The Propellerheads

The Propellerheads… I like these guys!

A lesson in symmetry

My sister finds the coolest sites.

http://www.qbesq.com

The kids and I love this one.  You can make your own mandala or kaleidescope picture.  We keep ending up here… ah- let the maids clean the house!  HA!

Check it out and leave a comment… or post your creation so we can see it too!

Soup’s on!

I love soup especially cream soups.

Here’s Potato and Mushroom cream soup… my very own recipe!
3 cups organic chicken broth
3 cups skim milk
1 giant heaping tablespoon sour cream
5 large baking potatoes
5 radish
8 oz mushrooms (sliced)
1/2 a purple onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
s&p to taste
3 tsp Italian seasoning (at least)

Bake potatoes in microwave. Get out the crock pot. Cut potatoes into bite chunks. Put everything in Crock pot. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. Serve in bowls with cheese on top and crusty bread for sopping! Mmm Mmm Mmm! SO DELICIOUS!

Very Basic Bread 2

Here’s the way it went down…

4 cups all purpose flour

1 dash salt

1pkg yeast

1 and 2/3 cup warm water

2 tbs honey

In measuring cup put yeast in warm water to foam.  In large bowl put flour and salt.  Stir.  Make DEEP well.  Sqeeze or spoon honey into well.  Slowly pour foamy water/yeast in.  Stir then turn out and kneed on floured surface for 10 minutes or so.

*at this point I was wondering how this was going to work out… the dough didn’t want to stick together*

Place dough ball into greased bowl and cover with towel.  Let rise for an hour.

*that hour turned into all night!!!! I fell asleep ~oops!~ 9 hours later*

Remove dough ball (that smells like delicious sourdough) from bowl: punch down and kneed a few times.  Shape as you like and place on greased cookie sheet.  Place in cold oven.  Set oven temp to 425 degrees F.  Set timer for 40 minutes.

Remove and let cool on a wire rack (HA!)

*nearly burn fingers trying to tear off just a tiny piece and scorch mouth while trying to eat and take pictures… then wait till it (your mouth, that is) cools and go back for seconds*

So overall the bread is good.  The crust is crusty and the inside’s full of air.  It is reminiscent of sour dough… with that lingering flavor … maybe because of it’s overnight rise time.  The kids and I like it well, enough.

We are in agreement, however, that the crust is harder than we’d like it too be.  We’ll try again another day: maybe honey glaze the crust, or a little less flour, or less initial rise time, or two rising periods, or some more honey…. or some something!

Very Basic Bread

Nature’s Own make a delicious sugar free bread.  It is included on the Nature’s Own website if you’d like to see the ingredients.  What is so wonderful is that they use no artificial sweeteners.

But they still use “natural flavors” which could be anything… and other undesirables.  So with purity at heart I googled “basic bread” and found another blog where someone had posted this comment…

“Sunny says:

Aspen Mills Bakery out of Ogden, UT makes a bread that has no sugar out of five ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, yeast, honey and salt. I really want to figure out the recipe and so far am disappointed, but I may try fudging with those ingredients to see if I can make it happen. If I can I may try to put the recipe on paper, but no guarantees.”

So inspired; I too will venture on this simple road!  Healthful shortcuts are of course a bonus so if anyone has any idea as to  how much of what ingredient I should try please let me know!

I will be posting more this evening… when we see if my first attempt is a success or something quite different!

The Vatican on Aliens

Day before yesterday my Mother in law called me and said, “I’ve got to tell you this! Just so you know I’m not seeing things! The banner across CNN says the Vatican just released a statement that says it’s ok to believe in Aliens! Can you believe it?” The kids got very excited when they overheard news of aliens from Grandma… they picture Monster Inc… or at the worst Men In Black.

An hour later I got online. Lo and behold the news was everywhere! I read more than one report and came to the conclusion that this is nothing new. UFOs and Aliens have been documented since long before the Vatican existed.

They could be representations of ghosts… instead of aliens. The could be masks or some other decoration… instead of space helmets. They could be a long forgotten invention… instead of spacecraft. So many people are sure of opposite explanations and the rest are firmly undecided.

My question is… what prompted the Vatican to make a statement regarding aliens and ufos in the first place? Well, what do you think?

Born on a Blue Day

I’m reading a book, Born on a Blue Day, by Daniel Tammet, an aspy savant.

This book is amazing.  I’ve not completed the book yet so this is not a review; rather, an introduction.

My friend lent me the book when I was describing, to her, the way I see words in general conversation.

I ascribe snapshots to words.   When I listen to someone talk I get a mental image of each word they say.  For example:  “How many cups of oatmeal does the recipe call for?”  ‘How many’ is registered as one word in which I see a classroom full of small children playing with math blocks.  ‘Cups’ calls forward a field of multicolored glass cups being filled by rainwater.  ‘of’ draws up no image. ‘Oatmeal’ is like a hot spring full of oatmeal… and so on.  I have always been drawn to people who speak a mile a minute.  Probably because I don’t have to participate too awful much in conversation and to me, it’s like going to the movies!

Until very recently I have believed everyone perceived the world this way.  My world is defined in images.  When I was 14 or so I learned that my Grandmother’s dreams were in black and white.  I was shocked and so was she.  I dream in vivid color not only at night but when I hear someone talking my mind produces vivid images.  It’s the same when I read a book.  I can see the characters and surroundings in great detail.  Watching a movie after I’ve read the book is very frustrating because I have a set image in my mind of how everything should be.  When my image and the directors images vary I get hung up on these details and lose all enjoyment for the show. Ah well, that’s another reason why books are better!

More about this book when I’ve completed it…

Coffee Cake Candy

This recipe was tested by Charles, The king of Coffee Cake!   We made coffee cake but were really after the topping.  To save you the trial and error we went through… here it is! Oh and we made a double batch of toppings.  We left the extras in the fridge, covered, and chip away at it like hard/crumbly candy.

One box of white cake mix

Six tablespoons of melted butter

A half cup of brown sugar

A teaspoon of cinnamon

One and a half tsp vanilla

Bake the cake according to package directions.  Meanwhile mix the other ingredients.  Spoon 1/2 of the toppings onto the white cake while still hot.  Reserve the rest for candy crumbles.  Mmm Mmm MMmmmm!

Mssg for Mom’s

Happy

Mother’s

Day!

Happy

Mother’s

Day!

Happy

Mother’s

Day!

Happy

Mother’s

Day!

Love to you all!!!

A Pair of Muddy Sneakers

A pair of muddy sneakers left lying by the door,

tell the tale of a daring journey or an ancient medieval war.

Perhaps a brave explorer crossed the river to Timbuktu,

or was forced to hide in a swamp while a band of Apaches rode through.

Perhaps the top law man in Texas had to stand ankle-deep in wet sand,

while he watered his gleaming stallion on the banks of the Rio Grande…

More likely my brave little hero played in sprinklers along the way

but he’d never admit that to mother…

And I’d have it no other way.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

Saw this here and had to share.  Made me smile… hope it makes you smile too!

Starbuck’s & soul suckers

Novel thing about the Starbuck’s logo.

I like mermaids as much as the next person but my sister just adores them. So while cruising the web, looking for a mermaid to send to my dear sis, I found this article. It led me to the question, “What was he thinking” when a man enamored with Moby Dick decided to put a soul sucking mermaid on his coffee cup!? I mean yes, coffee is addictive… and Starbuck’s more than most, but wow, will the coffee eat my soul??

The little mermaid should be called the anti-mermaid! She went against all the lore that came before her when she saved, dear, Prince Eric. Historically mermaids are akin to sirens and therefore the enemy of sailors. It has been passed down from one sailor to another; the dangers of the mer people and how they turn the seas. With King Triton and his, remarkably devil like scepter, causing the ocean to swallow up ships and spare none aboard.

But for some reason we, humans, still love the familiar half fish creatures and romanticize them until a whole generation considers the beast mermaid a heroine!

It’s very interesting in a useless sort of way. If you’re interested in the split tale mermaid or 1st Mate Starbuck or want to have a groovy opening line next time you grab a cup of Joe; read this… http://www.endicott-studio.com/jMA03Summer/theMermaid.html!

Batik

I discovered Lydia Dillon-Sutton while google image searching with Keek. We had been talking about my childhood…

Almost daily the kids ask me to tell them stories of when I was a kid. Just the other day I told the story of my first pow wow. Keeker was enthralled! She has been very interested in Native American culture and art since we moved here, almost two years ago. We started by searching “traditional Native American dress” on google. She had been searching for an hour or so when she called me over to see this. The art is so crisp, the crisp-est and cleanest batik I’ve ever seen.

Lydia Dillon-Stutton is from Arizona where she makes beautiful art.Her technique is Batik! Isn’t it amazing?!?! She paints with wax on textiles and repeatedly dips the cloth into different colors of dye. I have been fascinated with this process for months now! Batik produces some beautiful and unexpected mingling of colors. With the natural earthen hues Lydia uses the results are amazing. This is one of her websites with more information about Batik work and her art… http://www.thunderbirdartists.com/exclusive.php?artist=LydiaSutton

The Streets

The streets are a band from England.  They play rap/garage/electronica. Not my usual genre but these guys are great! They claim to have been influenced greatly by Beat Stevie… I don’t even know who he is! The Streets have a great sense of humor that shows in their work. War of the Sexes was the first song of their’s I heard.  They have thick cockney accents, too… I’m a sucker for that! Here is a link to their main website… http://www.the-streets.co.uk/!

Unschooling Ingenuity

Background

Five months ago Husband brought home some broken kid motorcycles.  He rewired them to run with 12 volt car batteries.  The kids have been enjoying them ever since.  Whenever they want to ride, Dad goes out with them and hooks up the battery to the wires… off they go!!  Dad watches and turns the bike around if ever the kids get stuck.

Today

Without Dads help 5 year old Fish goes outside and hooks up the battery.  No big deal, he’s seen Dad do it a hundred times.  But he hooked the wires up backwards… which caused the motor to run in reverse and propell the bike away from his chosen destination.  Fish stopped switched the wires and went his merry little way.

A little while later, Husband and I were watching him cruise through the park when he got stuck at the other end of the baseball diamond.  Husband groaned, “Ah- he’s stuck, I’ll go turn him around.”  But before Dad could arrive and save the day, Fish jumped off the bike, switched the wires, reversed, switched the wires back and was on the road again!

Unschooling in action… isn’t that cool!

…in Pasedena no less

This family is an inspiration to me. Dad admits his hippy past in the interview and mom looks hip too. On there city lot they have managed to grow 95% of their own food, at least in the summer time. They raise ducks and goats… as well as their own kids! Watch the quick youtube video and tell me if you think they are awesome or mad or both!

Youtube vid: HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION – Radical Change Taking Root

Here is their website: www (dot) homegrownrevolution (dot) com

I give! I give! UNCLE… ALREADY!

Ok so everybody I know and their dog has a blog… I have been bugged about blogging for well over a year now and so today I succumbed to the peer pressure!  I am new to this so go easy on me… I promise I’ll get better as time goes by….  I’m a quick learner… I still have the website up and running but will phase that into a business site.  Fun Fun…