Archive for the ‘From a friend’s blog’ Category

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Random Dozen

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Thanks to Linda from 2nd cup of coffee for this meme

1. Define a great relationship.

For a relationship to be truly great, there has to be an underlying unity – in spirituality, in morality, in interests, in goals. It’s possible to be kind and loving towards many different kinds of people, but to have mutual give-and-take of love and friendship, there must be a foundation of unity.

2. Why is it called a “drive-through” if you have to stop? (Real question: What was the last food/drink you purchased at a drive-through?)

I’m partial to the taco salad at Taco Bell, but after watching Food, Inc. recently, I may swear off all fast food (especially the meat).

3. As I type this, the Butler Bulldogs are getting ready to play in the NCAA championship game. Every Hoosier is hysterical about this except me. So in honor of the Bulldogs … what is your favorite breed of dog? (I tried.)

We had a wonderful dog years ago which was a Newfoundland/German Shepherd mix. That’s my favorite “breed” so far.

4. If you had to move to a state besides the one you currently live in, where would you move?

Sometimes my husband and I say that “someday” we’ll live in a camper van and just travel the entire U.S. Who knows?

5. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

I am from a dysfunctional family, but I like the person I am now. Though life was scary, it helped to make me the person I am today. However, I wish my younger sister and brothers had been safer from harm.

6. Who’s the funniest person you know?

My children can really get me laughing. Hmm. Difficult to narrow it down to one person.

7. Did you get enough sleep last night?

I’m blessed to be able to fall asleep easily, and fall back to sleep easily. I think it’s due to all the practice I had caring for our children when they were babies. I do enjoy staying up too late, so I probably didn’t get an optimal amount of sleep last night, but it was enough.

8. What’s the first thing you thought about this morning?

Making the coffee!!!

9. Grilled or Fried? –HONESTLY

Definitely grilled, especially if my husband is the one doing the grilling.

10. Are you afraid of the dark?

Yes. We live far enough out in the country that on rare occasions mountain lions and/or bears wander around. I don’t want to be out in the dark with a possibly mean critter sneaking up on me.

11. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a mommy, and I’m so thankful that I got my wish! I gave parenting my all, and am happy with the results so far.

12. If you had one word to describe yourself, what would you choose?

LOVE: I am loved, and I love.

Posted in Family, From a friend's blog, Homemaking, Random Dozen | 6 Comments »

Ten Favourite Free Things meme

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Ten Favourite Free Things:

My blogging friend Linda of Simply Living Modestly tagged me for this meme. She has lots of great ideas for getting back to basics in homemaking, so do please check out her blog.

  • I enjoy taking the dog for a walk, especially if one or more of the children accompany me.
  • Going to the library is another favorite free activity.
  • Taking the time to prepare a wholesome, delicious meal isn’t exactly ‘free’, but it’s much cheaper than going out to eat.
  • I enjoy playing card and board games with the children.
  • I enjoy listening to my husband talk.
  • I enjoy going sailing with my husband, if the weather is warm!
  • I enjoy the creative things the children do, such as drawing, painting and singing.
  • Interacting with friends on Facebook and through blogging are favorite free activities.
  • Playing with my grandchildren is fun and free.
  • Reading is great. Lately, I am really into wanting to read all of Jane Austen’s books.

There you have my list. I would like to tag my friend Susan of A Life of Grace to be the next participant in this meme.


Posted in Friendship, From a friend's blog, Fun Things, Homemaking, Things for Which I am Thankful | 3 Comments »

Beautiful Blogger Award

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010


I was recently awarded the Beautiful Blogger Award
by my friend Vivian of My Cards & More.


The award comes with the following responsibilities:

1. I must thank the person who bestowed this honor upon me. (Thanks so much, Vivian!)
2. Copy the award and place it on my blog.
3. Link to the bestower’s site.
4. Enumerate seven interesting things about myself. Here they are:

  • If my husband and I had met in high school, we would have been in separate social groups. I was a quiet, geeky girl, and he was one of the popular athletic guys. Thankfully we met in our mid-twenties, and were able to appreciate one another!
  • The concept of time travel fascinates me. Maybe that’s one reason I enjoy historical fiction and stories set in other eras, such as Jane Austen’s books, and those by Georgette Heyer.
  • I always have a few books to read at the same time, so I can grab the book that fits my mood, whether it be a recipe book, book on a health topic, historical fiction, young people’s literature, etc.
  • We don’t have a TV, though we do watch videos on the computer. When the children were little, we didn’t even do that. It was so calm and quiet, and I got to read lots of wonderful books aloud to them!
  • Six of our children were born at home, one naturally in the hospital, and our twin girls were surgically delivered by C-section. I much prefer natural birth to surgical, as the recovery is almost immediate.
  • We have home schooled, private schooled and public schooled our children. Our oldest child was home schooled until he started college at the age of 16, at which time he excelled, and continues to excel. There were good reasons for the other forms of schooling, though, and we found that “one size fits all” isn’t true in education.
  • I detest horror and violence in movies and books. Really, if I’m going to take the time to read a book, I would like a happy ending, if you please. There’s enough sorrow in the real world without wallowing in it in books and media.


5. Nominate seven bloggers that I find beautiful:

  • Mary of Work of the Poet. Mary is a friendly and talented person who hosts a meme called Ruby Tuesday. Once I get my camera situation under control, I’m going to participate. Mary and I enjoy sending post cards to one another.
  • Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy. The crazy thing about Tamy is how much energy she has. She develops delicious recipes of her own, participates in several memes, and writes about such things as travel, remodeling projects, and elder care.
  • Melanie of New Creation Cottage. Melanie writes conversationally about her day-to-day life, including her travels, and accompanies this with great photos.
  • Madeleine Kane of Mad Kane’s Humor Blog. Mad is super smart, and super funny. She can get me laughing like no one else. If you’re feeling creative, you can join in writing limericks to prompts that she suggests.
  • Laura of It’s Life According to Laura. Laura is one of my daughters, mommy to three young children. Cute photos of the kids adorn her blog, but best of all are the funny accounts of the kids’ antics.
  • Another very talented blogging friend is Barbara of A Day In My Life. Her entire family is musical; she enjoys scrapbooking and displays some of her work in her blog. She is also my friend on Facebook, and almost impossible to beat at spelling games. I do enjoy trying, though!
  • Nancy of Soliloquy has a photography and poetry blog which is mainly about gardening. What can I say but, “Beautiful!”

 

Thank you all, including Vivian, for being Beautiful Bloggers!


 

Posted in Friendship, From a friend's blog, Fun Things, Things for Which I am Thankful | 8 Comments »

Local Beauty

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Some friends of ours who live just south of us in Langley, WA, sent me the link to this fantastic video. Isn’t the Pacific Northwest a gorgeous place?

Posted in Favorite Photos, From a friend's blog, Things for Which I am Thankful | 5 Comments »

A great water-saving idea!

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Thanks to my friend Linda of Simply Living Modestly for letting her readers know about this wonderful product!

Posted in From a friend's blog, Homemaking, Responsible Consumerism | 1 Comment »

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Friday, November 13th, 2009

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My blogging friend Tamy and her friend Joy are hostessing the 2nd Annual Bread Roundup. If you would like to participate, too, please click on the link to go to Tamy’s or Joy’s blog for the details.

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

This recipe is for 6 loaves of bread, and requires a large capacity mixer equipped with a dough hook.

Combine the following ingredients in the mixer bowl, using the dough hook attachment:

11 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour

3 cups rolled oats

½ cup gluten flour (optional, but this helps the dough to be more elastic and rise better)

2 Tablespoons dry yeast

2 Tablespoons salt

Add liquids:

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup honey

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

9 cups hot (but not too hot) tap water

Mix for 3 minutes. Let sponge for 10 minutes.

Add, 1 cup at a time:

10 cups white flour (or whole wheat, for a delicious but heavier bread)

Knead by machine 5 minutes.

Cover the bowl of dough with a dish towel and let rise until doubled. Stir the dough down and shape into 6 loaves. Place in greased bread pans and let rise until almost doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Turn loaves out of pans to cool on rack.

This is a genuine Taron family recipe. Rick and I developed this recipe about 20 years ago, experimenting with other favorite recipes, until we came up with a whole wheat bread that isn’t crumbly. It makes great sandwiches, and even better toast.

Posted in From a friend's blog, Fun Things, Homemaking, Recipes | 3 Comments »

Honest Scrap Award

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

blog_award-honest_scrap

A couple weeks ago Linda at Remote Treechanger gave me the HONEST SCRAP award. Thank you so much, Linda!

To keep this award, I must complete the following:

1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award
2) Share 10 honest things about myself
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design or those that have encouraged me
4) Tell those 7 people they have been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving it.


Here are 10 honest things about me:

  • I greatly enjoyed being stay-at-home mom to our nine children.
  • Currently, I get enjoyment and satisfaction from being a para educator (“teacher’s helper”) at our local middle school, which means grades 6, 7 and 8.
  • My current favorite authors are Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.
  • I’m fascinated by nutrition and health topics.
  • I have made peace with my limitations. When I get tired, I can rest or play, without a guilty conscience.
  • It is easy for me to stay online for a long time.
  • One of my favorite things is going out for a really good coffee with my daughters.
  • I would rather be kind and useful than brilliant.
  • I can be very ditzy at times. Once I worried that I hadn’t gotten daughter Kayla a birthday present, and couldn’t remember, even as she was opening it, what it was. I hope this doesn’t bode ill for the future!
  • I don’t easily “make friends” with machines. I especially shrink from driving someone else’s car.

So, there you have my HONEST SCRAP. Now, to nominate seven other bloggers I admire:

Just to decorate this post, here is a picture from the Farmers Market at Point Reyes, CA taken last Saturday:

farmers market

Posted in Awards, Blogthings, Friendship, From a friend's blog, Fun Things, Things for Which I am Thankful | 7 Comments »

43 Things Quiz

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

I found out about the 43 Things quiz
from my blogging friend Linda of Remote Treechanger. Here are my results:

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I’m an

Extroverted Spiritual Self-Knower

Posted in Blogthings, From a friend's blog, Fun Things | 1 Comment »

Give Me Five Monday

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Give Me 5 Monday logo

The question this week for Give Me Five Monday is:

Give Me Five random things you’ve never done before.

  • I’ve never traveled by railroad, though I would like to do so.
  • I’ve never smoked a cigarette. I think all the smoke bothered me when I was growing up, so I just never wanted to try it.
  • I have never traveled to the East Coast of the U.S. or to the South.
  • I have never lived where there are hurricanes or tornadoes.
  • I haven’t been to a spa (yet)!


Hostess Becca says this about the meme:

The ‘Give Me Five’ Monday meme is designed to share fun information with each other in a simple short list! Here’s how it works. Each week, I will put out a random topic from my list of topics and you share 5 answers of your choice on the given topic and link back here! You can add photos, links or stories or just a simple list of your own of 5 things that relate to the topic as it pertains to you and your life experiences. It doesn’t have to be in any order of importance unless otherwise specified.
Sign up for weekly reminder emails @ beccagirl@charter.net

Posted in Blogthings, From a friend's blog, Fun Things, Give Me Five Monday | 5 Comments »

Seven Amazing Things meme

Friday, August 7th, 2009

I have been tagged!

My friend Linda, whose blog is Remote Treechanger, tagged me to post 7 things about myself that I think are amazing. Those of you who know me well may not be AMAZED, but I will try:

  • As my late 20s approached, I thought I would NEVER get married, though I desired to do so. I was a member of a very small Presbyterian church. My husband-to-be also wanted a wife and family, and was also a member of a small Presbyterian church two states north of me.
  • We were introduced by mutual friends. His college roommate had married one of my favorite working-girl roommates. They kept after us for about a year before we agreed to meet.
  • I travelled north with a girlfriend, stayed with Rick’s pastor and family, and so we met. After that visit, we continued to get to know one another mainly by writing letters, and talking on the phone. Remember, this was prior to the ease of email and chatting online.
  • Though we had no one to supervise us, we really wanted to honor the Lord in our relationship, so we were very strict with ourselves during the times when we did see one another: no holding hands and no kissing. When I met Rick’s folks just prior to the wedding, they wondered if we really even LIKED one another, since we were both so reserved.
  • Rick and I both believe that children are a gift from the Lord, and were so thankful to receive six daughters and three sons into our home. Maybe it’s not amazing that I’ve never used birth control of any sort.
  • Seven of our children were born naturally, our twin daughters were born by C-section. Six of the natural births occurred after the C-section.
  • I love and enjoy our children so much! I thank God for giving me the opportunity to be a wife and mother. I’m thankful the children all have come to their own faith in God, work hard, and enjoy one another!


That’s all, folks!

Now, I am tagging seven friends:

Please, if you’re reading this and want to do the same sort of post at your blog or on Facebook, do join in!

Posted in Family, From a friend's blog, Fun Things, marriage, Things for Which I am Thankful | 10 Comments »

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