Something to do - Sticker wall

What kid doesn't like stickers? I know my oldest daughter does. (And I'm sure my younger one will too, when she's older.) The thing is though, I would find stickers EVERYWHERE! On the bed, on the night stand on the coffee table, inside grandpa's cabinet (hubby's grandpa's), on the kitchen table, on the floor... Well, I got tired of asking her to remove them. And some of them were very hard to remove. So I stuck a big piece of paper on the side of her wardrobe and called it her sticker wall. Guess what... it worked. No more stickers throughout the house! She eventually filled it up and I replaced it with a new sheet. The new sheet has different shapes on it so now she has to sort her stickers when she puts them up. I considered sorting colors, but realized that would be pretty silly since stickers are mostly multi colored. I think I will create a maze next time. She will have to fill the right path with stickers. I think she will like that. Do you have any other suggestions? I would love to hear them.

(Yeah, I know, I'm such a skillful photographer.)

Chowder - Good Night

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety."

Psalm 4:8

Chowder - Lot's wife

A while ago I was reading about Lot's wife. You know, the one that looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. It said (in this book) that she "may have been more attached to the good life than was good for her". Isn't that so true about most of us today? Let's face it, if you are able to read this you're probably someone who lives quite a good life. I'm not accusing you of being too attached to it, but I know that personally I've given in to so many 'wants' that I often can't afford to help those who have nothing.
In that book it also said that "she had learned to tolerate" the sin. Haven't we too? Just look at the TV. (I know that it's a common example, but it does prove a point.) The shows get worse every year, and we don't really react. We just get used to it. And don't we all sit on the couch while watching some "innocent" chick flick hoping that the guy and the girl will hook up and get a little too romantic even though they are not married? I know, there's not much left to watch if we decided to "be careful little eye what you see".
It's scary to realize how much I have in common with Lot's wife and I'm ashamed of some of the choices I've made. But there is one thing that separates me from her. "She ultimately refused God's attempts to save her."

Yummy for my Tummy - Granola

The aroma of granola baking in the oven is spreading throughout my kitchen. I love granola! Especially in plain Kefir. Almond milk or Greek Yogurt works too. Here is my go to recipe that I do not follow very well. Don't we all tweak recipes to make them fit us better? Here is what I do differently:

• First of all I don't like doing dishes so I don't mix the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls. I mix the wet once in the big bowl then I just add the dry ones in one by one. Call me lazy. (I call it smart!)
• We have nut allergies in the family so I don't add any nuts. Well, almonds are fine.
• Some of my additional add ins are flax seeds, coconut flakes and dried fruits like raisins, craisins, chopped apricots, dates...
• Since I add dried fruit I cut down on the honey a bit. Once I was out of honey but had some leftover pure maple syrup from a previous cooking project so I used that instead. I really want to try agave nectar but I have no idea where to find it. I've been looking around but I must search in all the wrong places. Please help me find it!
• I also cut down on the cinnamon. A tablespoon is a lot! In my opinion.
• I also want to add that I use the old fashioned oats, not the quick ones.

I DO follow the baking directions and it turns out SO yummy for my tummy.

Zoomed Out

Hmm... I guess my Zoomed In picture was a little harder than I first thought. Originally I hadn't zoomed in so much but when I uploaded it I thought anyone would be able to see what it was so I zoomed in some more. I have to say that the guesses were very good considering what you had to work with. I will try to make it easier next time.

So what did I zoom in on? It was a moose. I was hoping to find one with big antlers, but it wasn't season for that when I took the picture. Here is my little friend fully zoomed out...

It's Personal

If you'd like to smile head over to this.

Something to do - Button

I made a button for my blog that you can grab and place on your blog so your readers can click their way over here. It was so easy to do thanks to Oikology 101. Head on over there if you want to make a button of your own. You know you do...

Something to do - Matching "Game"

E likes to play Memory. She calls it "the matching game". Here she is working on a different type of matching game though. She had fun trying to find all the matches.

I started thinking of some chores for her after reading this post and sorting socks will definitely be one of them. I just though the mailbox thing was such a cute idea. I will modify it to fit our ways of doing things (once I figure out what they are), but I'm not sure I'm a "pay per chore" type of mom. I have to think about that one (and discuss it with my husband). We have a while before we have to make a decision though. For now I just want E to get used to some responsibility. Sock sorting and shoe organizing sounds good to me. And doing the dishes when they're made of plastic.
Please share ideas for my future chore cards. Thanks!

Zoomed In

I'm glad some of you are humoring me in this game. =) If you missed the rules just click here.

I think I'm starting this off pretty easy, but who knows. Maybe it's easy just because I know what it is. We'll see how long it takes you to figure it out. Here we go:

I will try to post the answer - Zoomed Out - sometime Sunday.

Zoomed In and Out

If you read my intro you might have noticed that there is one topic I still haven't blogged about. The photo contest called "Zoomed In" and "Zoomed Out". I was so excited about it at first and then that excitement just went away. Hopefully it'll come back. But only if you're willing to play.

This is not your ordinary photo contest. I used to subscribe to this magazine as a child. On the last page they had this contest and I used to love trying to figure it out. So I figured it was my turn to take the pics. That's right, I take the picture, zoom in and then you have to guess what it is. That's the "Zoomed In" part. A few days later I will post the answer in "Zoomed Out". Here's an example:

Zoomed In

Zoomed Out

Are you willing to play? Good. I'll be zooming in soon...

Something to do - Themed Puzzles

I read this post the other day and thought it was such a great and simple idea. What a lovely way to enjoy the cards people take time to send you. As I've mentioned before I like themed activities. This one can be changed up in so many ways. There is the obvious Christmas and Easter cards, birthday cards and other cards that you receive throughout the year. You can also print photos of your family and friends (or any photo you like). And you can make these puzzles however simple or difficult you want, depending on your child's age and abilities. If you save them for next year you could even make a simple puzzle more difficult by cutting the existing pieces in half.We only have two Halloween puzzles as of right now. We usually don't receive many Halloween cards. But I can't wait for Christmas. I usually save old Christmas cards so we'll have plenty of puzzles then. Some of these are photo cards. Who knows, maybe your head will be on a puzzle this year. =)

Chowder - encouraging blur

Sometimes we get discouraged by the things life throws at us. What better way to look than to the B.I.B.L.E.

I guess it was almost a year ago now that I noticed that my husband needed some encouragement. I took one of E's bath crayons and wrote him a little message on the tub wall so he would see it when he took his morning shower. I wrote it pretty big, but my husband normally wears contacts and all he saw when he got in the tub was this big, pink blur. He had to go get his glasses. Sorry honey!
If you're wondering about the pretty bad cover up job I did on outweighs I actually wrote "overweighs" on the wall. I blame it on my Swedish brain. =) It sounded good to me!

Something to do - Themed play dough

I must admit I'm pretty stoked about today's little project.

When I was teaching at a day care we always had a weekly theme and I loved it and although I don't do weekly themes with my girls I still like to put a seasonal twist to things.

I discovered yesterday that our play dough was pretty dry and so today we made new play dough that we colored orange and then we mixed in some pumpkin spice. My play dough recipe is packed away somewhere in the basement but my sister-in-law (who by the way is the only person I know who has a ton of ideas and the energy to put them all into action) has a great recipe on her blog that we followed.
I added some fall cookie cutters and some pumpkin "carving tools" to the play dough basket.
E had fun making pumpkin cookies and then we made ourselves a little
jack-o-lantern.

Yummy for my Tummy - Croutons

So you bought this delicious bread and now you're throwing away the end pieces...? Why not cut them up and make some croutons. Drizzle over some EVOO, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, maybe even some Parmesan cheese. Put it in the oven and DON'T forget them. I do that all the time and they get either too crunchy or even burnt. But last time they came out great. Don't you think?Now we're only missing the butternut squash soup... Yum!

It's Personal

If your familiar with my family blog you've read a few "she said" posts. I just gathered up a bunch of fb statuses that were all about what "she said". Check it out and be prepared to smile.

Chowder - the notebook

This must be one of my favorite verses in the Bible because every time I get a new note book for my quiet time I write it on the first page. And what can be more inspirational than a Bible verse telling you to be positive and thankful and keep chitchatting with our Lord all day long. Love it!


And if you'd like to get personal, head on over here...

Yummy for my Tummy - Kladdkaka

Kladdkaka - you might not be able to pronounce it, but you do want to make it. At least if you like gooey chocolate. And who doesn't?


Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
3 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.





Use the stick of butter to butter this thing. (Translating from Swedish apparently makes me lose American words.) I prefer one with removable sides.





Melt the rest of the butter, set aside to cool a bit.






Beat eggs and sugar till the batter looks this fluffy.




Add vanilla and cocoa powder. (Now, the recipe calls for 1 tbsp of vanilla sugar. Not sure if that equals 1 tbsp of liquid vanilla or not. And as far as the cocoa powder goes, I would add a little bit more than 3 tbsp, but I love chocolate so...)


Add flour. (Some people also add a pinch of baking powder here. You don't really need it. It's not suppose to rise. It's suppose to be GOOEY.) Don't beat the batter too long after this. You want to just mix the flour in there.






Lick! (Oh, my... you let your child lick a batter with raw eggs. What kind of mother are you?)





Remember, just in time, to add that butter.






Look at that shiny batter!







Pour batter into this thing.






Bake for about 20 minutes. (Don't insert a toothpick, it's suppose to be GOOEY.) You might have to experiment with the time here to come up with the perfect gooeyness for your taste.




This is what it looks like when you take it out of the oven...







... and this is what it looks like 5 minutes later. It does sink a bit in the middle. Let it cool before you serve.




Last time I made it I served it with raspberry flavored whipped cream. Yum!

Something to do - Clip It

It's Personal

Read about my littlest one in 3/4.

Intro

If you're following my other blog your thoughts right now are probably something in style with "What on earth is she thinking?! She can barely keep up with one blog and now she has two..." Yes, now I have two. This blog is an attempt to make my blogging a bit more organized and if you know me you know I love to organize! Not that you could ever tell when walking through our door, but I guess my three year old and infant (and husband) don't share that passion. And I must admit I do have a problem with sticking to my plans, but hey, that only means I get to reorganize, right?

Anyways...
I want to keep my other blog more private. You're more than welcome to read it, but my attentions are to use that blog for family blogging and this one for some other fun stuff. In fact, I have a plan. And I'm about to share it with you.

I have picked five different topics that you'll become familiar with if you stick around:

• Yummy for my Tummy

This is where I can post anything about food.

• Something to do

Anything from rainy day activities to crafts to teaching ideas...

• It's Personal

I will post a link to my other blog.

• Zoomed In / Zoomed out

This is a photo contest, but probably not in the way you think. More info to come later.

• Chowder

Ok, try to follow me here... think about that poultry pasta soup for the soul. Well, I prefer chowder. =) I will post things here that inspired me that I would like to share.


I hope you will enjoy it!