Arggggghhhhh!

Non Catholics: why is it that when you first meet me and find out that I am Catholic, you take it upon yourself to educate me on Sacred Scripture?

One of these days I'm going to just start giving people a discourse on the 6th chapter of the Gospel of St John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Don is SO much better at this than I am)
"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."
~St Jerome

All the things you need to know about using a ruffler foot but were afraid to ask :)

https://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/free-the-ruffler-unruffled.htm
I am going to go over this soon, as I have just gotten a ruffler foot. Not much else to say right now....cleaning up my formal LR and turning it into a sewing room.

the prayer I'm working on now...

I realize that the people who wronged me were spiritually sick. Though I did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed me, they, like myself, were sick, too. I ask God to help me show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that I would cheerfully grant a sick friend, When a person offended I said to myself, "This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy Will be done."

more sewing projects....and my sewing corner :-)))))

 My sewing corner

 pink bermuda shorts(4T)

skort rear view(4T)...same pattern as above, modified

I have been having sew(lol) much fun with sewing lately, and rediscovering some creativity.

 I have realized that when I have a better spiritual life, the creative juices flow.  I make a point to wake up early and pray, and then I go back to sleep until Lil Bit(AM) wakes me up. 

Tocolate

...that's what Anne-Marie calls chocolate. Funny, the spelling looks like it should be some kind of pharmaceutical, lol. She can't wrap her tongue around the consonant c right now.

latest sewing projects...

Will have to wait to post more, found camera, but the battery is dead. I really, really like this fabric. I also made a very simple skirt with it.

I am also making bermuda shorts. I have a nice template pattern for all 3 girls' sizes, and so it takes maybe 1-2 hours to make them. I'm making 1-1.5 a day. Great for wading in the creek, and possibly as pj bottoms.

sewing experiments

So(or should I say, "sew", yuk, yuk, yuk!), I've been playing around with a pattern lately. I've been planning some longer shorts for the girls, and I was looking at Simplicity 2429(dress, top, shorts) http://sewing.patternreview.com/Patterns/38283 , and I noticed that the dress front would tie in and make a cute skort front for the younger girls. So, I set to work. This was a very easy pattern to sew. I had FREE fabric that I scored at our homeschool swap, and some daisy/eyelet trims in my grab bag.

Don't have pics yet, because my camera battery mysteriously disappeared, and I am waiting on one to arrive from Amazon. But I will post them as they are done :-).

and yet more cooking experiments...

This morning, I wanted to celebrate Sunday by fixing something doughnut-like. I found this recipe in A World of Breads by Dolores Casella. It is a minimally sweet recipe.

Bunuelo Puffs
4 large eggs, separated
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1T sugar(I used 3)
1 cup milk

Beat egg yolks and whites separately and then fold together. Blend flour, baking powder, and sugar. Fold this into the egg mixture alternately with the milk. Drop spoonfuls of the batter in hot fat.

*I dipped these in honey to add a glaze. Adding confectioner's sugar would make these taste like sopapillas.

Next time, I may add some lemon or orange zest, OR some cinnamon. I can't decide if we'll have these or regular doughnuts at Easter. Maybe by then I'll find a Fry Daddy/Granpappy at Goodwill.

Cooking experiments

We had soft tacos the other night. I made extra taco meat filling because we always run out if I use a pound of ground beef. So~~~we had leftovers, and I took some extra whole wheat tortillas , and filled them with meat and cheddar, putting them in a glass baking dish. I then topped it with taco sauce, tomato sauce, cheese, onions, and pinto beans. Wrapped it up with plastic wrap, put it in the deep freeze, and it is waiting for someone who needs it or for after my gallbladder surgery, coming up. 

Cooking experiments

Pressure cooker cheesecake...pretty neat, huh? It set after 30 minutes of high pressure. 

2- 8 oz packages of cream cheese

5 eggs

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

pecans

graham cracker crumbs

2 T butter(melted)

Mix first 3 ingredients in  food processor. Chop pecans in mini processor, and add melted butter and ~1/2 -3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs. Press into bottom of 7" springform pan. Place pan in a "basket" made of foil, so that water doesn't leak in. Make 2' foil strips to facilitate pan removal after cooking time is done. I cooked this for 30 minutes under high pressure, with natural pressure release to keep the top from breaking. The results: not very pretty cosmetically, BUT tasty!

Ash Wednesday

"Remember man, that thou art dust and unto dust shalt thou return"

March 9, 2011.
Thus begins Ash Wednesday, and the season of Lent. A gray day, with some heavy rain, heavy to the point that I thought the back yard was going to fill up(TBTG it didn't). I try to remember that God allows us the gray days for a reason, namely that our grass will begin to green up(as it is already doing here), and I am trying to compare this to the "grey days" in my life, and how God has sustained me through them, and taught me much about patience, humility(I would hope, lol), among other things. I am not saying that I am perfect in these virtues, indeed, I have far to go, BUT the fact that I realize this is *something* indeed. Progress, not perfection is definitely something I am trying to practice.

 Spring itself speaks of me to Our Lord's Resurrection. I have noticed lately, with the advent of springlike weather, that my world is filled with such incredible beauty, buds bursting, the air fragranced with the irresistible smell of moist pavement, daffodils, the irrepressible greening of grass, brilliantly jewel-like camellias blooming here in the South.