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This is Mormor.  Do you see her?  She's the beautiful lady in green, up front, holding her great granddaughter.  I chose this particular picture because it shows her with her great army of descendants behind her and around her.  That white-haired gentleman next to her is Morfar. This picture was taken at Mormor's 90th birthday.  This year, she'll turn 93.  Mormor is a very healthy old woman, except that she suffers from advanced dementia. About a week ago, Mormor was in the hospital with a gall bladder infection so bad that the doctor(s) fully expected Mormor to pass away, and quickly. When most people hear that someone as old as Mormor is sick, and especially knowing she has dementia, i think there's a little of everyone that thinks, "she's had a long, full life; Lord, let her go home."  I had similar thoughts to those when i heard the news that she was sick.  But then my heart wasn't satisfied with that prayer, and instead i told God tha...

I've been hinting around about it, and today, i finally opened up my Etsy shop online. Well, i'm open in that Etsy will officially allow me to get paid to sell stuff through their site.  I'm less open in that there isn't anything on my virtual shelves.  But i'm working on that. I did put up a cute little banner with pictures of things i've made in the past, and i wrote a little welcome note. And then i started working on my first item to go on the shelf.  I'll be sure to show it to you when it's finished. I really don't know what i'm doing.  There's really a lot more to Etsy than initially meets in the eye, and i've been studying it all week. Hopefully, one day soon, i will be an Etsy millionaire, or hundredaire, or something. One stitch at a time. Like i said, the "shelves" are empty, but if it interests you, check out my Etsy and tell me what you think.  I'm totally open to advice. Or not.

These are my old shoes.   I have been wearing these shoes nearly every day for the past 2 1/2 years. They have protected and supported my feet while i've shopped, while i've exercised, while i've hiked through the woods, while i've shoveled chicken poop, while i've butchered chickens, and while i've done everything in between. Even when holes were worn in the toes, and the seams began to burst, i continued to wear them.  When the shoelaces broke, i just tied them differently, and i continued to wear them.  When the shoelaces broke again, i stopped tying them, but i continued to wear them. At some point, they became so old-looking that i relegated them to farm work only, but they continued to be the shoes i put on in the morning, and they carried me through all of my daily duties. My favorite pair of shoes. This week, they finally wore to the point that their usability came into question.  It seems that even these shoes can be worn out.  The pressure final...

I don't mind telling you. I'm very proud of myself. Around here, my wardrobe mainly consists of t-shirts and jeans.  And lately, i found myself without t-shirts that were worthy of being worn (without shame) in public.  My work-at-home t-shirts are either covered in stains from baking bread and cleaning chicken coops, or they're full of holes from generous wear. And since my local Walmart store has discontinued its beautiful wall of cheap t-shirts, from which i most often purchase my wardrobe, i found an ebay vendor with some reasonably priced plain t-shirts and placed an order. I received my t-shirts with lightning speed and free shipping, and i was delighted.  But when i tried on the shirts, i discovered that they aren't cut quite like i would expect.  They're not Fruit of the Loom, after all. So i modeled in front of the mirror and folded things here and there, and then this evening, i got out my trusty sewing machine and made a few well-placed stitches...

There isn't much going on around here. It's cold and rainy and awful, so no one wants to be outiside. The chickens are molting and not laying eggs, possibly in protest of the horrible weather, so my big new year chicken production plan is on hold for an undefined period of time. The rabbits continue to do nothing whatsoever, except eat, of course. There's no produce to can right now (again, a nod to the weather). And i think i've baked all the bread i can for a while, not as much because you're probably tired of it, as because i'm finally out of yeast, and there wasn't a sale on it this week. I'm trying to think of other "heritage skills" to blog about. I'm thinking tomorrow i'll do one on sweeping your cement floor after living in a mud puddle for a few days, but i just don't think it will get the ratings spike i'm hoping for.  ;) I think i'll be putting my lazy crochet hook back to work in the very near fut...

I told you, way back when , that i would let you in on making your own brown-n-serve rolls.  Since then, i have found that i very much enjoy having this recipe under my belt, and i want to share it with you. Homemade Brown-n-Serve Rolls here's what you need: 1 package (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast  3/4 cup water 3/4 cup milk 1/4 cup sugar 2 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup shortening (or butter) 4 1/2 cups flour (give or take) 1 - 2 tablespoons of softened butter here's what you do: *Check out my general tutorial on yeast breads over here , if you haven't already.* I learned the following recipe from a wonderful old Betty Crocker Cookbook that i found at a resale shop, but my instructions will reflect how i do it, not necessarily how Betty does it. First, warm milk and water in a pan on the stove, or in the microwave.  ( Traditional instructions tell you to scald and cool the milk, but the point is really to just not add refrigerator cold milk to your ...

I told you that, even though we haven't had much time to get really prepared to be extreme couponers , we wanted to find some kind of really good deal that we could take advantage of this weekend.  Well, to our surprise and delight, right here in our tiny little town, where the only grocery store is Brookshire Brothers, we were able to get a couple of snazzy little deals.  Not extreme couponer worthy, but snazzy anyway. The box top people are doing some promotions lately, and Brookshire Brothers was offering $5.00 off if you bought ten participating items.  Included in the "participating items" were Hamburger Helper and Totino's Pizzas.  We found some coupons for both (though the online Hamburger Helper coupons ran out before we could get all we wanted), and we were able to get ten Hamburger Helpers for 60 cents a piece, and ten more for 75 cents each.  We also took advantage of the Totino's Pizzas, since we like them for a junk food snack now and then, and wi...

Good grief! How could i have hidden this simple treasure from you, my loyal friends, the people who read my blatherings week in and week out?  I'm so sorry. This is Manna. O.k.  That's not the most impressive picture, but please stick with me. Manna is comfort food. Manna is i'm-in-a-hurry-and-out-of-hamburger-helper food. Manna is hearty-and-filling-on-a-cold-day food. Manna is good for you. That picture up there is one i took yesterday after heating up some frozen leftovers in the oven.  But normally, you make it in a pot or a skillet.  It's kind of a stew, and it's my mother's ingenious recipe.   I love my mother . . . largely because of Manna. Here's what you need: Potatoes Ground beef Cream of mushroom soup Green beans Milk. Here's what you do: Wash and cut a few large potatoes into bite size pieces.  Don't bother peeling; the peel is good for you.  ;)   Put the potatoes in a pot, cover with water and some salt...

I don't like to write about being sick.  Nobody likes to hear (or read) anyone whine about being sick, and i think that posts about being sick tend to make readers feel obligated to post some well-wishing in response to the whining.  (Please don't feel that.) But since i have entertained blog silence for two whole days, i thought i should say hello. Yesterday was a fog of minor abdomenal violence, ice cold fingers and toes, burning eyes, a vague but annoying headache, and sporadic ear pain.  I attempted to do as little as possible while piling as many layers of clothes on as i could find. When my husband got home, i'm not sure he was convinced that i was sick.  The obvious outward symptoms, i imagine, appeared to be resolute laziness and blanket obsession.  At one point, he asked me, "what exactly is wrong with you?"  Ha!  I understood.  It was one of those things that's hard to explain. Until this morning when my darling came home from wo...

A week or two ago, GSSH saw a show on TLC, called "Extreme Couponing," and when it came on again this weekend, he made sure i saw it too. This one hour special, showed the lives of four different persons/families, all of whom have learned the skill of getting something for nothing (or at least a whole lot less), to the extreme.  If you watch this show, please don't let the first extreme couponer deter you.  Keep watching.  That young lady appears to need therapy have gone a little over the edge, but the other three have some really interesting experiences, that will at least be fun to watch, if not educational. All of the subjects of the show went on huge shopping trips, for the cameras, and paid very little cash, and mounds of coupons, for their very large piles of groceries. One of the sane three on the show has been ironically dubbed the Krazy Coupon Lady (KCL).  She is a young wife and mother, and we were both impressed by how sensible and organized she ...

I think it was in April of 2010.  Far too nearly a year ago.  We began a humble pursuit of raising rabbits for food.  Initially, we bought 3 female New Zealand rabbits and later a male Californian/Flemish Giant cross.  The above picture is of our male and our white New Zealand doe, who were supposed to be mating at the time, but clearly didn't get anything done. Besides the fact that our male, Oliver, is either genetically messed up or naturally matures much much later than we had been led to understand when we bought him, i have other thoughts that have led to my discouragement in the area of rabbit wrangling. One, i hate the cages.  They're bunnies.  It just seems like they should be frolicking in meadows, not nibbling in above ground cages.  It just doesn't make sense to my head, and i consequently don't get warm fuzzies about keeping them in these conditions. Two, it seems that our climate and lack of a separate, cooled rabbitry building to hou...

I (and i assume pretty much anyone who writes about their lives and makes their writing available to the entirety of  the planet, via the internet) really appreciate knowing that people are reading what i write . . . and hopefully not scoffing. Because i am interested in having peeps read, i install things like statcounter on my blog so that i can see how many people are checking me out - and sometimes what they're reading and how many times.  What i can't tell, especially if you don't comment, is who you are and why you're reading. And maybe you don't want me to know.  That's cool. The other night, i got curious about an influx of new followers i see on my profile.  So i went to each followers profile to see what i could see.  But for most of you, there was still very little information. Bear with me, i'm coming to a point here. The point:  A few minutes ago, i learned that today, January 14, 2011, has been designated, by the influential authori...

A week ago, i shared some bread baking tips in my post, Let's Break Bread .  (I would read that post before reading this one, if you haven't already.)  From that post arose some questions about the use of Rapid Rise/Bread machine yeast, and about the benefit (or lack) of rolling out and rolling up the dough to make loaves.  So i thought i would do a little experiment and see about it. Question #1:   Will it work o.k. to treat Rapid Rise yeast the same as Active Dry yeast in a recipe calling for Active Dry yeast?  Almost every bread recipe instructs to allow the dough to rise "until doubled" after kneading.  This is the "first rise," and it usually takes close to 1 1/2 hours at my house (with active dry yeast).  Today, i used rapid rise yeast, and instead of allowing it to "rest," as is directed by the package and other sources i have read, i allowed it to rise until doubled. Here it is right after kneading.  After 30 minutes.  After 45...

I have a little quote over there in the right hand margin. It says, "All the days in the world are waiting for their turn,  and they never get another turn. Never." These words, which i have blogged about before, which i have magnetted (i just invented that word) to my fridge, and used to decorate my blog page, were spoken in innocence by a 6 year old girl, the daughter of my friend.  And they speak to me so deeply. The other day (meaning sometime between yesterday and three months ago), i caught sight of these words on my fridge and had a new word picture i thought i would share. I imagined "all the days in the world," as people.  Each day gets to witness me.  Since God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), that day doesn't know anything about what all the other days witnessed. It only knows this day . . . because it is this day. Each day takes its turn.  And then reports to God, reports to the story of my life, maybe reports to...

I'm fairly certain that they don't have these up north.  Correct me if i'm wrong. In the south, our weather forecasts can include the "Hard Freeze Warning."  This is to let us know that it's going to be cold enough for long enough, that our unprotected southern pipes may freeze, and our outdoor plants are probably going to die. Since my parents and much of my family lives in the land of the perpetual freezer, i sometimes look upon us here in the south, with northerners' eyes . . . and scoff. We're having a weather emergency because we might get 8 solid hours of below freezing temperatures in a row. That's our emergency. I don't think my mother has seen above freezing temperatures for a solid 8 hours in the last 8 weeks.  Oh, and i checked.....there's no "Hard Freeze Warning" in Michigan.  Just a prediction for an eternity of cold frigidness, with snow, followed by bone shattering unutterable winter. But it doesn't ...

He's here!  Yesterday, i told you i was going to attend (meaning "be present in the same building as") Kaleb's birth, and i did.  Here he is with his happy mama, my dear friend, Meredith, my sister from another mother (and father) as it were. For comparison, i dug out my pictures of Kaleb's big sister, Rachel, whose birthday i also attended. The two babies look a lot alike.  I can tell which one is Rachel by her nose.  Congratulations to my friends!  Happy Birthday, Kaleb!

This very short post shall explore the appropriate use of the word, "literally," while also being a real blog post. I am literally taking a short coffee break before i go back to work. Lord willing, and the creek don't literally rise, i intend to attend the birth of my God son, Kaleb Isaiah, whose momentous arrival is scheduled for sometime between 10 and 11 am, tomorrow morning. I am very excited about Kaleb's birthday, but since my attendance will require my absence from home, i am very busy preparing meals and attempting to leave a clean kitchen behind, while i am gone. I literally went to bed after 2:00 this morning, which did not leave enough sleep to prepare me for a a fun but extraordinarily long Sunday.  Thus, i have literally started drinking a literal pot of coffee near 6:00 p.m. because i don't think i can accomplish everything without it.  I literally thank the Lord for coffee.  While it should not be abused, it is quite helpful in a proverbial...

Let me start by saying that i am NOT an expert in bread-making.  I like to make bread, and my husband likes me to make bread, and i have messed up a lot of bread.  Also i have done a lot of reading and experimenting to learn how to stop messing up the bread. This i will share with you. Today i made basic white bread from a very old Betty Crocker cook book, and i took pictures for you. Every yeast bread recipe made with kneaded dough has certain elements to it, and the following very few tips can be used with any of them......no matter what the recipe says you should do. Tip #1, Take Your Temperature :  The recipe will tell you to take a liquid, usually water or milk, and dissolve the yeast in it.  Usually the recipe says something like "warm water," or "almost hot to the touch," or something else i can't properly decipher with my finger tips.  So i use a wonderful modern invention called a thermometer.   The two types of yeast readily available in th...