Word Filled Wednesday: Igloos in July

Building an igloo in July seems like a very foolish thing to do. 

Even with milk jugs.

 

I would have preferred large chunks of SQUARE ice.  It probably would have been easier. 

Several kind friends saved milk jugs for me.  (Thank you!) We accumulated over 70 milk containers.  I really should have thought through this project a little bit more.

This is what the Hottie quoted to me . . .

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, (Luke 14: 28,29)

Imagine.  Showing your house to complete strangers and it appears that you have a weird obsession with collecting milk jugs.  Not to mention, storing that many containers takes up a of space . . . something that we are trying to convince people that we have lots of. 

The night I began constructing our igloo I was in a bad mood.  And I will have you know that I did read the directions.  But I didn’t plan entirely.  I just plugged in the hot glue gun and went to work.

The Hottie took one look at what I was doing and said, “Do you have a plan? Do you even know if you have enough jugs?”

Who does he think he is . . . an engineer?

I’m a homeschooling mom.  Crafts are part of my job.  I know what I’m doing.  Plastic is different from concrete.  Do I have enough jugs?!  Pshaw.

I didn’t have enough jugs.  I realized that after I had constructed, glued, and double taped the second row.  And I figured that I had 6 more rows to go in order to enclose the igloo.

“Umm . . . Hottie, how would I go about knowing how many jugs that I need?”

His reply, “Do you REALLY want to know?”  Oh, that man knows me all to well.

I knew that this meant his response would be a long and detailed one . . . involving paper, a pencil, a diagram, and potentially a calculator. 

Let’s just say that I didn’t have enough jugs, patience, glue sticks, and flexible belly muscles. 

But the boys pretended that their igloo had a roof.  Aren’t igloos supposed to be colorful?

They only played in it about . . . oh . . . a grand total of 5 minutes.  It was hot.  Of course it was hot!  Igloos are meant for winter!  

This post was written in honor of our Hideaways in History study . . . I would recommend that you take the suggestion in the teacher’s manual and make an alternative when you come to week 4 in the Hideaways in History curriculum. 

For other Wordless Wednesday posts that actually don’t have a lot of words in them, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

B90x Check-In

The Bible in 90 days . . . B90x.  The Hottie and I have slightly changed the name, as some of you already know.  B90 reminded us  so much of the pre-pregnancy let’s prepare for the ski-trip days of  P90x, that we had to add the “x” because it just didn’t sound right not to. 

X for Extreme.  Lots of training in 90 days. 

What have I learned?  What has God revealed to me?  What is God doing?  (This are always the questions that I ask other people.)

I think that perhaps the entire reason I felt a strong conviction to start and complete B90x was so that I stayed in the Word during this insanely busy time in our lives.  I also felt God wanted me to prepare my heart before Sweet Pea was born.

So, what have I learned . . . not so much learned . . . but I have had fun asking questions or coming up with random thoughts.

• I imagine that the earth was like a  big water balloon before dry ground appeared.  (Genesis 1:6-10)
• I wonder what Cain’s mark looked like on his forehead.  Perhaps it was hideously scary so that no one even thought to kill Cain. (Genesis 4:15)
• Cain’s wife must have been his sister. (Genesis 4:17)
• The account of the Nephilim produced a great discussion between the Hottie and I.  Man, did those dudes really mess with mankind.  (Genesis 6)
• Did fresh water fish survive since lakes mixed with the ocean?
• When the Tower of Babel was built, I think they used brick over stone, because then the people could claim that they made all of the materials to construct this skyscraper.  (Genesis 11)
• Sarai was blessed to be beautiful when she was old.  It rather irks me that twice Abram failed to show a little bit more chivalry and backbone to claim his wife as his wife. 
• I wonder what Abraham and his gang thought when God established circumcision.  Do you think they coughed a bit and asked God to define this practice?  (Genesis 17)
• Were Lot’s daughters so naive about the world, that they didn’t realize men still existed?  Did they think the entire earth turned to salt?  And that their dad was the only male left to give them children?  (Genesis 19:130-36)  Yikes.
• Wahoo!  A breastfed baby!  (Genesis 21:8)
• Does anyone like the name Keturah?  Just asking.  No reason.
• What kind of kiss did Jacob give Rachel?  (Genesis 29:11) and would that have seemed a little unusual to have a complete stranger kiss you and then begin weeping?
• OK . . . I’m going to be honest.  I’m impressed that Jacob still slept with Leah, since he seemed to despise her.  She certainly had her fair share of children.  Just stating the obvious and dealing with a fact of life here, people.
• It is pretty amazing the fast track Joseph took . . . from prison to the palace in 30 seconds.  (Genesis 41:37-41)
• What about the name Serah?  How would you pronounce it?  Just wondering.
• I love the verse Genesis 49:20.
• Yippee for midwives!  (Exodus 1)
• I love that God could have done the whole Exodus thing by Himself and made it easy . . . but He wanted to involve a common man in His plan.  Anything is possible.
• I think Pharaoh has some unresolved childhood issues.
• Jethro and Moses seem to have a REALLY good relationship for being in-laws. But why should I be surprised?  I listen to my MIL and DIL.  They are wise and godly.  (Exodus 18)
• At first I got confused because it said that Moses and God spoke face to face. (Exodus 33:11) Later we read that God states that no one may see His face and live.  (Exodus 33:20)  Sounds like a contradiction . . . but it's not.  We have telephones, right?  It is easy for us to imagine talking with God because we talk to people every day without seeing them, whether on the phone, email, twitter, facebook, etc.  God had to have people understand that Moses talked to Him one on one . . . kind of like telephone or how people talked before the telephone came along . . . face to face.

Well, that’s all I have to say about that.  This doesn’t even begin to dip into all of the scribbles I wrote in my Bible, but it gives you an idea of the conversations that I had with the Lord.

I need to go finish today’s reading. 

Technorati Tags: Bible in 90 Days,Mom's Toolbox

Finally The Farmers Market

I adore going to the Farmers Market.  I’ve written about it before . . . on another blog. 

It’s true.  I don’t usually buy anything, much to the Hottie’s dismay (read this blog post to understand what I am referring to).  But people watching and rubbing elbows with local food sources is just . . . exciting to me. 

I like to talk garden-ese with people – talking like I actually know something when I really don’t.  I would surmise that square foot gardening in my backyard doesn’t really count towards being a master gardener.

Sadly our first trip to the market occurred JUST today.  People, it’s July!  It is unheard of for Granola Mom to have refrained from dragging the family to my favorite summer sport.

Bummed that the Hottie had to work this morning, I was determined to find something fun for the boys and I to do.  And the Farmers Market seemed like the perfect excursion.  At least I knew the granola boys would be happy if I bought them some Trader’s Point yogurt or other novel food. 

Today’s food purchases made up for all of the other times that I have been so overwhelmed with choices that I bought nothing.

Kettle Corn

Fresh Blackberries

Cherry Kombucha from Hidden Pond Farms

(I was informed that I need to make our kombucha this way from now on!)

And . . . sauerkraut (because mine is still fermenting)

 

A certain Mr. Smackdown requested sauerkraut.  I let him pick it out.  Giving him some ownership in the purchase means a greater chance that he will eat said sauerkraut.  Personally, I liked the  spicy dill but the vibrant color of the root kruat tantalized Mr. Smackdown's palate.

If you don’t want to go to the effort of making your own sauerkraut, let me recommend Hidden Pond Farm.  You can purchase their products online OR visit them at a Farmers Market OR go to a local store!

It was a good morning.  We missed the Hottie, but we managed to have a tiny bit of fun without him.

Sourdough Starter

I finally made my sourdough starter.  I told you that I would find an alternative bread, and I did.  No mold after sitting on the counter for a week.  It just got dry, like it was supposed to because I didn’t add an “artificial” leaven. 

The inspiration came from Sue Gregg’s Whole Grain Baking, which you can download about 46 pages of it here. The Nourishing Traditions cookbook also has a sourdough starter recipe. 

What I didn’t know was that yeast is happily flying through the air and into my nose and yours presently.  The sourdough part forms when the mixture of flour and water ferment with the wild yeast when it settles onto the surface of your starter. 

“Baking with sourdough produces nutritionally superior breads because the lactic-acid ferment is beneficial for eliminating toxic wastes from cells.  And because sourdough breads are partially “pre-digested” by the lactic-acid fermentation process before baking, they are more easily digested by the body.” (pp. 156)

My grain of choice was freshly ground rye, due to it responding to “wild yeasts in the air more readily than other grains (pp. 156).”

I worked hard at collecting yeast naturally from the air.  For 7 days.  Even the Hottie got into helping me . . . because I somehow always managed to take care of my starter right before bedtime. 

I tried to capture the day by day growth of yeast.

I knew nature was at work because there were bubbles.

By the end of 7 days, some really cool science stuff began to show up.  I never thought I would be so happy to see fungus-like stuff growing. 

(NOTE: The whitish paper-thin particles floating on the brown liquid is normal.  The only time you worry about the health of your sourdough starter is when it begins to turn pink.)

I attempted to create bread with this 7 day old liquid concoction.

It rose a long time.

Then, I flattened it all back out.  This made me sad. 

I attempted to roll it up like Sue Gregg suggested and failed miserably.

So I decided to do another experiment.

Instead of “correctly” folding my dough, I just shaped the 2nd loaf to fit inside the prepared coconut oil pan.

I thought that maybe one would rise better than the other.

Nope.

They were both dense.

I don’t think that I have perfected my bread making skills.  My first sourdough bread was a bit dry and tough.  I need to feed my starter today (take out 1/2  cup of old starter and add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour).

And I will try all over again. 

Technorati Tags: Sue Gregg,Nourishing Traditions,Sourdough Starter,sourdough bread

Let’s Celebrate! Upcoming Giveaway by CSN

Well . . . tomorrow I just might have some pictures to show you of our new house, Lord willing.  We get to have our turn at inspecting someone else's house. 

Do you think it is OK to take my camera?  I only want to so that I can remember room details, start mentally decorating, make a wish list, and create a plan/map for moving day (so it runs efficiently).

I pretty excited.  The downstairs bathroom is pretty cool.  I like unusual sinks.  That is probably what sold me on our current house, the one I am blogging in presently.  Forget the great backyard, give me a nice bathroom vanity.  That’s what I say. Not really.

But I do appreciate a good sink.  For example, we saw a bathroom vanity similar to this one when we stayed up in Chicago for the U2 concert. 

So, to celebrate let’s have a giveaway.  It’s a great little deal.  I’m going to get a promotional code good for $25 and YOU are going to get a promotional code for $25 valid at any one of over 200 CSN stores.

Sweet deal!  Great way to celebrate, don’t ya think?

Stay tuned for the CSN giveaway at www.GranolaMom4God.com

Technorati Tags: giveaway,CSN Stores