more on breakfast...

Several times now I have thought of taking a photo of our breakfast *porridge*. I wanted to share how in the past the majority of us here would get stomach aches and not feel full quickly after eating oatmeal for breakfast. About 5 years ago I bought the cookbook (gold mine) Nourishing Traditions when we had a local Weston A. Price group.
When the oats soak overnight they become easier to digest for several reasons stated in the cookbook.
I would love to put them on here but will paraphrase because of the length of them-
**All grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer or bran. Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract and block their absorption.
**soaking allows enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid.

Nourishing Traditions recipe for Breakfast Porridge-
1 cup oats, rolled or cracked
1 cup warm filtered water plus 2 Tablespoons whey, yoghurt, kefir or buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup filtered water

For highest assimilation porridge should be soaked overnight or even longer. Once soaked, oatmeal cooks up in less than 5 minutes. (those with milk allergies can use lemon juice or vinegar instead of whey, yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk)
Mix oats with warm water mixture, cover and leave in a warm place for at least 7 hours and as long as 24 hours. When ready to eat bring 1 cup of water to boil with sea salt. add soaked oats, reduce heat, cover and simmer several minutes. Serve with plenty of butter or cream and a natural sweetener like sucanat, date sugar, maple sugar, or maple syrup.

My variation of above recipe-

dump desired amount of oats in a bowl
cover oats with warm water (preferably filtered)
add in yogurt or lemon juice
stir and cover til morning

cover the bottom of a pan with water and bring to a boil
add in soaked oats, stir and lower heat
stir til they turn slightly opaque
add in butter, evaporated cane sugar, maple syrup, or organic brown sugar
other optional additions-
ground flax seeds, cinnamon, fruit, raisins

BTW...butter is one of the factors to help a person not to feel hungry so soon after- this link has many of the benefits of butter. I haven't read all of the other stuff on there thoroughly so I am not in any way trying to sell any products but do endorse butter.
You can see from Sophie's bowl what she thinks of this way of making oatmeal. She wouldn't touch the stuff before this past year; when I showed her how creamy it is. This is one of the easiest ways to make breakfast for me....I sleep better at night knowing breakfast is being prepared and will be a snap to make in the morning.
I know I am cheesy.
If you try it, share back here the different variation you used to inspire the rest of us. :o)
Lori

Having the sewing room upstairs is still taking some getting used to. Before I would be able to sew in moments. You know, when you can just pop in the room in between when the hamburger is cooking for dinner or you have a load of clothes in the dryer. Well, now it is a concentrated effort which is a lot for me. lol!
I am still having fun with that large piece of fabric that looks like kids drew zoo animal scenes all over it. There are a couple other animal skirts in my etsy shop where this one is headed tonight.
I made a new Bible cover for one of my dear friends at church using this European scene fabric. It is a tapestry from the furniture store that I got a bunch of fabrics to re-purpose almost two years ago. So this will be the happy home for the Bible in it's new Bible cover.

This particular piece had scenes overlapping each other. I find it very difficult to cut into a piece like that because picking one almost makes the other unusable. Well, anyway I like how it turned out and know she will love it. The fringe on it is one of my favorites. I may use up what is left for a fun shabby chic kind of style pillow for my livingroom.

Let me tell you that livingroom definitely needs some kind of help and a new pillow would be a good start.Everything in there is pretty colored but it is mainly three colors. boring...but that is another post.

Happy weekend to you!

easy breakfast idea...

Some mornings are just crazy so we make finger foods to snack on instead of a sit down type meal.
Instead of toppings everything is included in the egg dip you coat the bread in.

Hannah has been making this at our house.
She starts the griddle heating up with butter melting on it while she cut a piece of bread into three strips.
In the egg wash goes-
eggs from our chickens
rice milk
brown sugar
real maple syrup (if I have any at the time)
cinnamon

cook til brown on both sides and pile em up on a plate for kids to devour.
easy breakfast.

Reclaiming...

This is the summer of reclaiming my home.
Seriously.
There is a lot of hard work to be done. After the divorce and all of the life transition that come along with that, we just hung on for the ride.
Now that we are landing on our feet a bit and schooling for all of us is done for the summer I am hitting this house hard.

Plan of attack-(this week)
shampoo livingroom and family room carpets.

These carpets are low pile berber in a cream color. Well.....the cream hasn't been cream for awhile but in the livingroom it is now. woohoo...two days worth of work.
There is something about persevering through hard work and adversity-even if it is a head strong shampooer. LOL!

To get that carpet done I had to work through:
5 children in and out
make meals
the ding dong shampooer trying to spit out all of the soapy water onto the carpet-so I got to play mechanic too

But I did it! Feels good too. I am moving onto the family room tomorrow.
With the livingroom floor all spit spot I am thinking of prettying things to do in there and dreaming about big, summer colored throw pillows on my couches.

But making things is the fun part so I have to get through the hard work first. We have to have an incentive right?

Phase 1 almost complete!. ahhhhhhhhh.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a hot one here so I may switch the fix it up to scrubbing white deck pickets instead of the family room carpet, so the kids and I can set up the pool. It's refreshing to see this house shaping up into the beauty that she is supposed to be. She was built in 1906. I think she is partly victorian because of some of the woodwork on the outside and the pretty banister inside.

I have been also day dreaming about exterior paint colors. The original paint color was a light peach, by the time we bought the house it was a barn red color. I am thinking of painting the exterior a butterscotch color with window trim cream and doors & shutters barn red. Not sure if that will look too fall-ish though.
comments on houses you have seen with that color scheme?

How are your summer fix-it-up projects coming along?

Fresh Squeezed!...

Randi over at ihavetosay has opened a fabric store on Etsy.
It's her Grand Opening...
She has some of the cutest fabrics over there...take a peek!

Ants!...

H.E.L.P.

We have an apple box for the recycling in our laundry room. We wash out the cans very well...but yet...(gulp) they have found us.

ANTS....sigh

If one spot was not enough I have also found a melted sucker in our dining room under the toy cupboard that has/had ants.

There isn't anything left for them to keep coming back to, but yet they do.
anyone have a home remedy that detours them once the delicacy that they have sought out has been found and cleaned?

I have fun plans for this summer..not being the ant guard ready to pounce at the slightest movement from the floor.

field trip...

My family and couple of my friends and their children who homeschool went on a field trip through a local watershed and fish hatchery this week to celebrate the end of the school year. Yippee!
fish hatchery
Tessa taking a picture of my group from where her group was on the trail. confused yet?
yet another reminder of the huge storm last December. This tree's rootball was around 20 feet across.
My favorite picture of the day. I sure love that girl's eye for nature.
Have a great weekend!

recently...

First of all...What to say about this photo? ahem. Dukie is the Grand Poobah I presume. He is actually wearing one of Tessa's new birthday gifts on his head: purple fluffy slippers. Leave it to my kids. The funniest/worst (you choose which) thing about it was the cat liked it. (insert head shaking)

Friday night we tried a new variation of gluten free flours for our family pizza crust. The first one almost gagged me. Good thing I have to taste test everything for quality control. But definitely not lucky for my tongue this time. blech.
It saved me a coronary if I had wasted toppings and time cooking this icky-first-try dough.
I think it was the garbanzo bean flour. The baggie states it has a smooth creamy taste. I personally think it should be outlawed. The first gluten free prepackaged mix we tried was pancake mix. Couldn't quite put my finger on the over all icky taste. After perusing the ingredients I saw it....garbanzo beans.
Suffice to say this pizza crust was much better the second time around. I think I will go back to my original preference for gluten free flours in pizza crust-brown rice and white rice flour. simple.

end of the first sewing club class...

ever feel like this? Hannah is so funny!
This is the last week of college and I am ever so relieved; or looking forward to being relieved, there are still 2 finals next week.

It would make me feel better if we could at least have more than one day out of the week when the sun peeks through.

waaa, waaa, waaa....

On to more pleasant things-
1. I am in the planning process for 2 hand sewing day camps and 2 machine sewing day camps (each 5 days long) for this summer.

2.looking forward to the veggie stand at the downtown street market this weekend.

3. the kids and some other homeschool families are going on a great hike this next week. We will be lead on a two hour tour (Not Gilligan-ha!) through wooded areas and also to a fish hatchery. The kids will all get nature books with local foliage and animals they may see on the hike so they can recognize the habitat.

4. stimulus checks for my social security number are getting mailed out soon!

5. The first set of sewing club classes ended on a fine finish today. All of the kids were so proud, they all got a beginner sewing kit, a certificate of achievement, and a dose of self accomplishment that a video game could never give them.

Have a GREAT DAY!
xo Lori

Tessa's early celebration...

Tes made her own pinata
We had an early birthday celebration for Tessa's birthday this weekend. Her birthday isn't until the Friday but Fathers Day is also this next weekend so we had an early celebration for friends and extended family at a local park.People always have a fascination with the broken pinata. Aliss wore it like an egg head. Silly girl...
You can barely see Zack escaping the party under the fence. He is wearing the orange and blue shirt. I think the little black kitty should go by the name of yogi bear. As soon as he/she heard human voices it was right there thinking food.
I only have one more "official" birthday with this girl. When she was young and more seasoned mothers would say "they grow so fast, enjoy them while you can" I would have never imagined how fast it does go by. She will graduate this next year also. My first child I will have taught almost all the way through her school years: in every way of life. I am so proud of her though. She has a great heart for the underdog, can make food from almost nothing and has weathered some pretty difficult family stuff these past 4-5 years and came out all the stronger from it.
That's my girl!

more sewing projects...

This beautiful backyard was across the street from the city park we picnic'ed at the other day. It looked like you were stepping into a scene on a stately manor in the country: not stepping off the curb in city limits. wow...


Ever since the kids have been old enough to hold a needle and draw they have been embroidering. I use the term embroidering very loosely. They have me draw a picture and they "color it with embroidery floss". Hannah has been hoping to sell this hanging nursery pillow for awhile now. I think she embroidered it when she was 7.Even the fabric she chose for the back is pretty. It's amazing the awareness of children and picking matching colors even from very young ages.
Last Tuesday was our second Sewing Club meeting. The kids all finished their softie head pillows and moved onto a self designed felt puppet. Sophie dictated what she wanted a snowman to look like as I drew it on the felt , then we cut it out. Don't you think she did a great job with the sewing on it? The above picture is a scene from the puppet play she gave our family in the livingroom. She brought in all of the diningroom chairs into two rows with the piano bench in the front and a water cooler on it. I am guessing she was expecting to throw an all nighter puppet play and figured we would get thirsty?

Hoping your weekend is GREAT!
Lori

We're not waiting any longer...

Remember rolling down grass slopes when you were young?

We took an impromptu picnic yesterday even though it wasn't sunny yet. It's June and we are going to act like it.
Last summer the city put in new play equipment at this park.
I have to say the saucer swings are quite fun!

In spite of the weather we had fun. If we live in the Pacific Northwest we have to develop the weather resistant attitude. I think it is along the lines of kids having selective hearing....you know, when they listen when they want to. Well, we decided we have had enough and were going to park no matter what.

You know what? It was fun and started to rain right when we left.
Ha!

my turn, pretty please?...

flower by Sophie~$7 including shipping in the U.S.
I haven't had much time on my sewing machine lately because of the 4 young designers in the house.
Sophie has now decided that she doesn't want only to design...she wants to sew her creations too.
I have a big tote that is filled with smaller pieces of sample upholstery fabrics from the furniture store that my girls have free reign to sort through and design to their hearts content.

Rainbow by Sophie~$7 including shipping in the U.S.
The night before market last week Sophie designed and machine & hand sewn both of the above bags with high hopes of selling them both at Market. She made a house under the table the day of market and when she would hear people at our spot she would peek out from under the table to see if they were buying her bags.
Oh, a mothers heart beats so sadly as she watched her daughters heart deflate from disappointment.
I told her I would put them on here because bloggers love to see young creativity and encourage it. If you can't live without one of these pretties email me and Sophie will wrap it up and send it your way. :o)

When Sophie was really sick and we were gearing up for the first day of Market, Tessa was trying to cheer her up by making her a Market Bag. She patterned the Froggie face from the softie I made for the "Fun With Felt Sewing Club"....I told her she should make more for her Etsy Shop.
I think they are adorable and so does Sophie.
I feel bad because Hannah and Aliss have also made some very cute things but I didnt get them uploaded in time for this post...will show and tell soon!
Have a GREAT DAY!
Lori

candy colors...

I have had this great piece of what I think is vintage fabric for well over a year now. The fabric has different scenes of what look like children's drawings. A friend of mine picked it up at a tag sale and gave me a big piece because she said I would make something cute out of it. Well, you know how it is when you have so many ideas for one piece of fabric: you can't make up your mind.
Since I have been having so much fun making bright, cheerful skirts for girls I went with that thought and made some fun summertime skirts.


There are many more cute ones to come and some too big to put on the front of a skirt that I am thinking of making into children's messenger bags...one being a large orange elephant! how fun...
These pictures just don't do them justice.
They are in my shop if ya want to take a peek.

In the next few days will be adding more items like Strawberry Shortcake lined aprons made from the *original* Strawberry Shortcake fabric.
Also, tomorrow I hope to share some little purses that my two youngest daughters designed and made all by themselves. They are so proud.
Lori