Works For Me Wednesday - Small Blankies

Two of my little monkeys are "blankie girls". They love to carry around their special blankets and they take them everywhere. Their grandmother made them little travel size ones which is so much easier than them dragging around the full size ones they have at bed time. Their Mommy says that is what works for them! For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas please vist Rocks In My Dryer.

Blessings,
Liisa

Holiday Weekend

My son has made it home safely from Pitch and Praise and he had a wonderful time. Praise the Lord!

We had a really nice weekend just my hubby and I. I am so pleased that we are growing closer instead of apart as some couples do. I have read numerous stories of couples who split up when their children leave home because suddenly it is just the two of them and they don't know each other anymore because all their energies or at least the wife's energies have gone into the children and the marriage is neglected. How scary! One day all children leave home but a marrigae is meant to last a lifetime.
Let's all be sure not to neglect our hubbies. Let's make time to make them feel loved and special and important because they are!

Saturday morning I went to help with the church cleaning bee and my hubby went to get the garden ready at the farm. Afterward we went to a nearby town shopping, when we got back we visited a few friends and then came home to relax and enjoyed some pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. They were so easy! I put a pork loin in the crockpot and covered it with BBQ sauce before I went to the church in the morning then when we were ready for dinner my hubby shredded it with two forks, stirred it up and we put it on buns. Yummy!

Sunday after church we went in search of the elusive morel mushrooms. We didn't find any but it was such a fun afternoon strolling through the woods togther. So beautiful!
We did find wild ginger which according to the books I read you can cut up or dry and grate and use just like regular ginger. So exciting to find these things!
We followed that up with a quiet night at home just relaxing.

Yesterday, sinc eit was a long weekend (Victoria Day) my hubby was out so I gave the house a really good deep cleaning. So nice and fresh in here now! I love it! I also cleaned my son's room before he got home. 17year old boys in my experience are allergic to REALLY cleaning their rooms so it was more than overdue and nice for him to come home to everything fresh and clean and uncluttered.

Now today we are back to regular routine, which is nice too!

Speaking of routine I better get back at mine!

Blessings,
Liisa

Instruction Manual

Life would be so much easier if everyone would just read the instruction manual!


I saw this on a t-shirt - so true!

Blessings,
Liisa

Prayer Please

If you have a moment would you please pray for the safety of my son as he travels to Pitch and Praise this evening. He will be gone with a group of youth from our church until Monday. They will be camping with about 2000 other high school students. I pray it is a safe time of drawing closer to God and of good fellowship with others.

Thank you!

Blessings,
Liisa

Rhubarb

I meant to post about this a few days ago but this week has gotten away from me again! Just so much to do with the upcoming banquet at church but it has been a good week - just busy, busy, busy! ~smile~

I usually have a yard sale each summer and I bake several pies which I sell at it as well. My neighbour always buys a rhubarb pie and she was talking to my hubby the other day and asked him when we'd be having our yard sale so she could buy a pie. I had just been out to our friend's place to pick rhubarb so I made a pie for her as a gift and one for our family. Both were rhubarb but quite different! For my neighbour I made a regular rhubarb pie and for our family I made a Dyson Rhubarb Pie. I do not like rhubarb but I love this pie! The only other thing I like rhubarb in is rhubarb bars - so yummy. I thought I would share both these recipes since rhubarb is in season in our area!

Dyson Rhubarb Pie

1 1/2 cups rhubarb, cut fine.
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. flour
Dash salt
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. butter
1 unbaked pie shell

Mix rhubarb, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp. flour, salt and egg.
Pour into shell.
Mix brown sugar, 2 tbsp. flour and butter.
Sprinkle mixture on pie.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes then at 350 for 30 minutes more.
Cool before cutting.


Rhubarb Bars

3 cups raw rhubarb cut up
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
Combine and cook until think, stirring frequently.

1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Mix together until crumbly. Pat 3/4 of mixture into ungreased 9x13 pan, spread rhubarb mixture over base.
Sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Blessings,
Liisa

Frugal Friday - Knowing Where Your Money Goes

We are in the process of cutting our spending so I thought I'd share one of the things I did toward that end. The other morning I spent some time going through our bank statement from last month and writing down in categories where our money has gone. This has been a great help in stopping excess spending because I now know exactly where all our money goes. It was an eye opening experience because I also totaled those categories and got an accurate picture of just how much all the little things add up to over the month. Wow!

We will be using an all cash system from now on as well. Debit cards are convenient but a little too convenient and it is really easy to lose track of just how much you are spending.

For more Frugal Friday ideas please visit Biblical Womanhood.


Blessings,
Liisa

Works for me Wednesday - Chair Back Covers

At our church we are having a banquet to celebrate the dedication of our new building and we would like it to be elegant. The only trouble with that is that we have wooden chairs - you know the kind that stack up on each other. We also have several truly ugly orange chairs of the same type. We will need to use all of these chairs and were dreading the thoughts of these chairs spoiling the look of the room. The solution - chair back covers! We were blessed to find two large bolts of fabric left by the previous owners. This fabric is enough for us to make twelve table cloths and the chair back covers. So everything will match and look a little more formal. To make the chair back covers we are sewing them like little pillow cases to slip over the backs. They will just cover the top. We will be able to wash them if needed and reuse them for any special occasions.

Chair back covers work for me! For more ideas please visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Blessings,
Liisa

Frugal Friday - Foraging

This week for Frugal Friday I thought I'd tell you what my hubby and I were doing this past Saturday. We went picking wild leeks. What fun! Just strolling through the bush with my hubby was such a blessing. We had a great time and once we found our first patch of them they were quite easy to find. They are so yummy, all natural and best of all they are free! Wild leeks can be used in any recipe in place of onions or garlic and they are also very good pickled. To keep them for recipes you just blanch and freeze them. We will be going out again this weekend foraging for wild leeks - frugal, healthy and fun!

For more information you can visit these sites....

The Forager Press

Southern Food

North-Link


Blessings,
Liisa

Chocolate Peanut Butter Macaroons

I made these cookies to take to a group who were busy cleaning out a house. I felt badly that I wasn't able to help because of my little monkeys but I thought perhaps we could bring them a little treat to keep them going while they work. The little ones and I took them over this morning. These are perfect when you are pressed for time and I always have the ingredients on hand.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Macaroons

2 cups sugar
4 tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine

- Mix together in a pot. Bring to a boil.
- Boil one minute - remove from heat.

Add:
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups oats

-Mix well and drop onto wax paper or tin foil and let cool.

What Doesn't Work for Me

There are so many things I have learned the hard way or am still in the process of learning I don't know where to start! ~smile~

What doesn't work for me is trying to do too much. I have a nasty habit of getting an idea for an event or project and I just love to plan it all out but then I always discover that it is just too much - but not until it is upon me and I have to finish it. I also have a bad habit of volunteering for everything. I end up stressed out and my home shows my lack of time and attention and my family is unhappy but I somehow fail to learn these lessons! It isn't even a case of not being able to say no - it is me that just has a compulsion to do all these things - no one even has to ask me! ~sigh~ Perhaps one day I will learn!

For more of what doesn't work please visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Blessings,
Liisa

Note- I wrote this post on Monday and Tuesday I came across this post on Biblical Womanhood by Joy of Joy in the Journey. The portion that really hit home for me was...

First, before you think of expanding your realm of ministry in any capacity, you need to look around and ask yourself honestly, "Is my family cared for to the very best of my ability?" and "Is there something that I could be doing for them, that I'm not doing now?"

Don't you love it when God provides just what you need when you need it? I do!

Blessings

I always sign my posts and emails "blessings". I was thinking today as I was typing that what blessings I have experienced today.

Today I was blessed with four sweet little monkeys to watch. Three of my regular little ones and my friend Lisa's daughter was able to join us for the day as well. They have been playing so well together and that is such a blessing as things were off to a rocky start this morning.

We headed out for our walk in the rain armed with umbrellas and a plastic stroller cover - I am blessed to have these things to allow us to walk no matter the weather but it soon let up and we were able to just enjoy our time out.

I found a really big bag of spring colored m&m's for just $2 so I will be able to use them to make cookies...after I sample one or two just to make sure they aren't poisonous or something. ~smile~

My hubby has a job where I can communicate with him by phone or email throughout the day if I need him.

My son has an absolutely fantastic sense of humour and is an unending source of laughter in our home. He is also such a good boy. When I see the things other teens are doing or involved in I can't help but thank God that he is not involved in those things and that we have a very good relationship with him.

My church family blesses me with their friendship and kindness.

Our home is filled with love and laughter and sometimes more than our fair share of teenagers!

The sun is shining and the sky is blue and things are turning greener and greener outside every day!

There are so many more things that I have been blessed with today and I thank God for each one of them!

What blessings have you experienced today?

Blessings, *wink*
Liisa

Wonderful Sunday

Yesterday we were very pleased to have Karl Berg speak at our church as our pastor is away at a conference. Karl is an incredible musician with several Cd's available. He leads praise and worship as well when he comes and it is such a powerful experience. When he speaks he combines the sermon with his songs and it is unique and so encouraging to hear him. One of the things he said that really touched me was that he said that we should throw away all the ideas of who God is that we have been taught by this book or that book, or this person or that person and take time to really get to know Him on our own. That we should spend time in prayer and conversation with Him. Really open ourselves up to Him and have a desire to truly know who He is.

He also talked about the difference between a servant and a son. He said a servant serves out of duty and fear, a son serves out of love and a desire to serve. We are children of God and should act like it.

It was a really uplifting morning!

To learn more about Karl please visit his site.

Blessings,
Liisa

Recipes and Magazines

I have two tips today for Frugal Friday this week. The first one is to take out recipe books from the library and copy out the recipes you would like to try on index cards and file them in your own recipe box. I am doing this right now with the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Not only do I save the cost of purchasing the book but I also save the space required to store all these cookbooks making life much easier!

The second tip is to purchase your magazines at the second hand store. I do this all the time and pick them up for a quarter each. Often the current month's copy is there and I have even found fishing and outdoors magazines for my hubby. ~smile~

For more frugal tips and ideas please visit Biblical Womanhood.

Blessings,
Liisa