An 1800's apron

Here's what I made today.  I will possibly fine tune this tomorrow, but here are some pic's of the project.  It's late, so it's just the pictures and no instructions ;-)

Life, Liberty, and Property

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness is what is in the Declaration of Independence. The Founders believed that government and law were properly created to protect life, liberty, and property.

I don’t think the Founders intended the ownership to mean that half of all your income had to go to a mortgage that you paid for most of your adult life!!!!!!!
Then to top it off even after you have your mortgage paid off you still MUST pay property taxes for the rest of your life or you could lose your property!!! I guess that means we Americans never do own property, the government owns it for everyone.


To quote Scott Bradley,
“The necessity of private property to liberty is often not understood in modern societies that have become steeped in the socialistic traditions espoused by educators, political leaders, and mass media, but application of a little common sense and logic will bring the honest truth seeker to the understanding that if one lacks the means and control of production and distribution (property, tools, transportation, etc.) to support and sustain one’s self and one’s family, that person is not truly free.”


Alexander Hamilton wrote:
“In the general course of human nature, a power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will. In the main it will be found that a power over the man’s support is a power over his will.”


I don’t want to live in a socialistic nation with the government taking care of and controlling me, my subsistence, my support, or my will!

“A lack of private ownership results in a form of serfdom reminiscent of the squalid conditions under which most people lived during the so-called Dark Ages”
                                                                          --Scott Bradley


I will be free from the shackles of poverty and government power when I own some property of my very own--free and clear (okay, I guess I’ll still have to deal with the property taxes, but one thing at a time :-).


I’m so excited to own an acre or two and have an orchard and large garden, I can hardly stand it. And I’m finally in a place where my dream will become a reality very soon.

A company called “Wake Up Now” will be doing a soft launch next month and then will be going public toward the end of January, five or six months from now.

My hubby and I have already joined the company and met the founders of it. We joined before it goes public so that we can already have all our ducks in a row to be making around $10,000 per month starting in November. This will enable us to buy (with cash, no mortgage) a house on some property very soon (it’s not magic, it will take work, but it IS TRUE).


Watch the 7 minute video:   CLICK HERE

For more detailed information:  CLICK HERE (overview webinar)


To participate in rising above the recession call or email me and my hubby:  CLICK HERE


My daughter sold home security systems this summer to pay for college this fall. This is the first summer she has done this. She got the job from my son-in-law who has been selling these systems for years. I was thinking how in most sales businesses you have to keep selling to receive any income. You stop selling, you stop making money and this pattern goes on with most employment, you stop working, you stop making money.

This is not the way Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” suggests you live your life. He says, “The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money . . . but never learn to have money work for them.”
This is the beauty of Wake Up Now; money is working for us!

Healthy French Fries!

Today I had the privilege of babysitting my granddaughters.  My 2 yr old grand D is a little picky so I thought to myself that all kids like french fries.  But, of course, I can't feed my grand D french fries from a fast food place . . . I don't even know what's in them.  I know they aren't cut and make of real potatos.
So I cut up my own potatos and put them in a bowl of water to keep them from turning brown while I kept cutting more potatos.  My cute little grand D wanted to help so I let her put the cut potatos in the water.

Then I oiled a cookie sheet and a pizza pan with olive oil.  I wanted to see which one would bake the fries the best.  I think the pizza pan won, but really there wasn't much of a difference.  Then I rinsed the potato fries and drained them.  My grand D helped put them on the sheets. 

She had a lot of fun rubbing her hands on the oiled pan.  (Did you notice grandma didn't bother doing grand D's hair very well!)

Then grand D got to shake salt all over the fries!  Boy, that was fun!  Then I baked them for 30 minutes at 350.

I barely had time to grab my camera and take another picture of the baked project before we started consuming and they were gone.  Needless to say, they were good.  So now you know, you don't have to deep fry them in tons of oil to enjoy french fries and you can feel totally good about feeding them to your grandkids (who loved them, btw).

Rose polymer clay bracelet

Okay, I'm back.  My 24th Pioneer vacation lasted longer than I thought it would, but the R & R was great!


Here's the fam watching the parade.  And here's a true "Drill" team!  They did the cutest little routine with their cute big boy drill toys!
On to crafts ----

I made another FIMO (or Sculpey) clay bracelet, and I love wearing them both together and I get lots of compliments on them.  So here's how to make the second bracelet . . . . If you didn't see how to make the first bracelet you might want to click here to see a supply list and more detailed instructions:

Polymer clay bracelet

Included with the FIMO clay I bought at Walmart were instructions on how to make roses and how to combine clay to make different colors.

What it didn't say, was to make a light pink you use alot more white clay than dark pink.  It's about a 3:1 ratio, 3 parts white to 1 part pink. It also takes more than a minute to knead the 2 colors together.

Shape the clay into a small log, then flatten it. Then, roll the long flattened piece into a rose (I had the middle of the rose stick up a little higher than the last part of the flattened piece and I pinched the bottom part of the rose a bit tighter so the top rose petal part would open up).

Pierce the rose bead with a needle (a wider needle than the cord you will be stringing the beads on), and then flatten out the top of the rose if needed.  I tried using a needle, a toothpick, and my fingers--they all left marks in the clay.  The side of my thumb worked sort of, so good luck with this part!

I also made white round beads and different shades of round pink beads.  

I put the beads on a piece of foil with the sides bent up and bake at 230 degrees for 25-30 minutes (do not overbake or the clay releases toxic fumes).

Then arrange the beads the way you would like them to be on your bracelet and string them on your cord (it takes about 30 beads, more or less depending on the size of the beads).

 

Tie off the ends with a square knot and weave the ends back into the beads.

VOILA!

Make all different color combo's and color schemes to match any outfit.  They are so much fun to make with kids too.  And they are popular to wear for both kids and adults.

Yogurt!!!

We are celebrating Pioneer Day in Utah this weekend.  So in the spirit of pioneering, I tried something new and self sufficient-ish.  I made homemade yogurt for the first time ever in my life and it turned out great!  Wow, I'm so impressed with myself (okay, in the spirit of pioneers I suppose I should be more humble, but wow again, it is sooooooo good!!!).  It was easy to make too. 

Here's what you need:  milk (I used 2%), sugar or honey (I used honey), powdered milk, vanilla, and a container of yogurt (for the "start").

 

Heat a 1/2 gallon of milk and 3/4 c powdered milk, stir well (I used a whisk).  Heat milk to 180 F, stirring now and then so bottom doesn't burn.  When the temperature hits 180 let the milk cool, add 1/2 cup honey, and 1 Tbsp vanilla, and the yogurt (I used Yoplait-vanilla flavored).  Mix together and let temperature go down to 110 degrees.

To help it cool faster, I put the pan in a sink of cold water. It cools pretty quickly this way so watch the thermometer carefully. Have your container or containers ready before hand to pour the milk into.

Fill containers of your choice and seal (I used 4 pint jars, then put on lids and rings to seal).

I tried to pour the milk from the pan to the funnel and this happened!!! A fun mess (some pans just don't pour very well . . . I then used a scoop to get the milk from the pan to the jars!

I set the jars in the oven on a towel and turned on the oven light.  The temperature needs to stay around 110 degrees, so I kept the thermometer in the oven to check on the temperature every hour or two.  The oven light was enough to keep the temperature at 110 pretty consistently.

The yogurt will be done in about 6 hours, but you can let it incubate or stay in the oven for 12 hours depending on how tart you like it and how much beneficial bacteria you want it to have.  I left mine in the oven for about 8-9 hours after checking the consistency and taste a couple of times.

Then refrigerate and keep refrigerated.

My favorite way to eat yogurt is on top of fruit.  I'm going to go cut up an apple and put some yogurt on it and eat it right now.  Mmmmmm, Mmmmmmm!

~ Happy Pioneer Day ~

Polymer Clay Bracelet

This project was so much fun!

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and I will probably do more.

I bought my polymer clay (FIMO) for less than $4.00 and the clear stretch cord for a couple of bucks at Walmart.  To start with I covered my work area (kitchen table) with wax paper because all the areas that the clay comes in contact with must be washed and cleaned thoroughly according to the instructions, so tossing waxed paper in the garbage when done works better for me than scrubbing the table.  I taped the corners of the wax paper down to keep it in place.

I cut a slice of green, yellow, and pink.

Then I piled them on top of each other and rolled them into a log.  Then I cut them into 1/4" to 1/2" lengths.

Roll the little sections into a ball.

Stick a needle through the clay bead.  The needle needs to be wider than the cord, so it will go through easily.  I twirl the eye of the needle around inside the bead to make the hole even.

I also made some solid color beads to go inbetween the tri-color beads.  I made 28 beads for my bracelet.

To bake the beads, I folded up the sides of some aluminum foil (so I could throw it away when I was done, and not have to worry about toxicity on a baking dish) and put the beads on that.  Bake for 25 minutes (absolutely no more than 30 minutes) at 225 degrees (for sure not more than 230 degrees).

Okay, before you string the beads on the clear stretchy cord, you might want to lay them out on the table in the pattern that you want them in.  It will save lots of time from having to take beads off over and over to fix the design.  When you're done stringing, just tie off the ends with a secure knot.  To hide the cord ends, I threaded the ends back into the nearest beads.

Fun, fun, fun to wear a bracelet made completely and totally by you!!!!!