I love reading Mark's blog - so many of his posts really speak to what I'm going through at that particular time.
Lately, I've been having a really hard time trying to let go of some anger towards a certain person ..... she doesn't even realize that she has hurt me (at least I don't think she realizes it), I was thinking about this situation tonight and stumbled across this entry - I'm really thinking that God is trying to tell me something .... I have had this verse from the Psalms (can't remember which one at the moment) going through my head "cease from anger and forsake wrath". And then I read this entry. ˚Ü˚
Showing posts with label Links. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Links. Show all posts
Dec 30, 2010
Dec 7, 2010
Homemade yogurt
I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I love yogurt - the flavoured kinds are okay, but I really enjoy a bowl of plain yogurt ..... wanna know why?????? Okay, I'll tell you, lol. I like the plain yogurt because I can add whatever flavouring I want - jam is really good in it, so is chocolate syrup, but my absolute favourite topping for plain yogurt is homemade coffee syrup (like the Nescafe Ice Java, which you could easily use that if you don't have the homemade stuff) and just a smidge of sugar. ˚Ü˚
This morning I was checking out the recently added patterns on Ravelry (crafters, if you don't have a membership there, you really need to sign up - that site is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I happened to spy a pattern for a jar cozy when making yogurt. I clicked on it and it took me to the designers blog - not only does she have the pattern there, but she has a recipe to make homemade yogurt - how cool is that, lol.
Now, I have to admit that I've made yogurt before, using my smaller (4 qt) crockpot - but that ends up taking up a lot of counter space that just isn't really available in my house (why do trailers lack counter space and storage space??????????). Anyways, if I make the yogurt this way, then I'm not using up one whole counter just for the crockpot and I can store it in the fridge using the same jar that it was made in - sounds like a win/win situation to me. ˚Ü˚
This morning I was checking out the recently added patterns on Ravelry (crafters, if you don't have a membership there, you really need to sign up - that site is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I happened to spy a pattern for a jar cozy when making yogurt. I clicked on it and it took me to the designers blog - not only does she have the pattern there, but she has a recipe to make homemade yogurt - how cool is that, lol.
Now, I have to admit that I've made yogurt before, using my smaller (4 qt) crockpot - but that ends up taking up a lot of counter space that just isn't really available in my house (why do trailers lack counter space and storage space??????????). Anyways, if I make the yogurt this way, then I'm not using up one whole counter just for the crockpot and I can store it in the fridge using the same jar that it was made in - sounds like a win/win situation to me. ˚Ü˚
Nov 24, 2010
Wonderful day at home
Today was a great day ..... the kids and I have spent the entire day at home - normally we would go to the library in the afternoon (after they finish Spanish). However, today, after Spanish was finished, the kids geared up and headed out to the tobogganing hill that they have set up. Tomorrow and Friday we are staying home, too - normally on Thursday I head into town for weaving, but with Don's car being broke down, I get to enjoy being at home. ˚Ü˚
Yesterday evening, Don phoned me and asked me to come and pick him up from where he works. He had stayed late to work on his car - he had got a new radiator for it. When he started it up, there was white smoke coming from the exhaust as well as antifreeze ...... sooooooo, Charlotte went out and started the car while I changed from my work clothes. Then, both of us (Josh decided to stay home) put on our winter gear (warm toques, warm mitts, etc.) and headed into the next town to pick him up. As you can imagine - he was pretty bummed about his car being broke down .... not sure how much it will cost to get it fixed (if you could add this to your prayer list, we'd sure appreciate it).
In all honesty, right now, I'm okay with us (basically) being down to one vehicle ..... I'm not a huge fan of winter driving - I can do it .... just not a fan of it. So, every year, I look forward to winter coming so that I can stop the driving here and there that we do so much of during Spring through Fall. I can stay inside my house, work on my handcrafts, help the kids out with their schooling and just basically enjoy all that comes with staying home. There will be a few times that I'll need to take Don to work so that I can use the car - those are for things that were booked last month for this month and some of next month - but, other than that ..... I get to stay home. ˚Ü˚
Today, a friend came over with her two kids (I think the kids are 6 & 3) ..... anyway, she wanted to learn more about knitting - mainly how to make an easy pair of slippers (she is a beginner knitter). I looked up the pattern for Aunt Maggie's Slippers on Ravelry, printed it off and gave it to her - if you want a very easy, knit, pair of slippers to make, these are the ones. One of the great things about them is that they are knit flat, so you can use two separate balls of yarn and make both slippers at once. ˚Ü˚
For supper tonight, I decided that we would have sweet and sour beef - Don bought a few steaks (it is cheaper for me to cube these than it is to buy actual stewing meat) for me to make up S&S beef. After our company left today, I got it all ready and it is now in the slow cooker .... just have make rice and a veggie to go with it. It's been a while since I've made this, so it'll be a real treat for Don and the kids (they all love when I make this particular dish). ˚Ü˚
On the weaving front - I have started a new lapghan to donate to the PSM at our Church. Many of the men in our congregation are not the 'shawl' type, so, at the suggestion of our Pastor, I started weaving lapghans for them. The women get the shawls and the men get the lapghans ..... this will be the second one that I've made and donated (although I have enough warp on my loom to make two of them, which is what the plan is):
And here is a close up of the weaving:
The second lapghan that I'll be making will have the cream coloured warp but I'll use a different colour of fuzzy yarn for the weft - I love how soft these turn out. ˚Ü˚
Yesterday evening, Don phoned me and asked me to come and pick him up from where he works. He had stayed late to work on his car - he had got a new radiator for it. When he started it up, there was white smoke coming from the exhaust as well as antifreeze ...... sooooooo, Charlotte went out and started the car while I changed from my work clothes. Then, both of us (Josh decided to stay home) put on our winter gear (warm toques, warm mitts, etc.) and headed into the next town to pick him up. As you can imagine - he was pretty bummed about his car being broke down .... not sure how much it will cost to get it fixed (if you could add this to your prayer list, we'd sure appreciate it).
In all honesty, right now, I'm okay with us (basically) being down to one vehicle ..... I'm not a huge fan of winter driving - I can do it .... just not a fan of it. So, every year, I look forward to winter coming so that I can stop the driving here and there that we do so much of during Spring through Fall. I can stay inside my house, work on my handcrafts, help the kids out with their schooling and just basically enjoy all that comes with staying home. There will be a few times that I'll need to take Don to work so that I can use the car - those are for things that were booked last month for this month and some of next month - but, other than that ..... I get to stay home. ˚Ü˚
Today, a friend came over with her two kids (I think the kids are 6 & 3) ..... anyway, she wanted to learn more about knitting - mainly how to make an easy pair of slippers (she is a beginner knitter). I looked up the pattern for Aunt Maggie's Slippers on Ravelry, printed it off and gave it to her - if you want a very easy, knit, pair of slippers to make, these are the ones. One of the great things about them is that they are knit flat, so you can use two separate balls of yarn and make both slippers at once. ˚Ü˚
For supper tonight, I decided that we would have sweet and sour beef - Don bought a few steaks (it is cheaper for me to cube these than it is to buy actual stewing meat) for me to make up S&S beef. After our company left today, I got it all ready and it is now in the slow cooker .... just have make rice and a veggie to go with it. It's been a while since I've made this, so it'll be a real treat for Don and the kids (they all love when I make this particular dish). ˚Ü˚
On the weaving front - I have started a new lapghan to donate to the PSM at our Church. Many of the men in our congregation are not the 'shawl' type, so, at the suggestion of our Pastor, I started weaving lapghans for them. The women get the shawls and the men get the lapghans ..... this will be the second one that I've made and donated (although I have enough warp on my loom to make two of them, which is what the plan is):
And here is a close up of the weaving:
The second lapghan that I'll be making will have the cream coloured warp but I'll use a different colour of fuzzy yarn for the weft - I love how soft these turn out. ˚Ü˚
Sep 14, 2010
New 'Toy' for us
Tonight, Don & I went to Wal-Mart (after having supper at Joey's Only) .... we were touring through the store, checking out the electronics section, perusing the DVD's that they have there and suddenly I spied the Nintendo DS 100 Classic Books - Don took pity on me and bought it, lol.
This is a really neat item to have - you can scroll through the book list, sort them by author or genre, bookmark the book you're reading, change the font size (you can choose between small and large), you can also download books onto the cartridge through a WI-FI connection. I know there are more features, these are just the ones that we discovered in our quick look at it tonight.
We were reading off some of the book titles to the kids and they were getting pretty excited about reading some of them .... well, maybe it's because they would be able to use their DS, lol. Whatever the reason - I hope they enjoy having this item for our DS's. ˚Ü˚
This is a really neat item to have - you can scroll through the book list, sort them by author or genre, bookmark the book you're reading, change the font size (you can choose between small and large), you can also download books onto the cartridge through a WI-FI connection. I know there are more features, these are just the ones that we discovered in our quick look at it tonight.
We were reading off some of the book titles to the kids and they were getting pretty excited about reading some of them .... well, maybe it's because they would be able to use their DS, lol. Whatever the reason - I hope they enjoy having this item for our DS's. ˚Ü˚
Aug 26, 2010
Busy day yesterday
Wow - what a busy day we had yesterday .... since it was Wednesday, the kids only had a half day of school. We do a half day on Wednesdays for a few reasons:
During the day, while the kids were doing their schooling, I was able to get a batch of Iced Tea syrup made - I started making this a few years ago and since that time, we haven't switched back to the powdered stuff that the store sells (with the exception of having it in the camper - hot iced tea is really good when your sitting around the campfire). I was also able to get a batch of yogurt made - it's been a long time since I've made yogurt ..... it's cooling in the fridge as I type. A while ago, I had found a recipe on how to make it in the slow cooker ... it takes a while to make it that way, but the end result is worth it (my Mom used to make it in an ice cream pail in the oven .... she used the light in the oven to keep it warm while it was incubating). In total, it takes about 13 or 14 hours to make it this way (that doesn't include the cooling time) .... soooooo, if you make it, make sure that you start it early in the day, then it can cool overnight and you'll have fresh yogurt for breakfast the next day. ˚Ü˚
A few weeks ago Don and I made the decision to stop using our dishwasher - it's not that the dishwasher is a bad thing, it's actually quite handy to have .... our problem with it is that the kids were not emptying it when it was done (doing the dishes was one of their daily tasks) - when clean dishes were needed (because they weren't in the cupboard), they were simply taken out of the dishwasher. So, essentially, the dishwasher was being used as a cupboard as well. Now, the downside to having a dishwasher used as a cupboard (as well as a dishwasher) is that you can't refill it to wash the dirty dishes until all the dishes have been taken out of the dishwasher/cupboard .... this creates piles of dirty dishes on the counter and in the sink. Soooooooo, much to the dismay of our children, we have stopped using it - dishes are now done throughout the day (as they should be) and there is a lot more peace in our house where dishes are concerned .... if only I could convince them that Josh needs to take turns washing the dishes (he's content to dry and put away and Charlotte is content to wash and rinse - however, learning to wash the dishes is a skill that I feel he will need to learn). ˚Ü˚ Now, with all the 'making' I was doing yesterday, I ended up with a lot of dishes to do - I do the breakfast and lunch dishes (and any other dishes I create during the day from baking, etc.) and the kids do the supper dishes. Man, did I ever go through the hand cream yesterday, lol, but .... it was worth it. ˚Ü˚
Now, the blog entry just wouldn't be complete without some pictures, right? lol. Here is a picture of my yogurt - it's in a 4L ice cream pail (just so you can judge how much it makes):
Oh, I almost forgot .... here is the link to the instructions that I used for this batch (I lost my other recipe and had to search down a new one): You Can Make Yogurt In Your Crockpot!
- Wednesday is the day our homeschool group has Mug Up (a weekly gathering of homeschoolers where the kids can spend time with friends and where the Mom's can have coffee, get encouragement, support, arms to hug you or a shoulder to cry on. It is a place to share what is working for you and what isn't, but more importantly it is a place where you can recharge your 'batteries' and know that you're not alone on this journey called homeschooling).
- this year we have set Wednesdays up as our Library day and since it is the one day of the week that I plan to be out of the house (at least for part of the day), it is also the day that I run errands for Don (to the bank, the post office, insurance agency, etc.)
During the day, while the kids were doing their schooling, I was able to get a batch of Iced Tea syrup made - I started making this a few years ago and since that time, we haven't switched back to the powdered stuff that the store sells (with the exception of having it in the camper - hot iced tea is really good when your sitting around the campfire). I was also able to get a batch of yogurt made - it's been a long time since I've made yogurt ..... it's cooling in the fridge as I type. A while ago, I had found a recipe on how to make it in the slow cooker ... it takes a while to make it that way, but the end result is worth it (my Mom used to make it in an ice cream pail in the oven .... she used the light in the oven to keep it warm while it was incubating). In total, it takes about 13 or 14 hours to make it this way (that doesn't include the cooling time) .... soooooo, if you make it, make sure that you start it early in the day, then it can cool overnight and you'll have fresh yogurt for breakfast the next day. ˚Ü˚
A few weeks ago Don and I made the decision to stop using our dishwasher - it's not that the dishwasher is a bad thing, it's actually quite handy to have .... our problem with it is that the kids were not emptying it when it was done (doing the dishes was one of their daily tasks) - when clean dishes were needed (because they weren't in the cupboard), they were simply taken out of the dishwasher. So, essentially, the dishwasher was being used as a cupboard as well. Now, the downside to having a dishwasher used as a cupboard (as well as a dishwasher) is that you can't refill it to wash the dirty dishes until all the dishes have been taken out of the dishwasher/cupboard .... this creates piles of dirty dishes on the counter and in the sink. Soooooooo, much to the dismay of our children, we have stopped using it - dishes are now done throughout the day (as they should be) and there is a lot more peace in our house where dishes are concerned .... if only I could convince them that Josh needs to take turns washing the dishes (he's content to dry and put away and Charlotte is content to wash and rinse - however, learning to wash the dishes is a skill that I feel he will need to learn). ˚Ü˚ Now, with all the 'making' I was doing yesterday, I ended up with a lot of dishes to do - I do the breakfast and lunch dishes (and any other dishes I create during the day from baking, etc.) and the kids do the supper dishes. Man, did I ever go through the hand cream yesterday, lol, but .... it was worth it. ˚Ü˚
Now, the blog entry just wouldn't be complete without some pictures, right? lol. Here is a picture of my yogurt - it's in a 4L ice cream pail (just so you can judge how much it makes):
Oh, I almost forgot .... here is the link to the instructions that I used for this batch (I lost my other recipe and had to search down a new one): You Can Make Yogurt In Your Crockpot!
Aug 25, 2010
Really neat idea
When you live in a trailer (oh, sorry .... Modular Home - HA!!! ... it's a trailer, lol), you don't have a lot of storage space. Some of them have really great floor plans .... but still not a lot of storage space - I really don't understand that *shakes head*. Anyway, I was checking out some blogs this morning (aka: putting off doing dishes, lol) and I came across this: Behind Closet Doors. This is an amazing site - soooooo many wonderful projects and they look fairly simple to do (keeping in mind that I don't do the woodworking in our household, so I really have no idea, rofl).
We have the sliding closet doors in our bedrooms ..... however, this could possibly be something that gets done on the inside of the pantry door .... or even in the closet that has some of my yarn stash. I'm thinking the possibilities are endless .... and that my husband is now cringing at the prospect of all these woodworking projects, lol. ˚Ü˚
We have the sliding closet doors in our bedrooms ..... however, this could possibly be something that gets done on the inside of the pantry door .... or even in the closet that has some of my yarn stash. I'm thinking the possibilities are endless .... and that my husband is now cringing at the prospect of all these woodworking projects, lol. ˚Ü˚
Tried a new recipe
On August 18th my friend, Pam (over at Random Finds and Thoughts On Any Given Day) posted a link for a recipe for Pop Up Pancakes. Well, we tried them out today .... OMGosh they are sooooooooo good!!!!! We mixed them up in our VitaMix, poured them into Texas size muffin pans (these pans make muffins, roughly, the same size as the ones you can buy at Costco), put them in the oven and 15 minutes later, we had Pop Up Pancakes.
After we said Grace (Josh lead this morning since Don was at work), the kids each took a bite ...... Josh excitedly said that they tasted like French Toast (I put in a splash of vanilla and a shake or two of cinnamon). So, both the kids have voted that we now call them French Muffins, lol.
I'm posting the list recipe here (just in case I lose the printed out copy I made (which has been known to happen) or the site where the recipe is shuts down), but I do encourage you to check out the site where this recipe is found at:
After we said Grace (Josh lead this morning since Don was at work), the kids each took a bite ...... Josh excitedly said that they tasted like French Toast (I put in a splash of vanilla and a shake or two of cinnamon). So, both the kids have voted that we now call them French Muffins, lol.
I'm posting the list recipe here (just in case I lose the printed out copy I made (which has been known to happen) or the site where the recipe is shuts down), but I do encourage you to check out the site where this recipe is found at:
French Muffins
1 cup milk
1 cup flour (we used a GF flour mix)
6 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
dash of salt
splash of vanilla
shake or two of cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Blend all ingredients in blender & pour into muffin pans (1/2 - 2/3 full). Bake for 15 minutes or until puffy and golden on top.
Now, I did tweak the recipe, just a little bit ..... this is what I did with them this morning - if you want to check out the original recipe (and see a picture of them, too), here is the link (again): Pop Up Pancakes.
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