Family Dinner

This is such a cute 10 minute movie from the 50s about the importance of the family dinner. It includes such tips as "don't monopolize the conversation", and "don't discuss unpleasant topics". Still true today! :)

Bible Stories

I've been helping my mom get some things sorted for her move and today she gave me a Bible story book. It used to belong to my aunt, my mother's younger sister. It's so cute! It has readings for 52 Sundays with three stories for each Sunday; morning, noon and evening. It was published in 1957.

Here is a quote about the author, Charlotte Yonge, a Victorian era author, from the preface:

There was then less distinction between books for the young and those for adults. this appeal to a wider age range was probably due to the habit of families reading out loud. Miss Yonge, therefore, had devoted readers in all categories, and among her adult admirers were some very impressive personages, such as: William Morris, Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Tennyson, and Lewis Carroll. Some of Miss Yonge's best-known works are The Heir of Redclyffe, The Trail and The Daisy Chain.

Clicking the names of the titles will take you to copies of these books that you can read online.

I think I'll go ahead and start reading these stories to the kids every Sunday. They still love when I read out loud and I enjoy it too.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY (October 27, 2008)...
Outside My Window...
The sun is shining and it's chilly with a very slight breeze.
I am thinking...
About our sermon yesterday. It was so good and I know I'll be thinking about it all week.
I am thankful for...
The "new" chair and ottoman that my mom gave me. It won't fit into their new house.
From the kitchen...
We're having tortilla soup and grilled cheese sandwiches tonight. I'm thinking I may make some homemade bread too.
I am wearing...
Black track pants, a pink sweatshirt that says "Mom", and pink tennis shoes. Not the cutest thing, but it's warm. I was COLD when I got up this morning. We are waiting as long as possible to turn on the heater.
I am creating...
A new furniture arrangement in my den/play room.
I am going...
To vote today
I am reading...
The November/December issue of Southern Accents. One of my many freebies courtesy of iMommies.
I am hoping...
To get all my laundry done today.
I am hearing...
The clock ticking and our canary chirping.
Around the house...
I going to clean the master bathroom today and go through my magazines to toss the ones I'm finished reading. I also need to clean out my purse and water the houseplants.
One of my favorite things...
Memories of the children when they were small. We got out their baby books last night and read through them. I can't believe how much they have grown! Where does the time go?
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
The girls are in desperate need of some warm PJs. Hopefully I can get a good deal on some at the thrift store.
Here is a picture thought that I am sharing...

I walked out on my front porch to sweep a few days ago and there were two sweet little butterflies enjoying my chrysanthemums. One flew off just as I snapped the picture, but at least I got this one to pose. :)

Read more daybook entries at The Simple Woman.

Cleaning Ceiling Fans

Living Area with Ceiling Fan
Here in Texas it is WAY too hot in the summertime not to have ceiling fans in every room. I know the designers on Trading Spaces don't like them, but I'm not planning on doing without. :)

Now that the ceiling fans are finally still, I can't believe how dirty they are! It's really odd how dirty they can get while moving so fast. I spent a good part of the day today standing on chairs and cleaning them.

I like to vacuum the edges of the blades where the most dust accumulates with the brush tool on my vacuum cleaner first. This helps keep it from landing in the carpet or on the furniture. Then I spray cleaner on one blade at a time and wipe down with a soft cloth. It's also a good idea to wash the globes on the light fixture part too while you're at it.

I know I should be cleaning light fixtures and fans way more often than I do, but at least I'm getting to them finally. :)

Holly Hobbie Apron

The girls helped me bake cookies yesterday so of course we had to get out the aprons. I thought you might like to see Cindy's Holly Hobbie apron. She had never even heard of Holly Hobbie until she got the apron, but she loves it. My best gal pal ordered it from Ebay for me (I still haven't figured out the whole Ebay thing...I know, I'm behind the times). I loved Holly Hobbie back in the 70s and I was thrilled for Cindy to have this retro apron.

Quiz: Are You a Master Chef or a Novice Cook?

Take this fun quiz from Martha Stewart. Let me know your score. I got 5 out of 8. Not all that great and I've been cooking for many years!

Planting Pansies

Pansy
The girls and I planted pansies yesterday. Pansies usually do very well in the winter here and we often plant them in the fall so we can enjoy them until it gets too hot in the summer. They are winter hardy in zones 4 through 8 (we are in zone 7).

The girls aren't too fond of weeding and some other types of yard work, but they LOVE planting flowers and seeds. They are more willing to weed the flower beds if they planted the flowers. It's also a nice way for us to spend time together. We can enjoy being outside and being quiet if we want, or talking if we want.

Some of the neighbor children stopped by to see what we were doing and it turned into sort of an impromptu gardening lesson. They wanted to know why we were planting flowers in the fall, so I told them about pansies and how they can survive a freeze and even snow. We also turned up a few grubs while we were digging (ewww!) so we had a little talk about that too as I threw the grubs onto the sidewalk and encouraged the kids to stomp on them. I know, gross, but I would rather have them squished on the sidewalk where I can wash them off than eating my flower roots. :)

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY (Monday, October 20th)...

Outside My Window...
It is warm and perfect. The sky is SO blue.
I am thinking...
Of Peter in Iraq. He's emailed almost every day lately and I love being in touch with him. I miss being able to call him.
I am thankful for...
Modern technology that enables Peter to stay in touch with us. From the kitchen...
Cherry - Pineapple dump cake for dessert
I am wearing...
A long brown knit skirt, white t-shirt with a ruffled neckline, and bare feet.
I am creating...
A scarf for Mike with gorgeous chocolate brown wool yarn.
I am going...
To pick up Bobby from football practice.
I am reading...
C.S. Lewis and the latest Hallmark magazine.
I am hoping...
For a relaxing Monday evening and maybe a walk at dusk with Mike.
I am hearing...
Greg (oldest son) playing Xbox and I have to say it's rather annoying. :)
Around the house...
I am going through the girls' winter clothes to see what they have and what they need.
One of my favorite things...
Pots of flowers on the front porch.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Cleaning out the flower beds, planting pansies and baking for Saturday's bake sale.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Scones and coffee...yum!
Find other Daybook entries at The Simple Woman.

Fall Ball is Over!

Don't you love my excellent photography skills? Cindy is the little dot with the black shirt and white sleeves in the middle of the picture.

Fall Ball is over and even though I've enjoyed it I have to say I'm glad. Less driving for me to do every week. Cindy's poor little team didn't win a single game. Fall Ball is supposed to be all about learning though, so they didn't take it too hard.

It's funny how different it is to watch girls play softball as opposed to boys play baseball. The girls cheer for each other the whole time and are so encouraging to each other. Then when the game is over both teams do a little dance in the middle of the field. It's so cute.

Cindy is not an athlete by any means, but I think softball has been good for her. She's learned to work with a team, listen to a coach and swing a bat. All skills that could potentially come in handy. :)

Links of Interest

Thought I would share some interesting things I've come across while surfing the internet this week.

Do you know what's for dinner tonight? I usually plan my menus a week at a time, but sometimes I need a little inspiration in planning. I love Martha Stewart's magazine Everyday Food and I saw in the October issue that they have a blog called Dinner Tonight. It's updated everyday at noon. I bookmarked it so I can go back often.

Have you ever wondered how we as Christians should respond to the issue of homosexual marriage? I found an excellent article titled Gender Identity, The Homosexual Agenda and The Christian Response

Just for fun take this quiz to see which presidential candidate you agree with.

Dr. Laura comments on women being dumb about beauty and fashion.

The Tasha Tudor online store. There are so many pretty things here. I love the greeting cards.

A Sure Sign of Fall

It must be Fall because I've taken up knitting again. It's just too hot in the summer, but I love to knit when the weather gets cool. Isn't that the prettiest brown wool yarn?

I've decided that I'm a "process knitter". It's all about the process rather than the outcome for me. Knitting is soothing and enjoyable and hey, whadaya know? You get something useful out of it in the end! :) Maybe that's why I've never really had the desire to knit anything complicated with lots of counting. I felt sort of bad about that for a while, but I've decided that's OK to enjoy something without ever really mastering it.

I Hate Smoke Detectors

Smoke Detector Going Off
OK, I don't really hate smoke detectors, but I was not very happy with ours last night. We have a ridiculous number of smoke detectors in our house (my father-in-law is a retired fireman) so every bedroom and every hallway has one.

Last night about 2:00AM the one in the girls' bedroom AND the one in the hall outside their door decided they had low batteries and needed to start chirping. It's a very high pitched and annoying sound. Of course this woke the girls up and they had to wake us up to tell us they couldn't sleep with all that noise.

So, Mike drug a chair out of the kitchen to stand on and took out the batteries thinking we would get to the store to buy replacements the next day. But guess what? The smoke detectors are hardwired into the house, so that didn't stop the chirping. He took the smoke detectors down and unplugged them...that didn't work either. They were STILL chirping and by this time the boys were also awake and everyone was standing in the hall looking at the ceiling. Well, except me. I was in bed with a pillow over my head trying to go back to sleep. He finally put them in the linen closet and covered them with a couple of towels hoping to muffle the sound (which I didn't discover until this morning).

Needless to say, it took a while before we were all settled back into our beds and no one wanted to get up this morning, me included. I can't really sleep with a pillow over my head. :)

I guess there's a lesson in all this. Replace those batteries BEFORE the smoke detectors start chirping so they don't wake you up in the wee hours.

On My Nightstand

I LOVE to read and always have one or more books going at a time. I recently finished all my library books, but haven't had time to check out any more. Greg saw that I was perusing our bookshelves looking for something to read and he suggested one of his favorites, The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis.

It's a series of sermons that Lewis gave during World War II. So far, I have only read the first one (the title essay), but it is fantastic, as one would expect from C.S. Lewis. He points out in this essay that we as human beings are eternal creatures. Our bodies will die, but we are created as "immortal". Our souls will endure one way or the other. It really makes me look at people in a new way. "The load, the weight, the burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it.... All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one of the other of these destinations [heaven or hell]." (pp. 46-47)

Why have I never thought of it that way before? This essay alone makes me glad to have the book.

Mondays

Ivory Soap Girl Washing
Mondays are always "catching up" days for me. I don't do a lot of housework other than cooking and dishes on the weekends, so I always feel like I have to hit the ground running on Monday morning.

Today's list:
Morning routine - check
Exercise - check
Clean master bathroom - check
Make copies of Bake Sale flyers - check
Wash sheets - check
Make this week's menu
Grocery shopping (if possible)
Blue Star Moms meeting tonight

I have a feeling that the grocery shopping will have to be put off until tomorrow. I will HAVE to at least get some milk though. This house will fall apart if we don't have milk in the morning. Mike HAS to have milk for his coffee. :)

Homecoming!

High School Football Player
It's homecoming season here which means mum making season for all the moms. The local high school football team is gearing up for the "big game".

I'm just realizing in searching the internet for ideas and pictures of mums, that this is a regional thing. I guess I thought everyone made a big deal out of homecoming. I should have known it would be only here in Texas and other parts of the South where we love our football so much.

Here's what Channel 5 from the Dallas/Forth Worth area says about the tradition of homecoming mums:

They’re big, gaudy, and expensive, but what’s the history of the homecoming mum? From its simple start to impressive current incarnation, the homecoming mum is just one of the things that is “bigger in Texas.”

Starting around the 1920s, the original design of the homecoming mum was simply a Chrysanthemum flower attached to a ribbon that allowed the “mum” to be attached to a piece of clothing. Due to the relatively fragile nature of the flower, only minor elements could be added like extra ribbons with the school’s name or colors.

At its start, mums were given by a boyfriend to a girlfriend, and while that tradition continues on today, giving “friendship” mums also gained popularity.

In the 1960s, though, the once small act of giving mums started to become a much larger endeavor as silk versions of the mum flowers were made available. Since then, mum popularity has increased, as has their size.

“The gaudier, the better,” said Gail Currie of ACI Wholesale, one of the largest suppliers of homecoming merchandise in the southwest.

“Mums started in Texas, but we’ve shipped as far as Arizona and Illinois,” Currie went on to say. “We’ve even shipped supplies to Germany.”

Booster clubs and other organizations help students build mums that can last on in time with silk flowers, beads, and all the bells and whistles – literally.

“The girls just want them big and flashy,” Currie said.

Now, it’s rare to see the small mums started nearly 90 years ago, and with homecoming games just around the corner, the mums will soon be blossoming across north Texas.

Here's a picture of a modern day mum and you can find instructions for making one here. Of course the colors and charms will be tailored to your high school colors and mascot.

When I was in high school the mums were ordered from a florist, but now they are often made by the mom of the boy who will be giving the mum. Every craft store in town claims to be "your homecoming mum headquarters".

I know it may seem a little silly to those in other parts of the country, but they are lots of fun to make and I know the girls love wearing them. What other time in your life do you get to wear so many ribbons and bells? :)

I would be very interested in hearing from all of you what homecoming traditions are (if any) where you are from.

Doom and Gloom or Lesson Learned?

TV Set
Every time I turn on the TV (which is less and less often these days) all I see is negativity and fear. Frankly, I believe that we should learn from all this and realize that we can't just buy things with no thought as to how we will pay for them and to take responsibility for our poor choices both financial and otherwise. Is is really a bad thing that it's not quite so easy to get a huge mortgage or a credit card?

A few years ago Mike and I were thinking of moving for his job (we didn't). We even started looking at houses and got pre-approved for a mortgage. The bank approved us for a ridiculously large amount that was DOUBLE the price range we were looking at. What if we had gotten ourselves into that kind of house payment? Just because a bank or credit card company is willing to let you spend the money doesn't mean you should. Sometimes we have to learn that the hard way, don't we?

Breakfast for Supper

We had breakfast for supper tonight. It's fun to switch things around every now and then, plus breakfast foods are often cheaper than an ordinary supper. Breakfast casseroles are usually easily refrigerated until ready to bake, so I put this one together this afternoon and it was so easy to just pop in the oven after I picked up Bobby from football practice. Then all I had to do was open a can of fruit and make some toast to go with it.

This is the recipe I used (except I doubled it which means I had to cook it longer and I toasted the bread first). You can find lots more breakfast casserole recipes here.

Welcome!

I love to put flowers and seasonal items on my front doorstep. I think it makes the house seem more welcoming. Today I set out a pot of chrysanthemums to go with the pumpkins that my mom grew and my little flag (sort of hidden behind the flowers).

House Hunting

Daylilies
The ranch has gotten to be more than my parents want to tackle, so in about a month they are going to be moving closer to town. They still want to have a couple of acres for the horses, but no more "middle of nowhere, dirt road" living.

I went house hunting with Mom yesterday and we had such a good time! I would love to tag along with a realtor for a couple of days just so I could see all the houses. One in particular that we looked at yesterday I just fell in love with. Her style reminded me of Ruthann's. She wasn't there of course when we looked at the house, but I wanted to ask the realtor to give her my phone number and see if she would be my friend. :) Her house was just so warm and cute that she must be the same. I want to know the names of all her paint colors and where she bought everything and did she put up the bead board in the bathroom herself, and...

I'm inspired to take a fresh look at my house and see what I can do on my (extremely) limited budget.

Apple Cobbler

My sweet mother (she of the gigantic watermelons) went apple picking and brought me some apples. One of my favorite things to make when I get fresh fruit like this is a cobbler. I figure that at least a cobbler has less calories than a pie since there is only one crust. I'm all about saving calories. :)

First you need to prepare the apples. Peel and slice the apples until you have 6 to 8 cups of fruit. Put the apple slices into a large bowl.

Pour 1 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice over the apples. Stir gently and let sit for a few minutes while you make the crust. If the fruit is really juicy, stir in 2 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch.



Now make the crust. I use my old standby Crisco pie crust, doubled. It's just so good and flaky.

Here is the recipe for the single pie crust (remember to double it for the cobbler).
1 1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Crisco
4 Tbsp. cold water
Combine flour and salt and cut in Crisco until crumbly like coarse cornmeal. Add the water; toss with a fork and make a firm ball with your hands. Place on a floured surface; flatten dough with hand and roll to about 1/4 inch thickness.



Now pour your apples into a greased 9 x 13 pan and dot with 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter or margarine.

Place the crust on top and prick the crust with a fork or knife. Dot the top with a couple of tablespoons of butter and sprinkle 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar all over.

Place in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes.

It's fantastic served warm with ice cream.

Enjoy!