Raymond Reunion 2009

The Raymond Reunion for 2009 took place in the Bushnell, IL area Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14. The theme of the reunion was "Family Treasures."

Saturday, the festivities began with a noon potluck at the VFW Hall in Bushnell. Relatives gathered and got reacquainted while loading up tables with covered dishes. Marty arrived with two surprises--his brothers Bruce and Chuck! Bruce had traveled from Hawaii and Chuck from California to attend the reunion, at Marty's urging. (Marty is our chief reunion promoter!)

It didn't take long before the stories were flying fast and furious, and laughter could be heard throughout the building. Family photos were taken, and a business meeting were held, complete with President Nancy checking in via speakerphone. There were two raffles, a 50/50 drawing and a "Family Treasures" prize raffle. Linda donated the raffle grand prize--a woven afghan specially made for the reunion. Brittini prepared several tables of crafts for the younger set, and a display table so everyone could view the finished artwork. 

Later, some of the family visited Sarah and Jim's new camper at Timberview Lake. On the outside, their camper looked like a horse trailer, but the inside was fitted out with sleeping areas, a bathroom, kitchen and living areas. It even had stucco walls! Marty drove his custom truck, which was an amazing thing to see--Marty, do you have a picture to post here?

Sunday morning, we met again at the Dairy Queen for lunch at eleven. Then, we headed across the street to a shelter-house at the VFW park and divided up into four pirate crews for a Treasure Hunt. Sarah was captain of the Swashbucklers, Nancy was captain of the Scurvy Dawgs and Wenches, Crystal was captain of the Scalawags, and Larry was captain of the Skanky Buccaneers. To warm up and earn the first clue for the Treasure Hunt, each crew had to answer questions taken from Ruby's book and the family cookbook and decipher a code. 

The first clue sent the crews to the cemetery where our common ancestor, Simon Martin Raymond, is buried. His mother and several of his children are also buried there. The cemetery is on a hill which overlooks Little Swan Lake. Chuck was impressed by the tranquility of the tree-shaded, peaceful spot. Jack quipped, "Chuck, you could stay, but we don't have a shovel." 

The family's next clue directed them to a lovely borrowed cabin on the north shore of the lake. There, the motley pirate crews underwent four challenges to earn the treasure. Crews had to pin the eye-patch on the pirate, toss bean bags into the pirate ship, knock the skanky pirate head off the pike with a sling-shot, and walk the plank with an egg balanced on a spoon. Of course, the egg activity resulted in an impromptu egg battle and several egg shampoos! Eventually, the treasure was discovered--an inflatable gold treasure chest with a message: the real treasure is the memory you've made here with your family. The treasure chest also provided icy cold drinks for adults and kids, and candy and trinkets.

Linda and Dave generously offered rides on their pontoon boat, as did the  cabin owners who had graciously allowed our clan to descend on them. The family enjoyed the swimming beach, putting green, and cabin all so much. 

The next reunion will be held in 2011. Reunion planners are considering a western location. Watch for updates!

"Bunny Lady" is front page news

Beverly Brooks, the "Bunny Lady" of the press release below, made the front page of the Manhattan American and The Reporter (Northern Illinois Conference edition of The United Methodist Church newspaper).

Below is the press release I wrote for the papers.

----------------

Over 200 stuffed animal bunnies, ducks, lambs, and other critters made their way into the hands of children this Easter, thanks to two area United Methodist Churches and their respective "Bunny Ladies." Beverly Brooks, the original "Bunny Lady" from Manhattan United Methodist Church, and her friend Joanne Hattemar of Coal City United Methodist Church, headed up the collection of stuffed animal friends for kids.

Beverly Brooks began her bunny mission over 10 years ago to brighten Easter for children who had to be hospitalized over the holiday. The congregation of her local church and community happily donates stuffed toys, filling the front of the church with cuddly toys by Palm Sunday. Joanne Hattemar was inspired to join the cause in Coal City and kicked off their drive, which they called "Some Bunny Who Cares." This year, the Manhattan church gathered 105 toys and Coal City gathered 128, for a total of 233 toys to be distributed to children.

Toys were delivered to the Manhattan Food Pantry, Joliet Hospice,Christ Mission-Living Waters, Easter Seals Rehab, an area child care center, and the pediatrics departments at Silver Cross and Provena St. Joseph Hospitals. Over 50 small toys were given to Operation Care to be shipped to soldiers for handing out to children overseas.

"I enjoy this with the kids," said Beverly Brooks, after delivering the comforting toys with Hattemar and four helpers.

"Usually everybody does things at Christmas, and the rest of the year we tend to forget," said Joanne Hattemar. "There's a lot of need out there."

Pam's Grocery Cherry Picks--June 4, 2009

Gas prices have begun their summer rise, so it makes sense to check the grocery ads for the best prices when choosing where to shop. If you live in the Lincoln-Way area of Chicagoland, I've done the comparison for you!

Here are some of the best buys I've seen this week!

ALDI
Wednesday, June 3 through Sunday, June 7, 2009
Strawberries 16 oz. 49¢
Pineapple each $1.99
Bananas 45¢ #

BERKOT'S
Wednesday, June 3 through Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Seedless Watermelon $2.99 each
Red Raspberries 6 oz. 99¢
Romaine Lettuce 79¢ #
Palermo Frozen Classics Pizza 5/$10
Absopure 24 pk./.5 Liter Water $2.99

JEWEL
Thursday, June 4 through Wednesday, June 10, 2009
8 pc. Fried Chicken Meal Deal $9.99
A good deal, if you don't have time to cook!
-2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 legs, and 2 breasts
-two chef's kitchen 16 oz. sides: potato salad, cole slaw or macaroni salad
-4 ct. pkg. King's Hawaiian Rolls
Coupon Champ--Jewel's ad is hands-down the "winner" this week when it comes to good buys on items which have recently published coupons in Valassis inserts (those coupon packets in the Sunday Chicago Tribune and other papers).

Memorial Day meal--Grocery ad Cherry Picks

Here's a grocery ad comparison of a basic Memorial Day menu. I tried to compare items as closely as I could, using only the ads.

As you might expect, Aldi came out with the lowest prices, so they have good buys if you aren't brand loyal. Fresh ground beef price was a tie between Aldi and Berkot's, but Jewel didn't list fresh ground beef so I used their frozen burgers as the comparison. The convenience of ready-made patties from Jewel might be worth the extra expense, especially if you're having a crowd.

ALDI

Prices effective Wednesday, May 20 through Sunday, May 24, 2009.

All Natural 80/20 Ground Beef lb. $1.79 (.11 oz.)

B-Bar Jumbo Hot Dogs 16 oz. 99¢ (.06 oz.)

Kyder Tomato Ketchup 36 oz. $1.15 (.04 oz.)

Briargate Mustard 14 oz. 69¢ (.05 oz.)

Great Gerkins Hamburger Dill Pickles 32 oz. $1.49 (.05 oz.)

L'oven Fresh Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns 12 oz./8 ct.  79¢ (.10 per bun)

Little Salad Bar Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, or Cole Slaw 15-16 oz. tub $1.25 (.08 oz.)

Sweet Corn 25¢ ear

Whole Seedless Watermelon $2.99 each

JEWEL

Prices effective Thursday, May 21 through Wednesday, May 27, 2009. Prices are given using Preferred Card.

Glenmark Cookout or Steak Eater's Burgers (frozen) 3 lb. $7.99 (.17 oz.)

Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich or Ball Park selected varieties Meat Franks s 16 oz. 2/$3 (.09 oz.)

Heinz Ketchup 46 oz. 2/$5 (.05 oz.)

Jewel Mustard 20 oz. $1.99 (.10 oz.)

Mt. Olive Kosher Dills or Bread & Butter Sandwich Stuffers 16 oz.$3.99 BUY 1, GET 1 FREE  (.12 oz.)

Jewel Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns 8 ct. 88¢* (.11 per bun)

Chef's Kitchen Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, or Cole Slaw 4 lb. tub $6.99 (.11 oz.)

Sweet Corn 19¢* ear

Whole Seedless Watermelon $3.99 each--Limit 2

*Special 3-Day Sale Item (Thursday, May 21 through Saturday, May 23)

BERKOT'S

Prices effective Wednesday, May 20 through Tuesday, May 26, 2009.

Berkot's Extra Lean Fresh Ground Chuck (3# or more)  lb. $1.79 (.11 oz.)

Bar-S Reg., Bun Size or Turkey Hot Dogs 12 oz. 99¢ (.08 oz.)

Heinz Ketchup 40 oz. 2/$5 (.06 oz.)

Plochman's Mustard 19 oz. $1.29 (.07 oz.)

Vlasic Pickles selected varieties 16-24 oz. 2/$5 (.11-.16 oz.)

Wonder Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns 8 ct.  10/$10 (.12 per bun)

IN THE DELI Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, or Cole Slaw 16 oz. $1.49 (.09 oz.)

Sweet Corn 10 ears/$3  (.30 ear)

Whole Seedless Watermelon $3.99 each

Pam's Grocery Ad "Cherry Picks*" for May 7, 2009

I used to layout grocery ads for a living, now I try to stretch our budget by using the ads to make up my weekly menu and shopping list. Here is a summary of the best values I found in ads for my shopping trip this weekend in the Lincoln-Way (New Lenox, Manhattan, Frankfort, Mokena, far southwest Chicago suburbs, IL) area of Illinois. 

Although I'm targeting ads in this small area of Illinois, some of the stores and products are national, and you may see similar products/trends wherever you are.

Berkot's

• Dutch Farm Fancy Shredded Cheese (excluding swiss & parmesan) 99¢ 8-oz. pkg.

• Cottonelle Ultra Toilet Paper 12 pk. dbl. roll  $4.99 with $1 off instant coupon

• Broccoli Crowns 79¢ lb.

• Extra Lean Ground Chuck  (3# or more pkg) $1.79 lb.

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast $1.79 lb.

Jewel-Osco

• Jewel Large Eggs doz. 99¢ (one of their "Big Relief Price Cuts")

CVS --not a grocery store, but drug stores and discount stores offer much better

values on some items than grocery stores typically do.

• Dawn Dish Liquid 10.3 oz. (w/CVS customer card) 99¢ (limit 5)

• Colgate MaxWhite Toothpaste $2.99 (w/CVS customer card), receive $2 in Extra Bucks Reward, "like getting it for 99¢ after extra bucks".  (NOTE: I clip coupons from the Sunday inserts in the Chicago Tribune and from inserts which come in weekly papers. I have a $1.00 off manufacturer coupon which I'll also use for this. So, after all is said and done, it's as if I am PAID 1¢ to get a tube of toothpaste.)

*A "Cherry Picker" is someone who picks only the best sale items for purchase.

Push mowing: whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger

I grew up mowing grass. Summers meant many hours spent on the riding lawn mower, a relaxing way to get a tan and earn a little spending money. 

Now that I'm much older (maybe that should be "much, much, much older"--just ask my knees and back), I am using a push mower. It doesn't run on gasoline or electricity. It runs on human power. It doesn't cut nearly as well as our old gas mower, but it does get the job done. Eventually. I mow in sections now, following the advice in the time-honored saying, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." 

Actually, I feel better each time I mow.  My surprised muscles respond well to the task, as long as I don't take on too many sections at a time. These days, no one pays me for the task, and I mask off my skin from the wrinkle-inducing sun, but I still enjoy mowing. Mostly. Especially when I finish.

Boosting business in tough times

In these difficult economic times, all businesses can use a little boost. That's the idea behind the new Business Referral Group being formed. The group meets for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. every first and third Tuesday of the month at L.A. Cafe, Rt. 30, in New Lenox, IL.

The idea behind referral groups is for members to be on the lookout for people who need the services and products provided by other group members. Then, they help prospective customers and group members do business by providing contact information to both parties. Often, group members end up doing business with other group members. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

Many business referral groups have a membership fee in the hundreds of dollars, but this new group currently has no fee. Only one member is allowed for each type of business, so there is no conflict of interest.

The next meeting is at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 7. For more information, call 815-474-4648.

Queen of the Mousers--Update

We have seen not hide nor hair, nor nasty little rat-tail, of the mouse that so rudely interrupted our rest the other night. Our huntress cat, Teddi, spent that night in our bedroom, but she wanted to go back out with the farm cats later the next morning. I guess she preferred their company to ours. In the house, she is a cat who must obey the humans' rules, but among the cats she is "queen"!

Mouse in the house!

The other night, I went to bed and then I heard something scratching at the door across the hall. I opened the door and out ran a mouse, directly coming at me. Why do they DO that? Here is this huge animal standing in front of him, and he charged me! Of course, it worked! The huge animal screamed, repeatedly, and ran in and jumped up on her bed. By this time, the huge animal's mate was awake, going after the mouse. (Bet the mouse hadn't counted on that.)

"Get a cat!" Tim yelled.

I went down and opened the door to the enclosed porch where the farm cats spend the nights. Since I didn't have shoes on, I didn't want to walk out there.

"Teddi!" I called the queen, the alpha female, the huntress. All of the other cats swarmed around the door, but Teddi stayed where she was. They cuddle together to sleep in several cardboard boxes, and Teddi obviously had the box she wanted. She was not going to get up. I called, and motioned for her to some, and called again. Finally, she relented and gave up her bed to come to me.

The mouse was last seen running into the bathroom, so Tim and Teddi did a search. No mouse.

"I want her to sleep with us," I said. With a scary mouse in the house, I wasn't sleeping without my Teddi Bear. Teddi purred us to sleep.

The irony is that her sweet reward of living indoors will end when she succeeds in catching the mouse! Well, maybe not. She knows where the litter box is and is fairly well-behaved. 

Sassy, the kitten she raised, is our one house cat. We couldn't put her on the mouse because Sass has never hunted a thing in her life. One day, I gave Sassy a piece of deli roast beef and she took it to her kittens, calling them as cats do when they've hunted up a critter. Sassy probably wouldn't know what to do with live prey--maybe she would bring it to me when I'm in bed. No, Sass is not the hunter!

For now, Teddi is enjoying being inside. She has had breakfast and has discovered that sitting on a warm radiator beats sitting in a cardboard box. If that mouse gets ANYWHERE NEAR the radiator, he's done.

Ham it up for Christmas!

We had a very nice Christmas season. Jeremy and Ashley spent Christmas eve with her parents, and then we had planned to spend Christmas day at my sister's house in the middle of the state. The roads were bad in Dad's area, so we postponed the gathering until Sunday.

I had to scramble to come up with a last minute holiday dinner here. I knew we'd be having ham Sunday, but all I had that seemed "festive" was a ham. I figured we could have it twice in one week. Jeremy came downstairs as I was mixing up the hash brown potato casserole. He asked what we were having for dinner.

"We had ham yesterday at Ashley's," he said. "And, we had that kind of potato dish, too."  So, we had ham Thursday, Christmas day. 

Friday, we had leftovers of ham. Saturday, Jeremy and Ashley went to a party and the proud host had cooked (you guessed it), ham. 

Sunday dawned fairly clear throughout the state and we were all able to make the trip to Nancy's. And, of course, we had ham! It was good, though, and we brought home leftovers which I ate for lunch the next few days. 

If we are what we eat, ham I am!

Photo (L to R): Jeremy, Ashley, Nancy, Dad