Friday, February 27, 2009

Brownies

½ cup margarine
1-cup sugar
1 can Hershey’s syrup
4 eggs
1-cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup nutmeat

Cream sugar and margarine and add eggs one at a time. Add chocolate syrup and dry ingredients. Bake at 375° in a greased and floured 11x17 pan for 20-25 minutes.
Frosting:
6 tablespoons margarine
6 tablespoons milk
1 ½ cups sugar
Stir and let come to a full rolling boil. Boil 30 seconds. Add ½ cup chocolate chips and beat until all are melted. Add one-teaspoon vanilla. Let cool.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

A Story by my three-year-old daughter

I'm going to write a pink story. It's about animals. It's going to be about wolves. And it's about jumping cows over the moon. And it's about coyotes. And it's about a fox. It's about rabbits. And it's about mama and daddy kitties. That's all I have to say.

The plants are even bigger!

Here are the tomato plants from a couple of days ago.

The roots of all the plants. It looks like they are needing water.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

This week has been busy

I hope everyone is enjoy the weather in their part of the world. This week has been busy with some major organizing of our house. I will have some fun pictures to update the tomato plants, chives and lettuce tomorrow. Enjoy your day.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Recipe of the week!!

Royal Strawberry Shortcake

1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons shortening
1 egg
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ pint heavy cream
1 quart strawberries

Cream shortening and sugar and add beaten egg. Add part of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add part of the milk, remainder of flour and then the rest of the milk and vanilla. Bake in shallow greased pan for 20-30 minutes at 375°. When cooled split in half add cream and berries for layers.

JUST BOOKS: SATURDAY REVIEW

JUST BOOKS: SATURDAY REVIEW

Is this how you remember chores?

My children are three-years-old and five-years-old and they have really begun to help around the house. They fold their own laundry, put it away, empty the dishwasher, wash and put the dishes in and also do the hand-dishes.

Sometimes they will argue about who gets to put the dishes in the dishwasher and who gets to wash them. They both like washing them. Sometimes B will not want to do the dishes, so I ask C to do them. Then they both want to do them.

I do not remember wanting to do the dishes that badly. When my brother and I used to do the dishes, the best job was putting the dishes in the dishwasher, not washing them. I was the one who usually got to wash. I am not sure why that is. I am fast at washing dishes now though. We used to have to always wash and dry the hand-dishes. B and C are lucky; they can just let them air dry.

Tonight they needed to empty the dishwasher. It started out well. B got on the stool and C handed the dishes to him. It started to unravel when it was time to put the silverware away. C usually does it and wanted to do it tonight. B decided he was going to, so C decided to have a temper tantrum. I told her she could look at a book while B put the silverware away. It worked until B wanted to look at the book too, instead of putting away the silverware. I told him if he put away half of the silverware he could look at the book. All of the silverware was put away and the book was looked at.

I never knew that people could be so excited about doing chores. I just hope it keeps up. I like having the help. It also helps that their dad helps out around the house too. It shows them how a family should work together.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

The plants are getting big.


Here are new pictures of our tomato plants, chives and the new lettuce. I wasn't sure if the lettuce seeds were going to sprout, but they did and they are growing well. I need to keep cutting the chives, but now some of them are not growing as fast as the others. Can anybody tell me why that is? The tomato plants are around four inches tall. They are very strong and look like they will give good fruit. The short tomato plant is catching up to the rest of them. I think we will be able to raise the lamp soon. My children are really excited about everything growing. My son sat in front of it just the other day watching the plants grow. I hope everybody's gardens are growing as well as ours.

Gobble to Goop from my son (five-years-old)- Little bear and the Christmas Tree

Mama, come out little bear. A little bear was standing near the gate. The little bear squeezed under the gate. It saw Mr. Smith. It ran inside the house and hid in the closet. The bear didn't go to the bathroom on anything and the shoes were in the closet. They were big so that they could fit Mr. Smith's feet. The bear was in the Christmas tree. You might find it interesting when the bear runs into the Christmas forest again and lots and lots of Christmas trees. Now let's begin the story again. Okay? So, now our story will begin. So, is everybody ready? You might get a little plastic rubber bear stuck on your thumb, like I have my bear stuck on my thumb. You might get it dropped on the floor at once. It is not very easy to have it stuck on your thumb and make it fall a lot of the times away. The little bear went into the Christmas tree? The end.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Blueberry Swirl Dessert

1 cup (10 ounces) frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Mash undrained blueberries and add enough water to make one cup of the mixture. Add sugar and cornstarch with mixture in saucepan. Cook until bubbly. Add the lemon juice and cool.
Combine and beat:
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
then add in:
one package prepared dream whip
Layer cream cheese mixture and blueberry mixture in a 9-inch graham cracker crust, then swirl. Refrigerate.

Gobble to Goop from my son (five-years-old)- the bears

Kangaroos like to live in Australia.
Little bear
A little bear was in her cave and a boy bear was in the cave. The little mother bear already laid some baby boys and girls on some nice hay and grass. Inside the brick wall there was a key to the inside of the cave. The van was outside the cave. The father went to catch some fish for his lunch then he went back to take care of the babies inside the cave. The babies were fast asleep in the cave while the mother was still catching some fish for her lunch. Then she ran back to the cave because a wolf was standing near her. She caught it, but the wolf was too hungry; he almost chomped off her paw. She ran back to the cave and she locked the brick door so that the wolf would not get inside. The brick door was made out of some very very special bricks, so were the windows so that no tornados would get inside. The windows were made out of some of the bricks that were so special. The end.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Gobble to Goop from my son (five-years-old)- Skyscrapers and Bears

My dragon

Kangaroos you might see in Africa. Sky airplanes like to fly in the sky, just like a skyscraper is so tall that it can touch the sky. An airplane can fly right over a skyscraper. Jump and do things like a kangaroo.
Come out little bear the sun is shining. One morning a little bear came out while the sun was shining. It was a hot summer morning. The monarch butterflies were flying to Mexico. The owls were sound asleep, so were the bats in the trees. The squirrels were picking up nuts to eat and the little bear was in the water to catch some fish to eat. Someone was watching the little bear. The bear didn't know that someone was watching him. He went into his cave with a rock door. He snuggled and cuddled all up into his little grass bed. His bed was little, because the bear was little. All of a sudden he heard wolf steps coming outside his door and he locked his door, so that the wolves could not eat the little bear. And he went right to sleep after he set his alarm clock for the next morning.


Friday, February 13, 2009

My Children

Have you ever had children that argue about setting the table or doing the dishes? I have a five-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl that argue over who gets to help me. I have to be honest, I love it. It is nice that they are working around the house to help me out. I have spent many years doing all the dishes and I am having a nice break. I can't wait until they are old enough to do the cooking. I know they will be good cooks. All of this help they are giving will us to be a closer family. I thank God that I have such wonderful children.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Trying something new!!

I have decided to be a little wild and try growing some of the lettuce with the chives and tomatoes. I had to get the foam wet, so they would begin to sprout. I am not sure if they are going to or not, because there are not growing nutrients in the water right now.









Today I must cut the chives. They are almost going to reach the light again.


Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Newberry Medal Books

I have decided to print out a list of Newberry Medal books, cross out the ones I have read and then read all of the ones I have not read thus far in my adult life.

The first book I am going to start reading is The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon. This was the first Newberry Medal book in 1922. The edition is so thick. It does have eleven chapters that have been added by John Merriman. The total number of pages including the index is 674.

I will be telling you later on what it has been like to read this book and if it is an easy read or not. It is for children, so I hope for me it is a quick read. I have noticed though that in this century the books have gotten much easier. I will tell you about those when I get there.

Have a wonderful day.

Monday, February 9, 2009

The book "Mommy Wars" by Leslie Morgan Steiner

As a stay-at-home mother I just had to read Mommy Wars, by Leslie Morgan Steiner. I wanted to get see what other mothers say about working or staying at home. I thought she chose twentysix very intersting women. These women have done many different things, like working from home, working outside the home and not working at all. I would have liked to see more stories written by mothers who did not work at all.

My children are recently three and five. I have started the blogs I have, because I would like to earn enough money so that their father does not have to work so much and he can pursue his own dreams. I guess I am now one of the work-at-home mother's even though I am only earning a couple of dollars a day. If there is anyone who knows of some good ideas where I can earn more money with my blogs it would be greatly appreciated. I grew up being able to eat all three meals with my father and I would like my children to have the same chance.

If you would like to read "Mommy Wars" go to your local library. This book was copyrighted in 2006 and published by Random House. It has 331 pages, but is a quick read. There are not as many wars in this book as you would think, the title is deceptive. Enjoy.

Friday, February 6, 2009

New pictures of tomatoes







Someone just send me a message saying they would like to see some pictures of the plants. I was planning on doing that today. I was just trying to figure out how to take them, so I don't use up all the space in Blogger. I have now figured out a good way, so we will be able to post more pictures for you.






Thursday, February 5, 2009

Chives

I had to cut the chives today. I did not know they could grow so fast. I think they grew three inches since I last cut them. They do taste good. They added a lot to my grilled cheese sandwich. I am really looking forward to deciding what to do when the chives need to be cut again. Does anybody have any ideas on what to put them in? I would welcome anything. Thank you. The AeroGarden is great!!!!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Dialogue with my son (age 5) and daughter (age 3)

Gobble to goop.
don't push me off
Gobble to goop is my favorite thing to say
Gobble to goop it is so funny
Big Bad Bruce is the story by Bill Peet
you know it is like dodah but it's not gobble to goop but its not dodah but its just really interesting goo, but its not gooboo but that is really funny but you know I love. I can stick my tongue out helloo that is not my usual voice and this is my usual voice Sis would you like to say something "gobble to goop" that is a really fun word Sis. but not as funny as me would you like to say something else "I am Sis or I am a baby" I am a brother or a baby or Abraham Lincoln "I am not Abraham Lincoln I am just a baby" A big old baby "Yeah" But I just don't want you to say gobble to goop but what is really funny is gobble to goop "I need it" do you want to say something else? "gobble to goop baby is all nagen in your house you're a baby" a big baby I see Sis but are you a baby no you are pretending to be a small, little baby that is very fun I stick my tongue out again "say gooble to goop" o.k. I'll say gobble to goop. Gobble to Goop is that what you said? "gobble to goop" So that is so funny but would you like to say something else Sis? "Yes, I am a baby that just crawls on the floor." And I am the parent with Momma and Daddy. The End "The End"

Monday, February 2, 2009

Tomatoes

The tomatoes are getting bigger. Two of them are about an inch tall and the other one is around an inch. I will be posting pictures later this week. They did seem to grow over night last night. I am hoping that once the roots reach the water they will really start growing. Enjoy your weather around the world.

Playing by my daughter age 3

Playing
a puzzle
Playing
a game
Playing
a trumpet too