Thank You Cards.

I do not know why but I am terrible about writing thank you cards. If I do not sit down immediately and write them there is a huge possibility that I will forget to write them all together. It is the same with Christmas cards. This year I sent out only half of my cards because I needed to update a fair number of addresses in my address book. By the time I verified they were right my mom was in the hospital and the cards were forgotten. So this time after my daughter's party I had the list of who gave what presents, I had the thank you cards and everything was located where it would be easy to sit down and write them and I completely forgot. I only remembered to finally write them today because I was trying to think of something for my Thursday's theme and I came across my little pile of cards and lists. The second I found them I called my daughter over and we wrote the notes labeled the envelopes and put them in the mail. So now I have a small respite until my son's birthday.

Does anyone else struggle with this?

Many blessings to you on this very fine evening.--Kate

Eight Little Monkeys

This is another project that I purchased a few years ago, when my wee boy was still a baby. A frequent nick-name for him was "Monkey Boy", so when I found this adorable book I could not pass it up. Now my wee boy has moved beyond fabric books, but I think we will still enjoy it for a small time before we find someone new who may enjoy this little counting book.

The best thing about this book is that it was a cut and sew project. No need for patterns, no need to find additional supplies. It was together in less then 30 minutes and it really did end up being quite cute.

Many blessings this fine night.--Kate

Old Mini Skirt to New Purse

I have had this project on my "To finish" shelf since high school. I attended a clothing swap at which I came away with a cute, short, tight, black fleece mini skirt with a hot pink inside. Once I got it home I realized that it really was not something I would ever be willing to wear in public. I did mention the short and tight bit right. The more I fiddled with it though I realized that it would make a great purse. I started the transformation right away, cutting 9 inches off the bottom, sewing up the bottom and sewing one half of the cut off bit over the waist opening to make a closing flap. That is where I got stuck. I had enough material to make the strap. I took the other half of the cut off bit and cut it in half, but I just did not know how I wanted to make the strap. So I put the project on the shelf. Over the years I have pulled it out a couple times but never had anymore inspiration. Tonight I was in need of a quick transformation project and thought of the purse again and inspiration hit. If I cut the straps and braided them they would be thinner, cute and there was the possibility of having both black and pink on the same side.

So now I have a new hold everything purse. The best part is the two front pockets that can hold keys, lip balm and cellphone.

Many blessings on this fine night.--Kate

Grain-Free Banana Bread

My daughter loves banana bread, but my son loves bananas. So between our dietary changes and the rapidly disappearing bananas I have not had a chance to try out a grain free recipe until tonight.

This one I found I think is a winner. Well at least for me, the kids have not had a chance to try it yet as they were in bed before the bread was done baking.

Grain-free Banana Bread

Ingredients
-3 ripe bananas
-3 Tbsp of almond butter
-Juice of ½ lemon
-½ cup of coconut flour
-4 pasture-raised eggs
-1 tsp of baking soda
-2 Tbsp of grass-fed butter, ghee or coconut oil (melted)
-1 Tbsp of raw honey or grade B maple syrup (I used 1 tsp of stevia and 2 Tbsp of xylitol.)

-1 tsp of vanilla
-Pinch of pink salt (called real salt, It is salt will all it's minerals.)

Directions
*Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line your loaf tin.
Combine and mix coconut flour, baking soda, xylitol and salt in one bowl.
In another bowl, combine bananas, almond butter, lemon, eggs (whisk eggs separately before adding,) butter, stevia, and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined.
Pour mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

 

 

 Enjoy!

Many blessings on this very fine night.--Kate

Humor in Church

I can think of few things better then a moment of unexpected humor in church.

Today's first reading is from the book of Numbers, chapter 21 verses 4-9. It is a passage about God's people who Moses lead out of slavery in Egypt. They are still wandering and they are still complaining. It is the familiar cry "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" They are whining once again about the food and water situation. The Lord's response is that He sent "fiery serpents" and people were bitten and people die. The people also repent, they had Moses ask God to forgive them. God had Moses construct a bronze serpent that the people who were bit could look at and be saved.

Our pastor Jon Muhly then shared with us stories of vacationing with children and his own experiences as a child on vacation. The cries from the back "Are we there yet?..I need to go potty?.. and she crossed the line again." As well as the response from the front "Don't make me stop this car and come back there." I am very sure that this is a familiar scenario for most of us. Pastor Muhly then compared this time tested and true experience to the cries of the people in the wilderness and he wondered with us if God ever wanted to yell "Don't make me stop this car."

So this leads to the moment of profound humor. Pastor Muhly is sharing with us all the many, many time the people of Israel lost faith in God while they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Pastor Muhly is also sharing with us how kids have an amazing ability to know just how to whine in that perfect way that can cause a parents skin to crawl and for the parent to cry out "enough." So he is speaking about how the multitude of voices from the people are all whining and complaining that there is no food, no water and "ugh, yuck this manna, we do not want to eat that any more," and you can almost see them pushing that plate of food across the table like a petulant child. Then God responds by stopping the car and ordering everybody out as he yells "Release the snakes, you are all getting bit."

To say that this made the congregation laugh is an understatement, the congregation erupted. I myself felt the bubble of humor, that his images created, burst into the hysterical laughter of the all too familiar. It was a fantastic and relatable image.

It would be an injustice to say that everything stopped there. Even though that is a very relatable image it does make God look a bit like he lost his mind. The real "bite" of the message is God's forgiveness. When the people realize that they have sinned that they are dying they ask Moses to ask God to forgive them. More miraculous then that though is that even before we realized that we are also sinners that we are also dying, even before we thought to ask God to forgive us, He sent his Son to die for us.

So that of course was the full meaning of the message this morning. Do forgive me though if I continue to spend a few more minutes enjoying the image of God bellowing "Release the snakes."

Many blessings to you this fine, funny night.--Kate

Our Movie Adventure

So we just experienced our first movie theater adventure as a family. It was everything I had hoped for and imagined. My boy at almost 3 was, as expected, antsy but he loved the previews commenting after each one whether he wanted to see it or not and if he thought it was funny, silly or scary. He sat fairly quietly for at least 75% of it, but there were periodic moments of fussing and wiggling and in general bothering of the sister. I do not think that we will be so quick to have a second go at the theater with brother, (or at least not such a packed theater.) Sister on the other hand did wonderfully and loved everything about going to the theater to watch a movie.

The movie we chose for this first time experience was the new Cinderella. Yes, of course a huge part of the reason for choosing it was because of the "Frozen" short--"Frozen Fever." Both kids loved it and laughed from start to finish. That said I think my girl loved Cinderella even more. It was a lovely, beautifully shot film and I  appreciated the frequently referenced importance of being kind. Best of all there was never a moment when either child was scared.

All in all we had a wonderful time today. Even though our girl is quite obviously ready for movie theater experiences I still believe that they will be fairly rare occurrences because the pleasure of the event is still far outweighed by the unpredictability of the content. Both kids are quite sensitive and I would hate to have an unexpected moment ruin their fun. After combing through many reviews about this movie I felt that it was probably a save bet and I was so glad (and relieved) that it was.

Many blessings on this fine
celluloid night.--Kate

Saturday's Surprise on Sunday Afternoon.

I am so excited for this next surprise. I mean jumping out of my own skin excited. Tomorrow afternoon we are taking our kids to their first, at the theater, movie. I do not want to say anymore until after we actually go to the movie. So keep your eyes open for all the the details to come tomorrow.

Many blessings to you on this fine night.--Kate