A question of technology

I am an eye candy addict; when it comes to software that is.  Google and Yahoo had me torn on which I preferred.  I really like most everything about Yahoo, including the calendar feature; Google has this new screen feature (log in page dodad) that is sweet.  I was torn at how to keep tract of items on the Google calendar (like the Homemakers Who Work schedule) while keeping what I like about Yahoo.  Well, well, well.  If one upgrades to the Yahoo calendar Beta, these two calendars can be sync’d so I see all from both calendars. 

How sweet it is!

 

Ok, the HMWW calendar will not sync – no worries.  =)  I still write it down!

Saving money

I am posting over at Homemakers Who Work today about saving money (always good, yes?); if you have insurance, make sure your doctors/dentists are participating.

It’s what for dinner

While Ronnie is traveling with his bro (on motorcycles to bike week), I am taking the opportunity to torture err to try some new lentil recipes.   This one looked tasty, easy to fix and I had everything already on hand.  *sighs*  such grand ideas.  It is my belief that I am genetically predisposed to be unable to fix a decent red lentil dish.  Leftovers are in the fridge though I believe they will end up in the compost pile.

What did turn out well is the bread pudding made from some of last week’s  stale bread.  Teresanoelleroberts over at HMWW wrote about not wasting food; she is reading Sharon Astyk’s book, Depletion and Abundance.  This reminded me that after making bread last week, I have some going stale – what a perfect solution!  Off I went to the web to find a tried ‘n true recipe.

Now that is easier said than done.  I was hoping to find one published by one of the many blogs that I read – nope.  Not saying recipes are not there, I could not find ’em.  I ended up using this recipe.

Original Recipe Yield 1 – 8 inch square pan

Ingredients

• 6 slices day-old bread
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

along with the rum sauce recipe here:

• Rum Sauce
• 3 tablespoons skim milk
• 5 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon rum
• 1/4 cup white sugar

1. While the pudding bakes, prepare the rum sauce. Whisk together 3 tablespoons skim milk and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Melt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. Stir in 1 tablespoon rum and 1/4 cup white sugar; bring to a boil. Slowly add cornstarch mixture, stirring until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

2.  Pour rum sauce over warm pudding. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. The sauce will continue to thicken and form a beautiful glaze.

Sounds yummy yes?  It was sooo easy and made the kitchen smell of vanilla and cinnamon.  Mmmm.  I had some for breakfast this morning!

Being Prepared

Today I am posting over at Homemakers Who Work on a difficult subject – making your dying arrangements.   I did not go into the specifics to creating a living will, though the recommendation is made.

Come for a visit – bring tissues!

I scheduled this post ahead of time and included my Granddaddy’s impending transition.  He passed over yesterday (5/5/10) @ 6:16 pm.  He will be terribly missed!

A cautionary tale

I am posting over at Homemakers Who Work today. The above title, when originally typed, looked like this – A cautionary tail.

lol  =)

huh?

We continue to work through winter, just waiting for seed starting time – for us will start about April.  Our last frost will not be until mid May.  Yes, the almanac has a different date; after living here for 5 years, I’ve learned to listen to the locals.  Last year we had a killing freeze (yes, under 32) in late May/early June.  Sad that I cannot remember exactly though I know it is written down somewhere.  Sadly not in this blog!  *gasp*

Over the weekend, though, temperatures were in the 40’s and the same is forecast for this week.  This means lots of mud.  *bleck*  I love the smell and cannot wait to sink my toes into some warm mud; just too cold to do that right now.

As you know I love to sew/knit/crochet in my ‘spare time’ (HA!).  My neighbor, Pat Broyles (see her button to the left), asked about selling some of these in her antique shop.  Old Ashwood School Antiques is more than just an antique store; Pat also sells her primitive artwork here was well.  She and I talked about how to set up a ‘business’ and late Saturday I created some business cards to safety pin to my pieces – yes, pictures will follow.  This afternoon I hope to have for her 4 scarflettes and a pair of pot holders.  My current project is a knit shawl using some red/black eyelash yarn.  Yes, a picture of that will be posted as well.

In the meantime I have totally slacked, missing my posting day at Homemakers Who Work and have slowed in posting here (which is something I miss).  For tomorrow’s class I need to be able to list, off the top of my head, 100 muscles.  In the trial run I had 40, which isnt bad.  Learning them in groups, back, legs, arms, etc helps. 

Just prior to posting, I was trying to catch up on my reading (449 posts.  Oy!  How does that happen?) and discovered  FIMBY implementing something we did last night – one bowl/plate/glass/etc. for each person.  As she points out, this allows to hand wash dishes without getting behind.  The extra dish ware goes to the hospitality cupboard.   

Hopefully tonite I can get caught up while studying and maybe even post some pictures!  =)

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Repurposing

I am posting over at Homemakers Who Work and touched, briefly, on repurposing clothing.  This inspired me to check out more repurposing and you’ll get to see more of that soon!

Stay well.

Blending Families

Today I am posting over at Homemakers Who Work about the challenge of blending families.  Come see!

Felting for comfort

Today I am posting over at Homemakers Who Work about felting those mittens I crochet back in November – come for a visit and let me know if you have any tips on felting. 

Rest & Relaxation

I hope you had a satisfying Thanksgiving.  Ours was filled with family that have not gotten together for over a decade.  We had 17 people!  I’ll post those pictures later.  For the moment, I have a project on the needles, turkey in the deep fryer (outside – all our turkey was eaten at the feast), and giblets on the cook stove.  Run over to Homemakers Who Work for the newest sock pattern.  Meadowlark, I’ll have pictures of the first stock shortly.  =)

Ciao!