Maybe Carrying Frugality Too Far...

One of our two stops during our one preparation-day-out trip today, was at Joann Fabrics and Crafts.  I wanted to get some double-sided 12 x 12 card stock (yes, really!  I have a birthday project coming up), some wet glue, and a Wilton spoonula.  Two out of three was pretty good!  I can get the spoonula at Michaels next time I go.  Which may be sooner rather than later since I have a bug for it!

When I got back to the car I found that Dear One had been doing a bit of cleaning out (in the passenger side foot well), which he put in the nice re-useable shopping bag I found at Safeway with orange slices on the outside.  This is a bag I really like.  Dear One added a crunched up cube box of Kleenex we have had in the car since we left Vermont, and which has seen MUCH better days, plus an empty box which had held a lightning-to-USB cable, and, embarrassingly enough, an empty Whopper Jr box.  Quite a nice hoeing-out job in my absence...

After doing a few other necessaries in the kitchen after we arrived home, I went into the study to do some writing.  M called and as we talked I got the gray duct tape and repaired the Kleenex cube. (One of the main bonuses of having a cell phone is that you can move around while carrying on a conversation.  I do like that bit about a cell phone, especially since the duct tape was in the top drawer of the bureau in the bedroom next door.)

As you can see, this is not a glorious project, but since there was almost a full box of Kleenex (I guess we have not had too many sneezing fits or colds since Vermont, which is nice to contemplate and for which to be very grateful), it seemed a shame to just throw it out, which was Dear One's plan.  Now, don't get me wrong, he is pretty frugal, too, but he was not wedded to that box of Kleenex.  Obviously, I have been, and see no reason not to keep it going a while longer...

Possibly this is carrying frugality too far, but I am not convinced of it.

Wednesday Wonders: Spring Popping Up Outside Our Window

When we came home from the office, imagine our surprise when, just past mid-January, we saw this sight:

This is right outside the second bedroom/study (NOT TO BE CALLED WORKROOM just in case I get any funny acquisition ideas...) window!  So wonderful. I can hardly wait to see what it turns out to be.  I do think maybe daffodils and hyacinths.  If hyacinths, I will have to turn down the thermostat, open the window to the screen, put on a sweater, and breathe in the fragrant deliciousness.  I will keep you posted!

Frugality: Strip Cards

This week I needed to make some envelopes for forwarding mail to some missionaries who had gone home.  Well, not needed to, but wanted to. As I was working on the envelope I put the leftover strip of colored paper into the leftovers box and put it back under my desk.  A lightbulb went on!

After taking out the leftovers box again, which was all strips of colorful papers in various widths, I took it to the guillotine cutter and cut off the white strip that held the paper glued into the paper pad. There were a LOT of strips!  Some of the envelopes required a piece of paper 11 x 11,  others 9 x 9, etc.  There were many strips to choose.  Since I love making cards, I thought these would be perfect.

This is what I did for the first card.  (Well, maybe I have done this before, maybe even blogged about it, but I don't remember...one of the bonuses of growing older: everything is new and exciting.  Even if you have done it a dozen times before!)

Here is the front of the card onto which are glued five strips.  After they dried I cut them and then folded them into A2 sized cards.  I did discover that I had not put enough glue along one edge of one strip so I inserted more glue there, which seems to have worked.

There was a little bit of overhang on the back which I cut off.  When I cut it off, there was an apparent unevenness so I put it back in the guillotine and made another cut.  The end result was that the card was slightly smaller than a standard A2 but close enough for me.

Here is the final card and the envelope it went into.  It makes me happy to make cards.  In this case, there were two cards, so one is sitting in my drawer with the the other cards I have made doubles of.  Nice to be ready to share a thought with someone at the drop of a hat.

Munchie Monday: Kathy's Cashew Brownies

Here is a recipe I found by a fluke. I contacted the creator of the recipe for more details.  Here is how I did it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place a large sheet of aluminum foil into an 8 by 8 inch baking pan.  Spray with vegetable spray.

In a medium place 1 cup cashew butter, 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 Tablespoons maple syrup, and 2 Tablespoons sifted unsweetened cocoa.  Stir until well blended.  Add 1 cup chocolate chips.  I used about 3/4 cup white chocolate chips and 1/4 mini semisweet chocolate chips in an effort to use up everything in our kitchen before we return home in a few months.

Spread the brownie mix evenly in the prepared pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool then cut.

This is the "before" picture which was actually taken about five minutes after placing in the hot oven.

After 20 minutes in the oven the brownies looked like this.  The middle seemed a little soft so I cooked them longer.

After 25 minutes they looked pretty much the same so I took them out.  After letting them cool for a couple of hours, I cut a small piece.  The part that had been soft at 20 minutes was still soft.  The edges were pretty much solid.  They tasted okay.  The chocolate chips made them seem like they had way more sugar than the 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup would make you think.  That cup of chocolate chips was almost all sugar so  that should not be a surprise.

Dear One said they were okay.  Now to get the rest of them to our friend for whom I made them before we eat them up...

Family Photo Friday: "McIntosh" Men

Here are the matching men and boys to last week's photo.

Guy Ford with DF and CF in front of him.

Grant Lester Matthew Corwin with Grant Lester Corwin II in front of him.

Lucien F. Trottier and LT in front of him.

DW with DW in front of him. 

Roland Burbank McIntosh with Everett Roland Corwin in front of him.

Because of the gun and the empty deciduous trees, I am thinking this might have been during hunting season though the short-sleeved shirts would tend to make me think otherwise since hunting season is in November.  Though maybe early summer before the leaves were fully out. 

Now, Cousins,  will you please correct any mistakes I have made. Do any of you have copies of this picture?

It has been my practice not to name living people, either in a public family tree or on these pages so please be circumspect when you make those corrections.

You can see the same rabbit house behind and to the right in the picture.  I don't remember how long the rabbit project went but they were sure cute to a little girl.

Gnome Project Update

Tonight Dear One went into the office to do something with his computer.  When he came back out he asked how the "Gnome Project" went.  Well,  not well, I am sorry to say.  There were multiple other projects that got in the way and that also were not finished. I hate disappointing people.  And I hate not completing perfectly good projects in a timely fashion.

The plan was to make a gnome and vest for each of the grandchildren, all gnomes being different but with the same cute gray vests.  That turned out not to happen.

The next plan was that there would be a gnome for each family.  That turned out not to happen either.

What did happen was that the same gnome you saw before is still complete.  There are four more ziplock bags with completed gnome parts in them.  Still not put together and stuffed.

And just for the record,  this guy is not as wonky-looking in the flesh as he is in my photograph...another project is to learn to take good pictures...but when it will happen is the anybody's guess.  In the meantime,  well, wonky-looking creatures and people with backs of heads showing, or the tops of heads out of the picture, etc.

So, in answer to Dear One's question: It looks like the gnome project is a bust for 2018.  Maybe 2019...?

Wedding Anniversary Punch

This past weekend we attended a 50th anniversary party for a dear senior missionary couple.  It was a wonderful party.  The punch was new to me, and very delicious.  Since their daughter was generous and shared the recipe I am passing it along.  When I went online I found there are many sites that post it.  The only difference I saw is the amount of sugar used.  This is a punch I will make sometime.

Pink Lady Punch

4 cups Cranberry Juice Cocktail

1 1/2 Cups Sugar   (we cut this in half when we made it)

4 Cups Pineapple Juice 

2 quarts 7-Up

In 2 cups cranberry juice dissolve the sugar over low heat. Chill.  Mix sugar mix to remaining juice and add the 7-up at the last minute.

Makes 32 punch cup servings

Watercolor Failure!

It turns out that I really like the look of spatter paint as a background in watercolor.  I have enjoyed making little panels then turning them into a card with something on top of the spatter.  It occurred to me that if I got a small sieve I could make better spatters.  Wrong!!  At least the first effort turned out to be a bust.

This little sieve I found at Dollar Tree.  The brush is a 3/4-inch oval wash Majesty by Royal and Langnickel.  The paper is Artist's Loft watercolor.

This is what I did--so others will know what not to do.

First I wet the brush in good shape then put lots of water into the red paint cake in the palette.  I picked up a good bit of water and brushed it across the sieve. INSTANT BLOBS of red.   Since that was not what I was going for but thought I could perhaps use them as flowers I let them be then tried tapping the handle of the brush against the metal ring on the sieve.  That DID give me the desired spatters.  Worked great.

So I tried with the blue.  I meant to just do the splatter but I had too much watery paint on the brush and it just dropped right through the sieve onto the paper.  More blobs, blue this time.  Still, I did a little spatter.

OK, I wanted to try the yellow since I am all about the primaries.  I washed the brush again, dropped water into the yellow cake then picked it up. ONCE AGAIN instant blobs, but they came out green since they mostly fell on the blue blobs.  R-r-r-r!  Not what I was looking for.  I did the tapping again and did get more spatter but this was also almost green.  Must be the brush was not completely cleaned from the blue.  Oh well.

Now I had seven large blobs of paint.  I thought perhaps if I took a wadded up paper towel I could pick up some of the blob.  Well, yes, I could, BUT rather than improving things,  the central red, blue, and yellow blobs flowed together instead of up into the towel.  Not really that pleasing a look...unless you like granulating colors.  Well, on second look now that the paint is much more dry, it is a little more interesting.  I will probably use it.

There is much to learn, isn't there?!  In every field of endeavor.

Munchie Monday: Crockpot Lentil Minestrone

Still trying to come up with Crockpot recipes for the missionaries. I tried this one out last night.

Crockpot Lentil Minestrone

2 cups lentils, rinsed (red lentils are nice)

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 large onion, peeled and diced

2 15-ounce cans Winco/store brand diced tomatoes and Italian seasoning

16-ounce bag frozen San Francisco blend mixed vegetables, or whatever you have

1/2 peeled  large garnet yam, diced

1 small zucchini, diced

1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (less salt than table salt)

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme

2 large or several small bay leaves

5 cups vegetable or chicken broth

3 cans (empty diced tomato cans) water

Put everything into the Crockpot, mix a little bit then cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  If you have fresh spinach, after 8 hours, put in 3 cups of spinach for another 30 minutes.

This is not the best soup I ever ate but it is certainly tasty enough.  I had a bowl for breakfast.  Basically you put some lentils in the pot then whatever vegetables you have in  your refrigerator, freezer, or cupboard. 

You can also add some dried pasta but add one can water for every half cup of dry pasta you add.

Family Photo Friday: More McIntosh Girls

Here are more of the McIntosh girls.

Mary Dewey McIntosh with hands on her daughter JT. She also has an older son.. 
Jean Iris McIntosh who produced four boys. 
Barbara Read McIntosh who birthed 4 boys and 2 girls.
Mary Marjorie Read McIntosh probably holding TW.
Julie Emily Burbank McIntosh seated.
JMC to Nannie's right.
PACC in front of JMC and Nannie.

Seeing TW in Grammie Tosh's arms makes me thing the reason Patricia Mary McIntosh is missing is perhaps the birth of SW kept her away from this photo function.  Just a guess.  Maybe TW and SW can weigh in on this in the comments section.

The photograph is taken at the home where I was raised.  That little while building was a joy to me as long as it was there.  To the left of Grammie Tosh there was a wonderful lilac bush which made the whole area so fragrant in the early summer.

Temple Flowers in Winter

We were able to attend the temple after our wonderful mission conference.  One of my favorite things to do outside the temple is take pictures of the glorious plants.  Even in January there are beautiful flowers.  This is the picture I took this time...actually only snapping at this one spot to spare Dear One the agony of waiting as I take fifty or a hundred pictures. Which might have happened in the past...

If that is an ornamental cabbage, it surely is a beautiful lace-y one. I love it.

Spatter Paint Cards with Additions!

Since I am participating in a drawing class by Lindsay Weirich over the internet I have decided I am brave enough to do some actual drawing.  And show it publicly.  The idea is that if I learn to draw decently then I will paint better.  This is my hope.

Since I have next to no shame, I am showing what I have come up with so far on this card project.

The first picture is my practice run.

Yes, I know they look like first grader art, but I am brave and giving it a try.

Here are the card fronts.

It is obvious that the trial train was better than the card train but I have not learned the art of erasing so as to leave something good behind so I will just send it anyway.

The tree kind of tickles me.  It is supposed to be a sort of gnarly old tree in the winter time since it actually IS winter. And the recipient is moving in the second half of life this year.  One could pretend that the spatter was a snowstorm with flakes tumbling down.

The card front in the background is a sled hockey player, in case you cannot tell.  This particular sled hockey athlete scored one or more points in a recent tournament!!  So happy for him.

Mission Crafting: Spatter Paint

With three birthdays coming up soon, I had to get rolling on birthday cards.  One idea I had gotten from M did not look like it was going to be ready in time so I concentrated on the front of the cards. and will probably just write a note inside.

Watercolor painting is a multi-step project I have learned.  We had a meeting in the middle of the afternoon after Church so I did the spatter painting before we went to the meeting to give the pictures a chance to dry completely before the next step.

This is what it looked like:

These are the cards I will use for background.  The paper is Strathmore and the paints are Winsor and Newton which came in a darling little paintbox with 14 colors and a paintbrush and tiny pan for water.  There are also several mixing areas but I did no mixing today.  I started spattering with red, then yellow, then blue, finally I added some sap green because I really love sap green!

We shall see what I decide to add to the spatters.

Munchie Monday: Whole Foods Market Sesame Tofu

The day before the falling episode I had stopped in at the Whole Foods Market near our apartment and had purchased another box of their Sesame Tofu Sticks/Logs...actually, I don't know that they are called.  They just called out to me and since I had spoken with a nice boy in their prepared foods section a few weeks before, I stopped at that display again.  A nice girl asked if she could help so I asked if they made their own sesame sauce to marinate their tofu sticks in or if they used some in the store.  They make their own.  Whereupon I asked if I could buy some.  She told me yes but that they made it up fresh and did not have any.  There was nothing for it but to order some!  So I did.  I asked for a pint which they would charge me the same price as a pound of food from the salad bar.  No problem.

On Thursday I walked home from the office again, this time ON THE SIDEWALK ALL THE WAY!!  I stopped at Whole Foods, picked up the sesame sauce and two blocks of extra firm tofu.  (I also picked up a small amount of their roasted pork which I promptly ate after paying for it.  It gave me the energy to finish my road trip...!)

When I got home I put the tofu pressing.   The next morning I put part of the sesame sauce into a glass baking dish, sliced the tofu, put it on top of the sauce then poured the rest of the sauce over the tofu, covered it with a ziplock bag and put it in the refrigerator to marinate.  Well, I also ate two, maybe three, spoonfuls of that nectar of the gods!

Tofu ready to bake

Because I was not together that night to bake the tofu, I left it to marinate until the following day which was Saturday.  I baked it for 60 minutes at 350 degrees F, checking it halfway through.  It did not look cooked enough so I left it to cook the remaining 30 minutes then shut off the oven.  I still didn't think it was ready but did not want it to burn if I got too involved in something else (a real problem for me...Dear One does NOT like to hear the smoke alarm.  It makes him lack confidence in the next meal...) so I just left it in the oven with the heat off.

Tofu out of the oven--notice the separated oil in the lower right of the picture

Eventually I pulled it out of the oven and ate a bite.  Delicious!  Since it was warm it did not have the same texture as the Whole Foods tofu, but it sure did taste good.  Into the refrigerator it went after I took one slice for making a sandwich.  I had that sandwich around 2 PM and didn't need another thing to eat the rest of the day! Seriously.  I just was not hungry.  I wonder if tofu is magic food...

Tofu after refrigeration and ready to eat cold.  Makes a great sandwich though I might slice it thinner the next time.

If I had thought that I could ascertain the ingredients in the Whole Foods Market sesame sauce, I was mistaken.  All I could tell for sure was that there was a lot of sesame oil, some ground roasted sesame seeds, and some red pepper flakes.  When the baking was done, the oil had separated from the brown sludge-like material.  It still tasted good but I cannot for the life of me decide what it is.  I probably won't buy it again because it was so expensive and I am the only one eating it but it was a good experiment.

Family Photo Friday: The McIntosh Girls

The reverse of this photograph, in my father's handwriting, is the inscription:  The McIntosh Girls, except Patricia.

Seated is Julia Emily Burbank McIntosh, born in 1864.

To her right is Mary Dewey McIntosh,  Jean Iris McIntosh,  Mary Marjorie Read McIntosh, and Barbara Read McIntosh.  Missing:  Patricia Mary McIntosh, for whom I was named.

When I turned the photograph over I had hoped to find a date.  There was none.  I am thinking Barbara looks a little expectant so that could narrow down the date some.

A Small Setback...

During the move I managed to lose my bright  lime yellow reflective vest.  Rats!  I have searched through everything, I think.  (I also lost my nifty widemouth pint Ball jars with white plastic lids in which I had stored our loose herbal tea materials...ashwaganda, dandelion roots, and others.  This really puts me off.)  Since I want to start walking again due to probable no-snow, I ordered another reflective vest...big enough that I can wear it over my heavy wool sweater in case it ever does get cold enough to wear that Elizabeth Zimmemann Adult Surprise Jacket.

This morning I told Dear One that if the vest came today I was going to walk home with my stroller at the end of work.  He asked if I wanted to walk in the rain.  I don't think I will melt so that was no problem.  If I took the route with all the traffic lights so I can safely cross roads, it is one and a half miles and takes me quite a while.  When Dear One went home that way, he did not go around to Compton Road but walked across the lawn, up the knoll, across the top, then down to the sidewalk to the first stop light.  I asked him if he thought I could take the stroller that way.  He thought the grass would be squishy because it has been raining lately.  I don't mind squishy when it is not dog-squishy.

Well, the reflective vest arrived around 9:30 AM!  Score!  So I planned to head out at 4:30 when we close the office.  I actually stopped working around 4:25, got my gray soft zippered-front sweatshirt-y-like jacket with the pocket I had altered to have a zipper on it for putting phone, keys, money, etc., donned the jacket, put on the vest, put the office phone on automatic answering, removed the big mail bin from the stroller (I normally use the stroller to go down to the first floor to get the mail in case there are lots of packages which often happens), and headed out the door. 

Dear One and I walked down together, took the elevator to the first floor, then headed out. I plugged in an audio book called "Lean on Pete" and headed across the parking lot to Dear One's route to the grassy knoll.  He headed home in the car.  It was raining just a little but I put my hood up anyway to save the life of my headphones. I also zipped up my purse and put it in the little basket under the seat in the stroller along with a bottle of water.

Starting up the hill was fine until the terrain leveled off (in about one minute!).  I had taken probably five steps onto the flat, which I could see had some puddle-like areas, but they were pretty small puddles, so I thought all was well.  The very next step after that thought my shoe was sucked into some very slimey suck-y mud.  I managed to pull that foot free from the mud but the second foot was stuck.  I got that one out but when I tried to get the first foot out again, I was off balance and down I went, and so did the stroller.  Totally blank over tea kettle.  My purse fell out, but the basket stayed in.  I was really down. I expect anyone watching got a big charge out of it.  I was actually okay with it, managed to get myself on my feet again, got the stroller righted, and started looking for some less water-logged area to cross.

At the first road crossing a woman was roaring up to the stop light and ready to turn right when she saw me in the cross walk. She screeched to a stop to wait and looked at me like she was seeing an apparition.  Oh well.  It is always nice to entertain people.

Since I was pretty sure I was covered with mud I dispensed with my planned stop at Whole Foods Market.  I did not want anyone dropping dead from shock when they saw me, I can tell you!  Instead of walking along the route with all street lights I went around the back, took 106th Avenue to Walker Road and arrived home that way.  About 30 minutes after the spectacle I arrived home.  For some reason the rug caught under the door as I tried to push my way in.  I did heat up a little at that but after about three or four minutes I got it untangled and got inside. I parked the stroller in front of the coat closet and went in the living room to show my boo-boo (or in this case, possible muddy clothes) to Dear One who was sitting on the couch researching something on the computer. 

Yep, they were muddy.  I dropped them off in front of the washer, added more clothes to the washer and ran a load.  The first time through my skirt and the sweat shirt did not improve.  They are running through a second wash cycle. I like that skirt and wear it many days. 

These are black shoes but you would not know it...

Now about three hours later I still have not showered to get the mud off my body and I am beginning to feel the effects of the fall.  It did not hurt at the moment but now...well, I am beginning to feel it.  Maybe that shower will help.

Tofu Sticks

Whole Foods Markets sells some wonderful tofu sticks/logs in their salad bar.  They are so delicious.  They are great cold from the salad bar, heated up with vegetables and grains, and warmed and put into a sandwich just by themselves.

These tofu sticks have been baked in some way so they are more chewy than mushy.  I cannot stand soft tofu, unless it is in miso soup, and then I really just prefer the miso broth and not the other stuff in the soup, except for the scallions.  The scallions really make the miso soup, in my opinion!

Anyway, the last time I was at Whole Foods I asked the nice boy how they made them.  He said he was not sure they gave out that recipe BUT the process was that they marinated the tofu sticks in sesame/ginger/garlic sauce.  After marinating, they pour some more of the sauce on top then bake for a while.  Once baked they pour more sauce over the tofu sticks and serve them in the salad bar.

This stuff tastes so good to me that one day when I was there I filled one of their small boxes full to the gunwales.  There were only two more pieces left in the salad bar pan. I could not in good conscience take them all...

This was what my effort looked like:

They do look icky but they tasted great!  Since I did not have any of the Whole Foods sauce, I made up my own with rice vinegar, sugar (about equal amounts of those two), soy sauce, ground ginger, ground garlic, Sambal Oeleck, some vegetable broth.  Since there was not enough sauce after marinating overnight, which does tend to produce a salty taste, I added more soy sauce and poured over the top on the pan which is why you see the black residue.

One thing Whole Foods Boy did not tell me was whether or not WF presses the tofu first. I did. I sliced it in half horizontally then set it on a kitchen towel that was covered with three layers of paper towels on a quarter sheet pan, put on three more layers of paper towels and a second quarter sheet pan  (which I bought for this specific purpose to Dear One's disgust) then put a few containers of food that were already in the refrigerator on top to press.  I did this in the morning then at night I pulled the whole works out (without dumping all the food containers, which was a big plus!) and removed the tofu slabs from the pans.  They were now ready to soak up the good sauce.  I cut them into sticks and started the above marinade.

When marinated well, I baked at 350 degrees F. for about an hour, turning over after 30 minutes.  The tofu sticks that were smaller were a little crispy, which was great.  The rest were nice and flavorful and chewy.  I am going to get more tofu (once the refrigerator is empty of leftovers...) and see if I can find that sauce Whole Foods uses.

New Hair Gadget

The shorter hair is growing fast and gets into my face which drives me nutzoid! Seriously.  I am constantly brushing it away from my face which makes it greasy or something. 

This shows you the hair but also gives you the bonus view of my double chin.  Well, and triple chin, too, with reminds me of Hank Amsden in our high school senior physics class who one day out of the blue (I had worn a turtle neck to class...) said, "Well, Pattie, I see you have grown a third chin."  That was a surprise.  Now I really do, but I am working on it.

Because of the nutty-making hair, when I went to Target last week to pick up bed sheets for Transfers I went over the hair aisle. I found this hair gadget and bought it, after trying it on and found it worked.

Butterflies are some of my favorite creatures.  When I had all my paper-crafting tools, I had lots of butterfly dies.  They make the coolest decorations for greeting cards.

Munchie Monday: Gastrus-Inulin Yogurt

Recently my sister sent me the link to a new kind of yogurt.  I decided that if the claims were true, I wanted to eat some of it.  Amazon was our friend and the two bottles of whatever they are  (Gastrus and Inulin) arrived quickly. 

The day after Transfers I made our first batch in our baby Instant Pot (3-quart size!).  The recipe said it might take 24-48 hours to ferment but still, I checked it at 17 hours.  Definitely NOT yogurt at that point. It went on fermenting until we got home some time after 24 hours.

This is what I did:

Smashed up 10 Gastrus tablets in a bowl with a spoon...not the fancy mortar and pestle I was tempted to get.  Well, I really was NOT tempted to get them because it would just be one more thing to 1.  spend money on and 2. have to find a way to get it home at the end of our mission or 3. leave it to make it someone else's problem.  None of these were appealing, thus the spoon and bowl.

Into this bowl of crushed Gastrus pills I put 2 Tablespoons of powdered Inulin.  Don't ask me what Inulin is, I just did it.  Maybe I should look at the label soon.

When that was ready I put one quart of dairy Half and Half in a stainless steel saucepan and raised it to well over 100 degrees F.  In theory I should have brought it up to just about boiling but did not. 

After it had gotten hot enough I now had to make it cool enough (100 degrees F.) for the pills not to be killed.  I set the pot in a sink of cold water and swished the thermometer around in it until I thought it might be ready.

When 100 degrees F. I put about 1/4 cup of the warmed milk into the pill mixture and stirred well to make a slurry.  The rest of the quart of milk I put into the stainless steel liner bowl, gently stirred in the  slurry, placed the bowl in the Instant Pot, put on the cover then pressed the Yogurt setting and went about my business.  For more than a day!

When it was done I put it in half pint glass jars in the refrigerator until I wanted to use it.

That next night I mixed 1 1/2 cups yogurt with 3/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal and 6 large frozen strawberries that I had thawed then ground up in the fabulous little Ninja food processor my sister gave me last year which I use for everything.  It worked great for grinding strawberries which I added to the yogurt and oatmeal, covered then shook the jar and put in it the refrigerator overnight.

 In the morning I added 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, a chopped banana, and a small handful of Megan's chopped pecans.  Dear One added sugar to his.

This is my bowl of mixed yogurt. It tasted very much okay.  It would not put it up there at the top of my most-loved-foods list, but I can say that one of the claims: that it makes you not want to eat again for hours, appears to be true. At least in my case.  (At the time we usually have supper Dear One said, as usual, "What is for supper?"  I thought briefly of making a remark, but then didn't.)

Since he had heard that there was a "new" meatless burger at Carl's Jr. he was willing for me to go pick up one or more depending on price. That turned out to be an adventure which ended up with two Carl's Jr meatless burgers, a veggie burger from Burger King, and french fries and onion rings from both places so that comparisons could be made.  I think we will eat veggie burgers at home for the foreseeable future...and no more french fries or onion rings.

So this yogurt seems to be successful.  We will let you know after a few more days of the overnight oatmeal. I am more ore less sure I don't want to eat it as plain yogurt...

Sunday Thoughts

As children, many learn this little prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake
I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take.

Having graduated from that sweet little prayer to more personal, intimate, and specific prayers many years ago, I still love that little prayer.

This has been on my mind lately.  If I were to die (well, when I die!) what would I want my family and friends to know that I believe?

First, that I love you all whole-heartedly. 

And then, to know that I love our Savior, Jesus Christ, with every fiber of my being.  He has made it possible for me to live again after death, and to live with Him, our heavenly parents, and our dear family members who have preceded us to the other side.  That is such a glorious concept and one I hold absolutely to be true.

Jesus Christ came to this earth as a tiny baby, just like each of us did.  He was raised by mortal parents, just like we were.  He lived an unblemished life, unlike us, in which He showed us the way to live and be happy.  As I have tried to follow His example, I have been happy.  When I have veered in a different direction, I have been miserable...so for years now, I have chosen to be happy and have done my best to live by the principles Jesus taught...to love God and to love and serve our fellow beings. 

It brings me great joy to occasionally do some good thing that appears to bless the life of another.  Those times make me want to do good things more often.  I feel that Jesus and Heavenly Father smile on me at those good times.

When the day comes that I get to join family and friends on the other side, I will rejoice. I will not fear.  It will be a glorious homecoming I am absolutely certain.  While I will miss my dear ones here, I know they, in their turn, will be joining us one day.  And think of all the things we have wondered about that we will instantly know!!  And other things we will come to know as we reside there and continue learning.  Wonderful!

Food Friday: Quick and Easy Light Vegetable and Bean Soup

We had about 1/2 cup of dried white beans sitting on the counter who were just dying to be used up.  I put them in a bowl of water and let then sit overnight. And then one more night, then rinsed them really well and dropped them into the Instant Pot.

Two medium red potatoes, skins on,  were diced, one sweet onion was diced, and two cloves of garlic were chopped and all were thrown into the Instant Pot inner liner bowl.

Next I threw in probably 1/2 cup of uncooked macaroni and 2 Tablespoons of Kirkland's No Salt Seasoning.  Finally I put in 1 1/2 quarts of homemade vegetable broth.

Because I doubted if Dear One would buy into this "using up of things we had lying around waiting to be used",  I set the timer on high pressure for 45 minutes. I did not care if the soup was mushy.  I like mushy.

When the soup had cooled down naturally for 15 minutes, I checked it out.  It was so lightly flavored that I stirred in 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon powder. It tasted really good to me at that point.  (As you can tell by this, I am a salt person...) . Dear One did eat part of a bowl, but he had already eaten scalloped potatoes and Gardein Non Chicken tenders, so he was not too hungry.  No problem.  More for me.

Fake Skookie

For the departing dinner this Transfer I was asked to help the President's daughter make Skookies.  

Skookies?  What ta heck is a Skookie?  Since I did not know, first I went to Google.  Well, that was good, but how did it work?  So I went to YouTube and watched many videos on how to make them.

One of the people did not have a Skookie pan but used something she already had in her kitchen.  I wondered what I could use.  And found something!

Since I was not in the mood to make cookie dough, I thought I would try using the chocolate chip cookie rolls you can find in the refrigerator section at the grocery store.  It worked.

What I did:  

First I set the oven to preheat at 375 degrees F.

Next I lightly sprayed my pans with vegetable spray.

Finally I cut a piece of the cookie dough roll about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 inch thick and smushed it into the pan and put it in the oven to cook.

At 10 minutes I checked on it--not done.  Back in for 5 more minutes--still not done.  Back in for 3 more minutes, then considered it done.

After pulling the pan out, I let it cool for 5-10 minutes then put a scoop of ice cream on it and some chocolate syrup over that and fed it to Dear One.  It was too much treat for him so he put half of it in the freezer...then pulled it out the next day and finished it off!  I guess it was okay eating.  I ate mine and suffered the misery of the damned, at least in my head, for eating that much sugar.  It was way over the edge sweet-wise (and my glucometer reminded me the next morning).  I am sorry I still have in my head that I have to finish what is on my plate...

A Card Making Tool

Making cards to send to friends is a sweet past-time for me.  There are a very few tools that help things along.  One of them is a "score board"...a large square with numbered grooves in it to indicate where to make scores in paper and card stock.

In Vermont I have a Martha Steward score board.  Not to helpful in Oregon.

In Oregon I have an E K Tools score board which I have been taking back and forth from the apartment to the office when I knew I wanted to make a card.

Miracle of miracles, I found a Scor Buddy by the Scor Pal people.  It is small,  really just large enough for card making, and comes with a soft zippered pouch.  I took it to the office and now have it in my "art drawer".

This is really very convenient and works well.

Watercolor Card Attempt

This new year I hope to make progress with watercolor painting.  To do this I need to take the advice of Ed Kadunc from whom I took a series of classes at Court Street Arts in Haverhill, New Hampshire.  He said to become an artist requires little steps consistently taken...every day work a few minutes and eventually we will improve.

He was a wonderful teacher, and one I would love to learn from again.  I have no creativity myself, but can follow instructions to some extent.

Working on my own, this is what I come up with:

Pitiful, but still fun.  I am grateful to recognize the poorness of this effort and yet feel it is a starting point.  I wish I had a copy of the best painting I did with Ed's assistance.  I don't really even remember it, but recall that it struck a chord in me.