HOPE EVERYBODY HAS A GREAT NEW YEAR!!!

My Newest Addition

Shirley "Susie" Granath Burkett

Remembering you today.

Christmas

I hope that everyone has a happy and joyous Christmas and a great New Year.

DECEMBER 7TH

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

On the First Day: We give thanks for the fresh turkey feast and its hot trimmings.
On the Second Day: We bless the cold turkey sandwiches, sloshy cranberry sauce and hard rolls.
On the Third Day: We praise the turkey pie and vintage mixed veggies.
On the Fourth Day: We thank the pilgrims for not serving bison that first time, or we'd be celebrating Thanksgiving until April.
On the Fifth Day: We gobble up cubed bird casserole and pray for a glimpse of a naked turkey carcass.
On the Sixth Day: We show gratitude (sort of) to the creative cook who slings cashews at the turkey and calls it Oriental.
On the Seventh Day: We forgive our forefathers and pass the turkey-nugget pizza.
On the Eighth Day: The word "vegetarian" keeps popping into our heads.
On the Ninth Day: We check our hair to make sure we're not beginning to sprout feathers.
On the Tenth Day: We hope that the wing meat kabobs catch fire under the broiler.
On the Eleventh Day: We smile over the creamed gizzard because the thigh bones are in sight.
On the Twelfth Day: We apologize for running out of turkey leftovers.
And everybody says Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving

What's everyone doing for Thanksgiving?

Happy Veteran's Day

Some People You Should Know: Advocates For The Blind « CBS Chicago – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and the Best of Chicago

Some People You Should Know: Advocates For The Blind « CBS Chicago – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and the Best of Chicago
Joe and Kim are friends of ours. You may remember them from a couple of the parties we had at the house.

Apple Picking

Today Jim and I picked apples at County Line Orchard in Indiana. It is one of my favorite fall activities, we go every year. We usually go in October, but this year we wanted to go a couple times and take advantage of the different varities. Today we picked Gala and Golden Delicious and bought Jonathons at the barn. I have already made one pie. We plan to go again in early October when I can get apples for applesauce and more pies. We also bought apple donuts, a favorite of both of us. Yum! Yum!

A day in the life...

Sometimes you just have to let them know who's boss.

It has to be said.

I just noticed last week that the banner for this blog is not grammatically correct. It should say "Granaths R Us" as in plural, more than one Granath. Instead it either says "Granath is R us" (which totally doesn't make sense!) or R Us belongs to Granath. Sorry, it was bothering me and I don't know how to fix it so I had to tell someone.

Swimming anyone!

After years of the kids and I asking for a swimming pool we finally got one. I guess being persistant does pay off.

Happy 4th!

INGREDIENTS:
ROOT BEER BUNDT CAKE:2 cups of root beer (do not use a diet root beer)1 cup of dark cocoa powder, like Valrhona 1 stick unsalted butter, chopped into 1-inch cubes1 1/4 cups sugar1/2 cups dark brown sugar (packed)2 cups flour1 1/4 tsp baking soda1 tsp. salt2 large eggs1/2 cup root beer schnapps (optional)ROOT BEER FUDGE FROSTING:2 ounces of 60% chocolate (melted and slightly cooled)4 oz. unsalted butter (room temperature)1 tsp. salt1/4 cup root beer2/3 cup dark cocoa powder2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
PREPARATION:
FOR THE CAKE:1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease or spray (with a non stick spray like Pam) and flour your bundt pan to ensure that your bundt cake will slip out easily. Knock out the excess flour. 2. In a small saucepan, heat root beer, cocoa and butter over medium heat until butter is completely melted. Add both sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove mixture from heat to cool.3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. 4. In a small bowl, whisk eggs until just beaten, then whisk into cooled cocoa mix until combined. 5. Gently fold flour mixture into chocolate mixture. Mixture will be slightly lumpy. Do not over beat, which could cause the cake to be tough. 6. Pour mixture into bundt pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Rotate pan half-way through. A small sharp knife inserted into the bundt should come out clean.7. Cool the cake in the pan completely. Once cooled, gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn out onto a cooling rack. Make sure the cake is cooled completely before adding frosting.8. Make this cake the night before serving to let the root beer flavor intensify, and don't forget to serve with a big scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream.Baked Note: If you can find root beer schnapps, substitute 1/2 cup of root beer with root beer schnapps. The root beer flavor will be more pronounced.FOR THE FROSTING:1. Place all ingredients, chocolate, butter, salt, root beer, butter and confectioners sugar in a food processor. Pulse in short burst until fudge frosting is shiny and smooth. 2. Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the cooled bundt cake in a thick layer. Let frosting set before serving.

Happy July 4th

I remember when we were little Dad would take us to fireworks each July 4th. He would put us on a blanket up front, close to the action. It seems the show would last forever! There was always a ground display at the end. The ground would shake and sparks flew everywhere, often very close to our blanket. I don't like going to fireworks now, I'm sure this is why.

HOCKEY

I JUST SAW THE CUP!

Summertime Greetings from Shorewood!!!

happy mothers day!!!

happys mothers day to all of the ladys in my life.

Hello Everyone!
Keeping really busy here in LA. I am going on Vacation to Greece in a week, so I will post pics when I get back. Can't wait!!

Cheers,
Mark

My newest family member.

This is Juliet. She is six weeks old. We took her home on Monday April 5th. She is the cutest little thing. She likes to hiss and wag her tail at the same time. I'm so glad that we have her.

Alas, where has all our innocence gone?

While I sat in the reception area of my doctor's office,a woman rolled an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room.As she went to the receptionist's desk, the man sat there,alone and silent. Just as I was thinking I should make smalltalk with him, a little boy slipped off his mother's lap andwalked over to the wheelchair. Placing his hand on the man's,he said, 'I know how you feel. My mom makes me ride in the stroller too..'

Hello from LA

Hi everyone,
I think I am finally getting the hang of this! Hope everyone is well.

Something in common?

Can you guess what these two had in common?
Submit your guesses to Rabecca at atticlady2@yahoo.com. First one with the correct answer gets a prize!

Lilie Ann Kruis

9 Days!

9 days until the newest addition to the Kruis Family will be here!! 3 kids?!?!? SCARY!!!
We will keep you posted!

Harold Nelson

Cousin Harold Nelson passed away on Saturday morning in Sterling ,Illiunois.
Harold was 91 years old and the son of my fathers' sister Aunt Teresa who lived in McHenry,ILL. for many years.

my first post, this is fun!!!!!!

WEIRDO

Heather called me weird. What a compliment! If I am weird I can not be boring. If I am weird I am at the very least interesting. Weird people can be fascinating. You never know what they will do or say. We may break out in song at any moment or laugh out loud at internal jokes. Weird people make normal people nervous....this is a good thing. We keep them on their toes and alert. We give them an adrenaline rush. Normal people need weird people so that they can feel normal.

HURRAH FOR ALL THE WEIRDOS!

44

Can you believe Doris and I have been married for 44 years ????????
It seems like only .......... 431/2 years !!!!! Time really flies by !!!!!
On our 50th. I will be 84 ... and 75th. I'll be 109 ...... WOW. I think we will party on the 75th.

Kan & Doris

Party Time !!!!!!!

We had a great time at the birthday/superbowl party at Bob & Roberta's. The entertainment was A-Ok. the food was great. Of course the GAME score was not what we expected. I also found out Grandma likes lime flavored beer !!!!!!!!
We really enjoyed seeing our kids, grandkids and GREAT GRAND KIDS !!!

Ken & Doris

Granath's

Where have all the Granath's gone? Have alien's come and spirited them away? Is there a Granath blackhole in time and space? Why is no one blogging? Where have all the Aunts', Uncles and cousin's gone?

Hello.........is anyone out there? Hello? Helloooo............?

Daddy-o, this one's for you!

Hello Granaths

Am I doing this right? I don't know what I am doing...

"Where are all the Granath's?"

Heh!! Where is everybody? How can we play Romper Room, if no one new ever shows up?

I have sent the invite to Mary and Betty. I hope both of you have visited and are joining today. Don't forget the pictures!

I have finally signed up to post. Tracy

Ain't nothin' but a hound dog

Meet the newest member of the Gross family. This is Bella, she joined our family this Christmas. Bryce is the PuppyDaddy and the rest of the family are just extras.

"I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." --Winston Churchill