Paris. Here I Come.

Yes.  On this Tuesday, July 1, my grandma will be taking me, my mom, and my aunt to Paris.  My aunt will already be in Europe, so  she will actually be just meeting us in Paris and then she will fly home with us.  This trip in sorta in celebration of my 18th birthday and my mom's 50th.

I AM SUPER EXCITED!!

 I am trying to pack super light.  I am bring mostly skirts and one pair of shorts.  I have decided that I like only wearing skirts or exercise clothes... no pants.  Skirts are really just the most comfiest things to wear.  Two of the skirts that I am bringing share the same top.  I am also bringing spandoes and a slip for under my skirts, two sets of pjs (my most worn out ones that I planning on throwing out soon, so if I have to do it in Pairs to make room for new items, I won't feel bad about it), one big cozy sweatshirt for the plane, one exercise outfit (I don't know if I will be doing any exercising, we will be doing lots of walking, but just in case), one small sweatshirt, slippers, and of course socks and underwear.  

 I am bringing only two pairs of shoes.  I didn't have any shoes that would be good for walking a lot in and that would look nice with dressing up a little, so a couple weeks ago I got a pair of the Keen Sarasota.  I have been breaking them in and they are really comfy.  They look cute with a lot of different outfits.  And, they look way better in person than they do online.

 My toiletries are pretty simple.  In my travel case I always keep a toothbrush and toothpaste, a contact case, a travel size container of contact solution, and some other random things.  This last spring I got some Pretty in Pairs body wash and lotion.  I have been using it for the last couple weeks to make sure I would be pretty in Paris.  And, I am going to put it in a zip-lock bag in my checked bag to bring with to make sure I stay pretty in Paris.  I don't wear make-up much, and if I do, it is just a little mascara.  So, I am bringing some mascara.

These are the two bags I am bringing.  I am going to check the pink duffel bag so that I don't have to carry it all over the airport and I am going to bring the black one as my carry-on.  I think I am going to bring just my normal purse as my purse.

In my carry-on I am going to bring on change of clothes, in case I get separated from my checked bag, and some contact solution, case, and glasses.  I will also put whatever I decide to bring with me on the plane in there.

Of course, there is a lot more random things that we are bring.... can't forget the passports.  My mom is bring lots of Paris information.  We are going to bring a jar of peanut butter in one of our checked bags, and some other snacks so that we don't have to buy everything.

I still need to find some things to entertain myself with on the long plane ride.

Reeses Bars

This summer I have been baking a lot.  And, I mean A LOT!  I really like it.  But, my parents aren't so fond of it... at least my dad isn't.  It heats the house up using the oven and running the oven gets a bit expensive.

When I got home from work today, I was super hungry.  And, I wanted to make something... something yummy.  These bars are no bake bars, and since I have been craving peanut butter and chocolate, these bars hit the spot.

I quickly whipped a pan up and they were ready in no time.

Reeses Bars

2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I like to make sure mine are very fine)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter, melted
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 cups chocolate chips (you can do dark, semi-sweet, or milk; I usually do half semi-sweet and half milk)

Mix the graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar together.
Press into a 9 x 13 pan.
Melt the chocolate chips and spread over the crumb crust.
Chill for 15 - 20 minutes, cut, and serve.

Enjoy!

Crockpot Italian Chicken

This is one of those quick, easy, go-to, and yummy meals.  Everyone at our house likes this one.  Today we had dentist appointments in the afternoon and we didn't get back until about 5:30.  So, there wouldn't have been too much time for making supper.  It was great to have supper ready in the crockpot.  All we had to do is cook up some noodles!

Crockpot Italian Chicken

3 chicken breasts
1 packet dry Zesty Italian dressing (you can use regular)
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup (healthy request)

Place chicken in crockpot and sprinkle Italian dressing over it on both sides.
Place the cream cheese and cream of chicken soup over it.
Cook on low in crockpot for at least 4 hours, but all day is fine.
Shred chicken once it is cooked and stir sauce.
Serve over pasta.

Note:  If the sauce is too thick you can thin it with a little milk.

Enjoy!

Buttermilk & Brown Sugar Waffles

This summer I wanted to work on finding the best waffle recipe.  The first one I tried was this one.  And, it hit me.  They were really really good!  I tried some other recipes, but nothing beat these.  I didn't look too hard for recipes to try though.  This is definitely a keeper.

Right now we are overflowing with strawberries.  We actually got quite a few from our garden and then we picked 48 lbs. at a strawberry farm.  So, fresh strawberries were definitely going on top of the waffles this morning.  But, even in the winter, we love defrosting frozen strawberries of the strawberries that we froze during the summer.

Buttermilk & Brown Sugar Waffles
Adapted from Nine + Sixteen.

1 stick (1/2 c.) butter, melted and cooled
2 cups shaken buttermilk
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar (sift if on the lumpy side)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Combine the butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.  Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and slowly stir in the buttermilk mixture till combined.  Cook 1/2 cup of the batter in your waffle maker.

Top with fruit, butter, syrup, and/or powdered sugar.  And, enjoy!

Strawberry Picking

Yesterday my mom took us four kids strawberry picking (Thomas didn't want to pick any though, so he sat in the car while we did)!  We have strawberries at our house, but our plants don't produce enough to do too much with.
I love strawberry picking.  This is our second year going to this strawberry farm (Straight River Farm), but I have always loved going picking (strawberries or apples).  The farm that we have been going to makes it really fast for you to pick your berries.
You drive up a driveway to the farm.  They give you some baskets for the berries (The baskets come in great use for other things.  We have used the ones we got last year several times.)  A worker assigns you to a row to pick, and you pick the strawberries!

A lot of the strawberries we picked this year were ginormous and really ripe.

It was a gorgeous day for strawberry picking.  We picked around 48 pounds of strawberries.

Last night we had strawberry milk shakes and hamburgers for supper and it was so delicious.  We have been eating them fresh.  Today I have been washing, freezing, and making jam with all the strawberries.  And, there are still more. 

Semor

This is our cat Semor.  He showed up at our house a few years ago.  He was a mess.  Burs, dirty, and just a mess.  He was also declawed.  So, we welcomed him into our house.  Since then, we have grown to love him.

Semor is a silly cat.  He is also like a dog.  He is an indoor cat, but he likes to go outside to go the bathroom and get some fresh air.  He makes it very clear when he wants to go out and when he wants to come in... and when he is hungry.

A couple years ago, Semor was outside one morning.  He came back to our house with big injury (I didn't see it because I didn't want to).  My mom, John, Sarah (John and Sarah were homeschooled then) took him to the vet.  The vet had to amputate one of his front legs.  We think he must have stuck that leg into a hole and gotten attacked by something when he was outside that morning.  So, this is Semor our three legged cat.  I think he prefers having only three legs though... he looks way more comfortable laying around without a leg under him and he gets around just fine.

Semor has special permission at our house.  He is the only one that can lay on the top of the furniture...

and lay on our tables.

 This is how he lets know he wants to come in.  On our back porch, below the window, we have a bench.  He gets up on the bench...

and knocks.  He usually does some meowing too.  And, yes.  He can do this with only 3 legs.  We hear him knocking, and then let him in the back door.

Semor's favorite person is John.  Every morning, we have to make sure Semor can't get upstairs... or else he will wake John up before he is ready to get up.  But, if Semor gets the chance to wake him up, he runs up to his room, meows, jumps on his bed, and lets John know his is there.  John then knows that Semor wants him up, so John gets up and Semor comes back downstairs and his happy.  

John is the one who feeds Semor and brushes him.

Semor is also loves to sit right between John and the computer screen when John is on the computer.

We do have lots of other barn cats, but Semor is special.

Getting Rid of Hiccups

There are different ways people use to get rid of hiccups... or try to get rid of them.  Some hold their breath, eat some peanut butter (which I would say is the second best and yummy!), or have some one "scare" them.

Well, this is how we get rid of hiccups... it works every time.

Simply have a glass of water is a table/butter knife in the glass.

 I think, from my usage of this technique, the reason this works is because of the way you drink and swallow with the knife against your forehead.

So, the next time you get the hiccups, have a glass of water with a knife in the glass and drink as much water as you can without stopping.

The Garden This June

Here are some pictures of our garden this June.  We had a late start with planting, but everything is making its way up. 

Today I, with the help of my brother, thinned our corn for the first time.  We will have to do it again once it gets a bit bigger.

The weeds in our garden could use some attention...

 

 This last week we have been picking strawberries!  We don't get an abundant, we enough to enjoy some.  It is lots fun to have fresh strawberries that we grew.

And, you can see apples starting to grow on our trees!

Taking Care of Burns

The other day I burned myself badly.  I was heating some bread up in the oven... I think I was using the broiler.  One pan of bread was done and I needed to put some more in (actually I burned a couple pieces and needed to put some new pieces in).  I quickly took the pieces of the pan and put them on a plate.  I put on some new pieces of bread and without thinking grabbed the HOT pan to put it back into the oven.  I quickly dropped the pan.  OUCH!

My grandma had just told my mom that if you put flour on the burn it will help it feel better.  So, my mom got me a bowl of flour.  I acted like I was washing my hands in flour.  I had to do it for a couple minutes.  It was right before we were going to eat super, so I stopped to eat.  My hand still burned, so I put it back in flour.  The flour really helped.


That night it still hurt some.  The next day, I had some blisters, but it didn't really hurt at all.  By the next day.  It was pretty much completely better.  I was surprised at how much the flour helped.

So, if you burn yourself, put some flour on it right away!

Honey-Whole Wheat Bread

This is one of my two favorite honey whole wheat breads.  Homemade sandwich bread is way yummier than store-bought.  And, it really isn't that hard to make.  I find it relatively exciting to watch my bread rise.

I make the dough for this bread in this big bowl.

I like to make a loaf and then slice it up and freeze it.  That way I can pull a slice or two out whenever I need them for sandwiches, toast, or whatever else I might use bread for.
 

 Honey-Whole Wheat Bread


2 packages regular active or fast-acting dry yeast (4 1/2 t.)
1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 t. salt
1 3/4 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
5 - 5 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
Addition butter, softened

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.  Add honey, 1/4 cup butter, salt, 1 3/4 cups warm water, and 4 cups of the whole wheat flour.  Mix in enough of the remaining 1 - 1 1/4 cups flour to make dough easy to handle.

On lightly floured surface, knead dough about 10 minutes or until smooth and springy.  Grease large bowl with butter.  Place dough in bowl, turning to grease all sides.  Cover.  Let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until doubled in size.  Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

Grease, or line with parchment paper, loaf pans.  This recipe can be made into 2 loaves, but I like making 1 big one.  I just use about 3/4 of the dough and discard the rest.  Also, I really like the way bread turns out when the pan is lined with parchment paper.  Form the dough into a loaf or into 2 loaves.  Place in the loaf pans.  Brush with butter and sprinkle with whole wheat flour or oats if desired.  You can cover it or leave it uncovered and let the loaf rise in a warm place about 1 hour until dough has doubled in size.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until loaves are deep golden brown and sound hallow when tapped.  Cool on cooling racks, remove from pans, and let cool completely before slicing into.

*I have done part wheat and part white flour.  Just make a total of 5 - 5 1/4 cups flour.  But, you may need more flour when you are kneading.

Enjoy!

Finally Got Our Garden In...

For a while there we were really busy getting ready for the graduation party that getting the garden planted was not a priority.  Now that things have slowed down we finally got everything planted.

We downsized our garden this year.  Basically we are just doing what we need to make our favorite homemade salsa.  Plus, my mom loves having pumpkins, squash, and lots of flowers.  Also, my sister decided that this year she wants to have her own little section in the garden.  She planted some green beans and radishes.  And, we all love sweet corn and my brother John loves popcorn, so he is attempting to grown popcorn corn.  All together this we are growing tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers, onions, pumpkins, squash, sweet corn, popcorn corn, Sarah's green beans and radishes, flowers, and cucumbers (yeah, we are growing them too).  Then there are strawberries, rhurbarb, and the blueberry bushes and asparagus that we planted last year are in the garden too.

My mom decided this year that she doesn't really like gardening.  The only things she likes are the flowers, pumpkins, and salsa.  So, we downsized.  If any one wanted any thing else, they are to be in charge of taking care of it.  I really like gardening.  And, I would love to grow a lot of other things.  But, since I will be going of to college at the end of the summer and wouldn't be around to help, I decided not to say anything about downsizing.

Sofie

This is Sofie our dog.  Sofie is 3/4 border collie and 1/4 black lab.  She is 6 years old - her birthday is January 2.  But, we got her in May (when she was 5 months old) 6 years ago. 

Before we had Sofie, we had too golden retrievers.  Buddy was getting really old - he went after a few people and bit one of my friends really bad.  After he bit my friend and she needed to get stitches, we had to put him down.  We also had Molly, who was also a golden retriever.  We got her at the county fair when my sister was really little.  Molly was a wild one.  She and my sister were at the same height and so she would nip at her.  She also went after some people and then bit my dad badly.  After that we decided we needed to put her down.

We went about a year without a dog.  I begged for one.  Then, one day, my mom found a add in the newspaper for puppies.  We just had to go check them out!  We made arrangements with the owners to come visit them.  But, as a family, we said that if the house was a dump we wouldn't stop to see the puppies and we would just keep on driving by like any one else would.  We didn't want to get a hard puppy to take care of.

Sure enough, the house was a dump.  But, we decided to still go.  When we pulled up all the puppies went running to hide.  Except... the one we brought home.  Sofie chose us.  The people definitely cared more about their dogs than they did their home.


On the way home, Sofie slept curled up under the back seat.  For the first couple days she didn't move much... she was shy and probably scared.

Now, Sofie is the sweetest, gentlest, friendliest dog.  She is the best!  One thing that is great about her is that she only goes to the bathroom in the woods or the long grass.  So, we never have to pick up after her or watch where we are stepping.

I have two stories about Sofie...

On Sofie's 2nd birthday, her golden birthday, it was the coldest day of the winter - 30 degrees below zero.  There were some hunters out hunting by our house with dogs. We don't know if was scared by the guns or wanted to go running with the other dogs, but she ran away.  We called lots of neighbors and we went looking for her.

The next day was Sunday.  At church they had a time when people in the congregation can stand up and make announcements.  So, my dad decided to stand up and say that our dog was missing.  After church, someone in the congregation went home.  They had a message on their answering machine asking if there dog was missing - they had a dog that was like ours.  They called them back and said that their dog wasn't missing but someone mentioned at church that their dog was missing.  Well, we were still at church, so someone got the word to us that they think someone has our dog.  So, we headed out to this place.  It was a house and land that someone had to buy to get the farm land around it, so no one lived there.  The owner had gone to check up on the place (or plow the driveway) and he found our dog.  He only gave her water... no food because he didn't want to reward her for coming (smart).  And, we got our dog back.  She slept outside, under a camper the night of her golden birthday on the coldest night of the year.

Second story.  It happed later the same winter.

Since Sofie is mostly border collie, she has some herding blood in her.  Well, we don't animals for her to heard, besides cats.  So, she would chase cars... but like she was trying to heard them.  She would try to get in front of them and nip at the tires, like they do to sheep's legs.

It was a snowy day.  I think it might have been a snow day.  The Fed Ex truck had just come to our house... and, Sofie decided to chase it.  We watched her, from out the window, chase the truck down our gravel road.  She was getting really close.  It was kind of scary.  Finally, Sofie came running up to the house. 

Sofie had no tail.  It was just a tail bone... everything had been torn off.  My dad called the vet and emailed him some pictures of it.  The vet said that we should bring her in.

It was right when they were closing, so they just gave her some drugs for the night and then operated on her the next day.  Sofie had to have her tail amputated.  Also, there was a five inch gash in her leg.  So she need stitches.  Luckily, there weren't any broken bone.  For weeks she had to wear a cone on her head.  But, everything healed well and she is all well.  And, I think she may have learned her lesson on chasing cars.  Every-now-and-then she may give in to the temptation.

For the last couple days I have been trying to get some pictures of Sofie, but she has refused to have her picture taken... she must not have been in the picture taking mood.  So here is the best one I got of her.

This is what Sofie does for fun.  She tries to get at our chickens.  The chickens have this indoor cop with a door to the outside.  The big to door in front of Sofie is the people door from the inside of the barn to the outside cop.  There are some small openings where Sofie can see the chickens... and she finds it very entertaining.