Baking Bread

When we took the lid off of our freshly milled flour, we found the imprint from the lid -- GLAD! Beth and I decided we are GLAD that we are now milling our own grain and baking our bread. Maybe you'll see why in the pictures to follow:

Making Sandwich/Hamburger Rolls

After the flour is mixed and it rises for the first time (I do those steps in the bread machine), we take out the dough and divide it into about 15 pieces.

Then we roll one portion into a ball.

Then we roll it into a "log."

Then we tied it into a knot and put it on the cookie sheet.

Then I placed them in the oven to rise.

Take them out of the oven -- Mmmm...they smell good!

And here is our finished sandwich roll!

This is some Mexican Corn Bread I made using my Mom's cast iron corn muffin pan.

On Saturday, Beth and I made homemade bagels. These are sooo good, and they were fun to make!

Yes, I'm Alive!

It's been an entire week since I posted, and I have not had time to sit down and post about anything. I don't have time right now either, so this is going to be a quick one. I'll elaborate more later:

Camping: We had a blast! The weather was perfect. The food was good. The fellowship was splendid! We wore ourselves out!

Grinding Wheat: I got my new Wonder Mill on Monday. We are totally hooked on grinding our own wheat and baking our own bread now. We feel better and it sure does taste better! Right now I have two bread machines going in my kitchen. I have them both on the dough cycle, so it will mix it for me and let it go through the first rising. Then I'll take them out and with one I'll make two pizza crusts for supper tonight, and with the other the kids and I are going to make bagels. (I do have pictures to share from breadbaking last week).

Handwriting Job: Completed!

Beth: She's been going to volleyball camp every morning this week.

Ben: We've been hanging out here doing stuff around the house that needed to be done. We shopped at Walmart this morning (oh, joy...).

We went to the pool yesterday and this afternoon.

Beth had a volleyball game Tuesday night...won one, lost two.

We've been busy, but we're having fun!

Going to the Wild

Tomorrow we leave for our three day camping trip. Yaah! I cooked all day (I'll post more about that next week). But, I should have enough prep work done that I can kick back and relax this weekend.

I'm taking some magazines with me, maybe my crocheting, and my bicycle. No swim suit this trip. Today's high where we are going was 59 degrees! I think it will be a little warmer this weekend, but I do not forsee the lake warming up enough between now and Saturday for me to get in it!

Neal and I had an accomplishment this morning. We have been walking each morning around 6:30ish with our dog Susie (some mornings Susie walks us).

Each day we walk a little further and a little further. Our goal was to reach the end of our road which is a big hill. The hill goes down to a busier road. Well, this morning we made it! (I think it's a mile to the end of our street) Then we had to turn around and come back! Yikes! LOL It's a pretty steep hill, and we were a little out of breath, but at least we could continue talking the entire walk up. We walked it in 30 minutes. Now we'll have to see if we can shorten our time. Yaah for us!

Oh, the kids made Neal the coolest Father's Day gift. But I'm going to have to leave you hanging on this one until we get back. I'll be sure to take a picture of it on Sunday and blog about it.

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there!

Gasoline vs. Liquids

I have seen this "forward" before, but I still think it's an interesting way to put gas prices into perspective. I haven't checked the validity of this letter, but it makes sense to me....although I do wish gas prices were lower! :o)

GAS VS LIQUIDS (U.S. gallon = 4.6 liters Imperial Gallon)

All these examples do NOT imply that gasoline is cheap; it just illustrates how outrageous some prices are....

You will be really shocked by the last one !!!! (At least, I was...)

Compared with Gasoline......

Think a gallon of gas is expensive? This makes one think, and also puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 . $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19 .$9.52 per gallon
Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 . $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray 16 oz $1.25 . $10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 . $33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil 6 oz $8.35 . $178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 . $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 . . $25.42 per gallon
Scope 1.5 oz $0.99 .$84.48 per gallon

And this is the REAL KICKER...

Evian water 9 oz $1.49..........$21.19 per gallon! $21.19 for WATER and the buyers don't even know the source (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)
Ever wonder why computer printers are so cheap? So they have you hooked for the ink. Someone calculated the cost of the ink at................ you won't believe it................... but it is true......................... $5,200 a gallon. (five thousand two hundred dollars)

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, or Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, Nyquil or God forbid, Printer Ink!!!!!

Quick Update

The home school conference was fantastic! I had lots of fun with my friends, and I learned a lot! Our keynote speakers were Dr. Emerson Eggrich (Love and Respect), Doug Phillips (Vision Forum), and Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis). There were tons of workshops to choose from. In the past, all of my emphasis has been on my homeschooling. This year, however, I felt the Lord lead me in a different direction. The health of my family. I attended one class called Biology of the Brain. It was a very interesting look at natural ways to treat ADD, ADHD, hyperactivity, depression, and even autism. But the place I learned the most was through a couple of classes by Sue Becker (www.breadbeckers.com). She taught about healthy eating and specifically about grinding your own wheat and making fresh, homemade bread. The health benefits of grinding your own wheat are astronomical. I purchased some wheat and used my friend's electric mill to grind it. My family loved it! It is so much more filling than store bought bread and so much better for you. It doesn't take long at all to grind the wheat, and with a bread machine or mixer to mix the dough, baking bread doesn't take that long either. This is what I've made this week: muffins with fresh strawberries and raspberries and chopped pecans (out of Neal's garden), and blueberry muffins with blueberries out of Neal's patch. The family loved them! I also made pizza dough and dough for a reuben "calzone." Again, they all thought it was delicious. Today Beth made two loaves of Ezekial Bread (recipe is on the website). I bought a mix from them at the conference though, and used it. I don't know if it's the way we made it or maybe we baked it too long, but it's not my favorite. The kids loved it fresh, however. Neal told me tonight to go ahead and order the Wonder Mill. I can't wait to get it! Maybe it sounds crazy to add more work to my schedule, but I think the benefits will far outweigh the work!
We're going camping this weekend with some friends (my friend Jackie -- the one with the mill. :o) We camped with them last year and had a blast. We're really looking forward to this weekend. I hope the weather cooperates!
We went to the pool yesterday and today. That will probably be it for this week since I'm getting another handwriting job tomorrow. I'm not taking it camping with me, so I'll need to get as much done as possible tomorrow and Thursday. I'll also need to get ready for our trip!
I guess that's it for now. I'll have to take some pictures of our mill when we get it, and the bread of course, so that you can see what I'm talking about!

Home School Conference

Tomorrow's the day! Three of my friends and I are taking off for three days in our state's capital. :o) The home school conference officially starts Friday morning, but the exhibit hall will be open tomorrow night. We're going to meet at 12:30 tomorrow and leave for our 2 hour trip to Richmond. We'll stop and eat somewhere along the way and then go to the hotel and get our room. Later we'll go over to the exhibit hall and peruse all the wonderful books and curricula. I am so excited! We'll go to workshops all day Friday and most of the day Saturday, and return late Saturday evening.

Today was spent getting ready. I had lots of laundry to get done, and I needed to get meals prepared for my family while I'm away, so I made a big pot of beef vegetable soup, I baked some Italian chicken, and I made Amish Meat Loaf (at least that's what the recipe said it was). We had the meatloaf tonight and Neal loved it. It's different from any I've ever made before. You make the meat loaf and put it in a loaf pan and refrigerate it overnight (I didn't get it done last night so I only refrigerated it for 2 hours). Then you take it out and slice it, dip it in flour, and then brown both sides. Then you place it in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray and top it with a mixture of one can of cream of mushroom soup and 1/3 (I think) cup of steak sauce mixed together. You bake it covered at 250 degrees for 2 hours. The meatloaf itself had crushed crackers, onions, milk, salt, and pepper in it. I also added some steak sauce to the meatloaf for flavor. Ben and I thought it was "okay", Neal and Beth loved it. It is a bit tangy, so if you like tangy you may like this meatloaf! :o)

Tonight we had Fun Summer Club at church. I'm really having lots of fun with that. I'll probably do it again next year.

We're taking my van tomorrow, so I needed to vacuum it out. I had the "brilliant" idea to pay Beth to do it, and it really was brilliant! She did a fantastic job. She not only vacuumed, but she also took out the spot cleaner and scrubbed the dirty spots out of my carpet. Our van is 9 years old and it definitely has some dirty spots in it, but she made it look great. I had told her I'd pay her $5 for vacuuming, but since she did all that I gave her $10. She seemed happy...I know I was!

I'll fill you all in on my conference when I get back! Have a great weekend!

Pen Pals!

When we went to Lancaster a week and a half ago I came up with the idea of my kids having Amish penpals. I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't know if it would work for a couple of reasons:

1. Do the Amish want their children to correspond with outsiders?

2. How would I find an Amish child for them to be penpals with?

I didn't know if it would work out or not, but I went ahead and wrote down their names, ages, addresses, and interests on two pieces of paper and stuck them in my purse. When we went to the Amish yard sale on Saturday I had my opportunity. I was purchasing something and the wife checked me out. We had spoken the day before and she was really friendly. I asked her if any of her kids would want a penpal and she told me that they all already had several. But I went ahead and handed her the pieces of paper with Beth and Ben's information of them and asked her to give them to someone who might want a pen pal. I halfway thought that was the last I'd hear about that, but I was surprised. Less than a week later, Ben got a letter from a 12 year old boy named Omar. He was so excited! It was a nice long letter, and Ben started writing back almost immediately. He finished the letter yesterday and we mailed it today. (I went ahead and wrote a short letter to Omar's Mom to introduce our family to her) Today Beth got a letter from a 12 year old girl named Emma. Now she's back in her bedroom writing Emma a letter. I think Ben was even more excited about Beth's letter than she was. :o)

Monday again

Just a quick note this morning. The weekend went well. Our single mom's cookout was a big hit. We had 27 people here and the weather held out. After the last person left around 9:15 or so Neal and I quickly cleaned off the deck and put everything back in it's place. As we were putting the last thing away the first sprinkles started! Perfect timing, I'd say! :o)

Saturday morning came bright and early. We were up at 6:00 and went to the church for our used book sale. I made $86.25 so I was pretty happy. I still have my Power Glide Jr Spanish to sell. Anyone interested? It's like new!!! :o)

A migraine set in Saturday night and lasted through the night. Sunday morning I felt better, although it wasn't completely gone. We went on to church and went to Sunday School. After SS though I told Neal I needed to go home. I spent the rest of the day in bed. I'm feeling better this morning...just a little "hungover." If you have migraines you probably know what I mean.

Now I've got to run over to Walmart and get a few groceries. I'm making dinner for a couple in our Sunday school class that just had a baby. I'm going to make homemade chicken and noodle soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, salad, and I made some yummy strawberry and blueberry muffins this morning.

Toodles!

Amish Girl

Here is Beth in the Amish outfit she purchased at an Amish yard sale last week. The bonnet she purchased at an Amish store. If she were truly Amish she would be wearing a kapp, but they didn't sell those anywhere. I believe they do wear bonnets from time to time, however.

We saw a postcard with Amish girls on it, and one of the girls looked surprised that her picture was being taken. Beth and I joked that she probably wasn't even Amish and they told her to look surprised. So, here's Beth imitation of being surprised.

Our Super Baseball Player

Ben had a fun season playing baseball with a local church league. We were in Lancaster when they had their party and received their trophies, so Monday night the four of us played ball out in our front yard and then we surprised Ben with his trophy afterward.