A Wet Day at the Lake

Yesterday, after mass, Mike and I packed a cooler, a couple chairs, sand toys, towels and the girls and headed off to Sherando Lake .

We put on sunscreen and settled into our chairs. (Haley being goofy in the background. Love that chick!)

Faith did some sand castle building with a little help from Haley.

The girls got in a little swimming, and continued to swim through a passing shower.

Mike and kept looking at the sky and the moving clouds, but were holding out hope that it would all keep rolling past without any thunder or lighting.

Then a shower turned into a torrential downpour!  (no photos available too busy running for cover)  With everything in tow and our arms full we carefully made our way to the parking lot, through puddles up to our shins in some places. We were parked a good 1/3 of a mile away, because it was a lovely day for the beach.  Needless to say by the time we got to the car pretty much NOTHING was dry, except.... the 2 extra beach towels that were tucked away inside this lovely felted bag.

I made this felted bag about 7 years ago with excess wool I had.  It was my first ever felted project.  It now works as our beach bag and the beauty of felted material has now proven its' value.

Those 2 towels were much needed and did the trick in giving us a fairly dryer ride home than what could have been.

We didn't get to stay more than 90 minutes, but what an awesome memory the 4 of us have.

Am I Brave Enough?

As I've mentioned in prior posts I try to eat (and cook) only "real" food.  But, sometimes it takes work and courage. Yes, courage!

Saw this recipe: Homemade Junior Mints and thought, "eww what's that all about?"   Here they are:

But to truly make them "real food" I would also need to find the courage to make my own Homemade Chocolate Chips!  Oh my! Not sure I'm up for such a challenge.  

Then I'm stuck thinking, "if I bake cookies again, how can I without making my own chocolate chips?". Ugh! 

Okay,  if I'm going to do this maybe mounds/almond joy recipe is the way to go, my family would enjoy those more than the mint!  

If I find the courage I'll be sure to post, but until then....  my mouth will water at the pictures and I'll just sit in awe at those who have the courage and do it.

Making My Own Mayonnaise

In an effort to eat only real food, (at least 80% of the time anyway, I'm not a saint people) I've decided to attempt making my own mayonnaise.  I have a friend who inspired me, and today was the day I attempted it for the first time.

The recipe I used came from this site.

My farm fresh egg is in the blender with the salt, pepper and lemon juice.

And it became this.

Final notes to self for next time: When stirring in the final stages be sure to wait for the blades to stop completely before placing spatula into the blender your doesn't require homemade mayonnaise to be healthy. Also, stop blender when consistency is reached or it will become a liquid and be ruined, requiring a second attempt.

Is there anything better than when it's made from scratch?

I buy organic dry garbanzo and black turtle beans from the food co-op we belong to, in 5 lb. bags.  (among other types) Then cook them up in batches and freeze them in freezable canning jars.

When the mood hits I take out a few jars of beans, defrost them, and turn them into the most wonderful hummus.

The only trouble then is only eating just a single serving.

Here's the recipe (term 'recipe' is loosely used here).  Place 2 jars of cooked garbanzo beans and 1 jar of black beans into the food processor.  Add 2 cloves of chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.  Turn on food processor and drizzle in olive oil, then warm water to get the consistency you like.  Enjoy with anything that can be dipped.

Just saw and now must learn the Linen Stitch

How did I miss it?  The linen stitch!  There are some truly wonderful patterns too that use it on Ravelry.

The only question left... What pattern to start with?

How to Knit the Half Linen Stitch - For Dummies

Back in the Saddle

How long has it been?  3 years? something like that.

I'm thinking it's time to start blogging again. If for no other reason than to stay in touch with other homeschool, fiber addict, Catholic bloggers out there.  I miss y'all very much.

I stopped blogging because... well it doesn't really matter why.  I'm back in the saddle and going to give it another try.

Does anyone out there use Facebook? Yeah, stupid question I suppose.  I do and I'm  totally bored with it.  Another reason I'm resurrecting the blog.

Until later... when I have something real poignant to add.