Weekend busy-ness

Busy weekend!

Saturday morning we worked outside in the nice hot humidity at our other house clearing tree limbs and stuff and working on the garden. I hadn't sweat that much in a long time. Then we went to the lake that afternoon- talk about tiring!

I don't know about you out there, but it seems like everytime we go to a lake, the same kind of people are always there. Even when I was a kid, the same people are still at the lake. Women who are barely covered with their string bikinis, some of which should not even be wearing one, the men have mullets, a cigarette in one hand and beer in the other, children not being watched running all over the place, loud country music playing from someone's car, the interesting smoke smell coming from something other than a cigarette :) When I stood in a certain part of the lake, I could smell the beer, LOL! Oh and not to mention the random dogs running around that belong to someone who isn't watching them either. But we still had fun, especially the girls.

Today I will be using my computer time to work on a simplified home management binder for my sister. She has three kids, is a teacher but just took on a new position as a counselor and is getting her masters degree. She definitely needs some organization. So, this is it for the blog post.

Dishwashers!

Finally here is a picture of my dishwasher. Keep in mind this thing is old and weird. The bottom rack has these weird bracket things that take up space so I can't really fit big pots down there and the space between the top and bottom racks is too small so plates don't fit well either! Anyways, there was more space for dishes to cram in, I just didn't have anymore dishes!


The top.


The bottom.

Once I ran out of dishwasher gel, I started using the recipe on Candy's blog, which is half baking soda and half borax. It works well. The dishes aren't as perfectly sparkly but I could put vinegar in the rinse thingie if I had one. Maybe those knobs on the left are where I'm supposed to put it. It works well enough for me! No gunk stuck in the glasses.

Vicki's dishwasher

Jennifer's dishwasher

Shannon's dishwasher

Mama's dishwasher

Candy's dishwasher

I couldn't help but take this picture and post it. This is how Sarah, the baby, sleeps. So cute! She was taking her nap yesterday and was in such a deep sleep I could hardly get her awake. So I took pictures :)

The new 'me' or 'us'

Well it's just darn hot here. I love my pretty long curly hair, but it was getting old and I always wore it up in giant claw clips because I'm hot natured and for practical reasons. So I chopped it. I've had really short hair before , so this doesn't seem that short. My husband wasn't too thrilled, but he'll get used to it :) It was kind of a shock yesterday but he told me he liked it today.

These pictures are not good. I kept forgetting to get dh to take a pic, so I did my best.


It's longer in the front then short and 'stacked' in the back- you can't tell here. It's less than 2 inches long in the back though. I feel much lighter :)

Miss Alexa, my spirited and strong willed 4.5 year old, has been experimenting with scissor the last few months. She cut her hair twice, and I told her that if she did it again I would get her hair cut off. Well, guess what happened.

I love her outfit- it is so her. Clearance at walmart :)

And, you know you live in the south when your supper table looks like this:

Everything is from the garden except the canteloupe and it's local. I didn't plant yellow squash because it grows like crazy and I don't care for it that much. This is the only dish I really like, which we ate with our raw veggies and hamburger gravy served over homemade sourdough bread.

You need:

approximately 6 medium/small squash or 4 bigger ones
4-6 slices bacon
1 small onion
1 can diced tomatoes
salt and sugar to taste


First you slice the squash in 1/4 inch rounds and put them in a small pot. Just cover them with water and bring to boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes, till cooked but not mush. Drain and set squash aside. Cut bacon into small pieces and put in the pot. After fat has rendered add chopped onion and cook till softened. Then add the squash, tomatoes and seasonings. I generally add 1-2 T sugar. Let simmer 10-15 minutes. Perty good. Not necessarily frugal, but a nice treat.

This was yesterday's post but blogger didn't work...

It's been a busy day- majorly!

God is so good. He cares so much about the smallest details of our lives. Last night I noticed that our air conditioner wasn't blowing cool air. It had been on all day running constantly, and sometimes it can freeze up if it runs so much. I dreaded telling my husband because that means something is wrong with it which means we have pay for someone to fix it. And sorry, but you cannot live without the a/c here. Absolute misery.

So he was checking on it in the midst of getting the girls ready for bed. I was putting Sarah to bed and said her prayers with her and also said a quick "And Lord help that air conditioner to work..." or something like that. I shut her door and Matt was standing there reaching into the unit and says "Hey it just kicked on and I feel cold air. " I said, well I just prayed for it- and 'the prayer of faith heals the sick, even air conditioners.' LOL :) It's still doing good.

After that, Matt put the other two to bed and Alexa had contracted the hiccups. He felt like he should pray for her and they went away immediately. I mean honestly, who would think God would care about hiccups and air conditioning? But He does and it is our faith that makes things happen. Whatever we believe we can have, says the Bible.

Today I was running lots of errands and half way through I noticed my gas gauge had suddenly dropped from a quarter of tank to E. As I was driving I noticed it registered that I had 60 miles to go then it went back to 61 miles. I literally said 'That's right, God can multiply my gas like the loaves and fishes.' Well to my amazement I watched my gauge move up- with every mile I drove I had more miles to go before I was out of gas. It was the reverse of what should be happening, but the further I went, the more gas I had. By the time I got back to my mom's to pick up the other girls, I had 80 miles left before I was supposedly out of gas. When I got to my house, which is 40 minutes away, I had 89 miles!!! I saw it happening, ain't no coincidence. That is my God!

Anyways, last Saturday I was loading up the dishwasher and noticed that my mother-in-law is very good at packing it full. I consider dishwasher loading something of an art form to fit everything in there. I'm not too good at it, maybe I give up too easy and just handwash, LOL. I was never really fond of puzzles. So I thought it would be fun to have a contest on who can fit the most in their dishwashers or dish drainers. That's hard too. Take pictures and post them on your blog and I'll make a link to you, or if you don't have a blog and still want to do it, email me at sundholm5@yahoo.com

I will try to get my own picture up soon- won't be today because I have an empty dishwasher right now.

Crazy Monday

I had great hopes that I would start off the week with my new schedule in place and all would flow well. Due to some, er, issues me and dh have been dealing with the last few weeks, I had a late night and an emotional morning. That's all I can really say about that. I had a sinkful and counterful of dirty dishes, garden produce spread all over another counter needing to be tended to, mounded over laundry hampers needing attention and various stuff scattered around. Not a pretty sight.

So, after I got myself together, I got dressed and made my bed and tidied my room. The girls had eaten breakfast already, so I allowed them to continue watching their movie. I worked on the laundry and picking up and getting the girls dressed. Movie was done, got them at the table to play with something quiet while I did dishes. Then I got myself some breakfast (it was almost 10am!) and coffee, took my vitamins and sat the table with them. I worked on some things in my home management binder and gave them each a whole pad of post it notes and a pen. That kept them busy!! Then I got my Bible and read some Psalms and some parables and explained it to them. Then I made a word chart with pictures for Alexa- I'm priming her for homeschool next fall :) Then we cleaned up and they went outside for a bit and I made lunch. After they ate I changed into workout clothes and went outside to dig some holes for some plants and planted them. Then I found our double stroller and loaded them in it and walked in the super hot sun! Do not ever buy anything Jeep related to baby equipment- the whole time I was walking I had to fight to keep it from turning to the right. Then I ran some--wow was I tired and hot!

We got in and got cold drinks and cold cloths to wipe ourselves down and prepare for rest/naps. Now I'm chilling out- literally I am trying to cool off. Then I'm going to take a shower, eat something for lunch and work on my to do list :)

So, thankfully the day has gone much much better that I thought it would. I prayed a lot for my attitude to be right and obviously He heard me. I also took my vitamins and supplements and that makes me feel better. So, commit your way unto the Lord and He shall direct your path. Give Him the firstfruits and He will bless your efforts. I am so so glad that I know the Lord, or rather, that He knows me.

Trying to get motivated

The last five years I've been putting myself on the back burner. What I mean is that as I've had children and become more focused on my family and home, many parts of me have been put on hold. The most specific part is losing extra weight. I've been at a stable weight for over 5 years, even through 4 pregnancies, which is good, but it's not where I want to be or where I should be.

It's just been one of those things that I really wanted to do, but felt powerless to make it happen as life got busier and my body was carrying babies. Now that I am finally healthier and feeling better, I'm a lot closer to accomplishing what I want now, it's just making it happen! Fitting in hard exercise and finding a diet that will allow me to lose weight without being costly or unhealthy isn't easy. There are so many diet plans that work, but which one is the healthiest?

When I lost a bunch of weight before, 70% of my daily intake of food was raw vegetables and fruits. Eggs and canned tuna are now cheaper than fresh seasonal fruits and veggies, a good part of the time that is. If I did a lower carb plan, then I would eat more eggs and veggies, but that would get old and meat isn't cheap either. Whole grains are healthy and cheaper than meat, but it can be easy to overdo it for someone like me. I love brown rice and can eat a lot of it! However I guess it's better to gorge on brown rice than cookies...

One thing I can do to help is to cut out all sugar, except some honey for tea, and to just try to eat less. I don't overeat a lot, but I could probably get by on less. Oh and drinking water wouldn't hurt either- our water here isn't just wonderful tasting so I haven't been drinking it much. Buying water isn't fun, but that's what I've been doing.

So, cut out the processed sugar as much as possible

Eat a bit less at each meal.

Drink more water.

Include more raw fruits and veggies.

Get up and walk/run early in the mornings. (it's not hot yet, and the sun is fully risen by 7am)

Anyone know how to make a flabby belly that's been stretched out a few times tighten back up again?

Being fat is a burden to me. I get depressed about it and feel nasty at times. I want to look better for my husband and children; I want to be able to shop in regular women's clothing. I'm tired of feeling like everyone dislikes me because I'm big. I've failed a lot in the past, so maybe I can do better this time and actually get somewhere :)

Sourdough bread

Early this morning I got up and tried out Candy's bread recipe again. The last time I didn't have homemade buttermilk and had the Hodgson Mill brand of whole wheat flour. The result wasn't the best :(

So, I planned better this time around. I made my own buttermilk per her instructions so it was ready by yesterday afternoon. Then I took my sourdough starter out an fed it and let it sit overnight last night. I woke up at my usual early time (by myself) and started working on it.

My buttermilk was so thick, like yogurt! I used 3.5 cups of that, 5 cups of starter because mine isn't homemade and is from white flour, so I wanted to use a bit more in case it didn't leaven as quickly as Candy's. I didn't have maple syrup or honey so I used some natural sugar. I kept everything else the same. I ended up just using 8-10 cups of flour- Gold Medal brand whole wheat flour.

I kneaded the dough at least 15 minutes, maybe more, to fully develop the gluten which is what makes a whole wheat bread not taste so heavy. I only made three loaves out of mine since I only have three loaf pans- they'll be big loaves I guess. I put them in buttered pans and covered them with a wet towel. That was at 7am and they are now fully risen at 1:57pm. So, about 6 hrs of rise time. I'm about to bake them and we'll see how it works out.

For anyone not familiar with sourdough, it is so easy to make. And the bread is easy too because there isn't any waiting for the yeast to bloom, you don't have to let the whole batch rise, then shape into loaves, then rise again etc. Most sourdough bread recipes are simply starter, flour, salt, sugar, some butter/fat and water. Very easy and the dough comes together nicely, which is a big plus for me, because I hate sticky dough!! Yuck...

I will do my absolute best to take a picture later, but no promises. I've been awful about picture taking lately, sorry, so busy!!!

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Ok, here are some pictures. Here are my fully risen loaves.

You've probably read what Candy says about not being able to get all the loaves the same shape. Well, neither can I.

And here are the loaves baked up and sliced. This bread is GREAT!!!!! The key I think is the homemade buttermilk and how you bake it. 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then I did 30 minutes at 325 degreees.

The bread doesn't have a sour taste at all, just yummy all purpose soft bread. I sliced a loaf and put in a plastic gallon baggie, then wrapped the other loaves in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. I think they stay moister if you leave them in whole loaves for the freezer.

So there it is, truly amazing bread. Thanks Candy!