And the winner is....

...soon to be announced!


First, let me tell you that I used Random.org to select the winner.  There were a total of 11 comments on my blog and I didn't count comment #7, since it was a clarification of comment #6.  Had comment #7 been generated, I would have run the number generator again. 

The number generator identified comment #4, which was from Crickett Brown.  Congratulations Crickett!  I'm sending you a note right now.  Kroger does have an excellent selection of gluten free items and I hope you are able to stock up on a few of your favorites!

Thank you, everyone, for entering! 

Passing Along a Winner of a Deal - Kroger

Right now, there is a promotion going on at Kroger grocery stores.  If you purchase any four participating General Mills products, you will either receive free milk (up to $3; limit of 2) or to receive $3 off your shopping order! 

I shop at Kroger here by home.  They have great sales and I often am able to stock up on pantry items.  It helps that they double coupons up to fifty cents, too.  If you’ve read here long, you know I like Cheerios.  We eat a lot of them in this family.  Anyway, they are part of the promotion!  Woohoo!  I think that’s one of my favorite parts!  So, with the current sale, I get to stock up on Cheerios and get my milk for (almost) free.  Around here, milk is a little more than $3 per gallon.  Still, that’s a huge savings.  But, here’s the deal….this promotion ENDS NOVEMBER 26, 2011.  You’ve got to hurry if you want to get in on the promotion.  Like, go this weekend.  Seriously.

Check out the Kroger Facebook Page for more information and learn about other ways to save on your grocery bills. 

Know what makes this promotion even sweeter?  Kroger, General Mills and My Blog Spark have offered me the opportunity to host a giveaway related to this promotion.  One of my lovely readers is going to win a $25 gift card to Kroger!  Is that awesome, or what?  I know they don’t have a Kroger in every area, but this gift card is good at any of the Kroger family of stores.  So, you folks who shop at Ralphs, King Scoopers, City Market, Dillons, Smith´s, Fry´s, QFC, Baker´s, Owen´s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Fred Meyer, Pay Less Supermarkets and Scott´s Food & Pharmacy can use the gift card at your local store, too, if you are the winner. 

So, how do you enter the giveaway?  Easy-peasy.  Leave a comment on my blog.  Tell me how you would use the $25 gift card.  Will you use it to stock up on General Mills cereals for breakfast?  Will you use it to make massive quantities of Chex-Mix for your holiday parties?  Just share with me how you will use the Kroger gift card.  Make sure your comment links back to you, otherwise I won’t be able to reach you if you are the winner. 

I will select the winner Friday, November 25, 2011, using a random number generator.  I will contact the winner and give 24 hours for a response.  The winner will need to provide mailing information to an address within the U.S., which I will submit to My Blog Spark for fulfillment.  If I do not hear from the winner within 24 hours, I will select an alternate winner.

Disclosure: The Kroger gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Kroger and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

It Was a Simply Homemade Party!

MommyParties and Fleischmann's Simply Homemade provided me the opportunity to host a Mommy Party for their new line of bread mixes.  Now, anyone who knows me, knows I love to eat good bread.  I usually make my own, as I've mentioned in my posts.  But, sometimes, I really want covenience without sacrificing flavor and goodness.



I had to test out the product ahead of time, so we made a loaf before the party.  Princess E couldn't wait to try the bread, so I let her help me make it. 



I should clarify that.  By "help", I mean I let her make it while I took pictures.



Here is our finished sample loaf.  It had a thick crust and the loaf was super heavy. 

Then, it was time to get cleaned up and ready for our party.  After I learned how easy it was for Princess E to make the bread, I changed the party plan.  Instead of all us moms making the bread, we let the kid's have fun.  Sure, we were there to supervise, but we let them have the fun. 

We try to blend homeschooling into everyday activities.  So, we turned our little party into a cooking lesson, hygiene lesson, and a chemistry lesson. 

They took turns adding the ingredients for their creations.  They got a kick out of watching the yeast begin to work.  The recipes are very simple and are great for an after work dinner.  Everything is premeasured and packaged for ease, except for water.  All you need to make these loaves is a cup of water.  What could be easier?



We let the children plan their own loaves and shapes.  Just look at all these awesome loaves! 



Did I tell you it takes less than an hour, start to finish to have a fresh loaf of bread?  Of that, less than 10 minutes is active time.  Just 10 minutes. 



This was our smallest "loaf".  She decided to save this morsel of yumminess to share with the pooches. 



Here's another of the loaves. 



Now, let me tell you a little abou the Fleischmann's Simply Homemade bread mixes.  They come in four varieties:

          Country White
          Stoneground Wheat
          Multigrain
          Italian Herb

At our party, I asked which was everyone's favorite.  It was pretty well divided between Country White, Stoneground Wheat and Italian Herb.  Personally, my favorite was the Italian Herb.

We talked about different ideas for making different bread creations.  One suggested stuffing the Italian Herb bread with pepperoni, mozarella cheese and spaghetti sauce.  That would be delicious.  A similar recipe is posted on the Simply Homemade recipe page.  Other suggestions were to make cheese rolls, by mixing in cheese sticks, cooking hot dogs inside shaped dough, and cutting up the leftover bread and making croutons.  All of those sounded like kid-friendly ideas except the last one wouldn't work.  What leftover bread?  Ha!

I think my favorite thing about this line of bread is that I can allow Princess E to make it, pretty much by herself.  It's a great way to practice her baking skills.  You don't even have to knead the dough.  You just stir it all together.  She can do everything except take the bread out of the oven.  Okay, she probably could do that too, but we're not ready to let her pull hot pans out of a 400 degree oven. 

You can pick-up Fleischmann's Simply Homemade Bread Mixes at your favorite grocery store.  A list of chains is provided on their website.  I encourage you to visit the website and take a look. 

Many thanks to MommyParties and Fleischmann's Simply Homemade for providing me the products to host this gathering.  We had a lot of fun!  We moms (and dads!) enjoyed watching the children enthusiastically craft their loaves, and we enjoyed sampling the end results.  The children enjoyed being "in charge" of the kitchen, wearing their own oven mits, and proudly showing off their designs.  It made for a great party!

Disclaimer:  The bread mixes, coupons, apron and oven mitts were provided to me to be able to host this party.  The opinions expressed in the post are mine or those of my guests.

HEXBUGS!!

This past weekend, we had a party at our house.  There were bugs everywhere ….HEXBUGS, that is.

We were first introduced to HEXBUGS at our local homeschool convention.  E thought they were cool.  J would have spent the entire time at the display.  I knew he’d enjoy helping host this party, and I was right.  Once everyone arrived, we started with a little lesson on micro-robotics.  All of the other children who were able to attend are homeschoolers, too, so we weren’t about to pass up an opportunity to incorporate a little science lesson in there.  I was really impressed at the knowledge a couple of the girls had of robotics and micro-robotics.  Did you know that in South Africa they call stoplights “robots”?  Me neither.  We learned from our guests, too. 

After the short lesson, it was time to play.  And play.  And play some more.  We were provided generous quantities of everything we needed to make the party lots of fun.  Each child received a glow-in-the-dark HEXBUG Nano Galileo Collection bug and a Limited Edition HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie Bug to keep, plus extra batteries.  HEXBUG and MommyParties also provided me with Glow-In-The-Dark Habitat sets for playing.  The habitat sets reminded me of a cross between a racetrack and a skating rink.  We held a raffle and each family was able to receive some additional HEXBUG product.

“These are amazing!” shouted one of the children.  The kids had a blast playing with them.  Frankly, they looked like oversized roaches scurrying along the track.  The kids thought it was hilarious to see the adults’ reactions to sending them flying all over the place.  We even had to move the couch to rescue one HEXBUG.  He learned not to go back there again, because it is a dark and scary place where dust-bunny monsters live.  Ha!  We had HEXBUGS everywhere!  They were in my mixing cups, the slowcooker, a salad bowl, the table, and all over the floor.  At one point, we had HEXBUGS crawling in hair and on clothing. 

After the party was over, several of the children stayed after to play more.  They played with the HEXBUGS for NINE HOURS, stopping only to eat.  I figured the novelty would wear off at some point.  Well, it’s four days later and the novelty has not worn off yet.  We have had to replace the batteries, as they seem to last about 12 hours.  E has played with them at every opportunity since the party.  One of the neat things about the habitats is they are customizable.  I cannot tell you how many times the habitats were taken apart and reassembled into new designs.  Some worked, others didn’t.  (Physics lessons in the making??)  Check out this short video of the children playing with their HEXBUGS.

If you’ve never experienced HEXBUGS before, I encourage you to check them out.  They are intended for age 3 and up. 

The HEXBUGS in-home party was sponsored by Innovation First labs, Inc and MommyParties.  I received a HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie Party Kit to be able to host the party.  The opinions expressed in this post are mine, or are comments from party attendees.

Freecycle Generosity

I don't know how many are familiar with Freecycle, but I've been a participant in our local Freecycle community for nearly four years.  During that time, we've given away a whole lot of stuff, and we've received a few items, too. 

Today, we were given an item that has been on our personal wish-list for several years.  A local Freecycler had a chipper/shredder he was ready to pass along and we were the family he chose to pass it along to.  We are so grateful to have it!  We've been renting them periodically for several years. 

If you've never tried Freecycle, I encourage you to try it out. 

Happy 10th Birthday!!

Ten years ago today, we welcomed our baby girl into this world.  Her birth came days after the terror attacks.  We had expected her arrival on September 11; but when the US was attacked, all elective procedures were cancelled for that day.  We were to start the induction process later that morning.  Instead, we visited my doctor to make sure all was well and we could wait another day.  I had pre-eclampsia, so we were taking it one day at a time at that point.  The goal had been to make it to September 11, one day past 37 weeks.  Given the risks associated with pre-eclampsia, we made a decision that I would avoid too much news.  I was on bed rest except for one hour a day, so television was my friend.  Striking a balance wasn’t the easiest thing to accomplish. 

She ended up making her appearance during the wee hours of the morning on September 14. 

It’s hard to believe ten years have passed since then.  Like many other babies born around that time, she was (and is) a symbol of hope for our future.

Happy 10^th Birthday, E!  Mama and Daddy love you very much!

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

School!

We started back-to-(home)school here last week. How did the summer get by me so fast? We decided to start school a little earlier this year. I’ve gone back to work part time, and I know there will be weeks when I need to adjust our schedule some, so we started early to give that flexibility. If it turns out I don’t need it, we’ll just take a few not-snow-days later in the year.

You know how public school kids get snow days? Well, we don’t. We might take an hour or two and play outside in it, but we don’t miss a day. However, when Spring Fever hits, we might just miss a day each week. It works for us.

Munchkin started middle school this year, sort of. She’s a bit young, not quite 10; but academically she is ready. She completed all of her fifth grade work last year. Her standardized test results are only one component we use to determine if she is progressing well, and they certainly support that claim.

I’ll share more about our homeschool as time goes on.

Earthquake

While I don’t share our exact location on my blog, I have shared that we live in the Mid-Atlantic region. Like most folks, the recent earthquake took us by surprise. The night before, our daughter commented that she hoped she’d never live through an earthquake. Of course, she meant she didn’t want to experience one. The very next day, we have a notable earthquake. It was really strange. I’ve never felt one before, although there have been several in the 3.0-3.9 range over the last decade. They weren’t strong enough to feel.


At first, I thought our washing machine was off balance. It took me a second to recall that I wasn’t washing clothes. It seemed to last a long time; but I suppose it was really 20-25 seconds. The whole house shook and our stuff scooted around some. Thankfully, we had no damage. We have several friends who had minor damage, picture frames broken and the like. One friend had quite a bit of damage.

I felt and heard the first two aftershocks. Ordinarily, I probably wouldn’t have noticed them, since they were so small. I was driving when the third aftershock hit and had no idea. There have been several more, but I’ve only felt a couple of them. One of those was last night. I had my hand on my computer mouse and could feel the table vibrating. I discounted it, thinking I was imagining it, until I read about it this morning. We had four aftershocks between bedtime last night and early this morning.

We’ve talked with E about what to do during severe weather and had touched on earthquakes. We travel often enough that it was something we’d covered. She’s used to the routine for tornado activity. This frightened her, though.

I’m sure folks in California become somewhat immune to the “what if’s”. We haven’t.

I have a little clutter in a few places in my house. I’m blaming it on the earthquake.

Blogging

Blogging has really taken a back-seat for me for a while now. I know some of you blog daily. I just can’t seem to do that. Sadly, I haven’t been great about commenting on your blogs, either. I do read them though.


It’s a balancing act.  As much as I want to blog, I need to run our home, teach our daughter, meet church commitments, run errands, etc.  When there’s time left, I sit at the computer.  Usually, that time is after E is in bed for the night.  She goes to bed about 9:30 most nights.  It’s almost 1 am now.  I get up just after 6 am. That reminds me, I need to go to bed.  Where did my day go?

There’s more rattling around in my mind. Maybe tomorrow I’ll find the time to put some of it in words.

Why Won't My Garden Grow?

Alright bloggy friends, help me out here please.

My garden has not done well again this year.  According to all the experts, a home garden is supposed to produce enough to save money on the grocery bill.  That has definitely not been the case for our garden. 

A little history…

We live in Zone 7.  Our soil is red clay, and the lot is sloped, so the topsoil tends to erode quickly.  We have a retaining wall running the length of our backyard as a tier to minimize the erosion.  Because of these issues, we decided to build raised beds rather than dig around in the yard itself.  To prepare for the raised beds, we tilled the soil about 4-6” deep, which was as far as we could dig with a residential tiller.  Furthermore, failure to coordinate among utilities resulted in several strands of wire/cable running the length of our yard, greatly restricting where we could plant.  There is only one area where we get full sun for much of the day, and that area is where we placed two of our beds, both 4’X8’.  The third bed, a 4’X4’, is in a medium sun area and is used solely for growing salad greens.  Our raised beds are 12” deep. 

When we put in our raised beds three summers ago, we had raised bed growing medium trucked in.  We spent over $250 to build the beds and get seed stock.  That first year, our plants grew large and lush.  They didn’t produce much, though.  I did not use any commercial fertilizer, only compost from our yard which had been composting over the winter.  Typically, our squash plants would produce one squash per week per plant.  Our tomatoes produced well; but not until late-August into September, which is much later than typical for our zone.  It was enough to eat and put some up for the winter, but certainly did not begin to justify the cost of the garden.  However, we didn’t expect a return on our investment the first year. 

The second year, we amended the soil with compost and purchased our seeds.  Our plants grew tall and spindly, but really did not produce anything of significance.  I discussed with our local extension office and learned that the problems we were facing were very common in our area because of draught and temperatures.  We ended up buying a small bag of organic fertilizer to try and boost the growth.  During the dry season, we watered three days a week, according to local ordinances regarding water restrictions.  We did get a decent crop of lettuce for one to two weeks in the late spring.  Our zone is not conducive to growing lettuce during the summer. 

This spring, we amended our soil with more compost, building it up a bit.  We had our soil tested and those results were normal.  Our lettuce bed produced enough for one salad for our family.  That’s it.  Our vegetable beds have produced (so far) 1 zucchini, 1 regular cucumber, and 1 pickling cucumber.  We switched to a commercial fertilizer this year (Miracle Gro Tomato Fertilizer), hoping it would help.  We are using it according to package directions.  The zucchini plant has grown well.  Right now, it has a single 4” zucchini growing that has not changed in size in over a week.  The tomato plants (cherry, roma and slicing) are pencil thin and range from 18” to 30” tall, after 4 months.  Some were grown from seed, others purchased.  They have no blooms.  The cowpeas didn’t even germinate, as the birds ate the seeds.  We purchased 10 strawberry plants to replace them and 4 of those are still alive.  Those are about 6” tall, and were about 3” tall when we bought them in early June.  The okra is about a foot tall and spindly.  It’s the same with the kohlrabi.  I also planted a few marigolds, as a natural bug repellant.  We don’t have much of a bug problem, but our hope was to eliminate any.  Grass grows beautifully in the garden.  I have fought grass all spring and summer.  I pull up large clumps of grass, including roots, and a week later the plot is filled with grass again.  We have a good population of earthworms in our soil. 

I’ve called the extension office again and they recommend spending yet more money to have our soil tested several times during the growing season.  I simply cannot justify dumping more money into this.  We’ve already spent at least $300 in supplies, plus the cost of supplemental watering, and the garden has yielded around $25 worth of produce over three years.  I’m not going to spend more money testing the soil again. 

Our roses, azaleas, roses of Sharon, spring bulbs, mums and hostas are all thriving in their various locations through the yard.  Our lawn is decent. 

Do any of you gardeners out there have any suggestions for getting this garden to grow?  I’m ready to pull them up and lay down a patio instead. 

MyExtra Customized Slim Packs Gum Review

Recently, I had an opportunity through MomSelect to review MyExtra customized gum packs. This is a fairly new product from Extra™, and I thought it would be pretty neat to check them out. So, they provided me with a code to order my own sample packs for review.

Their website is pretty straightforward and easy to navigate. You can pick a theme for your custom Slim Packs™, like graduation, babies, travel or summer. You upload a photo (or several), pick your colors, add any text you want, and decide on a position for the Extra™ logo. Then, you get to proof your packs, select a flavor, and finish the order. It really took me longer to decide on the photos than anything else. The custom Slim Packs™ each contain 15 sticks of Extra sugar-free gum. They are available in Extra Peppermint, Spearmint and Sweet Watermelon flavors.

I designed several packs, just to see how they would look. Here are a couple of my designs.

I received my sample yesterday. The graphics are excellent! E was really excited to see a pack of gum with her photo on it. The hubby was really impressed, too. His went to work with him today so he could show it off. Each pack is cellophane wrapped to keep it fresh. I may not open it for a long while. I chew Extra™ gum on a regular basis and it holds flavor well while not sticking to my crown and fillings.

This would be a really cool way to celebrate an occasion. Imagine a senior portrait on a pack of gum for school friends. Or, a way for parents to show off their new bundle of joy. At Christmas, a family could create a photo-gum pack instead of a photo card.

While I really do like this idea and am impressed with the final product, it is extremely unlikely that I would place an order for the gum. Simply, the cost is too great for regular use. They are ordered in sets of 5 packages for $24.95 ($4.99 per pack) plus $6.95 for standard shipping (or $15.95 for Next Day Air). The first price break comes with an order of 55 packages, and drops $0.50 per pack. The second price break comes with an order of 105 packages, and drops an additional $0.50 per pack. Shipping costs per pack decrease with orders over 10 packs.

So, if I were going to buy 10 packages to share with family using my daughter’s recital photo, it would cost $56.85, with shipping, or $5.69 per pack. A regular pack of Extra™ gum costs around $1.50 locally, so the upcharge for customization is more than $4.00 per pack.

Since there’s a bit of a break with larger quantities, a family could choose to hand these out as baby announcements to 55 family members, friends and coworkers. That would cost $263.90 with shipping, or $4.80 per pack. Given the price of some other announcement options, some might find this to be an affordable alternative.

What about for a wedding? Perhaps the happy couple could hand out packs of customized Slim Packs™ with their engagement portrait to their 250 guests. With shipping, that would cost $1049.10, or $4.20 per pack. I still think it’s rather expensive per pack, but it seems to be inline with other types of wedding favors.

Overall, I think it is a great idea and the end product is delightful. The only real drawback is the pricing, making it cost prohibitive for many applications.

Disclaimer: This review reflects my opinion of the MyExtra customized Slim Packs™. I received five packages for my own use as part of the review. The opinions are my own.

Not-So-Random Act of Kindness

This past Saturday was E's final soccer game of the season.  One of the girls on her team has made tremendous gains in her soccer skills over the course of the season.  She hadn't, however, managed to score a goal. 

As the game was about to end, the young lady in the white jersey set up a plan to let "D" score a goal.  They didn't give it to her; but created an opportunity where she could do it.  E threw the ball in from the sidelines and D intercepted it.  She dribbled it toward the goal, then gave it a good kick.  It went in!  Her teammates...and the opposing team...shouted cheers for her.  When D realized what had just happened, her face lit up and she started to cry.  That loving act, organized by a small group of girls, helped make a memory for D that will last forever. 

There weren't too many dry eyes on that field that afternoon.  I'm thankful I was able to witness it happening. 

E has participated in Upward sports for several years now, and we've seen similar acts before.  One of the blessings of working with Upward is that they teach good sportsmanship and teamwork, rather than focusing on winning at all costs. 

Breadbaking

My friend Sarah, who is not a blogger, gave me a recipe for the most delicious bread. At first, I was really hesitant to make it. In the past, when I’ve made bread, it was with the help of a bread machine. This recipe doesn’t need a machine. Even if you think you can’t make fresh yeast bread, try it. It’s really a whole lot easier than it seems and it doesn’t take very much time.

First, let me tell you how much time you are going to need to do this. Then, you can decide if it will work with your schedule. You will need 5 minutes or so to assemble the ingredients and get started. Then, you will need to wait 15 minutes (check facebook, read a few blogs). When you come back to it, you will need about 7 minutes of active time. Then, you will walk away for an hour. After the hour passes, you will either spend 10 minutes preparing to bake, or just a moment to stick the dough in the fridge until you are ready to bake it.

Still with me? Okay, here is a list of the items you will need to bake this awesome, delicious bread. Trust me, you can pronounce and recognize everything in here.

Water – 3 cups
Honey – 2/3 cup
Yeast – 2 Tablespoons
Olive Oil – 2/3 cup
Salt – 4 teaspoons
Whole Wheat Flour – 8 cups

That’s it. Just six ingredients you probably already have. Yes, you can substitute white or unbleached flour, but it will change the taste and nutritional value. Yes, you can also substitute your favorite oil (canola, corn, soy, etc), but it will also change the taste. Make it once by the recipe, then mix things up the way you want them.

Okay, so let’s get started. I make mine in my KitchenAid mixer. If you don’t have one, you can do this by hand. First, you have to activate the yeast. To do that, you need to get it into warm liquid. So, in a large bowl, pour in 3 cups of warm water. I use it hot straight from the tap. Add the honey to the water and stir until it is well mixed.

Sprinkle the yeast over the water, stir lightly and walk away.

Read a couple of blogs, send out a tweet or two, or fold some laundry if you must. Come back in 15 minutes. The mixture should be foamy looking and not at all appetizing.

Pour in the olive oil and add the salt. Stir the mixture. (Note: If you are using a mixer, now is the time to add the kneading tool to the machine and turn it on “stir”.) Add the flour, stirring after each cup, until it is all in there. Now you have the basic dough.

Next comes the kneading step. If you are using the mixer, just step up the dial to “2” and keep an eye on it while it kneads. If you are doing this by hand, turn it out on a lightly floured surface and work it with your hands. You will knead the dough for a full 5 minutes. Don’t skimp here. Whole wheat flour does not have as much gluten as white flour. If you skimp on the kneading, the bread will be heavier and not rise as much. It will still taste fine. It just won’t be as light and airy. If you have never kneaded dough before, here is a link to a tutorial from Allrecipes.

After you knead the dough, it’s time to let it rest and rise. You will need a large bowl (or a dutch oven). Pour a little oil in the bowl and spread it around. You can also use no-stick spray. Put the dough in the bowl and roll it over so that the oil coats both sides. Cover the bowl with waxed paper or a clean towel. Leave it sitting out on the counter for an hour. Walk away and go do something else.

After an hour, you are ready to bake the bread. However, if it is a weeknight and you want to finish tomorrow, you can do that, too. If you want to bake it later, just punch down the dough so that some of the air gets out. Then, put it back in the bowl, cover it loosely with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake it. If you are going to bake the bread now, preheat the oven to 350°. Punch down the dough and divide it into four equal portions.

Quickly shape each piece into a rounded loaf shape and put them into oiled loaf pans.

Let them rise for 30 minutes while the oven is preheating.

Pop them in the oven and bake them for 30-35 minutes, until the top is just as brown as you like it. We like ours a little crustier, so they bake the full 35 minutes.

Pop them out of the baking pans and let them cool on baking racks. I store mine in gallon size freezer bags. You can keep a loaf on the counter for a couple of days. If you want to keep it longer, store it in the refrigerator. There are no preservatives, so the loaves will not stay fresh as long as store bought bread.

See? Easy peasy.

Now, want to mix things up a bit? Yeah, me too. What if you want fresh bread for dinner each night with enough left for sandwiches the next day. Go ahead and divide the dough into four equal portions. Bake one. Put the other three into individual gallon sized zipper bags and store them in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake them. Bake them one at a time. The dough will stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week. When you are ready to bake a loaf, pull it out, knead it for a moment or two, put it in the oiled pan, let it rise and then bake it.

What if you need hamburger buns? Take one of the four portions and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll them into balls and squish them flat. Put them on a baking pan (or stone) and let them rise for 20 minutes or so. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes. Or, turn those 8 pieces into breadsticks.

How about pizza dough? Take one of the four portions and divide it into 2 pieces. Keep stretching and pulling the dough until it is the diameter of your pan. I bake mine on a stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Use it like you would a store bought pizza dough. You can also freeze the baked crust.

Hungry yet?

Swimming Lessons

E has been taking swimming lessons for much of the winter.



She's turned into quite the little fish.



They've asked her to join the swimteam. Mom and Dad think that's just too much for her schedule, since she also plays soccer and takes dance.



At least she's active.

Legos

Have I mentioned that Legos are pretty popular in this house?  E and her friend decided to create a Lego boy.  Here he is, wearing her friend's shoes and jacket.  

Visiting Birdie

Spring is close.  This bird was pecking around in my garden.  Any ideas what it might be?  I haven’t figured it out myself.  For perspective, it’s about as bit as a pigeon.  I’ve included a close-up of his markings.  I managed to convince E that it is NOT a hummingbird.  She was just certain it was.  At least she tried to identify it using her photo guides.  She gets an A for effort, if not for accuracy.

(Please excuse the grainy photos.  These were taken with my telephoto lens, from inside my house, with two panes of dirty glass and a screen between us.)

The Moon

I took this with my camera last night.  Not bad, eh?

F 32

250 mm

1/25 sec

ISO 400

Our New Pet

We got a new hamster today. Isn't he cute? We can love him and pet him and feed him and call him Hammy. Would you like to play with him, too? Go ahead! You know you can't resist.

Would you like a hamster of your own? Visit here to get one.  You can love yours and pet him and feed him and call him...well...not Hammy.

Mama Time

Sometimes, I just need to get away by myself.  It's been one of those weeks.  J is still home sick, but thankfully starting to feel better.  E has been in rare form all week.  She can be the most wonderful child...loving, obedient, compassionate, giving etc, etc, etc.  She is like that MOST of the time.  This week, though, she has pushed every limit, disobeyed continuously, lied, sassed us and basically behaved like an absolute brat.  Simple things, like toothbrushing and hair brushing, she refused to complete without being told twice and then having something taken away.  In other words, we had to resort to punishment to get her to do things she's been doing for quite a while.  These are not new skills.  By today, this mama was DONE.

So, how does this mama get a little time for herself?  This mama goes to the grocery store...ALONE.  Bwahahaha!  I can price compare, walk the aisles and read labels.  Not once did I have to say "STOP THAT" (like when she wants to rub her fingers on the packages of raw meat) or "GET DOWN" (like when she climbs on the freezer doors).

Two hours.  I spent two hours wandering through two different grocery stores today.  Just me, myself and I.  I came home feeling so much better.  Plus, I got some really good deals, and that always makes me happy.  Fresh chicken breasts and fresh strawberries were both $1/pound.  I got yellow and orange peppers for $0.25 each.  Woohoo!

The Flu...

King J is down with the flu. Poor guy is really feeling badly, and sounds like he's trying to cough up a lung. At least he went to the doctor as soon as the symptoms started and started Tamiflu early on. Today, we added narcotic cough syrup to the mix.

We get our flu shots every fall...except this year. Between illness in the house, his knee surgery and just bad timing, he and I didn't get ours. Thankfully, E did get hers. What we are hearing though is that the strains going around are not the strains in the vaccine.

I don't like seeing him feeling so rough. At least he is a nice "patient".

Thoughts on Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a reminder of the greatest Valentine ever! This is a beloved song for me, performed by a favorite group.



I'm baking bread today, to share with my Valentine. E has gone with a friend to a Valentine Breakfast at his school. Later, we'll bake a ham and fix a special Valentine dinner for Daddy.

How are you spending your Valentine's Day?

Life

It's been over a month since I last updated. Slacker. Writer's Block. Brain Dead. Yeah, all of the above. I've got thoughts swirling around in my head, but they just don't seem to make it to my fingers. Then, there's that pesky little issue of "real life". Somehow, I've got my priorities mixed up...you know, blog first, then do everything else. That's the way it should be, right? Ha!

My birthday was this past weekend. I turned 42. How'd that happen, anyway? I wouldn't trade it though. To paraphrase a friend of mine, so many people don't get the chance to make it this far and I know how blessed I am to be here.

I hope to be posting a bit more regularly. I need the discipline that blogging provides. It's an outlet for ME and I really should put a bit more effort into it.

Three Kings Day

Our family observes the 12 Days of Christmas and this day commemorates the visit of the Magi.  Tonight, at bedtime, we will turn off our tree for the last time this year. 

Wishing the blessings of Christ for your home and family on this holy day.