Monday Message

Now's the time to start planning your garden!

"Brethren, I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family. None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment... I do not predict any impending disaster ... yet prudence should govern our lives ... We can begin with a one week food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs. ... I fear that so many feel that a long-term supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all.  Begin in a small way... gradually build toward a reasonable objective." - Gorden B. Hinkley, Priesthood Session

This is the time of year we say, "next year I shall work on Christmas earlier."

This is the time of year we tend to set new goals. I feel like we should set them all year long and that goals are the stars to steer by not sticks to beat us.

http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=174ddbeb0d5689543e624c877&id=08750bf3a8&e=f758bfd784 - I have been following this for the past weeks. Some great info in here - watch her clips. She probably doesn’t know about storage so cut her some slack and stock up as you can. Lots of times we need to have our storage even when things might “appear to be going well." 

Sometimes people are motivated to stock storage when things look bleak and get complacent when things are good. When things are good that is the most important time to stock up. In our work we had to stock in the good times for the bad times were always close. Things never stay the same that should be written somewhere.  

Think to your self... what if I could not go to the store for a month due to lack of funds? What would that be like? On what you have stored? Would you have the normal foods you have now? Or would you have wheat and beans, some salt, and a few odds and ends... which would you like to have? What would you wish you had gotten when you had money to do so? This part is just the easy one. Now what would month two be like, is it getting harder? What about month three, are you now really worried? By the end of month four you are now out of about every fresh fruit and veggie, cheese is getting low and you are rationing it. In your recipes by now things are getting harder, you are having to make most everything from scratch. So your time now is sparse as you expend more time in food prep.

Maybe you will never have to do this but if you have to get by for a time I want all of you to be able to get to the end of month four saying I am out of fresh fruit and veggies but I have canned and dried versions. I can still make do with what I have. That is what I want to hear that you can still make do.

It is not easy but lots in life is not easy.

I am here to say most things you get no warning that you are about to get blindsided so don’t just prepare when you are warned, do it all the time. Yes, it takes time to gather but I know you are in the store anyway grab a bit extra. It needs to be on the same level as brushing your teeth. You do it automatically and you don’t wait for the one day you feel great. Same with storage. Work all the time on it, don’t wait for the day you will have more money. Believe me that happens only for few and that also has its challenges. So in short I am telling you not to wait for this or that do it steadily. Yes, some self denial will have to happen for the greater good.

The best welfare program is your own home storage make it so you are covered or you can help others but store what you eat and eat what you store doing the rotation makes things a lot easier

Learn from others learn learn learn

Start planning your garden. What rumor have you heard? Sister Shook hates gardening with a passion. Yep, I hate every aspect of it. It hurts me for weeks just getting it in. It is dirty, hot, buggy. I usually get hurt besides the weeks to feeling good enough to walk well again, the whole of it is awful...then why do I do it? Well number one is a Prophet said to plant a garden and so I do. I will suffer and do it. Second is it helps us to store food for the bad times and helps us through these bad times it does. I have always hated gardening. My sister is a master gardener, my grandma and aunts gardened wonderfully and then you have me... I grumble and gripe but do it I must.

I push on. Things will never always be fun, full of roses and chocolate. If that is what you are looking for you may be very disappointed. We cannot sit around and wait for things to happen, we have to do keep pushing on.

I am proud of all you do. Keep pushing on. Share ideas with each other, share sells with each other. We are all here together to support each other and help each other. If you don’t know how to do something find out, ask those who do, teach yourself with library books or the internet, what ever works. Yes, there is only so many hours in a day but little bits here and there... it all adds up - same way with storage.

Keep working and learning!

Let's sit by the fire

President J. Reuben Clark (Church News, 1953) –
“When we really get into hard times, where food is scarce or there is none at all, and so with clothing and shelter, money may be no good for there may be nothing to buy, and you cannot eat money, you cannot get enough of it together to burn to keep warm, and you cannot wear it.  You can’t eat money, but you can eat your three-month supply of food – IF YOU HAVE IT AND KNOW HOW TO USE IT."

Having it and knowing how to use it is a huge thing.

Having basic skills like how to mend, or sew your own clothes, or even refashion old ones, how to darn your socks, how to knit socks, how to make bread , how to cook from scratch, how to be content with what you have, how to make do….this list goes on... household repairs and basic car repair and many many more.

It is all so very much and looks impossible to accomplish but take it a bit at a time.

Today with computers you can learn how to do things.

Learn that there are alternatives… need tires? You can go pay for new ones but if money is tight you can go to the junk yard and buy used.

You can buy new clothes and sometimes one has too but don’t rule out thrift and consignment stores.

You could just buy name brand groceries or you can go to Aldi's who carry some of those same brand names in another package.

You could go out to eat, no cooking, no dishes right? Well price check against a meal at home and doing the cooking and clean up as helping to save. But what if you really love what they offer? Try to learn to make it at home. If you don’t like to cook during arsenic hour use your crockpot or make up your supper to have it ready to pop in the oven, you can’t do that with every meal but you can do it with a lot of meals.

I overheard a mother ask her daughter what she needed. The reply was a coat, now clearly she was wearing a nice coat already so we need to learn our wants from our needs.

I guess in short as this year ends think how can I balance life better, what is most important, how do I run my life or do I let life run me?

When life runs us we are flustered, we are too busy, we have no time for anything.

Right now as you are filled with all the hustle and bustle, picture yourself sitting by the fire. Dinner is in the crockpot and just saying this sentence makes you say aaaaah, sounds relaxing right? 

Sometimes we put our kids in all sorts of things to give them opportunities maybe we did not have ourselves. 

When Laura was just a baby we knew someone who had a twelve year old girl. She was in about anything one could be in, this girl had something going every minute and homework as well. I remember thinking all those years ago that this girl had no time to be a kid and that soon as kids grow up their schedule will have to be more but for a time it is nice to be a kid. I know.… "well so and so is doing this or that and so my kids need to as well," don’t pack so full with good things that the best things slip by like water through your fingers. Sometimes it is okay to say not this year, lets do things together.

Have fun family nites where you teach some of the basics like sewing on a button. Not long ago I was asked to teach a class of girls how to sew on a button, how to hem and such. I know you are thinking boring but they had a lot of fun.…you can make it boring or fun, just like you help set the mood for the day.

Be yourself, don't be unhappy because you don't have this or that like someone else. Be content with what you have and enjoy life or you will wake up later in life and say oh my goodness I could have been happy. Life is hard don't make it harder.

Do the best you can.

If you cannot afford to take classes try to learn on your own. Believe me there are so many things to learn. We can learn everyday. I have so many things I personally am trying to learn. The things I am choosing to learn at this time may not be of interest to you and that is okay. We don't need to be the same, how boring would that be? Once you master something, move to something else. You can do it. 

What I am learning is how to weave on floor looms, how to tat with a shuttle, how to use a toyota knitting machine, different techniques in spinning fiber, to better my sewing skills. Can I learn them all in a day? Nope but I learn when I can. By the way these are just a few things I want to learn.…slow and sure. Do I want to be the best at these things? Nope I just want to further my skills and make do with what I have been blessed with.

I love how diverse we all are. We are like the beautiful threads in the tapestry. All by ourselves we are beautiful but together we are breathtaking.

So as you sit by my fire, remember we are each unique and we can just be ourselves and know that those around us love us for who we are and that it does not matter if we don't have fine clothes or if we do, it doesn't matter so be the best you that you can be.

That is my fireside chat for today. Live a full life, you make a difference to many.

If you want a certain item covered in the Monday Message let me know.

http://www.honeybeepantry.com/topics/view/51cbfc92f702fc2ba812dddf/ this lady is soooo neat, we can all learn from her as we do from each other.

http://www.honeybeepantry.com/topics/view/51cbfc9bf702fc2ba812f3a3/ make your own

http://www.honeybeepantry.com/topics/view/51cbfc92f702fc2ba812dda1/ great to know

http://www.honeybeepantry.com/topics/view/51cbfc9bf702fc2ba812f492/ window pane test

http://www.honeybeepantry.com/topics/view/51cbfc9bf702fc2ba812f4d0/ grinding grain

These are helps and guidelines that will help you to learn to make good bread.

I have a neat friend who puts her bread in the bread machine but takes it out to rise in her loaf pan. That works great too and of course you can do the whole thing in the bread machine too. So many ways to get good healthy breads. For gluten free I see that they even make a special pan to help with rising so no one is left out of fantastic bread.

My caramel corn recipe

2 c. unpopped popcorn (pop it and set aside in a big roaster)

In medium pan put....

2c. brown sugar
1c. butter
1/2c. corn syrup
1 tsp salt

measure and set aside
1/2 tsp b. soda
1 tsp cream or tarter

Bring the ingredients in the pan to a boil stirring then boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the soda and cream of tarter all at once, stirring all the time this will foam up. Once it is well stirred pour it over the popped corn stirring well to coat the popcorn.

Put in a preheated oven of 250 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes stirring every 20 minutes. When done spread out on cookie sheets or wax paper to cool. When cool, store in airtight container.

This is a family favorite!

So make some caramel corn and sit by the fire. :)

Monday Message

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Shooks!

I saw this and thought it sounded like a good idea so passing it on to you http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/12-christmas-meals-bags/

http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/need-want-christmas-gifts/ - good to read

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/11892386491999982/ - a great food storage gift, you can see the tutorial.

http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/candy-cane-snack-mix/ - snack for family

http://christmas.organizedhome.com/crafts/christmas/blessing-mix  - nice to remember our blessings and tastes great too!

http://foodstorageandsurvival.com/making-evaporated-sweetened-condensed-milk-powdered/ - this is helpful info.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Basic-Sewing-By-Hand-Tutorial/ - this is a good tutorial to teach our children.

http://www.loveofknitting.com/instructions.html - knitting

http://crochet.about.com/od/crochetstitches/tp/basic-stitches.htm - crochet

http://theartofsimple.net/back-to-the-basics/ - this looks good but I wanted you to see the video clip, scroll down. I think you will find something you can relate with.

Remember, it is not about who has the best decorations. It is not about comparing yourselves against someone else who seems to wake up and walk out of a magazine, whose house is like a page from a magazine. These images are not the real picture. Every house has a kitchen sink for dirty dishes, so if you really live in your home things really are not like the magazine page.

I once looked at a magazine thinking hmmmm that is soooooo nice then looked closer and in the different pics was the same stuff used over again taken so you would not notice, plus someone who did have their pic of their house put in a magazine said not much was hers and that they moved out her stuff and put in their stuff just for the pic.

So what I am saying is sometimes we don’t see the whole picture. What might look like the perfect family with the perfect kids is not that way at all but yet we have a tendency to beat ourselves up for not being as perfect. If you do that you only end up with boo boos.

I one time asked my grandmother how she was doing and she said well I can't clean the closets as well as I use to... I responded for her not to worry about them, no one looks in them anyhow. Many years later I get it. I know just what she was saying as I have arrived.

Life is hard enough without adding unnecessary stress. Enjoy life so there are toys all over the floor. I actually love to go to a home with toys all over the floor, it says fun happens here!

Christmastime can get out of hand stressful .

When our kids were little we would read aloud The Little House on the Prairie series in order from beginning to end.

Even now my tradition is when we get the first really bad winter storm I will read The Long Winter from that series. Nothing will make you want your food storage in more except to live it perhaps.

So pick up a copy and join me in reading it this year when we get the first real bad "stay indoors" storm!

So if you are feeling overwhelmed you can cut back on everything, you have permission!

Keep your eye out for someone who isn’t feeling well or doesn’t have the Christmas spirit this year. You don’t have to look far. The economy is pinching all and bring them some of your cheer. Opportunities are out there to brighten..…

Maybe there is someone who is ill in your family circle or have had hard times fall on them. Start there and work your way out. There is plenty of suffering all over, even a kind smile will warm a weary heart.

Monday Message

We asked the kids long ago if they would like a Christmas dinner or have a snack day, you can guess what they chose. So we would spread the table with our favorite snacks and we watched movies, played games, ate snacks and had punch and that became a tradition. What was left we froze and brought out again for New Years Eve. They loved it :)

Traditions are so fun to make your own and bring with you the ones from home.

If I still had kids at home I would do the elf on the shelf, it looks so fun….

http://tatertotsandjello.com/2013/12/happy-holidays-neighbor-gift-idea-youve-been-snowed-on.html#qk6hHfDMDjyZvlCB.32 fun to do for neighbors.

We have the nicest neighbors! They had a deer out back to practice bow hunting, I always wanted to go out and dress it in different things like a wig, scarf and sweaters, just to keep them guessing but I figured they would catch me too fast. I would've left foot prints. I should have tried to do it, I think they would have had fun :) So think of fun things to do.

http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2013/07/random_acts_of_kindness_ideas/  I love seeing what people come up with. I used to be a nurse's aid and worked in nursing homes. Families would come in and carol, the people loved it so. Also school kids would color placemats and bring in, they loved those too and cards. You never know who really needs some kindness that very day. And I add keeping doing things all year long, the kids will love it and it is as much for them as the recipient.

http://simplykierste.com/2014/11/25-days-of-family-christmas-activities.html#_a5y_p=2846185 - family fun

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/212021094933509143/ I want one of these.

We also would have eggnog and I would make cinnamon knots. For family night we decorated the tree. You could do from scratch or you can take the canned breadsticks roll in melted butter then roll in sugar and cinnamon. Tie in a knot and bake... an instant hit with all! Plus we thinned the eggnog with plain milk, better tasting and less expensive too!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/212021094933504286/ - always fun to make things with pancakes. I made them purple one April Fools morning served with green eggs and ham.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/212021094933389600/ - cute idea

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/212021094933083406/ - cute idea for your apple cider

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/212021094933023904/ I always thought this a nice thing to do.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/212021094931355192/ - inexpensive idea

http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2012/12/20/easy-to-sew-pajama-pants/ thrifty way to use that sewing skill!

My favorite new recipe….

Pumpkin Waffles

2 eggs
2 tbs brown sugar
1 c. milk (I used powdered)
4 tbsp melted butter
1 c. flour
1 1/2tsp b. powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I used my recipe I gave you before)
1/2 c. canned pumpkin

Mix up and make waffles, so yummmmmmm!

Keep working on your storage. Build memories with your families. Enjoy the season! Don’t use credit and slow down. How is that for a homework assignment?

I tried to find you fun and inexpensive ideas for this message with lots to choose from for inspiration.

Most of all just make fun memories with your family!

Liza's Wheat Bread

Liza’s wheat bread

1 c. lukewarm water
2 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
stir these together and let sit to proof…it should foam

In a mixing bowl add:

5 c. warm water
1 tbsp liquid lecithin... (I got it at the health food store, keeps well)
1 c. brown sugar
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp salt
3/4 c. vital wheat gluten
I grind one cup of white wheat berries

I mix these last two ingredients together and set aside but everything else went in a mixing bowl.

Mix well and add white flour then the wheat and gluten mixture. Mix well keep adding flour till it is kneadable, knead ten minutes …I let this rise one hour in the mixing bowl just cover it but if you use a Bosch mixer you can put the cover on but do not lock it as it will rise up or just cover with sprayed plastic wrap.

I then shaped three loaves and a pie tin of rolls, cover and let rise two fingers above the rim of pan at least. And I spray the loaves and rolls and cover with plastic wrap.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees when it is up to temp. I bake 35 to 40 minutes. Take out to cool, brush with butter while hot. When cool, I slice with an electric knife.

Monday Message

Looking for a tradition to start for the holidays? Try reading "The Candle in the Forest" with the family. 

As this is a very busy time for all I thought I would share this site which is my favorite have used this for years.

http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/homemade-hamburger-helper/

As long as I am on this topic, I do not like the huge macaroni that the real helper has in their boxes so here you can go back to the normal ones……  with just having a few ingredients in the house a quick meal can be made.

http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/how-to-make-homemade-dough-enhancer/ if you purchase dough enhancers here is a mix for one you need something if you use wheat in baking bread.

Kid gift ideas, I am one for thinking a hobby is good or something that promotes creativity
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/diy-mason-jar-monster-kit/

I keep a craft box on hand for the grandkids, Miss M calls it the scissor box
http://mamapapabubba.com/2013/11/16/craft-kit-gift/

Encourage skills http://smashedpeasandcarrots.com/diy-beginner-sewing-kit-gift-idea-tutorial/

This looks like so much fun and you have time to collect the things http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/2014/01/how-to-create-an-upcycled-building-box-for-hours-of-open-ended-play.html

This could be made into a kit as well, what fun! http://amomwithalessonplan.com/pvc-pipe/

We have always been big on puppets and dress up boxes…http://www.handmadecharlotte.com/10-fun-ways-turn-gloves-fun-designs/

Make play dough kits with wooden dowels and cheap cookie cutters homemade play dough is best.

Family gift idea…graham crackers frosting and candy make gingerbread houses then eat them.

http://www.alannageorge.com/2011/11/28/handmade-holidays-finger-puppet-kit/ too cute you can use those unmatched gloves you have leftover.

We always had a puzzle going through the holidays.

You could make a musical instruments kit

you could make an art kit
you could make a spy kit
you could make a favorite book kit with bookmarks and treats
a movie kit

You can see that there is lots of fun to be had coming up with things within your budget.

Don’t forget others. We did a food storage twelve days of Christmas. Be inventive, golden rings were cans of pineapple, doves we did dish soap but now they have dove candy. You could even do one of each as a family. We picked someone who needed it then the fun began on how to do it to fit we had them wondering how it would be but we all had fun. You can do it on the sly, we have done that but this time we didn’t as we visited as well, fun was had by all.

Explain why do we have our traditions? How did they start….
one of ours was to read the candle in the forest. Apparently others do this too as I stumbled across a family reading it for one of their far away kids…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVyNzBQYAs4 they only read part of it on this clip.

Go check it out from the library it is by Temple Bailey. I think everyone should read it before you get stressed with the Christmas demands.

It goes right along with what what this blog is all about, living within our means and being content with what we have and enjoying life.

So read the story, it is not long it might just help you through the season

You could read the whole thing while your family picks out books, it is about a five minute read.

Enjoy being with your family, that is our most precious gift.

Keep working on your storage, perhaps you and your husband can take the money you would spend on each other pool it and get a storage item.