Jane's friend, Shelley's Peanut Butter Bars but you can call them "Nancy's Peanut Butter Bars"

A couple of you have asked for this recipe, so here it is:

Cream the 1st three ingredients together:

1 1/2 cubes butter

1/2 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

Add rest of the ingredients to the creamed mixture:

1 egg

1-1/2 t. vanilla

1/4 c. peanut butter

1-1/2 c. flour

3/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 c. oatmeal

Spread dough on large cookie dripper. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for maybe 5 minutes, then spread 3-4 spoonsful of peanut butter over the cookie. (I used enough to have the whole thing covered with a thin layer of peanut butter.) Wait until the peanut butter sets up. Then melt 11 oz. of chocolate chips and spread over the peanut butter. Let cool, then cut into small squares, as it is very rich. They are not quite so messy if you have time to let the chocolate set up.

Mother's Day Poem

Once the kids were old enough and had money of their own to buy me gifts for Mother's Day, I told Paul not to buy me anything because "I am not your mother." So, Sunday morning he presented me with a little package, and I was thinking to myself "I am not your mother." I opened the card first and read the poem that he had written all by himself...with nobody helping him:

I know you're not my Mother.

(I'm glad of that, My Dear).

I've watched you be the best Mom yet

year-after-year-after-year.

Now all our kids have departed,

And left us alone in this house.

Even though you're not My Mother

I'm so thankful that you are...

My Spouse.

How sweet is that?!

Mother's Day

(First of all, I'm sorry that Jim and Joe were not around when these pictures were taken.)

It's been Mother's Day all day long, and there is just something different about it when all the kids are gone from the nest. Paul did offer to make breakfast, of course, but I was in the thick of making cinnamon rolls, so didn't take him up on it. That was probably wrong of me, now that I think about it. I remember when the kids were little and would each do part of the meal preparation with breakfast in bed and dinners. They have a great dad who taught them the importance of service on Mother's Day and to respect me always. And now I get to watch them in their motherhood roles. It's been said that I don't know which is more fun...to watch the grand kids or to watch their mothers interact with them.

I'm missing my own mom today and wishing I could call her and have a nice, long visit. I would love to get some advice from her. I would love to brag about my children and grandchildren to her. I would love to reminisce with her. I would love to thank her for all she did for me and what she means to me today.

I hope she already knows what I would say to her.

You know, on Mother's Day you just can't help but think about all the things you have done with your kids over the years, the things they have done and the funny things they have said. You miss those early years. Sometimes you would like to have those days back. And then the precious grandchildren come along. What a blessing to be a mother and a grandmother! Wouldn't trade it for anything!

This is Ricky Barrett

Katy told me that I should blog this story, so here goes:

In 1982 I taught the Valiant A2 class in Primary. The nine-year-olds. The only reason I know the year is because the presidency made a little memory book and put all the class pictures inside with each teacher doing a little write-up about his or her class. I still have that little booklet. I will copy, in part, what I wrote because it is the background for this post:

"It has been a special privilege for me to teach this class for the full year of 1982. Our class is small...only three boys and three girls: Ricky Barrett, Henry Dennison, Jeff Holmes, Kristi Borchert, Joan Wilsey, and my daughter, Jane. Because of our small class it's always been very nice when it's been our turn to do opening exercises or the sharing time presentation because we've all been able to participate. I have sincerely thrilled at the way the children have taken the responsibility to memorize their parts and really do their best. I remember the day Ricky had a speaking part during the presentation. I whispered a few words at a time to him, and he repeated them. This may not seem like much to a visitor, but it was the first time Ricky had ever been before a group with a speaking part. And that first time always means so much." (I'm remembering back now and wondering why it seemed like everyone just assumed he couldn't participate...because he was autistic.) "But because he was, it meant even more. That's why I was not the only one with tears in my eyes. Two of my children, Joan and Henry, have been extra good to help with Ricky. They sit by him and rub his back and talk to him to help him be quiet. This they have done on their own and shows me how compassionate even a child can be. It has been a good experience for all of us to have Ricky in our class."

The story continues...several years ago, prior to 1998 by a bit, I received a letter from Ricky saying he had found me on the Internet. He said he remembered me from Primary and that I had told him, "Toys do not belong in church." He had remembered that little piece of information from the time he was nine until he was around 25 years old. Wow, that is some kind of memory. And the funny part is that I can just hear myself saying that; I'm sure I did.

Over the years he sent more letters. When he was on vacation he would send postcards. Then he would email me. Now he mostly just calls. He's calling every month or so now. Because of his autism he will say things that are pretty funny, for example, if he leaves a message on the answering machine he will always begin by saying, "This is Ricky Barrett calling around 7:28 p.m., make that 7:29, Southern Texas time. I was calling to see if you're home, Nancy, at whatever time it is out there." About two months ago he let me know that he was coming to Tucson with his mom in May and wanted to see me while he was here. He was only going to be here Saturday and Sunday...last weekend, so I told him it would be nice if he could meet me at church and maybe there would be some others who remembered him when he was a little boy or who he would remember. The stake had been divided since then and there were only three of us from that original Primary board when he was in my Valiant A2 class. So he was able to visit with them. I think it pleased him. His family is not active in the church, so his mother did not come in, but Ricky stayed for the whole time, even though it is not something he would have done at home. He's visited a couple of times before so I guess there are more visits in our future. Sweet. It's interesting how the heart and mind work.

No Smoking Allowed

No Smoking Allowed

I have a story to tell.

It happened at Austin's last night, after square dancing.

We always go there for ice cream with our friends Bernie and Dottie.

As we pulled into the parking lot I noticed one of our regular waiters

smoking outside the building.

He came over to take our order, and I said,

"Was that you smoking outside the building?!" "Yes."

Then I said something like, "Cigarettes will kill you, you know.

And I like you and I would be very sad if that happened. I think you should stop smoking."

He said, "OK." Just like that.

Later in the evening when he came back around to our table I said,

"If you're going to quit smoking you might as well give me your cigarettes."

And he handed over the pack.

Because it was mostly full

Bernie thought I should leave it on the table. No Way!

Then I had a brilliant idea...I had taken cookies to the Square Dance

and had about four dozen left over, so I sent Paul to the car to get them.

I asked one of the employees for a take-out container and put all the cookies in it.

On our way out I gave the cookies to that young man.

He acted pretty tickled about it, actually, and

shared with fellow employees, giving me the "thumbs up."

I was glad I had so many cookies left over because

it made for a better "trade." Also it was quite the coincidence

that I even had cookies at all, let alone think about giving them away.

I hope this story has a happy, successful ending.

Family Favorites: Snickerdoodles and Whirligigs.

Extended General Conference Weekend

On our way to a square dance festival in Laughlin, NV we stopped to spend the night with Nick and Elizabeth in Phoenix. This is their guest bedroom. Don't you love the lime green and hot pink with a splash of orange? And check out the cute, funky drapes. I wouldn't have dared, but Elizabeth can pull it off. The rest of the house is equally as fun and eclectic. Thank you garage sales and IKEA.

The next stop was Riverside, CA. to see Charlie, Katy, & Jim. Don't you just want to squeeze

her? The new Lazy-boy rocker had arrived that day so I was glad to be able to see it "in person", rather than in a photo. It's the hot pink one in the background. A brave color for a nursery, but it looks fabulous! We also got to see the finished kitchen. They painted the oak cabinets black, which made me nervous, but it was smashing...and SO Katy.

I brought a darling book for Charlie entitled "You are My I Love You." It starts out, "I am your

parent; you are my child. I am your quiet place; you are my wild." Of course I read it as "I am your grandma; you are my grandchild." As you can see, Charlie is taking in every word. She loves books and she's only seven weeks old. I read a Dr. Seuss book to her before, and it was a l...o...n...g one, but she never lost interest. While we were there Katy spent all her free time helping me learn how to put photos on my blog. She has more patience than anyone I know. So, thanks to her, my blogs should have a little more pizzazz from now on.

We spent one night there before going to the boat. Then the Willards (Parry & Linda) came from Simi Valley to join us in San Diego, but stopped to see Charlie and her parents and the new house on their way.

Love it, love it when the Willards can come to the boat! Parry is the Bishop of his ward so General Conference weekends are about the only times he can get away. We never have to have anything major planned to do...we just love to visit and go to our favorite places to eat. It's a bonus that we have satelite TV and can watch Conference in our pajamas if we want to.

They claimed they were just resting their eyes while watching Conference. What do you think?

Early Sunday evening the Willards headed for home and we headed to Laughlin, NV for a Square Dance Festival. We arrived just in time to be coaxed into dancing the last "tip".

Four couples from our Tucson clubs.

(L-R) Carl & Cheryl, Mona & Ron, Nancy & Paul, Bernie & Dottie

The festival continued for two more days. We never go to the workshops because we think two nights of dancing is enough, plus I am not too crazy about dancing the "boys" position, and they do that a lot at the workshops. Too confusing for me. Anyway, I love square dancing! You might say it's my passion. And we have some wonderful friends because of the twice-a-week dancing.

It's all about the petticoats. This is my favorite one! Any wonder?

"Weave the Ring!" Let the petticoats fly!

Square dancers come in all sizes. This was my "corner". Don't we make a cute pair?

Instead of dancing in the morning, we chose to go on a jet boat to see The London Bridge. It was a fun trip, a bit bumpy, but a better choice than gambling or sitting in the room watching TV. Plus we found a really good place for lunch. It's always about the food, isn't it?

So...how is that for a fun extended weekend?

THANK YOU, KATY! THANK YOU, KATY! THANK YOU, KATY! THANK YOU, KATY!

March 2009 Family Letter

Dear Family,

I was still in Burbank/Riverside the first two weeks in March helping Katy with the new baby and with their move into their first home. I arrived in Burbank on February 25th, the day Charlie Bell came home from the hospital. Then on the 28th they loaded up the moving van and headed to Riverside. Since Katy had had a C-section, she couldn't do much with the actual move itself. But then she had a sweet little nursing baby to take care of. I helped during the nights some and helped unpack and put things away. My goal was to have the whole house unpacked and put away before I came home. Most of it got done, but not all. And in the midst of all of that she had friends and family help with painting. They didn’t get their oven in until after I left, so I still did no cooking. They got new carpet the day they moved in. New windows came after I left also. And new counter tops. What a state of frenzy to be in with a brand new baby! But Katy is amazing! She has always been able to roll with the punches. If it were me I would have been in tears all the time, but not our Katy. I think they are just so thrilled to be in a real house after 11 years of marriage that they don’t even care about all the little trials. The house needed a lot of work, and it has really come together nicely thus far. We are going back for one day prior to Conference because Paul has a new client to meet in LA. I will be anxious to see the cupboards she painted black. She also painted the baby’s furniture black, and it wasn’t finished when I was there. Charlie has been sleeping in the fancy stroller; it’s just like a little bassinet. It will be nice to see the nursery all put together.

Cupboard doors are off...let the painting begin.

One little newborn baby girl cannot have too many pairs of shoes.

Look at Jim's proud face after installing his new kitchen fan.

Paul came on the 13th. It was our anniversary. 41 years! Katy and Jim gave us a gift certificate for The Cheese Cake Factory. We really enjoyed ourselves. I was going to stay an extra week because Jim was going to have to work double shifts for that week because a guy at his work was going to have a baby. But then the baby came early, and Jim’s mom and his sister were going to come, so I didn’t really need to stay after all. I flew over on a one-way ticket, but because Paul came I was able to drive back with him rather than get another one-way ticket. It all worked out nicely. I sure miss them though, especially that adorable little baby. If you are not on Face Book, you should be. Then you could see pictures of her. I blog but haven’t worked with it enough to know how to put the photos on there myself, but the kids have some posted. I need to work on that now that the Christmas trees are finally down and packed away. I know; and it’s only March.

I guess you don't have to be on facebook after all, however; Katy has been guiding me every step of the way getting this adorable picture on my blog.

I couldn’t have the trees still up in April, so I knew I had to take care of them as soon as I got home from Katy’s. But I was kind of pooped when I got home and didn’t get to them for a couple of days. And then I didn’t move very quickly because I had to dust them and reorganize the packaging . I finally finished two days ago. Yeah! That great room sure looks empty now. Very nice…but empty. It makes me just want to go down there and sit. Paul made a joke that if you stood in one spot in the kitchen you could see Christmas trees (3 table-top ones), Valentine’s Day Annalee’s and ornaments, St. Patrick’s Day Annalee’s and Easter Annalee’s…all in the same glance. Pitiful! I’m sure they will talk about that for the rest of my life, and after. Before I go to bed tonight or at the latest tomorrow I should go in and take town the Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day decorations. Then things would be normal…just the Easter decorations up…bonus to be up this early before the actual holiday.

Look closely...past the Christmas trees, to the right of the Easter bunny with the yellow boa, there appears to be a St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun on the table, and above it on the mantel are Valentine's Day decorations.

Yep, now you see them...decorations for the four holidays all in the same room at the same time. But aren't you proud of me for fessing up?

Now that the trees are down I can get back to reading and to some crocheting projects and cleaning/dunging projects. I’m excited about that.

I’m still clogging on Monday nights…still really loving it. I will do it at home instead of walking on the treadmill a lot of the times. It’s so much more fun. And we are still square dancing twice a week. Love it, love it. We’ve got another festival coming up the first week in April in Laughlin.

That’s it for this month.

Bigger than a Guppy

Last week was spring break for Ben's kids and so we wanted to do something with them during that time. We checked the weather conditions and it looked like Friday would be a perfect day for fishing...84 degrees. By Thursday it had turned windy and chilly, and we were afraid we were going to have to postpone. But come Friday it looked like a good fishing day. We are able to go to a little private pond that is owned by one of Paul's clients. One of the good parts about it is that it is only about five minutes from home. We picked the kids up around 12:30, bought worms, etc. and were fishing by 2:00. We only had Hannah and Harrison because Autumn had gone to Mexico with her other grandma. We threw out the first casts so their memories could be refreshed on how to do it; but after that they were totally on their own. When I kept saying, "Great cast!" I wasn't even trying to be nice...they really were great casts. Hannah caught the first fish...a great big bass. Then when she caught her second one she reeled and reeled, but when it got too heavy for her she just walked away from the pond, with the pole resting on her shoulder, dragging the fish out of the water. Oh, to have had a video going. Then sometime later Paul was able to hook one. After Harrison had been sitting on the dock for awhile he made the casual comment, "If you want to catch a fish, you have to be patient." Not too long after that his pole bent, and he reeled in his fish. What a great day...they both caught fish. I was the only one who didn't catch any, but it was still a great day. (I remember when Katy was little she said, "I really like to go fishing. I don't care if I catch anything or not; I just like to hold the pole.") We had told the kids that we would leave whenever they wanted to. After three hours they were saying things like "one more cast", "We have to stay until you catch one, Grandma." Finally Hannah said, "Uno mas." (One more.) And it was still about an hour before we headed to the car. They both made the comment that had they gone to Mexico they wouldn't have been able to go fishing. Now that's a successful grandparent/ grandchild day!

I Finally Finished Charlie's Afghan

When our children were born I crocheted each of them an afghan to be brought home from the hospital in, and also to be blessed in. (Never end a sentence with a preposition.) Anyway...so, of course I wanted to do the same thing for our grandchildren. I wanted the afghans to be different colors or patterns so they could tell them apart within their families. I chose white for Katy's first-born and got started months and months ago because I knew that with boutique and Christmas and other projects I had going, it would be tight, time-wise, in getting it finished by the time the baby was born. Before I added the border I measured it because it seemed awfully small. It was. I added more to the length, but that threw off the count for the border. I decided to set it aside and start all over with new yarn and a new pattern because that one had gotten too frustrating. I loved the new pattern and it was moving along nicely, but Charlie came early...instead of March 5th, she was born on February 10th. We had planned on going to a Square Dance Festival in Yuma the 13th-15th, which we did because there was no need for me to go and help Katy and the baby while they were still in the hospital. Since Katy had a C-section, and Charlie was in NICU, I still had some time to finish the afghan. I crocheted instead of taking down the Christmas tree ornaments, on the way to and from the Festival, on the way here to Burbank, while watching TV, etc. and finally finished it yesterday...one day before her original due date. Yeah!!!

February 2009 Family Letter

February 2009 Family Letter
Hi, Everyone!
Right now I am sitting on the floor in Katy’s apartment in Burbank, finally getting to the family letter. I probably should combine February and March this time.
I have been here a week now, helping with her new baby girl…Charlie Belle Clark. She weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz., and was 18 ¼ inches long. She was born on February 10th, but was in NICU for two weeks and a day. She had her share of problems because she was 26 days early, but she wasn’t a sick baby. She couldn’t figure out the nursing thing, but thanks to a breast shield, she now “gets it.” I’ll tell you what…the Turner kids sure know how to have beautiful babies…WOW!!! Charlie is adorable!!! And you should see her hair! dark, and tons of it, hangs over her onesie in the back. Spoken like a Grandma, right? But seriously, she is way cute!!! Usually I get foods cooked for future meals and get them in the freezer for my new-mother daughters, but Katy and Jim are moving and so all the pans, mixers, ingredients, etc. are packed away. So, I can’t clean; I can’t cook. All I can do is help with the baby. It’s a little slice of heaven. At first I slept at nights because Jim was helping with the baby, but now I help so that he can get some extra sleep since he has to go to work and I don’t. The reason it is good for me to help with the baby now is that Katy had to have a C-section and isn’t supposed to be doing any lifting. With the move they have to run a lot of errands, so I just stay home with the baby. It’s not a very good idea to take a new baby out in public at this age, so I am helping that way. One day they had to go into another town to sign on their house and were gone seven hours. Yesterday they were buying new locks, installing them, etc. and were gone about the same amount of time, and it would have been difficult to take the baby along. So I am glad I am here, able to help in this way. Katy and Jim keep apologizing, but it’s more of a bonus for me. I will stay at least one more week, hopefully through the move. If I need to stay longer, I will. This little grandchild makes number nine for us…every bit as special as the first. Funny how that works.
I’m doing a poor job of doing the “blogging” and “facebook” thing; I’ve got to get Katy to help me know how to put pictures up for all to see. Modern technology…gotta learn how to use it.
Over Valentine’s Day weekend we went to Yuma for a square dance festival. We are used to dancing with maybe six squares, on a good night, in our regular club, but Yuma’s festival had probably 60-80 squares. That’s a lot of petticoats. We had so much fun. There were several couples from our clubs, so it made it even more fun. It was nice to be able to go to a festival without having to travel very far. Yuma is only 3 ½ hours from us.
I am still trying to finish a crocheted afghan for Charlie. I have to take out rows and rows, but I finally got past the part where I couldn’t help making mistakes. Yeah! I am on the final row of the border now, so it won’t be long.
Well, that pretty much sums up my month.
Love and prayers to all, Nancy