle turkeys are $.99 and Butterballs are $1.19. Must be expensive to have all those people at the ready to answer questions about cooking a turkey.   Then I saw a Dillons ad that they were $.39 a pound, limit two, for Jennie-O which I have never heard of.  Also saw a recipe where you wrap the turkey in bacon.  Now that sounds pretty good.

The rest of the meal will be pretty traditional.  Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (for everyone else), stuffing (hope mine is close to Mom's), cranberry salad, green beans, rolls, and an assortment of pies.   Other people will bring, so if you are reading this and coming to my house, tell me what you want to make.  If you aren't coming to my house and would like to contribute, feel free. 

Glee

So we got out of class early last night (which is on the down low because someone somewhere in a Baker class complained about not getting their money's worth by staying the full time) and I noticed that Glee was on Fox and had been wanting to watch it.  Now there will be people out there, P and A specifically, who don't understand why I don't DVR everything I want to watch or watch it on line, and to that I say - It just isn't that important!!!
     It was an interesting show with a lot of people in this Glee club with issues which I assume is the reason the group got together but I haven't watched any of the rest of it.  I liked the stereotypical PE teacher who then you later found out has a Down's syndrome sister.  Another storyline had everyone in wheelchairs to gain empathy for a group member who actually is in one.  However, I didn't like that when the two glee members were having a sing-off they both had the same voice. 
    So for this Roger Ebert review, I give the show a thumbs up and will probably watch it again.

10 on the 10th

Time again for 10 things on the 10th.  I have decided that I am going to post 10 things to be thankful for in Clay Center.  Feel free to add things by commenting below.

1.  Beautiful courthouse square.  It is the centerpiece of downtown.
2.  Active churches in the community.  They provide lots of community support and service as well as a gathering place and support for families and individuals.
3.  Utility park.  If you haven't checked out the Christmas lights, be sure to do that when they get set up.  The power plant guys have done a great job of maintaining and improving the park as well as a planned expansion.
4.  Ray's Apple Market - great grocery store for a small town.  And they give back to the community, as do many of the local stores and businesses. 
5.  KCLY - can't leave this out even though I am involved.  They do a great job of following Clay Center and area sports, giving air time to benefit auctions, and provides emergency information during storms.   Also, The Dispatch.  We are lucky to have a daily newspaper in our small town.
6.  Schools - again I am involved, but I am thankful for all the great teachers my kids had.  The schools are small enough that everyone knows each other, yet large enough that kids can find their niche and a friend group.
7.   Lighthouse for Christ.  They have provided for families in need for many years now.  A big thanks to all the workers who sort through the stuff and especially for Donna whose level head provides the much needed balance between compassion and tough love.
8.  City Band Concerts - On Wednesday nights in the summer, the city band provides free concerts at the band shell in Dexter Park.  Many musicians give their time and talent to these performances.
9.  Hospital - not all communities our size have a hospital or as many doctors as Clay Center.
10.  Parents who watch out for each other's kids.  This is invaluable and so important for parents to create a network for ideas, extra helping hands, or just to check out information coming home.  I greatly appreciated the people who helped and were our network when the kids were home.

I am sure there is plenty more that I didn't list.  November is a good month to remember how important it is to be thankful for many things.
Lisa

Wicked

Here were are, waiting for the play Wicked to start. The girls and I went to Wichita Sunday afternoon and really enjoyed it. The set was fantastic and the music was great. The basic storyline for Wicked is the story of The Wizard of Oz witches before Dorothy fell on the Wicked Witch of the East.

Paige was looking around there and spotted my cousin, ringbearer at our wedding, now a doctor and his doctor wife behind us and to the right. I talked to Justin at the intermission about not really expecting to see someone I knew, and the KSU victory on Saturday. I saw him in Manhattan at an earlier game, so figured he was there.
Meanwhile, Kyle and LT survived their trail ride in Nebraska. And he traded Trent out an elevator for goat meat. So now I have about eighty pounds of goat meat in the freezer. He fried a little bit and it did taste a lot like beef. Not sure why we needed so much to try????

Off to another week at school.

Station of the Year

We had fun last week hosting a dinner for KCLY's honor of being named KBA Small Market Station of the Year. We had 32 people attend and it was a fun evening of visiting and celebrating the achievement. Way to go!

Tonight is the first play-off football game. The good news is that Clay Center plays at home which is also the bad news because the 8th graders will once again be cleaning the stadium. I should have taken a picture of the visitors locker room after last Friday night's game. I think we need to bring a garden hose tonight.