Monday, June 11, 2018

Happy Homemaker Monday - June 11, 2018

My dad's cactus roses are blooming in the back yard.They
always remind of John Wayne in The Man That Shot Liberty 
Valance, which is my second favorite western of all time.
Good morning, Dear Ladies! Happy MONDAY! 💗

I trust that you all had a great rest-of-the-week last week, a nice weekend, and are up and at 'em looking forward to another great week ahead this week! 😊

My week, as always, fairly flew by! Monday (after I got done with my HHM post, housecleaning, and laundry) and Tuesday were spent working in the yard. We got everything done but a couple limbs and the trunk of the cherry tree when the chain came off the chainsaw. We were out of time and haven't had a chance yet to get back on it and finish up. Am hoping to get to that today. 

On Wednesday I met my friend, Laura, of Harvest Lane Cottage, for a 'herceptin date', which consists of nothing more than a chemotherapy treatment at the Cancer Institute with lunch following. It was good to see her and get caught up a bit. Last summer I was going to chemo treatments with her every three weeks, but hadn't had a chance to get together since September as near as we could remember. 

On Thursday I attended the public meeting of the Battle of Island Mound Historic Site, then led an evening wildflower hike afterwards. Several people were in attendance and I think everyone enjoyed it. 
Wildflower Hike @ Battle of Island Mound

It was back to work on Friday, I took Saturday off, then worked yesterday afternoon after church. And, here we are again...back to Monday! Wow!

Where do the days go? And why so fast? 😳

Okay...enough of that! Let's get started as we join Sandra and all the other lovely ladies over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom...shall we?

Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and
all of the wonderful ladies of 
Happy Homemaker Monday!

Right now I am...

Enjoying a cup of tea and waiting for a friend to come get some iris tubers. The irises that I have were starts that originated from her husband's grandfather's iris bed. They came to me through her father-in-law many years ago. Now they continue on to the next generation and, hopefully, many more to follow. 💗

Purple Irises
Am thinking...

About the new blogging adventure that Jean, over at So Not Organized, and I are working on. Our plan is to do a 30 Days of Summer series and we hope that you'll join us on our Thursday link-ups. Blog about anything you like as long as it relates to the theme of summer. Will be posting more about that later this week! 😁

On the breakfast plate...

Cottage cheese on toast and hot tea

The weather...

HOT!!! 🔥 Temps in the 90's all week and high humidity. Yeah! (Not!) 😡

On my reading pile...


Life in the Spirit Study BIble, Along the Way: Building a Legacy That Changes Lives by Lynette Hagin, The Busy Woman's
Guide to Healthy Eating
 by Emily Barnes and Sue Gregg and Ella Mayfield's Paw paw Militia by Fay Risner.

I finally finished reading Along the Way: Building a Legacy That Changes Lives by Lynette Hagin (excellent book!) and, in addition to daily scripture reading, I am still reading The Busy Woman's Guide to Healthy Eating by Emily Barnes and Sue Gregg and Ella Mayfield's Paw paw Militia by Fay Risner. I am also reading, Ministering to the Brokenhearted by Kenneth W. Hagin.

On the menu this week...

Monday - spinach and feta turkey burgers with sweet potato fries
Tuesday - pulled bison, cheesy scalloped potatoes (freezer), and oven-roasted carrots and onions
Wednesday - ham and beans (freezer) with cornbread (freezer)
Thursday - taco-seasoned chicken (freezer) with black beans, rice, and homemade tortillas
Friday - broiled salmon, cheesy scalloped potatoes (freezer), and peas
Saturday - leftover turkey pepperoni pizza (freezer)
Sunday - leftovers

On my 'to do' list...

- Monday - Plan the week ahead, do my weekly "home blessing", do laundry, wash windows, and finishing cutting up and stacking the last of the cherry tree
- Tuesday - Cook and host a dinner for the Americorps workers at Prairie
- Wednesday - Work in the morning (school group), run errands, and catch up on miscellaneous projects around the house in the afternoon
- Thursday - Attend a Prairie Jubilee planning meeting at work in the morning, continue catching up on miscellaneous projects around the house in the afternoon
- Friday - Work
- Saturday - Work ('Let's "Stick" Together' program)
- Sunday - Church, rest, and celebrate Father's Day with my husband

A new recipe...

I saw this recipe on Facebook and I wanted to try it out to see if this might be a good way to use up a jar of dried cherries that I have in the fridge. I didn't have cream, so I used almond milk instead. They came out great and were a huge hit! I will make these again and again...and with the almond milk, not cream. Why add the extra fat and calories when they come out just fine without them?

MARSHA'S CREAM SCONES (a.k.a. REBECCA'S ALMOND MILK SCONES) 😆

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
2 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. heavy cream (I used almond milk)
1/4 - 1/2 c. dried fruits (raisins, craisins, currents, blueberries, cherries) cut up (I used dried cherries)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, including dried fruits, with a wire whisk. Add heavy cream (almond milk) and mix until ingredients just hold together. Do not over mix. Turn out onto well-floured surface and knead gently about 4-6 times, then shape into a round. Roll out to 1-inch thickness and cut with pastry cutter into 2-inch rounds. Place on baking sheet (they did tend to stick, so next time I will spray with non-stick cooking spray), brush tops with a bit of cream (almond milk) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden. Remove and serve warm with Devonshire cream and jam. (I filled mine with cherry jelly.) 💗 Enjoy!

In the craft basket...

My cousin brought me a huge ball of grape vines...and, when I say huge, I mean HUGE! (It had to be delivered on a skid-steer!) My goal is to separate and sort the vines, then, a few at a time, soak them and form them into wreaths. After I get all the wreaths made, then I will look for silk flowers, ribbon, and other things to decorate them with. My plan is to use them as gifts and to, maybe, sell some.

Looking forward to this week...


Getting the last of the cherry tree cleaned up and out of the yard, getting started on our 30 Days of Summer blog series, and getting my windows washed. They're driving me cRaZy! 😵

Something interesting I watched...

Fifteen of our seventeen grandchildren playing and interacting together at the baby shower we had this weekend. The three oldest girls that were there (all soon to be teenagers) and the one just younger than them kept passing the baby-of-the-family (which is almost four-months-old now) around while watching over and frequently instructing their younger siblings. I'm thinking that every one of them is going to make a fine mother some day! I love all my grandchildren to pieces and am so proud of all of them! 💗 Wish I would have thought to get a picture of them together while they were all here at once!!! Arggghhh! 😞


What I found while surfing the net...

I was going to be hosting a diaper shower for one of our daughters-in-law over the weekend and, in looking for shower games, I came across this site featuring the Top 20 Best Baby Shower Games. I chose to play Baby Sketch Artists (#5) and Baby Price Is Right (#13). 

Baby Sketch Artists was really quite easy. Each guest was given a sturdy paper plate and a colored marker. Using the marker, all each guest had to do was draw a picture of what they thought our newest granddaughter is going to look like on the paper plate. The trick was, they had to do it while holding the paper plates on top of their heads! 😆 Let me tell you...there were some pretty interesting looking little baby drawings there! One artist's drawing depicted our newest granddaughter looking more like an insect than a baby! 😲 LOL! It was a lot of fun! 😆

For Baby Price is Right, I purchased 12 baby items that I thought my daughter-in-law could use for the new baby. Using colored index cards, for each item I wrote the name of the item on one side and the actual price of the item on the other, and displayed them on a table that was hidden behind a sheet. 

At game time, I gave each guest a note-card and pencil and asked them to number their card from 1 to 12. Then, I pulled the sheet down and became game-show host, "Becca Barker"! 😆


Baby Price is Right

Each guest was to guess the price of each item, without going over the actual price, and record it on their card. At the end, the person with the highest total of items without going over "won" (of course, all the items in the end went to our daughter-in-law). 


Baby Price is Right

Anyway, it was a really fun game that was enjoyed by all! 😊


From the camera...


The Shower Table


Scripture passage...




Well, Ladies, that's it for this week! I pray that each and every one of you have a blessed and beautiful week ahead! And I'll see you next week! 💗

Until Next Time...
~Rebecca

Recent and related posts that you might enjoy reading...


Happy Homemaker Monday - June 4, 2018



Rebecca's HEARTH AND HOME Newsletter - June 2018


6 comments:

  1. What a fun shower! Used to always watch The Price Is Right. Those scones sound delicious. And of course, I'm also looking forward to the blogging series. Have a great week & talk to you soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was fun, Jean! And, yes, I always used to watch The Price is Right, too. A really fun show! Am looking forward to the blogging series, too, and can't wait to get started! Hope you're having a great evening! <3

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  2. The blogging summer series sure sounds interesting! you seem to have had a beautiful baby shower. The scone recipe looks yummy! Have a great week

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Luludou! I hope you will consider joining Jean and I for the summer series. I'm not a huge fan of summer and am hoping that this series will force me to look at things a little bit different than usual and be grateful for them. Blessings! And have a great week ahead! <3

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  3. Hello!
    I am visiting from Jean's!
    Happy to be your newest follower.
    Have a cozy evening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, Billie Jo! Glad to have you on board! Thanks for stopping in and thanks for following! Appreciate that! Have a great week ahead! And blessings! <3

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