Almost Wordless Wednesday

Texture Tuesday: Dream Edition

 I love "dress up" and have lots of dress up pictures from over the years with five daughters!

This particular photo is of my now 6 year old when she was just 2. :)

A "dress up" photo seemed perfect to use for today's dream theme at Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.  I altered the photo with many techniques that I've learned from Kim over the past couple of years and I added a layer of her "warm vignette" texture.

I do hope you all are having a nice week!

Words Often Fall Short

This past weekend we lost my father in law.  He was in his second battle with cancer when it was determined that the treatments were no longer helping.

About 30 hours after he was told that they had stopped the treatments, he died.

All of his family was able to gather and say goodbye.

This week has been sad, but so very blessed in many ways.

One of my favorite pictures:  dinner in the basement at the farm where we were making sausage during the annual butchering time.  This picture was taken 3 years ago.

My father in law is in the blue plaid shirt.

This photo was taken at our daughter's wedding, June 2011. What a happy time it was!

We have discussed here in our home so often how words fail when someone dies.  

A life is there and then it isn't. 

Christmas 2011

But, so much remains to show that his life was here and mattered.

Dried Garbanzo Beans, Who Knew?

A friend of mine sent me this link last summer when my 12 year old needed a healthy snack recipe for her   4-H project.

It's really good!! 

She got a blue ribbon, missing the mark of a purple ribbon because the judge thought they should have been baked a bit longer to crisp them even more.

And, this batch would have gotten a blue ribbon because I probably baked them a tad too long

However, both attempts were good.  

For the record, I doubled the recipe. I always think while you're at it you should make more.  I'm glad I did.

I don't think it's hard to get it right.  Just don't run off to pick up kids while they are still in the oven, thinking that you can just turn the heat down and let them bake another 25 minutes.

I'm a salt fiend and these really are still good with no salt.  Which is of course the point of the recipe.

I don't know who Dr. Oz is but I thank him and my friend for the recipe.

Maybe this snack will counter the meringue hearts I made yesterday. :)

Recycled Hearts

I had given away all of my denim and there was a HUGE box full and I was convinced that I did not want to make anything more with denim.

Well, with as many of us as there are here, one starts to accumulate denim without even trying.  Jeans too torn to giveaway, broken zippers, etc.  I love to patch jeans for us to wear again, but if they are too small for the kids, there's no point to patch them as even thrift stores don't sell patched jeans.  So, a pile of jeans "to be crafted" as grown again.

And, I decided that I wanted to use denim again.

I had in my head a bean bag heart that would sit on it's side.  Casual, plump-like.

And, lately, I like the word "loved", as an adjective not the past tense of love.  

The crocheted covered rock came as a gift from a far away friend. :)  Love it!

This is the other side of my small plump denim heart.  All patchy and full of stitching.  The plan was to stick a "little something" in the pocket but it hasn't happened yet.  Oh well.

I think these plump and casual hearts could certainly sit out longer than just for Valentine's Day.

I've decided there are a lot more bean bags/rice bags in my future.  They feel so nice to hold and they sit easily where/how you want them too.  And the kids can throw them!

Try out saying "loved" as in... I am loved.  

You are.  

From our Father above.  

Go ahead and say it.  

Feels good, doesn't it?

More Snowflake Ballerinas

I thought I'd show you more of the snow flake ballerinas while the weather is still cold. :)

These hang in the toy room.  I took care to shoot the picture above the rest of the cluttered mess.

The toy room is a bit of a catch all room.

These are the ballerinas that are geared for little hands.

My girls making these were 6 and 7 and have done quite a bit of crafting in their little lives and they still needed quite a bit of help.  I think colored paper for the dancer's bodies and skipping the glitter would be a good idea.  My gals would disagree though.

I read later on a blog somewhere, I'm sorry I don't remember where, to use coffee filters for snowflakes.  

Boy, would that be a great idea for little hands!  It's quite hard for the younger ones to cut the paper snowflakes even if you only fold the paper twice.

But, no matter how they are glittered or cut, they seem to turn out graceful and pretty hanging from a snow like piece of garland!

Grandmothers

I'm not sure if Mrs. Blenda Hanson was famous for her recipe for Swedish Potato Balls, but I think they are pretty good.  This recipe came from this cook book that was my Grandmothers.

It saw some use. :)  I love my grandmother's notes in it.

Don't want to forget that the Pickled Bullhead recipe is on page 116.

I'm not sure what a cruller cutter looks like but I googled and discovered that Crullers are similar to a twisted donut.

Looks like an interesting recipe, with the reminder to don't sift before measuring.

"Make pillow one side satin and the other side cotton.  Pillow stay put and the satin for your hair"

A recipe she heard on the radio station W.J.A.G on Nov. 23, 1957

I don't think I would like soy beans, but we grow them, maybe I should try it...

Maybe could sneak some to my kids, ha!

My excursion into the cook book was spurred because I had 5 cups of leftover mashed potatoes in my frig.  I really try hard to use all leftovers. 

So, Swedish Potato Balls it was. (See first photo for recipe)  Fried up in an electric skillet because the stove top was busy canning meat.

I used a large cookie scoop and flattened them a bit with the same scoop.

Fry both sides in really hot oil, about 400 degrees until golden.

This recipe is slightly sweet and is more of a breakfast potato pancake.  I think next time, I'll make them savory-ish by omitting the sugar and nutmeg and adding minced onion and salt and pepper.

Drain on paper towels. If the oil is really hot, they aren't that greasy.

Nice and pancake like in the center.

5 cups of potatoes was 2.5 times the recipe.  

We will be eating leftover leftovers.  

For a couple of days. 

Meanwhile, on the stove...the  pressure canner on the left was my husband's paternal grandmothers'.  The one on the right, was his maternal grandmothers'.

I've had both of the gauges checked and both are still in working condition!

"Jar Meat" has a been a tradition in my husbands family for years and years.

How different the lives of our Grandmothers were from ours.  (no internet?!, no google?!)

I enjoy these times when when I feel connected to the past.