Bread Crumb Cookie Recipe

This recipe comes from The Tightwad Gazette. It is on page 130 in my book and contributed by Ruth Palmer of Utah.

I had a variety of crumbs in my fridge last week. Some pound cake crumbs, muffin crumbs and banana bread that was going stale.  I thought it would be a good time to try this recipe for Bread Crumb Cookies.

Various Crumbs

Bread Crumb Cookies

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

2/3 cup melted shortening (I substituted 1/3 cup melted butter and 1/3 cup oil)

2 cups bread crumbs

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the milk, egg, and shortening. Stir in the crumbs.

Drop by spoonfuls on baking sheets. Bake at 350° F. for 15 minutes. Cool on rack. Yield 25-30 cookies.
 

Ruth Palmer adds that she has had good success substituting applesauce for 1/2 the shortening in this recipe.

My family enjoyed these cookies. When I asked Mr. In The Mid-west how he liked them he said, "They're good. They don't taste recycled." Haha! 

This is a recipe that reminds me of my grandma Jan. One year she brought us a bunch of frozen logs of cookie dough that she had made. Whenever we baked a batch of these cookies it was always a surprise. If she had bits of coffee cake or other interesting crumbs, into the cookie dough they went! We never knew what to expect! They did taste pretty good, though. :) I would describe my grandma, with affection, as a true tightwad. I could tell many such stories, and maybe someday I will.

Flannel Tissues For My Family

 My "tissue" rag basket has been needing attention for quite some time. We have used cloths in place of paper kleenex for several years. Most of our tissue cloths were literally rags, pieces of old cut up shirts. When I read Lessons From Madame Chic by Laura Scott earlier this year I was "convicted" of the condition of my kleenex rags. (She talks of always being presentable and using nice things everyday instead of saving them for a special occasion.)

This week I was cutting out and serging a bunch of nice flannel tissues for other people. As I was looking through my flannel stash I came across this lightweight plaid. I decided that I should put effort into something nice for my own family.

I made a stack of 20 new flannel tissues for us. 

Here is a Before picture,

And an After picture.

Much better! 

You can see most of the old rags were badly stained. They are headed out to the shop to be used as grease rags now.

It feels really good to put some care towards making something nice for my own family. Do you know what I mean? Are there special things you do for your family to show your love and care? I am sure there are more than you can list. As a stay-at-home wife isn't that practically the definition of the job? Sometimes I get into a routine and do chores out of habit instead of love. My work is so much more rewarding, though, when I do it out of love. Love for the Lord and love for my family. 

1 Corinthians 13:3 

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Pattern Review Website Recommendation

I have been wanting, for a long time, to sew a shirt dress (to be honest, a whole wardrobe of shirt dresses) for myself.

I was contemplating the Simplicity 8014 or the McCall's 6696. Both are really cute! I fell down a rabbit whole on the web as I went from blog to blog reading reviews on these patterns. There were even video reviews on YouTube!

https://sewing.patternreview.com/

I discovered this pattern review website. It is nice to be able to see how a particular pattern turns out for others, as well as, hear what other seamstresses liked or didn't like about the construction techniques. 

I used to think of myself as a pretty good seamstress. Coming across this community of pattern reviewer's has humbled me. I am an amateur next to these ladies. It is very exciting for me to learn that there is so much room for growth and improvement of my own skills. 

If you have ever been interested in buying a sewing pattern I highly recommend you read some reviews on this site. Sewing patterns can be expensive. It is nice to know more about the pattern you're interested in buying. The more information you have ahead of time, the more likely you are to be satisfied with your purchase. 

Another really helpful thing to do is search the pattern brand and number with a search engine online. There are a lot of blogs dedicated to sewing and reviewing patterns. They can be very informative!

Paricutin!

Job 37:5 

God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

Less than 80 years ago there lived a farmer in the small village of Paricutin, Mexico. He had a problem area in his field where the earth was dipped down and crops never grew well. He had tried to fill in the soil at that place, but it always sunk down. On February 20, 1943 a crack opened up there and fire-y ash and cinders started spitting out of the ground! A volcano was born! The man and his wife fled the field in fear. They and the people of the village watched that day and through the night as the explosive out bursts of lava and burning particles built a mountain before their very eyes! In the first 24 hours the volcano grew to 50 meters high. At the end of a week there was a 100 meter volcano in Paricutin. What did they name the volcano? Paricutin! 

My five year old son is interested in learning about volcanoes. This is a picture he drew of the Earth with lava flowing to the volcanos on Earth's surface. :)

I was fascinated by this story when I read about it earlier this year in February. I was reading a childrens picture book about volcanoes. One page in the book mentioned Paricutin. It basically said that a farmer noticed a crack in his field in 1943 and now a mountain is there. I was amazed! How could a mountain grow that fast, and so recently, and I never had been told about it? I looked on the internet for information. I found a blog post with a lot of neat pictures and other information about Paricutin. You can read it HERE. (Be warned there is some millions of years garbage on that page, but there are also a lot of links for further reading on the subject.) The pictures are unreal! The mountain looks so out of place that it almost looks fake!

I watched a short, black and white video with some actual footage of Paricutin when it was active.

This is the one I saw:

https://youtu.be/I2r7RTQ6SNk

Paricutin was active for around 10 years. Reaching it's final hight of 425 meters (about 1394 feet) in 1952.

I don't understand very much about plate tectonics. This story has spurred me to learn more on the subject. I am finding it to be very interesting! I am still not sure what circumstances made the Paricutin volcano erupt like it did. I thought it was a really neat story, though, and wanted to tell my readers about it.  

Have you heard about Paricutin before? Are you amazed by the story like I am? I hope you enjoyed reading this post!

Book Review: Tightwad Gazette

 

The Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift As Viable Alternative by Amy Dacyczyn

I read The Tightwad Gazette book recently. I really liked it. Amy Dacyczyn actually wrote a news letter by that title in the early '90's. Her news letter was hugely popular. In response to popular demand she compiled the news letter into a book. The book I read is only the first two years of the news letter. Amy Dacyczyn dislikes dry boring books and she made her book the opposite. It is very funny, with humor on every page! 

I considered myself pretty thrifty to begin with, but reading The Tightwad Gazette made me take a second look at areas I could get "tighter." I already save plastic zip top bags and rewash them for multiple uses. (My Mom taught me this, along with washing and folding tin foil for multiple uses.) After reading The Tightwad Gazette I realized that I didn't have to throw away trash bags every time either. I just take my trash bin to the big trash can that goes to the curb, and dump all the garbage into the big trash can. The liner (bag) stays in the kitchen trash can for another use. Now, I recognize this is not a viable option for everyone. Our garbage service issues us a big garbage can for the curb. This special garbage can is compatible with a mechanical arm on the garbage truck that dumps the can into the truck. Because of this mechanism our garbage man doesn't have to lift bags out of garbage cans, and I don't have to use bags in my garbage can.

After reading The Tightwad Gazette I have been asking myself, "Do I have to throw this away?" and, "Do I have to buy this?" and, "Can I repurpose this?" about things that I had never questioned before. 

Amy Dacyczyn has helpful tips, as well, as articles on deeper subjects, like, contentment. When it comes to birthday presents(or Christmas), she says, you need to know the sweet spot for how many/what kind of gifts to give for the maximum enjoyment. At a certain point opening gifts just becomes about opening gifts. You lose the joy of what's inside the package if you are just looking for the next package. Before Christmas was about all the commercials you are bombarded with on TV and the internet, only children were given gifts, and they were very simple gifts at that, an orange, a coin, a piece of candy. These simple things used to satisfy the recipient. And I think their level of satisfaction was greater to that of their modern counterpart, even though the number of gifts have grown and gotten bigger, fancier, and more exciting. Spending money does not bring joy.

Amy is very practical, too. She points out that your time is valuable. Don't do things to save money that cost you more time than the savings are worth. Repurpose items that will save you money. Don't save trash just to keep from throwing things away. Save things from the garbage if those things will save you money. Your cabinets don't need to be packed with salvaged sour cream and margarine tubs. Do you know what I mean? :)

There are a lot of tips and tricks in The Tightwad Gazette for saving money in all areas of life. Some of the information is out dated. She writes a lot about saving money on your phone bill. For instance she says writing a four page letter is going to be a more effective and cheaper way of communication than a long distance phone call. But, stamps aren't ¢35 anymore and I don't pay any long distance fees with my cell phone.

I really enjoyed this book and the format. It is laid out like a news letter. It is entertaining and informative. It helped me evaluate some of my spending habits and I learned some things. I will probably be sharing some of recipes for things like homemade bubble solution and hot cocoa mix, etc. Or other handy ideas I try because I was inspired by The Tightwad Gazette.

Thanksgiving Is Upon Us!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Busy making noodles for Thanksgiving day!

I love Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is a pure holiday with God at it's core. It is not about Pilgrims and Indians. It is not about food or football. It is about thanking God for our many blessings! 

Let me thank God publicly with you all.....

"Dear Lord, thank you for my children,

my two little boys and my little girl.

Thank you, Lord, for my husband.

Thank you for his love and companionship,

Thank you for the freedom he affords me

to stay at home and watch our children,

and make crafts and projects.

Thank you, Lord, for your word in the English language,

Thank you for preserving your word to every generation.

We can know what you really said,

Without any doubt,

You have given us everything we need to know.

Thank you, Lord, for a healthy body

Thank you for designing our bodies to heal,

injuries and infections, they are amazing!

Thank you for strong muscles so that I can lift little ones,

 and run, and hang laundry on the line.

Thank you for my clothes line, and my washer; 

new gifts this summer.

Thank you, Lord, for family and friends who love us, 

and help us, and share our burdens and our joys.

Thank you, Lord, for our home.

 Thank you for a place that is warm and dry and comfortable.

Thank you, Lord, for our Church, 

a place where we can be encouraged by believers,

to live and work for you. 

We are not alone in our service to you.

Thank you for fellowship!

Thank you, Lord, for the work you have provided my husband. 

His job and income are a blessing.

Thank you for the food we can put on our tables,

 and in our tummies.

Thank you for farmers who's labors feed the world. 

Thank you, Lord, for blessing the crops with sunshine and rain.

Thank you for our easy transportation,

Our vehicles, and fuel, and tires.

Thank you, Lord, for safety!

Especially, on our many, many travels this year.

Thank you, Lord, for all of the "little" things,

The daily answered prayers,

The flowers who's fragrance and color brighten my life. 

And, most of all, 

Thank you Jesus for loving the world,

But particularly, for loving me,

So much that you died to pay for my sins,

And offered me eternal life as a FREE GIFT!

I can't get over the wonder of it!

Thank you, Lord, for the many blessings you have showered on me!"

2 Corinthians 9:15 

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Librivox Audio Books

Librivox is a website that offers free audiobooks for books in the public domain. This is any book published before 1924. These books have no copyright and are free to the public. All the books on Librivox are read by volunteers. Some of the volunteers sound like professionals and some, well,.....let's just say they can be hard to listen to.

If you don't have a book list of books you would like to listen to it can be hard to know what to search for when you go to Librivox.org. In this post I will share a few books that I have listened to recently and also places to find interesting titles.

When you go to Librivox.org you are able to search for books by author, title, or volunteer reader. If you find a high quality Volunteer Reader on Librivox, you can just click their name and everything that they have read aloud for the site will come up.

When you click on a book you would like to listen to, you have the option of listening to it online or downloading the audio book for offline listening later. You can also turn your screen off while you listen, which is nice for saving battery life on your device. Another nice feature is that you can listen to the audio book in the background while you go to other web pages, (as opposed to YouTube, which requires you to pay a subscription fee to play in the background.)

Here is a list of books I have listened to and links to the audio book on Librivox.org. At the website there is an overview of each book to give you an idea of what the book is about. I am not going to do that here just for time sake.

Five Little Peppers by Margaret Sidney

Did you know that The Five Little Peppers is a series? I didn't know this until I saw the books on Librivox.

Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

I read this as a child and enjoy hearing it again recently.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

I never read this book growing up. I am glad I had the chance to listen to it this summer.

Thornton W. Burgess is an author I highly recommend for young children. My five year old likes to listen to his stories on Librivox. He and I both enjoy them very much.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

I haven't finished listening to this book, and therefore, can't give it my stamp of approval. That being said, this recording is superb, and the reader sounds like a professional!

I have been able to find good authors to look up through Lilacs In Springtime blog. I went to her blog and clicked on the Books tag. 

A few authors I found through Sarah at Lilacs In Springtime are:

Amy Le Feurve

I really enjoyed The Carved Cupboard and Bulbs And Blossoms by her.

Grace Livingston Hill

I haven't listened to any of her books. From what I have heard, Grace Livingston Hill wrote good, clean, Christian love stories. I am not one who enjoys love stories, which is why I haven't listened to any of her books. If you like those kind of books you should give them a listen on Librivox.

Pansy

Pansy is the pen name for Isabella MacDonald Alder. She was a prolific writer of Christian fiction. There are numerous of her titles on Librivox.

A few other book lists that I have found helpful are:

Ambleside reading list

Robinson Curriculum reading list

The link for the Ambleside reading list is for a page that is for the Ambleside books that are on Librivox. It is a very handy page. Someone has already gone through the effort of linking all the audio books. You don't have to do your own searches for the recommended authors and titles. You can just click the links and they take you straight to the audio books on Librivox.

The Robinson Curriculum Reading List link takes you to a web page that contains a very long list of books. I like the Robinson Curriculum book suggestions. I find one I'd like to listen to on the list and then go look it up on Librivox. I think all the books on the Robinson book list are in the Public Domain.

And my final recommendation for places to look for ideas for books to listen to on Librivox is:

Lamplighter Publishing

Lamplighter publishes old Christian books that are in the Free Domain. You can search for some of their authors and titles on Librivox.

If you have any old authors with books in the public domain that you would recommend, please share them with the rest of us! I would love to hear any of your suggestions!

Wait Upon The Lord

Isaiah 40:31 

 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

Does, "wait," mean sit around and do nothing?

A preacher once pointed out that, "wait," can mean, "serve." As in, "waiter," or, "waitress." 

We should be doing the Lord's bidding, much like a Lady In Waiting is doing the bidding of her Master. Jesus is our Master. He has given us much to do. He has commanded us to, "Occupy till I come."  He has commanded us to, "Preach the gospel to every creature."

Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." A preacher once put it this way, "If you aren't a fisher of men you aren't following Jesus." Jesus said he will make you fishers of men. He didn't say he might make you fishers of men. 

The point is, Jesus gave us things to do and, waiting on the Lord, is doing all those things. Waiting on the Lord is not like sitting on a bench and waiting on a bus. Waiting on the Lord is more like being on your feet, eager to fulfill His beck and call. Let's wait upon the Lord.

The following sermon is on the subject of being faithful stewards. It goes hand in hand with doing Christ's bidding. I have enjoyed it multiple times. I feel that there are many thoughts to mull over. This message has meant a lot to me. I hope you find something edifying within it, too.

Apple Butter Made With Crabapples

Crabapple Butter Recipe

10 lbs. Crabapples

1 Orange Peel (Optional)

4 cups Sugar

2 tsp. Molasses

2 tsp. Salt

1 TBS. +1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves

1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Wash the crabapples and cut off the stems and blossoms. Cook the crabapples and the orange peel, if you choose, in a large pot with a some water (about 2 cups), covered until the apples are soft and mushy (about 20-30 minutes).

 Use a Victoria Strainer to process the crabapples. This will eliminate the seeds, skins, and orange peel. 

Place the resulting apple sauce into a large roaster pan. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cook the apple butter in a oven at 350° F. for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally, until the apple butter reaches the desired thickness. 

Pour the apple butter into prepared jars. Apply lids and screw bands. Water bath pints for 20 minutes.  This recipe yields a smidge over 7 pints. 

I have picked crabapples off of the tree at the park for 3 years. The first year I made crabapple jelly. The next year I tried crabapple butter. And apple butter is what I opted for this year, too. 

This is an Apple Butter recipe that I have modified from Chef Jon. To see his original recipe click HERE.

I am sharing this recipe because it has turned out so good and I don't want to forget how I made it when I want to make apple butter next year. 

Last year I cut the crabapples in 1/4ers. But this year I found that that was unnecessary. I cooked the crabapples whole without any issue. I just cut the stems off because I thought they might jam up the strainer. And, I cut off the blossoms because I thought the tiny hairs would come through the strainer. The hairs from the blossoms would probably be unnoticeable in the final product. I may skip that step next year and see how it turns out.

This year I  added two orange peels to the apples while they cooked, on a whim. I was very pleased with the how the flavor turned out. But, the orange peels are totally optional. If you have some, I suggest throwing them in. If not, that is fine. The apple butter will be great either way.

The amount of sugar in Chef Jon's recipe is much less than the amount in other recipes that I have seen. For example the Ball Canning recipe for Apple Butter called for 4 lbs. of apples and 4 cups of sugar. Chef Jon's recipe calls for 5 lbs. of apples and 2 cups of sugar. Apples are acidic enough to water bath safely without any sugar added. You don't have to worry about the safety of cutting back the sugar in the Apple Butter. I think the amount of sugar in this recipe is just right. 

Cheap And Creative Gift Wrapping Paper

 

Here are some gift wrapping ideas. These are all things that I have done. I don't like to spend money on one-time-use, disposable purchases, for instance; wrapping paper. Besides that, buying wrapping paper squelches my creativity. :) 

1. Brown Paper 

I save packing paper that comes in packages. It can be ironed to take out most of the wrinkles.

Most of the gifts that I wrap get wrapped in old paper grocery bags. These can be cut open and turned inside out. 

Brown paper can be dressed up in many ways.

(a) Ribbon or string.

(b) String with a paper doily or paper snow flake or leaves, as I have done here. You could, also, use pressed flowers.

One of my favorites: 

(c) Draw the Happy Birthday Song.

(d) Draw animal faces and glue on colored paper features.

(e) Use markers to turn your brown paper into wrapping paper.

2. Paper Maps

I think maps make interesting wrapping paper. I save outdated road maps for this purpose.

3. A Basket

Baskets are not always cheap. I always save baskets that are given to me. They make great gift vessels. You can look for inexpensive baskets at thrift stores and garage sales, as well.

Do you have any frugal gift wrapping ideas? Tell us in the comment section!

My Aged Pepper Hot Sauce "Recipe"

I call this a "recipe" in quotes, because it is more of a method than a recipe, per se. You can try this method with any kind of hot peppers you like. I like hot sauce that doesn't have a complicated flavor profile. When I buy hot sauce I like to look for a label that reads something like: "aged peppers, salt, and vinegar." The main flavors in the hot sauce I make are peppers and garlic. 

The first year I made hot sauce I made it out of habanero peppers. I didn't follow a particular recipe. I just made it up as I went. I took a bottle of the finished product to my Dad. My Dad is a hot sauce connoisseur. He has a couple shelves of hot sauce in the fridge. He eats food with his hot sauce instead of hot sauce with his food. He is serious about this condiment! My Dad loved my hot sauce!! He called me up and said, "I hope you remember how you made that hot sauce. The bottle is about gone and I am going to need some more!"

I was like, "Oh, I just fermented some peppers and blended them up."

My brother, Aaron, interviewed me to get more details. His questions helped jog my memory, and helped me figure out what I had done to make the hot sauce. Here is my method:

Hot Sauce

1 qt. Peppers

1 bulb Garlic

1qt. Water 

1 TBS. Kosher Salt or other Salt with no additives

Apple Cider Vinegar

Put fresh peppers and peeled, whole, garlic cloves into sterilized glass jar. Make a brine by mixing the water and salt together until the salt has dissolved. Pour the brine over the peppers. Keep the peppers submerged with a weight. I like to use a glass with water in it as a weight. Set the jar in a place out of direct sunlight and let age at room temperature for 10 days. If the brine level falls below the peppers just top the jar off with more brine. 

After 10 days blend the peppers and garlic in a food processor. Add as much brine as you would like. The hotter you want the sauce the less brine you want to add. Personally, I add all the brine and I think the sauce is plenty hot enough. Strain the seeds and skins out with a wire mesh. Add a little apple cider vinegar to reach the desired tanginess. You may, also, want to add more salt. I usually do add more salt. Pour into a bottle and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Slime And Borax Solution Recipes

I have not made slime often enough to remember the recipe. Every time I have to look it up online, and I don't know which recipe I have tried in the past, or which one I should go with.

For future reference this is how to make slime:

Number 1, make sodium tetraborate solution, as follows:

Sodium Tetraborate Solution

Mix 1 cup of water with 1 TBS. of 20 Mule Borax. Stir until borax dissolves. 

Number 2, make slime:

Plain Slime

1/2 cup white glue

1/2 cup water

A few drops of food coloring (optional)

1 1/2 TBS. sodium tetraborate solution

Mix together the glue, water, and food coloring. Add the sodium tetraborate solution 1/2 a tablespoon at a time. Stirring in between additions. The more you add the harder it will get. Don't add any more if your slime reaches the consistency you want before you add the whole 1 1/2 tablespoons.

Fluffy Slime

2/3 cup white glue

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup water

A few drops of food coloring

2-3 cups shaving cream

1 1/2 TBS. sodium tetraborate solution

In a bowl, mix together the glue, baking soda, water and food coloring. Add the shaving cream and stir well. Add the sodium tetraborate solution half a tablespoon at a time, stirring between additions. When the slime starts to come together it can be kneaded in order to fully incorporate the borate solution and complete the transformation. This fluffy slime is really fun to play with. The fluffiness wears off after a day, but the slime stays good for a while if stored in an airtight container.

Do you have a favorite slime recipe? Tell us about it in the comments section! We would like to give your recipe a try! :)

My Friend's New Blog!

 

I have been helping my friend, Leah, start a blog! It is called Fluttering Towards Faith. She wrote her first post this morning! She is really new at this blogging stuff. Please go check her blog out and show her some kindness! Here is a link.

I met Leah on a recent stay in Pennsylvania. She is a true kindred spirit! Our personalities meshed right away! She is a sweet, generous, Christian lady. We share a lot of the same interests. I "ooed and awwed" over her beautiful garden. She showed me her chickens and her goats. I was really excited to see the goats! They were some nice looking Nubians. I grew up with Nubian dairy goats and dream of having some in the future. Leah sort of inherited her goats and she doesn't milk them or anything. She takes good care of them, though, their coats are nice and glossy! 

She has a rustic country home. Her husband built the timber frame structure and made all the cabinets. He has a saw mill and does a lot of wood working. Leah loves to decorate with butterflies. She has a lot of pretty butterfly art.

Leah does a lot of research about natural remedies and healthy living. She makes her own fermented vegetables and preserves her garden produce. 

I have really enjoyed getting to know Leah and I hope you will, too!

Proverbs 27:17  Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Finds This Week!

 Last Monday the children and I went for an early walk. Monday is Garbage Pick Up Day in our neighborhood. On a few occasions I have found quite decent treasures on the curb in the neighborhood where we live. One morning I found a box full of dishes; plates, bowls, and saucers. I liked some of them very much others were just okay. But, I kept all of the ceramic dishes because ours get broken frequently.

Some of my new dishes!

 Another day I was excited to pick up a cast iron skillet in perfectly good shape. 

A while ago I found a bread machine in very good condition with the manual and everything. It was sitting at the curb with a set of  4 upholstered dining chairs. I took the upholstery off of the chairs and am still waiting for an opportunity to recover them. The chairs are nice and sturdy.

Back to my story for this week,

I got the children dressed and put jackets on them. We took our wagon and went for a walk before the garbage truck came by. We went up and down 3 streets with no real success. I had only picked up a log that we could use in our open fire pit. I have had a fire a few nights recently. The weather has been just right for that sort of thing. 

At any rate, we were going down the 4th street on our way back home when we found a vacuum cleaner! It looked complete. It was really dirty looking on the inside, but it didn't look broken. I loaded it into the wagon and home we went.

"really dirty looking on the inside"

A few days later I cleaned it up. It was really quite nasty under the beater bar. But, after a little elbow grease with soap and water and an old tooth brush, I got it looking fairly nice.

 

Cleaning all the parts.

It works great! I am glad of that because my old vacuum was on it's last leg. You had to hold the handle just right to keep power running down to the head. The beater bar was always going on and off and on and off. My "new" vacuum makes the job much faster! What a great find!

My "new" vacuum!

We also went to a State Park this week and looked for neat rocks in the creek.

I found these two rocks that I thought were pretty unique.

This one makes me think of petrified wood.

And this one makes me think of reptile skin. I have never seen a rock like this. I am no geologist, though.

Have you found any treasurers scavenging or dumpster diving before? Tell me in the comments section!

Paw Paw Fruit!

 

Our Paw Paw harvest.

 

Paw Paw trees are native to North America. I have gathered from what I have read that they grow from New York to the Great Plains and as far South as Tennessee. Fun fact: Paw Paw's are the largest, tree fruit, native to the North American continent.

Paw Paw grove.

Paw Paw trees are not very large trees. They grow in the understory of forested areas. They grow in groves, from what I have seen. They are always grouped together.

Paw Paw leaves.

The Paw Paw tree has large leaves. They are similar in shape to Hickory tree leaves. The way to tell them apart is that Paw Paw leaves are smooth around the edges and Hickory leaves have a fine tooth, serrated edge.

Paw Paw fruit growing on a tree in July.

Paw Paw trees have to be 7 or 8 years old to bear fruit. Paw Paw trees have not been grown commercially because the fruits are too perishable to survive shipping. They are ripe for 2 or 3 days and past that point they spoil. The best way to preserve the fruit is to freeze the pulp.

I have only had the pleasure of tasting Paw Paw Fruit once, before this year. It was back when I was a teenager. This year I found a Paw Paw grove at a park close to where we live. I was very excited to be able to try Paw Paw's again! Paw Paw's ripen from August to September. Last week we went to gather some fruit.

Paw Paw's smell very tropical. Very similar to a fresh, ripe pineapple. The skin is green. Inside, the flesh is bright yellow. There are several large, bean shaped, seeds. The flesh is soft and scoop-able. The taste is quite sweet and a little bit like a mango and an American Persimmon.

I wanted to use our Paw Paw's in a recipe so I did some searching online. I tried this recipe for Paw Paw Ice Cream. The results were great. The Paw Paw flavor came through bright and clear.

Paw Paw Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups of Paw Paw fruit puree

2 cups milk

2 cups cream

1 scant cup sugar

5 egg yolks

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

In a sauce pan heat milk, cream, and sugar until it starts to steam. Temper the egg yolks with the hot cream. Pour tempered eggs into the sauce pan and heat until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Add Paw Paw puree and vanilla extract. Chill and then freeze in ice cream maker. I didn't have an ice cream maker so I just put it in a bowl in the freezer and took in out to mix every 30 minutes, or there about, until in was frozen to the right consistency.

Have you heard of Paw Paw's before? Have you ever tried them? Let me known in the comment section!

Book Report: Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Deadliest Habit And The Simple Way To Beat It by Jeff O'Connell

 This book is one that I am revisiting. I checked this book out from the library and read 2/3rds the way through it when I was 19. The information presented made so much of an impact on me that I quit eating sugar for 9 months. In the recent months I have been feeling the need to reform my diet. I know I have been over doing my carb intake. I thought it would be a good time to re-read Sugar Nation, and I was hoping it would have the same effect on me now, that it did 9 years ago. Of course, back then I had the determination of youth, a very gullible disposition, and a quite obsessive personality.  

Maybe some of that is still true today.......

Anyway,

I have just finished reading Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It by Jeff O'Connell. This is a book about diabetes. The author was diagnosed with prediabetes. His doctor offered him very little advice. Because Jeff O'Connell wanted to take care of his body and live a full, vibrant life he did his own research. He interviewed doctors, read books, analyzed studies, sorted through clinical reports, and did his own experiment on himself. He was able to find the cure for his condition through lifestyle changes.

Jeff O'Connell uses his own story as the background on which he draws the complex picture of diabetes development, diagnosis and care in the American medical system. When he talks about what diabetes does to the body you are left with a vivid impression and a feeling of urgency to take action before you loose your own health. 

The parts of the book that discussed the mindset of the medical institution were very motivational to me this time reading the book. A doctor can not make you take care of yourself. Doctors are primarily trained to prescribe medicine not nutrition. Once you are taking a prescription you very seldom with get off of it. I have had this experience. Reading Sugar Nation opened my eyes, anew, to the fact that I must do something to cure my condition and ditch my prescription.

There are a lot of studies referenced in this book. Parts of it are a little weighty if you find that sort of thing boring. Some of the events in his life seem a little shoehorned into the book, but I think they were supposed to break up the monotony that can come with statistics. Overall, I enjoyed this book and found it interesting. It is not too long; 265 pages excluding acknowledgements and notes. It discusses the seriousness of taking care of you health and also convinces you that you can succeed.

Send A Hug: Sloth Craft For Children

 

This is a simple craft that doesn't take any special equipment or make a mess. It is a cute way to send loved ones a hug through the mail. "Snail" mail is now "Sloth" mail. Heehee!  

I got this idea from the most recent issue of Highlights High Five magazine. This is how we made ours.

To make a template fold a piece of paper in half and draw a shape for the sloth. You can also make a template for the heart of you like. The other pieces are easy to freehand, so don't bother with making templates for them.

Use your template to trace the sloth shape onto paper. Also, draw out a face, claws for each paw, and a heart.

Cut out the shapes and color them.

Glue the pieces together.

Make sure the children get involved. :)

Fold the legs so that the sloth can sit up right. Ta da! Like I said, this project is really easy! 

Mail your sloths off to those people that you would like to hug, but are too far away to do so. I am sure your sloth hugs will brighten someone's day! :)