A Recipe for Chocolate Lovers

OK I have to confess....  I love Chocolate. I have a stash of chocolate recipes that I figure I might as well share. So here goes with the first installment. I've made an image that you can download and print up so that it will make a sort of recipe card. Make sure you click "print to fit page" if you have that option on your printer. I also will provide a copy and paste version too, after the image.

Chocolate Brownie Trifle 

Utensils needed

13x9 pan
trifle or glass bowl
mixer

Ingredients

2 brownie mixes made according to directions on box
2 16 ounce containers of whipped topping or homemade whipped cream
2 boxes of chocolate mousse mix made according to package directions
6-8 bars of chocolate toffee bars, such as Skor or Heath bars
1 large chocolate bar for chocolate shavings

Recipe

Freeze the chocolate toffee bars and chocolate bar.
Bake two packages of brownie mixes according to package directions. Let cool.
While brownies are baking, mix two packages of the mousse mix according to package directions.

Let chill in refrigerator.

After brownies have cooled, scrape or crush the brownies until they are crumbly. Put a layer of brownies in the trifle or glass bowl. Next, put a layer of chocolate mousse on top, being sure to spread it evenly over the brownies. Spread the whipped topping on top of the mousse. Take the toffee bars out of the freezer and crush them. Sprinkle the crushed chocolate toffee bars on top of the whipped topping. Continue layering in this way until you finish with a layer of whipped topping. Take the chocolate bar from the freezer and use a vegetable peeler to peel some chocolate curls from the chocolate bar. Sprinkle the chocolate curls on top of the whipped topping.

If you have any toffee pieces left you can sprinkle those on top too.

Enjoy!

Poetry

I'm feeling like writing some poetry.

Retirement

When is one really IN the golden years?
Is it when the grandchildren are grown?
Or is it when life simply shifts gears?
A slower pace with a more peaceful tone.
Why can't this exist when one is young?
Could we not look back with less 
Must we stress on every ladder rung?

Arrived in LA tonight

We made it-- got in to LA tonight after a lovely train ride down the Oregon and California coast.

I will make a slide show with some of the shots we got on our train trip, but this post is about the period of time right after we got our luggage at the baggage claim.

At the LA train station tonite Joel had to go get the rental car at LAX, so I  heaped our stuff on a cart as Joel left for LAX.  I went out the front entrance to wait for him, (it was two hours before he was able to get back to the train station). When I got out there with my very large pile of stuff on the luggage cart, I found that a movie was being filmed at the entrance to the station.

I was really tired and sincerely hoping I could find a place to sit down in spite of all the commotion. So I was waiting to get through the crowds that were watching. The movie crew stopped filming when they saw me waiting, in order to help me through the set. With very red face, I tried to get out of there as fast as possible- but couldn't see very well because of the heap of luggage... & so I accidentally rolled my luggage cart right over the toes of what seemed to be a guide dog hiding under a bench. He was apparently being filmed as part of the movie. Fortunately he was not injured but I still wanted to find a hole to crawl into. Thought I'd share loll!

A quick post with a new slide show...

OK we are in Montana tonight... and the scenery has been awesome!

(To give you an idea-- Joel and I have taken over 1300 photos since we left Raleigh on Saturday!)  The slideshows will only take 100 photos so I had to create another one. This one has about 50 photos and should accomodate the ones that we will take tomorrow as well. Let me tell you-- North Dakota and Montana are AWESOME!!!


Here is the slide show...

ENJOY!!

Westward we go...

Saturday we started out from Raleigh NC (our son's storage unit was there) to take household goods to our son and his wife in Washington State. I am creating a slide show with all the pictures from our travels.

The pictures aren't the best-- most are taken as the truck is tootling down the interstate so there is blurring, especially in the foreground. But they serve as a record of the states we've been in. We missed the "Welcome" sign for both Indiana and South Dakota, so we've been through 9 states so far: North Carolina (start) Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota.

Here is the slide show of some of the things we have seen so far. It's bee n a lot of fun -- just Joel and I :-)!

Heading west again :-)

Saturday we started out from Raleigh NC (our son's storage unit was there) to take household goods to our son and his wife in Washington State. I am creating a slide show with all the pictures from our travels.

The pictures aren't the best-- most are taken as the truck is tootling down the interstate so there is blurring, especially in the foreground. But they serve as a record of the states we've been in. We missed the "Welcome" sign for both Indiana and South Dakota, so we've been through 9 states so far: North Carolina (start) Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota.

Here is the slide show of some of the things we have seen so far. It's bee n a lot of fun -- just Joel and I :-)!

Something from my email...

I received this in an email today- I thought it was appropriate for Father's Day,  (even though a day late!) beautiful and worth thinking about.

On Children
 Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may

house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Just a quick post...

I received this in an email today- I thought it was appropriate for Father's Day (even though a day late!). I thought it was beautiful and worth thinking about. Have a great week everybody!

On Children
 Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

 

A group project completed!

I am sorry I have been lazy and not posting lately. It's been a busy month.  Tonight I finished a group project that was designed to lift the spirits of a friend that has been diagnosed with cancer.

Friends from around the world sent squares or (images of squares that I printed on transfer paper and ironed onto fabric). I sewed them all together and then sewed that large block onto fleece. I then did the cut and tie fringe with that fleece and another for the back. It came out really nice -- tomorrow I will get it in the mail. I hope it gives our friend a boost! I will be sending a pillow next week as there was someone I did not get the email from until tonight. I felt very badly but she was very understanding about it.

Here are some pictures.

This is the blanket - it is about the size of a standard "throw".

The squares "up close".

Here is a link to the rest of the pictures if anyone would like to see.