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CONTENTS:
* My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets
* Three Things I Learned from FlyLady
* Homemade Wipes Recipes
* Links I've Been Enjoying
* What's Happening in My House
* Devotional: Overcoming Mommy Guilt
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MY FAVORITE KITCHEN GADGETS
1. Dough Scraper (Pastry Scraper; All-Purpose Scraper):
This gadget is sometimes made of a piece of wood with a
metal "blade" on it, or it may be made out of plastic, as
mine is. I use the scraper to scrape bread dough off my kitchen
counters, to scrape a non-stick pan clean (mine is plastic,
remember), to scrape dough or other gunk off my wooden spoons, to
lift cut veggies or garlic from the counter, and to cut dough. It
is my #1 favorite kitchen gadget. See this one on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/B00005KIAC/qid=1112731509/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-0659091-9159220?
v=glance&s=kitchen&n=507846
2. Smooth Edge Can Opener
I love this can opener, because it not only doesn't leave a
can-edge that can cut you, but it also leaves you with a lid that is
useable. If we don't use our can of peaches in one sitting, for
example, I can just replace the can lid until the next time. The
only disadvantage that I've found is that the can lid doesn't
sink into the tuna can for easier tuna-draining.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/B000079XW2/qid=1112731716/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-0659091-9159220?
v=glance&s=books&n=1000
3. Measuring Scoops
I found measuring scoops made out of metal at my local Kitchen store
outlet. They look kind of like garden spades. I use them for
flour, for grains (rice, beans, wheat, grits), and for sugar.
4. Bread Machine (:::shh!:::)
I can't believe I am admitting to using a breadmachine, and I
can't believe that I finally bought one. I've always been a bit of
a purist about bread-making. There is something beautiful about
kneading bread on a wooden board. While kneading, I usually close
my eyes as I rock back and forth, and I think of all the women who
are likely kneading at that very moment: Americans, Canadians, Arab
women, Israelis, Mexicans, Russians, Swedes, Africans. Those women
are kneading yeast breads like mine, unleavened breads like
tortillas, and things I can't even pronounce. Then I think of
all the women who used to knead but have since passed on, which
leads me to think of Mary and Martha, Eunice, Naomi, Ruth, and other
Biblical women.
I won't give up kneading, and will still make bread by hand
occasionally. But I realized that because of the time involvement,
I just wasn't able to keep up with making all of my family's
bread by hand. So I bought a Zojirushi bread machine with the money
Tim gave me for being our family accountant at tax time.
I've been using the bread machine for dough, mostly. I can
schedule this machine to have dough done by a certain time. For
example, this afternoon I put in the ingredients and timed the
machine to be done by 6pm. At 6pm, I was ready to finish the dough
into Cinnamon Swirl Bread.
Here is the link to my machine, which I bought because of the
horizontal loaf, good product reviews, because my brother has one
and loves it, and because of the timer:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/B0000T6J3I/qid=1112899628/sr=8-7/ref=pd_csp_7/002-0659091-9159220?
v=glance&s=kitchen&n=507846
Keep kneading by hand once in a while, but in the meantime, enjoy
adding another servant to your home in the form of a bread machine.
5. Grain Mill
I've just begun grinding wheat into flour for maximum nutrition.
I waited years to finally buy a grain mill. They are pretty
expensive! Finally, I was able to buy one, and I just love this
mill, the NutriMill. It creates a flour as fine as that in the
grocery store.
http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/catalog/product_17068_NutriMill.html
Another fine mill is the WhisperMill, but right now the manufacturer
has run out of mills. If you order it, ask first if it is
available. I tried to order this mill before I got the NutriMill
(because this one is rated just as well, but is $50 cheaper), but
could not find anyone who had it in stock.
http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/catalog/product_16520_Whisper_Mill.html
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THREE THINGS I LEARNED FROM FLYLADY
You've probably heard of FlyLady, at
http://www.flylady.net .
Flylady is the one who helped me get on track when my house was a
disaster. I was a flybaby when there were only a few hundred of us a
few years ago. Now, I no longer subscribe to her list as I guess
I've "graduated." I use her basic principles, but have
my own routine. The one thing I do not do well is the Zone work
(working in a different area of the house for 15 minutes each day),
and I really need to do that. It would help me to keep up with
washing the walls and decluttering the garage.
Three invaluable things I learned from Flylady:
1.) Swipe your bathroom every day and you'll NEVER have to clean
the bathroom again. (I use Clorox wipes - just one per day, swiping
the sink first, then the commode, from cleanest area to dirtiest.
See below for recipes for Homemade Wipes). Your toilet will always
be ready for company drop-ins!
2.) Don't put it down, put it away. Flylady says something
like, "never touch something twice if you can touch it once".
I catch myself all the time starting to set something down "to get
to it later." Then I remember that I don't want to touch it twice,
so I'll just put it where it goes.
3.) If overwhelmed, set your timer for 15 minutes and tell yourself
to just work for that long. I do this when cleaning out closets, or
when I am looking at a dirty kitchen but think I'm too tired to
clean it. Also, when my house is messy, I set the timer for 15
minutes and tell the family to work with me for only that long, and
then I won't ask them to help anymore. We get SO much done in that
little bit of time, and they are relieved that I won't be on their
cases for hours. Dh (Tim) even pitches in. :)
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HOMEMADE WIPES
(These are NOT all just for babies!)
Baby Wipes:
* Brawny or Bounty paper towels (1/2 regular roll) (cheap brands
will NOT work well!)
• 2-1/4 cups water
• 2 Tblsp. liquid baby bath (or use baby lotion)
• 2 tsp. baby oil
Tear off paper towels and lay in a square plastic container. They
can be folded or cut in half. Mix water, baby bath & baby oil slowly
in a large measuring cup, and slowly pour over stack of paper
towels. They will 'squish' down after absorbing the liquid. Seal
tightly.
Caution: Some square seals are not airtight and may leak if tipped.
Other variations are:
Face/Hand Wipes:
• 2 tbsp.liquid baby bath
• 2 C water
Bathroom Wipes:
• 1/2 C pine cleaner
• 2 C water
Window Wipes:
• 1C glass cleaner
• 1-1/2 C water
* * * * *
TO KEEP THE PAPER TOWELS ON THE ROLL
I found the above recipes online, but promptly lost the link, and I
apologize for that. I have been making the Baby Wipes recipe for
years, but usually leave the paper towels on the roll (like a jumbo-
sized Wet Ones container). If you want to do it my way, here's
how:
1. Boil the water listed in the recipe above.
.
2. Place the baby oil and baby bath into a round plastic
container (or the glass cleaner or pine cleaner, if making those
recipes).
3. Cut the paper towel roll in half, horizontally (so there are
2 rolled up halves). Set one roll aside for later. NOTE: I have
found that an electric knife makes this job easy. At least use a
serrated knife.
4. Set one cut paper towel roll into the container with the
lotion and baby bath.
5. Pour the boiling water over the paper towel slowly.
6. When cool enough to handle, pull the cardboard middle out of
the paper towel roll.
7. Pull a piece of paper toweling from the middle. From now
on, you can keep pulling up from the middle to get more towels.
8. Place a lid on the container (or plastic) to keep the towels
moist.
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LINKS I'VE BEEN ENJOYING:
Knitty:
http://www.knitty.com
A free online knitting magazine that looks like a real magazine.
Free patterns galore! I'm a brand new knitter, but this magazine
gets my mind a-whirling!
Family Homestead:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com
Free healthy-eating recipes and free articles on homemaking. I
visit here often, and even bought an adorable Chicken-printed Apron
from Crystal, the site owner.
K Love Radio Station:
http://www.klove.com
Great Christian music. I often listen to this station (for free, of
course) while I'm surfing the `Net. The music is easy to
sing along
with.
The Old Schoolhouse magazine:
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com
This homeschooling magazine only comes out four times a year, but is
so huge and full of great articles that I forgive it for its lack of
frequent publication. The website is also full of great information
and devotionals.
Fallible :
http://fallible.com
A blog by writer Katy Raymond. She had me cry-laughing the other
day with her post, Bottom-Line Friendship, written April 6, 2005.
If you read that article, be sure to read the comments (click just
below the article), too. There is a VERY funny comment in there, by
a "Susan."
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WHAT'S HAPPENING AT MY HOUSE
* FLOODING…that's what's happening! We live on Fish
River, a pretty little river that we can canoe and kayak on, but is
not big enough (at our portion of it) for a larger boat. But lately
it has been big enough for a Cruise Ship! On April Fool's Day we
got the "100 Year Flood," as they call it when it is a phenomenon.
In less than 36 hours we had 16" of rain, and our river swelled from
6'(normal) to 22'. Our chicken pen came crashing down and our days
were made interesting, but we are fine. Some of our neighbors'
homes did not fare as well. You can read about it here:
http://keepingthehome.blogspot.com/2005/04/flooding-day.html .
Overnight last night, the river flooded to 14' again. The ground
is so saturated that what would normally be just a hard rain
overflowed the river again.
* Raising…14 baby chicks. We have 6 Americanas, 4 Red Sex Links,
and 4 Rhode Island Reds. I wish I could squeeze their fuzzy little
bodies! I cannot get enough of them.
* Planning…a mother-daughter tea for later this month. Brittany,
our 7yo, and I are going to invite some girls and their moms over
for "tea and crumpets" (said in our best British accent).
Everyone needs to bring a project they are working on – whether it be
baking, crafting, or art. We'd like to do this monthly. It's our
version of an old-time Quilting Bee!
* Rescuing…my 9 adult chickens TWICE this week when the river
flooded twice. Since their pen came crashing down, they are now
running loose around the yard and having fun destroying my garden.
* Planting…a garden with squash, zucchini, cukes, radishes,
potatoes, and zillions of zinnias for you can never have enough cut
flowers.
* Retreating…with my mom, my sis-in-law, and two friends to a
Women's Retreat this weekend at our former church in Pensacola,
Florida. I wonder what God will have to teach me this year?
* Baking…whole wheat bread, cinnamon swirl bread, a turkey with
all the fixin's, dinner rolls, chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon
rolls, omelets, homemade pizza…all this week, and my kids still think
they are starving! Do their hollow legs ever fill up??
* Wheelbarrowing…chicken manure/compost that somehow made it
through the flood. Never have you seen someone so excited over
chicken poop, as me when I discovered that my year's worth of
compost did not get carried away by the flood! My garden will
appreciate the gift.
* Organizing…my homeschooling. Is there no end to this
organizing?
* Petting…my bunny, a white-with-a-black-spine Mini Rex who
feels as soft as I'd imagine clouds would feel.
* Enjoying…spring because we know Miserable Summer will be here
soon enough (those are our 3 months to stay indoors! Only the
tourists dare come down here and go outside. Lol! )
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A DEVOTIONAL: "FINDING CONTENTMENT"
You have so much to offer the world. You have so much to offer to
God. Don't you think God gave you your magnetism (personality) and
your talent for a reason?
Of course!
Satan does NOT want you to use your talents or your magnetic
personality. He wants you to think you are a failure. He wants you
to look at your faults. He wants you to think you cannot possibly
have something to offer others. He wants to think that you are not
likeable or loveable. He wants to defeat you.
Why? You know how he works! You are a terrible threat to him! You
have a talent that was given to you by God for a purpose. Satan
wants the world to be ugly and people to be lonely. He does not
want you to accomplish what God has for you.
You could be used by God in an awesome ministry, even if only for an
audience the size of your little family (to God I doubt the number
of people we touch in a lifetime matters, but that we touch the ones
we were put here to touch). But you will never have a ministry -
not one of any kind, not even one to your family - unless you stop
listening to Satan's lies. In order to be used by God, you must
force yourself to listen only to God while shutting out Satan's lies.
God NEVER, NEVER focuses us on our faults. Satan does.
I once heard that guilt is from Satan, conviction is from God.
Satan wants us to think we are bad mothers (I hear that one daily
from him, too!). He likes "mommy guilt."
God would NEVER tell us that we are bad mothers. He is the eternal
optimist! He can see in us what we cannot see. He can see our
potential. He may convict us, as He did to me when I needed to
apologize to Brenden a couple of nights ago, after yelling at him
for hurting his sister. I did not handle it well at all. After I
sent him to bed in tears, I felt God convicting me to go to him and
apologize. I did that and Brenden and I had a nice time together,
talking (children are so forgiving!).
Later, I felt guilt and in tears I said aloud, "I am such a bad
mother! I mess up every single day!" But since I've been working
on recognizing that mommy guilt is not from God, I didn't keep my
mind there.
God would not want me to say that or to think that.
Saying that I am a bad mother does not glorify Him at all. He does
not think I'm a bad mother. He doesn't even think the worst mother
in the world is a bad mother. Instead, He sees the mother that she
could be. Only Satan is served by me thinking that I am a bad
mother.
Those words of doubt and guilt that you hear are coming from Satan.
He wants you to believe them. If you believe that you have nothing
to offer God, then Satan wins because you will not offer anything to
God.
Remember, God is the eternal optimist! He sees the wonderful
mother, wife and woman that we are capable of being and He
ENCOURAGES us to be that person.
(This article was originally on my blog at
http://www.keepingthehome.blogspot.com , the January 23, 2005 entry)
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I care so much about you. I want you to know that. I'm closing
this with a prayer in my heart for you. I really hope you have a
wonderful week.
Write me when you get the chance.
Lori Seaborg
