Cat or Dog?

I just had to share this quick picture of the dog sleeping in the kitten's bed. Does he really think he can fit?

Meet the Family

I thought it might be time to introduce you to my four legged crew. We are a family of animal lovers, and we have had many come and go through our doors over the years. All though we cannot have "farm" animals where we live it is still nice to have company.

This is Heidi our Doberman and Blazer our Rotwieler/Shepard mix. They are both 5 years old. We have raised Heidi from a baby, but Blazer just came to us in the fall when our old dog passed away and we were worried about Heidi being along. The following week we found that Blazer was looking for a new home. It's been a perfect fit. They are both the biggest babies.

This is Kee-Kee. He is about 15 now. We found him roaming our neighborhood as a baby with no mom. He was named from the children who spent days chasing him. I finally was able to catch him and the name stuck. He is pretty skittish around people but loves most dogs.

Next in line is Oreo. This cutie came to us from my neice. She needed to find a home for her when she got some new pets.

And last but not least, this is Moses. Our newest little baby. My littlest has been with this one since he was two days old. He was the only survivor of his litter. I just couldn't let grandma give him to anybody else. He is now the responsibility of my 8 year old. I think it will be good for her. Most of our original pets were grown when my babies came along. I am a firm believer that all children who can have pets, should have pets. It was nice for them to have the opportunity to have one puppy and now one kitten to raise as there own. Not to mention the joy having animals around brings to everyone.

Time for Tea

I must say that things are still in full swing around here. I have not had much time for posting, but I did want to stop and share this picture of the wonderful package I received last week. I recently participated in a tea cup swap. This package came in the mail last week and the timing could not have been better. With the whirlwind of activity going on at home, what I nice way to be able to relax and enjoy a break with a cup of tea.

What a Week

I can't believe it's been a week since I've been here. What a week it has been. The little one spent the first part of the week sick and when I finally got her back to school the older one decide to fall on her elbow. X-rays showed that everything is okay, but she is in so much pain. In other news, I have spent time this week starting a new semester at the local college while finishing up a year long online program. Needless to say it has been absolutely crazy hear.

In between all the activity, I made these. Have you every started out with an idea in your head and come up with something completely off track that you were tempted to just toss it all. Well that was almost happened to these. In an attempt to recreate my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe to sourdough, I ended up with something I wasn't expecting. I debated on tossing it but then decided to wing it and see what would happen. In the end we did a taste test, was it a cookie or a biscuit? It is a hybrid. 6 dozen were gone in two day. Huge success, but probably not worth the hassle of making. It was fun to play around in the kitchen though.

As if there was not enough excitement this week, a also received this package in the mail. My plate is pretty full but this course was just to good to pass up. I am taking the Family Herbalist Course from Vintage Remedies. It has always been an interest of mine to learn more about herbal and natural remedies. I have been working my granny a day through it all and hope to post some more pictures soon. I also received my tea cup from the tea cup exchange today.

This also came today. I have wonderful neighbors. They no longer needed this desk and I was in need of one to build my home office. It will be a perfect fit. All in all, it's been an exhausting but wonderful week.

A Very Productive Day

It 's been  a very busy weekend here. My oldest turned 12 this week and so this weekend was filled with 14 girls do what girls that age do and celebrating the last birthday before the teen years set in.  I hid myself away to work on connecting my granny-a-day squares. Here is how it is progressing so far...

Originally I was going to wait and get a good stack of assorted colors going before I started connecting, but I decided to connect as I go instead. I really would like this project to take on a life of it's own and see what the outcome will be.

In other news, I decided it was about time to try out the buttermilk sourdough this morning with some chocolate chip cookies. Again, huge success.

SOURDOUGH OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup sourdough

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup oil

1 egg

1 cup oatmeal

1 1/4 cup white spelt flour

1 1/4 cup whole grain spelt flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients together. Drop by tablespoonful on to parchment paper covered cookie trays. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. These make a nice soft cookie. Makes 4 1/2 dozen.

Now my cookie jar is full. Something that has been missing from my kitchen for a while.

I also made up a huge batch of laundry detergent. Something I have been wanting to experiment with for a while. It felt good to be working my arms grating the soap. It reminded me how much we rely on convenience items that not so long ago were not available.

All in all I felt it was a very productive day. I hope your day was just as satisfying.

Finding a new home

A few days ago, I whipped up these very quick and easy friendship sourdough biscuits for breakfast. My sourdough jar has taken to overflowing lately and I was trying to use up some of the starter. These were a huge success. As much as I have tried to contain my very happy starter, it is still in overflow mode in my half gallon canning jar and so today...

It has moved into it's new home. I had picked up the bean crock at a yard sale for a few dollars a while back with the intent to use it for my sourdough starter. I think this will make a perfect roomy new home. As you can see from the picture it is very active. I have been so busy with this guy that I have been neglecting my other starters, so today I took them out and gave them a good feeding. I see major baking projects in my near future.

Surviving Off Off-Grid

If you are looking for a good read for the weekend, Surviving Off Off-Grid is currently available at Amazon for $0.99 on kindle. I'm not sure how long this will last so if you are interested in this I'd head over soon. I have heard so many wonderful things about this book. I can't wait to start reading it.

Settling In

Well I have spent the last week doing some self check to make sure that all of the things on my plate are serving me. It been a refreshing week of weeding out some old items and ideas and planning some new projects. I have a lot to look forward to in the next few months but for now I am settling in to my days. The friendship starter is really going strong. I feed it every fifth day with 1 cup of milk, sugar and spelt flour. It is bubbling like crazy these days and is getting a lot of use. Today we made a batch of friendship cornbread....

It smells absolutely amazing. What I like about the friendship starter is that the recipes require no additional sugar. In other news I will be shipping out this special package tomorrow...

I joined a tea cup exchange this month and have spent the last few weeks searching through thrift shops for the perfect combination. I fell in love with this design and I hope the recipient will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed searching for it.

Granny a Day Update

So after much research and several failed attempts, I think I finally have this granny square thing down. Nothing like a you tube video to get you up and going. I spent the rest of the afternoon whipping up these 6 squares so that I would be caught up from the first of the year. I decided to use yarn that I had in stock. I love the colors of this yarn. Not sure I love them in a granny square. With 360 days left to go, I am going to let this one flow and see what comes of it. You never know what unexpected beauty might be on the horizon. To get in on the fun just click on the Granny a Day button in the sidebar.

Granny-a-day!

Now that my prayer shawl is done, I have been thinking about my next project. Today I found it. I am joining Granny Square a Day. Each day for 2012 I will crochet one granny square. This is such a great project. Not to demanding, but just enough to force me to get in some relaxing crochet time each day. I encourage you to head on over and join the project. Stay tuned for updates on how things are going.

A Simple New Year

I was fortunate to have grandparents who believed in the "summer home". In his later years, my grandfather had a house built in his home town. On weekends they would head there to get away from it all. My father bought the house from them right before my grandfather died. I have many memories of time spent up there with family. So when I am looking to get away from it all, I head north. And so we brought in the new year on a quiet, relaxing note.

We built a fire and sat quietly reading, doing puzzles, and finishing up that crochet project I had been working on. Which is now complete. Yeah!

We baked up a pan of sourdough friendship bread, that was devoured with requests for more, and toasted in the new year with sparkling grape juice. We also listened to the wonderful sounds of the old player piano, peddled by my youngest daughter.

All in all, it was a wonderful and peaceful way to bring in the new year, and I feel very blessed to have this legacy to share with my children.