All posts in Bits Of My Personality

Snacking on Pancakes

by admin on August 26, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Domestic Damsel with 1 Comment
Barley Pancakes!
(I just love their warm brown colors!)

Sitting here with another cup of tea, munching on yesterday’s breakfast. I love eating pancakes cold and plain the next day. I especially love my golden barley pancakes.

Basically I took my mothers faithful ‘Scottish Pancakes’ and altered it a little. Less sugar (1 cup of white sugar is now 1/2 cup of organic sugar and 1/3 cup of wheat germ) and different flour are the main differences (white flour switched to 100% whole grain barley flour). The barley flour is surprisingly light (much lighter then whole wheat) and so switching it to all barley is not a big deal.

My barley pancakes are more filling, they cook faster and have a gorgeous color. They taste lovely, mildly sweet and doughy with a nutty taste that makes me wanna keep snacking. The kids love them and I feel good serving them (feel even better eating them YUM).

The kids would love to share the left overs with me today but they understand there is a limit to Mommy’s generous nature and when it comes to cold pancakes I draw a line. I hand them a cookie and remind them ‘the pancakes are mine!’

Gotta go, the last pancake is waiting to unite with a perfect cup of red tea and help me have a perfect moment of inactivity as I sit on my couch and stare at the pine trees out my window. I have a lot to say about those pine trees but that is a story for another time…

TTFN

Lemon Juice?

by admin on August 18, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Domestic Damsel with 2 Comments

Just thought I would add a little to my last post…

I have REAL lemon juice in my cleaning cupboard because it is a natural alternative to harsh bleach. It will get stains out of whites without the harshness or worry of bleach stains. Apply the juice to the stain and wash.

Vinegar cleans SO MUCH! I use it on most surfaces (floors, windows counters) and when put it down a drain with baking soda it will make the sink sparkle and unplug the drain!

As my friend mentioned in the last post, olive oil isn’t just for eating. It is a safe and natural way to treat your wood items around the house.

Anyone else have great tips to save on cleaning supplies and do it SO NATURAL? It is amazing how we are convinced we need so many types of cleaning chemicals when so much can be done with items we already have, that are safe enough for us to eat! Honestly I can’t remember the last time I payed for cleaning products. I don’t even go down that isle in my grocery store anymore.

TTFN

Baking Soda

by admin on August 17, 2009 in Better Check Out Links, Bits Of My Personality, Domestic Damsel with 3 Comments

For years I have had a real affection for baking soda. My cleaning supply closet has baking soda as a main item (along with lemon juice and vinegar). I have used it to put out small fires in my oven. It works wonders on the laundry as well. Just today I found a great link with all sorts of other things baking soda is good for.

http://lifehackery.com/2008/07/22/home-4/

Check it out!

DID YOU KNOW (I didn’t!)

Flowers will keep longer if you add a teaspoon to the water in the vase!

Doesn’t just take smell from the fridge! Try it on your shoes or suck it up your vacuum if it is getting smelly!

Apparently it can be a useful modeling clay when added water and cornstarch.

It repels rain so try it on your car windows!

It repels ants so put it where they are getting in!

Supposed to sweeten tomatoes if you put it on the soil around the tomato plants!

TTFN

Sickly Summer

by admin on August 10, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality with 3 Comments

Sick in summer…
Most years I don’t get ill this often in the summer… but this year is different…
Having a cold in summer is worse then in winter.
I can’t describe how yucky I felt sitting in the hot van today waiting to pick up my man this afternoon.
Head completely plugged, sneezing up a storm and a throat that is on fire… and sweating thanks to the beginning of summer finally!
Plus 30 today! Only half way through August!

Consider this my blaaaaaa blog for the week:(

Here are some nice pictures to remind me that soon I will feel better and enjoy this weather… if it stays around that long…TTFN

Home To The Lake Land!

by admin on August 6, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Mama Heart Mushings with 7 Comments

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to. ~John Ed Pearce

You barely get into the north and you notice the change in the air. It is so fresh and sweet.

(My eldest son in Papa’s boat. This was his and my eldest daughters first fishing trip!)(Wild rice field they had to cross to get onto the lake.)

Happily I feel at ease, a break from the vast expanse of the prairies, as the trees and rocks close in. It is all so familiar, so comfortable, when I return home to lake land.

(My oldest three on a mini hike with me around the cliffs and trees that I frequented as a child.)

This year had a special feeling to it because my older two are now old enough to really get a feel for what it was like for me to grow up in the bush. They have always been eager to hear stories and see where I used to play but this time was different. Both got to go fishing (first time ever) with my Dad, and the fishing stories where large and lovely. My big girl insisted on climbing my favorite tree in Nanny and Papa’s yard. She wept when it was time to leave. ‘Papa calls me a real fishing girl Mom. I love Nanny’s yard it is so different!” shared my big girl. She is now old enough to carry the memories, all her days, of visits to Papa and Nanny’s. My daughter, especially, will never be the same after this last visit.

(My mother’s garden. It used to be a good portion of their seven and a half acres and the three large green houses. Now there is one lovely little green house, built by my dad and more lawn then garden. They still keep it well cared for.)

(My big girl and big boy enjoying the freedom of the farm life!)

TTFN

Letting Go Of Lakes and Loving A River

by admin on July 28, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Do I Call It Parenting Advice?, My Listening Year with 2 Comments

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” Winny The Pooh

I swam in rivers in my youth, up north, but mostly we stuck to lakes. I miss the land. Swimming and boating and LAKES are still in my blood… but I am starting to be soothed by spending time at a river… our river… throwing rocks in, digging in the mud, and even venturing close enough to dip my feet in its calm edge.I will never feel as comfortable in the city as I do beyond its borders and so each time we venture out to spend time in nature I feel relief, like I can breath deeper. Coming home is all the sweeter with a contented heart.Rivers are beautiful. They come from so far and go so far… there is a quote that even at the very source of the inland river, the river believes in the ocean. They go wild and around the corner can be eerily calm.

Our river is feared by most of the locals. There are signs posted at the start of the path we took today that say such things as ‘No swimming, this water is dangerous. Don’t be this years death in the river’ (I am not joking!)…

Truth be told I hope my kids don’t grow up fearing God’s creation but learn to understand it and use wisdom. All that Christ has created is GOOD.

TTFN

Prayer Closets and Aprons

by admin on July 25, 2009 in Better Check Out Blogs, Bits Of My Personality, My Listening Year with 2 Comments

I have tried the prayer closet and the kids think it is cute to bang on the door and stick their little fingers under it and plead to come in too… I tried going to another room and usually the kids flip out and start pounding on one another at that time…

Yesterday I was inspired by Susannah Wesley… many of you probably know her story already but here is a link to a blog I just found. She gives a quick run down of the apron over head story and I think I am going to enjoy her blog!

http://susannahsaprons.blogspot.com

Basically, the mother of many many children would put her apron over her head where ever and when ever she needed to pray and then the kids new to give her time.

I have enjoyed her story for years but never thought of trying to put it into literal practice!

Now I love my aprons… but they wouldn’t go over my head well. The red work one is tied at both sides thus wouldn’t go up. The white one is too short and the pink one to fitted. The red was made by my mother just for me. It is a double bibed (front and back) apron with a big pocket on the front. Just like the one she has used for as long as I can remember. My white apron is very pretty and the first I picked out myself for myself! The pink was handed down to me by Garnet’s great aunt and used to belong to his great grandmother!

The other morning I put my wrap over my head, the fuzzy comfy wrap I wear in the mornings, and the kids actually sat around me quietly and let me pray. I think it took them by surprise and perhaps that is why they behaved so well but either way I have began a new thing in our home. When Mama needs to pray she needs to pray!

TTFN

The LIST

by admin on July 22, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Life Keeps Changing, My Listening Year with 1 Comment
My man and I started THE LIST today (the to do list that is). It is so different for each new home and I must say this is the BIGGEST one yet! And only growing! Our house may need a lot of TLC (do to rough renters before we bought it) but we are up for the challenge… well I think we are… sometimes… Phew, looking at this list makes me feel tired!

Each morning I have been happily practicing singing again. After my devotions I pick up an old hymnal we have and turn to a favorite. I feel so joyful as I sing them and today was a sweet favorite. I wish to share one line from FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH today. You should look up the rest! It is a lovely song to sing in the morning!

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree, and flow’r,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise!

TTFN

Our Little Bit Of Earth

by admin on July 22, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Life Keeps Changing, My Listening Year with 3 Comments
Thank You Lord For This Dirt!
The kids followed me around tonight as I fussed with my gardens.
At first, when we moved here, all I saw was the size of our yard… kinda small… now I feel like I keep finding little treasures. The side gate with the steps up to it is so adorable. It leads to my treasured alley garden. Our neighborhood has a habit of turning all the bits of grass in the alley into garden and my yard is no exception. There are perennials down the one alley side. I love this garden… perhaps the best… It is a bit wild and I refuse to tame it. This garden is in a spot meant to be forgotten. An alley is usual an ugly place… but someone took the time to spreed some seeds and plant some bulbs and allowed beauty to grow.I have always been a girl who loves the outdoors and never felt I had the opportunities in past yards… My hands love to dig deep into the dirt, petting my flowers and encouraging them to grow with water… ironically I found a bit of earth just right for that need in the big city. Me! A farm girl! Becoming content where Christ has lead her! In the CITY!

The hymn ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’ comes to mind! I will have to look it up and see if I remember the tune:)

TTFN

I’m A Water Baby!

by admin on July 20, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Mama Heart Mushings, My Romance with 3 Comments
“If you want to know how much I love you, count the waves.”

Had a beautiful weekend with the family, that included a trip to the lake. My man wanted a day at the beach with the kids for his birthday. Happy 31st birthday Garnet, LOVE YOU HONEY!

I adore being in the water! Helps my home sickness for the north be soothed, just a little…My favorite moment of the day was when my oldest son trusted me enough to ride on my back and swim with me. Both of us are water babies and swam together till we where frozen. The rest of the family might prefer the beach and just dipping their toes in but at least my boy and I have that joy in the water in common.Another lovely Sunday with my crew! We are really enjoying our new plan of making Sunday’s FAMILY ADVENTURE days.“Don’t grow up to quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach!”

TTFN

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