Canning Jar Soap Dispenser

Here is a fun way to repurpose a canning jar.  This product could probably be made with just about any interesting jar with a tight fitting lid.  I think it would be extra special to have an old blue canning jar for this easy project with a one piece vintage style lid but a newer jar with a two piece lid works just as well.  I love that this jar fits perfectly on my marble window sill, is heavy enough that it won’t fall over easily and it’s not just a plain old regular ordinary plastic soap pump.  I am just not a plain old regular ordinary kind of girl, you know.  (My husband uses "plastic" to describe some women and I'm not that, either!)  I can also let the refill container drip into this jar overnight and catch all the available soap so… less waste!   I also love how much soap it holds since I tend to do a lot of hand washing and now I won’t have to refill this pump nearly as often.   For this reason I would LOVE to put one of these in my bathroom but given the fact that I do not have a countertop (just sink pedestal) AND I have five kids I will have to forgo this idea and stick with the plastic one in there.  

You can find other people’s ideas for this project on-line simply by google-ing “canning jar soap dispenser”.  My favorite site that I checked out from this search was theblissfullycontentlife.blogspot.com (lots of fun things/ideas to look at and read about) but there are plenty more out there.  I used a newer wide-mouth canning jar to hold the soap.  I took a two piece (used) canning lid, put a nail through it’s center to create a hole and then used pliers to pull the metal open just big enough for the soap pump.  I got my pump from a fancy soap pump received as a gift for Christmas… the scented kind from a fancy shop that I would never buy for myself if for no other reason than it took my family only about 4 days to go through the entire bottle of it.  I always buy liquid soap in bulk… they must be practically gallon sized jugs that I purchase, in fact.  You can also use pumps from lotion bottles you might already have as well.  Just rinse the former product out of the pump by pumping clean water through it until the water runs clear.  If you need to snip the straw to the soap pump at an angle so it will fit into your jar you can do that easily with a pair of kitchen scissors.  Once you snuggly fit the pump through the hole in your lid you just need to use a non-water soluble glue (such as a glue gun) to hold your pump in place, gluing from the underside.  The glue also serves as a barrier between the sharp metal edges and the rest of the world.  Let the glue dry and you’re in business.  The glass catches the morning sunlight in my window and I just think it is pleasant to see there by the sink. 
Collectors side note… I really like canning jars and they are useful so I feel no guilt in this.  They are both functional and interesting.  The majority of jars I have are just the recent Golden Harvest Cornucopia jars… cheapest in the business but highly functional.  I’m sure no one will ever make a killing off of having a collection of these.  But I have found that I have in my collection several jars that are now collector’s items and one or two vintage jars from the 1950’s which could only have come from my grandmother’s kitchen when she would sometimes bring us jars of fruit she had preserved back when we lived nearby.  These now house my dried beans once they are brought up from the basement for use in my cooking and sit handy on the shelf, attractive to look at.  Only one has a bluish hue to its glass but some feature the words “self sealing”  or are brands from Atlas or Kerr which are older jars no longer made.  Ball jars without the trademark underneath are also older from before 1975.  My favorite jar of which I have only one of came from my Mom’s kitchen and in fact held some of last year’s dill pickles in it until just a couple of weeks ago.  My parents moved into their first house just as I turned 6 years old in 1976; the bicentennial celebration year for our nation.  Mason put out a jar that year with a cracked liberty bell with the years 1776-1976 shaped into the glass and as my parents harvested their bumper crop of a garden that year in spite of a late planting my Mom picked up boxes of these jars at the neighborhood grocery.  As a young woman of 27 years old and Mom to three, she tried her hand at preserving garden tomatoes for the very first time with them.  When the house sold in 1985 and we moved to another state the boxes of canning jars were among items deemed not worthy of moving.  Canning jars can be replaced, after all, though I don’t think my Mom did any more canning after that move.  And moving, by then, 8 people hundreds of miles was more than a big job and there just wasn’t room for everything in a single trip even with a large moving van.  So some lucky RS woman (I think I remember her name still) was the recipient of these boxes of FREE canning jars.  My Mom claims she saved a couple of them just to have as a remembrance but the rest… given away!  These liberty bell jars, of which I have one, from 1976 may have once been a dime a dozen but are now collector’s items worth $6 a piece and I’ve seen them on e-bay for $5.50 each.  Wish I had a few boxes of those now!!! 
Happy collecting, creating and preserving with your canning jars.

Joyfully Frugal/ Frugally Joyful

I have a piece of wood hanging over my back door in the kitchen.  The wood was free and I painted it myself.  I painted pretty things on it myself.  Finally I printed a “note to self” on it just to remind me of an important message not often valued in this world, when I need reminding.   With as much time as I spend in my little kitchen I see this message each day; several times each day actually.  I also want my children to grow up seeing its message and hopefully they come away with an important understanding of why we live the way we do… and how.  It would be one of the more important lessons my children could learn from me.  My little wooden sign or plaque reads “Living Joyfully… within our means” and frankly sometimes I need a reminder.  Like when I yell at the top of my lungs how “I love my (1940) kitchen” or when we pour over the budget one more time trying to decide where we can pull and squeeze from.  But seriously it’s a reminder that I have “enough” even if I don’t have everything and even if we struggle a bit.  I know that I am very blessed with “enough” and maybe I need another plaque for that thought, but in fact I have been promised with “enough” in some very personal ways from my Heavenly Father and so now, many times, I don’t even stress about it anymore.  I just make sure I’m working my hardest, looking for all of the beauty and goodness that there is in life and I am content.  
So I loved coming across a little bit of inspiration today that says “The happiest people don’t have the best of everything… They just make the best of everything they have.”  I really liked this quote though I don’t know whose quote it originally is.
My goal is to enjoy a beautiful life living and appreciating what really matters while staying within my means.  I do not feel down or left out simply because I can’t “afford” to live it up.  For example, my home can be clean and beautiful even though it is simple and modest.  We can still have fun, eat good food and lead a cultured life if we choose carefully, plan ahead and have the right attitude.  This quote sums it up for me.
Some thoughts on living within our means always brings me to the idea of “frugality”.  I found a great quote that says “without frugality non can become rich, and with it few would be poor”.  I like this thought.  I like it a lot.  There is a saying “He seldom lives frugally that lives by chance” which is where careful planning comes in.  There have been times when we have had to live very frugally and we did it with careful planning in advance sometimes knowing that there would be three months between paychecks and sometimes not knowing in advance of the particular time that resources would be needed elsewhere for a while.  We were, during those times, very careful as we managed the resources that were ours.
My Mom once told me that I always could make something out of nothing (though sometimes this was not a good thing).  It was sort of a gift.  I think I amazed her sometimes with what I could create out of nothing… or at least I like to think I did.  Later, as I was preparing to marry my husband, my Mom looked at me and told me it would take every skill I had gained to make ends meet for a family whose single primary income would be a teacher’s salary.  I have come to believe both statements.
Frugality is NOT equivalent to parsimony which is the excess of frugality and is therefore a fault.  Frugality itself is always a virtue.  Frugality is also NOT synonymous with thrift; thrift is the effect of frugality.
We also ought to be frugal not only in the expenditure of money and of goods but also in the employment of time. 
I strive to live by this.  I’m not perfect at it and sometimes I’m not even good at it but most days I’m trying really hard.  Frugality is the equivalent of managing our resources responsibly, in my mind, whether those resources are large or small.
Really, living joyfully within our means is such an important lesson to learn, has purpose no matter how much money we do or do not make and is one I hope my children learn at home and carry with them throughout their lives.  This is how we strive to live. 

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Frosting

Introducing my NEW favorite cinnamon bun!  These may just take the place of my old favorite that I’ve been handing out for years, though these are yeast rolls and so take a little more time than my old favorite.  The pumpkin is the secret which gives these a wonderful flavor and then combined with the homemade caramel sauce these rolls are out of this world.  In a word… addictive!  They are so much more incredible than any other cinnamon roll I’ve ever tasted.  These rolls are also HUGE with one dozen fitting in a 9 X 13; that’s twice as large as my old favorite cinnamon rolls.  If you were at Seminary yesterday morning you would have gotten a sample of these (I had pumpkin that NEEDED to get used up).  If you weren’t then you might just need to make a dish of these for yourself (to share with family or friends).  And if you like this recipe then you might just need to purchase yourself the secret recipes from the Worldwide Ward Cookbook to get more great recipes from around the globe.  There!  I put in a plug with high recommendations. 

Rolls

2 TBS yeast, 1/2 c. warm water, 1/2 c canned pumpkin, 2/3 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 egg beaten, 1/4 c. melted butter, 1/4 tsp. ground cloves, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 4-5 c. flour (I used just 4), 2 Tbsp. butter, melted, 1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 2 Tbsp. cinnamon

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Wait 5 minutes.  Add pumpkin, sugar, salt, egg, 1/4 c. melted butter, cloves and cinnamon; mix well.  Slowly add flour 1 c. at a time.  Turn into lightly greased bowl, cover and set in a warm place until double in bulk.  Punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes.  Roll dough out into a rectangle.  Brush dough with 2 Tbsp. melted butter.  Combine brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over butter.  Starting with the long side of dough, roll up jelly roll style.  Using sharp knife, cut roll into 12 equal slices and place with cut side up in a greased 9X13 pan.  Let rise until double, 30-45 minutes.  Bake rolls in a 350 oven about 20 minutes or until golden. 

Caramel Frosting

1/4 c. butter, 1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 2 Tbsp. milk, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, pinch of salt, 1/2 – 3/4 c. powdered sugar

In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted.  Stir in brown sugar and milk.  Cook over medium-low heat for 1 minute.  Transfer to small bowl and cool mixture.  Stir in vanilla, salt and powdered sugar.  Beat w/ mixer until well blended.  If necessary, add more sugar for desired consistency.  Drizzle 1/2 of caramel frosting o rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.  Let cool until warm, then add the rest of the frosting over the top.  Enjoy!

 

These are really great warmed in the microwave for breakfast.  This recipe also doubles easily.

Roses are Pink!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The day began with a bouquet of flowers at 7 a.m. … along with the 4 gallon milk run on the way home from Seminary.  I made heart shaped sandwiches for the lunch boxes, slipped in Valentines napkins and “sweet” messages.  I embarrassed my 9 year old son with this and Haley almost dropped the heart out of the middle of hers when her friends made the heart shaped discovery before she did. 

Kaitlyn, Nathan and I worked hard baking sugar cookies for Valentines for the big brother and sisters.  Decorating was fun and Nathan went berserk with the sprinkles more than a few times.

Tristan came home with his decorated bag stuffed full of Valentines.  He’d brought a variety of store bought cards for each class mate but one girl named Zoey… who received a homemade heart shaped Valentine from him.  According to Tristan he “might” be married to her now after a silent conversation that involved holding up conversation hearts.  After taking a look at this bag in the later hours of my day I’m sort of afraid.

A Valentine surprise arrived in the mail from a special someone …  and Valentines created for my sweetheart were enjoyed with milk and conversation hours after kids were in bed and MY homework of checking assignments, proofreading research papers and folding laundry was finished.  Valentine’s Day was enjoyed by all!

Seven Great Reasons to Visit a Farm on a Cold Day

So while we may have had a wind chill of 8 degrees this morning, which is probably not considered top notch weather for a farm visit, there were Seven Great Reasons to visit the farm in the freezing cold.  We made a few rather unique discoveries for a bunch of city kids and had some experiences which actually made it a VERY advantageous morning to visit the farm.

1.)  The first advantage was that Lindsay got to ride her horse named Spot and that she got her moves PERFECT in her lessons.  But I don’t have a picture of that.

2.)  Petting chickens!  There is a sign posting their rule about NOT chasing chickens but it didn’t say anything about not petting them.  Generally, petting them is never open to question since the chickens NEVER hang around long enough and therefore only “chicken chasing” is something I have to scold the kids over.  I was really glad the farmer was not out to see this going on.

3).  The inside of the barn really IS warm… or at least warmer and we met this bunny who I’m absolutely sure is bigger than our 11 1/2 pound long haired cat, Spooky.  I wanted to pick him up and bring him home with me.

4.)  Tristan met the newest resident cat who has a little home made up in the barn near where the goats are milked.  It was good to see a cat in the barn again after the last one “disappeared”.  He seemed rather friendly, just as a good farm cat should be.  And he was beautiful too.

5.) Ice Skating!  Right outside the Llama’s outdoor pen my kids discovered a solid puddle of ice near the pump which was great for skating and sliding across.  This was Kaitlyn’s and Nathan’s first experience with sliding on ice and boy, did it make them giggle!

6.) Cows like to eat snowballs from your hand and they have really long tongues… also a cause for giggling.

7.)  The seventh and final discovery, also cause for giggles, is that chickens must get really cold in the winter to allow HUGGING!  I was REALLY glad the farmer was not out to see this.

This hugging business seemed to cause an uproar with all the chickens on the other side of the fence… I thought maybe they were trying to protect this chicken from the hugs but maybe they just wanted a warm body to hug too.  I could not believe the chicken allowed this but maybe it was too cold to object!  I love that last picture of Nathan’s big smiley laugh!

Edible Artwork

Meet Vesta; the Roman Goddess of Fire!

Meet Lindsay’s mosaic likeness of Vesta on the face of a chocolate cake. 

I think Lindsay did an incredible job with this one since I know I could not have replicated it this well with candy and nuts.  And since the cake had to be somewhat fresh and she would not have time on Family Night to make it she made this all by herself over the weekend and was the only one to turn it in a day early… for TEN extra points.  The kids in Social Studies all enjoyed a piece of this cake and one of the questions Lindsay fielded  was how many boxes of cake mix did it take to make this.  The class was floored to learn that this did NOT come out of a box, she made it alone and that the frosting was made of butter, confectioners sugar and vanilla.  YUM!  She did not get too many compliments on it, however, until the following day when four other cakes were brought in and tasted.

Winter Morning

Unless the weather is truly awful we usually stop by the park on the way home from tumbling class on Wednesday mornings.  For the past few weeks the kids have had to wear their mud boots but today we wore some mittens instead!

The world in black and white can be quite beautiful, especially when snow is fresh and frosty.  And around here we have to grab the opportunity to enjoy the snow flakes because we don’t get too many of them and in fact by mid afternoon the snow had completely disappeared and so I’m glad we seized the opportunity for this while we had it.  The kids were so excited about the snow.  It brightened some grumpy spirits this morning as children made this snowy discovery and word spread through the house that it WAS snowing.  Nathan told me it was beautiful… and he was right.

Kaitlyn and Nathan came tumbling eagerly out of the van once we got to the park.  Nathan actually agreed to wear his mittens and in fact kept them on for about half the time we were there.  Kaitlyn didn’t mess with them for long.  She wanted to feel the snow on her hands and Nathan soon followed suite.

This nature preserve is land donated to the county from a family who once lived in this home seen in the background of the left hand picture.  The home was built in the 1830’s and is now a little shop to help support county parks.  I love both the outside and the inside of this home  and well, I wouldn’t mind living in this home.  This park is right in the middle of everything and yet it feels like you temporarily go back in time while you are here.  It’s hard to believe the surrounding area was once this beautiful too.  And it is beautiful whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.  Each season has it’s own enchanting beauty.  On the right Nathan is in the background running away from me.  Kaitlyn is at the foot of a sculpture she likes to climb in the butterfly gardens.

Nathan climbs the bench in the gazebo looking out to the woods from the butterfly garden.  We spy a bird house there in the woods.  And Kaitlyn remembers a picnic we had at this table once upon a time.

 

She and Nathan are clearing the table of its snow just in case someone comes out for a picnic today.  They are laughing at the snow sticking to mittens and getting on their coats and are having a wonderful time in general.

We took a dirt path off of the paved one that goes through the woods.  A little stream runs under the bridge there on the left.  Sometimes we pretend that trolls live underneath it.  And we found ducks in the pond again today!  Last week there were three ducks in the pond along with several turtles sunning themselves.  That was the day we had the windows open though.  No turtles today!

The maple trees are just now being tapped in preparation for Maple Syrup Days coming up in a couple of weekends at the end of February.  We crossed paths with a large wheelbarrow carrying tin buckets and we got to watch the man drill and tap a tree and hang the bucket.  Nathan thought he’d try it on the next tree he saw using a stick.  He had the right idea.  Kaitlyn asked me why they were tapping the trees and she made the observation that they must be just looking for only maple trees then.  I told her that was correct and a very good thought.  The kids got to peek into the bucket and we talked about maple syrup for pancakes coming from a tree.

The stream under the bridge and through the woods looked especially beautiful with it’s snowy black and white contrast.  The children enjoyed making tiny snowballs with their bare hands and tossing them into the water to look like little ice cubes.  Kaitlyn, having tumbled for the better part of an hour followed by a playful snowy walk for an hour was ready to go home for some hot soup and a rest.  Nathan was ready too as his mittens and hat had long since pulled a disappearing act.  We had a wonderful morning meandering the snow kissed trails of this park.

Pinewood Derby-2012

I have always enjoyed the Pinewood Derby since first going to watch my younger brothers race their cars a good many years back now.  And I feel maybe even a little more excitement as I go to watch my own son race his car.  Why do I think this is such a great activity?  Well, first off it’s just plain fun.  It doesn’t even matter who’s racing;  It’s just fun, plain and simple.  But as a parent now, I see more facets to this activity.  On one level there is the opportunity for a father and son to work together on this project.  Time is set aside for just the two of them to work together sharing ideas, taking advantage of teaching moments and just spending that precious time together.  Or if it’s not the Dad, then there is that opportunity for male bonding, opportunity to give service and to be a mentor or positive male role model.  This activity stretches the boys imaginations, gets them in touch with their artistic sides, gives them an opportunity to handle tools, teaches sportsmanship and the list goes on.  And then there is the pride factor.  These boys feel something when they accomplish creating their car.  They take pride in their “block of wood” and if they are one of the winners… WOW!  Sweet success!  What an accomplishment they feel!  I think that this race is about so much more than just the block of wood.  On the last day of January we went to the annual Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts to see Tristan race his car that he designed, helped cut, sanded and painted.  I believe he named his car “Lightning McQueen” and he was hoping it would be FAST! 

Here is his car, the red one in the center, in the official lineup after having been weighed.  It is ready for the big race. 

Tristan also invited his friend from school to come.  Tristan supplied him with a car which he made with his own Dad and his friend got to race in the “un-official” races.  The more races the more fun I guess and Tristan’s friend and his father seemed to have a good time.

The track takes up a good portion of the  Cultural Hall and we had a top notch spot at the finish line.

The finish line is where the majority of the kids hung out.  Rick called the placement of the cars and had the tough job of bending over to carefully pick them up.

Nathan thought wandering around with a drink and helping himself to cookies at the refreshment table was amazing independence.  I waited on the sidelines with paper towels to clean up his spills and he wasn’t the only one I had to clean up after.

Here they come…                                 and here Tristan and Zach pose with their cars.

Kaitlyn met up with her good buddy and they enjoyed snacks together also.

Tristan enjoyed having his friend from school along for this activity.  But it will probably be the last time since his parents figured out what religion we are after they looked up the building’s location on the internet and weren’t too thrilled, apparently.  While this IS Boy Scouts of America the Pack meets at the church building of our congregation.

Tristan’s hopes of speed were realized.  He moved up from 2nd place last year to 1st place in his Pack this year in both the official as well as the un-official races!!!  Terrific job, Tristan!  What a lot of fun for the boys and for their families.  It was an exciting time!