Best And The Worst Of Dreams

What Exactly Is The Worst Dream I've Had?
I typically don't dream a lot, because I think I sleep in a deep comatose state.  There have been a few times I knew that I dreamed and remembered the dream and then promptly forgot it, but most of the time, I can remember a lot of the dream.  Thank goodness there just aren't any horrible and frightening dreams...I guess I'm lucky.

The worst dream I had was that my grandson stopped up the toilet and it overflowed all over the down stairs.  He had  gone to the toilet #2 mind you....and there were gallons of poop water going all over my carpet, seeping into the basement, and then began to climb the stairs to the second floor.  Toilet paper was swirling in the poop water and kept catching on the furniture.  I had come downstairs from the second floor and had hip boots on and I was trying to keep the toilet paper from covering everything.  All at once the dream ended without me knowing if the water receded or if I really kept that toilet paper from ruining everything.  Not that it mattered because poop water was what I really should have been stopping with maybe a plunger or water turn off.  Duh.....I guess I am dumb in my dreams.

I'm quite sure something precipitated this dream.  That being....my grandson is known for using a huge wad of paper when he uses the toilet.  He was visiting our house and I reminded him that he couldn't use lots of paper or it would stop up our rural septic system.  Of course, earlier that day he still used the big wad and it stopped up the toilet ...he screamed and I caught it before it overflowed!

The best dream I ever had was about me writing both a book and a cookbook.  I got in touch with a fabulous publisher and he gave me one million dollars to write the best book and best cookbook ever published.  I worked on these books every day, and never seem to get done, but the publisher was happy and he kept giving  checks for different amounts....most were $100,000 or over.  My cookbook was finally done and the publisher made me cook every recipe in that cookbook so he could see if he liked the recipe.  He started getting fatter and fatter until I thought he would burst.  He really liked my recipes and finally declared my cookbook the best ever written and started giving me millions of dollars and it was all in cash.  I had that money stored in one of my bedrooms and would just go sit on top of the money and play with it just like Scrooge did. 

Then, all at once, I woke up.....ran to the bedroom.....sorry Charlie....that room didn't have a single dollar in it.  It did have a couple of old cookbooks, but not my new one that I wrote in my dream.  Dang!  What a dream.  Wonder if I really wrote a cookbook, is that dream publisher really out there ..... somewhere??

Greenview Old Tyme Biographical Sketches
From the 1879 History of Menard and Mason Counties Book:

DEDERICH AMERKAMP, farmer and stock raiser, Sec. 6 ; P. 0. Greenview ; was born in Hanover, Germany, Oct. 3, 1817. He passed his youth and early manhood in his native country, working on a farm and attending school. In 1843, he was united in marriage with Mary Ottman.

 From this union there were four children Harmon, Annie K., Catharine M. and Eliza M. All are married, and live in Menard Co. In 1860, he emigrated to the United States, and located in Greenview Precinct, Menard Co., III., where he has since resided, and owns 500 acres of nicely improved land, which he has obtained by close attention to business, combined with honesty and
industry. He was again married Oct. 29, 1860 ; this time to Mary Wansing, a native of Germany, and a most estimable lady.

Mr. Amerkamp is one of the most intelligent and influential men in the county. 

GEORGE W. BLANE, farmer and stock-raiser, Sec. 24 ; P. 0. Greenview ; was born in Menard Co., 111., July 12, 1836; son of George Blane, who came to Sugar Grove, Menard .Co., in 1819. Irish Grove derives its name from the fact that in that year Mr. George Blane, his mother, three brothers and a sister stopped for some time in that grove. They were natives of Ireland, and were the first white persons who ever lived in that grove. He was married soon after settling in Sugar Grove to Miss Mary M. Alkire. sister of Leonard Alkire, one of the early settlers of Sugar Grove.

The subject of this sketch was brought up to farming, in which he has always continued. He received a good education much better than most of the boys of that period who lived in the country. He remained with his father on the farm until 27 years of age.

He was married to Harriet Cleveland Dec. 18, 1862, daughter of Asa and Experience (Avery) Cleveland, who was born in Menard Co., 111., May 11, 1841. Her parents came to Menard Co. in 1840. Mr. Cleveland was a native of Vermont, and his wife of New Hampshire. From this union there were ten children, seven of whom are now living Minnie V., Jennie K., Lizzie B., Mary A., Jessie M., Geo. W. and Jay E. The names of those deceased were Herbert, Emma A. and Sadie A. Mr. Blane is a Republican, and at present a candidate for County Commissioner.

 JOHN P. BLANE, farmer arid stock-raiser ; P. 0. Greenview ; was born in Menard Co., 111., July 25, 1845 ; is a son of George and Mary (Alkire) Blane, both of whom were among the first settlers of Menard Co. The father was a native of Ireland, and came to Illinois as early as 1818, and to Sugar Grove, Menard Co., in 1819. He
died in 1864.

John P. passed his youth and early manhood on his father's farm. He received such an education as the schools of that day afforded. He was united in marriage with Mary A. Bracken Feb. 7, 1867. She was born in Menard Co., 111., and is a daughter of 0. P. Bracken, one of the pioneers of Menard Co. From this union there were four children, three of whom are now living Ella M., born Jan. 19, 1871 ; Carrie M., born May 31, 1875, and Lee E., born March 8, 1877. The name of the one deceased was Emma F., born Dec. 22, 1867, died March 21, 1869. Mr. Blane owns 364 acres of well-improved land; is a Republican in politics and a self-made man.

What's To Eat At Our House Tonight?
Tonight it's Taco Squares.  I can't remember if I previously told you how I make these but I'm too lazy to go through archived posts ....  So, I will once again tell you how to make them and if you already know how, skip this part of the blog post....LOL. (Keep in mind each time I make them, it might be a little different)  I brown 1 1/2 - 2 pounds of lean ground beef or ground turkey with 1/2 cup chopped onions, drain the grease and I rinse the meat with hot water to get out the fat grams.

 Use lower sodium Taco spice mix....For 1 1/2 pounds of meat, I use
 1 1/2 packages spice, for 2 pounds of meat, I use 2 packages. Mix spice as stated on the package and then add one can of (no-salt) tomato sauce. 

While cooking the meat, unroll one package of crescent rolls and stretch them to fit in the bottom of a Pam sprayed 9 x 13 pan.  If you let them sit for a while in the pan, they stretch easier.  Put these in a 400 degree oven for about 6 minutes.....just until the stickiness is gone from the dough.  Take them out and put the taco meat on top of the dough, sprinkle with shredded chedder cheese and cover with another can of crescent rolls.....stretching the dough to cover the meat.  Bake in 400 oven until they look nice and brown.  Cut into squares and top with chopped tomatoes, lettuce and sour cream as desired.  You will not be sorry...these are great!

New Word For The Day
So that Greenviewanites will be the smartest in the county.

New Word:  gotterdammerung = complete descruction of an institution, order, regime

New Spanish Word:  la mantequilla = butter  (try saying this at dinner tonight ....instead of pass the butter in English ... LOL)

Thought For The Day

All human wisdom is

summed up in two words:

wait and hope

--Alexandre Dumas

I'm back on my history writing kick.  When I hunt for history of Greenview, I realize that the people of my generation and on (current) are not documented in a book like the old time folks wrote.  Maybe we need to document this, at least in a psuedo type book for the local libraries. 

All it would take is a few paragraphs about each person like the biographies that I post about the old time folks who lived in Greenview.  Who, of my readers, who are Greenviewanites, would be willing to write three or four short paragraphs and let me document these into some type of a pamphlet or psuedo book so that at least our generation is documented somewhere .... just so we can have documented history for us folks.   Maybe there are a few smatterings or one lines written in the scrapbooks about some of us, but that isn't comprehensive nor does it tell us anything about you and your family.  This would not be intended to put on the internet....it would go in the county libraries.  Let me know if you think you could or want to do this....I'm willing.  

If you don't want to put a comment on here, email

me at:  carlaslittlemoms@yahoo.com 

Do You Remember Miss Kim Wilson......watch for more about old time local television info from years ago!

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