raisingtreehuggers

Not exactly a “raising tree huggers” type of post but more of a behind the scenes to raising the wee buggers.

Everyone needs one… you know him… that person who willingly comes to your home to fix that forsaken leak or busted pipe. The saggy pants guy that caused the “plumbers crack” term…. Yep that guy. I don’t like to call “that” guy ever! I’d rather try my hand first and so that is what we embarked upon. I was a born and raised DIY’r so naturally I’m gonna at least try!

Now I’m a check list type of gal and apparently try to fix things by myself so that’s exactly what I did.

The problem: No water pressure at the kitchen faucet. (rest of house was normal)

Troubleshooting: Clean out the aerator, check shut of valves, remove cartridges and check for sediment.

Game Plan: Possibly just change cartridges until I realize sediment has built up so bad in the faucet itself, I might as well just replace it.  Haul kiddos to Lowes and find a new faucet. Yes I must add hauling the kids because you moms know a simple errand alone is a whole new ball game with munchkins. Hubby was off the hook because I of course had a “I can do it myself” mindset… I never learn!

So…. once we returned home I settled the kiddos down with a movie and lunch while I  mused over how I would take on a plumbing job. I pictured my lovely children passing me tools and asking me inquisitive questions.

Rather it was more like…. “MOOOMMMMYYYY I WANT MOREEEEE!!!” and “SHE TOOK MY DRINK!!” while Cleo played guard kitty over the tools. Due to a plumbing leak in the well house over the weekend I already had the borrowed tools necessary. yea!

Disassemble old faucet…. Crawl into the creepy dark cabinet (perk of not being a typical plumber) and attempt to remove old hardware. Tell children to turn up movie cause momma is getting a lil vocal about the ornery and resistant plastic nut thingys that reside on the underside in an impossible location which without the right tool can become down right nasty! NOTE to self… beating things with the butt end of a pipe wrench works wonders! Oh and my trusty old WD-40 helped!

heheh! I really despise that creepy dark space.

Fawn over the new faucet and pray it goes in smoothly! Unlike the 35 minutes trying to get those stupid plastic thingys off the old one… installing the new one was childs play!

Oh yeppy… it’s so pretty and SHINY!!! Oh and it works!!!

As for this nightmare… well I’ll save that one for another day! Now I have three days worth of dishes to wash…woohoo!
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We have been treated with a special helping of unusually warm hot weather… Yesterday the theromometer read 94 degrees! So naturally a trip to the lake was top on my to do list… The great thing about visiting our local lakes and rivers, it only cost me the gas to get there! No admission fees, no pricey foods, no crowded amusement rides… just nature. Well until the city folks coming pouring in… then we resort to our secret swimming holes! Until then it’s our personal giant sand box!

They would of played all day, had I let them!

Sugar Bean determined to dig the deepest hole.

Wiggles in her own little world as happy as can be.

I wish you could of heard June Bug giggling!

For a moment I thought they’d never go for the water but then it happened…

I do believe June Bug has the cutest toes ever!

She was laughing and telling me the “dirt” tickles!

I love this shot and yes someday I’ll have a decent camera instead of just my phone. My old powershot is just too slow and always misses the perfect moment. So until then my poor iphone is hitting 3000 pics on a regular bases! 

By the time we left the lake, dresses were soaked and everyone was sleepy, atleast until we pulled in the driveway then they begged for the kiddie pool… so yes it was a very hot day! For those curious or clamoring for one of those adorable UPF Sun hats, you can find them here. These hats are awesome and come in lots of styles and colors. They fit unbelievably well and dont make the kids sweaty. You can get them in adult styles as well. Our hats get squashed, soaked, and dirty and they take abuse! Sunday Afternoons  hats are the only hats I’ll ever buy! The girls never try to tear them off and actually ask me for their hats when we go out, ha!

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So it’s here! The tutorial I promised for all you cheese lovers… You will have to pardon the far from professional photos since I was taking them with my phone while one handedly trying to make cheese! Maybe I can hire a photographer when I make it famous! lol!

Now this recipe uses the microwave for the final heating of the cheese for stretching. There is an alternative “ending” by reheating the whey to a higher temp and then using it to heat and stretch the cheese. I prefer that method but as I didn’t have gloves on hand the microwave method was the way to go. Don’t be afraid to surf ‘making mozzarella cheese’ on Youtube. I found some very interesting videos of cheese making including a very old school one of a grandfather in Italy making it his traditional way. It was worth the watch!

First you will need to gather your supplies;

• 1/2 gal whole milk (not ultra pasteurized)
• 3/4 tsp Citric Acid (sour salt)
• 1/8 of a rennet tablet
• cool water for diluting citric acid and rennet
• salt for flavoring

You can find Rennet tablets usually around the pudding isle. I use Junket tablets. Citric Acid maybe a bit tougher to find in your local grocery store but don’t be afraid to ask your grocer to order it. They are very good about that! I found mine at our bulk food store. Of course there is always online sources like Amazon for a few dollars more.

Add your cold milk to the pot.

Dissolve  3/4 tsp of citric acid in 1/2 cup of cold water.

Add the dissolved citric acid to the cold milk and gently stir. Slowly heat milk to 90 degrees. 

While waiting for your milk to heat… dissolve the 1/8 tablet of rennet in 1/4 cup of cold water. Honestly mine was probably closer to 1/4 tablet, those buggers are tough to split just right! Set this aside.

Once you successfully heated the milk to 90 degrees…

Slowly add the dissolved rennet and gently stir in a up and down motion. Set the pot off the heat and cover. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Using you fingers or a spoon to gently check that your curds have separated nicely from the whey. The whey is the yellowish clear liquid. They curds frankly remind me of firm baby spit up! Yep I just compared lovely cheese curds to baby puke! Welcome to mommyhood!

With a long sharp knife cut the curds in a checkered pattern. This helps separate the whey.

Now place your pot back on the burner and heat to 105 to 110 degrees. Continue to gently stir for 2 to 5 minutes after heating.

See how I have pushed the bulk of the curds to the side!

Now scoop out the curds with a slotted spoon into the strainer. Do the best you can, the remaining stray curds and whey can be then made into ricotta if you wish or in this case I was making soup at the same time and just added it to the stock. The whey can be frozen as well, for using in breads or soup later.

Carefully press out the whey.

Set your curds in the microwave safe bowl and nuke for 45 secs.

Squeeze out more of the whey… CAREFUL it’s hot! Now you can add salt for flavor. I used a bit under 1/2 tsp. Knead the cheese just like its bread dough. Return to the microwave for 30 secs.

See how it’s now glossy and gooey! Knead and Stretch! By stretching your cheese will gain that nice string cheese consistancy. If its resisting stretching and  it’s tearing instead, return to the microwave for another 30 secs.

See that beautiful glossy stretch! YEPPY! Of course the stretch was a lot longer but had to drop it to take a picture, lol! Knead, stretch and shape your cheese. I’ve seen it done in knots, balls, and squished into forms. I like the simple ball, it’s just pretty! Naturally the more whey you squish out the drier your cheese. So if you want a moister cheese take it easy on the squeezing.

For a more detailed play by play and further explanation check out the cheese queen and her very informative site and blog. http://www.cheesemaking.com/howtomakemozzarellacheese.html

HAPPY CHEESE MAKING MY FRIENDS!
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I’m not one to be apprehensive in the kitchen but for the first time I was just a wee bit nervous. Making cheese has been a popular addition to our kitchen and I do enjoy the “art” although cleaning up afterwards is just bothersome, ha! The kiddos and hubby wanted lasagna for dinner and I forgot to pick up mozzarella at the store. So what is one to do? Why not whip up a batch?! So yes indeed! While the pasta and ground turkey were cooking I tried my hand at that delicious Italian favorite. Nervousness aside I successfully knocked out my first creamy stringy mozzarella! woohoo! It was delightful and Im eagerly awaiting a clean kitchen so I can do it again. It is well worth the time and work and is much cheaper than buying store bought mozzarella!

Now if I could just get my pennies saved for a pasta maker! I could have lasagna made with homemade sauce, cheese, and pasta! Of course the meat will still be from the local butcher atleast better than the local big box store!

Perhaps I’ll get some photos making my next batch!

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* Wiggles passed out during breakfast* This happened repeated with all the girls this week!

Every now and then every family is faced with the notorious “Pass the cold”. Unfortunately this winter has gifted us with back to back head colds and lovely sinus ick. Naturally running to the doctor is fairly pointless since simple home remedies can cure the lil buggers. The past few days have been testing my endurance, patience, and home remedy know-how. We’ve all been doing the usual routine…. hot showers, hydrating, vit D & C, Zinc, hot tea, soup, lots rest, yada yada yada…. All until that moment that every parent dreads… “Mommy my ear hurts!” …. OH NO!!! You all know earaches are the one thing that makes you feel nearly helpless and battling to call the doc or try to remedy at home. Since I already know what the doc would say I started with our lil routine. 24 hours in and I was fearing we may have to go to the doc and drug up… My LAST resort! Sugar Bean (almost 5) was miserable… I was questioning if I was doing the right thing and my faith was shaking. Why would God make a lil one so miserable? I desperately prayed she would be better! I heard my answer loud and clear…She’d be healed by morning. *Wish other answers would be that clear!* It hit me to cook up some garlic cloves and olive oil… so off I went. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? Garlic is my go-to remedy.  I told Jocelyn, I had prayed and God told me she’d be better by morning. “Mommy I need to pray to!… Dear God make my ears not hurt! Amen!” She looked up and tugged on her ears, “They still hurt.” Feeling her sadness, “God told mommy you’d be better by morning, so lets just see.” We soaked cotton balls in the warm olive oil and garlic and add a few drops to each ear, put the cotton balls gently in her ears and tied on a bandana for bedtime so they’d stay put. She went to sleep, still uncomfortable but I promised her Daddy was bringing home some children’s pain reliever soon. She was still running a slight fever and I never give any children’s pain meds unless we are out of options. So we waited….

This morning Sugar Bean called from her bed… “MOMMY MY EARS DONT HURT!! JESUS MADE THEM BETTER!!!!” I could have cried hearing the joy in her voice. And silently thanked God for answering!

Sometimes we need to just stop and remember God is in control and he’s just waiting for us to stop and ask for help.

Sometimes you just need to spend some time playing with mother nature and enjoying Gods creation. We took the kiddos hiking and they learned a thing or two…

First we got in a wee little bit of hiking…

Everyone smile!!! Beautiful! June Bug was in love with the water and was all smiles!

Sugar Bean and Wiggles discovered that God has his very own sliding boards!

Come on dadddy!

June Bug was having so much fun!

Then they learned you can draw with rocks!

And we even found the perfect table! “mommy they write colors!”

A perfect moment in a crazy day. Don’t forget to get in touch with nature!
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YEA!!!! WE DID IT!!!! Please be patient over the next few weeks as I learn to navigate wordpress and fix the missing photos from the former blogpost glitch.

Welcome to my new world! Spread the Word!!!!

How many four year olds want to learn chess? Over the past few months chess pieces have found their way into dollhouse beds, added to train cars, wacked around by cats, baked in toy muffin tins, and nearly sucked into the vacuum. Trying to keep them from getting lost was a loosing battle until now! Giant chess! http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12237754Check out this set at TRU. Amazon has a set as well but for $20 more.

What is not to love about huge pieces that will never find their way under the vacuum? Love it! The only thing I hate is the vinyl “board”. We do our best not to buy any vinyl products due to the toxic off gassing so I may replace this with a canvas board eventually. The first 24 hours it smelled horrible and momma earned a severe headache so I suggest airing it out before letting small lungs breathe the nastiness. Smelly toxic mat aside this set rocks! The pieces are perfect size for kids and everyone gets a clear view of the game. The king appears to be approximately 9″. The mat is 3′ x 3′ and clearly labeled.

All the girls have helped set up the pieces and are learning the proper names as well. Sugar Bean is eager to sharpen her skills and played a very good game today. She is doing quite well understanding the value of each piece and was nearly devastated when I showed her a poor move would cause her to loose her queen. She took great pleasure in capturing my pieces and held a very strong opposition. She would show me which piece she wanted to move and I would help her foresee my next move if she moved to that spot. Talk about a smart kid! An hour later I was finally able to checkmate her, only after we both put each other in check numerous times.

She is not pouting but giggling that I finally caught her king! Lol! I miss having someone to play with and who better to teach! She loves having mommys undivided attention. I’m not sure skipping naptime is going to be good everyday but it is the ONLY time the two of us can focus on her schoolwork uninterrupted and she is craving knowledge. Momma needs a siesta too so we will have to split the time somehow. Don’t hesitate to teach your child something you enjoy doing just because you think they won’t get it, they may just surprise you!Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So perhaps it’s just me but I get annoyed with educational toys and books that are incorrect or just plain old lacking. For example…

I LoVe puzzles…in fact I really love puzzles! I seem to collect them for my children although hubby is quite certain they are for me. I have an infatuation with wood toys in general and beautiful wood puzzles are on the top of that list. It may of began as a kid admiring the eye candy of wooden toys in my Great Grandmothers small private school or when my first wood shop project was inspired by younger sibling and I made simple wood puzzles with the scroll saw. But either way I can not resist picking up these gorgeous natural toys. That being said along w its warm fuzzy reminiscing I must say educational mistakes annoy the crap outa me!
This awesome wood puzzle from a well known big box store sporting that yellow smiley face and roll back prices, well it’s just flawed and yet I intend to remedy it. Sugar Bean stated the RED is actually OrAnGe. In fact none of the pieces are even remotely RED! So she asked if I could fix it. Why sure! Let me just whip out my magic paint fixer! No really I’m going to have to fix it!

The other issue I have… There is an absence of INDIGO! Say what? Okay here comes another pet peeve…. It’s ROY G BIV folks! Not Roy G Bp. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with the proper color names but I am. Even the munchkins have been instructed its not “…blue, purple”
It is “blue, indigo, violet.” Is it just me or is it a weird homeschool mom thing?

Here’s my other issue with a puzzle I haven’t bought yet and still might if I can remedy it. The Solar System. That big box store that I dread has a very nice wooden puzzle of the plants and you guessed it… minus PLUTO. Ugh! Okay I know it’s like some dwarf planet or something but it’s still a planet to me! So this will be like teaching creation evolution to my kids… Some believe this and some believe that. I’m strongly tempted to buy the darn thing and slap a Pluto sticker on it! I also saw LeapFrog Tag reader has a solar system map that I’m interested to see how they interpret Pluto.

Many toys have come thru these doors with good intentions just for me to get frustrated with a mistake or misinformation. I want things my children play and learn from to not conflict with what is right. One such toy was supposed to say alphabet sounds and failed with pronunciation.

Yes I’m finicky with my children’s education and what I expose them to. What mother isn’t? I love love love beautifully made wood toys and anyone who has been to my house can tell you, our home is full of great wood toys and only a few plastic that pass my approval. Not to mention I just want them to last thru more than one kid. I believe the toys my children play with influence them in ways we may not notice but they do. I know my childhood toys influenced me and my choices later in life. It’s sound silly and maybe it is but I’m a weird homeschool mom so who cares!?!!!!

Do you care what your kids play with?

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Last I checked I don’t know any toddlers or preschoolers who will sit long enough for you to read anything without pictures or something to intrigue them. Well I do believe we have finally found a way to atleast get some munchkins to sit thru Bible time and actually get something out of it. I present to you…. My First Hands-On Bible.

The kiddos love it and so do I. Sugar Bean always begs for school time to begin and now she even enjoys Bible time made specifically for preschoolers!

There are some great reviews on this Bible all over the web but I just wanted to share our experience thus far.

Each of the 85 Bible stories are packed with hands-on activities to keep your young audience from straying away.

As you read the story you come across these little hands that give an activity to involve little ones in the story. Today we were reading about the creation of man. I love how it even has the verse numbers as you are reading along and it’s actual scripture not a diluted story book.

At the end of the story there is a “Jesus connection” to bring the meaning of the story right back to the root of Jesus.
Two cute characters Cuddles and Pockets give the children further activities. In this story Cuddles has a rhyme time that you do simple motions with. There is also an activity suggestion, in this case we molded people out of homemade play dough as God created Man.

“Let’s talk” gives some discussion questions to get your kids talking about the story. Finally Pockets the kangaroo lets us know “it’s time to pray” and suggests a simple prayer.

This really is the girls favorite part of our school day. I have a feeling we will be going thru this Bible atleast three time as I’m sure June Bug will enjoy the activities more as she gets older. For now she sits and listens and plays along while Sugar Bean and Wiggles do most of the acting and talking. Im so happy to finally have a Bible they can get involved in! We still have quiet reading time where they mimic me sitting and reading my Bible quietly but this really gets their attention.
My First Hands-On Bible is written in the New living translation which although I prefer KJV, I find this very easy reading for the little ones. I have also seen there is a hands-on Bible we will grow into as well made by Tyndale.

Enjoy those teaching years and make every moment a moment to learn.

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