growing and learning

A new Grandchild

Michelle came over this morning to talk to dad and I.  She told us that she is 3 weeks pregnant.  We are not shocked, but then again we are.  Michelle has been dating Gill for 4 and 1/2 weeks now.  They live with his parents.  Michelle told us that she and Gill will get married soon, but her divorce needs to be done 1st.   She also told us she is going to keep looking for a job and try to go to school too.   We will see.  Michelle has not worked a day since she has moved back down here months ago.  Everyone has been supporting her and the babies.  We will love and welcome any grandchild, we just wish she was on her feet taking care of the babies she has now before adding more.     Michelle's sisters are upset and disappointed in her because they have raised Jeffie and Maddie as much as Michelle has.   We need to keep this in prayer and Gods hands where they belong. 

God Bless, mj

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!! In celbration of my 300th post!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all.  I can't believe that in the time here at HSB, I have now written 299 blogs, and this one makes an even 300.  Of course, I have read at least that many, and left more comments than I can tell you.  I love this place! LOL  There are honestly days when I must "ground myself" from HSB until I get my daily routine done for the day.  I was just telling Sister Brenda in a message the other day I was grounded from HSB until I got all my sewing done! LOL

So, in celebration of my 300th blog here (roar of applause in the near background), I would like to offer a wonderful giveaway, host and provided by.....................................yours truly!!!  (ME! LOL)  I have been thinking of doing this for a few days when the number 3-0-0 came up (glad it is the number of blogs and not my age! LOL) and have been thinking of what I would like to give away.

And then.......................................................it came to me (imagine one of those goofy bright yello light bulbs above my head, suspended in air), why not give away one of my famous denim butt aprons (which I will show you HOW to make all by your little ole self if you want to on #301 ok??? I promise!   Messy Jo has been waiting for this very IMPATIENTLY, and Monica over at Books, Bedlam, and a Lively Hope, has been waiting, a little more patiently. LOL)

So, without further ado........................here is a sample picture of what you will be winning if your name is picked :

This one was made specifically by me, for a dear friend of mine for her birthday (You know who you are!  LOL  You should be getting this in the mail next week.....a little late, but it is the thought that counts.), so yours will not be EXACTLY like this one.  I was thinking of making the winning apron with..............................wait for it...................................................PINK JOHN DEERE FABRIC!!!!!  It is just too dang cute to even imagine isn't it?? LMSO 

So, what do you have to do to win the apron giveaway???????  Leave a comment and your blog name here (and if you do not have an account here, please leave your email addy, so I can get ahold of you if you win, please), as well as copy and paste this on YOUR BLOG!!!!   Can you imagine the excitement I am feeling right now??? LMSO  I am so excited to be able to do this.  I have actually WON two times here at HSB from other bloggers offering prizes, and now I am able to give back by doing my own.

So, I will start making the apron this week, and I am hoping to post a picture before mailing it out to the winner, for all to see. 

Ok, so now you have all the info......................................what are you waiting for????????????? Sign the stinking blog already!!!  LMSO

(By the way, I will be choosing a winner on FRIDAY, the 25th of July!!!!!  (It will almost be like Christmas in July to whomever wins! LOL)

Now, check the next blog of mine, for the tutorial!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a good day.  We took it easy and just piddled around.  I found spiral notebooks on sale for .05 cents each at Wal-Mart!  My husband didn't know what to think at first when I came out of the store with a BOX full of notebooks.  (He had told me to run in and get him a notepad.)  I smiled and said, that's $1 worth of notebooks!  I got 20 of them.  He was pleased by that deal as well.  Spiral notebooks seem to be something that we can never have enough of around here.

My daughter grated a bar of Ivory and I mixed it up into a new batch of laundry detergent.  I reorganized my dining area and cleaned/decluttered the kitchen tonight.  It's always nice to have that done.  I went to the local dollar store and found some really nice storage containers.  (Traci, they're very similar to yours just a different pattern I think.  Thanks for the idea!)  I"m going to work on decluttering the living room tomorrow.

That's about all for my world for today.  Goodnight all~~

*** I Found It!! I Finally Found an Area Rug! ***

It's Called Garden Border and it fits my Country Kitchen ((with roosters)) REAL Well.  I have to find one to fit underneath our new kitchen table that will still be big enough when guests are seated.  It's slightly pricey, but will last a lifetime if taken care of properly.  I should say it's pricey for US.  While it fits within our budget, it's slightly over what we had planned to pay for it.  However, alot of the 8 x 11's we've been looking for have been over a thousand dollars.  That price just ISN'T an option!  The price of this rug fits between what we had planned to pay and what we absolutely will NOT pay.  In my opinion, it's the most affordable for the quality.  So we're going to give it a month and if we STILL think it's what we want, and it's still available, we will purchase it.  My hopes of waiting till fall is that they will clearance it off slightly because it's floral.

My children are HOME!!!

I am so happy.. my children are home.. It was so nice to go to the church and pick up my babies.. yes i know they are not babies. But to me they will always be babies.... YOu moms out there know what i mean.. :-)

I have been resting and listening to the children about all there fun. My next to the oldest daughter stepped out of her confort zone while she was on her trip.. She sung at the nursing home.... She loves to sing and has a great voice however we have never been able to get her to sing.. She did on the mission trip.. .. Priase the lord...

I am in a lot of pain still. I get tired real quick when i get up to do anything.. And i am still waiting to hear from the doctor. I am sure i will hear something on monday...

I pray that each of you are having a blessed weekend. Elizabeth is canning pickles right now and jackie and rebecca are picking peas out of the garden.. Steven is mowing the yard he said it needed done bad.. bless his heart.. James is vacuming and picking up a few things..

Well got to go and rest some

glenda

Photo blog & GOOT

This week the boys have been sick. Samuel is lots better. He seemed to have an ear infection and be teething, and I panicked and gave him lots of echinacia when his ear began draining gunk out of it (he told us it hurt frequently) and put a drop of colodial silver in it as well. He never complained after that.

Elijah has been coughing, and we put GOOT on his feet in a desperate attempt to help him. He'd been coughing for half an hour, we applied the GOOT, he was much improved for about 2 hours. We marveled. We took the socks off. Shortly thereafter he began to cough again, painfully. So we put socks on him last night with more GOOT and put it on Samuel as well. I didn't wake up to hear Samuel cough once. Hooray! Our house does smell like an Italian restaurant and I crave garlic bread, though!!!!

Samuel, my sick one. Holding cheese sticks he could never bring himself to eat!

He fell asleep like this. The weight of the pillow must have felt good???

I canned 18 pints of new potatoes despite the boys been sick.

Elijah sleeping . . .

Elijah playing with our cat. The kitty was flipping his tail around and playing with him - they both really enjoyed it!

Jonathan made Elijah his first fort while Samuel was asleep. Elijah just crawled right through it! We were a bit suprised, since Samuel was VERY cautious about stuff like this at Elijah's age. However, Elijah has certainly proved over and over that he is not his brother! He was fearless and Jonathan was thrilled that he enjoyed it!!!

I went and picked blackberries Thursday night. It was very warm. I can stand the heat when I'm not pregnant, but it was obvious to me this time that I was! LOL It was 92 degrees when I started and 87 when I stopped, but I picked 10# of blackberries. And it was SO WORTH IT when I got home! (I had two boxes but only one is pictured below.)

Elijah loved them!

Samuel and Daddy enjoyed them . . . .

And the stains came out of the carpet and off of Purple Boy!

So all's well that ends well . . . at least when it came to our blackberries!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

~Ashley~

Freezing Sweet Corn w/pics

I bought 12 dozen ears of corn and Jonathan and I put them up yesterday. Here's how it all goes down. You get about one trash bag of corn husks per box of 4 dozen.

You throw the mainly de-silked ears in a big pot of boiling water. Stick the lid on for 5-6 minutes.

Take 'em out, put them in cool water in the sink.

I have done this by myself, but not this quantity. So, my wonderful husband cut the corn off the cob. (Oh, and this part tends to get backed up pretty easily so after a while he had quite the pile to work on!)

Elijah woke up from his nap part-way through, so he chilled on the floor chewing on a corn cob. This whole process is not really hectic, so we were able to keep a good eye on him. Though for a while I was husking, boiling, carrying them to the sink, then bagging the cut-off corn. I was busy!

This is the end result. After 2.5 hours, we had 45 meals of the best sweet corn EVER! Each bag has 3 cups in it, which is a big deal, because in past years we've only put 2 cups per meal. But now there are more than just me and Jonathan around the table! And Elijah already shows great promise as a Champion Eater. So we increased it to 3 cups, and I tried not to think about the extra 22 meals or so we didn't have as a result. I would much rather enjoy my boys and watch them eat corn than have more corn go farther! But I also may need to buy another box of corn or two this summer yet!

Anyway, this is how we do it.

~Ashley~

Home of Contented Homeschoolers

 "And be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5b)

Because you are a homeschooling parent, chances are your family has given up the "two-income" dream. You've probably done without in many areas including new clothes, vacations, and eating out. Have you been noticing how everyone else seems to have much nicer homes and cars than you? Have you been thinking you are being left behind?

If so, don't allow your focus to be blurred. Stand firm against the evil one and his lies. Satan comes to us in our weak moments of frustration and fatigue and tries to convince us that everyone else has it better. Maybe if you just got a "regular" job and went back to work, you could get out from under the financial burdens you have. Matthew 6:25 says, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

Trusting God for all your needs to homeschool involves a faith that will continue to be stretched. The extra expenses involved in buying curriculum and school supplies will even add more to that strain. Knowing that God will meet those needs but not always the wants is the balance that homeschool parents must find. God always provides, even if it is only macaroni and hot dogs. If we don't have the latest in fashion or the best house on the block, we still can enjoy life and the wonderful privilege of teaching our children. May we be like the Apostle Paul when he said in Philippians 4:11, "...for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

© 2007 Alpha Omega Publications, 804 N. 2nd Ave. E. Rock Rapids, IA 51246.

8 mins of What I Saw At *** Beck 08' *** You REALLY need to see this!

****Please be sure to go to the bottom of the page and silence the music so you can hear this.  Enjoy!

Making Kefir From Powdered Cultures

Kefir is a cultured milk product similar to yogurt only thinner and much easier to make and reculture. If you would like to know more specific information on kefir I have an article written by a friend of mine on my site to give you more info. You can read that HERE. It has all the wonderful qualities of yogurt with the good probiotics your body needs to stay healthy.

Kefir can be made in two ways. One is to purchase kefir grains (you can read more about this in the above mentioned article). You soak milk in the grains, strain the grains and put the grains back into a clean jar and fill with milk, let it sit on your counter overnight and the next morning it is ready. I have made kefir with grains in the past. There were a few things I did not care for. One was it was a lot of maintenance. Unless you stop making kefir you have to strain it out daily and that adds up to a lot of kefir to use every day. Also the longer I made it the stronger the taste became and my family was not too thrilled with it. So I purchased some powdered kefir cultures and made it and was so much happier with the results. This is the method I will show you how to make.

I like making kefir because it is so easy! It is much easier to make than yogurt. You don’t need a lot of equipment other than a large stainless steel pot, a thermometer and a few canning jars. I use 2 2-quart jars but you can use 4 1-quart jars if that is what you have.

Besides that you will need one gallon of milk (I use whole milk) and a package of powdered kefir culture. You can purchase your cultures online at Leeners http://www.leeners.com/cheesesupply.html#buttermilk . I have purchased cheese cultures and rennet, kefir cultures, yogurt starter, buttermilk starter and more from them many times. They are a GREAT company with excellent prices and I highly recommend them.

After your cultures arrive in the mail you can gather your needed items together and get ready to make kefir!  This pictures shows the jars with their lids (I buy plastic lids from Walmart or Azure Standard, they are made by Ball), a thermometer, the packet of culture and one gallon of milk.

Pour your gallon of milk into the stainless steel pot and put it on the stove.

Set your oven at medium high IF you will be watching the pot. If not you can set it on low and stir occasionally as it heats up. In any case stir now and again and check the temperature of the milk

As soon as it reaches 86 degrees remove the pot from the stove.   Open the packet of kefir cultures, sprinkle over the milk and stir until dissolved

Now it is time for pour the mixture into your canning jars. I like to use a canning funnel for this job. It is not absolutely necessary but helps keep the mess at a minimum.

Fill both jars to the top

Put the lid on them and let them sit out on the counter for 12 to 18 hours. I try and make this in the later afternoon and then just let it sit on the counter till morning.

When the time is up you can open the lid and there is your kefir! As you can see it is nice and thick.. but not as thick as yogurt. The consistency is more like thick buttermilk.

When you start to run out of kefir it is even easier to make more.

Fill a clean canning jar ¼ full of kefir. Pour milk to the top of the jar. Cover and leave out at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. And that is it!!
 

Kefir can be used in place of milk or yogurt in smoothies. That is how I like to use it most often. I have used it also in place of buttermilk for baking. But my favorite use is in smoothies.

Here is a delicious and simple strawberry kefir smoothie recipe that is perfect for these warm summer days.

Strawberry Kefir Smoothie
Crystal Miller


1 heaping cup fresh strawberries (frozen will also work)
1 cup kefir
Honey to taste, optional

Gather your ingredients together

Put kefir and strawberries into your blender.

Turn your blender on high and mix until all is smooth (taste to see if you want to add a little honey for sweetener at this point).

Pour into a glass

Serve to your eager and appreciative family!  :)

And enjoy!