A Company I already liked just got better

Owner of Multi-Million Dollar Company Hands Over Business to Employees - ABC News

I first discovered Bob's Red Mill when I wanted to make a Gluten Free dessert to take to an SCA feast for my friends with Celiac disease. I was impressed with their variety of Gluten free products and had a lot of fun experimenting over the next few months in making yummy tasting desserts that my friend could enjoy. As we've been trying to eat out less and keep our food at home healthier, I've used Bob's Red Mill products quite a lot (I can get them in bulk at Natural Harvest).

This morning my news feed was headed by the news that the founder of Bob's Red Mill has given the company to the employees. Pretty cool huh? He decided he could never sell the company to someone else and trust they would maintain the principles the company was founded upon. He could however trust the company in the hands of the people who had built the company right along side him.

Perserverance Pays Off - The Tale of a Food Mill

Last fall my Mother In Law taught me how to make jam and can it. One of my favorite parts of the whole experience was the feeling on connection and tradition that it carried. She taught me like her grandmother had taught her. We used a food mill that her grandmother had given her and had been in turn given by her mother. I loved it.

When I left that day, she gave me the food mill she'd bought before she inherited the family food mill. Unfortunately, it was cracked. She hadn't used it in so many years it had been shoved aside in storage and somehow gotten cracked. We tried to fix it but the first time I tried to use it the crack got bigger and the bowl broke. :( Poor little food mill. I salvaged the bottom pieces with the various sized holes and the metal crank part that pushes the fruit through the holes and put it into storage with my canning supplies for next summer. Throughout the winter, as I slowly gathered my collection of jars for next years canning season from the thrift stores I kept my eyes out for a new (used) food mill.

A couple months ago I found a metal food mill bowl and crank with no bottoms for a couple dollars. I was so excited and brought it home in the hopes I could use the bottoms from my MIL's food mill and make it work. They didn't fit. Now I had two incomplete food mills :( This Monday I found a food mill bowl at the thrift store without any of the other pieces ($0.99). Why not give it one more try? I brought it home. The bottom pieces from the first food mill fit but the crank is too wide for the bowl. The crank from the second mill fits the bowl but the bottom is a little too big for the opening in the bottom pieces of the first food mill. Enter handy-dandy honey (he is going to hate me calling him that) who was able to take a metal punch and make the holes just a little bit bigger so all the parts fit together. Now I have a food mill made from the parts of three food mills :) Am I weird that this situation just tickles me pink? Plus my "new" food mill is still using an element of the food mill my MIL gave me so I get to keep the family connection going. Eventually I might find the parts to fix my other incomplete food mill and pass it on to someone else and keep the chain going.

Imbolc Open Circle Prep Night

This evening, we went to help set up for tomorrow's Open Circle for Imbolc. Afterward, there was an opportunity for fellowship and a little bit of a bardic type event. It was an opportunity for those of us who were new to get to know the rest of the group and everyone to trade Imbolc lore from their particular tradition. Overall pretty awesome and casual. One of the organizers brought her henna and gave designs to those who wanted it.

One wrist had the symbol for the Lady and one has the Lord. She sealed it with some sugary lemon juice (the white flaky stuff) and I'm trying to leave the design on as long as I can to get it darker. I think I would love to get tattoos like these one day.

Idiocy begets idiocy

Warning - Rant Ahead

Pat Robertson...Do I really need to say more? I probably don't but I'm going to anyway. He's an idiot. Not only is he an idiot but he's a misinformed, judgemental, beep, beep, can't-print-here descriptive beep. What kind of idiot tells a nation reeling from the loss of thousands of people that it's all their fault because their founders made a pact with the devil? Oh wait I already answered that question...Pat Robertson. Want to know what the supposed pact with the devil entailed? Here's the text of the supposed pact with the devil from the Bois Caïman ceremony that Robertson is referring too...

"The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man's god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It's He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It's He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men's god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts."

Doesn't sound like a pact with the devil to me. It sounds like a group of people who are being told that the "god" preached at them by the slaveholders created them to be slaves. I'd go looking for a better "god" too. I can see how 200 years ago narrow minded people with an interest in keeping the staus quo might spread the belief that the Haitian Revolution started with a pact with the devil but there is no excuse for a person in this modern age to spout this kind of drivel when 20 seconds on the Internet can give you the facts.


Matthew Yglesias Post

Bois Caiman Ceremony

I'm pretty sure my dog hates me (he's probably justified)

It's bad enough that I can't seem to clean my house without ending up wearing a belly dancing hipscarf and a tiara (no joke, I'm just weird). It's even worse that somehow in my latest cleaning endeavor my poor Baby ended up wearing a costume too.





OK in my defence this was actually the costume I found at the Thrift Store for Baby to wear on Halloween while we gave sweets out to the trick or treaters. Unfortunately, my MIL ended up coming home from the hospital that night and I missed all the trick or treaters. This week I've been tearing apart and reorganizing my craft room and happened to come across the costume (along with the aforementioned hipscarf and tiara) and wanted to at least see it on Baby.... Yeah, baby wasn't really impressed with my reasoning either.

Just to make you wince...

We've all met one, the uber-Wiccan (if you haven't you, might want to check the mirror). It just goes to show idiocy knows no religion. I was a religion major so I pretty much see all religions through irony colored glasses, especially my own.

Also Something Positive is an awesome web comic. In a never has been and never will be PC sort of way. But start at the beginning.

Watching Youtube to avoid Working

I'm supposed to be stitching around the letters in my MIL's wall hanging. I'm avoiding it. But in the process of avoiding my project I've found some really cool videos on YouTube :) The first video is actually my Belly Dance teacher at last year's New Years Eve Fire and Ice festival in Anchorage (I'm going this year and looked it up just for fun and came across her video). She's doing an improve fire poi dance. Sometime I dream of taking up fire poi, but then I remember two very important things. First I'm a klutz and second I like my hair. I have the feeling those two facts might be mutually exclusive if I add fire poi to the picture.



The second is the video for the FloBots' song "Handlebars." It's one of my favorite music videos but you have to pay attention to get the back and forth. I get all warm and fuzzy when a group uses their music to convey a message instead of just to get a paycheck.



Maybe I should get back to work now ... nah

Make a Flake !!

I found a great website that lets you make your own paper cut snowflakes without all the mess and with an undo button when things don't come out quite like you envisioned :) Check out Make-a-Flake and make some snowflakes of your own

My Cute Baby

This is our Baby. No kids yet (maybe ever) so he's pretty spoiled. He's pretty cute when he's not being an absolute terror.

Baby will make a cave out of anything (blankets, gambesons, clean laundry, a pile of penguins) but I'm still not quite sure how he managed this one. You can't really see but the gambeson he is curled into is on top of a huge pile of armor (honey and I do medieval reenactment). Somehow he manged to get to the top of the pile without it all crashing down and make himself a little cozy cave :) Did I mention I love my baby :)

Homemade Bath Salts

This evening I made some homemade bath salts. When I was picking up supplies, I accidentally grabbed a container of fine Sea Salt instead of coarse. It doesn't really make a difference in how the bath salts work I just prefer to use the coarse sea salt because it looks better. I decided to use the fine salt to make bath salts for myself and save the coarse for presents.


The Recipe -
1 part Coarse Sea Salt
2 parts Epsom Salts
1/2 part Baking Soda

I usually take all of the ingredients and mix up as big a plain batch as possible. Then I gather all the jars and such I'm going to be putting the salt in. I fill each jar with as much salt as I want in it. Sometimes that's full and sometimes it's just partly full. Then I take the jars one by one, dump the salt in a big glass bowl, add scent and color to suit (it only takes a drop or two), and then I pour it back into its jar. I use soap colors and scents that you can pick up really cheap at most craft stores. I'm pretty sure you can use any essential oils for the scent though. I made a jar of Raspberry Green Tea bath salts and a jar of my favorite Sandalwood Rose.

*****

On a completely unrelated note I did a lot better today on my "money-free" week goals.

Friday - Some Good, Some Not So Good

I ended up breaking my "money-free" week on the first day :( I had to buy a rotisserie chicken to feed hubby and helpers 'cuz they showed up this evening after not getting a lunch and the dinner I was going to make would have taken too long. I'll have to plan better for tomorrow.

Otherwise today was a complete success. Dad and I worked through the morning and afternoon while we waited for everyone else to get off work. We got the old heater units pulled out, finished putting Visqueen and insulation in the ceiling, added more insulation to the walls. Once the rest of the guys got there, they put the new Sheetrock on the ceiling (that stuff is heavy).

When we were pulling off the back of the old baseboards, we found quite a few papers and odds and ends that hinted about the houses past. I don't think any of the stuff we found dates to when the house was built but at least to the 70's and maybe 60's.

A collection of random bits lost behind the heaters over the years. Some old math homework, playing cards, cut outs from magazines, Sunday School materials with very cutesy old-style illustrations.

An old magazine cutout talking about visiting the author's daughter at the foot of (a very intact) Mt. St. Helen's. (Kinda hope she moved before 1980).

A beautiful old stamp from Hungary.

I am not a Christian ... But

Caution - extreme danger of whiny rant ahead

I am not a Christian although I grew up in that faith and hold a degree in Biblical Studies. My belief system has evolved based on my experience and research into something other than traditional Chrisitianity. I usually describe my beliefs as Ecclectic Paganism because it is the closest "name" to what I believe.

I am not a Christian but sometimes I miss the trappings of that belief system. I miss worship services. I miss having a definitive document of my faith. I miss that feeling of having all the answers and not having to figure them out for yourself. I miss the history and feeling like part of it. Mostly I miss being able to find people who believe exactly what I believe.

Paganism is a little more variable than Chrisitianity. Even my husband and I practice different aspects of Paganism. He is Wiccan and I am Ecclectic.

Mostly this post is just my way of whining that I miss the comfort of the religion of my childhood. There are some days where that lazy bum in the back of my mind just wants to follow someone else's direction. But the rest of my mind says I can't. I'm the teenager who almost got her family thrown out of their church for telling the pastor that his sermon was borderline heresy and then proving it. I couldn't even blindly follow when I was trying to be a Christian so I guess "the good old days" are just an illusion and I should stop ranting at unsuspecting blog readers.

Donut Sprinkles Fabric

This evening, after a long day of working on the house that I will probably write about tomorrow when my brain is working a little better, I went to one of my happy places. .... Oh no! you think. Drugs? Alcohol? ... Fabric Store!!! I had a 50% off coupon burning a hole in my purse and I wasn't afraid to use it! Despite the impulse shopping disaster waiting to happen this could have been I actually had a legitimate use for the coupon and was very glad to have it. I've been trying to use up some of my fabric stock and it just so happened that I have some really great Christmas apron fabric just waiting for backing and bias tape (I make my own) to become wonderful homemade Christmas presents. I got a nice dark green to back the aprons (I hate thin aprons they don't do the job) and make the bias tape out of. I'm looking forward to making the aprons and hopefully sending them out a little early so they get some use during the Christmas season. I'm always a little sad when I get a wonderful Christmas themed gift on Christmas morning and have to wait until next year to really use it.

My other reason for going to the fabric store was to find a contrasting fabric for some fun and playful fabric I picked up at the thrift store a while ago and really want to work with but have had a terrible time finding an accent fabric to go with it. The fabric is really playful and I like to refer to it as my "stripey candy fabric." Fortunately, I ran into a friend at the fabric store and she acted as my second opinion and helped me pick out some "donut sprinkle fabric" to go with my "stripey candy fabric." I'll put a picture of my finished project up once I get to it. I'm suddenly very hungry.

Birthday Party Wrap Up

Well, just because a birthday party is absolutely wonderful and went off with minimal issues doesn't mean it didn't take a lot of work and require a recovery period after :P

My nephew's birthday was last week and we went a little overboard (I blame the grandma) for the party. It was awesome. A Circus theme was chosen so we had face painting (my long suffering and good sport of a husband), a clown making balloon animals (me), bean bag toss, a petting zoo (two goats and two little pigs), a little race car track, a jumping jupiter, and a bunch of games. If most families tried to pull this kind of party off it would take quite a bit of money but we did it for hardly any. The most expensive part of the party was probably the Jumping Jupiter and that only cost $100 to rent for the weekend because we could rent if from the base recreation dept. Every member of the family was able to contribute something whether it was cooking, crafting, making a bean bag game out of scrap wood and paint, or getting some friends to lend their animals to the cause. I love my big crazy family especially when we're being crazy in a good way.

Me in all my clowny glory. We were talking about the costume and realized that Mom made it more than 20 years ago. It's been worn by almost every member of our family at one time or another and been everywhere from a VBS in Barrow, AK to a children's cancer ward in Romania.

A bad shot of the wonderful bean bag toss game Mom made out of a piece of scrap wood.

My sister being a good sport about all the random flower balloons her son wanted her to wear that we eventually just made into a hat to free up her hands.

My hubby painting a "pink sports car" on my (hopeful) future niece.

My nephew and his Grandpa playing in the jumping jupiter.

The duck pond.

Mom makes the best birthday cakes.

A Really Weird "Fangirl" Moment

Just in case you needed any confirmation that I'm a few degrees off true North ....

I follow "a great leap in the dark" and "the tiny house blog" and while I'm not entirely sold on the "tiny house" concept for myself (I love my fabric stash), I really admire the ingenuity of tiny house builders and the underlying reasons for which they build that way. To that end, when my hubby and I saw a mobile "tiny house" on our drive home today I simply had to follow and get a picture or two (and a really weird look from the man in the truck hauling it).

http://agreatleapinthedark.blogspot.com/

http://tinyhouseblog.com/

Coming up on the tiny house. You can see its sister house up ahead.

A closer view as we pass. I love the sign over the door

"Motel 3 - no phones - no cable - no room tax - no vacancy"

Pay-It-Forward ... Soon

On the off chance I actually have any readers :)


Sara, the owner of the wonderful blog "Blessed Simplicity," has allowed me to enter her pay-it-forward giveaway. I am very excited about this whole concept. I had read about the giveaways in other blogs but I was always reading about them months after the fact or just to chicken to ask to be included. I am planning and plotting the project I will do for my pay-it-forward giveaway once Sara is done with hers. I've got the fabric all picked out and several ideas of things to make (I guess it says something about me that the fabric determines the project and not the other way around). Keep your eyes open and I'll post for victi... um I mean ...volunteers when it's my turn to pay-it-forward.

Blogs - A Window Into Someone Elses World

Ok, I have to admit to a very serious psychological problem ... insatiable curiosity and an inability to blindly believe what the news media tells me. I can't help but think that most news stories are pushed that little bit extra to make the issues or events seem a little bit more interesting. So, when I hear a news story about a polygamous family or niqab wearing french women, I try to find several blogs written by people who are in the culture or situation to try and get a better, more complete, perspective. Often times I don't completely agree with the belief systems I encounter, but I always appreciate a well thought out point of view and I always appreciate having a better understanding of the people I share this world with.


So, if you think the blogs I follow are a little disjointed, this is why. And thanks to everyone who lets it all hang out (even if you sometimes have to put up with ignorant comments left by idiots who probably haven't read more than three words of your actual blogs). I appreciate your courage and I want to grow up to be just like you.

Are You Happy?

ARE YOU HAPPY by Headup.

I'm Pretty Sure My Dog Thinks I'm Crazy

This afternoon I needed to get some work done around the house, and in the spirit of my new git fit goal, I decided to put on some music that I can't help but dance too. So, here I am, cleaning my living room and putting away clutter in between spins, shakes, and hip bumps and I look over and see my dog watching me with his head cocked to the side and I realized two things at once. 1) I'm pretty sure my dog thinks I'm crazy. 2) Since I was doing this cleaning dance in front of a huge picture window and it was just dark enough to make me clearly visible to the whole neighborhood, I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm crazy too. (All things considered, they mights as well realize I'm a little off now and not when I'm leaving the house in belly dance or SCA garb)

I didn't spend my entire day dancing around my living room though. This morning I went for a long walk to the local library. On the way back from the library all the muscles that have been accustomed to the easy life and aren't very appreciative of the new and interesting ways I'm finding to make them work in my new dance class decided to start complaining at once. I was dying. A walk of less than half the distance I walked on Tuesday seemed twice as hard. I was pretty sure I looked quite pitiful but having someone stop and offer me a ride was a confirmation I didn't need.

Back to Happy Thoughts

While I was at the library, I found this wonderful book on canning. A few weeks ago my MIL taught me how to make and preserve my own jam with the raspberries I had picked. I'm in love. Homemade jam is so much better. You have more control over the ingredients that are going into your food and it allows you to preserve what you've grown or picked yourself. Since then, I've been on a canning kick. I've made Raspberry Jam, Strawberry/Raspberry Jam (although I didn't know to agitate the jars so all my strawberries ended up on top), Blueberry Syrup, and Raspberry/Chipolte Sauce (a great sweet/spicy BBQ sauce substitute). I'm excited about the recipes in this book and can't wait to find a great deal on some produce so I can try them out.

My pretties -
Raspberry/Chipolte Sauce, Blueberry Syrup, Raspberry/Strawberry Jam, Raspberry Jam