My Apologies

Ok, its been almost a month since my last post. Trying to come up with a reason for not posting - so take your pick from the following: 1) I turned 43 and suffered a massive breakdown because now I am officially old; 2) Our family has gone through a torrent of disease - coughs, colds, runny nose, vomiting, upset stomach, diarrhea; 3) I dropped my laptop, broke it and have been in mourning; 4) I've fallen under a moutain of laundry and I can't get up! If you picked any of the above, you are a winner!!!! Actually my age really doesn't bother me - unless I look in a mirror, try to get up too fast or stay up too late. One good thing about the whole laptop thing is that I took out laptop insurance for a year because I was afraid that something would happen to it on our trip to China - after all I dropped my camera on our 2nd day in China during our first trip - right there on the Great Wall!!!
Since my last post, Ben turned 6. He had a great birthday. We had a little swim party for him with some of his little friends. He is getting so tall and grown up.
I also wanted to say Happy Birthday to my friend Judi. Her birthday was September 15. I am terrible with cards but I do think of you every year when the 15th roles around and I remember the "traveling birthday party." We went to school with a class of 9 kids. Three of us had birthdays close together and we would have sleepover parties first at my house, then at Judi's and finally at Lyndee's house. We were quite the little cliche! So Happy Belated Birthday Judi!!
Tonight we went to Open House at the Elementary School. The kids were so excited to show us their rooms and where they sit! They are all having a good time at school. Here are their school pictures. I am going to get retakes of Ethan and Emma - I think I will go to school with them and see if I can get them to smile!!!
Our newest obsession is with our bread machine! The kids are eating up the loaves of bread as fast as I can churn them out. Here is a recipe for a whole wheat loaf that I made yesterday. It lasted through breakfast this morning. Very dense and moist. So here is my penance for nonblogging. This recipe if from the Hillbilly Housewife website.

Honey Wheat Bread
2 lb loaf

1-1/2 cups warm tap water
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Measure the ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed. Make a well in the flour and sprinkle the yeast into it. Set the machine to it's Whole Wheat Cycle. On my machine this lasts for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Press Start, and let the machine work it's magic. Remove the cooked bread from the pan after baking and allow it to cool before slicing. Makes a 2 lb loaf.

This is my kids favorite whole wheat bread. The honey makes it very sweet, and soft. This bread lasts longer than some machine made breads before going stale. The honey acts as a natural preservative.

Too Funny!!!

Hey - look - I'm the same age as fake orange juice!!!
Today is my 43rd birthday! Rod took the kids to Walmart Sunday to shop for my birthday. I had a whole stack of presents - what a fun time. It really surprised me, I couldn't get any of them to tell me what they bought for me. When I opened everything tonight, I got a little stapler, an index card file, a file folder, a bunch of stickers that included car & mermaid stickers, a High School Musical pillow, a jar of peanuts and some candy corn.

Wednesday Recipe - Yogurt!!

Today is another nod to the Hillbilly Housewife. I used her recipe to make yogurt and then the following recipe to dress it up. I used the instructions for making the yogurt in the cooler - very easy and no special equipment. The kids are wild for it - especially with the blue and green jello. I've made 5 batches of this in the past week & it has been slurped up so fast that sometimes they are using straws - not even waiting for it to set up. I think it would work really well with sugarfree jello and some sweetener - like splenda. I was thinking the green would be cool for Halloween with peeled green grapes in it! Imagine slime with eyeballs!!!

Custard Style Yogurt

1 package flavored gelatin mix (the four serving size)
1 cup tap water
3 cups yogurt (homemade is fine)
1/3 cup sugar (optional)
up to 1 cup chopped fruit (optional)

Oh is this stuff good! First heat up the tap water. When it boils, remove it from the heat. Add the gelatin to it and stir it with a fork for several minutes, to completely dissolve the gelatin. The gelatin will only dissolve if you stir it long enough. When the gelatin is dissolved, stir in the yogurt. If you like it very sweet you can stir in the extra sugar too. I don't like to add the sugar, but the kids like it pretty well with the extra sugar. If you like you can also stir in some chopped fruit. I like to add leftover canned fruit, cut into small bits, or sometimes bananas or frozen strawberries. The fruit should be cut up small, or it is difficult to chew. When everything is well stirred up, pour the yogurt into individual cups or small resealable containers. Place them n the fridge to chill. These are great in the lunch box, and also as a healthy snack. If you have homemade yogurt which didn't set up as well as you like, it can be used to good advantage in this recipe. Red flavors of gelatin seem to be the most popular at my house, but I think lemon and peach are also pretty good. Green is interesting, and appeals to kids who like to pretend they are eating slime.

Saturday Morning Antics

First of all, this is my 101st post!!! WhooHoo!! Pretend you see the confetti flying!!! Wasn't that exciting!!!
Today the kids have a birthday party to go to this afternoon, so we decided to stay home and play instead of heading off to the big city. Rod loaded my new little MP3 player so that was good for a couple of hours of entertainment this morning. We played music and danced around the kitchen. Those kids of mine have some moves!!! Next we decided to play pick our future career. Here are some pictures - I will let you guess the careers:







Ok - Doesn't that first one just make you want to burst into a rousing rendition of Beauty School Dropout - Go Back to High School!!!
Next, we have Bailey. She is going to be a Pop Star/Mommy - she even practiced cutting her own hair - we're just lucky she didn't have a pair of clippers on hand like Brittany did.
Moving on, we come to Ben. He is going to be a secret agent 00-something. You know the cool guy who wants his martini stirred not shaken - always hanging around with the cool chicks and vanquishing the bad guy with a single Kungfu move.
Finally, there is Ethan. Don't know what to say about him except - Help Uncle Irvie!!! We see orange jumpsuits and visiting day schedules in our future!!!!

No Beauty School in Our Future!

Well, it finally happened. I have always wondered when the kids were going to try cutting their own hair. Monday, while they were supposed to be taking a nap, Bailey & Emma tried cutting their own hair. Bailey just got a couple of little pieces but Emma really did a whack job.

Fair

We had a very busy weekend. I am a superintendent for the Spinning, Weaving & Wool division at the fair. That means that I spend much of the week at the fair. We take exhibits in on Wednesday, judge and hang up the display on Thursday and then the rest of the time we usually have at least one person at our display to keep it from walking off and we also have our spinning wheels out to demonstrate. I actually got half a bobbin spun while I was sitting around - also just about finished a sock I have been working on for two years!! The kids entered their creature features and some seed pictures that they did for Junior Grange. We really need to get busy next year and put in some more entries. Oh, I entered a pair of handfelted ornaments that I made. I won best of class for them - there were only two entries but the other felted article was from Marie Gettmann - a nationally known fiber talent - so I actually felt like it was an accomplishment!

Wednesday Recipe - Magic Milkshake

I got this recipe from the Hillbilly Housewife The kids really like it and it is easy and uses stuff that I usually have on hand. This is great because the kids usually decide they want a milkshake on Sunday afternoon or after dinner when our local store is already closed. This is also considerably cheaper than using ice cream. There are some notes below the recipe from the Hill Billy Housewife - including a virtually fat free version.

Magic Milk Shakes

1-1/2 to 2 cups ice water
1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 1-1/2 trays of ice cubes, as much as you can spare
2 tablespoons corn oil plus a 5-second squirt of non-stick spray for emulsification purposes

Place all of the ingredients into the blender, including the oil and the non-stick spray. Use less water for thicker milk shakes and more water for shakes that are easy on your blender motor. The blender should be about 3/4's full. Place the lid on. Process for a full 2 minutes. Pour into cups and serve. Makes 4 - 12oz servings. For preparation tips please see below.

Reader's Tip: A reader named Chris made these with Splenda replacing the sugar measure for measure and said they turned out perfectly. If you like Splenda, then this tip would be a great way to reduce the calories and make them sugar-free. Thanks for sharing Chris!

Variations:

Add 1 tablespoon of instant coffee for a mocha shake

Add 1 very ripe banana for a chocolate banana shake

Add a big spoonful of peanut butter for a decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake.

Add a few broken red and white candy mints for a refreshing Chocolate Mint shake.

To make Vanilla Milk Shakes, omit the cocoa powder, reduce the sugar to 1/2-cup and add 1 tablespoon (yes a full tablespoon) of vanilla flavoring. For a french vanilla milk shake crack in an egg too.

P.S. In my original recipe I pointed out that for an almost fat free milkshake you may omit the oil and only use a squirt of nonstick spray instead. Many people were satisfied with this version and enjoyed it immensely. Since posting my rant, they have emailed requests that I include this option for others who may need it for dietary reasons. If you prepare milk shakes with this option and are not satisfied with your results, then try it with the oil added, to see if you like it better. After trying both versions you may write me and complain if need be.