Reformation Day

Today is Reformation Day. So, in honor of the day, we're going to have a little celebration. First, we're going to "reform" our kitchen and living room, i.e. we're going to clean. :) Then, we're going to watch Luther (with Joseph Fiennes as Luther). Last night, we watched Empires - Martin Luther. (Note: I'm not an amazon.com affiliate. Those links are just for your information.) We'll also be "indulging" in some frankfurters, kraut, and German chocolate cake. :) And, of course, we'll be singing the Battle Hymn of the Reformation, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, and reading some Scriptures, particularly Romans 1:17, Romans 3:28, and Ephesians 2:8-9. If you don't know much about the Reformation, I encourage you to do a bit of reading about it or watch some videos. We've gotten several from Netflix. It's an absolutely amazing story.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

I had some sub buns left over from ham sandwiches (BTW, the Sara Lee Low Sodium Honey Ham is pretty tasty), so I decided to make pizza bread for dinner. I didn't have any sauce (and am trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup, so I probably won't buy more), so I adapted a recipe (that I didn't like in its original state) and made my own. Here's what I put in it:

• one 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (no, that wasn't a typo...lol)

It was not quite right, so I then added:

• a few sprinkles of red wine vinegar
• a dash of salt
• a couple of grinds' worth of McCormick Pizza Seasoning (the kind in the Grinder bottle)

Well, it turned out pretty good! Chad wants me to make it from now on.

And speaking of giving up high fructose corn syrup, I have had no pop (soda) since Thursday. :) Please pray that this trend continues....

A Pint Can't Hold a Quart...

"A pint can’t hold a quart – if it holds a pint it is doing all that can be expected of it." -- Margaret Deland

I love this quotation. I found it this morning at a blog I've been reading lately, A Quiet Simple Life. She has two posts that have really spoken to me, Thoughts and Quotes on Learning to Say No, and Content at Home Amid the Tyranny of Change.

Why I'm Not on Facebook...

I used to be on Facebook. A friend from church told me that I "needed" to get on there. Ha.... I just found this article today, How Facebook Can Ruin Your Friendships. You have to read the whole article. It's quite funny and explains a few (but not all) of reasons why I'm no longer on Facebook. Here's a little snippet:

"It's called narcissism," says Matt Brown, a 36-year-old business-development manager for a chain of hair salons and spas in Seattle. He's particularly annoyed by a friend who works at an auto dealership who tweets every time he sells a car, a married couple who bicker on Facebook's public walls and another couple so mooshy-gooshy" they sit in the same room of their house posting love messages to each other for all to see. "Why is your life so ******** important and entertaining that we need to know?" Mr. Brown says.

Gwen Jewett, for her part, is sick of meal status updates. "A few of my friends like to post several times a day about what they are eating: 'I just ate a Frito pie.' 'I am enjoying a double hot-fudge sundae at home tonight.' 'Just ate a whole pizza with sausage, peppers and double cheese,'" says the 49-year-old career coach in suburban Dallas. "My question is this: If we didn't call each other on the phone every time we ate before, why do we need the alerts now?"

Apple Cobbler and Whipped Cream

Chad made an apple cobbler for us while ago. I made some whipped cream to put on top. It was very delicious. Here are the recipes:

Easy Cobbler

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1 can pie filling

Melt butter in baking dish in oven while preheating to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together dry ingredients. Stir in milk. Pour mixture over melted butter. Spoon pie filling on top. Bake for 40 minutes. (The original recipe said to bake it for 50-60 minutes, but that's too long in my oven, so I start checking it at 40 minutes.)

Whipped Cream

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

a small amount of vanilla, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon

Chill sugar, beaters (or whisk if your mixer has one), and mixing bowl in freezer. (I usually chill it for about one-half hour.) Pour whipping cream into sugar and beat on highest speed until stiff peaks form. I add the vanilla sometime in the middle. :)

Field Trip

Chad and I went on a field trip with the local homeschoolers' group last Thursday. We went to see the Nina and the Pinta, replicas of two of Columbus' ships. You can learn more about them and see better pictures than I took at their web site. It was a very cloudy day, and it started raining, but thankfully, we were just about finished with the tours when it started. Here are some pictures:

Chad on the Pinta

Chad and the Pinta

Chad and the Nina

On the Nina, Looking at the Pinta

Can Someone Help?

How do you make a line through text when blogging? I've seen many blogs where the blogger will write something, but it has a line marked through it. It can be very funny. Or they might have a list and then mark through the parts of the list they've done. Can someone tell me how to do that? Thanks in advance!

New Lattice

A couple of weeks ago Dad was headed to Lowe's so I asked him if he'd pick up some lattice for me since the old lattice was looking pretty shabby. (Oh, how I would love to have a truck!) He and The Boy put it up for me today on the back deck. You can see the new lattice behind The Boy and a bit of the old lattice to the right of him in the picture (to his left). (Please ignore any junk you see in the picture. ;-] )

Just a Picture of The Boy...