My eyes were first opened to the potential of unit blocks when I read this post on How We Montessori. I was intrigued so I requested Teaching Numeracy, Literacy, and Language with Blocks from our state library system…
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Category: christmas
It Has Begun…(drumroll please)
What is IT? Canning season that is. And no, that’s not why I’ve been missing. I’ve been missing because my blogging addiction has given way to a Ravelry addiction which has led me to begin knitting everyone’s Christmas presents now, while I’m still motivated and sort of have the time. I promise to post more soon. My order of peaches came in tonight which will lead directly in to apple and tomato seasons which might clash slightly with the vacation to who knows where that we’re taking the week of Labor Day. That will all keep me busy but it will give me lots of blog worthy material too. I leave you with this. Anyone who can tell what it is gets an imaginary pat on the back from me. 🙂
Continue readingOur Winter in Pictures!
I’m away from home at the Michigan Vet Conference this weekend. I want to get a post up but don’t feel like saying a lot so I thought it would be a good time to post some pictures. These are all from the last few months (some are from fall). I’ll take advantage of the hotel’s wireless and upload these now instead of fighting with my connection at home. Enjoy! Brian’s grader, our grain setup in the background. Our first batch of Seventh Generation TP, Maci apparently wanted it out of the box! The TP neatly stacked in the cabinet. We really like it BTW. Sam doesn’t help much when I’m sewing. Our Christmas tree with all western ornaments this year. It is hard to see but look close: you can see Maci’s paw about to clock Baxter upside the head, and him about to fight back. They box all the time! He crammed himself behind the printer to recuperate. And they’re friends again…usually not this cozy. This is from early fall. Brian built this calf shelter in one day. I had mixed feelings about treated lumber and decided it is better for us than replacing/rebuilding every few years. I
Continue readingOh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree…
Not much time this morning but I thought I’d post a few pics of our visit to the local Christmas tree farm on Sunday. We had fun posing and got some cute pics of our friend’s mules. This will probably be our last Blue Spruce. At half the price, the Scotch Pine is sounding better and better all the time. We paid $41 for our tree this year, partially because they only allow you to cut trees that are 6′ tall and we only wanted a little one. I would be interested to hear what the rest of you are paying in other parts of the country. Maybe I’m crazy but I think the price is getting a little high. Oh well, we had fun anyway! Here you go:
Continue readingPumpkin Pie Squares
Abbie over at Farmer’s Daughter is hosting a Christmas Cookie Recipe Swap! I’m excited to check out everyone recipes. Here’s my first contribution. Pumpkin Pie SquaresRecipe taken from Farm Journal’s Best-Ever Cookies by Patricia A. Ward. 1 c. sifted flour1/2 c. quick-cooking oats1/2 c brown sugar, packed1/2 c. butter1 (16-oz.) can mashed pumpkin (2 c.) <—-2 c. was most of a bigger can for me, not sure about that1 (13.5-oz.) can evaporated milk2 eggs3/4 c. sugar1 tsp. ground cinnamon1/2 tsp. salt1/2 tsp. ground ginger1/2 tsp. ground cloves1/2 c. chopped pecans1/2 c. brown sugar, packed2 Tbs. butter Combine flour, oats, 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/2 c. butter in bowl. Mix until crumbly, using electric mixer at low speed. Press dough into bottom and 1/2″ up sides of ungreased 13x9x2″ baking pan. Bake in 350 degree (F) over 16 minutes.Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and cloves in bowl. Beat well, using rotary beater. Pour into baked crust.Bake in 350 degree (F) oven 20 minutes.Combine pecans, 1/2 c. brown sugar and 2 Tbs. butter; sprinkle over pumpkin filling. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into 2
Continue readingHomemade, Last Minute, Cute, Kinda Green Christmas Cards!
Okay so this morning I started shopping around for Christmas cards online. I’ve done this many times in the past few months and always got discouraged because the recycled cards are sooo expensive. I was going to give up on that idea and instead created a cute card with some caricatures of my family on the front. I was almost at the point of entering my credit card number to the tune of $50 for 50 cards. That was $30 for the cards, $4 for some matching gift tags I’d fallen for, and the rest was all shipping and handling (just to get them here in 7-10 days – kinda close!). Anyway, one of the last options before checking out was to download the caricatures for unlimited use on your computer. The cost was $1.99 per caricature or $6.99 for the whole group of six. I was a little concerned that the company wouldn’t allow you to purchase just the images without an additional order but after deleting the printed cards and gift tags, only the download charge remained!! No tax and no shipping, just $6.99 total billed to my card. When I got home tonight I used MS Works
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