Fashion Victim

Tonight I've been going through my computer photo files, working on the girls' homeschooling portfolios. I thought I'd share this one here. It's not making the cut for the portfolios, by the way! This longsuffering little creature is Gypsi, and she belongs to our middle daughter, Erin. Erin likes animals more than she likes most people. She adopted Gypsi from a shelter, paying all the fees, shots, etc. with her own money. That was a few years ago, and Gypsi has turned out to be a delightful, if quirky, member of the family.

She is quite the canine fashionista as you can see, thanks to frequent styling sessions by the young ladies of the house.

Irish Eyes are Smilin'

I'm working on a double batch of Colcannon to take to a buffet dinner tomorrow. Not quite sure how it will go over with our fellow diners - primarily Slovak, Italian, and the like. But sure I'll be happy to bring leftovers home!

Here's the recipe for a single batch, which serves about 8.

About 3 pounds (7 or 8 good sized) potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 slices of bacon
1/2 small head of cabbage, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup milk
Salt and Pepper to taste
generous 1/4 cup butter, melted

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender (about 15-20 minutes). While they are boiling, cook the bacon in a large skillet.
When it's crispy, put the bacon to drain on paper towel, and reserve the bacon drippings in the skillet.
Add the cabbage and onion to the reserved drippings and saute until soft and translucent (about 10 minutes).
When potatoes are cooked, drain and mash them with the milk, salt and pepper. Then add the cabbage, onions, and bacon (crumbled).
Mound the colcannon in a serving bowl and make a small well in the center. Pour the melted butter into the well.
Thank the good Lord, then dig in!

"God be with the happy times
When troubles we had not
And our mothers made colcannon
In the wee three legged pot."
(from a traditional Irish song)

Oh to be in Texas...

Yesterday I visited Kelli's blog, and spring has definitely sprung in Texas. Check out her photos-just lovely!

Meanwhile in western PA we are expecting yet another snow/ice storm to come through tonight. We have this typical, icky pattern of 2 or 3 inches of snow, followed by freezing rain...just a slick mess. The temperature is a whopping 7 Fahrenheit this morning. Sounds like a good soup day.

Apart from any military/political/environmental issues, I am truly in "shock and awe" that the US Navy could shoot down a satellite 130 miles above the earth, traveling at 17,000 miles per hour. Did you catch the news this morning? That's impressive!

No Flour Cookies

My gluten free daughter loves to make these quick and easy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. They disappear from the cookie jar just as 'quick and easy'.

1 cup peanut butter -either creamy or chunky

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Beat first four ingredients together, then stir in chocolate chips. Roll into balls, and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack.

Pour a big glass of milk, and have a cookie - or two - or three....

Humming to myself...

You know when you get a piece of a song stuck in your head...? This is what's been going through my mind for the past several days.

...No guilt in life, no fear in death;
This is the power of Christ in me.
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.

Amazing truth... in two simple sentences.

My "life's first cry" was heard in a midwife's house in the Caribbean island of Trinidad. (From what I understand there was lots more crying in the days, weeks and months that followed!)
I have no idea where or when my final breath will be, but God knows, and He will be there.

I'm consistently impressed with Stuart Townend's songwriting. His lyrics are scripturally sound, meaningful and memorable.

Read the full lyrics of Stuart Townend's In Christ Alone here.

Coffee or Tea?

We've been working on organizing and such over the past couple of weeks. This was yesterday's project. With a family of 6 milling about, our kitchen can get a bit congested. I had the brainwave to roll this old baker's table over to the end of the counter, and set up a "beverage station". Coffee filters, specialty teas and so on are stashed in the drawers. My youngest made sure the big jar of marshmallows, along with spoons and cinnamon sticks were center front! The red bowl holds packets of hot chocolate.

I think this will really work for us. All day long I'm looking for any excuse to "put the kettle on". Regular tea of choice is Tetleys "British Blend", and at least once a day I have a pot of Celestial Seasons True Blueberry. It's caffeine free, and the antioxidants are good. Anyway, this is one of those "duh" projects - like "Why didn't I think of this a long time ago?" Now I want to find a shelf or rack of some kind to hang above the table and screw cup hooks into to hold mugs. I didn't notice until I posted the photo that the dogs have their own beverage station going underneath!

There's a story to this baker's table. When we lived in Wisconsin I had a friend across the river in Iowa who bought and sold antiques. One day I mentioned to Lynn "If you ever see a baker's table at an auction I'd be interested." She told me that unfortunately she very rarely came across one. We had JUST bought our little hobby farm, and then went away for a week's vacation that we'd committed to earlier. Money was pretty tight. When we got home from vacation there was a message on the answering machine. "Guess what? I found a baker's table! It's in the back of my Blazer and I want to come by and drop it off." Oh. My. I hadn't even told my husband that I wanted one. But he didn't complain....much. Let's just say it was a tad bit more than I should have spent in the best of circumstances, and this sure wasn't the best of financial times. Anywhooo - one drawer squeaked every time it opened, and over the years it's been referred to good-naturedly as my "$--- dollar squeak". But I've always loved it...the table that is, not the squeak.

The top was in pretty rough shape when we got it, and it continued to get worse, so that it was just plain gross to prepare food on. For a while I kept it covered with oilcloth. Then my good man suprised me by building a custom tile top for it. Well I see the photo has gone to the top of the page. Just pretend it is under here.

Just a couple of weeks ago, he painted it for me, with a crackle technique that he'd been wanting to try. I LOVE how it turned out....and bless his heart, he even worked some magic - the drawer doesn't squeak any more!

Is it too soon....?

To start putting out some springy decor? I picked up this cute arrangement today on the clearance shelves. It was actually supposed to be a hostess gift for my girls to take out of town this weekend, but I decided I'd rather keep it! I just don't FEEL like packing it away for a few more weeks!

What about potted yellow silk daffodils? Too early? Maybe I should at least wait until March. Sigh.

Even HOMEschool has snow days!

Hmmm...is it art...or science...or gym class...or all of the above?

Love does the Laundry...

True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896 ~ author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin")

Isn't that lovely? Well true love around here has also decided to print out and laminate step-by-step instructions for doing laundry properly, and post them in the laundry room. I imagine that, as a result, the young 'uns will rise up and call me blessed, oh, in about 10 years or so. If not, maybe their someday spouses will. In the meantime when I hear "Hey, how come my hoodie fits the cat now?", or "Why are my gym socks pink?" I can smile sweetly and calmly and say, "Oh, didn't you read the laundry instructions?"

I think that the "material labors" of a mom and homemaker are of immense worth. But I also think that true love involves teaching kids to be responsible and resourceful in caring for themselves and their belongings. This is an area I need to work on. Sometimes it's so much easier to just do it myself!

Baking and Books...

...or freezing and free stuff. Either title will work!

It is COLD in Pittsburgh this morning. Very very cold indeed. So it's a good day to stay inside and bake things and read books. Last night I happened to websurf into Cultivating Home, and her wonderful online tutorial for making bagels. They looked so yummy that I quit surfing right then and there, and made a batch of dough. After spending the night in the fridge (the dough that is, not me) they are hot and lovely on my counter this morning. If only I could find the battery charger for my camera I would be able to take photos before they all disappear.

Like to read? Like free stuff? Check out these links:

At Eternal Perspectives you can win a copy of Randy Alcorn's book "Safely Home". I haven't read this one myself - but his book on Heaven was very good. (link first found at CWO)

Here you'll find a chance to win a free book, AND a Bed and Breakfast getaway. Sounds like bliss to me. (link found first at Sharon Hinck's site)

And these aren't books, but the sweetest valentine printout downloads from Karla Dornacher. You can make candy bar wrappers, tea bag envelopes and more. Click Here. (link first found at CWO)

So there you have it - lots of lovely nesting ideas for a cold February morning!

Clutter Busting

For quite a while now I've felt like dragging all our earthly belongings out onto the front grass, and then bringing only what I REALLY love or REALLY need back in. Then I'd put a big "FREE" sign out there for a couple of days, and then torch whatever is left. But the logistics are problematic. For one thing the neighbors would probably have me locked up. It also would be a huge amount of work.


So, it's much easier to put another pot of coffee on, and think about organizing solutions. Hehe. But something does need to be done. Soon. 6 people and 2 dogs live in this 1900 sq. ft. house. We homeschool, hubby works from home 2 days a week (he's a computer guy) I write and edit and proofread, and we all have some seriously clutter creating hobbies. We have 3 electric guitars and 2 acoustic ones, reams of fabric and stuffing for the resident teddy bear artist, and just so much STUFF!!


Today I found an awesome website. Instead of hauling things outside this afternoon in the snow I'm going to spend some time going through this site's archives. Here it is...
http://unclutterer.com/ I like the weekly workspace feature. We need two good workspaces - one for hubby and one for me. Maybe that's a good place to start. Check out this site - it might inspire you - and it's much easier than actually hauling stuff out to the yard.

Come in, Come in...

...and welcome to my humble home. You know, I love it when every piece has a story. Truth be told, that is code for "my budget does not allow for new furniture and thrives on frugal, fix-it-up finds".

This is our front foyer. On top of the cupboard is Cedric, the naked goose. Most often he has a bow of some kind, or a sprig of something festive or seasonal around his neck. So he's looking a little bare to me here! Cedric was adopted from the Salvation Army store, for a few dollars, and given a coat of white paint. He's just as happy as if he were a spendy goose from a country boutique.

The cupboard itself...well that's a story for another day. When I hauled it home in my husband's pickup he asked "Did you BUY that thing, or did someone pay you to haul it away?" But he has grown to love it. The inside is painted with leftover paint from our Wisconsin farmhouse kitchen. My dear friend, Jan, painted the grapevines and verses on the doors.

The silver birch chair was built by my husband, Jim, from scavenged pieces of wood. The cushion...well no story there except that it was $3.99 at Big Lots, and I thought that was a pretty good deal! But by and large, everything in the foyer has a story that says "Welcome home" to me when I open the door.

A laugh at my expense

While looking for a different photo in my files tonight I came across this one taken a few months ago. It's way too typical of a scene from my house...me in front of the laptop, cellphone within reach, stuffing my face with popcorn, while the blonde beauty hovers nearby...ready to devour with astonishing speed the smallest kernel that falls to the ground. Ahhh, but it's a good life!

Free Swaddling Baby Blanket

Hey, my "baby" is almost 11...so I really can't use a baby blanket, but some lucky person is going to win a special blanket here. Let me know if it's you!

The Dabbling Mum, by the way, is primarily a great source for writers. It's worth a visit...even if you don't want a baby blanket!

New kid on the magazine block...

and this one is gorgeous! Check out the website: Life Beautiful Magazine.

The print issue is just beautiful; delightful content, photos and layout, and an impressive list of contributors...it's a quality publication!

Another inspiring read is "Christian Women Online" - check the link in my sidebar. Happy reading!