Day At The History Museum

Today a friend and I took the girls to the History Museum.

We had an amazing time.

The first thing we did was use the Time Machines. 

These cool machines move all over the floor and when they are stopped over certain spots they will play videos of snippets of history.  The girls loved them.

Then it was off to the no longer existing town of Keoto.  Tiny loved playing with the coal burning stove and “cooking”.

Monster and my friend put together a tile “quilt” and played some tic-tac-toe.

Then the girls checked out an outhouse.

Monster milked a cow.

They both gathered eggs.

And sorted them in the General Store.

The girls put their pictures into a 1900 yearbook for a Keoto one-room schoolhouse.

Then they took a ride in a Model T.

We explored a silver mine and a trading post, then we tried a ski jump.

Unfortunately, we all crashed.

The girls tried their hand at rope tricks.

Of course, we had to have lunch and snacks.

We visited the gift shop and then we headed off to the downtown library.  I love that the girls like to read and be read to.

It was a very busy, very fun, very tiring day.

Stay tuned in the next few weeks, there will be more DIY, more canning, more recipes, and even a giveaway. 

I hope your New Year is safe and enjoyable!

 

 

 

Faux Tie-Dye

Today was “Hippie” day with the girls.  We made faux tie-dyed shirts and read stories and drew pictures.

The tie-dye project is really easy.  It requires a white t-shirt, sharpie markers, spray bottles, rubbing alcohol, plastic cups and rubber bands.

Place a cup in the middle of the shirt and stretch the shirt over the top of the cup securing with a rubber band to give a firm drawing surface.  Draw your design with the marker color of your choice.  Spray the design with rubbing alcohol.  Wait a few minutes for the marker to run or tie-dye the design then move to another spot and repeat.

Once the shirt is finished, put it in the dryer for 30 minutes to set the colors.  Then when ready to wash, wash in cold water.

Once we finished our project, we started reading one of the chapter books I brought over.  I gave them a choice of The Swiss Family Robinson, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Caddie Woodlawn.  They chose Caddie Woodlawn.  The idea was to read a chapter or two and then draw pictures of what happened in the story. 

Well, we ended up reading 8 chapters and drawing loads of pictures.  Monster kept saying.  “More, more!”  She was really into the story and her pictures showed it too.  She can’t wait til we can get back together and read some more of the story.  I think my idea was a good one.

Another tiring, but good day with the girls.

Monster

Ranch Dressing Master Mix Recipe Review

This is another recipe in The Master Mix Way e-book. 

I mixed this one up a week or so ago in preparation for making Cornflake Chicken.  You need to dip the chicken in ranch dressing before rolling in cornflakes. 

Anyway, the master mix makes enough to fill a pint canning jar about halfway.  That’s quite a bit of mix.  The basic dip or dressing mix only takes 2 tablespoons of the seasoning mix so it will last a good while making the mix rather cost effective to make. 

The directions for making the dressing make up a dressing that is a little thick for me so I adjusted the measurements of milk and mayonaise a bit for our liking.  The regular measurements make a really nice dip consistency.

Now for the flavor.  Oh. My. Goodness.  This stuff is GOOD!  It makes the store-bought stuff seem insipid.  This is what Ranch Dressing is supposed to taste like.  I have been making excuses to use it….on celery, on hotdogs, on crackers, on cold pizza, on anything I can think of. 

Yet another keeper from The Master Mix Way.  You can get your own copy from The Welcoming House blog.

Ragu Bolognese

I finally got the chance to make one of the sauces from my new sauce cookbook.  Tonight it was Ragu Bolognese.  It looks like it would be difficult, but it was pretty easy.

First I browned up some bacon in butter.

Then I added onion, celery, carrots, oregano ,thyme and tomato paste.

Then it was ground meat and finely chopped chicken livers.  I didn’t use quite as m any chicken livers as the recipe called for, but I still got enough for the flavor.

Then beef stock.

Simmer for 30 minutes and serve over egg noodles.

Very yummy.

Books and Cooking

Books are very important to me.  From the time I figured out the mysteries of reading in kindergarten, books have been highly important to me.  They went everywhere with me as a child, young teenager and even young adult.   The advent of e-readers has made me postively giddy.  I can carry hundreds of books with me in less than the space it takes to carry one paperback.

Recently, I have experienced a lack of joy in reading my normal genres of reading material.  Sci-fi, Christian romance, mysteries hold no appeal for me.  I am craving non-fiction in great quantities, particularly cookbooks.  I read cookbooks as if they were novels. Maybe it’s the time of year.  Afterall, it is the season to do lots of extra cooking and baking.  Anyway, to assuage that craving I purchased a hard copy of a book dedicated to sauces.  Lots and lots of different kinds of sauces.  From the basic french sauces to thai, cambodian, cuban, mexican….you name it and I think the sauce may be in this book.  I can’t wait to try some of them out.  In fact, my next shopping trip will include ingredients for Ragu Bolognese and a couple others.  Yum!

Now, I’m drooling over a book of 660 curries.  Oh my!  This close to Christmas I dare not go ahead and purchase it.  I really should wait and see if anyone gives me a Barnes and Noble gift card.  But, oh the waiting may just kill me.  I love curries of all kinds and the thought of 660 new ones to peruse and plan to create in my own kitchen! Yikes!  I really should stay off the Barnes and Noble website lol.

I  hope you all had a filling and wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Master Mix Way E-book Review

A week ago I purchased a brand new e-book from a fellow blogger and have been perusing it ever sinse.  I have to say, it was well worth the purchase. 

The e-book is called The Master Mix Way by Heather Estey of The Welcoming House blog.  It is a collection of fifty, well, master mixes.  The mixes range from baking mixes tocooking mixes to soup mixes to drink mixes.  It has a little bit of everything. Do you want to save money in the kitchen?  Do you want to save time?  How about both?  Then this is definately the book for you. 

I am personally looking forward to trying out her brown gravy mix, and her All-purpose Herbal Master Seasoning Mix first.  It’s just a matter of gathering the ingredients and finding an empty container. Those little packets and jars are expensive!!  And I can go through them in half a heartbeat.  I’d far rather have my own mix sitting in the pantry just waiting for me than spending oodles on those little drips and dollops the stores sell.  Wouldn’t you?

The e-book is available off her website in pdf format or mobey format for e-readers.  Go check it out and check out her amazing blog for even more frugal ideas and tips.  Go on, you know you want to!

Still Reading….

Yep, I’m still reading.  Lots.  Barnes and Noble loves me.  Ok, I love them cuz so much of what I find is free, but still. One book I just finished reading is The Man Whisperer: Speaking Your Man’s Language To Bring Out His Best by Rick Johnson. 

The basic concept of the book is simple – you can’t “change” a man, but as a woman you have a huge ability to influence your man to be the best man he can be. 

Simple concept.  Not always so simple to implement.  However, it is doable and totally worth doing.

In just ten short chapters, Rick Johnson explains how a woman can influence her man for the better and why it is so important not only for her, but for  him as well.  Rather than nag and harass and harangue her man to “change”,  a man-whisperer studies her man and learns his strengths, his fears, his areas of need.  She first learns to understand her man, and rather than simply dismissing the good that is already there she builds on it.  She uses her influence, not her berating to inspire her man to greatness.  She uses her unique womanhood to shore up her man’s areas of weakness with her strength. 

The ten chapters are A Woman’s Whisper, Authentic Masculinity, Nine Qualities of Good Men, Nine Traits That Hold Him Back, Speaking Your Man’s Language, Power Tools for Women, The First Man in Every Woman’s Life, Sex is Not a Weapon, The Top Ten Things About Men That Drive Women Crazy, Using Your Influence Effectively.

Rick Johnson’s style if very light and engaging even when dealing with difficult topics.  He is very readable. He is also very up-front about things pertaining to men/women relationships.  I found that refreshing.

Some of the things he talks about I have read in other publications, but I found a lot of really good, intriguing, new information as well.  I loved how he basically says men are pretty easy to understand and please while women are the more complicated ones in a relationship.  I had to laugh at that because reading through this book, it really is true. 

So, what did I learn?  Men will shut down if you nag or complain or berate them for doing or not doing what you think they should.  They operate much better with positive feedback – just like women, imagine that.  Most men really do want to have happy wives, but they don’t always know how to accomplish that task.  Most men would like to lead their families, but they may not know what that looks like and they may be too scared to try for fear of refection and criticism if they mess it up. They want to be admired and respected by the women in their lives.  They need to be allowed to be men and not be feminized into what God never intended them to be.   I, as a wife, need to learn my husband’s particular language so I can influence ( not nag or criticize or berate or manipulate) him to be everything that God intends him to be as a man and as a husband and as a father.  I have a very important role in his life and I need to fulfill that role.  When I do, he is more likely to get his needs met which means I am more likely to get mine met as well.  It’s a win-win situation, but the change really starts with me.  I need my PhD. in hubby.  I need to be the wife he needs so he can be the husband I need. 

Ok, I’m not doing this book the justice it deserves.  It was very eye-opening, very convicting, very affirming, and quite humorous at times.  I highly recommend it for new wives, married-for-awhile wives, engaged women and even single women who hope to be married.  I won’t take long to read, but it is chock-full of great insight and information.

Sink Reflections Review

A while back I found Marla Cilley’s book Sink Reflections at the library and checked it out.  I had been surfing through her FlyLady website trying to make sense of things, so when I found the book I figured it would be a good one to read.  It definately was good, but to be honest I didn’t really understand the concepts she was preaching.  Yeah, I’m a little slow on the up-take when it comes to housework.

Fast forward to about two weeks ago.  Reading through my Proverbs 31 bible study and I get stuck on needing to be a better housekeeper. 

I whined.

I work 40 hours a week, and while I am thankfully out of the small person season, I still come home tired still needing to get dinner and do laundry and prep for the next day.  And I’m supposed to add cleaning to that too?  In my dinky little over-stuffed house?  Argh!!!

But, just because my hubby expects me to work outside the home doesn’t negate my (to me and to him) God-given responsibilities in the home.  Women’s libbers and 50-50 marriage types, please keep any ugly comments to yourself.  I won’t agree and you won’t change my mind with your uglies.

So, in the spirit of working on the things God was showing me in my study of Proverbs 31 I went on a journey to find help.  Surfing through Barnes and Noble I came across Sink Reflections again.  I figured, what-the-heck, I’ll buy it and see if it will make any more sense a second time around.

Bingo!

Ok, so now I get it!  First off, she’s just like me.  Side-tracked by many good, but not necessarily profitable ways to use my time.  She’s clutter-prone.  She doesn’t live in a mansion with maids and a butler and personal chef.  She really does speak my language. And she offers a proven, time-tested way out of my housekeeping doldrums. 

She starts you off by telling you to “shine your sink”.  Ok, so for me I tweaked that a little and made it “rotate the dishes into the dishwasher before you go to bed so they can wash overnight and your sink will be empty in the morning”.  Let  me tell you, that little thing really makes a difference.  A nice empty sink in the wee hours of the morning is just a good feeling thing to see.

Then she gets you to make your own morning and evening routines.  I already had those to an extent, but looking over her examples helped me tweak mine to make better use of my time both in the mornings and in the evenings before bed.  I already prep the coffee pot and hubby’s coffee cup at night and lay out his clothes and at least decide what I’m going to wear.  But, my mornings were still too busy for my comfort.  Why?  Because I was trying to fit making lunches in with getting dressed for work.  It made me cranky.  Not a good start to a morning.  So, I added about 6 extra minutes to my night time routine to make lunches before bed and stick them in the fridge.  Now I just have to pull everything out and pop it into the lunch bag.  That one small change actually gives me time to read through my Psalms/Proverbs daily reading in the mornings like I prefer without being so rushed that I just skim the words without taking in their meaning.  A win.

Next up, a weekly cleaning routine.  This is where I got stuck before.  “You mean I have to do this stuff everyday?”  No silly, this is what you have to do over the course of the week to keep your house up to snuff in a basic kind of way.  Ooooohhhhhhh.  Duh.  I was kind of already doing this anyway on Saturday mornings.  No need to change that.  I just tweaked what I’m doing a little bit to add a few things I like to have done more regularly than what I had been doing them.

Now for the biggie……zones.  This one really blew my poor little head off before.  I could grasp dividing my house into zones, but couldn’t grasp how in the world I was supposed to do all this cleaning on top of everything else in my life!  No, no, no.  I’m only required to spend 15 minutes per day on that week’s particular zone.  If I want to spend more I can, but it’s not required.  Working through the zone each week isn’t meant to completely de-clutter and deep clean everything that first week.  It’s meant to get things moving in the right direction.  It didn’t get cluttered and dirty all in a week and it doesn’t have to get perfect in a week either.  Well, not unless you have company coming and have to crises-clean, but that’s another story. So, I’ve tweaked the zones for my tiny house (for instance, I only have one bathroom so Ionly have to have one zone for that) and worked out what things need to be done in those zones for our happiness.

Ahhh.  Thank you Lord for your faithfulness to your daughter to give her the tools and techniques to do what you have called her to do. 

It’s the first of the month, so I’m working on Zone 1 which is my entry, dining area and back porch.  With just a measly 15 minutes a day I can get sooooo much done to make things look better.  I’m excited to have a less cluttered, cleaner house without so much stress. Plus, I can go to school with hubby without feeling like I have to neglect the house to do so.  Win!!

If you are housekeeping-impaired like me, this is really an excellent book to get you moving in the right direction whether you are a SAHM, or working wife.  I’m so glad I found it again.

Linking up with Titus 2sdays, Teach Me Tuesdays, Far Above Rubies, Raising Homemakers, Raising Mighty Arrows

Reading, Lots of Reading

I haven’t posted much lately as I have been reading voraciously.  I have been loading up my NOOK with lots of good stuff lately.

First off, I found a bible study on Proverbs 31.  It was not free (my favorite kind of book), but it was cheap enough I was willing to pay for it.  That got me started.  I got stuck on about day 4 of the study and had to step back and evaluate some things in my life.  That led me to pick up Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley.  She’s the Flylady.  If you  haven’t heard of her, Google her. 

Along those same lines I picked up 31 Days to Clean.  I’ve just started that one.  Not sure how I like it just yet.

Then I found another Proverbs 31 study.  And, a book from Proverbs 31 Ministries called Not Just a Good Bible Study Girl.  And then yet another book from that ministry called Capture His Heart.

Are you seeing a theme here?

That one little bible study book got me thinking really hard about my marriage and ways I can enhance it and make it better.  I love hubby bunches and I want him to have the best wife he can get from me. So, I’m on a reading and studying journey right now.  I’m learning a lot and gathering lots of things to ponder.  It’s a good thing.

Homemaking Skills

Cooking, cleaning, laundry, basic sewing.  My list isn’t all-inclusive, but it’s a start.  However, I wasn’t taught half of even my small list.  Yep, that’s right.  I wasn’t taught how to cook more than box mac and cheese.  I could clean a bathroom like a pro, but nothing else.  I could do basic laundry, but don’t ask me how to get out stains.  I was given Stretch-and-Sew lessons one Christmas. 

What was my mother thinking!!!

Well, first off, she was a working mom before it was fashionable or normal.  I went to daycare centers everyday.  Before there was one on every corner.  I didn’t have the benefit of being home with  my mom and absorbing the “mom” things.  Evenings were spent cooking and doing some laundry and getting me off to bed at a reasonable time.  Weekends were spent getting everything she needed done quickly so we could go to the library or the mall.  I was taught to love to read.  And thank goodness for that!

I got married when I was 18 and I was woefully unprepared.  I still struggle in many areas, but thankfully I have learned a few things over the last 30 years.

Remember I said I love to read?  My mom also taught me to “read” cookbooks.  So, with the help of some good cookbooks I taught myself how to cook more than mac and cheese from a box. My husband is most grateful.

From other books I gleaned how to do laundry properly and how to clean better.  I say better because I am NOT a housekeeper.  It’s a skill I’m still working on. 

I can sew on a button and hem up pants and make up a pattern.  If it doesn’t involve putting in a zipper.  I have yet to master the art of putting in a zipper.  If I ever have a working sewing machine again it is on the list of things to tackle.

So, what’s my point?  If you have kids, male or female, teach them the basic skills needed for life!!!  Don’t expect the schools to do it for you cuz it ain’t happenin’.  Knowing how to fend for yourself is so helpful.  Even if all you can manage is teaching your kids how to find the information they need, that’s a start.  The internet is, of course, your first stop, but don’t neglect the idea of the library too.  Or Amazon.  Or Barnes and Noble.

Ok, off my soapbox.  Have a great day!