Chocolot

Beautiful Sunset

2011-01-23T22:39:00.000-06:00

Today was an extremely cold day! It was 10 degrees below when the day started. We went to church this morning and returned home for a couple hours. Later in the afternoon we went bowling with around 50 people from church. On our way home, around 5:30 p.m. I snapped some beautfiul sunset pictures on the gravel road that we drive home on. I just wanted to record this and am thinking of printing this one in a poster or on a canvas.

My One Little Word - REDUCE

2011-01-16T16:49:00.001-06:00

If you are a scrapbooker, then you might have heard of Ali Edwards. Every year she picks one word to be the focus of her year. She even leads an online class to make a little journal about it etc. While I am sure that this helps her and others to focus on their word and what they are trying to do in the lives, I simply don't have the time or the money to take a class so I can refocus my life in that one little area (especially since it isn't even a spiritual focus).

At any rate, in the interest of trying to set some goals for myself (after all, it is January, the time of resolutions), I decided to pick a word and try to apply it to various areas of my life. Hoping, that with focusing on this one word, I will accomplish some (and hopefully several or many) of my goals for the year.

My "One Little Word" is REDUCE. In a culture that tells us, more, more, more, I am hoping to work on less in terms of material things. I have done a ton of decluttering: lots of papers filed, lots of papers recycled, I took 3 old desktop computers to a friend to see if they can be used or possibly used for parts/components. Between Christmas and New Year's we cleaned some more out of my grandparents' house. While we did bring home a few mementos or kitchen items that we could use, we took a ton of stuff to Goodwill.

I continue to work on reducing. My kids are going through clothes to see what they have outgrown and can pass on to others. My husband and I plan to follow suit. Once the taxes are done, we will be continue to declutter the paper that inevitably accumulates on our desks.

There are many more places where a person can reduce. Reduce the amount of gas you use, by combining errands and trips when possible. Reduce outside commitments and spend more time with your family. Reduce the amount of plastic you use. Quit using plastic shopping bags and use a cloth bag instead. Use cloth napkins instead of paper. Same with paper plates and cups.

Reduce the amount of money you spend on things that are not necessities. Reduce your debt. Reduce your grocery bill. Eat out less. Repair items instead of replacing them.

So what would you like to be your one little word? I would love to hear.

Ack! It's Been Over a Month since I blogged!!

2010-10-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it! Well, yes I can. We started school for the year and got in several weeks. Hosting a crafting weekend at our church, then attended a scrapbooking retreat. Grandma took us to Branson for 3 days, then we were home for a week before visiting friends in Wyoming. Now we are back, staying home and getting lots of school done, not to mention getting into the routine of all of our activities: 4H, choir, confirmation class.

Between the crafting weekend and my retreat I got a lot of pages scrapbooked: 29 pages and 46 at the retreat! Just this morning, I got them all arranged in their respective books along with the others I had put together and hadn't filed in their binders. I am happy to report that I put 45 pages (give or take) in each of the kids' albums. YEAH! Basically I have Christmas pictures left to put in their books and 2008 is HISTORY (at least in the kids' albums). I am one happy camper.

I have lots of pictures to post from Branson and from Wyoming, but that will have to wait because I have church council in a couple hours and choir tomorrow afternoon. Keep checking back. I promise I will post some pictures soon.

Reiman Gardens

2010-09-07T22:44:00.001-05:00

Took our second visit to Reiman Gardens for a field trip last week. Absolutely beautiful grounds on the Iowa State University Campus. Love the Butterfly House too.

Daniel and Tom on the covered bridge.

I seriously want one of these at my house! I mean look at that arbor!!!

Getting Something Crossed of the To Do List

2010-09-07T22:18:00.000-05:00

We are on our second week school and it was hard to get going again after the long weekend. We attended the Lifelight Music Festival on Sunday evening and drove home very late after it ended. Totally worth the sleep we lost! After sleeping in (well most of us), the morning was shot and I had high hopes of decluttering and reorganizing the dumping ground that is my office. So we decided against going ahead and doing school on the Labor Day holiday and got some things done in there. Today we hit the books again for a full and very productive school day. By the end of the week, I think we'll be fully in the school groove again.

Tonight my husband helped me put together the IKEA Expedit that I purchased several months ago in Minneapolis to store my scrapbook supplies, paper, albums, etc. Here is a link to it:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60071358

I read somewhere on the internet that it took a lady's husband 3.5 hours to put the same kind together. As my husband said, "I think there was a game in there somewhere." We put it together in just under an hour, working together. I don't think it would have taken 2 hours for one person, or that other fellow might not have been very handy. Only one minor mishap (using a rubber mallet to put the last side on, dented the hollow core, so I will have to be crafty there. Thinking of using one of the Command Adhesive hooks on the side to hang a little bag or picture I make. Because the bottom is made solid and the top is not, this side will be exposed, unless I put it on the north wall rather than the east wall. Because of the sun exposure, I think I will go with my original plan and decorate it to cover it up.

Hubby just came up with a new plan to get it in the room. Praying it isn't too heavy for us to move it this way. It would not require me to completely empty the room first. Then I could simply move items from their current location to the new shelf. Hope he is right. Usually is!! :)

Feeling like I am getting a little crossed off my list. Still hoping to paint in that room this fall, but it should be made much easier if I can pull my supplies from existing furniture and fill the bookshelf. That will allow me to paint the other walls first by moving the existing furniture. Hoping the weather holds and I can get this one in the books and move on to the livingroom (it is connected to the office with a half wall so it will look bad if I don't get it painted).

A Neat Site

2010-09-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

I came across this site through links from another blog.

http://www.justpeace.org/better.htm

It has quite a few recipes for making your own mixes, and also lots of recipes for crockpot meals, breakfasts, soups, etc.

Whether you are trying to save some money, cut down on the additives and preservatives in your food, or just prefer to make things yourself, you should find something here that you can use.

Another similar site is:

www.hillbillyhousewife.com

It looks like she is sprucing up the website right now, but you can still link there to the old website addy and find what you are looking for.

If you have other great similar sites, I would love to have you share them in the comments.

Where Did Our Summer Go?

2010-09-04T10:27:00.000-05:00

As I have been walking in the evenings this summer with my next door neighbor, we have been lamenting the fact that life seems so busy, that we can't even get to the things we'd like to do. Just trying to stay caught up with the things we need to do/have to do seems to take up most of our time. Guess it might be time to look at my priorities again and also to see if I have allowed too many things to creep onto my plate.

I am reminded of this when I am asked to do one more thing. Sometimes I say yes, as it does not add significantly to my workload, requires a minimum of additional time or effort on my part and doesn't take away from responsibilities and vocation as a wife and mother. Sometimes, I have to ask a lot more questions to find out how this will affect me if I do say yes. You can't always tell right away. Usually you need to get more information, or if you are lucky, you are told up front when asked.

This week I was asked to run for a position. The person who asked me graciously explained it all up front (which is a blessing). I told her I would talk it over with my husband and she asked that I get back to her later that evening. Of course we got busy when we returned home and I realized it very late (too late to call her). Thankfully I emailed her then and followed up with a phone call the next morning. As I wrote out why I regretfully couldn't do it, I started writing out what I all have on my plate. The list was long and very full. No wonder I don't have time to get to the things I would like to do. Actually, I do make time for the one thing that I really love to do and that is scrapbook. Probably because I prioritize some time (usually monthly) and put it on the calendar, I do manage to accomplish this.

Guess I should take a cue from that and do the same with other things that I would really like to do.
Even with simple one time things, like painting a room and reorganizing it, if I put it on my calendar, I will likely be able to make it work. So today, I plan to clear out part of my office and get a wall painted so that I can begin rearranging the furniture in there and paint the other walls. The whole day is before me and part of Monday as well. Much of the delay is not wanting to deal with the stuff that accumulates and just needs to be dealt with. The other is wasting time on the computer, internet, etc and justifying that time to myself.

I get reminders sent to me on an email list about productivity. Their motto is:

Off, Go, Do!

Get off the computer, Go out and Do those things that need doing.

Otherwise you are just wasting time that you could be productive.

And with that, I am posting this, getting OFF the computer, and Going Out to Do my office today!!

Where to start????

2010-07-25T22:37:00.000-05:00

Things have been pretty much nonstop around here over the last month.

My 25th High School Reunion
4th of July
Family Reunion
Trips for the kids to stay with Grandpa and Grandma in Nebraska
Installation of our New Pastor
Hosted a speaker here on our farm
County Fair

I have tons of pictures to post and will put those into a bunch of blog posts as I find time.

Hoping to work on decluttering the house and get some rooms repainted and put together and then work on lesson plans for the year. I already have the books, just need to do the planning.

Beauties of Nature

2010-06-21T10:06:00.000-05:00

We have been getting rain at least daily and sometimes multiple times daily here. The grass is growing like gangbusters and everything is green (various shades) which makes for real beauty.

A few nights ago we were under a tornado watch but the weather didn't really develop into much until very late (like after bedtime), but around 6:00 p.m. I noticed some interesting clouds, so I grabbed my digital camera and went outside. I ended up walking down our lane, down the gravel road and back up the other lane that come into our farmstead. The views, looking in different directions, with different amounts of sunlight, front-lit and back-lit were pretty incredible. And I also got some photos of the sunset over the horizon.

Saturday evening on our way home from the homeschool conference, there were quite a few storms brewing on either side of us. We managed to avoid all but a little bit of rain, but as we approached home there was a beautiful pink sunset with sun rays showing through the dark clouds. Was sure missing my camera. While we had it in the vehicle, it was in the very back and we didn't have time to stop and get it to take pictures. Hubby was trying to get home before dark so he could do a few things before it got dark and another storm hit.

A couple days ago, I hung a decorative wooden birdhouse on a nail on our porch. Lo and behold, today, we have a couple of wrens, just singing their hearts out as the build a nest it in. It is right out my office window and I am really enjoying their diligent work and beautiful songs, given the gray, cloudy backdrop that the weather is giving us.

Sorry to disappoint but I didn't get a card reader yet and it seems that my laptop and my camera dock, don't like to work together. Hopefully this weekend, I can get one.

Getting in Shape and Losing Weight

2010-06-11T00:52:00.000-05:00

Recently someone on one of my email lists posted a challenge to see if others would like to join her in a quest to lose some weight. After some quick banter online, about a dozen of us took the challenge and we'll be working on losing pounds, inches, and/or various other goals (ie. getting into this size clothes, etc).

I used to be very fit and participated in all kinds of sports in high school. Haven't done anything like that in years. Also I am very busy, so it is difficult to fit exercise into my routine. I know that watching my calories and drinking more water are easy to incorporate into my routine. Here are the ideas I came up with so far for exercise:

walking (with a neighbor) - which I already committed to, but can't seem to find the time to do (frustrating)
biking - would have to be one of the kid's bikes as I don't own one
Fitness DVD - Have one or two of these
Dance Dance Revolution - or some other fitness thing on Wii (don't own Wii Fit but am considering it).

Would love to hear your suggestions as I need to get going on this.

Thanks in advance.

The Day After the Primaries

2010-06-09T20:36:00.000-05:00

Well, my selection for Governor candidate lost yesterday in the primary, but not without putting up a good campaign. He stood on principle and got the word out and let people know where he stood on the issues that matter most to them. I must commend him for not doing whatever is politically correct in order to get the Establishment (political party) vote.

Evidently not enough people in our state are suffiiciently irritated (lighter word than I am thinking) about the financial condition of our state, activists judges who legislate from the bench and the general downward spiral of society. I had hoped that the last couple of years would have made it easy to see what is going on right before our very eyes, but evidently too many people are blind to the reality of what is going on, our rights are being eroded, private sector business is being taken over systematically by government bailouts and inflation and taxes are eroding everyone's paycheck.

Shame on us for being blind. Thankfully, I know God has it all under control and perhaps we will learn the lessons he is trying to teach us.

A number of other candidates did win their primaries yesterday, standing on principle and I will continue to support each and every one of them through the general election.

Primary Time!!

2010-06-08T10:39:00.000-05:00

If you live in Iowa or a handful of other states, then today it is your civic duty to go vote in the primary election. Given the condition of our state and our country, we need to send a message that it isn't politics as usual any longer.

There are many good candidates running who believe that the Constitution means what it says and will stand up for it.

So go out and do your part by participating in the election process and let your voice be heard.

If we don't get these candidates on the ballot now, it won't matter as much when it is time for the general election. Then it will be politics as usual.

Go vote!! We are headed to the polls right now!

God Bless America!

I Did It Again!!!

2010-06-07T23:37:00.002-05:00

Yes, I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon! My life gets hectic and even though I take tons of pictures and take pictures nearly every day, I rarely seem to get them posted here. My camera dock has not been playing well lately with my laptop, so I am considering buying a card reader the next time I get to the city. Then there will be no more excuses.

I am in the process of learning to take over the webmaster position for our website: Thankful Harvest. We are still working on getting our shopping cart features workable and I will also be blogging there about our farm.

On the home front, there is much mowing to be done, laundry and cooking as always, trying to finish up a few school subjects in the next 2 weeks and getting a list of curriculum to buy for next year put together, so I don't go way over budget. This week we are doing swimming lessons (got rained out tonight, so we'll make that one up Wed. night), hosting a meeting and then have family and friends coming over the weekend.

So I will keep taking pictures and maybe someday I will get a bunch of posts done so you can see what we are up to around here.

They Grow Up SOOOOOO Fast!!

2010-04-04T16:21:00.002-05:00

My friend Gina posted about how her little boy is growing up so fast. Last week, he couldn't reach the faucet to wash his hands and this week he can!! I have been realizing that myself a lot lately. Things that the kids hadn't done before, they are learning to do. Looking at the ages, I am quickly reminded that they will soon be adults, striving out into the world. Life passes by so quickly and we get caught up in the daily busyness. We need to stop and remember that even though there are the things that we need to do, we don't want our kids to grow up right before our eyes and miss it, because we were too busy!!!

Share what you do to make sure the busyness doesn't rob you of the precious time you have with your children.

We try to establish traditions, both at holidays and other times throughout the year. Some revolve around the foods we eat, the decorations we use, the places we go and others may be just a one-time thing, but they all add to our collective memories, that are specific to our family. One of the many reasons that I take lots of pictures and scrapbook is to make sure these things are not forgotten. Like today, when Grandma taught both of the girls to drive the tractor.

Scraproom is Moving Forward

2010-04-03T11:30:00.004-06:00

Thursday afternoon and evening (in and around Maundy Thursday services), we emptied our two large bookcases in the office and moved them to our schoolroom in the basement. No small task as they are each 4 feet by 7 feet with 6 shelves in them. Right now, I have books piled in the office and the livingroom to sort through. I plan to donate a lot of them and sell a few.

The rest will return to the bookshelves in the basement, but not before I type up a list on the computer. I can't remember all that we have and have actually bought duplicates because of it. It will be nice to have the list with me when looking for books for school, particularly on my iPod to make it portable. Once the books are sorted, I plan to paint the wall they are on, move some desks around and finish the rest. Also, I have a new set of shelves to put up for my scrapbook supplies.

Moving these 2 large bookcases, were the key to getting the rest of the furniture moved, repurposed, the rooms painted, and finishing organizing our schoolroom. We had planned to move them over Christmas and then were socked with a huge snowstorm (2 feet of snow). Because of the size of the bookshelves, we couldn't take them down our stairs and make the turn, so we had to wait for the snow to finally melt. It only took from Christmas to Easter!!! Better late than never!

Thanks to my husband for all the help. I couldn't do it without him!! I will post pictures when I get it all done.

2010-04-03T11:23:00.003-06:00

Jeffrey Smith wrote the book Seeds of Deception, which talks about genetically modified seeds. This article discusses real concerns that scientists had prior to genetically modified seeds being approved for use and how hug conflicts of interest are overlooked in politics. Insider were appointed to positions in the agencies charged with protecting the public and the public's health. Now we can see the drastic negative results that have come about because of this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/youre-appointing-who-plea_b_243810.html

Foodie Fridays - Food Documentaries

2010-04-02T04:00:00.000-06:00

Let's Take Back Our Plates

I found this link on the Whole Foods newsletter I receive. It is a listing of food-based documentaries that are available and where they are showing around the country. If you are not nearby, many of them are available for purchase. We own King Corn and Food Inc.

I am guessing that many of the other ones (excluding the brand new releases) are probably available from Netflix. We got The Future of Food last Friday from Netflix, but haven't had time to watch it yet.

We will be seeing a preview of Farmaggedon in Madison, WI in about 10 days.

Thrifty Thursdays - Buying In Bulk

2010-03-31T22:06:00.005-06:00

Some of you may use bulk buying to purchase items, some may not. I see several benefits to buying in bulk. I will also discuss some of the drawbacks.

Generally there are price discounts (volume discounts) when buying larger quantities of items.
You won't be paying for as much individual packaging, as with smaller quantities.
You won't run out as often and need to run to the store to purchase more, often at an inconvenient time. I do the bulk of my shopping (what we don't produce ourselves) once a month through our food coop (buying club).
Buying in bulk in conjunction with sale pricing, brings down overall cost of the item.
It allows you to help out a neighbor, who went to bake and realizes she is out of flour and lives 15 miles from the nearest store, or lives in town, but has an hour to get her baking done before she goes to work and has no time to run to the store.
It allows you to practice charity - those canned veggies you bought by the case can be used to dontate to the food drive at your church or school function. Also you have something on hand to whip up goodies for the afternoon bake sale that your little darling forgot to tell you about until this morning's breakfast.
Buying in conjunction with others generally allows you to share shipping with others if not purchased directly at the store.

Drawbacks:

Buying bulk might require a larger initial outlay of cash than you would otherwise, which may be a strain on your budget.
You may not have a lot of storage space available. This may mean a pantry area, extra closet, storage totes or a freezer, depending on the type of item.
You may not have proper storage containers to accomodate large quantities, which will need to protected from bug infestations, humidity, etc. in the case of food purchases.
Some items may not store well.
You may not have a need for large quantities of items (you are single for example).

There are many items that can be purchased in bulk, primarily food products, but also toiletries and other household goods, also school supplies. To be even thriftier when you are stocking up on food and toiletries, try to combine manufacturer's coupons with store coupons or sale prices. If you have the time to watch these things, you can do really well. My friend Laura's blog regularly has stories of the money-saving ventures. She does really well. Unfortunately for me, I tend to not buy the items that usually have coupons for them.

I grew up about 15 miles from the nearest town, so we didn't run to town every day when we needed something. I lived in the city during college and for 3 years afterwards, but again moved to the country when I married, again living 15 miles from the nearest town where I could buy food and other supplies. So for me, buying in bulk is a habit instilled by my mother, who I know still has plenty of food on hand to feed us all when we come home for a visit/holiday (except it is not my parents and us 4 kids - it is now my parents, us 4 kids and our 4 spouses and 8 (soon to be 9) grandkids).

Buying in bulk can be a great strategy to stretch your buying dollars.

Tasty Tuesdays - Bacon Potato Soup

2010-03-30T15:14:00.003-06:00

Bacon Potato Soup

4 cups diced potatoes

1 cup chopped celery

1 carrot, sliced

1/4 cup bacon pieces

2 cups milk

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chicken broth

Combine all ingredients but milk, in a 3 quart saucepan and cook until potatoes are tender, stirring frequent. Stir in milk, salt and pepper to taste. Serves 10.

Note: I copied this from a magazine with microwave instructions, so it is adjusted (without times) to be cooked on a stove top. If you need microwave instructions, I will post them in the comments if requested.

Possible New iPhone Carrier

2010-03-30T08:10:00.002-06:00

New iPhone Carrier perhaps

I hope this is true and the cost is not outrageous. Verizon has great coverage in our area. Need to see how it compares to our current carrier and price differences. Guess we will wait and see since it will be at least 6 months before it happens.

Foodie Fridays - The Lost Arts

2010-03-28T20:29:00.004-06:00

I know this is a little late, but we were busy with quilting class, education fair and then we helped my sister pack up for their move this week. We also made up a couple meals for my sister while she is on bedrest, which started a couple days ago for her.

Lost Arts Kitchen

I just found this blog on Traditional Foods recipes through another link. The recipes look wonderful and I can't wait to try them. There is quite a variety from meats to soups, to dressings,etc. Hope you find something you like.

Enjoy! I know I will!

Scrappy Saturdays - Video Tutorials

2010-03-27T11:23:00.001-06:00

Archivers Online Tutorials

If you have a scrapbooking tool that you bought and haven't figured out, or would like to try out but are unsure how to use it, the link above has lots of video tutorials to show you how. I have the Crop-a-dile Big Bite for reaching the center of 12 x 12 paper, but haven't really used it. Now I can see all that it can do and try to use it on my pages.

There are 14 tutorials on binding machines, Copic markers, using acrylic stamps and much more! Enjoy and start using those tools that you bought and haven't taken the time to learn how to use. I am especially excited to use the tutorial on the Bind It All so I can make my own mini albums of events, my neices and nephews, themes, etc.

Foodie Fridays - Ezekiel Sprouted Tortillas

2010-03-26T02:59:00.000-06:00

We eat tortillas in fits and spurts around here (mainly for tacos/burritos) and some times for sandwich wraps (cream cheese and deli meat or peanut butter and honey). Another gal in our buying club (food coop) wanted to split a case of the Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas. So I bought 3-4 packages and and we tried them out the other day. We really like them and since we were out of bread, we tried them with burgers. The kids all said to go ahead and order them and the mixture of several sprouted grains has a nice nutty flavor to it. I know that the sprouted grains are healthier for you but I haven't gotten around to sprouting anything of my own, so was happy to try these and like them a lot.

We quit buying bread from the food coop and started making our own in the bread machine, but need to do a better job of either soaking our flours or sprouting our grains to get more optimal nutrition. For right now, in my life, this is what I have time for and if some day I can do that, then that will be another item I can check off the list of THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO DO.....

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

2010-03-25T22:16:00.002-06:00

Reminder: the show debuts on ABC tomorrow (Friday) night. Larry King interviewed Jamie Oliver, Ryan Seacrest and a Baptist pastor from Huntington Beach tonight on Larry King Live.

We will be driving home from the education fair so we set the DVR to record all the episodes, beginning tomorrow night, so we can watch them when it works for us. Tomorrow night's debut is 2 hours long (7:00 p.m. Central time)

Thrifty Thursdays - Reuse

2010-03-25T11:51:00.000-06:00

One of the things that I always try to do is to reuse packaging that comes into my home. This can take various forms:

Paper grocery bags

Plastic sacks

cardboard boxes

Bubble Wrap

Packing Peanut

Glass Jars

These are just of the few items that I can think of off the top of my head. I will try to list a few of the ways I reuse these items to give some food for thought. I hope you will add in your comments of ways you reuse these items and others that you reuse.

Paper Grocery Sacks -

use it to hold recyclable papers, cardboards
to hold items you are donating to charity
cut them apart and turn inside out to wrap boxes for mailing
use them to create a pattern for sewing or other item where you need a pattern for cutting

Plastic Sacks -

use these for your small garbage can liners (bathroom, bedrooms, etc) - I have never bought garbage bags for these small garbage cans
use them for additional packaging when mailing books
use these to fill space in a box when mailing something fragile or that you don't want moving around in a package
put a wet or soiled diaper in these till you can dispose of it (if you are away from home)
line mud boots that might have a small crack in them
use this to transport dirty clothes or muddy shoes or boots
wet swimwear and towels/coverupss
sandy blankets, shoes, etc.

Cardboard Boxes -

use to mail items/particularly books and gifts
use to sort outgrown children's clothing by size and gender to pass along to others so you know exactly what you have and can pass it on to the person who can use it
group like items for your own storage (ie. camping dishes, etc)
holding items you plan to donate to charity (they can be labeled for easy sorting - to various charities or by item) and stacked till you are ready to transport them

Bubble Wrap -

wrap photo frames when moving
wrap fragile gifts before shipping
entertain your kids :)

Packing Peanuts -

Fill extra space in packages that you are shipping
Use extra packing peanuts to beef up the stuffing in your bean bags that have gone flat over time
Use in the same way for the neck pillows that are full of beads

Glass jars -

Store grease from frying foods to dispose of later
Store bulk staples - sugar, spices, grains, honey, etc
Store leftovers - and you won't need tupperware
Use to store your homemade sauces, marinades
use for cotton balls or cotton cosmetics pads
Q-tips
paint brushes
pencils/pens
hardware - screws, nails, etc

I am sure that I will think of tons more things. Please share your uses for these common household items that continually come into our houses, as I am sure we can all learn something from one another. Please add other items that you reuse in your comments as well.

Wordless Wednesdays - aren't working for me right now

2010-03-24T11:45:00.003-06:00

It seems that my camera likes to give me fits, so while I always have lots of pictures, my battery on the camera isn't holding a charge well and the cheaper one that the Walmart employee told me would work in my Kodak camera (instead of the name brand) won't fit. So it takes hours to recharge the camera. By the time it is charged, I don't have time to upload pics to the computer.

Hopefully I will get a new battery soon and resume putting more pictures on my blog. I have blog posts on hold for Homeschool Day at the Capital, the christian concert we attended Saturday night and others. This week we have the education fair and a baby shower for my sister, so I am sure to take lots more pictures. I just hate having to fork over $40 for a battery. Especially since I wear it out in less than 18 months (a rechargable).

So instead of being wordless, I am having Wordy Wednesdays.

Tasty Tuesdays - Oatmeal Cake

2010-03-23T17:54:00.002-06:00

This recipe was my Grandma Judy's recipe. It is especially delicious warm with some powder sugar frosting. I think of her every time I make it. Enjoy! I am sure you will.

Oatmeal Cake

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1 cup oatmeal

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream sugars, butter, salt and eggs. Mix oatmeal with boiling water and add to sugar mixture. Stir dry ingredients and add last with the vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

I haven't disappeared....

2010-03-19T22:10:00.002-06:00

Just been a little busy. I promise to post some photos from our Homeschool Day at the Capital and the rest of our activities through the week and weekend. Not sure if I will get to it this weekend or not, but stay tuned. I have lots of blog post ideas swirling around in my head.

Tasty Tuesdays - Orange Julius

2010-03-16T21:13:00.002-06:00

Orange Julius

1 - 6 oz. can frozen orange juice

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

ice cubes

Put all ingredients in blender. Add ice cubes until blender is full. Blend until smooth and frothy.

I have had this recipe for a long time. We recently started making them again and my girls have taken that over. We all love them and it is so easy. Enjoy. We have been branching out and trying Peach Julius as well.

Tasty Tuesdays - Will be Late today

2010-03-16T06:10:00.000-06:00

We are attending our state's Homeschool Day at the Capitol as a family tomorrow. So we will be leaving at O'Dark Thirty in the morning to make the 3 hour drive to the Capitol, and make a much-needed stop at the chiropractor's office on the return trip. I plan to post a recipe later tomorrow night and perhaps some pictures from our trip.

Maddening Mondays - Are You Politically Active????

2010-03-15T20:34:00.005-06:00

Since I have been busy rearranging furniture in my house and attending to other family matters, I haven't given a lot of time or thought to what I would blog about here today. I decided to pose the question - Are you politically active?

If someone had asked me this 20 years ago or even 10 years ago, I would have answered NO. Sometime in the last 5-10 years, my husband started getting more politically involved, so the natural result was that I did too. It started with watching certain TV talk shows and listening to radio shows. Once I became more aware of how the system worked and what the parties and organizations stood for, I realized that I could do my part to effect change at a grassroots level.

The logical first step was to identify the party affiliation that most closely resembled my views. For me, that was the Republican Party (at the time). I had previously been registered with the Democratic Party (because my parents were). Same for my husband. As time goes on, I realize that I still identify with some of the Republican Party platform, but am an Independent in other areas.

The next step was to do my civic duty and vote in the elections. The general elections, the primary elections, the school board elections, the special elections. While I may not have seen the desired outcomes, I had hoped for, I did participate.

During the last Presidential elections, my husband and I attended the Iowa Straw Poll. Neither of us had attended this before, but we enjoyed it and learned a lot. Later on we attended our county's caucus.

Most recently my husband was a delegate to our county convention and our three kids were junior delegates. My husband was selected as a District Delegate and a State Delegate. The kids are also Junior Delegates to the District and State Conventions. The kids are starting this process much earlier than I ever did.

Another thing that has been an education for me is to get involved with legislation at the grassroots level. Rallying support for an issue, developing a bill, seeing it introduced at the state level and the process it goes through to become a law, has been a great educational tool, both for myself and our children. Great civics lessons.

The advent of the internet and blogging has increased the amount of information on issues significantly and allows you to easily gather information about a topic. Blogging allows you to share your thoughts and get others feedback.

A quote I have read: "All it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing." This is not an exact quote and I have been unable to locate the exact author of the quote, but some attribute it to Edmund Burke. I realized that if I am not going to be active and do something, then I have no right to complain if I don't like what is happening in my world. Given the events of the last 2.5 years with our nation's economy, political climate, financial uncertainty and a slide away from the Constitutional principles set forth by our founding fathers, I feel the need to become politically active, not only for the sake of myself, but for my children and future generations that follow.

So my final thought, are you politically active? If the answer is no, I must ask, why not?

Scrappy Saturdays - Online Scrapbooking Classes

2010-03-13T08:00:00.001-06:00

I thought I would try to round up the online websites that have scrapbook classes. This is by no means all of the sites, just the ones that I am familiar with. Most of them have a variety of classes, ranging from free, to self-paced, to month long and some even have longer, more involved classes.

Big Picture Scrapbooking - www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com

Jessica Sprague - www.jessicasprague.com

Get It Scrapped - www.debbiehodge.com

Two Peas in a Bucket - www.twopeasinabucket.com

That is all I can think off off the top of my head and I know there are others out there. I will add them as I find them.

Scrappy Saturdays - Mini Album Idea Book Download

2010-03-13T06:17:00.000-06:00

Oh My Crafts has a free download for a Mini Album Idea Book.

I am not sure how long it is available, but should be for a while. Just came into my inbox.

Since it is put out by Oh My Crafts, they do include advertising in it, but the ideas are really cute and I hope to try them out soon. I have had a Bind It All tool for over a year and a half and have never used it. I have lots of great ideas but haven't gotten around to them yet. Maybe this will get me to use it.

Foodie Fridays - Food Inc. on Oprah

2010-03-11T20:15:00.001-06:00

I am not normally an Oprah viewer, but my MIL called to tell me what was on her show today. She recently saw the documentary Food Inc. and decided that she had to do a show on it. Our family watched Food Inc. recently with our traditional foods group (a chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation) following a potluck.

The documentary uncovers what the industrial food system has done and is doing to our nation's farmers and to our nation's (collective) health. Various clips were run and she then interviewed Michael Pollan (author of the Omnivore's Dilemma and more recently Food Rules) who gave an overview of the changes over the past 50-60 years (nearly a complete monopoly over the meat in this country, production practices, huge amounts of antiobiotic use in animals, etc.). One of Michael Pollan's food rules is "If your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize this as food, don't eat it. (slight paraphrase)"

Oprah also interviewed Alicia Silverstone, who went vegan and improved her health (that would not work for me cause I LOVE MEAT!), but she did advocate eating more whole foods and produce. So that part I can agree with.

The final segment she interviewed Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle Grill. While I was not able to watch the entire third segment, I did gather that he sources as much sustainably raised food as possible and more of the dollars spent, go back to the farmer/producer.

As Oprah said, you need to see this and make your own decision. I urge everyone to see this movie. Buy it, rent it, go to the theatre! We need to make conscious decisions about the food we put in our bodies. If you have seen this documentary, please share your thoughts and ask those in your sphere of influence to watch this movie and make their own decisions.

Thrifty Thursdays - Saving Money by Cooking from Scratch

2010-03-11T06:58:00.004-06:00

When we started changing our diet to more natural and organic foods almost 11 years ago, one of the first things we did, was to decrease and eventually eliminate some foods. When I say eliminate, I need to clarify. We eliminated the processed, boxed version and replaced some of them with a homemade, made-from scratch version when possible. The others that we couldn't replace, we simply quit eating.

With the power of the internet at your fingertips (either in your home or at a local library) you likely will be able to find a recipe for almost anything. Not only will you save money by making it yourself, instead of paying someone else for making it, packaging it, marketing it, transporting it, storing it and selling it, but you will you save yourself from all the additives and preservatives that extend shelf life. In other words, you will know what is in your food, because you made it and you know the source of your ingredients (not some "natural flavorings" or other catch-all terms).

While we don't make everything from scratch (I am still trying to find a suitable replacement for canned tomato soup, etc), we keep looking. Next on my list is to find a good ranch dressing. I also have some great cracker recipes to try that a friend gave me. Much of the delay in me trying these things, is having a schedule that is too packed to allow time for trying them out. We have begun to cut back on outside commitments to really focus on what is most important to us and our family. My hope is that simplifying my life will free up more time to do these type of things that we desire to do.

One of the first websites I found with recipes for cooking almost anything from scratch was Hillbilly Housewife The site has extensive amounts of recipes in all categories. Other sites I have used are:

Food Network

All Recipes

Recipe Zaar

Be aware that some of these sites will have recipes specifying canned, boxed or other processed items as ingredients. I look at recipes and base my decision on whether to try or not, by taste. If I think it looks tasty, then I will go about changing the source of ingredients. For example, it it calls for chicken broth, I will try to replace it with homemade chicken stock if I have it, or use an organic chicken base and water, or thirdly canned chicken stock (with a SHORT ingredient list).

Of course, there are tons of cookbooks out there to make nearly anything from scratch as well. In fact you may have a few of them in your kitchen. Some that I have are: Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, More With Less, Whole Foods for the Whole Family, The Maker's Diet and Nourishing Traditions. Most likely the older versions of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook will be what you are looking for. Sometimes older church and/or community cookbooks can be a good source of from scratch recipes. Most current ones rely heavily on a can of this, a package of that, or a box of this.

I hope this will give some food for thought and I look forward to your comments and suggestions on cooking items from scratch.

I avoid recipes that require non dairy whipped topping, high fructose corn syrup, etc. If I end up using one of those recipes, then I will use whipped cream or honey in place of the two ingredients I just listed. Automatic replacements are butter for margarine (won't eat that). While margarine may be cheaper to buy, my health is not. I will pay for and eat butter.

Not only does cooking from scratch save you money, it will likely save your health. We spend almost nothing on health care and choose to spend a little more on certain food items which cost a bit more (like the butter I mentioned above). We tend to rely on whole foods for our diet, that is not to say that we don't eat any junk food because we do. Our health has improved dramatically and the only time we see a medical doctor is for regular checkups or stitches.

Wordless Wednesdays - Man 'O War (Kentucky Horse Park)

2010-03-10T13:39:00.003-06:00

Tasty Tuesdays - Wild Rice Soup

2010-03-09T17:30:00.003-06:00

This is a recipe from my late Aunt Eileen (who was also my godmother). She was a wonderful cook. We have many, many recipes that she shared with us over the years that have become family favorites. I am sure you will love this one as much as we do. I plan to share more of her wonderful recipes over time.

Wild Rice Soup

6 Tbsp. butter or marg.
1 Tbsp. minced onion
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup half and half
2 Tbsp dry sherry (optional)
snipped parsley or chives.

Melt butter in saucepan, saute onion until tender. Blend in flour, gradually stir in broth. Cook, stirring constantly until misture comes to a boil and stir one minute. Stir in rice and salt: simmer about 5 minutes. Blend in half and half and sherry. Heat to serving temp. Garnish w/parsley.

Variations: Add 1/3 cup minced ham or chopped cooked chicken, 1/2 cup finely shredded carrot and 2 TBSP chopped/crushed sliced almonds with rice and salt.

NOTES: Below are some additional things that my sisters and I have done, especially if we are short on time (with kids and jobs, sometimes time is just short).

I do not buy and cook the real wild rice that takes forever. I use the Uncle Ben's stuff and it works just fine too. For the 1/2 and 1/2, I use about 1/2 of that and then the rest with regular milk so it isn't soooooo thick. I usually cook and add in a couple chicken breasts. The sherry is optional but I usually add it and it does add a nice flavor.

In An Effort to Blog More Regularly....

2010-03-08T18:41:00.003-06:00

I am attempting to blog (as I can) on specific categories on Specific Days. That way, I don't have to come up with something out of the blue.

These categories may change some, but I am working on making them representative of who I am, so they may change over time. Without further ado, here they are:

Maddening Mondays - Political Discussions

Tasty Tuesdays - Recipes

Wordless Wednesdays - Current Photos/Events (hat tip to Angie and Pam for this idea)

Thrifty Thursdays - Saving Money

Foodie Fridays - Organic/Healthy Living

Scrappy Saturdays - Scrapbooking Goodies

Sabbath Sundays - probably nothing cause I'm lazy

I am certain that life will get in the way and I won't get a post done every day, but at least if I get a bunch of posts written I can spread them over several days.

Would love any input on other ideas you might have.

Weekend Update

2010-03-08T00:02:00.005-06:00

My husband was a delegate to our County Convention this weekend on Saturday morning and the kids were Junior delegates. So they left the house and I thoroughly enjoyed having the house all to myself for a few hours. I started reorganizing my scrapbook supplies since I had pulled most of them out for a retreat the weekend before. Knowing that I had just a few events to finish up to complete my 2007 books, I set about to get those completed.

Over the course of yesterday and today, I completed 15 pages to get those events completed! I spent the rest of the evening putting everything I did plus those I did in December at a crop, into page protectors and getting everything into the appropriate album.

I am happy to have that project done. Now to sort more photos and plan pages. My picture taking has increased exponentially in the last 2 years, so I also need to find a way to scrap faster. I have read a number of blog posts and articles with tips for scrapbooking more efficiently, so I hope to put those into practice.

We have been getting rain since Friday and it is really helping to get rid of the massive amounts of snow we have here. Our highs are supposed to increase to near 50 degrees by next weekend and several days include rain in the forecast. I am hopeful it will be gone in the next 7 days. We shall see!

Considering that I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open, I am going to put some things away and get some zzzzz's. I promise that not all my posts will be on scrapbooking.

Roller Skating

2010-03-05T20:49:00.003-06:00

Our homeschool group went rollerskating today. There were 100 people attending, which blew me away. We got there a little late (1/2 hour), but the kids had plenty of time to skate (1.5 hours).

I got to visit a little bit with some of the other moms and attempted to take pictures but due to the poor lighting in the roller rink, my camera didn't want to cooperate very well. Most of the pictures were blurry unless the kids were standing still and posed. After attending a scrapbook retreat last weekend and watching a 20 minute video on improving your pictures, I thought I had the problem figured out. I switched to the sports mode (and the pictures turned out worst). So I just kept shooting, hoping for a few that turned out.

However, I don't think any are worthy of posting, The kids managed to do the chicken dance, the hokey-pokey and the crazy trio dance and didn't fall a ton. Unfortunately, they usually only got 1-2 times a year, so it is hard to get proficient at it.

A big thanks goes out to Melanie who organizes weekly phys ed activities for our group (of 100 families). She puts a lot of time into this and it is so appreciated by all of us. There is a great variety as well: ice skating, roller skating, climbing wall, flag football, hiking, biking, frisbee and gym time, etc.

Scheduling

2010-03-04T20:36:00.005-06:00

I just found out that this post never posted to my blog. So while it is now a month old, I am going to post it anyway, to give you a taste of my days. Ironic that the title is scheduling, as this post never got scheduled in the blogger system. LOL!

I can't believe how crazy busy life can get some times. We just came off probably one of the busiest months of our lives. Just nuts! We travelled to Lexington, KY for a meeting that my hubby attended and we took in some sight seeing. The next weekend we celebrated a belated Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Orthodontist appointment for my son. Husband spoke at a conference. He was home for one night and then spent 2 days teaching a seminar a couple hours away. Home for a day and a half then to a 2.5 day meeting where he had a booth and put on some informational meetings. I attended 1.5 days of the meeting with them, then headed to a weekend scrapbook retreat with friends (my twice a year getaway with friends to do what I love - SCRAPBOOK!)

Interspersed with all of this our kids have activities that they need to be shuttled to: voice lessons, catechism classes, music practice and homeschool coop, plus a few extra phys ed activities like ice skating and this week roller skating. Living on a farm with animals there are always daily chores to do: feeding hay to the horses, taking care of dogs and cats and helping feed cattle hay. My husband and I also both serve on boards at church.

As you can see it has been a whirlwind around here lately. Thankfully today I was successful at getting some upcoming things scheduled: oral surgery to extract a tooth for my son, appointment to get his braces the following week, registering for an upcoming conference we are attending next month and the kids' voice recital. Nothing overlapped!!! PHEW!!

I am tired just typing that all out....no wonder my blogging was non-existent for so long. We have dropped some non-essentials to concentrate more on things that involve our entire family and what is best for them and now that we survived February things are looking a little simpler.

Weekend Report

2010-03-03T21:41:00.002-06:00

I spent the last weekend with good friends from my hometown. About 2.5 years ago my best friend that I have known since Kindergarten (and attended through high school and all the way through college) invited me to join her family at a scrapbook retreat. It is held in March and September at a Catholic Retreat Center. The event begins at 4:00 on Friday afternoon and concludes at 3:00 on Sunday afternoon.

We get two days of uninterrupted time to scrapbook, visit, eat, reminisce, eat, visit, eat...well, you get the picture. There are cabins to stay in onsite. My friend has 4 sisters (3 of which came), and her mom and a cousin. My husband was at a meeting close by so I stayed with him the first night and at my sister's the second night.

I was able to get 35 pages done this time and was very happy with that, as they ready to be loaded into the album (THEY ARE DONE!). I always have grand plans of getting stuff organized better and picked out ahead of time, so I am more productive. The last week before the retreat, my husband was out of town 4 of 7 days, so there were lots of extra chores to be done around the farm, so the organizing wish didn't come true.

One of my goals was to complete all the little groups of photos from various years that I hadn't completed for the albums for my kids. A trip to Ft. Wayne in 2005, Christmas pictures from 2007 and a visit to the Ranchwife from 2006. The only group of photos that didn't get completed from those years were our trip to Austin, TX in 2007 (because either I didn't print them all or I can't find them). I ran across them on my computer the week before and didn't manage to upload them to Walmart to get them printed. Now I can't find them again. Now I can get a fresh start on 2008 photos. I have them all printed and sorted, so next time I get a chance to work I am ready to go.

Unfortunately in my rush to get them into their respective albums today, I forgot to take a picture of any of them to post. Oh well, guess you will have to come visit and look through them. :)

Reminder to Self

2010-03-03T10:58:00.004-06:00

Don't create 2 blogs and then fail to post on either one. When you finally post on your main blog, it will show up in the inactive blog with no template and you will think you have lost all of previous posts, pictures, blogrolls etc.

Thank goodness for cut and paste and the back arrow on the computer.

Don't have a heart attack, anybody that follows my blog. This is 2 posts in one day!!!

I will try to pace myself okay?!?

It's Been How Long?????

2010-03-03T10:56:00.001-06:00

Oh my goodness! I didn't realize it had been nearly 10 months since I last posted to my blog!!! YIKES!!

Life gets a little crazy! I have been very busy and have made a point to get myself a little more organized so that I can do the things that NEED to be done (like laundry, cleaning, dishes, schoolwork) and the things that I WANT to get done (like blogging, scrapbooking, painting and decluttering.

I enjoy reading other's blogs, catching a little glimpse into their lives and perhaps gleaning a nugget of wisdom from their experience to implement in my own life.

This winter has been one for the recordbooks and my husband and I have been taking pictures to document this record-breaking year. Lots of plans for upcoming posts including outdoor pictures, a couple business trips we made and some creative posts (primarily some of the scrapping I got done last weekend at a scrapbooking retreat).

I can't promise that I will blog every day (not realistic). I will try to blog on a more regular basis going forward. In fact I am going to start working on a list of blog posts to write and get started on them later this week.

Geocaching

2009-05-18T17:40:00.003-05:00

I have read about geocaching for some time and thought it would be fun, but never got around to doing it. Today the kids and I went on a nature hike with our county conservationist and about 5 other families. We hiked in an area called Whiting Woods and learned to use the handheld GPS units to find the Geocaches. It was a LOT of FUN!!! I think we are hooked..

There were 3 different caches in Whiting Woods and then we hiked back to the trailhead and ate our brownbag lunches. When I finished my lunch, I realized that I had lost my hat (and it was sunny and 88 degrees today, so I didn't want to get my face burned to a crisp), so in order to not hold up the rest of the group from driving to our next destination, I hoofed it back up the trail to the last Geocache we found. Mostly it was UPHILL and I was in a hurry....And now I know, just how hopelessly out of shape I really am..... I got back to the cache and didn't see my cap ( a leather baseball cap) and so I turned around dejectedly, thinking I walked all that way for nothing and my calves we "mooing" and my lungs were "burning". I walked about 5 feet back and there it was on the opposite side.

So since it was nearly all downhill, I hoofed it back (without burning lungs), just as everyone was finishing their lunch (and their catching of dragonlflies). We drove a few more miles to the Sylvan Runkle Nature Preserve and hiked up 238 feet in elevation. I will post pictures a bit later, but the view was breathtaking. And I can guarantee you, that we will all. sleep. well. tonight!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, I guess I better look into some type of fitness program.......so this isn't repeated the next time I want to take a hike.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-13T22:48:00.007-05:00

Way back last August, my dad turned 70 years old. We had planned to celebrate it then, but with 4 adult daughters, all married and 7 grandkids, scheduling a time for all of us to get together gets a little hairy. Time passed and various parts of the family were busy, so finally in January, we tried again to schedule a time to get together. We determined that Easter weekend was the next time we could all get together.

Saturday morning we gathered at my sister's house in Yankton and her friend who lives nearby took family pictures. I can't wait to see them! She did the whole group, the grankids, the daughters, my parents, the couples, etc. She was done in 45 minutes! She is amazing!! Looking forward to seeing those as soon as possible.

We grabbed a bite to eat back at my sister's house. Another sister loves making and decorating cakes and really outdid herself.

It is a white chocolate cake, that she made into a torte with strawberry jam. Since we celebrated the birthday so late, so made a slight adjustment to the number on top. That is 70.5 if you can't make it out.

Then we loaded into vehicles with walkie talkies and drove to see where my dad and my grandparents lived growing up. We saw the country school my dad attending in the late 1940s and the house that my grandma grew up in. Amazingly, the house is still standing remarkably straight and incredibly intact for being at least 90 years old and probably older. My grandmother was born in 1919 and she is the third of four kids. The oldest would have been something like 97 years old this year if she were still living. The only remaining sibling turns 93 this summer.

When we were finished, we stopped at my folks for a quick snack and roadtripped to Red Lobster. This is where my dad wanted to go, so all 17 of us went and stuffed ourselves.

We went back to my folks and sisters' place to sleep and then attended church services and then dinner at my folks that afternoon. Unfortunately, my camera died and I didn't get any pictures of the rest of the day.

Blessed Easter to You

2009-04-12T05:00:00.000-05:00

He is Risen!!

Iowa Mamapalooza 2009

2009-04-10T23:25:00.007-05:00

This picture shows most of us, however, one mom had to leave early.

With concerns about impending snowstorms, nearly a dozen Lutheran homeschooling moms descended on rural Hinton, IA two weekends ago. We arrived from several Midwestern states: Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota. Two other moms planned to attend from Wyoming and Illinois but late winter snowstorms prevented them from coming.

We had a little wine (okay a lot), a little chocolate (same as before), great food, lots of time to visit. We did some sightseeing on Saturday, stopped by a candy store and then ate a delicious meal at Luciano's. My favorite restaurant, by the way!! Then back to rural Hinton for a rousing game of Apples to Apples and Catch Phrase, before we headed to bed.

Sunday morning we attended our hosts rural church for services, then returned for a quick lunch before everyone headed home. Old friendships were renewed, new friendships were made. We laughed a lot (so hard that we cried). We stayed up way too late and when I returned home I promptly took a 2 hour nap. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I never nap, so I must have been exhausted.

We had great fun and I look forward to doing it again soon.

Tuesday Fun

2009-04-07T13:25:00.002-05:00

I received the link for this incredible video from a friend and had to share.

This team of jump ropers is comprised of 4th, 5th and 6th grade girls and they are amazing! I can't imagine the amount of practice and choreography that goes into these routines.

The next video after this one, says that they performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the 2005 Inaugural Parade.

http://soonereyo.blip.tv/#1762059)

Enjoy their amazing feats!

Well It Wasn't That!!

2009-03-14T16:02:00.001-06:00

I talked to my friend who lives near the ethanol plant and she said that it wasn't an explosion. Her brother is a first responder and they were out for a couple hours trying to figure it out.

Most likely it was a sonic boom. There are National Guard maneuvers in the area periodically and that is likely what it was but it was LOUD!!

What Was That??

2009-03-14T08:59:00.002-06:00

So last night we are at home relaxing, watching a basketball game, while the kids are doing things around the house. Not quiet by any standard, especially with the game on. We heard a large boom and immediately jump up to check it out!! We go outside and there is nothing more, no visible signs, just the sound of the neighbor's horses running full bore in the dark. As I continue to listen, I hear them hit/bump a steel gate. Worried that one of them may have been hurt, I picked up the phone to call my neighbor.

Just then it rang. My MIL lives 1/2 mile down the road and she had heard it as well. DH took our vehicle and drove around the section to see if was something at any our neighbors. Thankfully we didn't see anything. I then called my next door neighbor to tell her about the horses, so she could check on them. She had heard it also but hadn't went outside.

We followed the news and checked the internet last night but saw nothing. This morning a friend called me and she told me what she had heard. Evidently there was an explosion at a nearby ethanol plant (approximately 20 miles from us). There is still nothing on the news, so no more details than hearsay. This happened one other time when there was an explosion about 45-50 miles away at a fertilizer plant. It made our doors and windows rattle! That is one loud explosion.

When something like that happens, it makes you really wander what is going on. No smoke, no fire, no additional noises (so it is not close by). It is amazing to me that it could be heard 20 -50 miles away (depending on the explosion). Praying that no one was seriously injured in the explosion. I still can't find anything else about it anywhere.

Productive Day- sort of.....

2009-03-01T22:05:00.002-06:00

After church today, we ate lunch with MIL and then set about projects for the afternoon. Mainly I wanted to get photos sorted from 2008. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy has been running all weekend, and did again today, so we have been watching that off and on amongst our tasks. I have managed to sort 6 months of photos between my album and the albums for my kids, which will make scrapbooking go a lot easier. Hopefully I will use some of the pages that I premade last night.

We will be singing at the funeral of a friend tomorrow morning, before we leave for the kids' voice lessons. Hoping to get some school in before the funeral. Hubby has an elder's meeting tomorrow evening, so he might be on his own for supper if we don't return in time.

It has been fun going through all the photos from 2008 and remembering all the great memories we made: the kids' first college football game, their first recital, a 3 day art workshop, our trip with friends to an outdoor waterpark, our horses, etc.

Gotta run so I can try and get this project finished before bed, so I can get it put back away (that way there is less chance that it get messed up or knocked on the floor)

Weekend Happenings

2009-03-01T00:33:00.002-06:00

Hubby returned from an out of state business trip Friday about 2:30 in the afternoon. We were at our coop classes - Science/Art/PE and got home around 4:30. Hubby did remaining chores (like haying the cattle). We dropped the kids at Grandma's around 5:30 and attended a meal/speaker. The main speaker was a friend of ours who was recently elected the Iowa House of Representatives. After enjoying our meal and entertainment by a Abe Lincoln lookalike, my hubby headed home to get some rest and I scrapbooked with a few friends in town for the evening.

I managed to get 5 pages completed last night and since I was the only one that was going to be scrapbooking today, I stayed home today. I did laundry, picked up the kitchen and the rest of the house and put my scrapbook supplies away. After supper, while watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, I did some scrapbooking. While I didn't put down any pictures, I used many of the kits of coordinating papers that I have and made pages that only need the photos and journalling added. I hope to work on those pages tomorrow as well as sort 2008 photos amongst the various albums I am working on (each of the kids and one for our family album). Mainly that will require labeling some index card with dates and events and making the various piles of photos before putting them into the kids album photo boxes.

If I am lucky maybe I will even get some photos posted (it's been a while!).

A Weekend at Home

2009-02-21T10:55:00.002-06:00

Hard to believe but we have a quiet weekend at home. We'll be cleaning, doing laundry and attending church and Sunday School tomorrow. We will be reorganizing our school stuff in the basement and putting things back in their respective places, while weeding out things that are no longer needed or need to go elsewhere.

Hopefully we can put insulation in the walls and then we can begin putting up drywall. Need to see what DH needs to do this weekend to see what we might be able to get done on this project.

Time to get to work!

A Rainy Monday

2009-02-09T23:55:00.002-06:00

Whenever we have a rainy day, it is so hard to get out of bed. Seems like a much better day to just crawl back under the covers, don't you think?

Well today was one of those days. And a Monday to top it all off. Thankfully we got up and worked on school, then make lunch for DH and FIL (and us). Rib steaks, baked potatoes, peas and ciabatta rolls.....Mmmm

We dropped of MIL's box of items at Goodwill and then went to voice lessons. While the kids were at lessons, I made copies of the letter that will accompany our (long overdue) holiday photo. Notice, I didn't say which holiday??? Anyway the photo is a collage print of the highlights of 2008 for us, so this is a bit of an index to help people sort out the tiny photos.

DH is planning to go listen to Elwynn Taylor (Climatologist) tomorrow in a nearby town and will take a kid or two with him. I am taking my son for an eye appointment to get some new glasses. He has grown so much, that they don't fit the bridge of his nose, his temples or the length from the lenses to the back of his ears. So it is definitely time for some new ones. Grandma is going with us. We are also picking up groceries and the wheat that we ordered. It will be a long day.

Our vehicle is in the shop to get the fuel pump replaced, as it keeps dying if you have to give it more gas. Not good when DH, MIL and kids took it to Chicago this weekend. Thankfully they made it safely home and it is going to be fixed soon.

Busy, busy week ahead.................

Facebook

2009-02-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

My sisters have been wondering if I was ever going to join Facebook, being the internet junkie that I am, they were surprised. Thursday night I came home to a message from my sister, saying that a classmate was trying to find me. She sent me her email and I contacted her.

We haven't seen each other in at least 13+ years, more likely 15 years. She had moved and I couldn't locate her when we planned our 20th high school reunion. Long story short, she is now living within 2 hours of me!!! We have maybe even more in common now than we did back in high school. How cool is that?

We look forward to getting together soon!!

So I am now on Facebook, are you?

Spoof of the High Fructose Corn Syrup ads

2009-02-07T13:53:00.002-06:00

I couldn't believe the audacity of the Corn Refiner's Association ad, trying to convince people that it is good for you, after being implicated in the obesity epidemic and Type II diabetes. I have read other blogs where the author was as shocked as I was: http://muddyboots.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/who-are-they-kidding-hfcs-is-not-good-for-you/

I am pleased to hear that the filmakers who made the documentary movie King Corn, have produced a spoof on their ad. There is an article at this link and it includes a short video.

http://civileats.com/2009/02/06/ddt-fine-in-moderation-king-corn-takes-on-hfcs/

It should at least make people think and question the lines that we are all took often fed

Cold is a Relative Thing

2009-02-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

You may have seen this floating around the internet. There is no name to give credit to, but if you find who wrote it let me know.

Hope it makes you chuckle:

COLD IS A RELATIVE THING. . . . . . .

65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Iowa plant gardens.

60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Iowa sunbathe.

50 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Iowa drive with the windows
down.

40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves,
wool hats.

People in Iowa throw on a flannel shirt.
35 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Iowa have the last cookout
before it gets cold.

20 above Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Iowans close the windows.

Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico .
People in Iowa get out their winter coats.

10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Iowa are selling
cookies door to door.

20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Iowa let the dogs sleep indoors.

30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Iowans get upset because they can't start the Snow-mobile.

40 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in Iowa start saying...'Cold enough fer ya?'

50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Iowa public schools will open 2 hours late

I realize that there are various other versions (insert your own state - MN, WI, ND ,etc.)

Enjoy!

Regular Recipe Posts

2009-02-03T00:43:00.002-06:00

Hoping to post a weekly recipe from our tried and true recipes and perhaps a few new ones that we plan to try and think are worthing of posting. If you try the recipes that I post, please post a comment back to let us know how you like it, and if you made any changes, adjustments, or substitutions so we can try them as well.

I am also a big fan of using up leftovers in another meal so they don't go to waste. We have come up with lots of great combinations, but if I don't write them down, we tend not to make them again.

For example this week, I had one pound of ground grassfed lamb, which I had planned to add curry powder and pork and beans to. We had chinese the night before and we had nearly 2 pints of fried rice left, so I added that along with some additional curry powder. I thought it was great! Now that I have written it down on my blog perhaps I will remember to make it again. Better give it a name: Curried Lamb, Rice and Beans

My New Blog Background

2009-02-03T00:19:00.003-06:00

Let me know what you think of my new blog background!

I found the background on www.thecutestblogontheblock.com

The 3 column backgrounds are free and then you can pay to have them create a header and personalize it for you. They have lots so if you would like to change yours check them out. They have step by step directions and say that your posts and links will not be lost. That held true in my case. They have 350 blog backgrounds and I found at least 4 that I thought would work for me.

If you have any experience with scheduling posts in Blogger, please let me know. I can't seem to figure that out. I tend to write a number of posts when I sit down and would to be a more regular blogger. I have been doing lots of scrapbooking and would like to photograph my layouts and then share those through the week instead of all at once, and then nothing......

I am also looking at starting a blog related to our business and hope to get on a schedule of blogging there 3 times per week. So the scheduling thing would be really great for me.

So Much to Do, So Little Time....

2009-02-02T23:59:00.003-06:00

Seems there isn't enough time to do all the things that you would like to do, let alone those things that you need to do and you should do!

We've been busy for the last month or so, celebrating a couple birthdays, attending a couple days of training, attending a conference and so forth in addition to our regular commitments. Those include running a household, homeschooling, managing the farm and keeping animals fed, watered and protected. We have been dealing with extremely bitterly cold weather and winds over the last month or so.

Thankfully we have had some time to work on a few projects around here. We've been trying new recipes to add to our repertoire (sp?) and are currently working on getting ready to finish the rest of our basement. We've lived here 15 years and did not finish the basement when we moved in. We finished the front half when we put 2 bedrooms in 2001 (the kids moved in just one week before 9/11/01.

I am anxious to get this project into full forward mode, since this is where we do our school. It will be great to have the walls drywalled, the bulletin board and chalkboard mounted on the wall and the cabinets mounted. We purchased a friends cabinets for very little when they remodeled their kitchen shortly after we built our house. There are both up and lower cabinets and are well made. Can't wait to put away all those things that homeschoolers have: manipulatives, maps, flashcards, CDs, multitudes of art supplies, charts etc.

Trying to decide which pieces of "collected furniture" are staying and which are going, or being repurposed elsewhere. One is a large wood piece with deep,wide shelves that I think will be good for use in our tack shed. We have a bunkhouse on our place and plan to convert part of it to store tack for the horses and the kids will use the rest as a getaway (can't call it a playhouse, they are too old for that). Maybe we'll call it a summer house.

Bathroom Redo

2009-01-03T00:26:00.003-06:00

I did this at the very beginning of December and am finally get pictures posted.

I just love it and it makes it seem much warmer than the stark white that is was (for the last 14 years!!)

These photos don't do it justice. I used a quart of Valspar Caramel Honey for the basecoat and then a sample size can of an Antique Gold (can't remember the name) and mixed it half and half with water. Then I did dry-brush strokes (in a continuous X pattern throughout the room.

I have a green vanity countertop with oak woodwork and have always had this shower curtain. Once I finished painting, I knew that I had to pull this piece of artwork from our entryway and put it in here. The photo in the other picture has dark greens in it so it picks up the colors in the curtain as well. I am very happy with it. This only cost me about $15 to do!

Now I am ready to paint the livingroom, the office/scraproom area and DS's bedroom. Need to make a plan for that!

Spent New Years Scrapping!!!

2009-01-03T00:00:00.010-06:00

This is a layout of my favorite photo taken in 2008. Unfortunately, they is a big round glare on the photo on the left side of it. Edited to add: The glare is not on the photo itself, but rather on the photo of this layout and just showed up on the glossy photo.

These were taken at the Lookout at our friend's ranch in Wyoming (the Duncan Ranch). We went there at dusk and it was beautiful. I loved the darker blue colors and the moon behind the rocks.

These three layouts are from DH's cousin's wedding in October of 2007:

These are for our Godson's graduation pics:

These are 6 month pictures of my adorable little neice:

Yes, I Am Still Here

2008-12-20T17:50:00.002-06:00

Lest you think I have fallen off the face of the earth, I am posting.

Been busy with many things since my last post:
1. organized 20 thanksgiving baskets for those in need in the community
2. organized a benefit soup supper for a gal who lost the entire contents of her home due to a house fire
3. preparing for the holidays (christmas program, etc.) with all that entails.
4. Repainted the bathroom (LOVE IT!)

Still scrapbooking and hope to post some layouts from 2006 that I finished last weekend.

It seems to snow every other day here and the wind is bitter cold. Waiting till tomorrow to see if the Christmas program will go on as planned or if it will be postponed due to the weather.

Off to eat supper, but hope to post later this evening.

Weekend Crop

2008-11-15T00:30:00.005-06:00

I returned home about an hour ago from a weekend crop that I organized (or at least initiated). A couple friends (Dawn and Vickie) and I brainstormed where we might hold it.

We had three requirements:
1. It had to be free
2. It had to have plenty of table space
3. It had to have good lighting

One of the gals suggested our local extension office. It fits the bill perfectly. We all have a 6 foot table to ourselves . There are 6 overhead lights, so that is great and it's free.

We were able to get in there at 5:00 tonight, about half an hour after the office closed. The office has a kitchenette (refrigerator, microwave and sink) plus a bathroom. There is also a large conference table should we need to spread out more or add room for additional scrappers.

This should fit the bill until we outgrow it with the number of people. I was able to complete 6 pages tonight between 7:00 and 11:15 and plan to spend all day there tomorrow while my sweetheart takes the kids on a trip with him (WHAT A GUY!).

We plan to make this a regular thing, probably on a monthly basis. I, for one, am looking forward to it and maybe, just maybe, I will begin to get caught up with my photos! Not likely, as I know that I have at least doubled my photos taken this year and it is not even over (still have Thanksgiving, birthdays, and Christmas before year end!!!)

So if you would like to join us, let me know and we'll make room for you!

Using A Blog Reader

2008-11-13T13:32:00.003-06:00

I normally subscribe to blogs that I like to follow through Bloglines. Then every morning I pull up the feeds and can quickly catch up on everyone.

This morning, it told me there were 1489 new messages. Now I suscribe to way less than 100 blogs, so I knew something must be up. Sure enough, a few of the blogs were showing 200 new messages. When I clicked on them, I realized that it was bringing up blog posts from up to 6 weeks ago. Some may have been older, but I didn't keep looking.

I just hopped on my laptop to check email and see if they had gotten it resolved. The message the Bloglines site was that the site was down temporarily. Hopefully they will be back to their regular "programming" soon.

I knew I was behind on this, but 1489 messages.....I don't think so.

Tree House (Well Sort of)

2008-10-29T22:18:00.005-06:00

One beautiful fall day the kids disappeared from the house and I didn't see them for several hours, except to come in and grab their lunch bags and water bottles. Later I ventured out and they had to show me their handiwork.

Son exploring the stick pile that is always in existence with so many trees and some much wind around this place. He was starting out on an "adventure".

There are several, very old, very large maple trees on our farmstead. We have one just outside of our house and another one that sits about 200 yards to the east. The kids crawled up in the second one, which is easy to step into and proceeded to put boards in strategic locations for shelving to hold their snacks and water.

They also fashioned a swing with baling twine they found and another board. They probably played out there for 3 hours before it was time to eat and then again at least another 2 after the meal. They had a blast and I was happy to see them being creative and not vegging out in front of the television. We have about 10 more days of nice fall weather before potentially colder temps move into stay, so I am hoping they will have more time to pursue these types of activities.

Notice that the dog got in on the action too!

Who Can Resist This Face?????

2008-10-29T21:57:00.004-06:00

Evidently not my husband....

He and my oldest daughter saw the pup on a Wednesday afternoon while moving bales home, but figured it was one of the neighbor's dogs. The next morning my husband drove by there to check our cattle and it had started to rain overnight. Cold, 45 degrees, continuous soaking rain....
and the pup was exactly where it had been the day before.

Hubby brought it home and we moved one of the border collies from the kennel to the garage and put her in there. Then we proceeded to call all the neighbors to see if their dog was missing. No luck there. Most likely she was dropped off in the country because someone could no longer take care of her or afford to keep her. She wasn't injured or sick but extremely hungry.

On Friday I thought hubby was going to take it to the Humane Society as he was going to the city where it is located and he called me to see if I had found anyone that could take it. When I told him no, he said I can't take her. I assumed he meant that the Humane Society was full and taking no more animals. He didn't respond.....

I asked, "You fell for her, didn't you?" YEP!! Couldn't do it.

She has turned out to be quite a nice dog and now that she is not starving, she has a really nice personality and even takes herself for a "walk" by picking up the end of her leash and carries it around in her mouth.

She appears to be a 9-12 month old pup of beagle cross possibly. Need to do some online searching to figure that out. Right now, DH still hasn't given her a name, so until such time that he does pick a name for her, she will be referred to as "dog to be named later" or DTBNL.

Any name suggestions are appreciated and I will pass them along to hubby (if I like them....LOL!)

Edited to add: I think she might be a Jackabee (cross between a Jack Russell Terrier and a Beagle). If anyone can help us figure out her breed, that would be great!

Dangers of HPV Vaccines

2008-10-25T20:42:00.002-05:00

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/25/prominent-scientist-warns-of-hpv-vaccine-dangers.aspx

No matter what side of the Gardasil debate you are on, at least read this article. It may be disguised as an anti-fertility or infertility vaccine.

The information listed supports the notion that the chances of developing cervical cancer are relatively minimal compared to the risks from getting this vaccine.

Please read this information and make a better-informed decision for your daughters.

King's Pointe Waterpark

2008-10-22T22:47:00.004-05:00

Sorry, I can't get the writing to move up above the photos and I am too tired to move them all, so you can scroll down to see what we were doing, okay?

We were given 5 free passes to King's Pointe Waterpark last spring. They expired the 31st of August and we were so busy this summer that they nearly went unused. Then a friend and her grandchildren, whom we had tried to go to the waterpark with earlier this summer, got in touch with me and we went a few days before the end of the summer. Another friend, who is a neighbor of hers came with her kids as well.

We had lots of fun. Here are just a few photos of our fun. It went too quickly. Perhaps in dead of winter, we will have to go to the indoor waterpark.

Wyoming on Horseback!!

2008-10-22T00:14:00.005-05:00

After a delicious breakfast skillet of sausage, potatoes and scrambled eggs with Green Chili Mix, we are ready to head out to move cattle into higher pastures. We were short a few horses for all of us, so a couple of our kids doubled up with a couple of us or with Ranchwife's kids. A few minutes after this photo was taken, Middle Cowgirl's horse scared up a rattlesnake about 6 feet in front of me. DIDN'T LIKE THAT MUCH! Hate Rattlesnakes! It was scared and went into a hole. Thank goodness!
After we moved through the meadows, we pushed some of the pairs of cattle up over a saddle into a higher pasture. I was thankful for surefooted ranch horses to handle the things that I am not experienced at (on horseback).

A view of one of the higher parts of the ranch.
Oldest daughter with Littlelest Cowgirl
Son and Youngest Daughter

Once again after riding for 3 hours or so, the kids decided to cool off by making their diversion again and splashing up a storm.

Once the work was done, we started a campfire and the kids enjoyed hot dogs.

The adults enjoyed adults beverages and a couple of grassfed steaks (cooked to perfection by the Rancher, aided by a flashlight to test for doneness). We finished off the evening with campfire smores for all. That was a great way to end our all-to-quickly-over visit to our dear friends in Wyoming.

Hope you enjoyed our quick pictorial essay of the trip to Wyoming. I can't wait to get the photos into a scrapbook so I can enjoy them again.

More Wyoming Photos

2008-10-21T23:11:00.006-05:00

The kids built an irrigation diversion tarp near the bridge you saw in my previous post (the bridge with all the kids on it) and flooded a rather large area to play in. They ran through it, rode bikes through it, played on a makeshift teeter-totter in it and splashed a lot! Great cheap fun. They did this at least 3 times while we were there.

Son enjoying the border collie. This is his idea of a great day!!

Younger daughter with biggest cowgirl, exploring the hayloft of the horsebarn!

Our family on the overlook near the canyon.

Ranchwife's family at the overlook!

The one part of the trip that we could have done with out. But we overcame our fear and distaste for rattlesnakes co-existing with us and took a horseback ride into the mountains the next day to help Rancher and Ranchwife move some cattle to other pastures.

Wyoming Trip

2008-10-21T22:19:00.006-05:00

So that Ranchwife won't disown me, as I promised her that I would post these to my blog, without further adue (sp?), I am finally posting some photos from early August and our trip to visit them at their 7,000 acre ranch in Wyoming.

Shot going through the Sandhills of Nebraska, nearing the Pine Ridge.

We made it to Wyoming. After taking this picture we turned around and shot one of the Nebraska sign, so we didn't have to stop on the way back.

The guys starting the morning, visiting over a cup of Joe on the deck.

All of the munchkins (well almost all of them). There were our three, Ranchwife's three and four of the our friend's six. They range in age from 3-11 here. The under 1 year old and the other 11 year old weren't present for the picture. That's a lot of kids, but they sure had fun. My son enjoyed having more boys around and our friend's only girl sure enjoyed having more girls around.

Rancher and my hubby brought in two cows that had recently calved and so our kids got in on a little branding (something that we don't have to do where we live). We had to laugh as we asked our oldest daughter "Are you ready?" She responded, "Yes!" and we asked asked again, "Are you ready?" and she said yes. Then Ranchwife started branding and the calf started moving......She wasn't quite ready for that...... but it gave all of us grownups a good laugh anyway.

Look for more photos in upcoming posts.

Wedding Photos

2008-10-21T22:05:00.004-05:00

My handsome cousin married his beautiful bride this past July and computer problems and a busy life got in the way of me posting a few photos. I cut cake and the girls were waitresses. It is amazing how fast my kids are growing up. Just had to get a photo of all of us dressed up for the wedding.

My youngest sister and her daughter. She was about 3 weeks shy of turning 2 years old at the date of this picture. She didn't really make it up the aisle, but she was sure cute. She was cutting a rug at the dance, but I haven't figured out how to upload videos to my blog yet. It is probably easy but I haven't taken the time to figure it out.

Wanted to add that I never did get a good picture of the bride and groom, otherwise I would have posted one.

Color Combo Generator

2008-10-21T21:55:00.002-05:00

http://www.scraptitude.com/colorcombo/

This is a neat site that I ran across. You can input either Stampin' Up! colors or Close To My Heart colors and it will generate color combinations for you to use. Since I have a ton of leftover Stampin' Up cardstock and have recently been purchasing CTMH kits and coordinating cardstock, this has been great for coming up with color combinations to use on pages.

At the last retreat I went to, I completed 32 pages, many of them double page spread and lots of them using the books put out by CTMH (Cherish and Imagine). They also have out another one called Reflections. While the books are pricey, I was able to get them at Michaels with a 40 percent off coupon, making them less than $20 each.

Hope you enjoy this neat website.

I Found the Acura Commercial - Re: Grassfed

2008-09-17T23:02:00.003-05:00

I wanted to see the commercial that I happened to catch on TV last night, that referred to a grassfed steak. A google search turned up this link to a blog called Mel's Diner:

http://iatethat.wordpress.com/category/grass-fed/

The Youtube video is embedded in it.

It is good to see grassfed getting some well deserved respect in the mainstream media. Grassfed meat is healthier, safer and a more sustainable model for meat production. For additional information, including studies and sources to purchase grassfed beef or other grassfed meats and products, go to www.eatwild.com

Way to go, Acura marketing team!!!!!

Traditional Foods Website

2008-09-17T00:06:00.004-05:00

After posting the crockpot recipe blog, I realized that I haven't posted the other interesting site that I found. The author posts her menu plans, along with recipes and how to's on cooking techniques including: soaking grains, making kombucha, making yogurt, etc.

So if you try to follow, or want to follow the principles in the Nourishing Traditions, you might want to give this website a look:

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/

Some of her posts are tutorials with pictures taking techniques step by step.

Enjoy and please share some of the sites that you have found helpful in cooking using traditional techniques and recipes.

Crockpot Recipes

2008-09-17T00:00:00.002-05:00

Through a series of links (that I can't even remember how I followed, so I can't just tell you), I came across this blog:

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com

The premise of her blog is a challenge to herself to use her crockpot(s) each and every day of the year. She has tons of recipes and I can't wait to try and use some of them. It is for all recipe categories, not just casseroles or other meat dishes.

Check it out and save yourself some time in the kitchen.

Grassfed in a Car Commercial

2008-09-16T23:52:00.003-05:00

I was sitting here on my livingroom floor surfing the net, reading blogs etc., when I hear a car commercial come on. I didn't catch it all but it was talking about having a choice grassfed steak and going to a concert. I will have to catch it again to see exactly what was said.

I was surprised to hear it in a commercial that wasn't selling or promoting grassfed. The commercial was from Acura.

It looks like grassfed beef is becoming more well known and is mainstream enough that marketing gurus realize that is the "in thing" (something that I have known for a while now, since we raise and market it). Just like organics, grassfeds' time has come (or returned, if you look back through the last 100 years or so)!!

Well It's Finally in My Hands!!!

2008-09-12T23:16:00.004-05:00

Yes, that is right folks. The wait is finally over.....my laptop has arrived, plagued by hurricane related shipping delays. It took me all of five minutes in the store to get it picked up, with the company having transferred my data to the new one last evening.

I have been downloading some of the free programs I was previously using for antivirus, personalizing my google homepage with all those neat addons so mapquest, Fox News, Google Earth and others are at my fingertips.

I already uploaded a bunch of digital pics to Walmart to get printed and tomorrow will install printer drivers so I can begin printing off lapbook pages for our Apologia Zoology 2 book. Can't wait to try it out for DVDs etc.

If you have been following my blog this summer, its been digital camera, printer, laptop and now cell phone issues (yes,that too!!!). Can't wait till that one is resolved.

Will begin posting some of the hundreds of photos I have taken this summer as soon as I can locate them.

Changes in Behavior with Changes in School Lunches

2008-09-12T23:11:00.003-05:00

http://loveyourmother.livejournal.com/13711.html

An article on an experiment that I had heard of previously, but this article provides additional updated information on the experiment.

Good reading.

The Latest Addition to my Bookshelf

2008-08-30T19:58:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I received my latest book through Paperback Swap. I have received a lot of books I have wanted and am thankful that Wendi told me about it.

My latest book is by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. The title is God At Work, but subtitled Your Christian Vocation in All of Life. I have heard great reviews from various members of my homeschooling list and can't wait to read it.

What is your latest addition to your bookshelf? We can all use great suggestions for that next book. Let's get the list started here.

At Least Now I Know......

2008-08-25T21:13:00.002-05:00

Which is to say, that I took my laptop into the shop last Tuesday and today, they were finally able to get to it (busy place, but good shop, so I completely understand). The verdict is that the hard drive has several sectors that are going bad. It has a small hard drive (only 20 gig), so to increase that and fix the other problems (various), would be a minimum of more money than I paid for it used.

So I am waiting to hear back from them on a couple used laptops that they just got in (and haven't been priced yet) and some new ones that they have there. Would love to have some input from those of you who know computers as to what I would want to get at a minimum (particularly if I am going with used to save some $$).....brands, hard drive, memory.

I use it to blog, moderate an email list, am on several email lists, store digital pictures and hope to someday do some digital scrapbooking......

What would you get (on a budget of course)????

Technology Woes!

2008-08-17T18:15:00.002-05:00

Since returning from our quick vacation trip to Wyoming, I've run into a bit of snaffoo. My laptop doesn't have enough space to even start up, so it is going into the shop Tuesday. Hence my laptop doesn't have enough room to let me get my pictures off of the camera. I am going to try to download them to desktop, which I got working again and then perhaps I can post from here. I can't believe that this 9 year old desktop has more space on it than the couple year old laptop, so perhaps there is undetected spyware doing something. I just hope we can get stuff off before I lose anything.

Will post pictures if I get them downloaded.

Back in the Blogosphere!

2008-08-10T14:33:00.002-05:00

I think things may have quieted down a little around here. We managed to get away to Wyoming for a quick visit to our friend's beautiful ranch and returned last evening. I haven't posted any photos since at least the 4th of July and I have some so will need to catch up on activities around here. Last time I downloaded photos, my laptop wouldn't hold them, so we are using the cards and putting them on hubby's laptop. I will put them on a flash drive and then post from there.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, playing in the mountain stream, horseback riding on part of the 7,000 acres, and a campfire to finish the evening, completely with hot dogs for the kids, grassfed steak for the adults and smore to cap it off. Pictures to follow.

My WOOHOO Post!!

2008-07-13T23:55:00.004-05:00

I am happy to report that I now have a working printer!!!! The replacement printer arrived from Kodak quickly, but I haven't had the time until tonight to set it up. It didn't take very long and worked like a charm!!

I printed a few copies of price lists that need to be sent out tomorrow or the next day. I was able to scan and then copy, print from my laptop and tomorrow I will connect to the phone lines and then try to fax from it. I also want to try out the photo printer option. I did print the calibration sheet that you need to do when you set up the printer.

The only remaining problems are to figure out how to situate the printer so that the printed pages don't fall on the floor when they are completed, how to situate the printer on one desk so that I can print from my laptop on the other desk and keep everything straight that I need to print, repackage and return to Kodak. But that will have to wait until tomorrow. I am too tired right now and must get some sleep! Though I am tired, I am doing the HAPPY DANCE!!

Dawn, where is your woohoo post? Are you still painting???????

Warm Weather Update

2008-07-11T16:07:00.002-05:00

I am happy to report that although today is supposed to be the warmest one yet this summer, we have been blessed with southerly winds that are helping. It doesn't seem as muggy with with warm (not hot) winds. The cattle are now in a paddock with shade which helps. The fans are keeping the chicks and turkeys cool till we can get them to their more permanent home this weekend (hopefully).

I have been checking on everything every couple of hours and eveyone seems to be content and doing well. The kids are staying cool by playing in the pool this afternoon (2nd time today). I love to hear them squeal and giggle playing in the water. I need to do a little more house cleaning. I'm very thankful for air conditioning today, especially since 9 days ago it wasn't working.

Stay cool! I am looking forward to the cool front that is moving in this evening. The weather for the weekend looks much more comfortable.

Nutritional Merits of Organic Food

2008-07-09T23:13:00.003-05:00

While I have believed what this article is saying for many years, it is nice to see that journalists are starting to see the research and other articles that bear out the merits of eating organic food, for the sake of improved nutrition.

Of course, there are always those who say that eating organically is too expensive. My answer to that, is you can pay it now or having higher health care costs. Our medical expenses are virtually nill since we went to a traditional (still working on moving farther on that continuum) and organic diet. We do routine chiropractic care and other natural things, like homeopathy, but as far as going to see a doctor, that is a pretty rare occurence.

Enjoy reading: Organic Foods Really Are Better

Some Cool Chicks.....

2008-07-09T18:39:00.002-05:00

How's that for a catchy title?

With tomorrow's temp forecast for 90 and Friday for 93, with high humidity, I decided to put a box fan in to give air movement and keep them cool, while still protecting them from the cats.

As soon as we are done eating supper, I will put it up and then we will have some cool chicks!!!!

Chores

2008-07-09T15:04:00.002-05:00

While DH is gone, I am in charge of all the chores for 4 days, which isn't difficult itself. He has things set up well for me, so all I have to do is open a gate and the cattle pretty much move themselves to the next paddock. I just need to make sure that the calves follow their mamas into the new paddock or stay relatively close, so they can find her. With only one hot wire, the little guys can walk under the wire and find her as long as their nose works...

We are also brooding turkeys and chicks (for broilers). Since we were out of chicken, we needed to start brooding them earlier this year than we had hoped. Turkeys you pretty much get when they are all hatched because they take several months to mature to the proper size. So we ended up with both sets coming a week apart. Our plan to brood them in the same location went out the window.

The barn cats (ie. resident rodent catchers for the farm) quickly decided that the chicks were an easy lunch, so we proceeded to tighten up security for the chicks (ie. blocking all access in and out of the trailer they are in, with both hardware cloth and then a tarp to keep the rain out (and partially for additional protection from the cats. The first couple of weeks, it was decent weather during the day with cool nights (60s). If you have brooded chicks before you know that you have to keep them warm for the first couple of weeks. As they gain weight, add more feathers, etc. you don't need to heat it anymore.

Hubby is gone for training for a few days or we may have put them out, but time constraints and their size (plus the weather before he left) prevented us from moving them. This week the weather has turned incredibly warm and extremely humid. I am now trying to figure out how to keep them both:
1. cool enough so we don't lose them to heat
2. secure enough so that we don't lose them to cats (for lunch).

Always fun! I keep lots of fresh cool water in front of them and hope that tonight, MIL and I will be able to come up with something that accomplishes both objectives. One idea was to move their location to a shadier spot. What had shade at 11:00 a.m., didn't have any by 2:00 so moving really wouldn't have helped for more than an hour maybe. I will just keep a close eye on them through the afternoon and pray for some cooler weather.

Chores aren't hard, it is just coming up with solutions to the challenges that come up (when your in charge and hubby isn't here to bounce an idea off of).

I Had Forgotten....

2008-07-07T19:48:00.002-05:00

How muggy it could feel! The last couple of days have been nearly unbearable with humidity. Thankfully we had a cold front move through and it is supposed to cool down for most of the rest of the week. DH is off to Nebraska for 4 days of Holistic Management Training (leaving this evening), so I helped him get packed and out the door.

Will be moving the cattle, though sweet DH set all the fence for me, so it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to get it all done. Then we have the brooding turkeys and chicks to take care of.

The summer is flying by, so with nothing much else on the calendar but the chores for the rest of the week, I am hoping to get at some things I wanted to do this summer (before it is over).

1. Cleaning up and reorganizing the school area in the unfinished basement
2. Prep work for painting DS's bedroom and the main living areas of the main floor
3. Work on some scrap booking
4. General decluttering. I got started and haven't made it through everything I have wanted to.

May not get to all of that this week, but at least there is a goal, right? Now that my air is fixed, I am hoping to work hard at these amongst chores and mowing/yard work.

The Saga Continues.........

2008-07-07T12:56:00.002-05:00

So time got away from me. What with houseguests coming, not one but two houses to be cleaned and an unexpected delivery to Omaha on Thursday, by the time 4th of July rolled around, I was more into taking pictures and creating memories than trying to get them printed.

We attended the Battle Creek 4th of July parade in the morning, had lunch and then worked with the horses in the round pen before doing chores and grilling hotdogs and brats for supper. When we were thoroughly stuffed, we popped popcorn to take to the fireworks. Thankfully, we only drove 5 miles.

So today (Monday the 7th) I finally got back to trying out the new printhead that Kodak sent me for the printer. I installed it and lo and behold, we still have the same problem. It seems the mechanism that pushes the paper up to the rollers is not feeding it, so I am now waiting for Kodak to send me a brand new printer. If this one doesn't work, I am not going to be a happy camper!!!

If I ever print again, I will be elated!!!! I look at it this way, at least I am saving on printer cartridges!!!!!!!!! It seems a lot of things don't need to be printed afterall!

It's here!

2008-07-02T22:15:00.002-05:00

Happy to say that my new printhead arrived today (and didn't need a signature for delivery), so not sure why they called. Been busy all day, but now that the kids are in bed, I plan to install it. Will let you know if it works or not.

Woohoo! It'll Be Here Soon!

2008-07-01T18:07:00.002-05:00

Received word that the replacement printhead for my brand new Kodak printer will be arriving tomorrow. Can't wait to start using it. I am especially excited that I will be able to print photos at home. I won't use it for all my photos but for quick projects, and kids stuff it will be perfect.

I am getting ready to create some pages with some of the scrapbook kits I have so may try out the photo feature for that. Hope this new part is the solution to the problem.. I was really bummed to have a brand-new out of the box printer that didn't work.

Is It Just Me or What?

2008-06-28T21:08:00.006-05:00

I love new technology as much as the next guy, but I hate having to fight with new items. In the last two weeks, we upgraded our digital camera from a Kodak DX3900 to a Kodak Easy Share Z1012 IS Since I got a laptop, I have been unable to get the laptop to talk to the printer (a Lexmark Z35 that I purchased at Target on clearance for $38.00 3-4 years ago.

Last night my hubby and I went out for our anniversary to Olive Garden and had some time before the movie, so we went next door to the Best Buy store to look at a printer that would both talk to my laptop and his Macbook (and work with our wireless network). We looked at a couple models from HP, Epson and one from Kodak. We decided to purchase the Kodak Easy Share 5500 All In One printer , that will print, copy, scan, fax and print photos. The price was right, the ink cartridges are the most reasonable I have seen, which made me excited to get it set up today.

I followed the set-up instructions exactly and keep getting a paper jam error, however there was no paper jamming the machine. I followed trouble-shooting in the set-up manual. I followed the online guided troubleshooting. Nothing!!! ARGH!!! On a whim, I called Kodak, thinking that on a Saturday night they wouldn't be there! However, they were! We were that much closer to resolution (tried all that she suggested to) and now am waiting for a new printhead to be delivered. I pray that solves the problem.

This is in addition to ordering my Kodak camera online from Kodak. Receiving promptly, I was excited about using it. I took about 100 pictures over the next week or so. The battery was going after shooting a bunch of video, so I grabbed the camera dock that I ordered with it (the one that was recommended when I purchased the camera). Instructions stated to remove the non rechargeable battery and replace it with the rechargeable that was in the camera dock box. Except ((!!!!)) that it wouldn't fit in the camera. Call tech support! That battery was packaged with that dock before this camera was made and is not compatible with the new camera. So, I had to buy a new battery. Charger works, camera works! Yeah, just my wallet is lighter.

At least with the printer, they are sending the replacement part and I don't have to buy it..I pray it solves the problem. I have always been happy with Kodak, so I hope they don't fail me now. Will keep you posted......... I'm beginning to think that it is a conspiracy against me (but I suppose that comes to mind since we are watching National Treasure right now :) )

For the record, when I was looking for the links to these, I was surprised at the listed prices. We got these items on sale at significantly less than they are listed. $50 less on the camera and $80 less on the printer (maybe that is my problem............hope not!)

I Bet No One Else has this Problem......

2008-06-22T15:06:00.002-05:00

Although I don't have any pictures because I can't get the rechargeable battery to fit in my new camera, I just had to write.

My youngest got slip and slide from Grandma a few weeks ago. It got initiated on Friday when they had friends out and they had a blast. I took photos and even video , but now the battery is dead!

The kids wanted the pool up, but I wanted to mow one more time (tomorrow), so I suggested they get out the slip and slide. I hear them playing and giggling and having a great time. I walked over to see and I see my oldest leading our milk cow away. We have a milk cow and we stake her in various places over the acre that our house sits on. Seems she saw that there was water available to her and decided to come get some.

Only on our place, would the kids have that problem!!!! OY!!

Meme

2008-06-22T12:33:00.002-05:00

Meme

Angie tagged me and I thought this would be a good way to get blogging again. I tend to go in spurts. I am trying to rearrange and declutter, so blogging hasn't been at the top of my list lately.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Then years ago I was 3 months pregnant with my youngest and had two 18 months olds. You could say I was up to my eyeballs in diapers, toys, etc. I look back now and wonder how I survived on so little sleep and I thank God that he gave me an understanding husband who helped out with cooking and laundry between working, commuting and farm work. I am very blessed!

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

help Tom put a cover on the silage wagon so it is ready to go this afternoon
continue with the laundry that has been piling up
finish sorting and putting away scrapbooking/craft supplies in the computer desk my sister gave me (finally a dedicated space for scrapbooking
cleaning and decluttering my bedroom
sort/file/purge and shred papers in my office

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Pretty much anything chocolate, but that is obvious from my blog title. Ice cream is always good. Love tortilla chips with guacamole and also with Frontera Mango Peach salsa....MMM!

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Pay off debt
Donate to the church and other charities
Help out our family and friends
replace flooring throughout the house (it is in dire need)
Finally finish the rest of the basement..........

5. Places I have lived:

Bloomfield, NE
Wayne, NE
South Sioux City, NE
Cushing, IA
Holstein, IA

6. Jobs I have had:

waitress in high school
checker at Kmart
babysitter some summers
Dale Electronics
Bank Examiner
Compliance Officer of a local bank
we are now self-employed ranchers, running a meat business and a consulting practice
Homeschool Mom

7. 6 Peeps I would like to know more about (in no particular order)

Suzanne
Kathleen
Kim
Jamie

A Cool New Feature on Blogger

2008-05-27T20:24:00.004-05:00

Perhaps you have already seen this, but in case you haven't, I thought I would share. There is now the capability for you to schedule posts.

Sheduling Blog Posts

I tend to do lots of blog posts in a short time and then don't do any for quite a while, so this will be very helpful to me in providing some consistency to my blogging. People get tired of checking your blog after about a week and some don't come back.

The other idea I had was to make a rough schedule of categories to blog on during the week: ie.
homeschooling, scrapbooking, ranching, kids projects, fun finds, etc. Perhaps I will work on that idea once the kids go to bed tonight.

Hope you find this helpful (well, if you use blogger and not typepad, wordpress, etc.)

New Desk and Chair ????

2008-05-27T11:55:00.004-05:00

Every Homeschooler Needs a Cool Desk and Chair

This came in a homeschool newsletter, the Homeschool Buyers Coop
I haven't purchased anything through them, but I do know people who have. They do group buys and negotiate great deals. They had a huge discount on microscopes last year. I will use them in the future, just hadn't had a need to yet.

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy a good laugh.

Kristi

Spring Voice Recital

2008-05-26T17:43:00.003-05:00

It has been a month and I am finally getting things posted from the kids' voice recital. I don't have very good pictures of the kids actually singing (though the video is much better), so I am posting a picture of their teacher Jodi. The girls sang two duets and in between they sang a song with my son. Each had a solo verse in one of the songs.

We started voice lessons in January and because of bad weather and the distance to lessons, it was the end of January before we got started. The recital was at the end of April and I am finally getting around to posting. How pathetic is that?

We are taking the summer off but plan to start up again this fall. Jodi is a wonderful teacher and is not only teaching them inflection, but reading notes, etc. We are looking forward to starting up again this fall.