Sourdough Happenings

My new sourdough starter seems to be very healthy now. It is now doubling in size within several hours after you feed it. I've used it twice, but it wasn't at full boost (or it wasn't doubling yet). When I made bread with it, I doubled the amount of starter called for in the recipe and it turned out too sour. I won't do that again.

I happened upon this website called Breadtopia.com and found the starter recipe I used there. This is a great source for those who like making bread. The fact that he actually shows you what the starter should look like is very helpful.

Hope you enjoy the videos!







Sincerely,

Updates and Reviews

I thought I'd post an update and review post since I'm totally not updated and let's not mention the review, because we are just keeping this train moving along. :O)

• Our 1 1/2 year old is doing much better. We're not sure what caused his tonsilitis, but it seems to have been viral. His white blood cell count got up to 27,000! We are back home now from the hospital and he is back to his old self. He is very normal for himself now(finding all kinds of things to get into) and I am very thankful he is well.
• In other news, I started a Sourdough Starter Saturday and can't wait to try it out. I think the brew is just about ready! This is my first time making my own from scratch. I hope to post on this soon. I know, this sounds sooooo exciting. But what can I say- I dig bread making!
• To review our school week- well....we're getting the essentials done but I think for Social Studies and Science we may take a more Five in a Row(very relaxed) sort of approach to finish off the year and start back on our Weaver next school year. I'm just tired and about to pop. Well, not quiet that big but I'm getting there. So maybe I'll make it more storytime about Einstein, the Caesars of Rome..A Bug collection..and whatever else my kids want to explore and learn about while we sit down and relax.
• The Spring Cleaning Challenge didn't happen much last week. The children did get at least half the baseboards done around the house, and I did get the curtains washed, but that's about it. Between doctor's appointments and a sick baby, plus the hospital stay, I'm just glad to be home.

Spring is almost here and the trees out my upstairs bathroom window are starting to bloom. The birds are getting loud again about 6 am and we are watching our tomato plants take off indoors. My husband bought me two semi dwarf apple trees a few days ago. We just need to figure out the perfect place to put them.

In the midst of all of life's concerns, God is always so good!

Spring Cleaning Challenge (Update #2)

Spring Cleaning is underway here though you can't tell too much since I'm following such a global order. It seems for me it works best here and keeps me motivated. There's nothing like the feeling that all the windows are done, not just 2 or 3. Besides, since there are so many of us, when I'm done completely with one room and move to the other, the one I finished doesn't last much to give me the same gratification. Globally works for me.

We did get all our windows done, except for the french door windows in my room. (My room is always last it seems.) I also finished up all the fans except in my room.
The curtains are getting washed and some I'm moving around.
I have 4 blinds to speak of, and 2 are goners.
I came to the realization about 2 years ago that blinds are not for me.
I don't like cleaning them and curtains or cloth shades work beautifully.
Look at those windows shine! I drove up today and noticed the glimmer.

♥ I have a handy tip for anyone wanting to clean those nice little crevices in a fan. Use a Q-tip. They work really well.

Here's my plans for this coming week-
(Please understand, I'm far from tidy and neat. I lost the persistance about 3 kids ago. Things here get cleaned as needed, and when I can get to it. Sometimes it is impressive and sometimes it's depressive.)

So here's my to do list:

1. Clean refrigerator.


2. Clean and organize the big upright freezer.


3. Children-clean baseboards throughout the house


4. Children-wipe down outside of doors, hutches, and door frames.


5. Dust top of fridge, freezer, hutches, and doorframes.


6. Dust edge of ceilings for cobwebs.

The thought of getting these things done before the baby gets here is so pleasant that it has kept me on track. There's nothing like knowing that these things are not on my plate when I'm serving everyone elses and the baby calls.

Here's a nice poem that I found in The Best of Barbara Johnson's book:

Good Housekeeping

Lord, it is not the dirt and clutter in plain sight that nag at me.
It's the hidden dirt...you know, behind the refrigerator, in the closets, under the bed.
Dirt that no one sees or knows about but me.
It's the same way with my life, God.
It's those hidden sins that I can't keep up with...those petty little grievances, the grudges, the resentments, the unspoken harsh feelings, and the superior attitutes.
Thoughts and feelings that no one else knows about but me...and You, God.
Help me, Father, to clean my heart as I would my home.
Take away all the dust and cobwebs of pride, ill feelings, and prejudice.
The dirt behind the refrigerator will never hurt anyone.
The dirt in my heart will.

-Source Unknown

Beginning Spring Cleaning Challenge

I decided to join the Spring Cleaning Challenge over at Meaningful Days. I think we have till April 30th to do our Spring Cleaning done. This is a great motivator for me since the baby is due April 27th, and after she arrives I won't get much done for the next 3 weeks or so.

I decided to get my windows done this week and also my fans. Windows are usually not a big deal because I'm truly blessed with the kind of windows that pull in and so you can clean both the inside and outside from the inside. (It's been a little cold this week, so I don't think you would have caught me outside doing that.)

Well, we're not off to a fabulous start. I've only got the living room windows done and not completely because my stomach muscles aren't working real well for me to get the top windows back up! (This is funny, but not too funny.)

I think perhaps I should have picked the refrigerator

I'm suppose to update on my blog every Wednesday, so I'll either update tonight on today (on this post) or next week on this week. Gee, I don't count the week over till the weekend, and Saturday seems to be most productive for me since I seem to not have to do school that day. So maybe I'm not doing so bad after all.

I'm still counting my kitchen cupboards since I did get those organized, except under the sink.

So my goal is to get all the windows done(19), and five fans cleaned. I'm not trying to brag, because these windows aren't huge and they aren't hard to do if you weren't as pregnant as I am. Besides, my boys will help me with the patio door windows.

Since I'm waiting on help to get the windows up, I guess I should wash the curtains too. They seem a bit dusty.

Our Week In Review

Well, I haven't got my camera battery issue taken cared of, and so I don't have any pictures. :o(

Around the House: This week in review should be pretty quick too, since I don't feel like we got much done. Except- I organized my kitchen cabinets and I feel like a new woman! Yes sirree...those kitchen items in their new locations make me feel like I have a brand new kitchen. There's nothing like changing where you keep the baking power.
We purchased some gamma lids for my 5 lb buckets where I keep my soft and hard wheat, my dehydrated refried beans, and oatmeal. It is now super easy to open them.

In School: 5 yr. old-

• This week we learned some new phonograms - and reviewed some that she doesn't quite have down: ed, ew, ey, ei, ar. We normally work thru her Hooked on Phonics workbook and in the meantime I teach her the phonograms from the original Writing Road to Reading method. She has also enjoyed reading from some of the early Abeka readers.
• In Math, I've introduced subtraction using cusienaire rods and she seems to like figuring them out. We also reviewed decimal street by having her take- say number 52 and in our place value mat making the number with rods. So she would pick out 5 ten rods and place them in the tens place, and 2 unit rods and place them in the ones place. She's getting good at this. She practiced counting by two's, tens, fives, and backwards from 20.

8yr.-

• In Math this week he is working on perimeters and subtraction with borrowing. He learned the concept of $ sign/decimal point verses the cent mark, and we used rods to demostrate the dollar and cent place values. We also spent more needed time playing some math games from Math Mouse games. The games involved addition and multiplication. (He used his skip counting facts to help him solve the multiplication problems.)
• L.A this week involved him working on his poem memory work. He spent time writing out a post card and mailing it. He also worked on copy work and dictation. He learned about adverbs this week and seems to understand them well. First Language Lessons does a really good job teaching this for a child his age.

10 yr. old-

• This week in math he learned about percentages/fractions, quadrilaterals, and two step word problems. He spent time playing during our math time with 8yr. old a game from Math Mouse games where he could work on fractions and multiplication while brother worked on addition and multiplication.
• In L.A. He also wrote out a postcard and and a letter to family and mailed out. He also reviewed adverbs- which were not really set in his mind well. We have been working on newspapers and so we researched a little a bout editors, publishers, opinions, facts, and the set up of the front page. He made a front page with Flag, Editorial, Index, and Top Story. He also spent some time writing some letters to our make-believe editor.

Other subjects-

• I can't say we did an awful lot of other subjects, except music has been a biggie around here for everyone. The children have begun playing Music Ace on the computer, and Music by Jumpstart.
• We visited the police station this week and the children got a chance to see what the inside of the station looks like and how the police files a report.
• 5yr. old has been commenting on how her nervous system seems to really get the message to her brain quickly about being cold after a shower.
• Avoiding the very appearance of evil seems to keep coming back into our conversations.

That's our review of the week. It seems I had a hard time moving on this week because we didn't really continue too much our science and social studies. I think that's ok though. Maybe we needed it. We should be covering insects next.

The weather is getting nice again and it makes me anxious for Spring.

Where have I been?( Journal Letter )

Dear Journal,

I better make this quick since I'm running out of time. Like time is fleeting right? I've been swimming somewhere in my thoughts between switching violin teachers, becoming a little more savvy about identity fraud, organizing my kitchen cabinets, and feeling a little more pregnant each day.

Have I mentioned that it is getting very difficult to bend over? That my mother in-law teases me about getting thru the door, and that when I'm done with this pregnancy I plan to get most of my waist back? By the way, mother in-law had 11 children, and I don't have trouble getting thru the door.

In other news, I'm done with my teaching turn at co-op. The children learned about Squanto, Paul Revere, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, and Harriet Tubman. The last quarter ends at the end of April, so my loyal friend and co-op partner will finish the school year with geography and I'll just smile along.

My pondering thoughts of the moment ~ I'm not one of those unbreakable people that never cry. I know about crying. I've cried over being hurt by people I love or don't even love, over accidents I've had, after I had a baby or two, when my husband looks at me the wrong way, when I feel I'm incapable to the task at hand, and when I have failed God miserably.

Sometimes, I'll go thru a season where I haven't shed too many tears if any, but then all of a sudden, it happens.
Crying is good for the soul sometimes- just as long as you don't drown in your weeping. It helps clear stuff out, keeps hurtburn from building up, and keeps you from becoming unfeeling.
Just make sure if at all possible, you're the one who turns the faucet on, and keeps it from dripping over spilt milk.

Since I mentioned milk, I've gotten a deal of a steal on powdered milk and have been making 2 qt. batches and using it in my cooking. If you're interested in recipes using powdered milk you ought to check out the Hillbilly Housewife link I have on my sidebar. She has recipes for everything from shakes to buttermilk, even cheese. Just make sure you keep your powder milk fresh and you won't be able to tell. (I keep mine now in the freezer)

See ....It's a good thing you don't live in my brain because you'd been swimming all over the cerebrum this week. This is why for people like me, thinking too much on a certain subject can be dangerous.

Sincerely,

Delicious Tenderloins and Intimidating Moments

I was a little stressed last night. Someday, I'm going to look back at these moments and laugh, but last night was not funny.

I like to cook, I really do, and I'm not just trying to convince myself of this.

But I have a hard time getting the joy of cooking to show when I have to do too much multi-tasking. For example, keeping a 1 1/2 yr. old from making constant messes (and he does), breading tenderloins (which I was), having 8 yr. old come by every so often telling me how starved he is (he did) , 10 yr. practicing piano and needing help on a new hymn, plus having any other little person needing everything from a snack to bathroom attention can be much for me.(Specially since it seemed I was washing my hands every 5 minutes.) Does it sound like I'm complaining? No, not really. I just want to share this Pork Tenderloin recipe I made last night, and let you know that it turned out very good, but not stress free, quick, or easy. So if you chance to get a craving and decide to make this, take this warning to heart: Do it undisturbed!

By the way, I also decided to make it extra hard for myself by making Old Fashioned Sweet Potatoes.(I needed to use the rest of my sweet potatoes so I had to peel and slice. These are so good that perhaps I thought it was worth the effort.) 8 yr. walked in while they were cooking and said, "Ughh, I like mashed potatoes better.")
The easy part was the Cranberry Stove Top Stuffing, and green beans.

Creamy Pork Tenderloin

2 Pork tenderloins (about 1 lb. each)
1 egg
1 Tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. rosemary or Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. pepper
dash of garlic powder
1 Cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp. margarine
1 can cream of chicken, undiluted
1 Cup light sour cream
1/4 Cup chicken broth

Cut each tenderloin into 8 pieces.
Place each piece on wax paper and flatten to 3/4 in. in thickness.
In a shallow dish, combine the next five ingredients. Dip pork into egg mixture, then into bread crumbs.
In a large skillet over med. heat, brown pork in oil for 5 min. on each side. Remove to a one large or one large and small baking dish. (I needed a 13x9 and a 2qt baking dish) Keep warm.
In the same skillet, saute mushrooms in butter until tender. Stir in soup, sour cream, and broth; pour over pork. Cover and bake at 325* for 1 hour or until pork is tender.

Yields 16 tenderloin patties.

This recipe comes from The Best of Country Cooking 1999 (Taste of Home books)


When Daddy got home, I looked a tad frazzled. He walked through the door, and reached out for the children with these words: "How's all of my babies?"

They were very normal, but it was I that needed a little therapy.
During dinner he happened to mention a conversation he had with a co-worker. "....Precious Stones are made from lots of pressure."

I hope this thought blesses you as much as it did me.

Grocery Good Deals!

Ok, I've got to admit, I stop clipping coupons about the time that....gosh I can't remember. Probably when I moved near your friendly Super Wal-mart and realized I wasn't saving too much more since I didn't have the super douper deals available at my new location.(And Walmart ended up costing me about the same w/o the coupon.) Since then, I've noticed the Sunday paper doesn't really put out a lot of coupons that would be of much interest to me, or they have gone from coupons to almost nothing.

I decided to use my friendly Wal-mart to my advantage this week and took advantage of the price match policy. Let me share with you the deals I got:(By the way, I jotted down the item, sale price, and location, so that I could tell the cashier and she wouldn't have to search for it.)

1/2 gallon ice cream $1.39 (I bought 2)Strawberry and Cookies and Cream. :O)

Peanut butter, small jar $.99 (bought 3)

Pork TenderLoin $1.99 lb. (This basicly slashed the price in half!)

1 gallon Milk $2.50 (bought 3)

Strawberries $1.99 a quart (bought 2)

Ground Chuck $1.99 lb( I don't consider this a deal, but it seems you can't get it any cheaper around here these days or at Walmart for that matter.)

Hamburger Helper Makes a fast Meal $1 (bought 2)

It seems my mind has drawn a blank so that must be the jist of the price match deals for me last night. Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye on my Sunday Grocery Ads and utilizing the price match which I hadn't paid too much attention to before. I feel the I saved a buck fever coming on already.

Pancakes and Homemade Syrup

I thought I'd share the recipe I like best for pancakes. Also, within the last couple months I've been making our syrup and it is starting to grow on me. You can get imitation maple flavoring or the real stuff. I just happen to get Mapleine at Walmart to start out. I don't like the fact that it has sulfiting agents though so once I'm done with it, I'll probably go with the real stuff.

Pancakes

1 Cup of all-purpose flour or soft wheat if you grind your wheat
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup of milk
2 Tbsp. cooking oil

Heat skillet to 325* or heat up frying pan on medium. Mix well the dry ingredients with the wet until just blended. Pour desired amount and cook till lightly brown. Flip and do the same. Keep warm in the oven or a covered plate.

*I use buttermilk, and decrease baking powder to 1 tsp. and add about 1/2 tsp. of baking soda. I also add cinnamon to ours if I add fruit like bananas, berries, and apples. Also we usually triple the recipe and get about 18-20 hand size pancakes. What's left over we freeze for later during the week's breakfast.

Homemade Syrup

Boil 1 Cup of water. Add 2 Cups of sugar. Add 1/2 tsp. Mapleine and stir. I boil this over medium heat for about 5-8 minutes. Let it completely cool and store in the refrigerator. Serve in a syrup dispenser.

* I've also used Blackstrap Molasses to flavor it instead of Mapleine. You have to add 1-2 Tbsp. but it works well too. Also, it's thinner than the syrup from the store, but a little of it over your pancakes goes a long way. I also double or triple this recipe and keep the extra in a mason jar in the fridge.
That's all there is to it. Definitely worth the $2+ savings for us!

We usually have this for breakfast on Saturday mornings while we listen to the children's radio programs that come on our local Christian radio station. Shows like Paws and Tales, Adventures in Odyssey, and Down Gilead Lane.

Hope you have an outstanding breakfast this Saturday. If you happen to have pancakes, maybe you'll remember me.

In the Kitchen....

I thought I'd post some recipes from our dinner last night. Perhaps it was all the yummy melted Velvetta cheese taste that has been floating in my mind. :o) We had Please Give Me More Casserole, Cherry Fluff, and Cornbread.

Please Give Me More Casserole
1lb of ground turkey or lean ground beef (If I use ground Turkey, I dash it with a little bit of soy sauce)
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can of mushroom soup
1 can 8oz tomato paste
1 can of corn or half a bag of frozen corn(16oz bag)
2 tsp. chili powder
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt(optional)
1/4 lb cubed Velvetta -type cheese
1 cup of macaronni

Cook meat with onions and green peppers. Drain if necessary. Cook macaronni and set aside, drained. Add soup, paste, corn , macaronni, and seasonings. Mix well. Pour into casserole dish and top with cubed cheese. Bake for 25-30 min. at 375* or till melted and bubbling. Yum!

Cherry Fluff
1 carton frozen light whipped topping, thawed
1 can crushed, unsweetened pineapple, drained
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1 can (14oz) fat free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 crushed pecans or toffee candy bar

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; Mix well. Chill several hours or overnight. Makes 12 servings.

*************************************************************************
In other news, our local grocery store had boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.29 lb!
We stocked up and after dinner canned about 12 quarts, and 2 quarts of pork loin chops! You can't hardly get a can of chicken for probably under $1.50 for 6-11 ounces!

Now, when I want to make supper all I have to do is open a can of chicken and put it into my casserole recipe. That saves me the time of having my act together and cooking the chicken early. And since it made broth, I now have it to put into my rice, creamed spinach, gravies, etc... It gives rice such a good flavor.

I think age has made my husband even sweeter as the years go by, because he stayed up to watch the pressure cooker stay at 15lbs. for 75 minutes. While we were cutting up the raw chicken breasts and putting them in the quart jars, he said kiddingly, "I missed my calling in life. I should have been a butcher."

Quick notes on pregnancy and recipes..(cookies and meatloaf)

I'm sitting here blogging while I eat one of my delicious no-bake cookies. Yum! These things are so good that a pregnant woman should not be allowed to eat these things! I really shouldn't, but I've been craving them for about 2 days. I get a little worried that if I eat too many sweets I'll have such a big baby that I'll have another c-section. I had one of those with my third, and for anyone who thinks this is the way to go(and I've spoken to some who do think this), let me tell you it's not! And I know, because I've had four the normal way and recuperation is a lot better the normal way. (Besides, I get queasy, just thinking about a cut across my lower abdomen.)

Want to know how much my other babies weighed? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway.

1. 6 lbs 12 oz. (2 weeks early)
2. 8 lbs. 8oz.
3. 9 lbs 8oz.
4. 8 lbs. 12oz.
5. 9 lbs. 2 oz.
6. ?

I have friends who have bigger babies, like 10 lbs+!

I'm short, FYI, and there's only one place for this baby to go. Thankfully, I've lost all my weight with all the babies. But since I have no stomach muscles to talk about (or they've become so flexible that they just keep on stretching) my belly seems to just keep going while I'm pregnant.

Here's a quick meatloaf recipe. I've never been able to make a meatloaf that I was sincerely impressed with, but this one is a worthy kind. It gets its merits from the glaze and the fact that it cooks in about 17 minutes!

Carrot Meatloaf

2 cups shredded carrots

1 green pepper cut up in small pieces(optional)

1 cup dry bread crumbs or quick oatmeal

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 envelope dry onion soup mix or about 2Tbsp of beef bouillons, 1Tbsp onion powder, 2tsp. salt

2 lbs lean ground beef

1/2lb. ground pork (optional)

Glaze: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tsp. prepared mustard

In a bowl, combine carrots, green pepper, crumbs, eggs, milk and soup mix. Add meat, and mix well. On microwave-safe platter, shape mixture into a circle with a 9 in. diameter; form a 3 in. hole in the center. Cover with wax paper and microwave on high for about 16-18 minutes, or until no pink remains. Make sure it is rotating every 3 min. Drain. Let stand for 5 min.

Meanwhile, in a cup mix glaze ingredients. Spread half of glaze over meatloaf. Microwave on med. for 1 minute. Remove. Warm left over glaze to serve.

Yields: 10 servings. Recipe halves easily.

No Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

1 stick margarine

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup milk

Use a big saucepan to heat on med/high. Let ingredients boil for 1 1/2 to 2 min. (No more than 2 min.)

Add quickly 1 cup peanut butter and 3 cups of quick oatmeal

Stir and scoop onto wax paper to cool. Makes about 2 doz. cookies

Hope you enjoy these two recipes. The meatloaf comes in handy when you need to make a quick meal. The cookies...well you can't just have one.

Sweet Potatoes and some more...

Last night we canned 14 quarts of sweet potatoes. Plus, I have a crate full of fresh potatoes to go along. Was this my idea? Not really. I just suggested to my husband that since I used up all the potatoes we grew in the garden by Thanksgiving that we should buy some now that they're on sale. He bought 60 lbs! They were on sale at Wal-mart for $0.25/per pound and he thought this was a super deal! So last night we canned. The nice thing about this is that we spent a lot of time together in the kitchen, and now I have 14 qt. jars of cooked sweet potatoes to make some nice things like biscuits, a quick side dish, or my favorite -sweet potato casserole. This really is the best sweet potato casserole recipe. I've tried others and this is the one for us. I wrote it down in a notebook I still have from when I first got married. It's time to put it somewhere else, don't you think? Hope you find you like it too!

Best Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup. butter or margarine

1 tsp. vanilla

(Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg into potatoes. I would say about 1/2 -1 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg. It depends on your tastebuds.)

Mix sugar, eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla into sweet potatoes. Mix well. Pour into buttered 9x9 baking dish. Prepare topping.

Topping:

1 Cup brown sugar

1/3 cup of butter

1/2 cup chopped pecan (I sometimes cut this in half and add coconut)

1/3 cup flour

Mix all ingredients for topping. Crumble on top of potato mixture. Bake at 350* in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

In other news, I had a pretty good time preparing food for Thanksgiving this year. I can't say that of every Thanksgiving Day. There have been some years when I really dreaded all the preparation, but this year was very good for me. I made a turkey, gravy, refrigerator yeast rolls, two sweet potato casseroles, some corn, and a Dump Cake (with the cherries we froze this year). I don't think I made anything else, if I did, I can't remember. My stepdad made the other half of the dinner so don't think we forgot the mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumkin pie, ham, and green beans. I saved the water I boiled my potatoes in to make my bread today.

It must be the pregnancy doing that to me, because I go through strange phases in the kitchen when I'm pregnant. Really, I do.

I really got into cheese with my first. I began to love cheese, specially Gouda.

Maybe the second and third pregnancies were normal, because I don't remember anything in specific.

I just about became a vegetarian with my fourth pregnancy. I was making things like Spinach/Tofu Pizza!

With my fifth pregnancy, I was all about bread. Sourdough bread, banana bread, whole wheat bread, 7 grain bread, lots and lots of bread. The thing is that I didn't have a bread mixer like I do now, so I was kneading it all by hand. I made bread till the week I went into labor.(And still do.)

I'm not sure what the kitchen specialty will be now, except that I've been reading different cookbooks lately and making Chinese food.

Maybe our baby GIRL likes egg rolls and crab ragoon! (That is if the ultrasound is right). I sure do.

Dear Journal Letter (cheese...violin, math)

Dear Journal,

I thought I'd write personally today. My mind has been in a lot of places but lately I've had it stuck between the pages of a book about cheese. How I get myself involved in these things I'll never know, but the desire to learn to make cheese has surfaced off and on for a few months now. You would think with all I have to get done and all I don't get accomplished that I would stick to the task at hand, but nooooo...not me. The thought of trying something so pioneering just thrills me sometimes and then there are other times when it makes my head spin. Then it hit me today at co-op as we were learning to weave like the Navajo Indians, "What are you thinking trying to learn to make cheese when you haven't even worked on your crocheting since when, August??" My mind reasons this out by interrupting and saying, "Hello...if I always waited till everything was complete, I'd never go anywhere or do anything."


My 7 yr. old has a nice Christmas Beginner Group performance at the Mall in December. He just started playing the violin in April and is doing good except for:

• His practice time is short(about 15-20 min.)


• He's been practicing playing most of the C sharps like C naturals, and doesn't practice pulling the bow out far enough.


• One more thing, he hasn't been playing the 1/2 notes long enough. He's been playing them like quarter notes.

With all this said, it has come time for me to step in and make sure that he practices a little better by being present and attentive during his practice sessions. It took two consecutive (1hr)sessions to make a lot of progress so far. While I was making dinner, he mentioned how he should probably quit because he couldn't imagine spending that much time every practice.

"Think about it hard and let me know by Thursday. You can let your teacher know then." (gulp..)

Practice took 40 minutes last night. He paid close attention to the C sharps and the half notes so they didn't have to be repeated as much. Half way thru, he was giddy with joy that he had improved so much. At the end of the session, he told me he couldn't quit now. All I could do is be proud.

Math has been going really well at our house. I just love that Saxon 54. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but I really like it. It has done a great job helping me teach the 9yr. old and I love the progress we have made. Maybe it is because we do a very untraditional program like Miquon at the beginning. Maybe it's because I floundered around remembering math with my first son and things are just falling into place now. I'm not sure, but all I can say is that we seem to have found some happy ground that is very stable and secure in Saxon's middle school series. Not to mention, how much Math U See has helped us round out the Miquon progress and move smoothly along with the others right behind. I now have good feelings about what I'm going to do with the others.

Well Journal, I must bid you farewell. I need to get ready to make dinner. I would like to make Chicken and Dumplings tonight.





Linda

A Quiet Moment To Keep

Here I am at the keyboard once again. The house is quiet and no one needs anything. I'm looking forward to going downstairs in a few minutes and warming up some Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza I made yesterday and eating it along with a warm piece of pumpkin pie.
Can you tell I'm relishing the moments? I am, and do you know why? Because my children and husband have left to grandma's house to visit for the rest of the day and I alone am left to keep it.

I can't say that I'm an exemplary keeper of the home. I would fall short of some people's standards, I suppose. I look at the house sometimes and I have to make choices throughout my day. I have to choose whether to spend time really talking to my children or cleaning my room. Having reading time with them or mopping and scrubbing the floors. There doesn't seem to be time to do it all. At least not for me, so I have to choose. Some days, my home is clean-but some days well....I'm off somewhere perhaps making a memory, or homeschooling, or making dinner, folding laundry.... This is no excuse for not doing the task at hand, but for me I have come to a great compromise. I will be content to do what I can with my time and make a home for my family by keeping it.

So how do you keep the home? I can't say that I'm an expert either, because I've only been married 16 yrs. and well...we can all learn something new, right? But I think keeping the home is this:

To love those that it holds with your heart.
To nourish it by feeding it Words of Life.
To make it a place where the heart is touched.
To keep it from that which would seek to harm.
To make memories that will echo through time.

There's probably more explicit things that could be put on that list, but those are just common sense things that I don't need to mention. I will say this though, you can't keep the home if your heart is not in it. You can't keep the home if you're not there. You can't nourish the home if you have nothing to give to it. It will not be a home where the heart is touched if your heart is hard and untouchable. You can't keep it from harm if you let harm come in. And finally, the memories won't echo through time if time is not taken to make them.

This is a lot to think about. I started out thinking keeping the home was staying there and keeping it clean.

Keeping a home.
Oh, what a privilege.
To Be the Love Abiding Strand
That holds together in perfect union,
Those that within it would labor in.

Seeking the strength of the Almighty
To guide the keeper's words and ways
This task of keeping is worth the gaining,
and losing of one's own self in it.


Now I guess, I'll go eat my pizza.

Yummy Pork Chops!

Thought I'd quickly write these down. They are my creation and I often forget those!


Blue Cheese Pork Chops

Preheat oven to 375*

Pack of Pork chops or Pork steaks (about 3 or 4 for us)
About 3-4 Tbsp. of Blue cheese dressing
About 1 tsp. of Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

Trim fat and cut steaks into smaller portions if steaks are large.
Mix everything together. Put the pork in something like a 9x13 pan. Cover with foil. Make five to six small (1/4 of inch or so) slits on top of foil and bake for about 50min.

Enjoy!


We had these this evening along with broccoli, macaroni and cheese, and stuffing.
Yum!

Sewing, Crocheting, and School....

I felt a wave of accomplishment this week because I finished the curtains to the boys' room. I made 8 cream colored panels with 13 yards of fabric.
(60"x 45" approx. finished size)
It seems that time has caught up with me though and the price for homeschooling is time. Yet the awakened feeling of doing things I haven't done in say...10-12 yrs is so strange and good for me.

I started a beautiful afghan 12 yrs. ago, made 11 squares for it and took a year break. Sometime after that I had my first born and it has been kept in a storage bin until last week. I pulled it out and took a good look at it. I have forgotten quite a bit about crocheting and oh, if only you could see some of my crosstitching patterns! But it's coming back to me little by little and just yesterday as I listened to another homeschooling mom talk to me during P.E class I figured out how to do the leaves on the roses.

I need to make 12 more of these to complete the afghan. Perhaps the thought of how pretty it will look on my recliner and the thought of having made it myself will keep me going. One day I would like to teach my girls how to crochet and how to crosstitch.

It's been about two weeks now since we started getting up at 6:45 am and now 6:30 am. We slept in during summer but now need to get back to out routine. We started getting up this early last school year to avoid the little ones during our busy school work and it worked beautifully for us. So for the last two weeks we have read, prepared school stuff, etc. during our morning hours. I'm really a morning person and have really enjoyed this. I may start school next week, but I covet the extra time I've had to do little things here and there.

Dear Journal Letter (Long Absence...#?)

Dear Journal,

We finally got our computer Internet going again. This is good in some aspects because I can now keep up with what's going on in our community concerning homeschooling, but I liked the absence. I really did...

School will soon start for us. I haven't decided whether to start the 2ND week of August or the last. I'm not in a hurry since I want to get a few more decorating things done around the house, so I'll probably start the last week or September 1st. I finished painting the boys' room except for the doors and a little bit of trim. I'll start on the stenciling soon. We moved the bunk beds into their room which cleared a lot of space for them and now their room looks so nice. I think they like it. This project has stirred within me feelings concerning our home. Feelings that have been asleep for awhile, I think. I've been so busy homeschooling and taking care of children that the joy of homemaking has been on the side burner.

Is there really a joy that comes from making a house a home?

There is. And mine has woke up. I keep thinking that if a baby comes our way again that perhaps it will become tucked away somewhere in the filing box of my life. And this may happen, but for the meantime, I'm going to feed this desire to make our house a home sweet home. The old wood that perhaps shows, for the time being will show with glee. And the furniture that shows it's wear will compliment its occupants.

In other news, I've been sick lately and just starting to feel better. Seems I caught Walking Pneumonia. Didn't I get this nasty plight sometime before this year? I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I thought I'd cough my abdominals out! Thank God for modern medicine, because I don't wish to know how bad it could have gotten.

Sincerely Yours,

Linda

P.S Today is Friendship Day.

Cherries and Paint...

OK, I know I didn't have anything planned this summer except for the Summer Reading Program at the library and lots of swimming in our back yard. I haven't blogged much lately because I've been too busy either going on walks with my hubby and the kids or figuring out how I'm going to decorate the boys' bedroom.

We probably wouldn't have gone on so many walks but we happen to find a cherry tree, 4 to be exact. We stopped to gaze at the oodles and doodles of cherries on the tree, had a few (we were at the cemetery -so the dead people didn't mind), and Jimmy said,
"Call the Cemetery tomorrow and ask them if we can pick the cherries."
They said yes, so we went picking. The children had a grand time! They picked, played, picked some more, rode their bikes, ate some cherries, got a little sticky, and picked some more. In total I think we picked about 8-9 quarts of cherries.
Want to know how to pit cherries?
Have lots of little boys and girls! :O) Give them a straw. Have them put the straw right through the middle of the cherry, and the pit will come out on the other side. Our 7 yr. old was pretty proficient at this. But since we don't have any plans of moving, and the cemetery isn't going anywhere either, we bought a cherry pitter that pits a wee bit faster. Besides, I've been wanting a fruit tree for my birthday, Mother's day, Valentine's Day, whatever day and the folks around here are a little behind on this specific present, so hopefully this experience will get them thinking.

So what else has delayed my blogging? Well, I got the decorating bug. Mind you that I'm not very talented in the area of decorating. I could give you the excuse that I've been too busy having children, wiping fingerprints, potty training, and reading books to them to decorated in detail. And I just have, but truly I just haven't done too much decorating besides matching a few items and hanging up a few nice picture frames.
I decided to paint the boys' room a brown mustard yellow. I'm going to stencil some horse shoes, sheriff's stars, maybe a few other items around in a border sort of way in burgundy or blue. Then I'm going to stencil in black, cowboy sayings like, "Rope Up a Star, Partner!" ,"Fly Like the Wind!... Wish I knew some other inspiring western sayings. If you happen to know any and think of one, drop me a comment a let me know.
I've even lost my mind and decided to make these curtains I've envisioned in my mind in either blue or burgundy.
After I'm done with this, I hope to move on to the dining room. I can't waste much time. Summer is quickly moving along and you never know, the Lord might send another baby. So you see I feel an urgency in getting my project done. I painted their bedroom last night and need to do some trim work and run a 2ND coat. Maybe, after my creation is done, I'll post some pictures. In the meantime, the colors will keep running through my mind.
Oh, sometimes I think I've forgotten my artistic abilities!

Return to Kingdom Refrigerator - the side by side allegory

Last time we left our faithful Knight in skirts...... she had conquered the Dragon of Slouthfulness and deeply wounded him. Faithfully following the King"s proclamation found in Titus 2:5 , she humbly summited herself to the King's edict and slew that dragon far away from the land. (Read more about it Here.)

Since then, the Land of Refrigerator shined with the glow of cleanliness (at least for a time), leaving our knight wondering if trouble was brewing deep within the land's borders. Knight Linda didn't fear cleaning up the small blots that sometimes crept up here and there. Sometimes the citizens of that land would carelessly make crumbs that would leave you wanting the shine back, but it was nothing that couldn't be dealt with easily. Our brave knight could handle this job.

Our story takes a twist though, when the borders of Kingdom Refrigerator were enlarged. Now what would take our Lady Knight one hour to battle, took two or three! It may not have taken her so much time, but the new borders needed to be completely inspected and thoroughly battled over. New additions to the land had to be cleaned up, and Knight Linda wondered when she would finally finish her task. Thankfully the King knew her situation and sent a very good esquire who had joined her company for almost five years now. This esquire faithfully followed the Knight's requests and dried all the washed up properties with great care and enthusiasm. She knew that without the esquire's help her duties could have taken longer and would have lacked the sweet company needed for Lady Knights all around. The true saying, "To whom much is given, much is required," rang in the back of our dear Knight's mind. Thankful for her new addition, she hoped to be faithful to her King and a good steward to the land. She knew those dragons would come lurking again, but she was not alone. Oh no, she was not alone.

The End

So there you have it. We now have a side by side refrigerator and a little more work. I couldn't have asked for a better 5yr. helper though. :o)

You Learn Something New Everyday

I have really enjoyed blogging. Yesterday I visited a blog that had a video on how to make laundry soap.
I was impressed. Would you ever think that full of woes over the laundry herself would be interested in making laundry soap? I can't believe it myself, but I think I'm going to try it. Hey, I grind my own flour. Surely, making soap every couple months can't be that bad.

Our school went good today. While trying to teach my boys a little about the first 13 colonies, I learned how little I knew about these people. The thought that comes to mind is
"What was I doing in school when this stuff was taught?"
Maybe I was coloring and labeling the maps given to me way ahead of when I was suppose to just like my son was doing today. Those Puritans had a lot of problems. Did you know that Rhode Island was started by Roger Williams, who preached that they should buy the land from the Indians instead of taking it outright. He was run off from Massachusetts. This was not popular! Talk about telling someone to "Hit the Rhode..."

The baby will soon be 1 year old. He is also quickly weaning himself. That must be why I've been a little moody. But alas, it must happen and I'll be free again. I feel my obligation to nurse my children is on a 12-13 month contract. He is just about done and not a moment too soon.
We're planning a trip to Washington D.C. soon and having a nurse-free baby will make the trip so much sweeter. I'm kind of getting excited about it.
There is a sadness in it all, the nursing I mean. I won't get to smell his baby cheeks as much as I do now. And the days when I could look at him sweetly sleeping in my arms will dissipate. Being nurse-free has its drawbacks..... several.