Monday Message

Scroll down for a recipe on how I make my own English Muffins!

“I bear my humble witness to you that the great God of heaven will open doors and means in a way we never would have supposed, to help all those who truly want a years supply…All we have to do is to decide, commit to it, and then keep the commitment. Miracles will take place…” Vaughn J. Featherstone, Ensign, May 1976, pg. 116.

“We should ask ourselves; What are the Brethren saying? The living prophets can open the visions of eternity; they give counsel on how to overcome the world. We cannot know that counsel if we do not listen. We cannot receive the blessings we are promised if we do not follow the counsel given” James E. Faust, Reach Up For the Light, pg. 17

Did you plant some veggies? I just love how green Iowa is. My favorite place to be.

My veggies are doing great so far. I look forward to eating them. This is the first time I have planted totally in containers, so far so good.

The peaches on the trees are cute tiny little things. Include your kids and/or grandkids in gardening, they love it. I remember our oldest grandson loved helping me in the garden. Then later at the end of raspberry season there were some left out on the plants. The grandkids went to pick them and really had a ball. They ate all they picked and this is a memory we all share with warmness. In the winter they were sad there were no berries to pick but we painted snow and they loved that too.

I love that we can order from the storehouse. I truly think it a blessing in our time. I know that  a few of you who follow the blog are not members of the Church and are probably wondering if you can order food too - yes, you can. I love this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9lAFTdJdF0 - powdered milk. I love these gals. I use two quart jars for my milk just to show you, use whatever you have.

How are you doing putting in storage? Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below. 

How are you coming on your skills?

I can report after years of wanting to know how to learn how to Norwegian purl I have now mastered it! What a good feeling to finally accomplish it. When the Olympics were in Oslo, Norway, we watched when they did a little section on knitting. They were continental knitting. I wanted to learn that method and we had taped it (yes, the archaic VCR tapes). I watched and rewatched until I had learned that it is much faster than how I learned to knit. I would use it when I would knit in the round but having to switch back to how I learned to purl slowed everything down.

So here is how I now knit…

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=norwegian+purl+arne+and+carlos&view=detail&mid=A48025FB9409CEECB6A5A48025FB9409CEECB6A5&FORM=VIRE

So now here is how I purl…

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=norwegian+purl+arne+and+carlos&&view=detail&mid=49C81F795CA3E830F2B249C81F795CA3E830F2B2&FORM=VRDGAR- this video helped me to learn this and I am very glad they showed how to do it.

As you know, I am knitting on a sweater. This was the perfect project to develop this skill. Now I am on the ribbing and you can't imagine how nice it is doing ribbing this way. I knit two then purl two faster then it took to write this sentence. All without throwing the yarn and switching my hands. Throwing yarn tends to hurt me a lot after a short while that is one of the reasons I wanted to learn continental.

So there you go, I shared my success in skill building. Share with us what you are working on.

Remember now as yard sales start be looking for canning supplies and vacuum sealers and dehydrators and all the things I have mentioned before, this saves soooooo much money.

A reminder too to plug in the dehydrators and turn on to test before you purchase used. If the motor is nice and smooth, it is good. If it clanks and etc. then don’t get it, even if it is only a few dollars you don’t want to waste your money.

It is harder on food savers as there are different ways to make it run. If it is theirs, have them show you. If not, you can play around but two times I tested in front of a cashier at goodwill and at a yard sale I plugged them in and pushed the start button, nothing happened and they were ready to toss it. But one I had you needed to push down on the corners to start it. They are loud. The last one and newest one I got was at yard sale. It is more tricky. Its handle has to be in the up position then you hit the button but it has several buttons. I use the no-hands canister button, so just play around if they cannot help you. Also, be sure it has a port which looks like a hole on the top.

This is a good thing to do in buying anything with a plug, just ask to plug it in.

http://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/2016/03/11/the-breezy-tee-tunic-free-sewing-pattern.html - this is on my list to tackle.

It is not too soon to be thinking about Christmas...just throwing it out there.

Be looking for fabric and sewing supplies at your yard sale trips as well. If knitting is on your list of skills to learn, be looking for yarn needles and supplies at the sales too.

It is far cheaper to get them at yard sales especially if it ends up being something you don't want to pursue you can give away without expense and try crochet. Put funds aside in your budget for yard sales. Make lists of what you are looking for like school clothes and sizes and what you need. Then, before you go into the sale, review your list as a reminder while you look around.

Over the years I have collected sewing supplies, knitting supplies, school clothes, winter gear, things I could not have afforded new. I got casserole dishes that I gave with the casseroles to the person who needed the casserole. I would gather them for 25 cents, some were in free boxes, same with pie tins. They were a dime many times along with plates to give goodies. 

When we would deliver the goodies we would say don’t return the plate, fill it with a goodie and pass it on. Bread pans - many were ten cents. Jelly jars and regular jars for canning. Don’t limit yourselves. I love bread pans and have saved tons over the years,

blenders, food processors, pasta makers, cast iron pans, even a new aebleskiver cast iron pan, griddle pans, mixing bowls, measuring cups - yes don’t just get one set. I keep a one cup measure in my using flour can and a cup measure in my sugar jar. I keep the measure I most use in the jar, like a half cup in my baking cocoa jar. I use a third cup in the powdered sugar jar... you get the idea.  

Muffin tins jumbo, regular in twelve pan and two six muffin style and three of mini muffins, twenty four in each. Angel food cake pans, I have a big collection of many pans... cake pans, cheesecake pans - all from yard sales. 

Cookie sheets - I always made cookies fresh from the oven when the kids came home from school. Others have to work but this was something I could do for my kids. Laura's friend would come with her. She once told me, how is it you know how to make so many different kinds? So I was big on collecting kitchen things to be able to make our food.

In the picture below you can see I have a round bread pan (it was a dollar) and I use it to make English muffin bread.

Here is the recipe:

Also, be open to different things or ways of doing things. I have always knitted socks with double pointed needles but I am open to other methods. I am not bent on only doing one way. On my skill list I am trying socks on a nine inch circular needle. I'm also learning two other methods - magic loop and two at a time using two circulars. Also, combinations of things like I want to do an afterthought heel. See? The sky is the limit. Do not limit your learning.

There are many ways to do things so don’t limit your self.

Just like making bread. There are so many ways to make it. If you limit how you do things it will be a chore. Be open and explore, there are so many things to learn.

So be working on your storage and haunt yard sales to gather supplies. You will be surprised at how fast you will find things looking at yard sales. Keep putting in storage.