Foundations and building on them...

On a post on my other blog I mentioned that we are building our dream cottage on our 30 acre farm about a half an hour from our house.

We staked out the footprint last month.

We were out there today and it is taking shape. The footers are in and the pouring walls which will be the mold to pour in the concrete for the walk-out basement walls are up. There is a ton of frozen clay they dug out the hill for the basement and we are thankful it is still frozen.

It will be nasty when things thaw out. As it was, by the time Bob and I got done walking around my boots weighed about 2# more than when I started.

I have purchased all the light fixtures, the dishwasher and two wood stoves [one upstairs and one downstairs] for this cottage. I am pretty pumped-and the view is magnificent.

So, for your viewing enjoyment, here are the pictures from today.

Bob on the pile of clay. Notice hardly any rocks. This is amazing. Usually there are layers and layers of limestone.














The basement from the front. The back wall faces the road, the front will be a walk out and looks over our awesome view of the KY river valley.














The long driveway up to our cottage.













The walls again from another view.

The frames are in place and they can pour the walls when it warms up a bit. This is the worst weather we have had in years, so things are delayed.

I will keep up to date as the walls are poured and the framing goes up. After the walls are poured [just waiting for warmer weather] it should be done in 2 months.

Take care,
Jill

Shopping in my Jammies...

Every year my sister and her husband meet my husband and I in Shipshewana, Indiana for the Pajama Sale Day.

We arrived Thursday night so that we could scout out the sales on Friday and plan our attack. My battle plan would make a general proud. I listed time to visit each store, what we needed to buy at that store and the discount rate. Beginning at 6:00 am the plan scheduled out several shops, when to eat breakfast, when to change out of pajamas and when to get a soft pretzel for a snack.

You may laugh, but we take PJ sale day seriously. I hit a great store that had baby clothes for 35% off and with two granddaughters expected this spring and summer, it was hard to keep from buying a LOT! There are about 2 men for every 1000 women--seriously. Two of the men play bluegrass music in the Mercantile, starting at 6:00 am.

Then down to the coffee store to get reduced coffee beans and to the Sock store to get 40% off of Smart Wool socks. We give all our kids socks for Christmas and I like to give quality socks and I picked up a few pair for myself. Gail and Bob got the coffee, Larry and I the socks. The problem is, you can only get the discounts if you wear your PJs, and only Gail and I had them on. The guys were dressed in their civilian clothes and needed one of us with them to get the deals.

We went to the music store and picked up an awesome harmonica and various musical necessities. Then off to the Carhart store to get some much needed clothing. Then the pretzel--next we hit the meat market to get 10% off of the amazing no-hormone, no added antibiotic meat. We always take at least one cooler for this part of the trip.

Back for breakfast--it is only 9:00 am! Change clothes as the we have hit all the jammie sales we are going to. Then out to pick up amazing Amish caramel-cinnamon doughnuts and to Weaver's furniture to check out their show room. We finish with lunch at another bakery [soup and sandwiches] and head home.

Our jeep was full, our pockets empty and we are about laughed out. A great time every year!

Take care,
Jill
Photos, top to bottom:

• Gail and I as we start out the morning--buying stuff for grandbabies.
• The musicians, playing their hearts out when they would have rather been in bed
• Me at the meat store
• Bob and Larry in the music store
• Mostly ladies getting their 6:30 am caffeine fix.
  

I am working on my family cookbook...

I love cookbooks, but the problem is, if you have a lot of cookbooks and find a good recipe, sometimes it is hard to find it again. And, even if you know where it is, you have to have several cookbooks plus a card file or something to hold your personal or family recipes. It makes a lot to organize recipes and books enough to actually be able to find what you need, when you need it.

Sixteen years ago, when my husband was in seminary he also pastored a couple of little churches about 2 hours from our home. We would drive up there every Friday and return on Sunday afternoon, staying in the parsonage next to one of the churches.

What that means is that I had a fair amount of cooking to do when we were there--seven people, two suppers, two lunches, two breakfasts--every single week. And, horror of horrors, I didn't have my recipes or cookbooks. This was in the olden days--back before recipes could be found on-line and even if it wasn't, we didn't have internet at home or at the parsonage anyway.

So, I compiled a cookbook with all my favorite recipes and all recipes sent to me by my family--including cousins, sisters, aunts and my mom. Since that time I have updated the original 1994 cookbook in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2008.

But, my cookbook is always incomplete. I keep adding great recipes to my repertoire and as the pockets in the three ring binder expand to the breaking point with recipes to add, the need to update becomes crucial.

So, this is the week. I have updated Main Dishes, Appetizers, Salads, Side Dishes, Sandwiches, Soups, Breads-yeast, Breakfasts and Quickbreads. That is over 170 pages! Whew!

Onward and upward! On to Pies, Cakes, Desserts, Cookies, Candy, beverages, Frostings, Sauces, Snacks and Non-Foods!

Yesterday I made some Brioche dough and then made an awesome apple-crisp type coffee cake. Bob was thrilled and it was delicious. I am glad I tried it before printing this cookbook again. I typed the recipe in there and will copy it here in the next few days. Amazing! I also added my son Cris' red beans in rice which is legendary in our family and some pumpkin muffins that are amazing.

Heres to good food, good friends and a good recipes.

Take care,
Jill

Church Signs...

Sometimes I shake my head and sometimes I just chuckle when I pass church signs. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the purpose is to signs like:

"Let the Jewish Carpenter Build Your Dream Home"

Is is supposed to make me want to visit that church? Become a Christian? Admire the writer? Sometimes Bob and I just look at each other and laugh because they are so ridiculous. I mean,

"God answers knee-mail."

How does that help build the Christian faith?

But, we saw the head-shaker of all head-shakers on a recent trip we took. The sign actually said, and I wrote it down so I would get it right,

"Would you rather suffer in this life or the next?"

I am not kidding.
They actually posted that! Makes you want to become a Christian doesn't it? It makes me think that if I was not a Christian I would think all Christians were a bit off, you know?

I would love to hear from you. What are your favorite or least favorite or the most shocking church signs you have seen? What do you think about them? Good for Christendom? Or kind of the butt of Christian jokes?

Christmas Craft Fair

I have been getting ready for the Wilmore Old Fashion Christmas craft fair for quite some time. I had stocked my shelves, labeled my Prairie Kari products, hauled tables, shelves and assorted display items from the barn at our farm, and was finally ready Saturday. Bob and I arrived at the seminary gym about 7:30 am and began setting up while small snowflakes swirled in the air.

A couple of friends and I shared a two booth space and it was amazing how quickly our booth came together. I think it was the best attended fair yet and my profits rose about 35% over last year! And let me tell you--that is a LOT of soap.

I think the most rewarding thing for me is when people come back to buy more soap and tell me great stories of how their acne, psoriasis, eczema, etc. was helped by using my soap. One lady's young son is allergic to coconut oil [which is in about every type of soap]. She was thrilled to see my natural detergent did not contain any coconut oil and to be able to buy some non-coconut oil soap.

Other people were so excited to see Goat Milk soap with no scent--because they are sensitive to any scents.

One lady had to buy several bars if soap for her dad in Indiana because he got some last year [I remembered him] and told her to be sure to buy him some this year.






All and all a satisfying experience and I reduced my inventory considerably.


Take care,
Jill
[Photos, top to bottom: soap in my shelves in my office; tubs packed up and ready to go; front leg of table with felted soap and lip balm; full booth; back table; lip balm; my friend Jenny's note card section of our booth.]

The Strangest Christmas Card...

I love Christmas and one of the things I love most is Christmas Cards. Many people are cutting back on cards or eliminating the sending of cards. I know they are expensive and time consuming, but to me they are a part of Christmas.

Let me say, that we send out a LOT of cards. We send out about 300 personal cards a year--cards that the kids used to help me make, but now I do them pretty much as a solo experience! As I fold and mail each one, I think about the recipients and how they have enriched our lives and many times I pray for them as I seal each envelope. We don't get nearly that many back--and I don't keep track who sends and who doesn't--but I will venture to say we have gotten thousands upon thousands of Christmas cards through the years.

Reading the cards and family newsletters I can usually imagine the sender sitting at their kitchen table having a cup of coffee and enjoying Christmas as much as I do. Many times I can tell who sent the card just by looking at the front picture because it reflects the sender's personality to a tee.

I will admit, that Christmas cards generally have the same theme: Jesus, good will, happy holidays. Until the card we received this week.

THIS card, sent by a childhood friend of my octogenarian father-in-law, is a card to remember. I will try to describe it so you can see it in your mind's eye [I hate to post a photo because I am going to change the name of the sender to protect his privacy].

Picture a card that looks like the front of a small white Bible--fancy, like a child's confirmation Bible. It has ribbon rose on the front and a gold pin in the shape of a cross fastened to it. The words say, "The Fisher Family Bible."

I opened the card to find what looks like an open Bible, still white with lots of gold trim and more red ribbon roses strewn across the middle of the open book.

The left side says:
"'I bring you good news of great joy for everyone!' [So far, so good!]
'The Savior--yes, the Messiah, the Lord--has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David!'~Luke 2:10"

The right side says:
"God has written each of us into the Christmas story as we turn to Jesus--our Savior, Messiah, and Lord. Merry Christmas from Alex."

All the words, including the first and last name are part of the card, specially ordered. There is no handwriting at all, everything is totally pre-printed.

When you turn this little imitation Bible over, in a neat handwritten text, it says:
"Forget Jesus...--Have compassion for the poor and sick...--Living."

What? Forget the Savior and Lord he has just proclaimed in the "Family Bible." Forget Jesus who said the greatest command is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself," and then proceeded to tell the story of the hated Samaritan who showed more compassion to the sick than the priest did?

Jesus who loved the children, fed the poor, showed compassion to the masses. Forget Jesus who gave His life so ALL may find salvation--the poor as well as the rich, the sick as well as the healthy, the gentiles as well as the Jews? If we forget Jesus, do we forget His message too? Isn't Jesus the author of having compassion for the poor and the sick?

I guess maybe the sender means to put your faith into action. Or maybe it means that this tired man is sick of those who proclaim Jesus, testify about Jesus and try to get you "saved" but then they ignore social issues. I understand that. I understand frustration with the religious establishment. I understand disgust with "good Christian people" who really aren't. I understand wanting to see more compassion. But Forget Jesus?

May it never be!

Jill

Wholegrains...

We all know the importance of adding whole grains to our diets, but sometimes it is hard to actually incorporate many into a face-paced lifestyle. I have two suggestions that are relatively easy and very tasty.

The first is to use brown Basmati rice instead of white or par-boiled rice. It has a rich, nutty flavor and has the most nutrition of any type of rice. I make it when we have black beans and rice for supper and then use the left over rice for rice pudding. It cooks up great in a rice cooker, just use 2 parts water to 1 part rice. I usually rinse it before I put it in the water to rinse off a bit of the starch. It is delicious! You will never go back to boring old white rice again. You can buy basmati rice at health food stores and many bulk food stores. It is more expensive than white or brown rice, but still a food bargain.

The second suggestion is to make your own whole grain pancakes. Topped with applesauce, this is about as healthy as breakfast gets. My favorite recipe comes from The Sue Gregg Cookbooks--and all you need is some grain and a blender.

Five Minute Pancakes

In blender place in order listed and blend on high speed for 3 minutes.
[Warning, you will need a good quality blender]

1 1/2 C buttermilk, or fruit juice or water [to make buttermilk you can add 1.5 Tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup and then add enough regular milk to make 1 1/2 Cups]
1 egg, optional
2 Tablespoons olive or canola oil [for crispness]
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup of grain in group 1 and 1/2 C grain from group 2 [or use 1/2 C of three different grains]

Use 1 Cup from Group 1:

• Kamut
• millet [especially light]
• brown rice [light]
• corn [dry whole, not corn meal]
• wheat [soft wheat pastry type]
• kasha [roasted buckwheat]
• spelt
• barley

AND use 1/2 Cup of Group 2:

• oats [rolled or whole]
• millet
• brown rice
• kamut
• corn
• wheat
• kasha
• spelt
• barley

Blend for 3 minutes at high. Heat frying pan [about 325 degrees if you are using an electric frying pan] and spray with a cooking oil spray. When your pan is hot, blend into the grain mixture for about 5-10 seconds:

1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
[batter will start to rise, so quickly pour some into frying pan]

Optional: For lighter cakes, separate 2 eggs, add yolks to blender. Beat whites separately until stiff and then fold into batter just before baking.

This may sound a bit complicated, but really it is easy if you have a good blender. The pancakes are light and tasty. If you don't have any whole grains, go to a bulk food or health food store and buy a pound of a few varieties [usually in health food stores you can buy them in bulk]. I like to use soft wheat, oats, kamut and spelt, but have used rice and buckwheat. I have saved the batter in a jar in the fridge and fryed it up days later with good results.

Take care,
Jill