“You should enter some of your peppers in the fair.”
Julie with her bike at the Chickasha county fair
The county fair.
When I was in fifth grade I performed a baton routine at the Grady County Fair in Chickasha,Oklahoma. That same night I won a ten-speed bike that I really wasn’t able to ride comfortably for about five more years. It didn’t matter that my mom bought all of the tickets that she was supposed to sell. I had won. It was a fabulous night.
The memory of that fabulous night was all it took to peak my interest and begin a perpetual thinking cycle this past week. Here’s what happened…
Our local extension agent and his wife were attending a party at my house, and we were touring my garden. He innocently suggested that I participate in the local county fair. My mind started spinning like a Ferris wheel.
With Christmas fast approaching I am going to deviate from our usual Stockyards City Cookbook recipe and share a favorite family recipe with you.
If you are like me you are close to panic mode. Christmas is just around the corner, there is shopping to be done, presents to be wrapped, baking, cleaning and in my case – decorating the house. Yep, you read that right! It is the 16th of December and this self proclaimed “Mrs. Claus” has not decorated her house yet. I waited too late to get a real tree so I drug the fake one out of the attic. My husband took it downstairs for me, put it together and plugged it in. Let’s just say it is going to take a lot of work to get that tree ready for decorations! So rather than work on the Christmas tree I decided to start my baking. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen so I decided to make a quick, easy recipe that my grandmother always made. I’m sure it has an official name but we call it Nana’s Graham Cracker Treats. If you need a quick treat to take to a party or even a cookie exchange this can be whipped up in no time at all.
Nana’s Graham Cracker Treats
Loyce Robinson
2 pkgs. of Graham Crackers (1/2 box)
1 C. Brown Sugar
1 3/4 sticks Margarine (1 stick plus 6 T of margarine)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 C. chopped Pecans (optional)
Last week, I wrote a post beginning my answer to a common question I receive in my academic or therapeutic role. That question is, “What book would you recommend for couples experiencing (enter any category) issue?” or, “I’m going to buy a good book for (x) couple, what do you recommend?” I decided to break the answer down into the top five “couples issues” areas I hear about most frequently, and first begin by addressing the “core three.” I named these as: parenting, financial struggles, and sex/intimacy. In my first post, I covered book recommendations and some discussion over parenting and finances. Today I’m going to talk about sex and intimacy issues, and then move into topic number four: developing yourselves as individuals within a marriage or relationship.
Sex or Intimacy Issues
To begin, let me just say that couples all seem to have their own strength areas within their relationship. I’ve spent a good amount of time with some couples who excel at sex and/or intimacy together, but have multiple challenges in other areas. However, I’ve seen just the opposite as well. Some couples I know are excellent at parenting as a team, managing their finances as a team, and seem to otherwise (at least from those on the outside) have a strong and capable relationship. But when it comes to intimacy (sharing vulnerabilities and deep-felt support) or sex, some of the seemingly greatest “power couples” run into problems. A lot of problems.
Many of these intimacy and sex related problems have to do with trust, or strong patterns developed from their own families of origin. I’ll cover these problems in the last entry. Some challenges, however, are simply a matter of thinking, learning, growing or communicating, becoming comfortable with each other and asking for (and meeting) needs. And many are simply the result of leading overscheduled lives in a stressful environment.
I can’t quite remember what I got for Christmas last year. Or the year before. And definitely not the year before that.
In fact, for the most part I can’t remember what I got for Christmas for the last ten years. (No offense to my husband I promise.) I can however, remember what I got for Christmas when I was six years old.
You see, those gifts changed my life. I remember finding them in my mother’s closet…
I had waited until she was asleep on the couch to go poking through her room. I knew my presents were in there because she had forbidden me from setting foot anywhere near her small closet about a week before. I might have been six, but I wasn’t an idiot; something was hiding in there.