New Year's Resolutions for 2011

1. Drink water
2. Exercise, not just in my mind or in my day planner
3. Complete my second Master's degree in Educational Administration
4. Meet new, fascinating people
5. Read 12 books for personal enrichment 

Christina Shepard at Barnes and Nobles, my students spent $4,000 this year.

6. I am already a wonderful wife and mother, now I need to be wonderful to myself more often.

Cubbie, hubbie and friends at pre-New Year's Fondue party.

7. Increase my charitable donations
8. Improve my golf, tennis and bridge game
9. Ride my horses every week
10. Go to poet's night more often

CSR

Family Top Ten for 2010

1. Our soldiers, myself included, returned home safely from a year long deployment to Iraq.



Fort Rucker, Alabama



2. Cubbie started high school at Cascade and is doing well. He loves his school, especially Introduction to Engineering.

3. Hubbie did what hubbies do best, farmed and built huge projects.

Our yard

4. Chippy’s Ice Cream Parlor survived another year.  We added sandwiches, to go drinks, and energy efficient windows. We now have 152 “likes” on our Facebook fanpage, with a pledge to donate $100 to Sheltering Wings when it gets to 500 “likes.”

5. We went on a one week family vacation to Pennsylvania and visited: Hershey, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Lancaster, and so forth. While Gettysburg was highlight of the trip, I could live off of Hershey chocolate. The town of Hershey is all brick, clean and beautiful. Pat’s King of Steak, the Liberty Bell and plodding through torrential rain in Philly were unforgettable events. As was the fact, you can travel faster on a bicycle than with a vehicle due to the congested traffic. Lancaster was much like Shipshewana, Indiana, but less familiar and perhaps why I spent less time there. However, on the way home, we spent a lot of time at Cabella’s, the one store I can shop at where Cubbie and hubbie actually like the outdoorsmen style clothing.



6. We also got to go on an unexpected one week family trip to Mobile, Alabama, original home of the blues, and explored the entire area. We were able to visit Bellingrath Gardens and home tour, the zoo, the art museum, the naval vessels, fresh squeezed lemonade, the downtown, the trolley system which takes you on a tour of the entire historic area, and the seafood restaurants.


7. My dad was able to visit us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Cub and Grandpa Shepard

8. Cubbie started guitar and Boy Scouts, just like his grandfather.

Grandpa Shepard in the Boy Scouts, circa 1960.

9. We got 25 assorted heavy brown egg layer chickens from McMurray Hatchery, which have been the joy of my day. I call them “my girls.” Hubbie says he thinks one is a rooster, but is possibly gay as it is such a good looking and affectionate bird.



The girls



10. Having Christmas and New Year’s at home this year, as cheesy as it sounds to some will be a luxury for us.





Favorite New Year's in Gatlinburg with my mom.



Warmest Wishes this Holiday Season

Elite Parent

Last night a parent from Elite Dance and Cheer visited us at Chippy’s Ice Cream Parlor and said she did not know there was so much going on in Clayton. I filled her in on the visit from Santa at the courthouse from 10-2 this Saturday and on the Friday night fish fry at the Clayton Café.


Her daughters enjoyed the superman ice cream, and the orange sherbet with rainbow sprinkles in a pink cup along with watching some Christmas movies and coloring a sheet, which we usually hang up. While mom got to relax, check out the shop, and have some butter pecan ice cream.

Elite Dance and Cheer is exactly what kids need during the winter months, wish they had a mommie yoga class, for second generation hippie girls like me.

Reuniting with dearest friends

During this season, hubbie and I attend together, or separately: both office parties, both military parties, dinner with his army buddies and possibly this year dinner with a few of my army buds, do the rounds visiting family member, churches and schools. Also, we attend a few events at organization in non-profit organizations which we are involved that benefit us emotionally as much as they think we benefit them. While I do have to dress professionally at most of these events, I can pull off a little teacher appropriate Christmas bling.

The Angela Moore bracelet I want for Christmas is actually the mansion gardens:

Hoping my Santa can find this one for me.

December 2010 Menu Planner

I am always self-conscious about the way I cook because my family is from “The Grapes of Wrath” variety of southern Californians who left their Oklahoma farms during the dust bowl, I live in Indiana and am a reformed vegan due to the male carnivores to female vegan ratio in my household. If you see a big hunk of meat on here, it’s for the guys.

Week of December 7 (late start)
Wednesday- White chili with corn bread and deli sandwiches
Thursday- Homemade chicken nuggets, biscuits and pickled okra
Friday- Salmon, fresh bread, spinach and strawberry salad
Saturday- Shepard’s pie
Sunday- Chicken and noodles

Week of December 13
Monday- chicken and dumplings
Tuesday- black bean turkey chili with corn bread
Wednesday- Quiche Lorraine
Thursday- Potato and egg skillet
Friday- shrimp gumbo
Saturday- Chicken tacos- California style
Sunday- Curry chicken with paratha- Indian

Week of December 20
Monday- stuffed chicken breast
*Make Christmas cookies, with extra batches for Boy Scout’s Court of Honor
Tuesday- Jack Daniels steak, garlic mashed potatoes with asparagus
Wednesday- Spaghetti stoup- Rachel RayThursday- Alfredo chicken, angel hair pasta
Friday- Southern fried catfish, kidney beans and rice- Grandma’s recipe
Saturday- Special Christmas menuSunday- Kielbasa soup- Germany

Week of December 27
Monday- Homemade pietza- Venice
Tuesday-Beef and Noodles
Wednesday- Chicken enchiladas
Thursday- Beef and broccoli, Guam
Friday-Special New Year’s MenuSaturday- Corned beef and cabbage

* Reserving the right to play the restaurant card at any time.

Top 10 Christmas Movies List

(Biased, of course)

Because I live in a region that experiences snow, and I am a skinni mini who has no business in such an area, I practice the beary old art of hibernation supplied with gads of hot chocolate, popcorn and movies such as:

1. All three of the Santa Claus movies
2. All three of the Home Alone movies
3. It’s a Wonderful Life. (I once played Mary, google it. We did “It’s a Wonderful Deployment,” a once in a lifetime experience.) We can all relate to this masterpiece, and it’s less expensive than visiting a therapist to illustrate how each person is valuable and impacts others.
4. The Family Man, a modern day version of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
5. Miracle on 34th Street- the black and white version
6. National Lampoon’s Christmas vacation- classic
7. George C. Scott version of “A Christmas Carol.” If you buy the new on with Jim Carrey, get it in blu-ray. The Mickey Mouse version is precious.
8. The Grinch- cartoon and Jim Carrey version
9. A Christmas Story- I never watch this, it’s so dry, but the guys enjoy it.
10. The Original Christmas classics including: Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer, Santa Claus is coming to town, Frosty, etc…love the cartoons
11. The Family Stone
12. Meet me in St. Louis- inspired by watching “The Family Stone”
13. Deck the Halls- cannot get over the lights used on the house
14. Bing Crosby in “White Christmas”- also a music CD, excellent music.
15. A Charlie Brown Christmas
16. Fred Claus- the guys laugh out loud over this one.
17. Mixed Nuts with Steve Martin- have not seen, just bought per recommendation of cubbie.
18. Four Christmases- have not seen, as I was out of country when it came out. I love Reese Witherspoon, especially in Sweet Home Alabama when her character decorated that lakeside cottage.
19. Emmet Otter’s jug-band Christmas- a childhood memory.

*I realize this is more than ten, what can I say, it’s my excitement for the season.

Waffle Cone with Pumpkin Ice Cream

Welcome to Chippy's! We are a small town mom and pop shop, the local teen hang-out, a great place for grandparents to take the grandkids, a supporter of our local schools, Boyscouts, 4H, public libraries and sporting programs to name a few. Also, a great place to treat the kids when you are babysitting.

A vacancy? Where is the clerk? This is where you can order up a tasty roast beef, turkey or chicken salad sandwich complete with all the fixings. Chose one of our 18 flavors of hard ice cream on a kid, regular, sugar cone or on one of our famous waffle cones. We also offer soft serve ice cream in vanilla, swirl or chocolate. Some of our specialty treats include Strawberry banana smoothies, Hot Fudgie brownie sundaes, banana splits, mix-ups with butterfinger, mini M&M's Reeces, Oreo. We make shakes, malts and fountain drinks. These are just some of the menu items available at Chippy's.
Hmmmm... fresh waffle cones. Try a fresh waffle cone with pumpkin ice cream, available in October and November only.

The Jewelry Box

The Jewelry Box

Today’s blog is dedicated to my dear friend Diamond Dave, who owned a west side store for many years called "The Jewelry Box. "

This is a comparable picture of my very first little trinket box given to me by my mother. On the evening of my wedding, when a dear friend I graduated with was using my room to dress, she noticed the box on my dresser. She asked me, “This is original isn’t it?” Translated: “uhmm, why do you still have a Strawberry Shortcake jewelry box?” Shortly thereafter, I stashed it away, hoping to one day give it to my daughter, so far, only boys in the household. I might need to hold out for a granddaughter.
My sister gave me a white upright jewelry box with a unicorn painted on it. Possibly someone gave it to her, and she did not want it, as she was the unicorn lover among us.
This first jewelry box I purchased myself was for travel, a cute little pink leather number.


In looking to upgrade the organization of my collection, I found:http://www.stacksandstacks.com/search/?term=jewelry instead of jewelry boxes. This is a good solution for your costume jewelry for work, school or play. All other jewelry should be kept in a fire proof safe, or bank until the eve of the night you planning to wear your precious.

Next was a musical ballerina jewelry box given to me by my father when we were in Jackson, Mississippi visiting my grandparents.

Travel list for 2011

While there are still a few places on my list I can check off this year, most of these trips will have to be A.C. (after Christmas).

• Washington, DC
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Salem, Massachusetts
• New York City
• Wyoming- Yellowstone
• Chicago- museums
• Biltmore, North Carolina
• Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
• Bloomington, Indiana- We went to Oliver Winery over fall break and purchased the Creekbed Chardonnel 2009, very mild, and from the local vineyards. Followed up with a trip to Aver's pizza where we gorged ourselves on the Crimson and Cream pizza, made with an alfredo sauce, red potatoes and toppings comparable to potatoe skins. Of course, we went to 'Tis, the campus bookstore, bought Cubbie a graphing pencil with extra erasers and Indiana University t-shirts for the guys a bargain at 2 for $14.99.

• Vincennes, Indiana
• French Lick, Indiana
• Arizona- Grand Canyon State Park
• Maine

Most of these are within the United States, I have done enough international travel for a while. I will save those locations for a future posting.

Fall shopping list

MOMMIE NEEDS:

Prada boots

Burberry trench 3/4 length

Golf umbrella- just say no to skimpys umbrella please. I was spoiled when I lived in Florida and they sold the umbrellas with huge canopies. In Indiana, they call those golf umbrellas, after four hurricanes in Florida, it was just a wardrobe staple.

The gorgeous purple silk Ralph Lauren dress that Alice put on her blog that I have not justified buying as I do not have anywhere to wear it- yet. Where there is a will there is a way.

La Cruset tea kettle- as believe it or not, a tea kettle can be damaged beyond restoration if caught in the inferno of canning spaghetti sauce from your garden.

Planters- it's the wrong time of the year, but I was gone to Iraq for one year. All my exotic plants were skinny mini when I got home. When I fertilized and watered like a Disney world mom, their growth has surpassed their previous home.

Halloween Movies To Watch List

Celebrating the hallowed season with a few favorite favorite movies, lots of buttered and salted popcorn and hot chocolate. Starting with:

1. Johnny Depp in "Sleepy Hollow"
2. Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd." When I first watched this murderous musical, I thought it was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the musical compositions are powerful, captivation yet not songs you want to be heard sing in the shower.
3. Psycho- ultimate classic
4. I Know What You Did Last Summer- on my to watch list
5. The Shining- I have not seen since I was a child
6. The Addam's Family- a little macabre to rest between screaming my head off
7. An American Werewolf in London- I will never be able to go out into the night again.
8. The Howling- on my to watch list, in a world filled with vampires, we need more werewolves
9. Bram Stoker's Dracula- Not scary, I found Gary Oldman romantic. Wynona Ryder is so gorgeous.
10. Frankenstein- on my to watch list
11. Poltergeist- need to revisit for the kid's sake
12. The Birds- classic, on my to watch list
13. Interview with a Vampire- watched it, but cannot remember it.
14. Hocus Pocus- a must watch before you go out trick or treating
15. The Witches- based in Roald Dahl's book and perfomed by Angelica Huston, parfait

Hometown Hospitality at Mama Nunz Italian Restaurant

For the most part, we travel from Clayton to the city {Indianapolis} for dining out, but there are a few of our old tyme favorites just outside our backdoor, one of which is Mama Nunz in Greencastle. Greencastle, Indiana known for Depauw University and when I was growing up Greencastle had the cutest guys in their wranglers and their Lacer boots and ratty John Deere baseball caps with their favorite fishing hook on the bill, utilitarian.

At Mama Nunz, you can purchase an incredible steak dinner special for $10, super cheap eats. Hubbie chose the steak dinner, Cubbie chose the garlic cheese burger and the reformed vegan mommie chose manicotti. Hubbie and Cubbie will lament over the delicious food, but I personally prefer the atmosphere. Mama Nunz is very much like the family owned businesses in Europe, most memorable to me were the “walkplatz” in Germany where Hubbie and I started our lifelong friendship. On the walkplatz, shopkeepers are right there, you talk with them, you get to know them. They take great pride in their work and it is a reflection of them, an artform. It’s not like going downtown, renting booth space to eat the same food the person at the next table is eating and feeling sick afterwards as you wolf down food in order to rush to an overcrowded event. Mama Nunz food is meant to be savored with family and friends and good conversation.

Nunzio Cancilla, the second generation owner, selects every item on his menu. He knows his customers. He is right there to talk to you, to ask you to try a sample of his thin crust pepperoni and sausage pizza, the best pizza in our area, if you ask me. See you at Mama Nunz!

The Town of Clayton

Clayton is a small town of about 700 people according to the 2000 census, although I am anxiously awaiting the 2010 census as I am sure it has increased. Many of the homes in the town were built in late 1800's. What was life like for the originally founders? Being an import, I do not know. The town has not changed much judging by the number of original buildings still in existence.
Clayton is home to several businesses. There is a PNC bank in town, the "Clayton Foo Store," the letter D is missing from the sign, so the children call it the "Foo Store," a solid and busy red brick post office, Chippy's Ice Cream Parlor, the Clayton Cafe, the Mill Creek Outreach, Body Mechanix, a fire station, the excavator's, a car wash, the Korner liquor store which has an archery upstairs, around the corner is the tractor and feed store, an automotive repair shop, Davis Floral, the funeral home, the First Baptist Church, the Clayton Christian Church, a Presbyterian church and one set of apartments and most popular is Cox's Plant farm.
Surrounding the town of Clayton are family farms and orchards. If you were to take a drive out US40 to the small town of Clayton, you could purchase flowers at Cox's, drop by the Clayton Cafe for their evening specials of BBQ, or fried catfish, or stop at Chippy's Ice Cream for a waffle cone filled with your favorite flavor, sit out front on a picnic table and enjoy the day. Some visitors ride their bicycles from Plainfield, almost 9 miles away to visit the countryside. The locals ride bicycle to their friends houses, Lambert Park, the Clayton Public Library, or play to basketball at the school. Bike riding is a popular activity. Clayton has good roads for bicycling, or running as they are long country roads with not much in your path and beautiful scenery on all sides.
We still "drive to town" to pick up supplies, then return to our humble agricultural abodes and enjoy our families and gardens. It's the kind of location where you stock your freezer with meat, and have a pantry. Going to the church of your choice on Sunday morning is still the beginning of the week.
Many people in Clayton ride western style horses, own mixed breed dogs, they raise chickens for eggs, or are pet lovers of some sort. Ducks are another popular pet to keep. It is more common to have a stocked pond of fish, also appreciated by the ducks, than a swimming pool. We have an ordinance against pigs in our area. Having outdoor cats is actually a necessary form of pest control, unless you want field mice, especially after the monstrous combines eat up all the corn in the fields in October and the wild life scatters.
Each evening when my son and I walk down the barely blacktopped open country roads, we hear roosters in the distance, two little black Scottie dogs we call the Toto dogs chase us down, the wind whips across flat, open fields of corn, soybeans or empty fields. Anyone from Indiana will recognize the daylily, even if they do not know the official name, it's the orange flowers on the side of the road, we walk pass a huge clump of orange daylilies separating two neighboring houses. People sometimes drive down the middle of the country road, speeding and tossing out plastic cups, so it's not always safe to go for a walk.
When we walk in town, most homes are the A-frame, small white house surrounded with flowers. My favorite is a two story in the northeast corner, with the large yard and open front porch. Several of the houses on the north and south way out of town are two story square homes, but I particularly like the two story white house with pillars out front, the wide green expanse of grass, the porch swing with floral pillows and hanging baskets overflowing with trumpets of petunias.

New Picture

New Picture from Chippy's. Let the ice cream art begin.

Best preppy blogs

If you are a new blogger, or want to find the best blogs, here are my suggestions. Most of these are inspired by Beth Dunn or Alice Frost Richardson's, whose blogging savvy I someday hope to reach.

1. *preppy little dress"
2. Brunch at Saks
3. Chippy's Ice Cream Parlor- mine, not beautiful yet
4. Manor Lane
5. Muffy Martini
6. Prissy and Preppy Flamingo
7. Social Climbers-this is Beth's, one of my two faves
8. Summer is a verb- Alice Frost Richardson's
9. Summer Wind
10. Patti Trostle's- when I find it, she is the best artist. She painted my mother's portrait.

These cuties little key fobs are items we are discussing selling at Chippy's Ice Cream Parlor. Tell me what you think.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

As much as I love ice cream, I really love literature! After reading "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, who I now realize was a genius, although she had to mask her gifts at that time, I added to my reading list on http://www.goodreads.com/ "Ivanhoe" by Sir Walter Scott and "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan. So far, the ruling class nobles are the Normans and the land owner, franklins are the Anglo-Saxon's in England during the medieval times. More to come!

Mommy bloggers article from Forbes

Today while reading Forbes, I found an article on "mommy bloggers" and establishing our brand. I thought all the fellow mommy bloggers would love this and wanted to share.

http://rate.forbes.com/comments/CommentServlet?op=cpage&sourcename=story&StoryURI=2010/03/31/mommy-blogger-business-networking-forbes-woman-leadership-internet.html&com=117066&boxes=Homepagecomments

Anywho, I totally appreciate all the "mommy blogger" support and am having great fun posting and reading other "mommy blogger" posts.

Fuzzy friends

Here are Tchai and Firepaw, friends of Cotton Candy and Chocolate Chip. Don't the look like they need love? The super fuzzy one is Firepaw, but Tchai is the slender mama cat. Both are stealthy hunters who bring me bunnies twice their size when they smell the grill fire up, to which I react with a shriek and wait for either them or Daryl to remove the corpse. Tchai is short for Tchaikovsky who composed "The Nutcracker Ballet." Firepaw is a character from the children's book series, "Warrior Cats" by Erin Hunter

Favorite customer and Tshirt sale

Miss Lexii visited Chippy's on a cold and lonely night at the shop. If you want to avoid the crowd, visit the shop on a rainy or cold day. I asked Daryl to mark the t-shirts from last year down 20% to make room for the new preppy pink and green t-shirts with our new website that should arrive soon.

Fudgie Brownie Sundaes and Banana Splits

Chippy's Ice Cream Parlor sold out of Fudgie Brownie Sundaes, but more will be ready next week AND we bought a case of banana split boats, so those should be out soon too! Spring is in full swing and ice cream season is upon us.

Ice Cream Weather

I hear the weather in Clayton, Indiana is going to be in the 80's this weekend. Perfect weather for a waffle cone filled with butter pecan, moosetracks, or mint chocolate chippy ice cream. I am jealous of all of you who get to enjoy it before I get home.

Our new ATM

Chippy's Ice Cream Parlor had it's very first ATM customer last night. Daryl said he thinks it was from next door at the Clayton Cafe, which is fine. It was quite an adventure to get it installed. Next I hope we add sandwiches, or pizza, or some type of main menu item to increase our service to customers.

First Chippy Tale

One upon a time, there was a horse named Cotton Candy who had a foal named Chocolate Chip. Chocolate Chip was such a spirited horse, the farmer's wife wanted to sell the horse to someone else, but the farmer had a special gift for handling fiery horses, which is how he got married in the first place and he wanted to keep Chippy. He promised his wife he would have Chippy gelded and then he would be fine. Well, it did not work out so well. The farmer and his wife still have Chippy, but gelding was not as effective as they had hoped. Nevertheless, the farmer and his wife grew fond of Chippy, built an ice cream parlor and named it "Chippy's Ice Cream Parlor." Chippy's Ice Cream Parlor was built in 2008 and opened it's doors for the first season on 2009. Reading programs, baseball teams and people from all over come for the relaxing country atmosphere and ice cream treats, especially the fresh handmade waffle cones. Check out http://www.chippysicecream.com/ for directions.