• Sunday, February 7, 2010 - Reserve Grand Champion of Fashion Revue
This picture of Miss A was in this morning's newspaper. She entered the 2 or more pieces sewn category. She made the lined jacket and skirt and then made the top and used tea to dye it and give it an antique feel. This is her version of old fashioned floral meets modern style. I thought it turned out very nice.
Below is a picture Mr. P took after the show of her and the other two rugrats. I have lots of good pictures but I'm not sure the other girls who are in the pictures would want to have their pictures posted on a blog so I'll just post these of Miss A.
Blessings,Mrs. P |
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• Friday, February 5, 2010 - Fair Time!
The sewing machine has been working overtime the past two weeks with Miss A finishing all of her fair projects. I'll be posting photos of her sewing soon as well as her other projects. Right now, though we are printing out recipe cards, ironing jackets and skirts, and getting all the projects organized into a crate to take to check in on Monday. Her projects include basket making, photography, baking (bread, cookies, decorated cake), sewing (doll clothes, pajamas, lined suit, apron/bonnet) and machine embroidery. I can't wait to get the photos up because the apron that turns into a bonnet is the cutest thing ever. Well, really all of her projects turned out well, but that apron/bonnet is so unique that I just LOVE it.
Tomorrow morning she will start the fair with the fashion review. It's an early Saturday morning, but she's excited as this is her best ever sewing project. She made a 3 piece suit, fully lined. It is a jacket, chemise, and flared skirt. I'm excited because it is going to be her dress for Easter, which means I only have ONE dress to sew this year. She even tea dyed the lace and chemise so that it would look more antique and match the lavender floral of her suit. I'm surprised at how much her sewing has improved since last year. She was able to tackle several new sewing techniques this year and was very happy with the results.
Sunday afternoon we will check in the goat. Monday we check in the FCS projects and the goats and rabbits show on Tuesday. Wednesday will be the day we can see if she won anything followed by a mini-rodeo for the school kids. It will be an exciting week. And I'll get Mr. P busy putting photos up on photobucket so that I can keep the blog updated for the family and friends.
Here are a few of the new things she has learned in her clothing and textiles project this year:
- sewing set in sleeves
- sewing in puffed sleeves
- how to hem a skirt (she's only done narrow hems by machine before now)
- lining a bodice
- machine embroidery
- how to make button holes
- how to sew on a row of buttons (much more difficult than one lonely button, she says since they have to be lined up straight...lol)
- how to make darts
- how to tea dye
- how to make pajama bottoms (before now she'd never sewn something with legs)
In case you wonder why I'm listing all of this, it's because of the 4-H record book. About the middle of April she and I will be racking our brains trying to remember what all she's learned new this year and I'll have this blog post to refer her to.
We have lots of friends competing in the fair this year and we can't wait to see everyone's projects. Good luck to:
Miss Katie Jane, Miss McKinley, Miss Gabrielle, Miss Ashley, Miss Emma, Miss Skylar, Miss Jillian, Miss Kayla, Miss Danielle, Miss Sarah, Miss Caitlyn, Miss Faith, Miss Abbie, Mr. John, Mr. James, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Gabor, Mr. Caleb, Mr. Dylan, and all of the other 4-H members that will be at the fair.
Blessings,
Mrs. P |
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• Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - Miss J turns 6!!!
I took some time and put up pictures of my sweet Miss J. She's been a joy to raise so far, full of smiles, blue eyes, and spunk. I know the family will enjoy these pics of her from ages 6 months or so to this past summer. I think we must have gotten the digital camera about the time we went to Colorado because those pics of her in the backpack are the earliest that I have on the computer.
Here she is at about 8 months old. She loves to hike and only rode in the backpack that first year as she was never happy with her dad being the navigator. We joke that he had bruises where she'd kick him to go when he would stop and rest. By the time she was 18 months old she'd just hike on her own only riding in the backpack for the longest hikes. Just for the record he only stopped so his poor, out of shape wife could catch up. He can hike miles around me.
 Here's she is about 18 months old with her daddy.
 Carving pumpkins at Dinosaur Valley State park. This pumpkin carving camping trip is a tradition in our family.
 Everyone loves kidding season and she loves it as much or more than the rest of us. Somehow I got a pic of her with a kid when she wasn't also covered in mud or in mismatched clothes. 
 Checking out wildflowers in Colorado one summer when we camped with Ole Pal and Cheryl.
 This isn't the clearest photo, but I love the look on her face. Such joy running barefoot on a summer day. That is one of her all time favorite sundresses. It was not only pink, but had a great twirl skirt!
 Here's a pic from the next summer. She looks mostly the same only her hair is a bit longer. She's still smiling.
 And finally I have a photo from our 4-H awards banquet in August.
 Happy Birthday Miss J!
Blessings,
Mrs. P |
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• Monday, January 18, 2010 - Simple Woman's Daybook ~12
FOR TODAY ... January 18, 2009
Outside My Window...chilly and 43 with the sun rising on a partly cloudy day.
From the learning room...It's a field trip day!
I am thankful for...a new addition to our family...a baby due in early August!
From the kitchen...Crock Pot Fiesta Chicken, salad, shredded cheese, tortillas
I am wearing...jeans with a red, black and tan tunic top
I am creating...maternity clothes...first outfit I made is rather tent-like...
I am going...to a 4-H Clothing and Textiles field trip and a TV Station field trip
I am reading...the book of Mark, The Holy Bible
I am hoping...to get my to do list done, despite being gone on field trips all day
I am hearing...the sound of the dryer and sleepy children coming to life
Around the house...2 loads of laundry, sweep and mop, clean master bedroom
One of my favorite things...a newly cleaned and serviced sewing machine.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: AWANA, school, & a library outing
Here is picture thought I am sharing...my big boy Mr. C (on the left) when he was about 7 or 8 months old with his buddy Mr. L. They are much bigger these days, but still buddies. I stumbled across this photo and was amazed at how quickly time is passing! Aren't these guys just adorable? I love the look on Mr. C he is considering getting upset. In those days he really didn't like me to be as far from him as I was to take his picture.
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• Sunday, January 17, 2010 - Black Eye Peas in a pressure cooker
This is a delicious way to eat black eye peas and with a pressure cooker, it's fast too. It isn't for those on a low fat diet due to the large amount of bacon. However, the bacon gives it much flavor so don't leave it out if at all possible. I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com and am reprinting it below with instructions on how to cook it in a pressure cooker. I served it with cornbread which I adapted from a recipe on Allrecipes called Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread.
Black Eye Peas with Bacon
The night or day before:
Soak 2 c. of dry black eye peas in water
30-40 minutes before dinner:
Cut up 1/2 lb. of bacon into strips and fry until crisp in your pressure cooker. After it is cooked, set bacon aside and fry 1/2 of a diced onion. Set aside onion and drain bacon fat. Add the soaked peas, bacon, onion, 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t. pepper and a quart of chicken broth. Lock the pressure cooker lid on and bring to full pressure. Once the pressure is reached, reduce heat to medium and cook under pressure for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, quickly release the pressure under cold running water. Open your pressure cooker and serve once the pressure has been released.
Here's my adaptation of Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread
Preheat oven to 375* and put in a greased cast iron skillet.
In a sauce pan, melt 1 stick of butter
Add in in this order:
1/4 c. molasses
egg replacer for 2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
Stir all the liquid ingredients and then add the next dry ingredients.
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. spelt flour (or whole wheat or buckwheat flour...sorghum might also work)
1 c. masa harina
Stir all together until well blended. Pour into the now hot skillet and bake for 25 minutes.
Notes on my adaptations:
I used molasses instead of the sugar as called for in the original recipe. The molasses did a great job of making the cornbread sweet while also adding iron and other vitamins and minerals. My substitutions also decreased the carbs by about 9 grams, sugar by 15 grams, and cholesterol by 37 grams. So if you ever wondered how whole wheat flour and natural sweeteners compare to white flour and sugar just look at the nutrition facts on my version and compare them with the nutrition facts on the link to the original recipe.
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| Vitamin A |
7.3 % |
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| Vitamin B-12 |
1.5 % |
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| Vitamin B-6 |
4.1 % |
|
| Vitamin C |
0.5 % |
|
| Vitamin D |
2.0 % |
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| Vitamin E |
1.2 % |
|
| Calcium |
12.7 % |
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| Copper |
10.6 % |
|
| Folate |
0.5 % |
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| Iron |
10.1 % |
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| Magnesium |
6.4 % |
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| Manganese |
13.4 % |
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| Niacin |
0.7 % |
|
| Pantothenic Acid |
1.9 % |
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| Phosphorus |
3.5 % |
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| Riboflavin |
3.4 % |
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| Selenium |
3.7 % |
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| Thiamin |
1.0 % |
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| Zinc |
1.6 % |
 INGREDIENTS: WHEAT FLOUR, DEGERM-INATED YELLOW CORN MEAL, SUGAR, ANIMAL SHORTENING (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: LARD, HYDROGENATED LARD, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED LARD), contains less than 2% of each of the following: BAKING SODA, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SALT, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID.
CONTAINS: WHEAT
Have you ever used this mix? Just for grins look at it's ingredient list as well as it's nutrition content. I can say that by using the one pot to mix everything in the homemade recipe, it took me only a little longer to make than to mix up this little box. While I noticed there are some vitamins and minerals, I also noticed on the ingredient list that they are added later and not naturally occurring in the main ingredients. I was really surprised that using whole grains and natural sweeteners would increase the nutritional value so much. Does it surprise you as well?
Blessings,
Mrs. P |
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