I tried it at home...

I did it.  It worked.  What did I do?  Well, a couple of months ago my mom showed me this youtube clip of how to peel a hard boiled egg.  I didn't say "Don't try this at home" and I thought it would be interesting.  So when we were going to have egg salad for lunch, I remembered and decided to try it.    It works really well, and the eggs came out perfect.  I don't know if I blew to hard, or what, but now my jaw just aches!  And since your jaw is close to your ear I now have an earache.  It really hurts.  If you try it at home tell me how it worked for you, I think I will be sore for a while!

Latest projects

Now I know what you're thinking... this horse needs diet.  But I didn't draw the pattern, that is the way it was.  One of the young ladies at our assembly got married last December, and just had her first baby recently.  I decided to try to make this little rocking horse for the little boy.  It is my first one so it wasn't that pretty, but I think it will get better after I do a few.  I also made another skirt, but it isn't ironed in the picture.

Scroll Saw

Happy Fall!

    Google always has such splendid holiday decorations!  Ha! Ha!  Well, its the first day of Autumn!  Great.  Now what?  Well, lets see, lots of school, piano, and finishing crafts.  I finished another skirt today, I will post pictures a little later.  I had a fever this morning so I looked at a bunch of cookbooks.  I will probably be posting some autumnish  recipes soon,also some pumpkin recipes because we have about 20 small pumpkins that are ready to be harvested!  In the fall it is always so fun to go the forest preserve near by or an apple orchard and get some cool photos.  We finally ordered a new battery charger for my camera, so now I don't have to use the family's.:-)  Happy Fall!

Cookbook continued: Carmel Corn

Caramel Corn

Ingredients

Makes 1 batch

• ½ pound butter (2 sticks)

• 1 cup brown sugar

• ½ cup light corn syrup

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 batches de-kerneled popcorn (approx.)

Directions

1. Melt on 6, cook two minutes.

2. Add baking soda, will make it foam.

3. Pour caramel mixture over the popcorn kernels and stir.

4. Put on a cookie sheet and place in the oven at 250° for 45 minutes, Stir @ 10-15 minutes intervals

5. Remove and pour on wax paper.

6. Break up. 

Anderson Gardens

     Today my Mom, 3 of my siblings, a friend who was staying with us, a neighbor girl, and some other friends went to the Anderson Japanese Gardens.  It is a huge garden with two ponds that is owned by one of the few multi-millionaires in this town, his mansion is behind it.  It is simply gorgeous, even though all man made, and they can turn the water fall on and off!  It was really fun, though I'm sure my friends did not have as much fun as me.  This is because the children went off by themselves, and they Mom's went slower with the babies, I (being the oldest there) was dubbed the "leader" but I had to keep stopping.  I was constantly taking pictures, even though my nice camera wasn't charged I was able to use our family's old camera.  This isn't fun.  It turns on and off at will.  I did get a few good pictures, so here they are.

    Sorry for the sideways pictures, I thought I fixed them! :)

New Skirt

I have had this denim wrap skirt for about a month now, and I really like it. So I decided to copy it. This was really difficult and I didn't have the directions that I do now. I made it out of brown corduroy, but instead of one piece It had eight panels. It looks nice, and I like it, but the hem if a little goofy, I will have to fix it. *sigh* But I did find these spectacular directions on this xanga site, thank you Connimom! She makes it look so easy. I will be making more in the future! By the way... don't I look great in this <- picture?! I could have at least opened my eyes! I was tired.

The original skirt. (a little wrinkled)

Brown Corduroy I used

Button-hole

The tie.

Sovereign Grace O'er Sin Abounding

Sov'reign grace o'er sin abounding

Ransom'd souls, the tidings swell;

'Tis a deep that knows no sounding,

Who its breadth or length can tell?

On its glories On its glories

Let my soul for ever dwell!

On its glories On its glories

Let my soul for ever dwell!

What from Christ the soul can sever,

Bound by time its race begun:

Once in Him, in Him forever,

Thus th' eternal cov'nant stands.

None shall pluck thee None shall pluck the

From the Savior's mighty hands!

None shall pluck thee None shall pluck the

From the Savior's mighty hands!

Heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus,

Long ere time its race begun:To His name eternal praises,

O what wonders love to me?

One with Jesus, One with Jesus,

By eternal union one.

One with Jesus, One with Jesus,

By eternal union one.

On such love, my soul, still ponder,

Love, so great, so rich, so free;

Say, while lost in holy wonder,

Why O Lord, such love to me?

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 

Grace shall reign eternally!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 

Grace shall reign eternally!

John Kent 1766-1843

#29 - Hymns of Worship and Remembrance

Devotions

     In our family devotions at night we have been reading "We Would See Jesus" by Roy and Revel Hession, among other things.  In past chapters we have read about seeing Jesus as the Truth, Door, Way, and in the last chapter, seeing Jesus as the End.  We should not surrender our lives so we will see revival (which is a good thing, but it should not come before our worship of the Lord) we should surrender and repent because we want Him.  He should be our glorious end, not the means to some selfish fancy (even if it is good in and of itself) of ours. 

Costume progress

I love you Mom!!!

     Well, I started my costume!  I Cut out the patterns and the fabric yesterday afternoon, then  whipped up the bodice last night.  This pattern would be really easy if I hadn't picked two of the most impossible fabrics!  The velvet is very stretchy, and the satin won't stretch at all, plus, it is slippery.  The fabrics look real nice together, and I should be able to put the lining on the bodice today.  We did have to move the neckline up almost 2 inches!  I can't wait to do the sleeves, they look so cool.  My Mom started her costume yesterday too, she is making hers up as she goes, not using a pattern.  It is always fun too see how it will turn out when she does this!  

Aren't they nice together?

I really like the velvet.

Matching thread, of course.

The bodice.

    How do you like my new layout and header?  Do you like the other one better?  It is always fun to switch it up every once in a while.

Reformation Day Faire

     I have bought the pattern for the costume I am going to wear to the Reformation Day Fair!  I am so excited!  I can't wait to get started!  But of course, we have to wait till after school and chores are done.  It is more medieval the Renaissance, but I really like it.  Today we bought crushed red velvet for the dress, and some gold satin for the contrast.  I was going to do it in green or purple, and make it look like a LOTR dress, but after seeing their combination, I don't think I would have been satisfied with anything else!  I can't wait to get started, and will keep you posted.

~Joanna

September 11

     On September 8, 2001, our family moved in to our new home.  Our VERY large living room was packed to the ceiling with boxes.  It was still packed with boxes two days later.  The TV is not a big part of our life, and usually the last thing unpacked.  That move it was one of the first things unpacked this move.  Around 2:00 on the 11th, my dad got a phone call asking us if we knew what everyone else in the nation knew, and asking us to pray.  For the nest 45 minutes(approx.) we dug through the living room looking for the box with the TV.   When we finally found it we stopped making our late lunch, and watched the twin towers fall over and over again.  Every station was playing the exact same thing.  People running around asking where God was and how he could allow such a thing.  Our family got together and prayed.  I had never seen anything like it before, and being only 7 years old at the time, it was very hard to get my mind around the fact that it was done on purpose.  How could someone try to kill so many people?  What motivates a person like that?  I had a lot of questions, even though it didn't effect any of my family members, I felt very deeply for everyone involved.  The Bible says we should love our enemies, but I found it very hard right then.  Of course, with the tragic story came stories of the strange things that kept many people away from the towers that day.  One person, who we actually know was also kept safe.  That was encouraging.  Our country won't forget this very soon.

Cookbook continued: Cheesecake

    Here is the very simple recipe for cheesecake that I make for my brothers birthday.  The only thing I changed was to add a cup of peanut-butter .

Cheese Cake

Ingredients

Amount

• 1 ½ cups sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

• 4 packages of cream cheese

• ¼ cup butter

• 1 package graham crackers

Directions

1. In a blender mix the butter and graham crackers, then press into the bottom of a spring-form pan.  Put in the oven for 12 minutes at 325˚

2. Beat all the other ingredients together till fluffy.

3. Spread over the crust and put into the oven for an hour at 325°

4.     Chill till cool.

Just after it came out of the oven...

close up...

Mmmmmm, top with chocolate and strawberries.

Happy Birthday Than!

Well, Than's birthday went well. Congrats on 11 great years of being my little brother. We made him pasties for dinner, and peanut-butter cheesecake for dessert. It was my first cheesecake! It turned out great, and was SSSOOOOO easy. Since he (and I, we share it) has an iPod Touch, we got him a cable that will transfer video and sound and stuff like that to the TV. He really likes it, and it is something useful.

I also started the family newspaper this week! I think if I can keep it regular it will be really interesting. Of course, the headlines read "Nathanael turns 11!" what a big surprise.

Organizing Mommy

Than and his pasty.

"You are special today" plate, with pasty.

Than, Jamie, and the ipod.

Precious Poem

     Okay, I may be the only one who thinks this way, but I really enjoyed this poem and thought that it describes me pretty well.  I found it while reading "Under the Lilacs" by Louisa May Alcott, one of my favorite authors.

A little kingdom I posses,

Where thoughts and feelings dwell;

And very hard I find the task

Of governing it well.

For passion tempts and troubles me,

A wayward will misleads,

And selfishness it shadow casts,

On all my words and deeds.

How can I learn to rule myself,

To be the child I should,-

Honest and brave,-nor ever tire

Of trying to be good?

How can I keep a sunny soul

To shine along life's way,

How can I tune my little heart

To sweetly sing all day?

Dear Father, help with thy love

That casteth out my fear,

Teach me to lean on thee, and feel

That thou art ever near;

That no temptation is unseen,

No childish grief to small,

Since thou, with patience infinite,

Doth soothe and comfort all.

I do not ask for any crown,

But that which all can win;

Nor seek to conquer any world,

Except the one within.

Be thou my guide until I find,

Led by a tender hand,

Thy happy kingdom in myself,

And dare to take command.

-Louisa May Alcott

     O.K. there are a couple doctrinal errors, but I still like it.  Sometimes I wonder if Miss Alcott was a Christian?...

School

     Well, school has started and I can finally walk again.  This year I am taking 5 of my classes at Hallstrom.(a homeschool co-op)  One of which is art.  Art is my favorite class.  I am not very good, but I enjoy it.  I like painting, but I don't have a favorite medium.  I also like doing Landscapes, but I am trying to become better at portraits.  This past Tuesday, we were studying some of the history of art, then we started copying some of the icons painted in the byzantine era to a canvas.  The faces of the people in the art were mostly expressionless during this time.  The picture on the right is almost exactly the same one as the one I chose to copy.  I don't really think that it is advisable to try to portray the Lord Jesus Christ, because it could distract from our truly seeing him.  At least, it is rather distracting for me.  We don't know what he looked like, I am sort of pretending it is just a regular family. But I am learning some about shading with color, how clothing lines look, and more about paintings faces, so I think this project will be nice anyway.