A Concoction

On Sunday, it was only the girls and I for lunch. Joel got to go to the Bengals v Ravens game. I had some chicken that I needed to use, and I wanted to make something that we couldn't eat when Joel was there (i.e. anything but plain old chicken). We didn't find out in time that he was going to the game to go to the grocery store to make something from a cookbook, but I thought I would just make something up. Now, I will share that recipe with you. Or concoction. Probably the latter.

I cubed my chicken and cooked it on the stove top in butter with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Then I threw in some sour cream. How much? Beats me! It coated the chicken and was pretty much cooked off so I put in some more to make a little sauce. Then I put in chopped tomatoes and dried basil. Fresh basil would have been better, but I rarely (read never) have fresh herbs. I just cooked long enough to heat the tomatoes, and it was ready. I really liked the taste of it. The girls liked it. Pnut ate all of her chicken, and Pilly kind sucked all the sauce off the outside and spit the chicken back out. She likes chicken, but if she likes the sauce more, she just wants to eat that. Naughty, I know:)

I can show you what is happening at our house this week:



This is our friend E. She is here for the week. She is homeschooled so I get to do her school with her, which is lots of fun. Her mom uses the curriculum that I want to use for my girls so I am having fun playing with it! E is 10, and Pnut loves her! Here they are playing a horse game on the DS together. E is the oldest of four siblings so I think only have two little ones around is a nice break!

On a more serious note, I want to ask you all to be in prayer for friends of ours from church. They had a grease fire in their kitchen on Sunday, and Grace was burned on her feet severely and has blisters in her throat and burns on her elbow. She is in a burn center. PTL, she does not have pneumonia as they feared, but just a sinus infection. She is going to have to have skin grafts, which have been pushed back until the end of the week. She is hopefully going to be taken off of the ventilator tomorrow so please just pray that that goes well, and she is able to heal well and that above all God would be glorified in this. Thank you so much!

Ezekial Bread

My mom's friend Jen brought this bread to her a few weeks ago, and we have been salivating for it since. It is the best "good for you" bread I have had. It is very moist and tasty. I do not sprout my own grains though. I am not that far gone yet!

3 packages active dry yeast (each package is 2 T)
5 cups warm water, divided
1 T plus 2/3 cup honey, divided
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 t salt
4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup toasted wheat germ
6-8 cups bread flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon honey. Add the remaining water and honey, the oil, sugar, salt , whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and 3 cups bread flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining bread flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).
Turn onto a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic,a bout 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.
Punch dough down. Shape into four loaves. Place in bread pans coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cools.

Yields four loaves.

Notes: I cut this by fourths. I don't need four loaves of bread at once. I guess you can freeze the dough and pull it out when you are ready to use it, but honestly, I have an awful hard time making bread that isn't like a brick so I am not sticking it in the freezer! I also used all of the called for bread flour in mine. It is a sticky dough! If you have a Kitchen Aid, use your bread hook and it will mix and knead it for you. You only have to let it rise and bake it. I didn't want to try this in my bread machine. It was really easy with the Kitchen Aid, and I will probably keep doing it like that. I love the smell and taste of freshly bake bread!!

Now, I have something disturbing to share. I apologize for any emotional damage I am causing, but I just don't know what to do:



Can you tell that the little child is not wearing a diaper? That she took it off in the living room and let the dog chew it up while I was working? That she repeated this act later after she had pooped?! What a nut!

Tonight we went to Joann Fabrics, but Joel and Pnut went to TJ Maxx instead. Joel hates coming to the fabric store. I am rather indecisive. While they were in TJ Maxx, they saw some children's underwear on the clearance rack and checked them out. Joel told Pnut they were too big for her, and she said "but that is why I have a big butt." Ahahahahahahaha! Joel said she really wanted those underwear!

With that happy thought, good night:)

Painted Pumpkins

Today was the kind of day when you could grab your teacup for a cup of sunshine to drink. The air so cool and crisp adds it flavor in and exhilarates down to your toes. Wonderful. I am not the only one who thought so:



Yesterday and today I was asked if they were twins.



Perhaps I shouldn't put them in pigtails at the same time. But they are so cute!



Do you see the concern on her face? The man was there mowing the grass. Pilly is not afraid of many things, but loud noises would be on the list of scary things! *Please note the leaf in her hand. She brought from our house to the playground.

This evening we finally got to paint our pumpkins! Yay! It began well.



Excellent technique. Look at that skillful use of finger.



Those blobs are feet. I have no idea why, they just are.

Then things started on a downward spiral.



This was generally expected, but this:



She was just using one finger, how did it get all over her hand?



Then someone said "put your hands on your face!" It was not me, but it was a so-called "adult."



Then Pilly said something about her toes and started pulling on her socks. I left at this point to put water in the bathtub. As I headed up the stairs, I heard giggles and "here, let me paint a face on your stomach."



Praise the Lord for washable finger paint. I think it will be a while before we finger paint again. They will not soon forget getting to paint their bodies, and I don't really want them to do that every time. It was fun this time though! Little girls are so sweet:)

Corn, Wind, Purse, Whew!

Joel received a surprise donation of late corn this year so he brought home some to freeze. We didn't freeze any during the summer so I was really glad to get it. We just kept eating it this summer instead of saving it. I had some good help with the husking.



This kid helped too:



Isn't that about the cutest thing ever?!! She kept saying "big corn, big corn."

I had 36 ears of corn for freezing after the three that were eaten for supper. I got nine bags out of that. Nine. I have to put a lot of corn in each bag. If I don't, I just end up using two bags because Joel loves fresh frozen corn. He won't even eat it from the grocery store. (Big shocker there).

Now, I want you to go back to the first picture and notice our clothes in the background. Today was a very windy day! My pants kept blowing up over the edge of the fence, and I was afraid that some smart-alack kid was going to grab hold of them and pull, but no one did. Thank goodness!

As promised, I took a picture of my other project from this weekend, my purse.



I forgot to do it during the day so I had to take it on the counter under the bright lights! It is hard to photograph corduroy. It showed up funny on the screen! I really like this purse. It is not huge, which is fine with mean. I just can't stuff too much junk in, which is good! I love the appliqued leaf. I was actually supposed to put fabric yo-yos on it, and I did that to one I made for a gift and was not too fond of them so I decided to do this instead. However, I will make that decision before the purse is sewn together next time! It is a very fallish purse. Fun, fun!

We saw, according to Pnut, Peanut the Squirrel at the playground today. Apparently, he is a well-traveled squirrel. Here I thought he just stayed around our fence, but I was corrected! She chased him around the playground. We also saw Jumpy Squirrel there. There is a Jumpy Squirrel on Curious George for all of you who are not well versed in children's programming. I am afraid that one of these squirrels is going to attack her one day for chasing them around. She chases them until they are some place where she can't get them, like up a tree.

Well, I should go work on my Pay It Forward. I have half a month left to get this all done. Goodness, how the time has flown! Have a great evening:)

Circle Skirt

I haven't taken a picture of the other project I completed on Saturday so I will post about it tomorrow. It is always better if I take the pictures during the day! Both projects were fun!

I made this skirt on Saturday. It probably took less than an hour. I love it!



It is a circle skirt, which is super easy! It has one seam up the side, the hem, and the waistband. I love the way it fits. It hangs nice, is very swirly, and was easy to wear all day, not just to church. I used an Indian battick (sp?), which I have admired for quite a while. It is a little much for a whole dress, but I thought it was perfect for the skirt! You can change the pattern up to, lengthen, shorten, add ruffles, whatever!

We were so busy today! We spent more time than I meant to at the playground (I really need to get a battery for my watch) so got back late and had homemade tomato soup on the menu for lunch with homemade bread. The girls did not lay down until an hour after they were supposed to, but they went right to sleep! By the way, Pilly had three bowls of soup at lunch. She loves soup as much as I do! And she is getting really good with a spoon:)

I am hoping that we will get to paint pumpkins with them tomorrow. We have them on the back porch, and they have wanted to do it since Joel brought them home! I also want to bake the pumpkin to get the pulp or whatever like last year. I have some recipes in mind that I would like to try. I love pumpkin!

I am feeling better today, but I am still really tired. My dear sister told me I have all the main symptoms of swine flu, but I haven't had a fever so I don't know if that is what it is. It could just be a plain old cold! So now I am going to head to bed! Have a wonderful day tomorrow!:)

Fun at the Fruit Farm!

Today we went to a local fruit farm to enjoy their autumn displays. They decorate pumpkins like stories and rhymes. The Five Little Monkeys who jumped on the bed were there as well as the three little pigs.

This, I'm pretty sure, is Mary, Mary Quite Contrary. They were pretty neat.



This picture is for Pap!



She loved sitting on this tractor. She was messing with the handles and probably would have driven off if she could.



Pnut rode in a school bus (or a cool bus as it says), hopefully the only one she will ever ride in! Pilly was in there but for some reason did not want to have her picture taken. Who can understand the mind of a one-year-old?



There was a fun wooden train, which Pilly enjoyed a lot! Pnut was "driving" it, but I didn't get a picture of that.



This is our Mom's Group. I have wonderful friends!

They also had hay to jump in. There was a rectangle outlined in double-stacked hay bales and then the middle was filled with loose hay. It smelled wonderful! The girls probably would have just played there the whole time if we had gone there first so I am glad we did the other things first!



This maniac loved jumping off!



She could have been swimming!



I couldn't believe that she didn't care if it was in her mouth and eyes. She is funny about that with water.



Pilly had to fully enjoy her cookie before she could begin playing.



There were some other kids there...



who threw hay...



and Pilly thought that that was the most brilliant idea ever!



She slid off. At first, she stood and I held her hands and she jumped. Then she wanted to do it by herself. She was getting ready to sit down and slide off when her sister "helped" her over the edge. She was much quicker to sit on her butt and get down by herself after that.

They really had a ball there! They were so worn out! Consequently, they took a good nap and are in bed early!



This is my lovely friend Jackie who comes up with all of these fun ideas with her beautiful little girl Kate who makes me laugh with her funny faces. I am so thankful that the Lord has given me such a good friend!

Tomorrow I will post some projects I completed this weekend. Tonight I am going to find a warm cup of tea to try to get some heat into my body. I have this cold that is making my head feel like it is full of cotton balls and has made me kind of grouchy all day. It had better go soon. I'm taking ecchinacea like it is going out of style!

Have a cotton-headed-less night:)

Sewing with Pnut and Pilly

We are not segueing from summer to fall very smoothly here. We seem to be just leaping into winter. This morning it was 41 degrees outside. The hardest part of all of this is finding things to do when we can longer go outside. We still went to the playground, but we were not gone for an hour and a half like we usually are! Poor Pilly's little hands were freezing, which means I need to locate mittens, but she will hate them just like she hates hats, shoes, coats, and clothing in general. Anything restricting. You can imagine her feelings towards her car seat. Anyways, back to my point, one thing we do like to do is "sew."



Pnut loves it. She strings as many as she possibly can and then I have to take them all off because she puts them on there so tight. But it keeps her amused!

Pilly has another take on it:



She was kissing all of the doodads. This is a green strawberry. She had an affection for the strawberries and the "french fries," also known as butterflies. This is sort of like "open door" whenever she wants anything opened.

I noticed today how much Pilly is speaking in sentences. She said yesterday "I hear a puppy." Pnut was speaking in clear and cohesive sentences at 18 months, and Pilly is 20 months so I am relieved that she is getting there. I know she is ahead of where she is expected to be, but after Pnut it felt so slow!

I finished the purse for Lynn tonight. I hope that she likes it. My feelings towards it are mixed so we will see. I have an idea of how to do it that I would like better so we will see! I haven't made the fabric yo-yos for mine yet so maybe I can try it. We also made more applesauce, cookies, and learned about the letter "G" today. It was a very busy day, and Joel is already in bed so I need to head upstairs. I hate going to bed after him, especially if he falls asleep first. Then I feel all weird and hear lots of strange noises. So I hope you have a strange noise-less night!