Tag Archives: children

Quilts for Kids!

Posted on by

http://www.quiltsforkids.org/

 

What a great organization! This is just a shout out for them and what they do!

Please take a look at their site and participate or donate to their organization.

 

Children in a hospital for any reason for serious illness breaks my heart. If you are a crafter or seller of handmade items, how does your craft help other people? Are you using your talents and gifts from God to help others? Here is my challenge: Find some way in which your talent or gifts helps others as a gift. Let me know what you find out or what you do. There are so many ways that handcrafts are helping people. From scarves for the homeless to quilts for kids to so many things. Comment back and let me know what you do!

 

talk to you later,

Karen

Thankfulness day #14

Posted on by

Today I am thankful for

1. My daughters, who are growing up to be extraordinary women.

2. My sons that are incredible people. They are thoughtful, (for the most part) exciting, strong young men.

3. The creation of music. What an incredible way to express what is in our hearts.

This is getting increasingly hard. Today I like that I can feel some of the pain of my friends. I guess that means that I am empathetic, not merely sympathetic.

It has been a rough week. We found out that a girl the same age as my daughter died in a car accident on Wed. night and the funeral is on Tuesday. I am not upbeat and cheerful and this is why. The girls were Daisy Scouts together and it is hard to even think about. Please pray for her family and friends.

 

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

Thankfulness challenge day 11

Posted on by

Today I am thankful for three  lessons that my Dad taught me. I remember him frequently throughout the year but most during March as we shared a birthday.  He was a great man and fought a hard fight with cancer the last 14 years of his life. Though, I remember him most for the lessons he taught or tried to teach us when we were growing up. There are so many lessons that I am going to pick three today that I am thankful for.

1. I am thankful that He taught responsibility. He taught us or tried to teach us to be responsible for our actions.

2. He taught me that love needs to be tough and tender. Tough in that you set boundaries and expect people to behave well. Tender in that you should not be afraid to show your kids that you are proud of them.

3. He taught me many things but one of the more important ones was to laugh at myself and not be afraid of making others laugh. Life is too short to be uptight about how  we look to others. He was very good at telling stories on himself and making others laugh.

Ok one thing I like about myself.  I like people, all kinds of people. I like talking and listening to people. People are funny and have neat stories to share.

Thankfulness Challenge: Day nine!

Posted on by

Today I am thankful for these three things!

  1. Children: specifically our children
  2. Parents: specifically our parents
  3. Freezers: specifically our freezer!

I just cleaned out the little freezer of our refrigerator and found food I didn’t know I had! I threw out some food that had been forgotten and organized the freezer to make more sense! I have been organizing and trying to streamline our food prep. system. This really means that we have been making food ahead of time like I did about 6 weeks ago. Today so far we have made granola, freezer biscuits (see recipe below) Pizza crusts, pre-made the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then also Ham and Cheese sandwiches and corn bread mix! Did you know that if you spread peanut butter on both slices of sandwich bread it keeps the bread from getting soggy after you add the jelly. So the sandwich would look like this  bread, PB, jelly, PB, and then topped off with the top slice of bread. We also did this with the ham and cheese sandwiches but a little different. Put the mayo or mustard in between the ham and the cheese and not right up next to the bread. There are enough for the week double bagged and in the freezer. Since  we home school we don’t need to have sandwiches everyday. The one day we do need to pack a lunch we leave early and get home late. I am trying to reduce the stress on that day. I will let you know if it works. :0)

Angel Freezer Biscuits

2 pkgs. dry yeast
1/4 c. warm water
5 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. shortening
2 c. buttermilk

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Sift flour, cut in shortening. Add yeast and buttermilk to dry ingredients; mix well. Knead quickly 20 to 30 times. Cover and let rise in warm place for 2 hours.

Punch down, roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place on a cookie sheet, then freeze. After frozen place in freezer bag until ready to serve. To prepare place unthawed on cookie sheet in cold oven. Bake 400 degrees until brown, 25-30 minutes.

We will be pre-prepping the dinners when the other crew gets in from the grocery store.  I am a bit more ambitious this time as I am adding some family favorites to the recipe list and increasing the number of meals to 25 main dishes, 15 lunches and ten  breakfast items. So far I think our grocery budget is about $257 spent. They shopped at Aldi’s first and then the Dollar Store. I had subdivided the grocery list into different stores as  Aldi’s is cheapest and the  Dollar store has the cheaper Mexican food items. The last store on the list has the best produce and meat so the big bucks will come from there. This list is also a bit inflated since we  needed to replenish the pantry. These meals should last the month which would be a great blessing to all of us since it promises to be a busy one.

Dinners

  1. Chicken Parmesan rolls
  2. South of the Border Lasange
  3. Pasta sausage and peppers
  4. Slow cooker Pork Chops
  5. Orange Rosemary baked chicken
  6. Beef Potato Casserole
  7. Stuffed Shells
  8. Pasta primavera or pasta salad
  9. Slow cooker Chicken chili
  10. Chicken Broccoli Stir fry
  11. Rio Grande Lasagna
  12. Slow cooker pork chop dinner
  13. Chicken and rice soup
  14. Crock pot spaghetti
  15. Chicken and Macaroni
  16. Chipped beef on Toast or rice
  17. Tuna Casserole w/ potato chips
  18. Tuna Crockets or we also call them Tuna patties
  19. Honey chicken/asparagus stir fry
  20. Spinach rice and cheese + burger patties
  21. Crock pot BBQ pulled pork sandwiches
  22. Chicken patty sandwiches
  23. quiche with bacon
  24. Beans and cornbread
  25. cheesy potato soup

Most of the dinner recipes are from the saving dinner website. I am adjusting most of them for freezer meals. I am also including in the shopping list the other meals that we will eat that are not freezer meals. We just needed a plan for dinner, lunch and breakfast. I am not satisfied that we are eating as healthy as we should. The names of the recipes are what the kids  call them so they are family food. I am also not a nutritionist so these meals are probably not balanced in some way.

Lunches

  1. burritos
  2. tomato soup and toasted cheese
  3. tuna salad with lettuce and tomatos
  4. tomato and swiss cheese with alfalfa sprouts
  5. left over soup
  6. pita bread sandwiches
  7. chips and cheese
  8. apples and peanut butter
  9. banana peanut butter sandwiches
  10. BLT’s
  11. Homemade pizza
  12. macaroni and cheese
  13. Broccoli salad with raisins
  14. ham and cheese bagels
  15. baked potatoes
  16. left over bean soup

Breakfasts

  1. oatmeal
  2. bagels
  3. cereal
  4. granola
  5. yogurt and granola
  6. Peanut butter and apples
  7. peanut butter and Bananas
  8. cream of wheat
  9. pancakes
  10. instant oatmeal
  11. Sausage biscuits
  12. Freezer biscuits
  13. muffins
  14. oven French toast
  15. Frozen waffles
  16. eggs

Well, I will write more later and include photographs of our dinners in process. The other thing to understand is that we will round out these dinners with vegetables, salads, side dishes and possibly, sometimes dessert!

What do you do to stay organized with your meals?

Karen

Super quick Valentine Party!

Posted on by

I decided about 2 pm on Valentine’s day that our family needed a special dinner. Specifically, that the man that bought the roses needed a pampering dinner. He doesn’t make much of a fuss about not getting special treatment, but he has been working extremely hard and needed some appreciation. So youngest dear daughter baked her first cake (chocolate wacky cake), and I frosted it.

Here is the Wacky Cake recipe:

3 cups of flour (being sure to level off the top of the cup measure after each scoop)

6 Tablespoons of cocoa

2 cups of sugar

2 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of salt

Put all of these in the sifter and sifted them into a bowl. Then she stirred in the last four ingredients

2 cups of cold water

3/4 cups of salad oil (we used canola)

2 Tablespoons of vinegar

2 Teaspoons of vanilla

Stir it all together and pour it into your cake pans. We baked this at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool it and then frost as you choose.

The kids helped set the table, and iron a real red and white checked tablecloth. I do have a thing for table cloths besides they absorb spilled milk before it reaches the floor. :0) I started using tablecloths when the kids were much younger and the table over a carpet.

I took a  minute before the cake mixing started and made this garland. Yes, I was also on the phone and I am sure that my friend thought I was insane.

Here is the picture of the garland.

It took me about ten minutes, left over pink ribbon and scrapbook paper I will never, ever use for anything!  I cut out the hearts free hand with about four sheets of paper stacked together at the same time.  Using the straight stitch on my sewing machine I just sewed them onto the left over  cream seam binding and then the left over pink ribbon. Done! A heart garland to hang where my wooden words normally hang.

Our daughter wrote super quick place cards and put them on the plates. The guys set the table and carried in the super easy tamales(from the freezer section and steamed in the rice steamer). That along with the beans, rice, chips and salad made for a great meal. Everyone was happy and dinner was special. Did anyone notice the super quick garland? Nope!  Does it bother me, no! I called attention to it and everyone was happy. Blue moody feelings banished and everyone was pleased! Was the house spotless? Nope! Memories made and everyone happy! If we wait until everything is perfect then we will never create memories with our children or I am completely stressed and they are too.

What did you do special for Valentine’s day?

talk to you later,

Karen

Organizing #3:Freezer cooking

Posted on by

I have to be the first to say that plans change. Our plan of cooking with my mom on Friday has gone by the wayside. She has too much going on. So I started assembling the meals yesterday and put hers in smaller freezer storage bags since most of her meals are single or double serving size. I also added to our meals as the servings were for a family of 4 and we are a family of 6. Originally I was going to just have the meals for the times the kids were working! As if they weren’t going to come home hungry anyway.

I have roughly 12 meals of it finished and will finish up the rest today.  Just some pork and turkey meals today. I got a little distracted and didn’t follow the recipes precisely, I am hoping that this is not going to be a problem. I will take a few pictures when I am completely finished with all of the meals.

The cost of the food came in about $305 for 20+ meals or about $15 per meal about $2 per person.I am the first to admit that I am not a very good coupon or bargain shopper.  The other part to this is that one of us is allergic to cod and I had to buy a more expensive fish for a couple of the meals.  I believe that my savings will kick in when I am not running to the store for anything more than produce and milk, which will save gas, time and money. I bought more chicken and fish than needed for the menu plan and also had some pinto beans and ham cooked that needed to be bagged up and put in the freezer.  If this system works out, it will reduce our overall grocery costs and we will be less tempted to eat out or use frozen dinners.

This feels a bit like a huge gamble as the recipes are not our family favorites adapted for freezer cooking. On the good side the kids were very interested in the meals and thought that they looked good. They are teens, everything that looks like food  looks good, except maybe leftovers! We will see what happens when meal times arrive.

I spent a large portion of yesterday chopping vegetables and prepping the ingredients for the meals. The recipes are arranged according to meat; beef meals, chicken meals, fish meals, pork meals, turkey meals and vegetable soup.  I have the beef, chicken and fish meals completed and in the freezer.  Today is busy but I need to get these completed so that the meat doesn’t spoil and I loose all of the savings.

Happy New Year: Resolutions, do you make them?

Posted on by

Year after year, since I was an early teenager I have made and broken more resolutions. They started simple and impossible at the same time. Resolutions  like be nicer to my brother, not to drink so many cokes, get more exercise, etc… They progressed to keep my house cleaner, loose the extra pounds, be more careful with my money, and the list is endless. I am sure that you have done this as well.

Here are my New Year’s promises to myself and my loved ones that I hope are measurable and able to graph or chart. Of course the deeply personal ones I am not going to list on the internet for everyone to read! :0) But I will share the others with you.

1.  To read the three non-fiction books about internet marketing that my DH. has bought and are sitting around the house. Yes, they are technical books about twitter, blogging, and marketing but there has to be some good in there that I will share with you! I hate reading non-fiction so this will be the medicine in the whole picture. I would rather eat parsnips (which I personally loath) than read a technical book. He is an engineer so I am sure you get the picture of the kind of book he would buy.

2. To blog on a more consistent basis, Maybe nothing more than a few pictures of what I am currently working on but fun things to share at least three times a week.

3. To continue the Eat to live variation of dietary changes we are pursuing to fight the fibromyalgia and arthritis that I currently live with.  The side benefit of loosing weight is always a good thing, which means shopping and new clothes! How can I not smile at that :0).

4. To increase my product line to include different kinds of items that still carry the Chocolate Dog Studio look!

5. To continue to promote my home state of Oklahoma and to show off our creative people and products.

6. To do better record keeping for my business!

7.  To do a craft show and maybe three or four.

Ok that is the business promises.

Since like you I wear several hats here are my personal and family goals.

1. to do a better job at recycling at our house

2. to have family nights once a week for those that can be here! Our teens are working and their schedules and social lives interfere with this on a regular basis.

3. to help them to keep their schoolwork organized much better (yes, we home school!)

4. to think of myself as an artist and to get over my self consciousness of using that label. Yes, I create artsy things and art encompasses a large variety of  items. Surely there is room for me and the things I create in the art world.

5. to garden more and spend more time outside

6. to make things beautiful, again. I guess that this would mean cutting down on clutter, cleaning, sorting, organizing, rearranging and sharing things with others. Things have fallen into disrepair the last two or three years before diagnosis.

7. to find a way to share my gifts with others in a way that is tangible to me. Hmmm, what does this mean?  I believe that God created us and knows our gifts so He must have a way for me to share my gifts with those around me. As these giftings evolve and change according to the seasons of our lives, I think what we share with others also changes and evolves.

8. to find ways to tangibly show love and appreciation for those that my life touches. Another way to put that would be to appreciate those around me and show that appreciation in ways that they will find special, meaningful and encouraging.

9.  To do a better job at planning for everyday living. Quite simply this means to do what it takes to keep the house organized, laundry done, people and pets fed and me reasonably rested and cheerful. This is a juggling act as I am still learning to live with some limitations. It will mean saying no and yes, keeping scheduled with our activities and preparing for the future weeks when I feel good. Things like bulk cooking or once a month cooking, shopping lists prepared with menus in mind, short cut cooking, keeping the kids working on their chores to cut down on the daily chaos that living with three dogs, four kids and four different work schedules (possibly five) and four different drivers can do to a family. Wow, that makes me tired just thinking about it.

10. to keep the family calendar updated and running in full view of everyone.

AH HA, I made it to ten, so I can stop now because you and I know the list is endless.

Now off to accomplish something so that the New Year actually comes in with a good hot meal and reasonable clean clothing! lol

What are you resolutions or promises to yourself and your family? Care to share them with me.

’til later,

Karen

Chocolatedogstudio is Presenting: K’s jewelry!

Posted on by
 
http://www.etsy.com/listing/56639989/pendant-double-teardrop-vintage-brown

K  happens to be very close to me, as she is our daughter. She has been interested in vintage jewelry for several years now. After some deliberation she has decided to open a page on Chocolatedogstudio for her jewelry sales. She has some beautiful pieces of jewelry that she has bought and then some pieces that she has made. Here some of her pieces of jewelry.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56641175/pendant-necklace-enamel-articulated-owl

Why is she selling jewelry? She is raising money for college and car expenses.  Her prices are reasonable and she should do well! As she has a good head for money management.

 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56641631/cuff-bracelet-vintage-faux-tortoiseshell

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/56641631/cuff-bracelet-vintage-faux-tortoiseshell

 

Thanks so much for coming by and drop K a note to encourage her new venture!

 

Thanks so much

Karen

Things to do with kids: DIY Art recipes

Posted on by

Here are some recipes to keep your kids busy this summer!

Finger paint

¼ cup cornstarch
2 cups water

Mix in saucepan and boil until thick. Then pour into a jar and add food coloring until the desired shade is achieved. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Another Finger paint recipe

Basic Finger Paint Recipes
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 Cup cornstarch
2 Cup water (cold)
Food coloring
Dish detergent (aids in clean up)
Mix sugar and cornstarch together in a saucepan. Add cold water and stir completely. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly about 5 minutes. Cool, then divide into 4 cups or bowls. Add food coloring and a drop of detergent to each bowl.

Poster Paint Recipe
1/4 Cup flour
1 1/2 Cup water
3/4 Cup dry poster paint powder or dry tempera paint
2 teaspoon colorless dish washing detergent (optional)
2 tsp. liquid starch (optional)
Place flour in small saucepan. Gradually stir in 1 cup water. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Cool. Measure 1/4 cup mixture into each of 4 small clean jars. Add 2 tablespoons water to each jar; blend well. Add 1/2 teaspoon dish washing detergent to each jar if glossy finish is desired or add 1/2 teaspoon starch to each jar for matte finish. Store tightly covered. Mix well before using.

Scratch and Sniff Paint Recipe
Mix flavored gelatin or kool aid package into half the water suggested in the package directions. Paint with the scented mixture and allow to dry. You will have a scratch and sniff painting

What craft recipes would you like see?

Karen

Photo Friday: The dog!

Posted on by

This is the dog.  Well, THE DOG for our youngest son. His buddy, best friend, and complete pain in the neck dog.

His name is Dusty and he came into our lives at a critical point.  He was found on the side of a dirt road a good mile from anywhere. He was a little, bitty, cute, soft, puppy with these adorable brown eyes that would melt titanium. Yes, I passed him by the first day, but I couldn’t pass him by the second day. We were headed to the fishing pond, if you really want to know. I had an agenda! We already had a big chocolate lab, why would we need a puppy?  When we saw them the second day (yes, there were two). We stopped and did what any mother would do, we brought them home. (His sister died not long after, she was ill) He has been great for my son. I am not sure that the neighbors think so. He is a great looking dog. He is somewhere between a walker hound, beagle and basset mix. No, wonder they dropped him on the side of the road. HE was BORN to bark, whine, yodle, bay, and every other noise that hound dogs make. Believe me, whatever else is in his genetic heritage it is all hound.  He loves to bark first thing in the morning about 5:00 am or 6:30 if he sleeps in. You then let him out so he can go. Then he barks again to come in for breakfast. Then he barks to go back out. This is all repeated two more times. He only gets fed twice though, no matter how much he asks. If it rains, he barks. If all the dogs aren’t outside; he barks. A dog  goes down the street; he barks. Anyway, you get the idea. He also grew up to be huge. He weighs about 60 lbs which is not quite the size you would expect for a beagle!

Here is the really cool story of how he  ran away and how he came home again! Which goes to show you how much you miss some of the annoyances in life when they are gone, and what you will do for one of your kids.

One day after the dogs breakfast we noticed that the back gate was open, Bear the chocolate lab and Dusty were gone, Sadie (black lab mix)being rather timid had stayed home. She is alpha dog at our house. We looked all over the neighborhood, drove around yelling, whistling and all of that. Pretty soon a friend called and told us she had seen them in her pasture. We drove over and looked, sure enough we could see them leaving her field and entering the neighborhood again. Well, this hunt and chase method of finding the dogs went on all day. In the evening Bear, came home. He is getting older and has a little arthritis. He had been swimming in my friend’s pond and as quite ready to lay down and rest. We saw the tail end of Dusty leaving the yard into the neighbors house and ran quick, but totally  missed him. Our  youngest son is devastated. His best friend is gone and might not make it home.  We made posters and put them up at every major intersection in a five mile radius. We had phone call sightings of him off and on all week. Once we think we even saw his tail for a brief span of time as it disappeared in the distance. We prayed, placed notices online, called all the shelters, went to the huge Tulsa pound twice, called vets in the area, and facebooked the dog! It was blissfully quiet in the morning. We got to sleep in for the first time since he came home. Peace wondrous peace, except for the hearts that were breaking because he was missed.

Our oldest son works at a vet clinic about 5 miles from the house. Which is where the dogs go for boarding and the vet. Sometimes they go to work with him for fun. One night as one of the vets was leaving. He saw a dog pounding on the front door with his paws. He was covered in mud from the construction site next door. The vet told the receptionist “Mark has lost a beagle dog, hasn’t he, maybe he will take this one home.” They put him on the leash and walked him into the back room where Mark was working. Calling out” Mark would you like to take this dog home to replace the one you lost” Mark said ” he won’t replace him, it is him!” Five miles by road, who knows how many miles as the dog runs. He is now microchipped. I don’t ever want to have to go the pound to look for a lost dog again! Going to pick one out is one thing, but to look for one that is lost is horrible. He was gone a total of ten days! Usually dogs that are gone that long are gone forever. Good thing God was looking out for him and his owner!

Here he is in his noble dog pose!