yogurt

OK, so I have been asked for a recipe for my yogurt. Quickly, here is how I go about it.

First, there needs to be a way to keep a constant temperature of 95 to 110 degrees. This can be a yogurt maker, a dehydrator (the fancy expensive ones with the temperature controls), a cooler, or a window sill during the summer. I have a yogurt maker. All this does is keep the temperature at 95 degrees. I really like what I have, its simple and my mother found it at the thrift store for four dollars. CJ's feet uses her dehydrator. What ever. I think that is the toughest part.

Next I heat 4 cups of milk to 170 degrees. Its the point right before it boils. After this, let the milk cool to 110 degrees, which is about the temperature to give a baby a bath, and stir in two tablespoons of plain store bought yogurt. I used trader Joe's cream top the first time. Dannon, Mountain High, whatever. Just plain flavor free.

OK, so pour that into a jar or yogurt maker cups and let it culture, say ten hours.

If you have raw milk (ah-hem, I don't, bummer!) there is a raw recipe in the NT book that CJ's feet likes to use. This does not heat up the milk as hot initially, but sort of keeps all that good bacteria in tact. Yum!

After the ten hours or so, stir it up and transfer it to the fridge. Lick that spoon and get a small taste of whats to come! Cooling it will help reduce the bitterness and help it to not be so runny.

You can use any milk, even powdered. So basic, so yummy!

Simple Living?

For some time now I have entertained the idea of simple living. I have come across some literature that has helped me to open my eyes to maybe help me define exactly what or how simple I want to live.
I have borrowed the entire season of Frontier House, which is six hours in its entirety, and soaked up all I could. Minus the drama. I have also read a few magazines called backwoods living, which is all about you guessed it, living in the back woods. These mediums both have quite a few ideas and helps for someone to drop off the grid. I mean off. the. grid.

Now neither of these have anything to do with the Desert. I use capital "D" because it deserves some serious respect. The temperates, the dryness, the pets, (haha) The ever present lack of water. No one has written many of articles about it.
Can it be done? Sure.

Brings me back around to how simple do I wanna get?

Lets make a list;
Electricity? Check.
Water? Sure, dig a well.
Sewer? Should dig at the same time as the well.
Whats left?
Shelter?
Land to do this on?
For some reason it doesn't seem so simple any longer. Add some ornery chickens, a couple milk goats and for good measure why not a huge garden?

Ah, enough day dreaming. I just need to go fold my laundry!

Olivia loves chicken!

Ike boy was not impressed!

By the way, that was water on her shirt from giving the chicks water. She was a great helper. It was really cool to see her holding them. She couldn't stay away.

In an effort to post something here I cannot fathom what to write. I have typed many sentences already and I have deleted them.

This is a problem I have, I am not articulate. Use your words, Steve says to me often.

Having no Internet is sort of a freedom, not being able to fulfill the sort of instant gratification of knowledge. What I mean is, I cannot just look up how to make a recipe, I have to look in my existing cookbooks for one.

I cannot look and see what any one is doing on line, or what their life is like. I have to focus on my life.

Mine...

So, what have I been doing?

Sewing an elephant for a dear one, and running out of thread. Oh, well, finding the thread unwound and waisted. I still need to attach ears and tail.......

Cooking beans, roasts, and making up great interesting things to do with leftovers....

Getting to bed at a somewhat decent hour, ah, well, uh... never mind about that one....

I have been balancing my checkbook the old fashioned way. By the way, when you speak to your banker about why balances don't match and your banker has no idea how to use a registry, its time to find another bank. He had the nerve to tell me he had no idea how to do this and why didn't I just let the bank keep track for me!! I quietly told him in return that it was my money and my dear husband worked too hard for me not to mind it myself. Poo to them.

I also have been trying to think of ways to make my neighbors life better. I guess offering to rub a gals feet after a hard day is not that common.

Ill leave you with this;

Coming into the bathroom after Ian had used it.
I see the paper roll empty.

me: "Ian, how much paper did you use?!"
Ian: "Two scoops!"

Why does it feel like midnight!? Its only six thirty. . .

Ian says ' Isaac's breath smells like yogurt cheese!' I love the nursing babys breath!

Ian says after burying his head in clean sheets, "i smell something good, it smells like sea weed!"

This girl of mine!

She loves loves loves cheese! I could give it to her, and she would be satisfied all the days of her little life.

I would love to learn the craft of cheese making, and from what I understand of the craft, it is not to difficult. Just a matter of coagulation? Letting things set up?

I have made kefir cheese many times, which is disliked by everyone but me. I love it with some sea salt and lots of fresh pepper! But my dear, sweet girl is not impressed. Give her some good ol' cheddar, or even better yet, some lovely colby. Plain, in moderate slices.

The weather is cooler so i just might try something!! Heh, maybe..

Tuscon...

Collectively..

Mail time!

I got our homeschooling stuff last night!


All of it is new and exciting. The books have that new book smell and they are nice and neat! I ordered a child kit, which was inclusive of all the things Ian would need to have kindergarten, and then I also ordered the parent kit. I am so glad I did. The kits are well put together, have lesson plans, daily outlines and gives me a great help in organising my day.

Ian is excited, now that the books are here. It was sort of funny, I would ask him if he was ready for school and he would say, well, where are we gonna go? He is OK with the idea of staying at home going to school, he just wants to learn about art. "Like painting" he says. Not like learning about paintings, or art. He wants to paint and such. OK, what do you want to paint a picture of? I ask.

Are you ready for this profound four year old answer?

"Nothing"


Arg!

Lets see if I can finish this one!

I have about four unfinished posts in my drafts. every time I start something I get pulled away, distracted, or find out there is a mini crisis in the other room.
Speaking of what going on in the other room, Isaac is walking! We call him walkie Mc Ikerson. Well, at least I do!

We are going to start school in September. I am ordering the books/curriculum on the 25th in order to have free shipping. My "baby" is starting kindergarten. My Payson cousin wrote about the first day of school for her youngest "baby" and I cannot wrap my mind around senior year. One year at a time, flying by.

We are all doing well, thank God.

Hopefully I can finish some of the posts I already started. later.

A homeschool Family. To the Adams family tune!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6uqj0_jQc&feature=related

Have you ever wondered?

What you would do to frighten Lazarus after he had been raised from the dead? What would you do to threaten him?
"Lazarus, I'm gonna kill you?"

How do you frighten someone who's already been there and knows the one who is gonna let him out!

1st Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?


Jesus gives us victory over death.

Either Jesus was deceiver, or He was deluded, or he was Divine.

A bad man, a mad man or the God man.





Have you ever wondered what will happen to you after you die?

health care

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqMKK8AoLCw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewretchedradio%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded

take 4 and watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY6F0pkArds#watch-main-area

Lost the bella Dog. Then we found her. More later:)

Going to new mexico. No cell service or anything! See you after the fourth!

Lookie here.

I cut my hair this past week, in an effort to minimise the things I have to take care of.


What do you think?





This was on the day it was done.


I took the picture in my bathroom.








With my phone.

What do you know?

There are some crazy things to be learned. If you could really put your mind to it, I am sure you could think of many. Let's think basic.
Learn to walk and talk. Wanna get more complex?
Learn to cut hair, play guitar, sew.

How bout this? Learn to love God?

Do we need to be taught to do so? I think so. The Bible says we are not lovers of God, but we love our selves! Selfish, and even haters of Him. We want to go our own way, do our own thing.

I see the example in my children. Children seem to be a great picture of a relationship with God. You don't have to teach children to be selfish, demanding or self centered. Same with the children of God. We have to be taught to love Him, to submit to Him and go His way with our life.

As a child of His I want to please Him. He is the creator of our world, He is worthy. He is my salvation!

But my selfishness gets in the way.

I need to learn more about Him, to love Him for who He is, for what He has done for me.
For the grace He gives.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
That saved a Wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found
Was blind but now I see.

I am the wretch, I need to learn.
Faith like a child.
That's what I know, how about you?

I had a great birthday. Plain as that.

A good Friend of mine text me first thing to tell me happy birthday. Later on that day I received some flowers from her via FED EX!!!! OVERNIGHT!

They are so nice. So fresh!

Look....

The greatest thing about these is that she had it figured out all along.

Then after the kids all took a nap at the same time, I watched a movie all by myself!! The rest of the evening was very low key. I think I had to run and get dog food or something. Seriously, a nice rest full evening. Steve was even there!

OK, so that was Thursday. Friday we went to TUCSON!! We camped out on CJ's front porch! We even brought the dogs and the trailer.

There were many other things that happened, cards read and loved, and the fellowship in Tuscon was great. It brings me great joy that I am so loved.

Which leaves me staggering, staring, and gasping.

Thank you all so much.

On a smaller note:

I planned on documenting the whole trip to Tuscon with my camera. Wanna know how many pictures I took?

None.

I think this was the morning she ate a bag of chocolate.

Yup.

Then Ian and I had fun taking pictures of the hair cut he gave himself.

See how short it is?
Posing with brother will fix everything!

Then with me.......

Then brother, alone

Notice the tired confusion. Poor thing!

I know i should be in bed-but I need to share. The deoderent in my pits feels weird after a week of not.

So yeah, I made butter.

I whipped some heavy raw cream and at this point in the video, it just clicked. I mean clabbered, I mean churned into butter.

Its nice. Its raw. No one likes it but me.

Too bad for them!

I put a turkey breast in the crock pot today. So good!

http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page

What to do with ground beef?

We got some ground beef at a great deal $1.89 a lb.

Now, what to do with it? Mind you, I am not turning on the oven and the grill is about out of propane.

Last night I decided to make individual meatloaf type patties, potatoes baked in the crock pot and fresh steamed broccoli

First was the meat.

Notice the look of concentration! He is "reading" the part about washing your hands.

Next mix two eggs...

An orange bell pepper, onion, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, and misc other spices.....

Then stop and take a pic of sister.......

I pan fried these on a med heat....

These tuned out OK, but hind sight, I should have chopped the onion and pepper finer.

I am glad we have ketchup!

Tonight?

ooh la la!

Hearty Southwest Stew.

• 2 lbs of ground beef



• 1 onion



• 1 can chopped tomatoes (I had whole stewed)



• 1 cup salsa (I used a can of rotel)



• 1 can of pintos ( I had northern)



• corn



• cumin



• garlic powder



• salt &pepper



• cheese for the top

Fry the meat and onion. Put everything in but the cheese after the meat is cooked!

I had to add some more water, and an extra fresh tomato. I let it simmer for about half an hour. It was so yummy! I served it with some rolls and butter!

There was no left overs!

I caved in~

I sprayed my yard and part of my house for bugs. Hopefully it will really work. So far I have found many dead crickets, a dead black widow, and some other miscellaneous ones like silver fish and ear wigs. So, only time will tell if the dreaded ones are gone.

Steve thinks I shouldn't talk so candidly about the subject. Maybe I shouldn't, but it is a part of the daily living in this house, and I do have to deal with them on a daily basis.

Maybe it would explain to everyone why part of my hair is missing? Or why I panic when I am on the phone with someone gasping "Oh no! Its near the babe!" When someone asks whats going on? Should I casually suggest "nothing" as I am exacting revenge on a seemingly indestructible creature? Or why I am manically laughing while I am flushing the toilet for the third time in a ten minute conversation?

No, I tell everyone in hopes that they, if ever in this situation, would get some comfort or maybe find humor in the situation.

I wonder what it's going to be next?

You know what?

My dog, the old one that is supposed to know better, pooped in my kid's room last night. Oh, and he peed too.

I wonder what type of day this will turn out to be?

Moto Moto means hot hot!

OK, lame o reference to a certain movie, but man its hot! The temperature has been high and in the house? Lets say my Kefir is having no problem consuming more milk than my four year old! I am not looking forward to a dismal summer including an early morning scramble to get the bread in the oven (Scramble, ha ha. More like some chaos!) before it gets too late in the day.

The heat seems to bring out vermin. The blood sucking kind. Last year it was crickets, this year its ticks. I am mortified to say they are trying their best to make our home theirs and


I CANT STAND IT!!!!

They are seriously not allowed or invited for that matter. It wont be long before I pull my hair out, just wait and see.

For now I just mutter under my breath and drop the ones I find in a jar of Tea tree oil and vinegar. I have treated the dogs, the dog beds and every paraphernalia they have. What the heck? They need to go away already!

"And now for something completely different!"

I really enjoy poppy seeds.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Indeed it does.

I am truly missing my friends that are in other parts of the country, and state, and city for that matter.

I have a longing to send something to all of them, because lets face it, we all love getting things in the mail. I am just afraid my stuff wont be "cool" enough. But I guess that wont matter all that much, stuff is stuff.

What could I send the college students who are limited with space? The girls who are main stream and the ones who are not. What if I sent a pair of potholders to the ones who might not cook?
I act like I have many friends, heh heh, but I really don't.

I go for quality, not quantity.

Don't put that in your mouth! You have no idea where it's been!

That's what I feel like after a couple weeks of no blog. I am missing in action and out for lunch, or any other cliche for that matter.

Things here are as great as can be. Well, I am sure they could be better, but I wont dwell on that.

I am in a perpetual state of undone laundry. We went to Parker on the 6th and all the back up from the camping trip messed things all up. I am constantly looking at a pile of clean unfolded clothes on my chair, waiting to be strewn all over the place. Which happens often, and to my dismay ends up unworn and in the dirty clothes pile because the dog has taken a liking to lying on it. I suppose I could just shake of the MASSIVE HAIR from his shedding body, but heh, that would be a lot of shaking.


Isaac has cut his first tooth while we were camping. I wouldn't have noticed except for the tooth coming out of his gum for all the kid fussed. Which was not at all. I wonder if this kid is going to be this easy going for the rest of his life!


Olivia has taken the hobby of screaming to a new level. Man that girl has some capacity! She is loud and long and if I didn't know better, I would think her arm had been chewed off by rabid wolfs. I need to harness that voice for singing, right? Besides that hobby she has taken to counting to 13, sounding out letters, and helping pick up dog poop. A screaming pooper scooper.


Lets see, what is Ian up to? This kid is doing so much, so quickly, that my head spins trying to keep up. The things that come out of his mouth floor me. Kids indeed say the darnedest things. What those are I cannot remember, but trust me, they are good! I have been working on math, reading and sounds in general, but mostly he has been striving to WRESTLE WITH HIS BROTHER! They both love it, but as with anything it can get out of hand quickly. I guess Isaac gets tired of pinning Ian down.


Mostly days go by and things are the same, but there are some great moment to be had, and when they do I cant remember enough to blog about them. I wonder if that is a side effect to motherhood.


Right. Until then.

FOR TODAY Jan 19, 2008

Outside my window...I cannot post during the day, I have not the time, so therefore it is dark.

I am thinking...So many things ranging from here to there. I think crazy things will be happening and no one will know better.

I am thankful for...Being able to worship freely and for my house. I am glad I have a roof over my head.

From the kitchen... Would you believe it? all the dishes are washed and there are cookies waiting to be baked.

I am wearing...Uh, hmmm, just what is this I am wearing? Could it be the SAME THING I HAD ON LAST TIME! ? ! Seriously, I am pathetic.

I am creating...so humbling, nothing. Well, cookies in a few.

I am going...tomorrow to Bashas and getting some bread for .50 cents to be put in the freezer, and albertsons to get some other nonsense. What ever.

I am reading...Romans, and the makers diet. So not reading much.

I am hoping...to get some good sleep. I am exhausted at the thought of driving to town tomorrow.

I am hearing...Olivia is fond of screaming.

.Around the house...things are quiet, because all the action is now in here.

One of my favorite things... a basil plant that is doing very well thankyouverynuch.

A few plans for the rest of the week:I am laughing hysterically at the this right now.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

FOR TODAY January 12, 2009

Outside my window... A dark evening, again.

I am thinking...that I would love to feel better. I have a monster headache from a sort of cold. Kefir is helping keep it from being full blown.

I am thankful for... My Husband again. I am so proud he want to provide for us. I am also thankful for my salvation, it gives me a great peace in these uncertain times.

From the kitchen... ack, the kitchen. I have dishes calling me, otherwise I am ignoring it.

I am wearing...Sweat shorts (shame on me) and the same dingy old shirt. I claim not feeling well.

I am creating...more laundry? Nothing at the moment.

I am going...to have a steamy shower, then to bed, hopefully...

I am reading...I am reading the book of Romans. It will take me some time, as it is a lot to absorb.

I am hoping...that I will train these children well. Enough said.

I am hearing... children's Bible songs, thanks to Etner's Gma. We love em.

Around the house...It seems mostly tidy, with clean laundry to fold, as always.

One of my favorite things...Kefir

A few plans for the rest of the week: Organise the kids room, and the computer room closet. If this happens I will be thrilled.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

The simple woman Monday.

Hopefully I can keep this up! =)

FOR TODAY January 5Th 2009...
Outside My Window... it is dark and cold. It's about 8:30


I am thinking... that I would like to make some sort of starter for a bread for tomorrow.


I am thankful for... My family, and my husband. He seems to love me, just as I am.


From the kitchen... You wont believe this, but its mostly clean! well until I get to making a starter!


I am wearing... a skirt and dingy top. The day is done.


I am creating... nothing yet. I need to sew something.


I am going... to work on potty learning for my girl. Keep me in prayers.


I am reading... Bread recipes and blog posts.
I am hoping... I want to get organised, and keep it that way
I am hearing... Music from another woman's blog.


Around the house... little face girl is playing with a tank brother got for Christmas, Pumpkin head is eating gram crackers and I am here.


One of my favorite things... Bree cheese.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Keep the house nice and tidy, bake some bread and get Isaac's clothes organised and in his new dresser.


Here is picture thought I am sharing...




http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/