Kitchen Tagged

Donna tagged me with this kitchen meme.

1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week? How many are in your family? Around 17 meals. 5 children, 2 adults.

2. How many cookbooks do you own? ?? 20

3. How often do you refer to a cookbook each week? 2 times

4. Do you collect recipes from other sources? friends, internet. I love Food Network

5. How do you store those recipes? scribble them down on whatever is available, leave them laying around the house or shove them inside my recipe basket.

6. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas? I always follow the recipe closely, obsessively.

7. Is there a particular ethnic style or flavor that predominates in your cooking? Italian and Mexican.

8. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? Cutting veggies and using my favorite food chopper.

9. What's your least favorite part? Unloading the dishwasher, that is why I pay my son to do it.

10. Do you plan menus before you shop? Sometimes. :-0

11. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances? Pampered Chef food chopper, Henkels knife, Bosch.

12. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have? A remodeled and larger kitchen. Hey, money is not an object!!

13. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next? Tortillas for dinner tonight.

14. Do you have a separate freezer for storage? Yes, it is a full size refridge/freezer and it is in the garage. Holds extra milk, soda, water bottles, Eggos, frozen pizza and a giant turkey that I'd better use soon.

15. Grocery shop alone or with others? I can get out alone now that the children are older but I usually have a little helper or two.

16. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week? Just a few. We like meat.

17. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors? French country, bird houses, roosters, black appliances.

18. What's the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you? Like Donna, cookies.

19. How did you learn to cook? My sisters. XXOO

20. Tag two other people to play. Want to play? Let me know where I can read your answers. You can answer any or all of the questions in the comments if you don't have a blog.

NOTE: That is not my kitchen in the photo. I would like a kitchen like that some day though. I would even cook, clean, bake bread and possibly sleep in that kitchen if I had it. ;-)

Warning: Bragging ahead

Avenue of Poplars by Vincent van Gogh



was Hannah's inspiration for this lovely poem


The trees are bare,
I feel the cold chill of the air but the
wind does not blow.
I hear no sound, the snow silences the sound.
The white make me feel as if
I am black with nowhere to hide.
The trees reach towards the heavens, but I feel
like I am the roots grasping down into the soil of despair.
Falling?
Perishing?
Growing?


Congrats to my dear Hannah who won 3rd place in our school's poetry writing contest!

Funny Little Girl

I teach my very young children a few Bible verses right off the bat:

Eph 4:32

32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.


1 John 4:7

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

James 1:20

20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.


In addition to learning and memorizing verses, the little ones (and big ones) have been taught what it means to provoke one another. And provoking is indeed a bad thing. In this context, I think of it as teasing, pushing things too far, not stopping when asked etc.


Merriam Webster
Provoke

1 a archaic : to arouse to a feeling or action b : to incite to anger
2 a : to call forth (as a feeling or action) : EVOKE b : to stir up purposely c : to provide the needed stimulus for


It was 7:15 am on Wednesday morning and Lauren (3) came running down the hall yelling "Mama"!!

"Yes, Lauren" I said.

"Mama, James is REVOKING me" Lauren said

I responded "well, that James is a bad boy, isn't he?"

She just cracks me up. She's 3 ???!!!

It Works For Us

Last summer was My Summer of Washing Towels 2005. It was bad. Beach/pool towels on top of the normal towel usage of a family of 7. Imagine it without any order or organization. I cracked the whip on the situation in the middle of the summer. By then, if a child left a beach towel wadded up outside or in their room that was precisely the one they would use the next time they went swimming. If they forgot to take their towel out to the pool....oh well, you'll dry quickly, it's 150 degrees out there. They learned to hang their pool towel on the fence (it will dry in 5 minutes here) and then it could be folded and put back in to The Container for Pool Towels.

My next project was the girl's bathroom. It was a problem area also. Towels were found under the bed, in the closet, in the bathroom, on the couch...I think you get the picture. Enter JC Penney Catalog! Big, beautiful, colorful, monogrammed bath towels and on sale!!. This is going to work, I just know it! The hardest decision was who was going to get what color and then to pick the monogram color, they didn't have much to choose from. The towels arrived via UPS, our favorite, crazy lady driver, we washed them and they were hung in descending order by age. We love the way the look and feel. We had to tackle one more obstacle. The towels didn't seem to make it back to their assigned spot. Hubby and I decided to enforce a form of discipline that seems to work well with older children. Hit em in the ole pocket book. After a period of grace and reminders, a warning was given and POW, if your towel is found on the floor, it's time to pay up!! I am glad to say I am not getting rich off of my children's failure to hang towels back where they belong. So far, so good.

hqplcf

Sue, aka sister sue, I turned off word verification just for you.

Actually for me, in a desperate attempt to get one more comment.

Hope to hear from you Susie (c:

Front Yard

Donna told us to post a picture of our view from our front door.
Look at how cloudy and gloomy it is today. It is only 61 degrees right now. Brrr.
Not a drop of rain.
See the pretty Ash with the light green leaves!

Lauren and Blankie

Lauren got a hair cut yesterday and Blankie was fresh and clean, smelling of Tide and bleach, so I took a quick picture.

"Blankie" is very precious to Lauren. Blankie is a girl, usually spends the day in bed (oh, the life) and is best if she is dirty, smelly and cold. Not sure where the cold factor came in but Lauren does not like Blankie to be hot and she doesn't understand why I have to wash her.

I bought Blankie and a matching outfit at Gymboree when I was 9 months pregnant with Lauren. I also bought a darling little boy version. My friend was in charge of washing what we needed and taking back the one we did not need.

Lauren forgot Blankie at Grandma's house on Saturday night. Dave and I were too lazy to go back and get it so Hannah gave Lauren a blanket that was special to her when she was a little girl. Thankfully she slept through the night without a fuss...Lauren, that is ;-)

Someday soon Blankie will have to go away for awhile because with Blankie comes thumbsucking. Oh, that will be a sad day. She's my baby after all.

Happy Valentine's Day

and (((HUGS)))


I wish for you a day full of wonderful things!
Happy Valentine's Day.
Love Janet

Spring

Clear blue skies.

Gentle breeze.

75 degrees.

'It's all good' in Arizona.

Light Affliction

From Mrs. M-mv in a comment on Donna's blog:

"As I said, small, small challenges in the scheme of things. I wake up each morning so thrilled to have done so again, so delighted to be dealing only with a little twinge in the joints, a little schedule conflict -- I can't even really consider these "challenges.""

Beautiful words. Encouraging words.

I hope she doesn't mind if I add to the thought by sharing this:


2 Cor. 4:16-18 (NKJV)

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."


At times it does not feel light but please trust these words and believe it is.

Simple and Yet Difficult

Luke 9:23 (NKJV)

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

My 'to do' list:

1. deny yourself
2. take up your cross daily
3. follow Jesus

Fun!

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 23. What is your score? Get it here.

Thanks, Donna

I beat you!

Piano Playing

Hannah and Danielle (13 & 10) had their first piano ensemble rehearsal tonight. This year they are playing together. Piano ensemble is an annual event and this will be the 54th Phoenix Music Teachers Association Ensemble. It is held in an auditorium at a large high school near downtown Phoenix. Between 10 and 15 grand pianos are brought in by a large, local piano store and all placed carefully and strategically on the stage. Each piece played is a duet. Have you done the math? That is up to 30 pianists playing the same piece on one stage. It is a glorious sound. We will hear beginners all the way up to the teachers themselves, who always play the most amazing piece, one we always recognize. Those in charge are sure to pick a nice variety of music. This is not your average, run of the mill, boring, let's get this thing over with, recital. I am always sorry when it ends. The extra time and energy it requires is well worth it, for me and the girls. Hannah will be receiving a special participation award (4 consecutive years). She is looking forward to that!

Do you play the piano? Do you play it well? I sure wish I was pushed/required to continue lessons. I wish more than anything that I could play for my family and to the glory of God.

Pathetic

I was so proud to add a few favorites to my side bar but look at how they won't line up...ugh! I have tried playing with the spaces etc. and am wasting too much time on this computer. Any thoughts?

Humbled
Janet

This and That

~ The intestinal flu is a good weight loss program. Nuff said.


~ Phoenix has just broken a record. 102 days without any precipitation. In 2005 we were 1.25 inches below the normal precip. I can't imagine what this really means because we probably only get 1.50 inches/year. This is very scary. A few years ago we had a horrible fire season in the Northern part of our state, I can't imagine what the summer will be like all over this state if we don't get rain soon, very soon.


~ Science class is going well. I've been asked to teach for 1 more week. We are learning about global wind patterns, air masses, and the Coriolas Effect. I had to do further reading about that one! It's one thing to understand it yourself but to be able to explain it to a classroom of 8th graders at 8 AM is tricky!


~ I've been working out 3/week at a small gym with a personal trainer. This technique is very different than what I've been used to. We use free weights, an exercise ball, steps, machines and do lots of lunges. Ladies, do lunges. No, you won't be able to walk the next day but that is a good thing! (?) I've also increased my routine from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. I've been hard at it for 3 weeks, hopefully in a few more weeks I'll really start to see results in the form of loose jeans, increased muscle mass and lower weight.


~ I'll leave you with a verse to encourage you. It was a life changing verse for me when I was a new Christian and struggling with guilt.

2 Cor. 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.


Amen and have a blessed day.

You Should Buy This !

If you can find it...


"Sister Sue" included this absolutely perfect hand lotion in my Christmas box this year. It was a very pleasant surprise. I have tried many, many hand lotions in my time; Mary Kay, Arbonne, Body Shop and Bath and Body Works. This is my ALL. TIME. FAVORITE. hand lotion. EVER. I could not find this particular lotion on the Aveda webpage. It appears they created this product for a promotion in October for Breast Cancer Awareness. I found it on The Breast Cancer Research Foundation webpage but it is not for sale at that site. Sooo...Susie, do you know where to buy it? Please let me know if you can still find this wonderful stuff. And by the way, THANK YOU :-)

Brilliant!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have owned my Bosch for 14 months. I have tried many recipes and have had great success. I really enjoy baking bread. I don't consider it work. It is a hobby. Unfortunately, I have been stuck inside my very safe box. When I bake, I bake 5 loaves. One time I was very brave and baked three loaves and two pans of dinner rolls. Great.

Diane, on the other hand, uses her time wisely and apparently is not stuck in any box! Look at this beautiful picture! Bread. Cinnamon Rolls. Bread Sticks. Dinner Rolls. All with one batch of dough I assume. Very impressive Diane and good work. You inspire me. :-)

Science

I am substitute teaching at my children's Classical and Christian school this week. I was asked to teach 8th grade science using the Apologia science book. I was familiar with Apologia but never used the curriculum while homeschooling my children. I am really enjoying this book. The author, Dr. Jay L. Wile, 'talks' to the students. It is written in a very conversational way and very friendly. You feel like you are talking to a (smart) friend and learning at the same time. I was given my assignment on Saturday night so I feel like I am cramming, but I am really enjoying myself and hopefully these fine young students are learning.

Cyntia!

Cindy, this post is for you! Thank you for your comment. I love comments, all 2 of them :-)

Here is the handy dandy Nutrimill. See the beautiful wheat kernels on the top?! Turn it on and you have delicious, nutritious fresh ground whole wheat flour in no time! I buy a 50 pound bag of white hard wheat and grind the portion I need right before I make my bread. It is best to use it immediately. We do freeze the left over flour and use it for our pancakes. I don't like to waste the flour. Sometimes I give the left over flour to my girlfriend for her bread.





On the left is the Bosch Universal. Ask your hubby about Bosch and I'm sure he will tell you all about Bosch motors and Bosch tools. Well, this baby goes in the kitchen and I love it. See the nice big bowl? I can make 5 loaves in one batch. The dough hook is the 's' shaped thing in front of the machine. So the dough hook and the powerful motor make my bread making very simple. It takes me about twenty minutes to gather ingredients, mill the wheat and mix the ingredients. Eight minutes to knead the dough, the machine does this for me. Thirty minutes to rise and thirty minutes to bake.

Now, won't you please join me for a cup of coffee/tea and a slice of toasted 14 grain bread with butter? I miss you. Love J.

Quotable

I saw this on a sign at a local Deli:


"The only thing more overrated than natural childbirth
is the joy of owning your own business"


I literally laughed out loud and wished someone would laugh with me but my two little girls just didn't get it!

Now don't get worked up...I've had 4 out of 5 natural births and we are very thankful for the two successful businesses God has given us. But honestly, both can be very trying at times.