dry toast
Posted on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 04:07 by Chas - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link
 Friends... I am being pulled in a million and one directions right now. I hope to be able to share with you something of interest soon. But for now... I have nothing.
I am dry toast.
I am about to s l o w down though... truly.
I am going to create, to sit, to read, and enjoy the remainder of my summer with my children instead of running.
Bear with me.
Good things soon.
xoxo
HSB is moving?? I just got the email....
Posted on Tuesday, June 30 at 10:32 by Jennifer - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Ok, this will probably be a good thing.. exciting for sure as long as things go smoothly, as planned.. but my biggest worry.. what if we lose everything in our blogs?? I have been on other sites that have made major changes.. and it wasn't pretty. =( Not at all to say that will/might happen here, but it is a scary thought.
I am excited though.. I wonder what all new changes they have planned for us. FUN!! They love us so much, don't they?? 
I wonder when all these changes are going to take place and if HSB will be down at all during the transition.
Adorable Homemade Hanging Jar Lanterns ~Borrowed from the blog of thecfarm~
Posted on Tuesday, June 30 at 08:37 by Jennifer - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Hanging Jar Lanterns are a fun and easy way to add a little light to your garden. source:
http://www.pallensmith.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=154&Itemid=98 
Materials: - assorted sizes and styles of glass jars with a lip
- fine gage metal wire
- wire cutters
- needle nose pliers
- votive candles
Directions: - Collect small jam jar sized glass jars with a lip just below the top.
- Next, take a long piece of wire (about 24 inches is good) and bend it around the jar just under the lip so that a ring is formed. With the needle nose pliers twist the wire together close to the jar to secure the ring. When tightening the wire be sure to leave a little give so that you can attach the handle.
- Once the ring is created you will have 2 approximately 8 inch long wires originating from the point where the circle is twisted closed.
- Bend the excess wires over the top of the jar and attach them to the wire ring to create a handle.
- Place a votive candle inside the jar.
- Hang it in a tree with sturdy branches, far enough from the end of the branch, so the jar won't slip off in the wind. Light the candles to create a magical effect.
- Caution should be used with any open flame; do not leave candles burning unsupervised.
Now to find some cute little jars!! These would even look nice in the winter, hanging from the trees! LOVE IT. Thanks Haflinger! =)
Homemade Sherbet Flavored with Kool Aid ~ Borrowed from the blog of Happykeeperathome ~
Posted on Tuesday, June 30 at 08:12 by Jennifer - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
 This sounds so delicious and oh so easy!! My kind of recipe! Can't wait to try it!
Koolaid Sherbet
1 c. sugar
1 envelope unsweetened Kool-Aid (your choice of flavor)
3 c. milk
In a bowl, stir sugar, koolaid mix and milk until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a shallow freezer container; cover and freeze for 1 hour or until slightly thickened. Transfer to a mixing bowl; beat until smooth. Return to freezer container; cover & freeze until firm. Remove from the freezer 20 mins. before serving.
Yield: about 3 cups.
The old farmhouse
Posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 05:06 by blessed mom - 9 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I don't think I have ever taken a photo of the old homestead from this angle..... I was on my mower today and I had my camera in my apron.... this is being taken looking west from our garden area...... I wish I had a photo of what this looked like " before".. oh my! It was so delapitated! The building next to the house is our "schoolhouse" or aka: "smoke house".... it was built as a smoke house and was in such bad shape when we moved here. Many told us to tear it down. My husband decided to make something of the old structure and completely remodeled it from floor to roof... and made our schoolhouse! We spend a great deal of time here... this is where we do all our schooling. As you can tell it's close enough to the house, that I can run in and check on things. This November it will be 3 yrs since we moved to Missouri. This place has seen many changes - it's really not the same place we drove up to! Wow. Still have things to renovate still, but most of the stuff is done! Praise God for that!
Bulk Taco Seasoning Mix
Posted on 2009-Jun-30 at 01:16 by Crystal Miller - 7 Comments - Post Comment - Link
We are having taco salad for dinner tonight. I always cook up my hamburger and add taco seasonings to it before adding it to my salad. I realized this morning I was out of taco seasoning and it was time to make more. This is another product that I make myself now. We are not real big fans of the taste of the taco seasonings I use to buy from my health food co-op and I wonder about MSG in it as well (the grocery store stuff definitely is full of yucky things typically). I recently was reading an article (wish I could remember where now.. maybe Dr. Mercola? If I find it I will give the link). It said that if a product lists “spices” in their ingredient list and they purchase bulk mixed spices from a supplier that adds MSG to their spice mix then the company that uses the spice mix does not have to claim that it contains MSG. So basically something can say it is MSG free but still may contain MSG if they have the word "spices" listed in the ingredients. If you have MSG sensitivities like my hubby does or you just want to avoid it for health reasons … read your labels carefully!
Taco mix is so easy to make. It takes less than 15 minutes to make up a batch, the recipe doubles easily. I usually make a double batch but today I did not have enough dried onion, so I settled for a single batch.
Bulk Taco Seasoning Mix
¾ c dried onions
½ c chili powder
¼ c salt
3T garlic powder
3T cornstarch
3T ground cumin
1T to 3T cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Store in plastic or glass container with a lid.
It takes approx. 3T of this mix to equal one packet that you would buy in the store.
This recipe makes about 2 cups. I store it in a canning jar in my cupboard.
What we've been up to
Posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 08:50 by blessed mom - 7 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I thought I would share some pics of some of the projects we have been busy with here on the homestead.
First of all, we have so enjoyed all the wildlflowers that have bloomed! I love bachelor buttons & black eyed susans! We took an old hand pump that had been on the old cistern that we took out ..... and repainted it and used it for landscape decor!
This area had once held a cistern and hand pump and we tore that out and made a flower bed.....
We had a big problem in this area.... the previous owner had laid brick pavers and they had cracked and the weeds were coming thru and muck..... my 16 yr old son tore the whole thing out, leveled the dirt, laid down black landscape tarp and then put down pond rocks and some stone...... turned out nice, eh? I was so suprised when I was done and so happy! No more mucky wet ground!!
It sure is handy to have a teen age boy around! He helps me a great deal with household projects! Great job, Jacob!
Dru has been busy working on refinishing all the outside doors. Stripping, sanding, re-staining and then finishing...... he even took the old door hardware and cleaned them up with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint! It turned out great!
We took the old screen doors, stripped them, repainted and cleaned up the old hinges.... we rescreened them with a tough pet resistant screen..... it sure comes in handy to have screen doors durring bug season!
 Finally, I have really been enjoying working in our garden and flower beds..... the roses are blooming and beautiful... and the wildflowers are attracting the butterflies and hummingbirds and bees...... one of my favorite spots in the warmer months is my front porch.... I love to sit out there on my rocker and look around at the surrounding countryside.... it's where I go in the early morning hours.... I love to sit out here and listen to the birds chirp and sing praises to my Lord...
Home sweet home.......
Lots of other projects we are working on..... hope to share more later next week!
Until then, God bless!
gloria
Pics from camp meeting
Posted on June 30, 2009 at 6:22 AM by ~Melissa - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I didn't have my camera with all the time, but here are a few pics of our time at camp meeting.
This is Megan and Linda. We brought Linda with us. It was her first time to camp meeting and she really enjoyed it. The car ride is long and the girls listened to some music and watched a DVD on the way, I believe.
This is Paige sleeping in the carseat. Car rides are especially long for her.... construction took us on a couple detours that we hadn't planned for.
The girls were just talking at the memorial park at the academy. This was one of Paige's favorite places to stop (It was also just before her class, so we had to keep her focused as to where she was going).
This is another view of the same little memorial.
These three are Paige on the homemade waterslide. They have a sewn form underneath. They cover it with a heavy plastic sheet. Squirt dish soap on the plastic and run water down from the top and half way down to keep the plastic wet. The kids get to sliding down quite fast and at first Paige wasn't too sure about it, but she enjoyed it a bit more each time. Paige rode down on her tummy; she rode down backwards; she rode down with a noodle; she rode down with friends. She only quit because they got the popsicles out and it was time to go. She was chilly (they use just water from a hose), but had a big smile on her face. Here's some more fun water shots...
A view from the top... Paige is in line behind one of the teachers.
Paige's first time down... a bit stiff and unsure.
Back up again!
On her back!
with a noodle!
Landing in bubbles.
With friend Thea from our home church.
With another new friend.
Popsicle ending at the waterslide.
Paige at crafts. They made telephones that day.
Snack time... popsicles again... it was a really hot day this day! The kids and MOM's were glad for this snack!
Story time with Pastor Dave.
Paige is in upper row, still in story time. They held their classes in the music rooms so the Kindergarteners could sit on the risers. They used the new SDA readers from the new reading program. Paige really enjoyed them and wants them... now where to find them...
Activity time had various activities. The kids especially liked this one.
Last one, the kids sang in the adult auditorium one evening. Paige started out in front, but later got pushed to the back when the kids wanted to get on the microphone (which was off... the adults know better!) Paige's class had between 45 and 60 kids each day... more on Sabbath.
Sorry it was mostly all Kindergarten adventures... that's where I had my camera... I didn't bring it to the other meetings! I didn't even take a picture of our camp site... and I try to do that each year...
Warmly, ~Melissa
Hoping to get back into the swing of things around here.. Update entry mostly, comments welcome.
Posted on Monday, June 29 at 08:43 by Jennifer - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Oh my, it has been a long time since I have made an entry. Even longer since I have been consistent. I miss it here. And I miss the frame of mind that I was in when I was blogging here. =)
Not a whole lot has changed since I was writing here. Pretty much more of the same. I am content with the way things are... for the most part. Every now and then I get grumpy, but I get over it.
4th of July weekend is upon us. We have a busy week coming up.
Tomorrow I have to take my husband to a friend's house to pick up her motorcycle. He is going to be doing some work on it, adding some customization stuff to it and he will have it for a while and he didn't want to leave one of our vehicles there. So I will take him and drop him off. After that, I need to run to the feed mill and get feed for our goat and miniature horse. THEN off to the vet's to have our Chihuahua Xrayed to find out, (HOPEFULLY) how many puppies she is going to have and how big they are. We are hoping they are Chihuahua puppies, but there is a very good chance they are Chihuahua/Havanese. Grrr. Not real happy about that.. but too late to do anything now. Poor Cookie is HUGE. Hubby thinks they are mutts.. that is why she is so big.. but she may just have lots of babies. I sure hope we find out something useful. It isn't going to be a cheap trip.
I have shopping I need to do, but since I am going to have the dog, I may just put it off and go into town again on Wednesday.
Thursday we are going to Hubby's mom and dad's for a few hours to celebrate and just visit. I think we are going to have a cookout. I want to take something yummy, but I am not sure what all she is planning on having.. I emailed her and asked her to send me her 'menu'. We haven't seen them since Mother's Day. (The day I got out of ICU... more on that later.) We are also supposed to have a 4H meeting with the horse on Thursday, but I emailed our advisor and asked him if it was ok if we just bring Courtney. That would be a little too hectic having to come home, grab the trailer and horse and head back to the meeting.
Friday, we are all going over to the campgrounds to have a cook out with Shannon, Tony, Anthony and Makayla. We will be able to watch the fireworks out over the lake. They set them off on an island.. very cool! I am not sure what all I am taking yet. Definitely some kind of beans.. I thought about Calico Beans.. but I might just do plain baked beans. I even thought about doing green beans with bacon.. but I don't know if everyone likes green beans.. would it be too much to take both?? Tony's dad will be there and he is diabetic so he has to really watch his carbs.. he won't be able to have baked beans.. but he should be able to have green beans with bacon. I don't know.. will have to talk to Shan and see what she thinks. I am also planning on taking some kind of dessert, just haven't decided what yet. We might be able to go out on the boat, but I doubt it, it will be a mad house. I like it when there is no one hardly on the water. Last time we went Courtney got to go tubing.. I wish I would have taken my camera. =( Next time.
Saturday, the actual holiday we are probably going into town for the fireworks. Hubby has to play with one of the bands, and I believe he said he is playing right up until dark, so we will enjoy the band and then watch the fireworks. I think it is supposed to be cool this week so we will have to plan ahead with jackets and blankets etc so we don't freeze. lol
I think that is about it as far as our plans for the holiday. Are you doing anything special?
Pina Colada Yogurt
Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 07:53 by blessed mom - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link
We are really enjoying making frozen yogurt........ this one was fantastic!! Even better than the banana recipe I posted last week!!
Frozen Pina Colada Yogurt
8 cups vanilla yogurt
1 cup sugar
2 cans crushed pineapple undrained ( 15 oz each)
1 can cream of coconut (15 oz)
1 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp rum extract
Combine all ingredients in a big bowl and cover and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Freeze as directed by your ice cream maker.
Yields: 4 quarts
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