Home's Jewels

Ninety Pounds of Berries, Berries and More Berries

Dh and the children made the annual trek to the local berry fields and picked 90 pounds of berries last night. The berries were $.80 per pound at the U-Pick fields.

We were washing, stemming, preparing to freeze until 11 pm. It definitely is a mandatory family affair. Our typical Saturday morning breakfast is buttermilk waffles from The Joy of Cooking and topped with yogurt mixed with strawberries, so that is the primary purpose for the berries. We also use them for smoothies during the year.

BREAKFAST BERRY SHORTCAKE

Free Image Hosting at allyoucanupload.com

This is our favorite strawberry shortcake recipe. It's a little different than the traditional recipe. I got it from Quaker Oats years ago. My kids know it is my favorite breakfast treat, but it certainly doesn't need to be only for breakfast.

Breakfast Berry Shortcake

1 cup oats
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar (2x)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (orange peel is great, too)
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup butter
2/3 cup buttermilk or yogurt
one 8-ounce carton yogurt
2 cups berries

Heat oven to 400’. Combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon peel, and baking soda; mix well. Cut in butter until crumbly. Add buttermilk; mix just until moistened. Knead on floured surface 10 times. Place on greased cookie sheet; form into 8-inch circle. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with yogurt and combined berries and 2 tablespoons sugar.

Another Smile

Little Boy Antic

>> – Boys will be boys

Venturing around our yard, I saw 2 objects that looked out of place near the hole my sons have been digging - you know, the hole that goes to China.

Two missing sandals - not just any play sandals, but leather Elefanten sandals. Oh joy!

Only a 40-something-year-old seasoned mom would find humor at such a scene. Looks like the shoes are posing - lol.

Cherry on Top

It's Red Friday.

I've got the blues . . . . . .

This day was easy - I'm partial to blues - especially deep cobalt blue. These are some of my favorite treasures: vase from the Philippines, pitcher was a gift from my daughter when she went to Portugal, cobalt pottery bowl was made by my daughter. Coffee mug was from the Philippines. Blue is serene, calm - love it!

Stingy Smile

>> – Baby of the family

My little guy seems to be a little stingy with his smiles. He tends to take life pretty seriously and looks stoic quite a bit, so when I get a picture like this, it melts my heart - drool and all. He's 4 months old now.

Black/Gray Day

One Muddy Black Boot +
One Dreary Rainy Day = Just Another Typical Day in the Pacific Northwest

Brown

We lived in the Philippines for 2-1/2 yrs while my dh was in the Navy. When traveling the roads, it was not uncommon to see this site on the middle of a highway while vehicles were trying to travel anywhere from 20-80 mph. Pretty dangerous and scary! When I saw this at a market, I had to buy it. It's my favorite momento from the Philippines.

Color Week

In honor of Color Week, here are photos of random white favorites around my abode:

Daisies have always been a favorite. They were on our wedding announcement and on our honeymoon, unbeknownst to us, our table at the little French restaurant had a vase of daisies on the table. How did they know?

This was my dream sewing machine. I waited a long time to get it.

Flannel baby blanket made with said sewing machine.

I found this Willow Tree figurine at a yard sale. I fell in love with the simplicity of the design and what it represents. It brought tears to my eyes. I now have a handful of Willow Tree figurines.

This is fun - I hope to keep up with Color Week.

Ten Pounds . . . . Lighter

>> – Baby of the family, Bunny, Mama loves, Orange Boy

I've been going to a gym with a friend and have finally lost 10 pounds (in 10 weeks). It's coming off slowly. It's hard work with a combination of weights, aerobics, treadmill, stationary bike, Pilates, and brisk walks and primarily trying to change my food to healthy food choices except for the occasional ice cream or chocolate splurge. I have not missed out on any desserts, but I'm not pigging out like I used to do, either. I'm one-third of the way to goal weight. It came off so much easier when I was younger.

Anyone else on the same mission? Let me know so I can cheer you on!

Go Take a Hike

>> Friday, June 09, 2006 – Brown Eyes, Orange Boy, Pearly Girl, Tall Dude

My husband took four of our children on a hike on a mountain at the Oregon Coast last week. This is Manzanita Bay in the backround and the Pacific Ocean on the right.

Check out the little houses dotted along the shoreline. The elevation must be pretty high. I can't wait to be able to go with them (baby is still nursing on the clock and we haven't tried bottles yet).

Spring Gardening

I love these old whiskey barrels. With our mild winters, some annuals come back to life in the spring. The burst of any colorful flowers in a barrel makes me smile. Even those who claim to kill off everything can grow a tomato plant in one of these. I can't fathom not having home-grown tomatoes in the summertime.
With lots of abuse from children, our lawn has seen better days, so we've spent quite a lot of time reseeding this year.
What was once a 4-inch echinacea plant is now a 4-ft tall "bush". I can't wait to see how many blooms it will have.
Tomatoes, peppers, over 90 green bean plants, cukes, summer squash, zucchini, lettuce, chives, celery planted J's garden. We are still working on 3 other smaller garden areas.

Table Runner

>> Sunday, June 04, 2006 – Hannah, Sew what?

This is the table runner my daughter (19-yr old) made me, but it still needs to be quilted and binded. I have always loved Dresden plate. This is a nice variation. My daughter and I were in the Thimbleberries club at a local quilt shop a couple years ago. On impulse, we bought all the kits for the year. Turns out, there were a few projects that we didn't care for, so she used that fabric to make a design that worked for her. She put the whole thing together without a pattern.

I hadn't taught her how to applique, so she figured out her own way to sew the Dresden plate to the backing. I love the look of the stitches and the colors she chose altogether. She picked these colors so the table runner could be used for any season. I love it. I can't wait to be able to use it.

From a Boy to a Man

>> Saturday, June 03, 2006 – Tall Dude

16-yr old son and father underneath the truck changing oil, etc.

Picture Solution

My picture-eating problem has a "fix". Someone recently posted about a new photo-hosting site on a scrapbooking board that I frequent. I was finally able to post the correct pictures in the correct spots. Anyway, the new photo-hosting site is easy - - and it's free, too. Check it out: allyoucanupload.com

Moving Right Along

>> – Knitting

I put aside the withholding-adjectives vest I was working on. I made a mistake on the back. And I'm pretty sure there is an error on the pattern on the front. I need to check and see how it works with the other sizes to be sure. But, nonetheless, it is being set aside until I have a clear head. Here's another infant sweater I'm restarting. I'm making the one on the right. I will never buy this yarn again - it's kind of a fun look, but it's a pain because you cannot see the defined stitches. I had tried making this sweater a few years ago, but dropped a stitch. Because it's nearly impossible to catch the stitch, it had to be frogged. So it is being attempted again, but I will knit a little more slowly so as to not drop stitches. This is the perfect summer sweater for chilly nights. I was just looking at the buttonband on the pattern picture - I have no clue how to pick up stitches to knit the button band when you can't even identify stitches. hmm.

Cute Couple

I'm getting a little frustrated with Blogger. I've reposted the pictures on 2 of my posts twice now, and they still are disappearing. So, I'm testing another picture with this post.

Here is my dh in 1990 with a nice-looking tall, young lady. Don't they make a cute couple? Too bad my dh was already taken and had 2 children.

Brooke Shields was on a USO tour to servicemen in the Persian Gulf. My dh had been there for several months on duty. He went to his office to get an envelope to send me the letter that you can see in his hands, when someone yelled over to him to stand next to this young lady for a picture. Dh was the only one in the office who was taller than Brooke. She's pretty cute, but he's mine :)

Is it just me?

Or is Blogger eating other people's pictures? I put up a post yesterday and it removed pictures from another post. So I re-added those pictures yesterday. Today, yesterday's pictures are gone as well as some from the other post. So weird.

Graduations

We are involved in a close-knit homeschool community and tonight is the high school graduation ceremony. We received 10 announcements out of the class of 14, so my 19-yr old and I have been trying to think of what we could give as a graduation gift that would not break the bank, but would also be meaningful to the graduates. My daughter came up with the idea to get a flowering plant for each graduate. And then I thought of getting perennials instead of annuals so they could watch them grow over the years. We chose Liatris spicata or 'Floristan Violet Gayfeather' - supposed to be easy to grow and very attractive flowers which look like this:

Here are 3 of the plants wrapped in tissue paper and hemp:

And the card reads:

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams

of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

The flowering perennial represents the “tree” in Psalm 1. Our prayer for you is that you will take the time to plant this in your garden and in the years to come when you see the leaves, you will grasp the real spiritual truth of being delighted in Him.

~The ___ Family

Misty River

Pearl and I went to see Misty River in concert in WA state at a cute old theatre. I have to say that it was probably one of the best concerts I have attended. It felt like we were in their living room having a jam session. Many people are able to sing and play music, but few are able to pass along their enthusiasm and excitement to the audience like they do. Misty River is comprised of 4 multi-talented ladies. All of the ladies sing. One lady plays accordian and another switches back and forth from guitar to fiddle. The remaining two are mother and daughter. The mother plays banjo and guitar and her daughter plays an upright acoustic bass. The music varies from folk, bluegrass, to Celtic and they blend beautifully when singing a capella tunes. It was a great time for Pearl and I together and especially for Pearl as she was able to meet Chris, the fiddler.

Check them out: Misty River

What does homeschooling look like at our house?

Pearl swinging in the hammock reading historical novel.

6-yr old doing Miquon Math using Cuisinaire rod math manipulatives with big sister helping.

Pearl reading botany assignment and planting seeds with 3-yr old wanting to help.

Orange boy outside doing his hands-on
discovering how a magnifying glass and sun = fire.

Playing four-square after lunch.

Fun, fun :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Having Fun with Baby

I had a great Mother's Day. Unfortunately, Dh and our eldest son were away at a funeral, so the rest of us had a picnic in our backyard under the cherry tree. It was in the 80s - absolutely gorgeous. My daughter bought me a hanging flower basket, paid for a month at the gym, the other children got me 2 Reese's peanut butter cups (definitely will need to go to the gym), and a nice card. While I was at Costco, I bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers because my dh would have if he were here. He concurred. I have seven beautiful, happy children. I am truly blessed. Hope you all had a wonderful mother's day!

Pearly's Quilt

>> Friday, May 12, 2006 – Pearly Girl, Sew what?

Pearl has been working on her quilt again. I stopped helping her at the end of my pregnancy because it was hard on my back to be leaning over to cut strips. She's on a roll and hopes to get the borders done this weekend. Here are shots before and after adding the lattice strips between the blocks.

Pouty Lip

>> Thursday, May 11, 2006 – Baby of the family

I don't know what it is about me, but I find this pouty-face look absolutely adorable. The other day, I was singing lullabies to my sweet baby and he started to stick his bottom lip out, got tears in his eyes, and was about to start crying. I stopped singing and then he was back to his old self again. When I started singing again, out came the lower lip again and he did eventually start crying. It was so funny - what a mean Mommie I am, laughing at her poor baby crying. Maybe I should be crying that he was crying about my singing. As a life-long singer, I'm trying not to take it personally ;)

Just yesterday, Pearly confided in me that she faked a cry to see if he could be coerced into pouting. He performed well. I guess it runs in the family :)

Time to Catch Up

>> – homeschooling

It's been busy around here. With spring upon us, we've been busy in the yard, cleaning, etc. Also, trying to do a little working out myself. I joined a gym and have been working out with a friend for about 2 wks now and have lost about 5 pounds. Still have a ways to go, but progress is good.

Lots of schooling going on now that baby is developing sort of a sleeping/waking/eating schedule on his own. Here's my 11-yr old's science project. She's doing the botany book put out by the folks at Apologia. Thankfully, the book explains everything so my daughter can do it independently. She's got seeds trying to germinate in all sorts of places (dark place, fridge, etc). Here are some seeds germinating on the window. You can see her chart where she marks growth. Cool stuff.

PS - I have no idea why the above is underlined and a hyperlink. I cannot figure out how to remove the underline on Blogger. So there you go.

Remember those clams?

This is the part about homeschooling I like - everything is a learning project. I came from a family who did not eat seafood - except for tuna. My mom's idea of baking fish was opening a can of tomato sauce and pouring on top of the fish and baking (remember, Mom? - lol). Sorry, but it wasn't too good. I had no clue how to deal with the clams and so I assigned 16-yr old son to make clam chowder. I referred him to The Joy of Cooking as his guide and made last night's dinner for us. Now he knows the full process: how to catch clams, how to clean them, and how to cook/eat them. Oh, and he enjoyed the process. He agreed that it was good for him to learn how to make it and mentioned that his future wife might be happy to have a husband who can cook at least a little bit.

Okay, put an "X" in the skills-you-want-your-children-to-learn box. What's next?

Boy Fun

>> Sunday, April 30, 2006 – Tall Dude

Today, dh and our eldest 2 boys went to the coast to go crabbing and clamming with a friend. This was the first time. They came back with loads of clams/crabs and had a blast.

Eleven and One-Half

>> Friday, April 28, 2006 – Pearly Girl

What goes on in the mind of an 11-1/2 yr old girl? Do you remember? I remember playing in the field with neighbor kids. We would help each other do our chores in order to have more time to play. I liked to read, sing, and play the piano.

Pearly takes after me in a lot of ways. She loves her music: piano, violin, flute, and singing. She loves to read. Today she was reading a good book laying in the hammock in the backyard. She sews, cooks, loves to play four-square with her brothers. Life is sweet at 11-1/2 yrs old.

Cake Competition

>> Thursday, April 27, 2006 – Brown Eyes, Orange Boy, Pearly Girl

Some of our children are in AWANA - a Bible club for kids. Yesterday, there was a cake competition at AWANA. The cakes needed to be made by dads and kids only with no help from moms. We had a bunch of overripe bananas, so dh thought banana cake would be good. He picked out a recipe from The Joy of Cooking and went to town - no Betty Crocker box for my dh. Both Pearly Girl (11-yr) Orange Boy (8 yr) made theirs separately from scratch. Because dh got home late it was put in the oven around 10:45 p.m. While the cake was baking, I played Yahtzee with the kids (a cool math game, but the kids don't realize I play it so they will practice their math). So yeah, the kids were doing math and science projects at 11 pm, what can I say? We homeschool - we get to make our own schedules, so I just let the children sleep in the following morning. The following day, when dh got home from work, they quickly had to decorate the cakes. He had stopped by the store to pick up cake decorating supplies. Orange Boy was really into the decorating part. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a decent picture of Pearly's cake. She wrote 2 Tim 2:15 and drew a Bible. Orange Boy wrote Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed - the AWANA motto. The competition was stiff and was judged on creativity and taste. Orange Boy wanted his judged by creativity and Pearly wanted hers to be judged in taste. Unfortunately, Orange Boy did not win. Pearly Girl, however, won first place for taste. She won 3 coupons for Baskin Robbins, so she decided to take Papa and Orange Boy with her.

Done, Finished, Lessons Learned

>> – Knitting, Off the needles

Thankfully, I have learned to not take my knitting too seriously, or I think it might be upsetting. Here are the things I am happy about: I love the yarn - LOVE it! I love the contrasting ribbing and buttonbands, love the yellow buttons on the white buttonbands. However, knitting is just like life - in order to succeed you need to learn from your mistakes. Here's what I learned not to do next time around:

Lesson 1 - When calculating buttonhole placement, don't forget to account for neckline ribbing. I figured it would need 6 buttons including neckline, but when calculating the placement, I forgot to include the neckline in the total figure, so instead, ended up with 7 buttonholes. This sent me in a button frenzy because I only had 6 buttons and bought the last of them at the store. Thankfully, my friend was able to find some at another store. After all this was said and done, I think 7 buttons were too many. Six would have been much better spacing - maybe even 5 would have done nicely. Oh well!

Lesson 2 - Do not expect 13 lb 3 oz newborn baby to fit in Size 6 months sweater. That said, dh's office just gave me a belated gift for baby - a gift certificate at a LYS - how cool is that?! Woohoo!! Maybe I'll make another one, but this time, hopefully one that will fit PLUS some growing room.

Birthdays

>> Tuesday, April 25, 2006 – Tall Dude

Sunday, my parents came over to celebrate my mom's and son's birthdays. We went went bowling again and had a blast!! Our 3-yr old son beat most of his older siblings. Okay, well, the 3-yr old brother did use the bumpers to his advantage. But what fun we had! I love this picture of my mom and son.

Oh, and see my son's dimple? I put my order in early for that.

International Cuisine and Lively Debates

Last week, my daughter invited her Moroccan friend from her college Spanish class to come over for dinner. He had come over a few weeks earlier, and this time wanted to reciprocate by bringing us a Moroccan meal. We weren't quite sure what to expect and couldn't wait to try something new. The kids did a great job trying the new foods.

Oh, her friend also brought another friend. You see, this wasn't just about a meal, it was about the conversation that was to be discussed after dinner. These guys are Muslim and are trying to convert our daughter (and perhaps our family). Our daughter is Christian and my husband, daughter, and her friends have been having friendly, yet lively debates comparing the two religions. It has been fascinating. I have really appreciated the mutual respect both have shown each other.

Back to the dinner: we had couscous with beautifully seasoned roast and stewed vegetables (carrots, zucchini, turnip?, chickpeas, onion, etc). We were expecting something more spicy. Maybe they were being gracious not knowing that we like spicy. Who knows?

One interesting note: unbeknownst to us, our 6-yr old son was on the recliner in the living room when it was prayer time for our guests. They politely excused themselves and went into the living room to pray. One of our guests came back to the kitchen to ask which direction was north (Muslims must pray towards Mecca). A little while later, as they continued to pray, our son came out and asked what they were doing. It must have been pretty interesting for him to see them bowing down, praying, and chanting in Arabic.

Here's a bit of info about Islam I found on the net: The second pillar, devotional worship or prayer, requires Muslims to pray five times a day - the dawn prayer, the noon prayer, the afternoon prayer, the sunset prayer, and the evening prayer - while facing toward the Ka'bah, the House of God, in Mecca. Like all Islamic ceremonies, prayer is simple and personal, yet also communal, and the wording of the prayers, the ablutions which are required before prayers, the number of bows, and other parts of the ritual are set out in detail.

Please, Tell Me It Isn't So

>> Friday, April 21, 2006 – Weirdness

Please don't tell me this style of sweater with the saggy armpits is considered fashionable. I don't know if I can bear it. I just got an e-mail from Lion Brand regarding their new improved baby pattern sweaters. Is this improved?

"Your adorable baby will get even more attention in these easy-to-make sweaters."

Yeah, I'll bet they'll get more attention! But you won't catch my baby in a saggy armpit sweater.

Old Film, New Treasures

>> Thursday, April 20, 2006 – Boys will be boys

I was going through my file cabinet and found a file with 8 rolls of undeveloped film (who thinks of film after converting to digital, anyway?). It was sure fun to see events I had long forgotten. I thought the film for these little bird pictures was lost forever. The mama bird abandoned her nest and while my little boys were playing outside by the trees, the little chicks landed on my son. My children put their fingers out and the birds landed on their fingers. We took pictures and then I told them we needed to leave them alone. In the back of my mind was the little book by Eastman, Are You My Mother? Poor little chickies.

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