Spring Flowers

With the exception of the white carnations - these came from the yard to grace the table yesterday for our Easter dinner.  They make me smile.

Something fun

Yesterday over at The Frugal Girl it was the regular Wednesday baking post and it looked like such fun that I had to try it out today.
So I made up a batch of white bread dough in my bread machine while also making up a batch of King Arthur's Whole Wheat bread recipe with my big Kitchen-Aid mixer.
I let them rise and then with the input from J, made up the two loaves and set them to rise & bake while she whipped up a batch of one-bowl brownies for us all to enjoy.
My kitchen smelled wonderful all afternoon!
This was the result of my efforts - and it met with hearty approval from both B & J as well as our neighbor's 5-year-old son that was here for the afternoon.  Warm bread with butter makes a lovely snack on a rainy afternoon.

A really good weekend

This was a really good long weekend here. 
I had several opportunities during the last few days to pray for our military service people and their families.  May God bless them and keep them all safe from harm as they defend the freedoms we hold dear.  I am so thankful to live in this country and pray that God will protect our nation.
The weather here has been truly spectacular all weekend.  Today we did have a haze of smoke from the Canadian brush fires, but it hasn't been too bad.  I will be praying that no one is hurt in the fires up north.
I've been productive over the last few days. I've managed to get some baking done, some cleaning, and even a bit of sewing.  I finally finished packing up the last school year work for both kids and cleaned off one of the bookcases to get ready for next year.  I even updated our school tracking software on 2 of the computers,  the other two seem to be dead at the moment and need Steve's tech support to revive them.
I was able to go for a long bike ride with the kids on Friday, a run on Saturday, a power walk on Sunday evening, and another run this morning.  I have to keep moving to combat all the junk I've been eating lately.  I made home-made ice cream on Friday night and Steve took us for ice cream at King Kone last night after he got home from his trail race up in Maine.  I am still trying to lose another 10 pounds and feel like I am sabotaging myself by baking and going for ice cream.  At least I'm not gaining... that is a blessing!
Today Steve took me for a ride on the motorcycle and we were tooling up Mack Hill Rd. in Amherst when we paused at the top and I realized the bag on my back was EMPTY!  Panic!  The bottom of the bag had let go and my wallet was in the bag!  Steve told me to get off the bike a minute and he'd turn around so we could back-track.  I climbed off and was shocked to see my wallet sitting on the little metal rack behind the seat!  The road was incredibly bumpy so it must have just fallen out.  I was SO relieved I was almost in tears and was thanking God for his amazing blessing and care. 
We drove along a bit further and Steve remembered he'd had our small digital camera in the bottom of the bag.  Back-tracking all the way home we scanned and searched the roadside to no avail.  Then we took the car and went back again.  This time with the kids and we stopped again at the top of the hill and walked the edges looking for the camera case.  Nothing.   We are disappointed but I am beyond thankful that my wallet is safe.  Prayerfully someone honest will find the camera and return it to us.
In spite of the loss of the camera, the weekend on the whole was good and I am very certain of God's loving care of us all.

A beautiful day

The weather here has been unseasonably warm and beautiful!  Today it is already over 80 degrees!  That just doesn't normally happen in NH in May ~ but I will take it with thanks to God above for blessing us with this lovely day!

J had her riding lesson this morning and B was blessed to be able to swim with his friend during the lesson hour.  I sat in a lounge chair and perused a recipe book "Eating Well at Rush Hour".  I'm in search of inspiration for my meal planning.  I am in a slump about planning and cooking and need some new ideas.  I think I found a few.  Though I'm not sure what the kids will think, but I know that Steve always appreciates my efforts and never complains.  I am a blessed wife.
We did a run through Wal-Mart for what I call a 'coupon shop', which is when I have coupons for just about everything I purchase.  I managed to save just over $20 total.  I have made it a hard-n-fast rule to not buy anything with a coupon unless it's something I would normally buy or the price makes it cheaper than the brand of that item I normally purchase.
I still need to do a run to the grocery store and hit the post office to mail 2 things for the PaperBack Book Swap site (I love swapping books!)   If anyone is interested in signing up - send me a message and I'll forward you the link to sign up (I get points if I refer you!).

Tonight is my ladies' Bible Study group and God is really blessing this time with this marvelous group of women.  I think we are all learning and growing and beginning to connect in new friendships.  God is so good to us to give us others to share the journey.

I found a verse today that really spoke to me so I will share it in closing this post.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NASB)
Faithful is he who calls you, and he will also bring it to pass.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Who doesn't love something fresh from the oven for breakfast on a Sunday morning?
This morning I was awake early - listening to the birds announcing loudly that the sun was up.  So I thought I'd bake up something for breakfast.  I decided to try out a Cinnamon Crumble Cake recipe from The Frugal Girl-Kristen.  She has such amazing recipes!
It was quick & easy to make and everyone loved it! 

New Dinner Hit

In my quest to be more blissfully domestic I have been gaining ground in my kitchen culinary adventures.  Fancy verbiage for I'm getting better with new recipes that people will actually eat in my family.
Last night I attempted calzones for the first time ever and they were a success!  I used my normal pizza dough recipe (I have been making home-made pizza for several months now) and cut the dough into 4 chunks before rolling it out - not too thin - filling it and crimping the edges.  For the kids I made just regular sauce/cheese - sort of a pizza sandwich. 

Steve & I enjoyed BBQ chicken w/ carmelized onions & cheese.  It was very yummy! 
And as a bonus - because I made 4 of them (2 each variety) - all 5 of us had dinner last night and I have 1 each left in the freezer for when I am away so the "boys" will have an easy dinner one night.

Apron Inspiration

Awhile back I was noodling around at Like A Warm Cup of Coffee and she was doing an apron give away from Flirty Aprons.  You have to check them out - they are sooooo cute!
I did not win the freebie, but was inspired to dig out a pattern I had bought back before Christmas to make my own!  So when my Mom came up for a visit on Saturday, we hit the fabric store and I splurged and bought some GORGEOUS Legacy quilting fabric to make myself a pretty apron.

My daughter J has been hanging around with me in my sewing area and says I will be stylin' when I make dinner in this beautiful creation!  Of course the photos are not very flattering - I should have waited until tomorrow morning to take some photos but I didn't want to wait.  :-)

And one of the side benefits is that I love to sew anyway and with sales, coupons, & discounts - my apron cost $12.50 to make.

Awesome bread!

Doesn't that look yummy?

I found yet another wonderful recipe over at Frugal Girl.  It's for Oatmeal Cinnamon Swirl Bread and it is FANTASTIC!  It makes awesome toast and a friend tells me that it's great for French Toast as well - but we ate the whole loaf before I could try that - guess I will have to make more!
The recipe makes 2 loaves, so I took one to a neighbor in an effort to keep us all from over-indulging. *Note - you have to do this one by hand at the end.  I have a Kitchen-Aid mixer and it couldn't handle that much dough.  I know my bread machine would have had a heart attack if I'd tried it in there.

Bread

I have mentioned that I am working (and praying a LOT) towards the goal being more successful in the areas of domestic bliss.
I have been doing menu plans in advance (right now I'm planned through to the 12th), baking bread, cooking from scratch, etc.  It is going fairly well in most areas.  Not truly stellar - but I am making progress I think.  So far there are have been only a few new recipes that have flopped and most have been well received by the majority of the family.  One child is not so thrilled about having to try new foods regularly - but he is getting better about it, and has even given approval to two new recipes this week!  :-)
Tonight was our tried and true pasta night - very easy and made a bit better by a new recipe for french bread from the amazing lady at "The Frugal Girl"   She has tons of tips, recipes and general life to read.  It's one of my new favorites.

Recipe Book

I am not a generally crafty-clever person.  I have some talents, but that isn't one of them.  However, since I have been on a quest to improve my domestic abilities, I have been collecting recipes.  LOTS of recipes.  I finally decided that I had to get a handle on all the loose pages floating around the kitchen and in a stack on the side shelf of the island.  They were a magnet for the dog's tail as she went by and almost daily they were scattered across the floor.
So... on Sunday afternoon I began the process of putting all the recipes into plastic file pages and organizing them into a 3-ring binder with tab dividers for each section and sub-section.  I had picked up some random scrapbook paper for another 'wanna-be' crafty purpose, so used 2 sheets to create a cover/back and spine insert for my new 'cookbook'
The photos are not great - I am not good with lighting/flash stuff.  But you can see the cool "kitchen/cooking/foody" stickers I found at ACMoore yesterday.  I had a discount coupon, so they were not expensive and they make my binder more fun!

 

 

Lack of focus or just a busy life?

I have looked back at the variety of post topics and realize that I am lacking when I compare to other people who can blog about just one topic generally.  Like my darling husband who limits his focus generally to his running.  I know why he does it and it makes perfect sense, but I am more scattered.  Not in a bad way I think, I just have more random thoughts that are spilling out onto the internet.  *S*  At least I have set up another blog to limit myself in one area - my sewing.
My life is changing, God is growing me in a lot of ways and I find that so awesome.  I love to see how things are improving in our family by God's grace.
I am learning new things all the time.  The kids are growing and learning.  We have difficulties that God can use to refine us and stretch us.  We have mountain top moments that thrust us up close to the glory that we are to reflect back to our Heavenly Father.  I am so blessed.
This journey is so exciting!  I get to find new ways to do things, find moments to savor - like right now the laughter from the living room where my 2 kids are playing while the dog barks at them to be included.
I can find joy in each day... even in the 'work' of everyday life.  I love and am so loved.  It doesn't get any better this side of Heaven.

Blissfully Domestic

Since we have had more snow and Steve worked from home today, it was one of those days when things are getting done, but not quite as quickly as I would like.
On the upside, we are all home together.  Which is my favorite thing.
Also, laundry is getting done, one bathroom has been cleaned, my Sweet Bread made last night was good and is almost all gone already.  I have made a batch of home-made granola.  The younger two are at least half-way done with schoolwork and we are off to piano lessons shortly where I will get to walk for at least a half-hour while listening to praise music.

I found this at a new blog I discovered recently... I will be updating my blog list soon since I've found a bunch of cool new ones!

Busy time

I have been keeping busy.  Of course we have the normal life stuff of schooling, bible study, cooking, cleaning and laundry.
But we had our first snow-day last week on Wednesday that turned out to be such an amazing blessing to me.  All of us were home.  Steve worked from home and A's college classes were all canceled - so we were home together.
The younger kids worked for a while and then I released them to play with their big brother in the snow.  They all had so much fun!  The built a giant snowman in the yard and named him "Big Joe".  The three of them labored for a long while and though he didn't last long (it rained overnight after the snow), I did capture a photo.  If you were level with him - he was taller than our fence.  This photo was taken from up on the porch near the house.

While the kids were busy in the yard, I was busy sewing.  I had some, - okay, I have LOTS - of Christmas fabric in my stash.  So on a whim I decided to whip up some Christmas curtains for the dining room windows.  They are not fancy, but I think they are fun.

I've also managed to finish a quickie Christmas quilt that I started after Thanksgiving.  I had purchased a package of 30 different squares from Keepsake Quilting and just sashed them with a  lovely snowflake fabric.  It is backed in a soft red/green plaid fleece that makes it just right for snuggling on the couch with a book.  J is making good use of it so far.

 

We even managed to get the tree all decorated and are now ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior next week with family and friends. Now if I could just manage to get the Christmas cards mailed out this week....