Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Yummy Pancake Recipe!

Here is a yummy recipe for pancakes courtesy of Mrs. Stacy McDonald (Homeschooling Today Magazine). It looks to be very Feingold friendly, for those who need that (uh, that would be me!).

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes
(Mix with a fork by hand)

Wet Ingredients

4 C. buttermilk or homemade kefir
½ C. melted butter or extra light olive oil (butter is better!)
2 eggs (or ½ C. flax seed mixture)
2-3 T. raw honey or sugar

Dry Ingredients

2 C. fresh ground whole wheat
2 C. rolled oats
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt

Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl.
Mix wet and dry ingredients.
Pour about ¼ C. of batter per pancake onto a greased griddle. Flip over when
bubbles appear on top side of pancake. Fry until golden brown.

Optional: Add 1 C. blueberries, chopped apples, or bananas to mixed batter.

Fermenting your grains:

For a healthier (and more digestible) option, you may soak the whole wheat
and rolled oats in the buttermilk or kefir the night before (do not add eggs
at this time). In the morning, whisk eggs lightly and set aside. Mix baking
powder, baking soda, and salt together and add to the fermented mixture
along with the eggs. Carry on with step 3.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

A Grouchy Day

Today was hard at church. Last week was our first week to sing without Renee. But we had a special service devoted to her, and the importance of friends, and we had a lovely table with roses placed between Michael and Me, where Renee would have stood. Today, it was not there. It just felt wrong to be standing next to Michael when I sang. It's funny because even though Renee and I were not friends, I miss her.

I went to bed late, got up early, and have just been overall grouchy today. I need to work on the boys lessons for the week, and I'm hoping they can get something done tomorrow, even though Grandpa will be underfoot. He goes home tomorrow. I'll take him to the airport around 3:30pm, unless this supposed wintry mix storm comes blasting through and ice's us in. Right now, it's a lovely 73 degrees...NOT. It is 73, but it's muggy, humid and just YUCK. Not helping with my crabby mood. I like cold weather. I would love to live up near Seattle, even with the rain. It gets cold, but not much snow (I DON'T like snow).

I just realized that they WON'T turn my phone number back on tomorrow...it's a "holiday" for the federal gov't, so I suppose the phone company is off also. However, my beloved dh IS working, praise God.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Just another day

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted. It's been a busy week getting back into the swing of things. I find it very hard to get much done around here when my dh is off of work. This was his first week back to work since Christmas, and I could finally do some things!

My father came into town from Kansas Thursday night, and is here until Monday night, that is, if he doesn't get iced in!! Right now, it's a muggy 75 degrees outside. By tomorrow night, it should be a frozen 32 degrees! And where he lives, it is currently 14 degrees and snowing. There's a good chance he might not be flying out Monday afternoon.

We own our own business. And like many, it is cyclical, in that this time of year, it is not very busy due to the cold weather (well... you know, uh, well... okay so it's not usually cold here, but you know what I mean), and the holidays as well. So the fact that our business phone has not been ringing much did not really surprise me. But, after New Years, I did expect SOME increase in phone traffic. Then, yesterday, one of our customer's called on our HOME phone.... that was strange. and she told me that she tried to call the number she got out of the phone book and it said it was disconnected!! so I called it myself, and lo and behold, it was disconnected! YIKES! This is the key number we have advertised in TWO big phone books in the area. I called AT&T, and they said the bill had not been paid in six months. I had it on "auto pay" with my billpay at my bank. For some reason, my billpay quit paying the bill. I didn't know... I just had assumed (I know, bad choice) that they would keep paying. On top of that, I found out the reason I never got a "late" notice is that they had the wrong mailing address...an address we got rid of two years ago!!!

Now what doesn't make sense is the fact that we have another AT&T line, and I changed that address, and it's still paying that bill. I am sooooo frustrated. I called, paid off the bill, and now they tell me it will be Monday before the number is reconnected. ARGH!!! No wonder my phone had NOT been ringing. I am soooo frustrated over this. I keep reminding myself, God is in control. It will all work out.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Sometimes Life is Difficult

I haven't posted this week for many reasons. First of all, we had to go out of town to College Station so that my dh could take his continuing education classes needed for his license (pest control). We took the computer, but I had no internet connection while out there (as much as I TRIED to piggyback on someone else's wireless connection!). But, mainly, I didn't post because a friend of ours passed away on Tuesday.

Her name was Renee. She was only 49 years old. That's not old. She didn't have cancer, didn't have any health problems anyone knew about. On Monday, New Year's Day, she boarded a plane to go out of town for a business trip. She took her seat on the plane, and then began to feel nauseous. The plane had not even left the gate yet, so she stood up and told the attendant she had to leave the plane. As she went to disembark, she collapsed, her heart stopped. Paramedics arrived almost immediately, and were able to start her heart again, but she never regained consciousness again. She was rushed to the hospital, where she stayed over night, intubated, but she rapidly deteriorated. Tuesday morning, about 10 am, she passed away. She leaves her husband of 15 years, and two sons, ages 14 and 21. Everyone is in shock. She was fun-loving, wonderful person. She loved the Lord with all her heart. I know she is with Him now. But her family, and her friends, are hurting here on earth. Pray for her family as they continue on without her. Our church is in shock, of course, also. Renee and her family were founding members of the church, and she was a key member of our praise team. We will sing and play tomorrow morning and it will be so sombering to perform without her.

It truly makes you think about the fact that you can just die anytime, without warning, so you should always live as if before the face of God.