Good Morning!

We hope you have a blessed day.

Lembas Bread

We are reading, watching and loving Lord of the  Rings so this morning I made us Lembas Bread for breakfast.  

From Middle Earth.com-

Elven Lembas Bread Recipe

6 TBSP butter or margarine, slightly softened
2 cups self-rising flour

1 TBSP granulated sugar
½ cup raisins (optional)

1 egg, well beaten
½ cup milk

4 TBSP heavy cream
Mallorn leaves


With a pastry blender of fork, cut margarine into the flour in a mixing bowl until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Do this rapidly so the butter does not melt. Add the sugar and if desired, ½ cup of raisins. In a small bowl, beat the egg and milk together until mixed. Reserve 1 TBSP of this mixture to brush the tops of the Lembas. Add the cream and egg mixture to the flour and mix just until combined into a stiff, soft dough. Knead three or four times on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough to a ¾" thickness and cut with an oval or leaf shaped cookie cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving 1" of space between Lembas. Brush the tops of the Lembas with the reserved egg-milk mixture. Bake for 12 -13 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven.

My leaning Tower of Paper Products

I love Rite Aid. I lived right up the street from one but didn't shop there for years until I discovered the Ups program and I now live there.
I cleaned up there today. Between Ups rewards and coupons I got all this for $50.00-
2 - 8 packs of Scott paper towels
2 - 12 packs of Scotts tp
1 - 40 ounce bag of Mars mix chocolate candy bars
6 - packs of Trident gum
2 - bags of Halls cough drops
2 - tubes of Toms of Maine toothpaste
2 - bags of natural Huggies diapers
1 - bag of chips
1 - pack of Mario trading card
1 - WII candy dispenser
1 - bottle of Infusium Shampoo
Not bad?

Sleeping Beauties

Don't they look so peaceful?

Infant Martyrs

From Orthodox Education Blogspot-

Infant Martyrs

A Prayer to  Jesus to deliver us from the sin of abortion 

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who – at the 6^th hour of the day – didst shed Thy precious Blood upon the Cross for the salvation of all mankind: receive the souls of all the innocent pre-born babies, who have been, are being, or will be slaughtered today in the hospitals and abortion chambers throughout our Nation.  And as their untimely deaths have prevented them from receiving the grace of Holy Baptism, I entreat Thee to accept their innocent blood as their Baptism (as Thou didst with the early Martyrs); so that they can share eternity with Thee.

To the doctors, nurses, parents and hosts of accomplices responsible for this infanticide, grant tears of repentance; so that they can run to Thee for forgiveness and healing, and thus avoid the eternal death of their souls.  I believe that all things are possible with Thee, O Lord.  Therefore, I entreat Thee on this day – through Thy divine grace – to convince at least one mother in every state to cancel her abortion and bring her child to full term; and to convince one doctor in every state to repent of his actions, and never again kill a child in the womb.

Receive my prayer, O Lord, even though it is offered to Thee from such a sinful and unworthy servant; and unite my entreaty with those of all the other brothers and sisters that are crying out today on behalf of all Thy little ones, who are now being formed in the wombs of their mothers. Deliver us and our Nation, O Lord, from this shedding of innocent blood!  Forgive us!  Heal us!  Save us! Amen.

Umm Umm's

Manny loves the blessed bread at Church. He always grabs a handful after liturgy and in the line going up to receive Holy Communion you can hear him saying "umm umm".

Serenity

Manny needed a little nap ride in the van after Masons birthday party and he fell asleep pretty fast so I drove up to our favorite park and swung for ten minutes while he napped in the van. It was so relaxing. I haven't done that in years. It was a beautiful 60'degree day with a light breeze in the tall trees. The birds were singing and I felt like i was the child again. Praise be to God for the beauty and calming effects of nature.

My Big Guy is 6!

Fall is Coming!

Masons been building

Adding to my Le Creuset Collection

Found these pieces at TJ Maxx. The little baker is blue and I wish the butter holder was too but bargain shoppers can be picky!

Woohoo!

Look what I got on clearance for $3.00 each at TJ Maxx! What a great deal and with 7 people in our home and Manny in cloth diapers we can NEVER have enough detergent.

Caught a Cricket

Mason made a friend at the park this morning

Homemade Raspberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Wow this went fast, I didn't even get a good picture before it was gone!
I didn't measure any ingredients as usual but here's the list-
Fresh Cream-skimmed of my raw milk
Raw sugar
Vanilla
Fresh raspberry syrup
When it's at ice cream stage add in 1 slice or 2 of cubed frozen cheese cake and just blend in to keep it in chunks
I had mine with candied walnuts on top that I made a few hours earlier. It was awesome!

Some of Yesterdays Bounty

Missing are 2 gallons of fresh pressed apple cider, 1 Sand Hill Berries mixed berry pie and some Pie Shop doughnuts, oh and maple candy.
Included in the picture are-
Kettle corn
Queen Annes Lace Jelly
Wildflower Honey
Apple Butter
Fresh churned butter
Wine-2 bottles
Cork remover and stopper- we're new to wine!
Carmel candies
Maple cream
Maple sugar
Beeswax candle
Honeycomb
Wooden ladle
Dried apple-can't think of the name
Jewelweed soap-great for itchy skin

Got a Little Nature Study in too

Morgan found this salamander in the wet gravel of one of the vendors at Mt Craft. We took him a few feet away and released him somewhere safe where he wouldn't get trampled resisting the urge to bring him home

Baby Wearing

I don't know how good you can see but the 2nd violin player from the left is wearing her baby in a sling while she played and it was so content. What a beautiful sight to see

Loved These Shoes

Just got them at Stride Rite 2 weeks ago to get him through the fall. I hope they clean up and dry up nicely

All Muddy...

But he only fell once and had a great time running around in the mud!

Getting Rained Out at Mountiancraft

What a disappointment. This is one of our favorite things to do all year and was pouring and muddy! They couldn't have their fires so no gingerbread or coffee at the homemade butter stand. No maple sugar tasting from the log either.

Beautiful Song

I look around and see my wonderful life Almost perfect from the outside In picture frames I see my beautiful wife Always smiling But on the inside, I can hear her saying "Lead me with strong hands Stand up when I can't Don't leave me hungry for love Chasing dreams, what about us? Show me you're willing to fight That I'm still the love of your life I know we call this our home But I still feel alone." I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes They're just children from the outside I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine They're independent But on the inside, I can hear them saying "Lead me with strong hands Stand up when I can't Don't leave me hungry for love Chasing dreams, what about us? Show me you're willing to fight That I'm still the love of your life I know we call this our home But I still feel alone." So Father, give me the strength To be everything I am called to be Oh, Father, show me the way To lead them Won't you lead me? To lead them with strong hands To stand up when they can't Don't want to leave them hungry for love Chasing dreams that I could give up I'll show them I'm willing to fight And give them the best of my life So we can call this out home Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone Christian lyrics - LEAD ME LYRICS - SANCTUS REAL

My Pie is Smiling...

Look at our beautiful apple pie! Doesn't it look like its smiling? Marlee thinks it looks like its winking. We canned apple pie filling last fall and we have one left. Pretty soon we will be canning more. I can't wait.

Can you identify?

This just sprung up by itself in our flower bed and I'm no sure what it is. I know its not a zucchini or watermelon. I looked online and maybe muskmelon? The flowers are very pretty.

My Method for brewing Loose Tea

At a recent trip to the wonderful Market District Giant Eagle they were sampling Masala Rooibus Chai tea and Morgan and I fell in love with it so I had to come up with a simple way to brew 2 cups with out the pieces you can get when you use a tea ball. This is the method I came up with...
We were blessed to happen upon a family moving and selling some items from their business and we bought their water cooler for less than 1/2 retail and it has hot and cold so I fill a 2 cup glass measuring cup with the hot water and add 2 teaspoons full of the loose tea
Let it brew for a few while you tuck a coffee filter in a 2 cup glass ball jar leaving the edges hang over
Hold the edges or use a rubber band and slowly pour in the tea- the tea will wick up the filter slowly and then hold it on for you
The key is to pour the tea in SLOWLY
Next just compost your filter with the tea, sweeten and I split it between the two of us and enjoy with some fresh cream of course!