What's for Supper?

The best made plans of mice and men......

2010-05-12T21:07:00.007-05:00

May 6th at the end of the day around 10:30 PM, Chad is still out with our tractor and planter finishing up the last field of beans.

Beginning to wrap things up and put them away.

Dave Horras brought up his JD tractor and planter from Millersburg about 20-25 miles away

Dave cleaning the beans out of the planter

Too often we think that we know what plans we have made, but that can be changed so quickly. Two weeks ago Charlie started getting these severe gut aches. This is a man who only goes to the doctor to get his ears cleaned out.

But after a couple of days of pain he went to the doctor who scheduled a colonoscopy, thinking he was dealing with a bad case of diverticulitus. So he made an appointment for May 10th. The next day he called them back and said - can't wait that long. They decided he needed to come in for a catscan. That was on a Thursday. Put him on antibiotics. Friday he went back to the doctor on Friday, still in pain. Told him to take something to clean out the barium from the catscan.

So on Friday he took this stuff. Nothing, now he was getting concerned so we went to the ER on Sunday AM. He was completely plugged and still hurting. More tests on Monday and was determined the blockage was not diverticulitus, but a tumor.

They would have done surgery on Thursday, but Charlie asked if there was anyway he could by some time???? to get his beans planted and "To get his ducks in a row" The surgeon gave him till May 11th. and put him on a steroid to shrink the tumor - it worked. Charlie went home and with the help of Dave Horras, Garry Smith, Bob Baerg, Kenny Folkmann, Andy Kloppenburg, and son-in-law Chad, all of the beans were planted by May 6th.

AWANA, AWANA, I wanna go to AWANA - It's a family affair!

2010-05-12T20:39:00.006-05:00

On the same night of Ally and Drew's AWANA awards Kaylee and Lauryn had their awards night in Omaha, too. Kaylee and Drew both finished their books and graduated from Cubbies. Ally almost finished 2 books this year!

Tana just wants to play with the bulletin

Drew was in Cubbies and will go to Sparks next year.

Ally on awards night at their AWANA in Iowa City (note the new look of hot pink glasses!)

One of my Sparkies on a crazy hair night - Lizzie Greene

Easter Bunny hid some eggs at the Klaassen Farm

2010-05-12T11:01:00.001-05:00

Chris's 31st Birthday April 15th

2010-05-12T10:32:00.006-05:00

Make a Wish!

Chris also requested no cake - but Farmer Nick's Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Who says girls can't play with cowboys and indians

Chris requested I bring some matchbox cars and plastice cowboys and indians and horses that he played with when he was ..................younger.

April 1st a time for family and saying good-bye

2010-05-11T19:14:00.014-05:00

The funeral was April 1st and all of Dad's 13 Grandchildren made it home from the uttermost parts of the earth. We sang praises to our Lord and King and I wonder if Dad was singing with us!

James Walker , Jody Smith, and Shane Walker

First Cousin - Ted Burden and Dad's sister, Doris Burden

Nathan and Karrie Smith

Joe and Christine Totten

Tana Rae Willis

Nathan and ????Della or Shiolh

Kimberly Walker and Christine Totten

Chris and Shelly Doubleday

Charlie and Uncle Floyd-Dad's youngest brother

Brenda Jason Rachel

Brenda, Kim, Shelly, Debbie, Jane, Renae, Karrie

Rhonda Dean Linda Ken

Happiness and Sadness in the same day

2010-05-11T17:18:00.008-05:00

March 26th was Tana Rae's first birthday and March 27th was Ally's 7th. The day was to be filled with a party, but an early morning telephone call changed the day. Dad went to see Jesus. Even as I write it brings sadness to my heart, but he was so ready to go, his body was giving out on him, was basically blind. Ally will have the memory that Great Grandpa Melvin went to heaven on her birthday.

Precious moments with Dad/Grandpa

2010-05-11T17:03:00.005-05:00

Dad was given 3-6 months since they found cancer on his liver and pancreas. He lost his appetite and lost alot of weight. His mind was good, but he just got weaker as the days passed.

2010-05-11T16:48:00.003-05:00

Sometimes Charlie got a little aggressive with his snow removal and the "big dogs" had to be called in to pull him out.

A Long hard winter with lots of snow

2010-05-11T14:55:00.002-05:00

Charlie felt like all he did all winter was move snow. With three farms to take care of and two of them have loooong lanes, it was an unending job

Christmas 2009

2010-05-11T14:07:00.011-05:00

Jason modeling his underware of compassion (inside joke)

Charlie and Drew(Grandpa's boy) chill'n

No Rachel that is not where your new undies go.

Chad Kaylee Ally and Lauryn

Tana banana (as Brenda says)

Chris Amy and Lauryn

Always look forward to Christmas, but this year was the "off" year when all the kids go to the other side for Christmas. They were all home for New Years. Our 15X15 living room gets a little overwhelmed with all the warm bodies and boxes and wrapping paper!

Happy Birthday Dad

2010-05-11T13:37:00.003-05:00

Long time no write. Who says that when the nest is empty, you'll have more time. Phooey, forgot to say.... but you move slower, so you still don't get things done.

Been a strange last few months. In December my father, got very jaundice and ended up in the hospital to unplug some bile ducts. But the sad news is that it was some growths that were clogging them up. The stints worked though and he was able to celebrate his 90th Birthday December 13th.

Throwing Eggs at Grandpa's Pigs

2009-11-09T17:13:00.004-06:00

No- they are old eggs......Ancient eggs. A traditions at the Klaassen house. Egg throwing at trees and pigs!

Making a "kraft" - Turkeys

2009-11-09T16:21:00.003-06:00

Phew - a fun weekend

2009-11-09T15:44:00.004-06:00

Lauryn loves to dress up - only thing I had was one of Rachel's flower girl dresses from Debbie's wedding - just a few years ago!

Yikes don't strangle the kitty.

Kaylee named the kitty Katrina.

Lauryn (LaLa) Played the piano and organ alot this weekend.

Pretty.

I know, I'm a delinquent on my What's for Supper? I'm just too busy or getting really slow. The latter probably. This weekend Chris and the girls came home while Amy went to a conference in Minnesota. Never a dull moment. And then on Saturday Brenda's and Rachel joined in. Chris helped with the harvest and the girls and I did "krafts." Sunday Chris and the girls and I went to visit Grandpa Melvin for the afternoon. Grandpa and Chris got caught up on the latest and Chris heard a long time ago story he had not heard before. We really should tape those stories of his life events. Alot of things have happened over the last ninety years!

Aloha Spare Ribs

2009-10-08T09:43:00.005-05:00

I thought I would share my recipe for Aloha Spare Ribs. I like Country Style Pork Ribs the best. They're cut so they have lots of meat on them.

3 lbs. Country Style Pork Ribs
1 envelope dry onion soup
1/4 tsp pepper
Water to cover half way

Sauce:
1/2 C diced onion
1/2 sliced green pepper
1/3 C vinegar
1-20 0z can of pineapple tidbits undrained
1-15 oz can of tomatoe sauce
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp dry mustard

Bake ribs in covered roaster at 350 degrees
for 1 1/4 hour. Drainoff liquid. Add sauce and
continue baking for 45-50 minutes longer. Basting
a couple of times.

Ummm, Yummm, as Rachel says, just let me eat
the sauce!

What's for Supper?

2009-10-07T09:39:00.004-05:00

After watching Julie and Julia(which I enjoyed thoroughly), I have thought about doing a "What's for Supper?" Blog. When Pat Link worked here, that was one of things we would say to each other toward the end of the day. We would get ideas and recipes from each other. I love to cook and that was actually my dream, to be a Home Ec Major and work in the Better Homes and Garden test kitchen. Sad to say, I did not graduate from Iowa State, and ended up in an office for the last 26 years. C'est la vie. Coulda Woulda Shoulda.

So here I go - What's for Supper? Yesterday I put some not-such-high-quality beef ribs with onion soup in the oven (pork ribs much better) and when I came home, drained off the broth and made Aloha Spare Ribs added to that we had garlic mashed potatoes (amazingly enough, yes, real potatoes) and green beans with mushroom soup and ff onions. TIP: Ever since Rachel got me this gadget from pampered chef to chop up my hamberger, I found that it works really slick at making chunky garlic mashed potatoes.

Tonight??? Meatballs in mushroom soup w/sour cream over noodles and a lettuce salad.

Cash for clunkers - One Way Willie

2009-10-05T01:02:00.004-05:00

In June we traded in our 2007 Impala for a 2008 Toyota Sienna van. What? Yep, the Grandma Mobile. Laugh all you want - I love it. Our whole family went to the Dells on a very cold weekend in July and Chad and Rachel comfortably rode with us. But the story does not end there. Less than a month later "Cash for Clunkers" came out. Rats. Go figure. We have several clunkers that would qualify for the $4500, but you still have to buy a new vehicle.

We tried to find a 3/4 ton truck, but Charlie did not want to spend the money. Sooooooo, two months old and we traded in our clunker and van for a 2010 Sienna. Call us crazy. Don't know that we came out smelling like a rose on the deal - but the clunker which we called One Way Willie (no reverse) is no longer sitting back by the grain bins. The story of getting this clunker to Des Moines is a good one. Another time.

This is not a corn maze

2009-10-05T00:38:00.005-05:00

Almost a month ago, one of our landlords came to the house all upset. "Did you see - someone drove thru your corn last night. " So Charlie went to check it out. No, this is not a corn maze- well I guess it is in a sense. Charlie talked to the neighbor who said, I don't know who it was, but it was a loud little pickup that went barreling thru the yard around 11PM. Hmmmm. Our other neighbor, who has no driver's license because of his drinking problem, has a loud little pickup. So Charlie went to check it out and sure enough his pickup had corn stalks still underneath the truck and some soybeans, too. That's not good. So Charlie got a measuring wheel and measured off around 2000+ feet by 9 feet of our Iowa gold mowed down. He took the keys out of the pickup and told his boss to have him come talk to Charlie after work. He did and he found out that having fun is expensive. But he is making payments weekly, and we still have his keys and truck.

Pigtucky Derby

2009-10-05T00:27:00.004-05:00

While we were in Omaha we took in the Pumpkin Farm on opening day. We went to the Pigtucky Derby and Kaylee was chosen to go up and "root" on the pig with the pink bandana and she won. The prize - A Pig Nose. Made Grandpa Charlie proud.

Lauryn is 2!

2009-10-05T00:17:00.005-05:00

Blow out the candle Lauryn. And she huffed

she puffed and finally blew that candle out!

2009-10-04T23:55:00.005-05:00

I have alot of catching up to do. Lauryn turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and she is a dolly. She loves "dress up", and usually is running around with a Princess dress on.

2009-10-04T23:50:00.000-05:00

2009-10-04T23:22:00.004-05:00

Ok, this is my first posting, and I will update you on our exciting on the farm life. It is harvest time and the rain is a slow'n Charlie down. He has no problem finding other things to do. If we spent the rest of our living days going thru all the "junk" we have accumultaed, we would have to live out to the full 120 years! Brenda keeps telling me - Mom, please don't leave us(the kids) with this mess to clean up. Hmmmmm. Probably will.

Tonight we made our weekly trek to Newton to visit my Dad in the nursing home. He will be 90 in December. (Need to plan a party for that) He is nearly blind and gets very disoriented because if he falls asleep and then wakes up, he can't figure out where he is at or what time it is, and there is no one there to ask. His mind is good, but I am afraid that the little contact he has thru out the week, his inability to walk and use his hands, and blindness is really taking a toll on him.

How does it look?

2009-09-11T14:06:00.001-05:00

DO YOU LIKE IT MOM!?!?!?!?!