It’s “Hey Rene J” Today!

To Grandmother’s house we go! However, we do not go with our horse-drawn sleigh. No, we will cross the plains in the “prairie whale,” our motor home. We are loaded and packed and ready to traverse 500 miles with the other road warriors! However, as I write this I realize I have totally forgotten we have a dog. So I’m not finished packing.

I will be driving during the day, which means we won’t see any “Christmas trees.” When I was a kid and my dad was driving at night, he’d see a semi-truck that was beautifully lit and call it a “Christmas tree.” That could be why I enjoy night driving – it is much prettier – and the sun is never in my eyes.

So for a few days there will be lots of laughs, noise, and electronic devices vying for “high-speed” internet access at my mother’s house. It’s possible I will be hampered in my ability to post some fantastic bit of trivia. Maybe we’ll have some guest bloggers? The mind reels with endless possibilities!

It would have been delightful to have a dream about a white Christmas, but mine was one of those back-to-school episodes! I wakened without a computer in my dorm room and no way to print a paper.

Now why would I dream about school? First of all, I was helping my neighbor, “Parsha,” move into her dorm room at college during my slumber. She had a boatload of furniture we had to wrangle, but her room was huge! It had a kitchen, office in the closet, and two televisions. Suddenly, I realized I should be getting my own space in order. That’s when I walked into the hall and realized I had no room, no computer, just some books. It dawned on me that I had no idea where my classes were being held or what they even might have been? I had to wake up. It was too stressful to try and remedy that situation in my sleep!

Thankfully, I am totally organized and stress-less as we head into Christmas week. I think. Even though I learned that our Chritmas cards will not arrive until after the 25th.

Peaceful tidings to all.

Maybe that was a hint? I should have gone to the Adoration Chapel before embarking on my baking today! I made a supreme mess.

First of all, I made my seven-minute peanut brittle, mostly because I burned the first batch and I couldn’t stand not having made it correctly. Apparently my microwave is too powerful. With one batch properly made, I made another, of course. If one is good, two is better!

However, when you get corn syrup all hot and sticky, it’s like a glue gun with webs flying everywhere…and the bowls do not clean up unless you soak them in hot water indefinitely. My countertop was sticky and the floor had remnants, too. Then once it’s set, breaking the brittle into edible pieces creates crackled crumbs on your newly cleaned countertop and floors. Thankfully the dog was handy.

Next, I had a ripe banana set aside for my cranberry bread. I kept asking my husband to buy bananas, which he did, and then my family had the audacity to eat them! I just needed one to ripen, which happened this morning. I baked that bread – even longer than necessary – and the center fell anyway.

Which leads me to ask why I even bothered when I have cookies, rum balls, and other yummy treats already? Oh, because it’s fun. And apparently I needed a few extra pounds to lose in the new year.

A short story by Ben Jenkins!

Around the time of 8 pm Tuesday, I had the distinct privilege of attending adoration at our local church. Our Lady of Loreto has been my home parish and music performance venue for the past 25 years of my life, and I’m quite attuned to its peak adoration hours. When to go, when not to go…

Anyway,

While sitting in adoration the idea formed in my consciousness that I should indeed, bake some bread! I wanted to bake! How serene, I thought to myself, and the idea grew into an action plan.

To make a long story short because this keyboard battery is dying, I will relate to you my recipe for bread that started as an idea and ended in the oven. If you’ve never baked bread from scratch, it’s wonderful.

Ingredients

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 2-1/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°)
• 3 tablespoons sugar plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 6-1/4 to 6-3/4 cups bread flour

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in warm water; let stand until bubbles form on surface. Whisk together remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, and 3 cups flour. Stir oil into yeast mixture; pour into flour mixture and beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough. 
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide dough in half. Shape each into a loaf. Place in 2 greased 9×5-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
• Bake at 375° until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped or has reached an internal temperature of 200°, 30-35 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Pro Tip: Be careful not to boil the yeast in water that’s too hot! Warm water is just perfect 🙂

Peace be with you! – Ben

Basic Homemade Bread

…being all techno-savvy over here and figuring out how to change photos and texts without the aid of my computer geek son or ultra-patient-figure-it-out husband. I didn’t even have to attend a WordPress session, which seems to be a continual invitation from my site administrators. (That’s probably the entirely incorrect wording, as I am the administration!)

While I was cleaning house here I also did a once-in-a-decade chore. I cleaned out the pen drawer.

How do they reproduce? I have a cheerful squiggle page of ink created from my testing of the pens. I have pens from a family reunion ten years ago, from my dad’s collection from the Co-op where he worked, from various banks or hotels from which I presumably pilfered them. And pencils! I do not use pencils, but somehow they showed up in the drawer along with six pads of post-it notes, which I do not use either.

I had seven emery boards, two metal nail files, two pair of clippers, and two pair of tweezers in there. I know personal grooming tools do not belong in the pen drawer, but somehow they procreate along with the pens. (The tweezers do come in handy with splinters and emergency jewelry repairs.)

And finally, as a tribute to the end of 2019, I nearly (operative word) finished my mending. It will be nice to have a new wardrobe again after having items sit on my sewing table all year. A clean pen drawer and rejuvenated clothing.

You have to have something to look forward to in a new year!

The administration of “heyrenejtoday.com” is going to implement a few changes. I hope. First of all – some questions answered for you.

Yes – I get your comments and I always respond. You have to go back to the original blog to see the response, however. It’s kind of a hassle, because who wants to go backwards?

Yes – sometimes my emails to myself even go to my spam folder! I don’t know how to fix that, just as I don’t know how to fix much of anything here. I will be attempting to change my cover photo though! Hopefully it will happen before 2020.

Yes – I will be logged off for a couple of days. I know you’ll miss the riveting updates for the next couple of days. Take advantage of the break to read a good book or learn a new word-of-the-day. Maybe ten jumping jacks could suffice? Write a Christmas card to someone? Send me details on the fun replacing this read.

Cheerio!

Today I had a fabulous day making 1,000 cookies with my daughter from 8:00 am until 8:30 pm. And I’m not even tired!

The end.

Well, I grew up with monthly sing-a-longs at my father’s parents. He had nine siblings who were super-musical, and we even had songbooks for our events. Everyone sang – regardless of ability. Most played piano or guitar, but all self-taught. Nine siblings equals at least 40 people once-a-month. Lots of love!

So…that is why you, my friends, are subjected to the annual Christmas “music party.” As creative as I could be, I have no better name for it. But it’s personal. I need to share music and have others appreciate music for the FUN of it! It’s just music which flows and flows whether you sing or listen! It doesn’t matter! I am happy for everyone who joins in and raucously adds their voices to the high points on “The First Noel,” “Do You Hear What I Hear,” and of course, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” And I love everyone who tolerates five verses of “Good King Wenceslaus.” I have no good explanation for why I love that one.

And, this is why we have cowbells – for fun. I am also equally grateful for those who hang out and renew friendships and have cheerful banter in the kitchen. I love both aspects and wish I could do both. Thus, I am looking for a new accompanist. (Well, I’ll keep playing, but I’d much rather sing. Applicants need only send an email.)

I love this evening. Everyone who attends just brings my childhood and family back to me. I can only hope you take something home, too.

My story starts with me figuring out the whole Santa joy – but my parents delighting in deception anyway! To their credit, they had three below me who needed to be kept in Santa mode, and they needed me to keep my trap shut. (Bribery apparently wasn’t an option then.)

I was pretty prepared to blow it when we went to look at Christmas lights one Christmas Eve. As we were pulling out of the driveway, my mom had to quickly run to the restroom. We all waited in the car for her and when she returned, we proceeded to look at lights.

Of course, upon returning home, Santa had arrived! How in the world did that happen? Santa never came until the morning – ever!? This was not the norm! How did he know we would be gone? Pretty clever on the mom/pop scale.

I kept my mouth shut – I think. However, it’s possible my brother has a story to go with this one and I may be “mis-remembering” my stoic silence. Either way, this will be a good topic for your Christmas dinner conversation!

If you are under the age of eight, do not read this.

Approximately 21 years ago, I was coming home from singing with the choir at Midnight Mass. This puts me in the house around 2:30 am, where I am charged with delivering Santa’s presents. This wouldn’t have been too difficult, except my husband had instituted the “Let’s-sleep-by-the-fireplace-and-catch-Santa” scheme. So he and the kids were right in front of the delivery chamber, and I was dragging gifts wrapped in crinkly paper to place ever-so-quietly around them.

Up pops my daughter, age seven. “Mom! Mom! Is that you?” Caught. “Mom, is that you? Are you Santa Claus?”

“Shhhh. We’ll talk in the morning. Go to sleep.”

Of course she remembers the highly anticipated revelation the next day and confronts me. “Mom, I saw you. Mom, are you Santa Claus?” Well, I’m not too good at lying when I don’t have a really good back-up story! I said I was, and her next question, “Does that mean you are the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, too?” Geez!

I turned and said, “Yes, but now you know what that means? It means YOU get to be the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy for your brother!” One problem solved and received with great joy. But how to be quiet from here on out?

I ran a noisy fan by the fireplace the following year so no one could hear me. S-u-c-c-e-s-s!