Our Popcorn Ball Tradition!

When I was a child I remember a little old lady up the road from where I grew up give out home-made popcorn balls every Halloween to those who visited her house for "trick-or-treating". They were delicious, about the size of an adult fist wrapped in clear wrap tied with a ribbon. This was about 40 years ago when we didn't worry about getting homemade goodies in our trick or treat bag in fear of drugs or sharp objects hidden inside.

About ten years ago as I was sharing memories with my own children, I had a flashback of this fond memory. I searched my Betty Crocker Cookbook (1982 printing) for a recipe that sounded like what we would get from the little old lady up the street. I found "Caramel Popcorn Balls" and believe I found a close match if not the same recipe!

I started a tradition of making Popcorn Balls in the month of October & only in the month of October. This tradition was unintended the first year, but has become a family favorite as the years have passed. This year, my 9 year old was quick to ask me on October 1, "mom, can we make popcorn balls, today?"... and that's what we did! (in the past week and a half, I've made three separate batches.)

Caramel Popcorn Balls

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup butter (1 cube)

1 teaspoon salt

21-28 cups of popcorn (about 3-4 regular sized micro-popped corn; each popped bag yields about 7 cups of popcorn)

Directions

Pop popcorn. *(I use two different bowls to sort the popcorn; one to initially dump the newly popped corn into, then a second to transfer the popcorn by hand over to ensure any unpopped seed get left in the first bowl. No one wants to break a tooth on a popcorn kernel!)

Heat brown sugar, dark corn syrup,butter and salt in 4-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, at medium heat. Bring to a boil and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and wait about 1 minute to add to popcorn. Drizzle over the top and stir completely. Cool slightly.

Dip both hands in a bowl of cold ice water until very cold; lightly pat dry on dish towel.

Shape mixture into 2-3 inch balls. Place on waxed paper; cool completely.

Store wrapped individually in plastic wrap or in plastic sandwich bags; tie bags to seal. For a seasonal touch, I add halloween stickers to the outside of the wrapped popcorn ball.

Enjoy!!!

The Power of NOW~ MEMORY VERSE #19

The Lord has been working on me lately in the area of putting things off. I know I'm not a procrastinator by nature, but lately I've been challenged in not prioritizing certain things and falling back on the excuse, "I can do it tomorrow". My "tomorrows" have strung in to a long list of sad yesterdays. Can you relate?

My next memory verse for Oct. 1-15 is Deuteronomy 30:11. This verse will remind me that the things God has called me to do to serve Him, He commands me to obey Him NOW, and TODAY (not tomorrow or yesterday). It's like giving Him the gift of my time and sense of urgency in His kingdom priorities; being more God-centered than self-centered. He gives me power and encouragement through Scripture in obeying Him now and today... and, there's blessing behind every act of obedience- I know it and EXPECT IT!

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. (emphasis mine) DT 30:11 (NIV) SSMT #19

Getting dressed... MEMORY VERSE #17 & #18

Having just spent the last 10 weeks camped out in the "Beatitudes", it's a new day to be moving to another area of Scripture that God has laid on my heart to memorize.

5... All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud

but shows favor to the humble.”

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:5-7 (NIV)
SSMT #17 & #18

I love the visual of "clothing" myself every morning with humility (putting others first) so that I may receive a fresh dose of favor from God (in other Bible translations "favor" is translated, "grace" or "blessing"). We all need His amazing grace! Verses 6 and 7 remind me to simply, "let go, let God". My study Bible states: "Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don't submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls the circumstances."

These verses come at such an appropriate time; not only do they minister to me in my everyday life application, but they are also nuggets of encouragement to keep reminding my hubby Kirk as he transitions from his military career to civilian. Kirk has been a bit anxious with leaving the familiar routine of flying in the Navy to the unknowns of what lies ahead. He himself is filling his mind with verses about trusting God and not being anxious which has helped him stay focused on God's plan for him and be at peace. Kirk is officially out of the Navy October 1, and has been blessed with a new (temporary) flying job; Kirk is in training for this new job right now flying special missions out of the country for chunks of time (OEF). He is thankful God has provided a temporary job, but this was not the job he had in mind or dreamed of upon getting out of the Navy. Kirk and I hold onto God's promise in Jeremiah 29:11. Please keep Kirk in your prayers as the Lord might bring him to your mind, that he trusts God's plans for his flying career, that he is at peace with what lies ahead and remembers to DAILY, "let go, let God. "

Graduation, Birthday, & Retirement...

Family Updates~ Summer 2011

Where has the summer gone... it seems like it was just May, and now it's already August! I reflect on the summer 2011 that has been filled with many memories, fun times, and life changes.

Our oldest, Kelsie, Graduates from High School with honors!

May 2011

Kelsie graduates as Salutatorian with friend Cassidy, Valedictorian. (Their High School had approximately 250 graduating Seniors)

Kelsie did awesome on her speech. She didn't share what she was going to say with us until we heard it first hand at the graduation; her speech was heart warming and God honoring. We are so proud of her and the woman she is becoming.

Kelsie's Grandma and Grandpa came from Oregon state to share in her special occasion!

Joe, our youngest, turns 7!!! July 9.

Fun Times at the Beach!

Kelsie and Jessie have morbid fun. (hint: one big hole, one smaller hole, and just the perfect camera angle)

...feeding the seagulls is always fun.

Kirk and I celebrated our 23 wedding anniversary this summer...

Can you believe we met on a blind date in the summer of 1983 and have been together ever since!

(a total of 28 years)

First Day of School, July 18th.

Jessie (4th grade), Joe (2nd grade), Andrew (10th grade)

Kelsie not pictured, will be starting college classes August 24.

Our little fixer upper house is surrounded by farm fields; this season the harvest is cotton! We took a bunch of pictures to include one in this year's Christmas cards.

Kirk ends his 20 year military career with his last flight as a Navy Pilot/Flight Instructor on July 22. The last flight is called a "Finny Flight".

Kirk ends his Navy career in a TC-12 with a total of over 5,500 multiengine flight hours.

His multiengine time as a Navy Pilot also includes flying the P-3 and T-34.

The tradition of a finny flight is to water down the pilot as he departs the plane; usually with a fire hose as we did here. As his family, we took the honor to hose him!

Another tradition is to spray the pilot down with champaign. Kirk's Navy buddies did this honor.

After all the hoopla outside, we went to the hanger for a simple retirement ceremony. Kirk's "official" retirement is October 1, but since this was his "finny flight", he opted to have his ceremony at this point to include his Navy buddies from the Reserve Department.

Kirk is honored by his Squadron~ he receives several certificates, a Meritorious Service Medal, a Photo Board signed by his Navy buddies, and this very neat shadow box.

We all got certificates of recognition, but the man of honor is Kirk Roman Wymore!

We are so proud of you, Kirk.

Now that Kirk is retiring from the Navy, his hope is to continue to fly as a civilian pilot (God providing the perfect flying job for him). We also hope to invest in rental properties and possibly a couple flip houses.

Remodeling our "fixer upper" has consumed much of our time in between our family events this summer. The day after Kirk's "finny flight" (Sat, July 23) we began demolition on our kitchen which has turned into a project much like a full-time job! ...thank goodness Kirk is on paid vacation for the next couple month so we can work on the house full time!

In two truck loads we discarded our entire kitchen (minus the appliances which are all in new & good condition and will be re-used). Renovation Updates- "AFTER" pictures on Living Room, Hallways, Dining Room and Kitchen will be posted on this blog soon.

Kelsie getting ready for her road trim to College; she willll be attending Lee University in Tennessee. God blessed Kelsie (and us, her parents) with a "Centennial Scholarship" (full tuition paid for qualifying ACT test score). Kelsie has also been accepted in the Lee Honors Program (1 of 22 students out of 900 incoming freshman). Kelsie plans to explore the Medical and Christian Ministries fields- double majoring in Health Sciences to someday become a PA and also in Spanish, minor in Theology.

...getting her bedroom packed up.

will it all fit in her car? It's a tight fit, for sure!

Tennessee or BUST~ Kelsie and her Dad hit the road early (6:30 am) Wednesday for a long 2 days of driving. Kirk will attend parent orientation and several other events while Kelsie registers for classes, meets her new room-mate, and gets settled in her new college life. Kirk will fly home Sunday morning.

Kelsie loves her new school already!

Classes for our new College Freshman begin August 24, 2011.

MEMORY VERSE #16

My #15 verse for Aug 1-15 is (Matthew 5:11 NIV)... “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Verse #16 for August 15-31 is a continuation of #15... (Matthew 5:12 NIV) Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This concludes memorizing the Beatitudes. I will focus on living them out in my everyday life... Thank you, Lord!

SSMT #16

MEMORY VERSE #15

Matthew 5:11

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. (NIV)

SSMT verse #15

MEMORY VERSE #14

Happy Day Everybody!
For some reason, this year has been harder to stay focused on things. I'm pulled in many different directions and "distracted" has felt like my middle name. No matter how out of focus I "feel", one thing is for sure, I will do my best to stay faithful to my Lord.

Here it is already mid July, and I'm happy to be still on track with this year's challenge to plant God's Word in my heart with Beth Moore and thousands of other Siesta around the world. We are memorizing a new verse every two weeks (on the 1st and the 15th) and doing our best to live them out in our everyday lives. For verse #14, I'm moving on towards the end of the Beatitudes!

"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom." (MSG)

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (NIV)

SSMT Verse #14

Beatitudes Continue... MEMORY VERSE #13

Matthew 5:9 (NIV)
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.

I love the Message translation of this verse:
"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family."

SSMT #13

I want to be a "PEACEMAKER"!

This verse reminded me of a sermon years ago where the Pastor shared the difference between "peacekeepers" and "peacemakers". As I "googled" the topic, I found this web site that helps communicate the difference as I remember the Pastor of my church had done. If you have time to peak, check out THIS SITE for more insight.

MEMORY VERSE #12

...continuing on with the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5:8

You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. (MSG)

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. (NIV)

SSMT #12

Master Bedroom Re-Do

My blogging on our Home Renovation progress has been quiet these days, mostly because the progress has been slow going and fragmented. Since November 2010 (over the past 6 months), Kirk and I have been working simultaneously on about 6 different areas of the house - a little bit here, there, and everywhere- very hit and miss! It has been a bit overwhelming and getting ANYTHING FINISHED with these six areas has felt like a far distant dream. There have been weeks where we are unable to work on any remodel projects because family and life events take priority; the kids have kept us busy with their school activities. Summer is here, and we're getting some time to press forward and get things done.

I'm thrilled to report that several areas ARE getting "FINISHED" (finally!) ... enough for me to blog before and after pictures which is like a "closure" of the project.

Here is our newly renovated MASTER BEDROOM:

BEFORE

Notice the window air conditioner unit? The previous owners used this to help cool this room on top of the regular central air that worked for the entire house. Three of the four walls in this room are hit directly by the south Texas sun most of the day and like the whole house, this room did not have any insulation in the walls, not to mention the single pan windows with poor caulking; it got VERY HOT & STUFFY in the summer.

DEMO

Joe loves to pound on the walls and demo! - even in his Sponge Bob P.J.'s! All drywall in this room had to be removed.

... a place where there at one time used to be a window! We found two other previous window openings that had once existed on the opposite wall. This room once had 5 different windows (three now covered by wall)! I wonder if it used to be a sun room at one time years ago?

R13 insulation in the whole room! ...and the brown door? It's getting replaced!

Here's the AFTER of this particular corner~ we have kept the walls all white to help it feel like a bigger room, crisp and fresh. And we love the new door!

MORE DEMO and repair... from another angle.

AFTER~

After adding insulation, we finished the walls with 1/2" drywall covered in "bead board" panels. To trim off the room we added crown moulding and over sized baseboards.

This Master Bedroom is smaller than what we're used to (because it's an older house), but we've managed to fit our things in it and make it nice and cozy.

Quilt set from The Company Store.

New bedroom carpet (professionally installed) meets up with our laminate wood floor (Kirk and Teri installed) from the hall area outside the master.

Close-up showing the bead board and crown. This room originally did not have any trim around the ceiling, so this crown and corner pieces are a nice added detail. The windows are new energy efficient double paned windows with 2" Bali (faux wood) mini blind.

MEMORY VERSE #11

MATTHEW 5:7

You're blessed when you care.
At the moment of being 'care-full,'
you find yourselves cared for. (MSG)
~same verse in NIV translation...
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy. (NIV)

SSMT #11