DIY Soil Block Mix

I clicked on a link to go to this page, but it had been taken down! So I looked it up on the archive site and wanted to save it somewhere, so this is not my content! Very useful though, and I hope many can benefit from this information.

 

 

Weekday Themes, part 2

In my previous post I talked about my plans to streamline this blog and my YouTube channel. I've been thinking about this ever since (a few hours), and I *think* I've settled on my daily themes. Subject to change:

SELF-SUFFICIENT SUNDAY - I will discuss an item or a skill or anything else relating to being more self-sufficient.

MIX IT UP MONDAY - This will be my hodge podge day, to talk about whatever I want/need to. It will mostly be topics that don't fit under my other theme days, such as homeschooling, tutorials, family, animals, etc.

TAKE ME BACK TUESDAY - Obviously the throwback day (but not on Thursday....I'm a rebel) where I will repeat a blog post or a video that I feel is worth re-sharing.

WELLNESS WEDNESDAY - Anything relating to simple living that is healthy, clean and good for you. Homemade cleaners, healthy foods, gardening, etc.

THRIFTY THURSDAY - Anything money related....ways to save pennies, debt, thrifty finds, etc.

FEATURE FRIDAY - I'll do a shout out to another blog / channel, maybe even a guest post / video!

Before I start this, is there anything I just really need to change? Are any of my ideas bad, like....I really shouldn't go there? I'm tough on myself sometimes and really can't tell if these are great, okay or terrible ideas!

Thanks for your help!

Weekday Themes

I want to blog more. I NEED to blog more. But I don't want my YouTube videos to suffer.

So I've come up with a plan.

I'm going to make the two related, at least most of the time, and I'm going to streamline it with themes each day so it won't be difficult to think of something to write. I may just share that day's video on some days, and other days I may have something to share that isn't necessarily homestead related but I want to blog about it. So if all goes as planned, I should have more blog posts than I do videos.

So here's my ideas for themes that I like so far. Help me pick one for each day!

Sunday

• Service
• Site
• Shout Out
• Survival
• Scholastic

Monday

• Memory
• Money Saving
• Minimalist
• Meaningful
• Motivational
• Mailbox
• Mashup
• Mystery
• Miscellaneous

Tuesday

• Tip
• Tasty
• Take Me Back
• Time Hop
• Tutorial

Wednesday

• Wisdom
• Wildcard
• wish List
• Wellness
• WayBack
• Wildlife

Thursday

• Thoughtful
• Thankful
• Thrifty
• Throwback
• Throw It Out

Friday

• Frugal
• Focus
• Follow
• Feature
• Field Trip

I take a break on Saturdays. I don't create blogs or videos, nor do I publish any on this day. We keep the 7th day of the week as the Sabbath day and just rest. :)

So, help me decide on a theme each day, or make more suggestions! Obviously some of them would have the same idea, such as Memory, Time Hop, WayBack and Throwback. I also want to do shout outs, which I could do on every video, but if I did one each week and made a whole video for them, I've got Shout Out, Focus, Feature and site.

Many of these ideas could cover several topics, so that would be easier to work with. I think I'll start looking over the list and just eliminate them one at a time. Miscellaneous might be a good one to keep, or WildCard.

These are the topics I definitely want to cover though:

• Saving money (Frugal, Thrifty, Money Saving), could include debt topics
• Homeschooling / Educational (can include how-tos)
• Shout Outs
• Memories / Flashbacks
• Health topics, which could include DIY cleaners, healthy foods, etc.
• Some kind of DIY topic, which would include crafts, sewing, building things, etc.
• Animals
• Gardening
• Anything relating to prepping or homesteading!

Interview with each child

I haven't blogged in a while, but I really want to get back to it regularly. I try, but then I forget!

Well, I came across this and wanted to do it with each kid, so here ya go....partly for you to get some giggles and also for my own records. :)

You have to keep in mind as you read these that my younger two boys, Jack and Joe, both have genetic abnormalities with learning disabilities and speech issues. Thankfully nothing serious, but that will help you understand some of their answers a little better.

What is your name? Jack

How old are you? 9

How old is mom? 15

What is your favorite color? Yellow

What are you doing? playing on my tablet

What is your favorite food? cereal

Who is your best friend? Simeon

What is your favorite animal? elephants

What are you scared of? nothing

What is your favorite show? Blue's Clues (first show he ever watched)

What makes you sad? When I get in trouble.

What makes you happy? When someone tickles me.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A balloon guy.

What does love mean? Like in I love my wife when I get older.

What's your favorite drink? Chocolate milk

Where is your favorite place to go eat? Taco Bell because it have burritos.

Where is your favorite place to go to play? Chick-A-Fla  (he says it like this)

What's your favorite movie? Narnia

What's your favorite toy? a little elephant

What's your favorite holiday? Sukkot

Where do you want to go to college? Home

What's your favorite song? Speak Life by TobyMac

What is mommy good at? Singing a song.

What is daddy good at? Cleaning the toilet (I agree!)

What's Mommy's job? Cleaning your room (Ha!)

What's is Daddy's job? Hobby Lobby

What's your favorite season? Winter because you can make snowmen, and you can have a snowball fight.

***

What is your name? Jessi

How old are you? 6 (she's 4, lol)

How old is mom? BIG!

What is your favorite color? Rainbow (I can see she's my rebel)

What are you doing? Playing on my tablet (we have a problem)

What is your favorite food? Beef stew

Who is your best friend? Jayla

What is your favorite animal? A goat! (too much Goat simulator)

What are you scared of? the dark

What is your favorite show? Paw Patrol

What makes you sad? an onion (ROFL!)

What makes you happy? Rain

What do you want to be when you grow up? a mama!

What does love mean? Heart

What's your favorite drink? Water

Where is your favorite place to go eat? THIS PLACE!

Where is your favorite place to go to play? Chick-A-Fla (she copies Jack)

What's your favorite movie? I only like Paw Patrol.

What's your favorite toy? A giraffe

What's your favorite holiday? Sukkot

Where do you want to go to college? At the sun. <giggle>

What's your favorite song? Jump song!

What is mommy good at? the bathtub (taking baths)

What is daddy good at? work

What's Mommy's job? Watching a movie (rarely do that)

What's is Daddy's job? work

What's your favorite season? Winter

***

Jacob - 12

What is your name? Sneaky Squeaky Cheeks

How old are you? 5

How old is mom? 0

What is your favorite color? Blue

What are you doing? sitting here

What is your favorite food? (evil sounding voice) Spinach pizza from Cici's

Who is your best friend? Daisy (the goat)

What is your favorite animal? Daisy

What are you scared of? nothing

What is your favorite show? Person of Interest

What makes you sad? Saying good-bye to someone I won't see again for a very long time. (Wow.)

What makes you happy? A lot of things.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A pilot and welder.

What does love mean? It means you can fart around someone and not feel embarrassed.

What's your favorite drink? Water

Where is your favorite place to go eat? Cici's

Where is your favorite place to go to play? Sukkot

What's your favorite movie? Jurassic World

What's your favorite toy? My tablet.

What's your favorite holiday? Sukkot

Where do you want to go to college? Home

What's your favorite song? Speak Life

What is mommy good at? sleeping

What is daddy good at? working the remote control

What's Mommy's job? Making meals

What's is Daddy's job? Hobby Lobby

What's your favorite season? All the same.

***

What is your name? Joe

How old are you? Um, I don't know. (Counted Jayla's fingers...) Yeah, 6!

How old is mom? I don't know.

What is your favorite color? Orange

What are you doing? I want to play on Jack's tablet.

What is your favorite food? cereal

Who is your best friend? Jack and Jessi

What is your favorite animal? Giraffe

What are you scared of? When Jacob acts like he's going to get me, and the dark.

What is your favorite show? Uncle Gadget (Inspector Gadget)

What makes you sad? Taking the tablet away from me.

What makes you happy? Someone give the tablet back to me.

What do you want to be when you grow up? to play on a new tablet that you can get me.

What does love mean? loving

What's your favorite drink? Dr. Pepper

Where is your favorite place to go eat? Taco Bell

Where is your favorite place to go to play? Chick-A-Fla

What's your favorite movie? Paw Patrol

What's your favorite toy? A toy house.

What's your favorite holiday? Sukkot

Where do you want to go to college? At Taco Bell.

What's your favorite song? Paw Patrol theme song

What is mommy good at? working

What is daddy good at? I don't know, I can't do it this long. (haha!)

What's Mommy's job? This take forever!

What's is Daddy's job? work

What's your favorite season? Winter

***

What is your name? Jayla

How old are you? 14

How old is mom? You don't want to ask me that. lol

What is your favorite color? Purple

What are you doing? sitting

What is your favorite food? Potatoes

Who is your best friend? Sarai and Jessi

What is your favorite animal? horse

What are you scared of? heights

What is your favorite show? Person of Interest

What makes you sad? Emotional things. lol

What makes you happy? More emotional things.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A mother.

What does love mean? Um....(laughter)....um......

What's your favorite drink? Apple Mansana

Where is your favorite place to go eat? Chick-fil-A (she says it right, lol)

Where is your favorite place to go to play? My room.

What's your favorite movie? The Parent Trap, new and old.

What's your favorite toy? My tablet and clay.

What's your favorite holiday? Sukkot

Where do you want to go to college? Home

What's your favorite song? Love With Your Life by Hollyn

What is mommy good at? Being the Mama!

What is daddy good at? Driving a forklift.

What's Mommy's job? Being a Mama!

What's is Daddy's job? Driving a forklift.

What's your favorite season? Spring

***
Jonathan - 16
What is your name? Mama, please, no.
How old are you? Please, just let me go.
How old is mom? I can't count that high.
What is your favorite color? I am above such petty things.
What are you doing? Trying to control my anger.
What is your favorite food? Plant life scraped from the top of Lake Thunderbird.

Who is your best friend? Silas and Becca

What is your favorite animal? Hamburger

What are you scared of? I can't even think of anything sarcastic. I'm not scared of anything.

What is your favorite show? Person of Interest

What makes you sad? No tacos.

What makes you happy? Tacos.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Isolated.

What does love mean? Well, when a man and woman love each other very much.....

What's your favorite drink? Water from Lake Thunderbird.

Where is your favorite place to go eat? The Oval Office.

Where is your favorite place to go to play? About 5 feet outside the Oval Office.

What's your favorite movie? Inception

What's your favorite toy? Tickle Me Elmo

What's your favorite holiday? Pi Day

Where do you want to go to college? El Paso

What's your favorite song? Um. Um. Um. Um. Um. (this continued for a while).....Heart of Gold by Johnny Cash

What is mommy good at? Sucking the fun out of everything. (I do my job well then!)

What is daddy good at? Preventing me from fun in the first place.

What's Mommy's job? To let me know when I need a shower.

What's is Daddy's job? Waiting to be told by you to take a shower.

What's your favorite season? Open.

Feast of Tabernacles 2016

Howdy, friends! I was going to post some pictures from Sukkot, but we have over 200 photos and over 20 videos (which I still need to upload), so it'll be easier to just share the >>>link to the album<<<. Enjoy!

Here are a few of my favorites though.....

 Jacob made it to the center, a.k.a. "King", in 9 Square!

 We had to put the rain fly / tophat on....quite amusing.

 Joe broke his arm just 3 days before we left, so we got the cast during camp.

 The girls rode around on this golf cart a lot with their friends.

Alex was amazingly patient when teaching chess to some of the children and teens!

 It's nice to only have a few dishes to wash!

 My chocolate cake mix turned into brownies (on purpose, lol) turned out great!

 It was hard to get them all together at once, but this was some of our neighbors. Awesome people! We're going to visit their congregation soon in Tulsa!

 Some other awesome people we met! This is Joey and Krys and their beautiful children.

From the sunglasses on head, left to right.....Annie, Jason, Mark and Reanee. Fun and loving people!

 Jessica is getting so big! She looks 12 here! Okay, maybe not *that* old.

 Jacob turns 12 in 3 more days, and he is now taller than his 14yo sister! He's trying to hide from the camera here.

 

 Jack's favorite color is yellow. :)

 Jonathan actually joined in a dance! 

 And posed for a picture! 

We didn't get many pictures of Jayla because we didn't see her much, so this one and the golf cart are about the only ones. Here she is playing a Minute to Win It type game. lol

I just wanted to post another pic of Joe. This one was actually before camp, right after he broke his arm but before he got his orange cast on. I love his smile! He doesn't look like he's in pain at all, does he? lol

That's all for pictures, but please click on the link above and take a look at all of them! I'll write more about Sukkot later and share the videos. It was a very blessed time.

Update on Snakebite Wound!

I'll tell ya right now, if you don't wanna see any photos of the really nasty wound, scroll down slowly so you'll know where to stop. I'll post a warning. lol

It's been a full week since Jonathan was bitten by a copperhead. I'm sad to say, it has gotten a little worse and there is a *small chance* he could still lose the end of his finger, but the surgeon is hopeful. He goes back sometime Monday for the surgery (they'll call me), and we'll find out for sure when it's done! The surgeon is supposed to just clean it out really well and cut out the dead part, then he'll probably go back -- I assume several times -- for some skin grafting. That's assuming his finger will remain 100% intact. The surgeon just doesn't know how deep it goes, so he can't really say for sure just yet.

Jonathan is still having some pain, mainly because he cannot swallow pills very easily, so he tends to just refuse them completely, but it's not too bad. At the worst times he rates it around a 3-4, so not any fun, but tolerable. My c-section pain was more than that before I took something (I HATED the hydrocodone, which is what he was prescribed as well), but guys are just wimps when it comes to pain, right? What's up with that?! Haha!

***WARNING -- NASTY PHOTOS BELOW***

Okay, picture time. Here is the progression of his bite wound. I got 1 or 2 pictures for each day so far. Hmmm....I'm not sure I got one for day 6, but I'm sure you can use your imagination!

Here you can see a blister forming below the dead part.

And here you can see where the surgeon broke the blister to get a better look!

He had left the wound open for a couple of days and said it was less painful when it dried out completely, but the nurse covered it again after the blister was open, of course. You can also see the profile of his finger in this picture and how the edge of his finger is now missing! EWWWW!!!!

That's it for now. I'll update again after his surgery. In the meantime, I hope he's learned his lesson and stays away from snakes! He's so tired of us asking him if he has a question (because he's always holding his hand up in the air), and is really annoyed with the doctors and nurses asking him if he was sure it was a copperhead. He's told them many times that it was a BROADBAND COPPERHEAD. Haha! Yep, he knows snakes!

Copperhead bite update

Jonathan got to go home the next day and didn't need a 2nd dose of anti-venom, although we're thinking about taking him back for one more because it's still swelling. His whole arm is sore now, like a bad bruise. The blister at the location of the bite broke before we left the hospital (around 21 hours or so after the bite). I won't go into detail.....it was pretty gross.....but here's a pic! This was about a day and a half after the incident, and now that it's almost been a full 3 days, I need to get another picture! He still has feeling on his whole finger, so you can imagine how painful this must be.

Modest dancewear AND dance moves!

(Not my daughter)

My daughter, who is about to turn 14, has been in dance since she was 5. The photo above is exactly like one costume she has had in the past, but it is one of the more modest ones. Thankfully, being in ballet, she hasn't had to worry too much about really inappropriate costumes, but we never know what they look like until close to recital, so we always worry at least a little!

Another costume (see more pictures here at this link) was worn for her 2nd year in dance and her first year to be in "big girl ballet"! She was allowed to go into the older class early for a trial period, and she did great and stayed in it! I didn't like the 2 photos the "professional" took of her, so I took some myself on our front porch with a black sheet behind her. I forgot to take the date stamp off though, so I later had to edit them out. I was pretty happy with them, even though we didn't have her hair piece.

Jayla has always been modest, partly taught and partly just her nature. She's sometimes extreme about it, but I'd rather her go that direction than the opposite! Modesty, even for boys, is something we've always felt strongly about, but our children are just modest, so it's not like we're hovering over them saying, "You can't wear that." or "Go cover that up right now!" Nope. I honestly don't remember EVER having to tell my kids to go change clothes, probably because the ONLY clothes we have in the house are modest. Makes it easy!

Back to my pointe (did ya catch that play on words?)......

This was her first year in pointe. She has always dreamed about being a pointe dancer, and she's loved every minute of it. But she may not be able to continue. Wanna know why? Because we cannot find a single dance studio that does NOT teach the girls (and boys, but they are few) to SHAKE THEIR STUFF!!!! Seriously, it's disgusting, not the girls themselves, they've been taught this and don't know better, but by the teachers and parents who should know better! Honestly, some don't care, and others won't step up and say anything. Jayla took tap this year for the first time since she was 5 (a ballet/tap combo class), and the girls shake their hips/butts and shimmy many times. While many of the costumes could have been more modest, they were much better than a lot of costumes I've seen through the years, but it's the costumes AND "dance moves" that will keep her from being in tap again next year, and possibly out of dance altogether. And I'm sad about that because I know how much she LOVES pointe, but we won't compromise. Who knows what kinds of creeps are sitting in the audience looking at all these beautiful LITTLE GIRLS showing off their bodies? And all the boys in the audience, mostly brothers of the dancers, sure don't need to lose their innocence! Why can't their be something more modest all around?!?

For this very reason, Myles and our boys didn't get to go see her dance. I don't think the older boys wanted to go anyway, and I got her on video if they want to just watch the 3 dances she was in, but it's very sad that we don't feel comfortable going to our own daughter's dance recital. I was so embarrassed for those girls, from ages 3 up to 17 or so! Awful.

Well, guess what. There are not very many modest dance studios/schools around, but they do exist! Jayla was able to attend a dance studio where the owner's mother sewed ALL the costumes every year, and they were BEAUTIFUL AND MODEST! And they also made a point to not do any kind of suggestive or compromising "dance moves", and while it may seem silly to some, she even called "hip hop" "hop hop" because they don't shake their hips. I loved it! But then we moved too far away. :( When we did move closer about 2 years ago, she was going to go back there again, but the owner and family moved out of state! SO SAD!!!! Here's an example of her incredible recitals (we saw several of them through the years)! She had a theme (of course), and a variety of tempos, etc. This is one Jayla was in (below). (I know it's hard to tell because of the quality, but she was wearing pink and was one of the smaller girls.)

So, she is going to try to start something up herself, probably as a homeschool co-op class to start out, but she does want to teach/own her own dance studio one day. She's even talked about having dance classes for special needs children of all kinds! I think that is such a great idea! She has a big heart!

We'd love to hear any feedback, agree or disagree, dos and don'ts. There are so many things we want to do but don't know where to start!

I'll leave you with one more video. Jayla is front and center. She taught all these kids this dance at Sukkot (except her older brother in the back) when she was just 11 years old! It's something she loves, and you can see it in her face. :) She's about to turn 14, so this was almost 3 years ago. She really wants to teach regularly!

Copperhead bite on the finger!!!

All I can say is HALLELUYAH that this happened to my oldest child and not the younger ones (IF it had to happen at all) because he is bigger than my husband was when we got married, and also that it wasn't a rattle snake! It always hurts to see your child suffering and in pain though, especially when there isn't a lot you can do to help.

So here's what happened.....around 2:00 this afternoon, Jonathan was outside cleaning the back yard. We've only seen a couple of snakes this year, none of which were copperheads, but we know they're around. We saw a LOT of them last year, so we know to watch. Well, the cat found one, and since Jonathan has handled them successfully before (even when I've told him not to!!!), he thought he'd "save" the cat from getting bitten.....but it turned it's head around and got one fang in the tip of his middle finger. Lesson learned!

So we grabbed the activated charcoal, and he just threw some on it and made a big mess. Then we rushed to the hospital about 25 minutes away. THREE HOURS after the bite, he FINALLY got his first dose of anti-venom! They wanted to wait and observe the swelling and other symptoms to see if maybe it was a dry bite.....it was not. I totally understand why they didn't give it to him immediately, but I felt pretty silly for rushing him there! They transferred him to a room in ICU to watch him closely overnight, and so far it looks like he'll probably go home tomorrow and may not need a 2nd dose of the anti-venom. Other than the pain and other annoying symptoms, he's kind of enjoying being pampered and waited on! He said he'd never go through the pain again just to get this treatment. What's funny though is he just had his 2nd dose of MORPHINE, even though he only rated his pain as a 4 on a scale of 1-10! Haha! I'll humor him, but I think he'd agree he doesn't have a high threshold when it comes to pain. And all kidding aside, I don't think most men can handle pain well. You would have thought he was dying!

Here's a few pics of his hand. The doc said it will probably look worse in the morning, and he'll probably lose all that skin that turns black. I'm just thankful he probably won't be losing his finger!

P.S. I really believe the activated charcoal helped at least a little bit. I may never know exactly how much, but I do think it helped! I was so glad to have that on hand.

We've adopted a couple more kids!!!!!!

Both girls, one brown and one black. Aren't they adorable?! :D I'll be getting a video up of them soon on my YT channel, so subscribe and be watching! We'll reveal their names on the video. :)

Jessica-isms!

My "baby" turned THREE on 1/1 of this year. Where has the time gone?!? I wish I had more photos and videos of her, but being the youngest of 6, yeah, statistics stink. :P But seriously, I'm determined to get some great photos of her very soon!

Just this morning she's already made me giggle several times at some things she's said, so I want to get them recorded here before my "permanent pregnancy brain" takes over. My memory is BAD these days.

I was playing a game on my tablet when she woke up, so she watched me finish. When I told her it was over and I won, she said, "Yay! Now I'll give it a shot." Ha!

We were talking about twins (we have new neighbors with twin baby boys), and I was explaining to the younger 3 what twins were, and what they are called when there are more than two: triplets, quadruplets, etc. Jessi held up 2 fingers and said, "Two-pul-ets, (then pointing at me) you-pul-ets, (continuing to point at the appropriate person......) Joe-pul-ets, Jack-pul-ets, Jacob-pul-ets...." Maybe she'll get it one day. :)

The other cute/funny thing she said this morning was when I told Jayla to come and get her from my bedroom. She didn't want to go, so she told me, "No, I'm fine."

Another of her new phrases that she has already used several times relates to cookies or candy! My feet have been hurting some lately, so hers have too, and apparently "Cookies feel me better." It works, too! A cookie really does make her feet feel better.....until it's gone, and then she needs another.

Kids really do say the darndest things! 

HENRY, my Alaskan Sourdough Starter!

If you've seen the video on YouTube (posted below), here are a few recipes to get you started! Personally I'd like to make recipes that do NOT require commercial yeast, but this is a good start. The pancakes are really good!

SOURDOUGH PANCAKES

Into a separate bowl, the BATTER BOWL, mix the following ingredients:  (you can experiment later)

2 cups Sourdough Starter

2 Tbsp. Sugar (this is to brown the pancakes)

4 Tbsp. Oil

1 egg

½ tsp. salt (optional)

1 tsp. soda (this is to sweeten pancakes)

• In the Batter Bowl, dump Sourdough Starter, sugar, egg and oil (salt optional). Mix well. 
• Add soda when griddle is hot.  True aficionados dilute soda in 1 Tbsp. of warm water and fold gently into batter.  (I sprinkle soda on top of batter and whip quickly for a very brief time).  Batter doubles in size and changes to a lighter color.  NEVER fold or beat mixture a second time.

Spoon onto hot griddle and E N J O Y.

CINNAMON ROLLS

Mix together in a glass or plastic bowl:

1 cup starter

1 cup water (120 degrees or nukes for 45 seconds)

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. sugar

Mix together and let stand overnight in a warm place (at least 12 hours).  For more sour taste, let stand 24-36 hours.

Add:

1 cup milk (scalded and cooled to 120 degrees or nuked for 45 seconds)

1/3 cup butter, melted

½ tsp. salt (optional)

2 eggs

2 cups flour

to mixing bowl with above sourdough mix.  Then sprinkle

1 Tbsp. Fast acting Yeast

(a pinch of salt is optional)

on top and begin mixing.  Add enough flour to make batter into dough.

• If (when) mixer stalls, turn out dough onto bread board (countertop is okay) and knead in more flour until dough barely sticks to fingers (or more flour if you wish).
• Form dough into ball and place in bowl to rise.  (if you wish, put ¼ cup vegetable oil in bowl and then roll dough to get a thin covering of oil on surface to prevent crusting.)
• Let rise one to four depending on temperature until dough doubles in size.
• Punch dough down.  Divide into two balls and let rest for 15 minutes.  Roll each ball (one at a time) into 12 x 8 rectangle.  Brush on melted butter. Then add (to your taste) a sprinkling of brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, raisins.  Roll up from one of the long sides.  Seal seams.  Slice dough into 12 pieces.  Place rolls in two greased (or Teflon) pans (round if you wish an oblong (12 rolls fit easily into a 9 x 12 pan).  Cover and let rise until nearly double.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Cool, remove from pan (if you wish).  Brush on powdered sugar icing (for a change use almond instead of vanilla.

SOURDOUGH BREAD

Mix together in a glass or plastic bowl:

1 cup starter

1 cup water (120 degrees or nuke for 45 seconds)

2 cup flour

1 Tbsp. sugar

Mix together and let stand overnight in warm place (at least 12 hours).  For more sour taste, let stand 24-36 hours.

Add:

            1 cup milk (scalded and cooled to 120 degrees or nukes for 45 seconds)

            1/3 cup butter, melted

            2 cups flour

to mixing bowl with above sourdough mix.  Then sprinkle

            1 Tbsp. Fast acting Yeast

            (a pinch of salt is optional)

on top and being mixing.  Add

            Enough flour to make batter into dough.

If (when mixer stall, turn out dough onto bread board (countertop is okay) and knead in more flour until dough barley sticks to fingers (or more flour if you wish).

• Form dough into ball and place in bowl to rise.  (If you wish, put ¼ cup vegetable oil in bowl and then roll dough to get a thin covering of oil on surface to prevent cracking.)
• Let rise one to four hours depending on temperature until dough doubles in size.
• Cut ball of dough in half.  Fold each chunk of dough twice to make a rough loaf form and place into greased bread pans (unless you are using Teflon pans). Allow to rise another hour or so (until it doesn’t seem to be rising any more – or until you have to get it in the oven and cooked so you can carry on with your life).
• Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes.  Tap on tops; when they sound solid they’re done (usually, a golden brown).  Remove from oven, remove from pans onto wire rack and rub the top with margarine or butter.
• Eat hot for good fresh taste, but leave overnight (in plastic bag after cooling) to develop best sourdough taste.

What is the name of this song???

When I was in high school in Lynchburg, VA, I worked at the well-known haunted house called Scaremare every year. We don't even celebrate Halloween, but I have some very fond memories from those 4 years (1987-1990)!

With Halloween just passing this year, Scaremare has been on my mind again lately. I've been sharing some of my memories with my children, like when I was spit on in the "Glow-in-the-dark room". We got the bright idea of putting the make up on our faces in addition to our hands, and though it looked really cool, it gave people a perfect target. *sigh* The guy in charge of the room, Karl something, told me later that he almost laughed when the lights came on because I was still glowing! Haha! I felt pretty dumb, but it was funny (later on). 

One of the rooms I worked in was the Dining room, where everyone sat, frozen in time. I loved that room. There were even little white mice (pets) running freely all over the table, and they would climb on us while a group was going through, and we couldn't move! There was a couple frozen while dancing while the music played on, and one night, the girl passed out. I never did find out why, but she was okay. What was impressive though was that the guy just held her in position the entire time until the group passed through! No one knew she had fainted! It didn't take long for everyone to get through the room, and I'm sure he knew she'd be okay for a few more seconds.

Other rooms I worked in were:

The Wedding room, where I had the hiccups one night, and Wells Cornelius scared them out of me in between groups. He had little finger puppets that were making me laugh, and he just sprung them out in front of me without warning! It didn't really startle me, but the hiccups went away. :) He was the groom in the room. I was sitting on the bench in the back as a mourner (it was supposed to be scary or something). What's really funny is, once I moved back to Oklahoma and met my husband a few years later, my husband's doctor was Dr. Cornelius, Wells' dad!!! Small world! I haven't seen Wells since though, but I know he's in at least one movie....under a different name. :)

The motorcycle wreck room. I lost my voice in this room, but it was SO worth it! I believe there were only 4 of us in there, maybe 5. As the group began to walk through, I was coming back into consciousness. My character had obviously been in a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend, "Bobby". As I realized what had happened, I looked over at Bobby and started to call for him, which quickly became panicky, then into screaming and sobbing as they covered him with a cloth. Yep, he died (many times, HA!). That was probably some of the best acting I've done, but I think it only lasted a couple of nights since I lost my voice. Fun times!

The Funeral Home room: I got to lay in a coffin and pretend to be dead, then as the group walked past me, I slowly sat up and looked at them. It was awesome!

It seems like I was in the Checkerboard Room one night too, though I don't have any specific memories that stand out from that. It was a really cool room, too. Everything was black and white checkerboard, including the costumes, makeup and hairspray we wore, then we'd stand against the wall to blend in while a strobe light would make it extremely difficult to visually separate the people from the walls. It was pretty spooky going through it, but having worked there, I knew they weren't allowed to touch anyone!

Other memorable rooms/displays that come to mind are the mounted heads as you go up the stairs. My college friend Kerry Malinosky (sp?) was one of them, and I could NOT make her smile! She did great! She told me later that she was biting the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing. lol A friend of mine from school was in the graveyard. He would jump out of an open grave as people walked by. I'm pretty sure he loved that. :) And the car wreck room, always at the end. It was there every year, and probably still is. It was a very solemn moment, walking around the car with a "dead" person laying through the windshield. :( It always made a huge impression.

The whole idea is to get the person touring the haunted house to thinking about death, then at the end they present a 3-minutes "Do you know where you'll go when you die?" message. I don't think it's the best approach to winning *genuine* converts, but I do think it's a great ministry. Even just for the workers, I met some awesome people there. It was mostly college students, too, so I'm sure they'd have even more memories as many of them were working with people they already knew.

At the end of every night, the workers all met in the make-up room and sang LOUDLY together, the same song every night. I should remember what it was, but I *think* it was "It is well". Awesome song. Dave Adams always did a great job leading that song and heading up Scaremare. His son, Jeremy Adams, was in my class, and though we weren't good friends, I always liked him. He was the class clown and just a really nice guy. 

Okay, so my question, the entire reason for posting this is......in the Dining room, the music they played was like oldies swing/big band music. One of the songs has stuck in my brain all these years, but I cannot find it anywhere! The only lyrics I remember is ".....true love, tell me it's true love, so you'll be mine and you won't disappear. Da da da da da da" Something like that. I remember the tune, too, but I can't really write that on a blog. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THIS SONG IS?! It's been bugging me for years that I can't find it, and I just want to listen to the whole song again! Silly, I know, but it's just part of my fond memories of that scary haunted house in Lynchburg, VA called Scaremare. :)

My friend Amber has a need right now, so I'm trying to help in any way I can. Please just click on this link and read about her and her high-risk pregnancy, give what you can and SHARE so that others can help too. Thanks so much!

Amber's GoFundMe page


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Name That Farm!

A friend of mine asked me to help her come up with a name for their small farm, and she is thinking she wants it to sound "Oklahoma-ish". Well, naming things is something I take very seriously, so I got right to work searching the internet, and here's what I've come up with so far.

The first part of the name could be:

• Okie (self-explanatory)
• Cow Chip (there are contests!!!)
• Scissor Tail (state bird)
• Tornado Valley (self-explanatory)
• Sooner (state nickname)
• Honey Bee (state insect)
• Rolling Hills (it's really not flat here!)
• Earthquake (almost daily now!)
• Thunder (basketball)
• Redbud (state tree)
• Twister (self-explanatory?)
• Mistletoe (state floral emblem)
• Rose Rock (state rock)
• Red Man
• Red Dirt
• Red Clay
• Red Rock

The last part would then be something like:

• Farm(s)
• Acres
• Homestead
• Range
• Gardens
• Farmstead

I think my favorite so far is Honey Bee Gardens, or maybe Rolling Hills Homestead. Oh, I don't know, there are so many possibilities! What combinations do you like? Do you have a favorite? Do you have any more ideas to add?