Winter Sowing

 

Last Saturday I started my winter sowing seeds.

The weather patterns in our area have been confusing. The first week in February robins showed up! I have never seen them in Illinois this early in the season. We had days in the 60°'s. We went bare foot and flew our kite.

The warmth was a treat, but being February, it is still winter, and.............

Five inches of snow! I was so surprised in the morning to find this snow. Just the prior afternoon the children were running around in the sunshine at a playground. 

I decided it was time to start my Winter Sowing seeds. I have been saving plastic milk jugs for this purpose.

I cut the milk jugs. I poked drainage holes in the bottom. Then filled them with a few inches of potting soil. I watered the soil just until it was slightly damp.

I pulled my seed box down. It is so exciting to pick out seeds and make plans for the coming garden!

I numbered each jug and wrote down on a list what type of seeds I had planted in each jug.

#1 & #2 - Roma Tomato

#3 & #4 - Rutger Tomato

#5 - Sunflower

#6 - Snapdragon

#7 - Bell Pepper

#8 - Jalapeno

#9 - Basil

#10 - Hibiscus

#11- Parsley

#12 - Cosmo

#13 - Black Eyed Susan 

Then I taped the seam closed and placed the jugs outside. The seeds will germinate when the soil temperature is warm enough to trigger that process. The jugs serve as miniature greenhouses. They warm the soil to the appropriate temperature a little ahead of the real ground temperature. That way I will have seedlings to plant in the garden with minimal effort on my part.

I started seed with this method last year (See Here) and I was very pleased with the results. I recommend it for anyone. 

I Finished Reading The Bible Aloud!

 

I have committed to reading the Bible aloud to my children. I don't always get finished in a year. I just want to encourage you all not to quit if you don't hit your goal. Keep going. We didn't finish reading the Bible before New Year's Day this time. That doesn't bother me. We kept going and finished in February. 

There have been times when my life has been jumbled up and it took me two years to read through the whole Bible. That's fine. I am in this for the long game. I don't understand everything in the Bible. I believe that the Bible, as God's word, has supernatural effects. I keep reading it and hoping to absorb it's contents, looking to the Holy Spirit for help. I don't believe I can explain everything to my children that I read to them from the Bible. I don't want them to have the illusion that I have all the answers. God can help them understand the Bible and figure out what to believe. I'd rather my children have the actual Bible read to them than teach them a Bible curriculum or catechism. These tools all have to be tested against the Bible. The way I see it, testing these tools against the Bible is an extra step. I prefer to start and end my spiritual instruction to my children with the Bible and the Bible alone. The Bible is the standard. I want them to come away with a love for the stability that the truth offers. The Bible is true. They can count on it for the rest of their lives to remain, unchanged, because God who gave it will remain, unchanged, forever. 

They will come to challenges in their lives. They will come to circumstances that make them question everything they thought they knew to be so. I know I did. And what kept me from going off the deep end? God's Holy word. Even when I wasn't sure that God was real or that he was who I had thought he was. Even when my certainty of eternity was ripped from me and I was left in the deepest most hopeless despair. All that I had known was true turned out to not be true. Even when I thought God hated me and I really didn't want to read what he 'supposedly' said. I was in turmoil and sharp emotional pain. I wanted to feel safe again. I opened my Bible and read to myself. It didn't matter where I read. It could be anywhere in the Bible. My storms inside would calm. I felt comfort. I felt familiarity. I felt that constancy that I needed. I could count on the surety of the Bible. At the time I couldn't count on the wonderful things I read there to be written for me. I wasn't willing to believe it and risk being wrong again. The Word of God kept me from going off the deep end, though. (Eventually, I came back to God the right way. I didn't have a great quantity of faith, but I placed it all on Christ. It was a simple faith. But, that is all that is necessary. What a sweet relief poured over my soul!)

All that to say, if my children come to a place in their lives that they need something to anchor to because their whole world is upsidedown, I want the Bible to be that anchor for them. Reading it aloud to them in these formative years can build that foundation, I hope. The Words of God are powerful in supernatural ways. I can't comprehend how, but the Words of God change people. They carry with them the power of the Holy Ghost. I feel that this (reading the Bible aloud) is the most important thing that I can do for my children. 

In closing, I am leaving you some verses that popped in my mind over the course of writing this post.

Word shall not return void

(Isaiah 55:11)

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: 

it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, 

and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Words shall not pass away

(Matthew 24:35) 

Heaven and earth shall pass away, 

but my words shall not pass away.

Wisdom for the asking 

(James 1:5) 

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,

 that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; 

and it shall be given him.

Unction of the Holy Ghost

(1 John 2:20) 

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, 

and ye know all things.

Need not man

(1 John 2:27) 
But the anointing which ye have received of him

 abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: 

but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, 

and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you,

 ye shall abide in him.

Peace be still

(Mark 4:39) 

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, 

and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. 

And the wind ceased,

 and there was a great calm.

Faith comes by hearing the word 

(Romans 10:17) 

So then faith cometh by hearing, 

and hearing by the word of God.

Powerful two edged sword

(Hebrews 4:12) 

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, 

and sharper than any twoedged sword, 

piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 

and of the joints and marrow, 

and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

My words are Spirit

(John 6:63) 

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: 

the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, 

and they are life. 

Sloths and Patching The Couch | January Report

 

I resurrected the Sloth Lovie project from autumn of 2022. There are several babies expected this year! I am working on some baby gifts, of which, are these sloths.

I will drop a link here for where I got the pattern. It is a free download. Shinyhappyworld.com(Sloth Lovie)

This is our couch, technically a loveseat, but we call it our couch. I put several hours of attention and care into the couch this past week. I removed all the cushion covers and washed them in the washing machine. Before washing them I had to patch the top of one of the back cushions. 

The patch from the inside.

The patch from the outside.

The top of the cushion was split open. There was a gaping hole along the seam. The patch turned out nicely. It is barely noticeable.

The hole in the arm of the couch has been growing for about a year now. Little fingers love picking at it and I have been too lazy to patch it up while it was tiny. You know the saying, "A stitch in time saves nine." Well, I didn't heed this advice. 

This is my repair on the arm.

The cat who lives with us recently started using the couch as a scratching post. 

I dug this thick fluffy material out of one of my fabric bins.

I installed panels of the furry fabric on each corner.

Hopefully, that will keep the cat busy.

Working on the couch made me think about reupholstering it. I think I could do that someday. That would be fun project to figure out. I will wait until I am good and ready to tackle it, but someday I think I will.

Gingerbread Houses!

I had so much fun making these gingerbread houses with the children!

My siblings and I had fun doing these when I was young. My mother would wait until after Christmas and buy the gingerbread house kits on clearance. 

We would split into teams and work together. The first few years we split the teams into boys vs. girls. Everything was a competition with us. Now my family is so large that they have to get several gingerbread houses and split into teams of 4-5 people. I live too far away to join these current games.

This year I wanted my children to experience the fun. I went looking for gingerbread house kits after Christmas. I found kits but they weren't cheap enough for "tightwad-me." I bought gingerbread house cookie cutters that were on clearance instead. We made our own gingerbread from scratch.

I had never made gingerbread before. I followed the recipe on the back of the cookie cutter package. The recipe worked out very well. I will copy the recipe to my blog later for safe keeping.

I found a recipe for the Royal icing that we needed for glue. It was really easy to make. Just egg whites and powdered sugar. It dries rock hard and worked perfectly as gingerbread house construction adhesive.

We assembled all the pieces and began decorating. This step was so fun!

It was fun for me to watch my children make their own designs. They are so creative! Each child is their own person with their own personality and ideas. It is special to see them make their own choices. These are some of the really rewarding moments of being a mom.

We need to do this every year! 

Tightwad Tip: Lemon Zest

I read this tip a few days ago and thought it was brilliant! I was reading reviews on a recipe that I wanted to try when I came across this advice. A reviewer mentioned that she never likes to let anything go to waste (I am with ya there, Sister!) and so anytime she has fresh lemons on hand she zests the lemons and save the zest in the freezer to add to baked goods later.

I like that idea. I enjoy the flavor that lemon zest adds to various foods. 
This time I zested all the lemons, even though I only needed the zest of two or three lemons in the recipe. The rest of the zest is now waiting in the freezer to add fresh flavor to a recipe at a time in the future when I don't have any fresh lemons at hand.

Don't you think that is a smart idea?

More Tightwad Tips:

https://simplyinspirations101.blogspot.com/2023/05/tightwad-tip-lids-instead-of-foil.html

https://simplyinspirations101.blogspot.com/2022/01/tightwad-tip-save-onion-skins.html

https://simplyinspirations101.blogspot.com/2022/06/reuse-cereal-bagstightwad-tip.html

Tiny Cakes

 

I made tiny versions of these recipes to go with the tiny cake pans that my daughter got for her birthday.

The cake pans are so cute! There are even two tiny spring-form cheese cake pans.

I divided some regular cake recipes down several times to make them the right size for these pans.

We made a Lemon Cake, a Chocolate Cake, two Cheese Cakes, and three heart shaped Carrot Cakes. Here are our recipes:

Lemon Fiesta Cake

1 TBS. Butter, Softened

2 1/2 TBS. Sugar

1 TBS. Egg

1/4 tsp. Lemon Zest

4 drops Lemon Extract 

1/4 cup Flour

Pinch Salt

Pinch Baking Soda

1/8 tsp. scant Baking Powder

1 1/2 TBS. Buttermilk

Glaze:

1 1/2 tsp. Sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Butter

1/2 tsp. Water

1/2 tsp. Lemon Juice 

Beat together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, lemon zest, and lemon extract.

In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.

Alternately, add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the butter mixture.

Scrape batter into a greased tiny Bundt cake pan.

Bake at 325° F. for 20-25 minutes. While cake is baking make the glaze by melting together the glaze ingredients.

Remove cake from oven. Cool for 5 minutes. Turn cake out of pan. 

Poke holes all over the cake. Pour over the glaze while it is still warm.

My Mother's Chocolate Cake

1 TBS. Cocoa

2 1/2 TBS. Butter, Melted

1 1/2 TBS. Boiling Water

1 TBS. scant Egg

1 TBS. + 2 tsp. Sugar

1/4 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring

1/4 cup Flour

1/4 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Baking Soda

1/8 tsp. Salt

1 1/2 TBS. Hot Coffee or Hot Water

In a small bowl combine cocoa, butter, and boiling water.

In another small bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat egg, sugar, and vanilla. Add cocoa mixture and blend. Add flour mixture and blend. Add the hot coffee last and blend.

Pour into greased tiny Bundt cake pan. Bake at 350°F. for 20 minutes.

Paisley Print Cheese Cake

1 pkg. (8oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 c. Sugar

2 TBS. + 2 tsp. Sour Cream

1 tsp. (Scant) Vanilla Flavoring

1 TBS. Flour

1 Egg

1 TBS. + 1 tsp. Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Butter, melted

2-3tsp. Hot Water 

1 TBS. Sugar

1/8 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring

Prepare two tiny graham cracker crusts.

Beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, and vanilla. Add the flour and egg. 

Bloom the cocoa by mixing the cocoa powder, butter and hot water.

Take out 1/2 cup of cheese cake batter and combine it with the cocoa mixture remaining sugar and vanilla.

Into the prepared pans dollop the cheese cake batter, alternating between the chocolate and vanilla batters. Use a skewer to swirl the colors into paisley patterns.

Bake 4 minutes @ 450° F. Reduce oven temperature to 250° F. For 15 minutes.

Graham Cracker Crust

1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

1 TBS. sugar

2 TBS. melted butter

Mix and press onto the bottom of two tiny spring-form pans and 1/4" up the sides.

Bake 8-10 minutes at 350°F.

Carrot Cake

1 small carrot finely grated

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

pinch of ginger

dust cloves

1/8 tsp. salt

2 TBS. egg

2 1/2 TBS. oil

3 1/2 TBS. sugar

2 TBS. buttermilk

1/2 tsp. vanilla flavoring

Sift together the dry ingredients. 

Mix the wet ingredients.

Combine both mixtures.

Add carrot.

Divide between three tiny heart pans that have been greased.

Bake at 350° F. for 20-25 minutes.

Frost with cream cheese frosting once the cakes have cooled.

The Family Man By Henry Beer | Poem

Much of what Mr. Beer says regarding fatherhood I relate to as a mother, too. Being a parent teaches you things that no other experiences completely match. Children are all different and you never quite have everything figured out. No matter the difficulties, the rewards of  loving and nurturing children are well worth the efforts. Children are so precious!

The Family Man

Full many lessons we may learn
From various walks of life,

In business, home, or market place,

Amid earth's toil and strife.

I've studied in the common schools,

The higher schools as well,

I have a little learning, too,

I think I'm safe to tell.

But since I am a family man,

New problems come to view,

I have some strange perplexities,

Each day brings them anew.

The learning I have found in books

Is insufficient here.

If we were but a Solomon,

The way would seem quite clear.

Each child is precious to our heart,

They make a lively school.

To govern then in proper ways,

I find no common rule.

Some will respond with tender words,

And others must be shown;

Some will together work and play,

Some wish to be alone.

And precious lessons I have learned

From all these girls and boys.

A home where children are not found,

Had missed most precious joys.

Though some may covet wealth and gain,

Some revel in earth's strife,

I only want a little home,

With peaceful family life.

The mother and the father both

Must mutual burdens bear;

In all the trials of family life,

They mutually must share.

'Tis not until out children grow

To youthful days and years,

That we ourselves can understand

Our parents' cares and tears.

As we must learn to know and teach

Each child at every turn,

So have I in my family life

Some precious lessons learned.

The gift of patience, tolerance,

To love, instruct and plan-

To learn the art of compromise

Becomes a family man.

And since we see, and understand,

And only know in part,

May He who loves each child of yore

Still come and rule their heart.

When father, mother, children, all

In loving ties are bound,

Of all the joys on earth I know

None sweeter here are found.

By Henry Beer

My Garden Of Verse

Page 181-182

Happy New Year!

 

I look forward to eating black eyed peas and cabbage during this time of year. I didn't get them made for the 1st of January, but they were just as tasty on the 2nd of January. :) Mmmmmm! I relish ever part of this meal!

I have mentioned in the past  that we have a tradition of making hats to wear on New Year's Eve. 

This year New Year's Eve fell on a Sunday. Sunday was a really busy day for me. I was glad that the children could stay out of trouble by focusing on making their hats. They all worked together and helped each other finish. They did an excellent job and their hats turned out great. They also helped clean up all the crafting stuff, too.

I was not expecting to make a hat this year. I just had too much to do to allow myself to get lost in a project like hat making. The children were disappointed when they heard that I wasn't going to make a hat. I didn't want to kill their joy. I hastily looked in a pile on junk and pulled out a paper napkin that had been a trash item brought in from the van. I thought fast and decided I could make a quick hat. It is more like a fascinator, but it counts! :)

A little glue, a little glitter, a little string, and voila! In fact I like it so much that I have been wearing for the past few days. :)

I hope you all have a healthy and joyful 2024. Happy New Year!

1 Thessalonians 5:18

 In every thing give thanks: 

for this is the will of God 

in Christ Jesus concerning you.