The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe...

Hello everyone!

This weekend, I will be playing the role of Mrs. Beaver in a production of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. As an added note for anyone involved with Homeschool Performing Arts, Dan DuPraw will be playing the role of Mr. Beaver. We are excited to be onstage together (along with my sister and many others) in this production!

Below, you will find more information about the show. It's been a CRAZY busy week, and today is only Monday! Anyways, hope to see some of you there! J Also, here's a small preview of Mrs. Beaver... 

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Step into the wardrobe and experience a contemporary ballet of the well-loved story of Narnia. "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" will be performed by Reflections of Grace, a dance ensemble under the direction of Sarah Grace McDaniel.

Performances held at Grace Community Church in Hudsonville, Michigan on Thursday, August 18 and Friday, August 19^th. Performances begin at 7:30pm, show runs approximately an hour and a half (including one 10-minute intermission).

Doors open at 7:00pm – general seating. Tickets may be purchased at the door for $5. 

All proceeds will be given to “Bring Me Hope”. www.bringmehope.org

Peaches, housing and humanity

Well, first batch of peach jam done.

7 jars per hour.

I am just loving Pomona's Pectin! All that jam has only 1 1/2 cups sugar in it, and it tastes great!  There are more peaches to be done, but personally I'm an even bigger fan of raspberry-peach jam. It look so pretty in the jars - like you've bottled up a taste of a glorious sunset! Maybe I'll just slice and freeze the rest of the first batch of peaches.Home searching continues. We went through one promising home this week - beautiful hardwood floors, lots of character (including some stained glass windows and a picket fence, a built-in studio or school room downstairs), gorgeous brand-new kitchen and bathrooms, a huge laundry/mud room - the owners had obviously taken care of it. However, after going through it twice, realizing there things like old and potentially leaking plumbing, OLD electrical, old roof (potential roof leak damages on the 2nd floor), and who knows what else (90+ year-old home), I literally watched it sink out of our budget and into oblivion. I was a trifle frustrated at myself for getting so excited about this home. The initial look was so great!I realize humans can be the same way. They can look beautiful, polished and tidy. Welcoming and warm at the initial glance. But once you really start to see what they are made of, you may discover their hearts are in need of being made new - from the inside out, not the outside in. It's a sad thing, really. You realize their potential and can even get frustrated - "Lord, don't they know how precious and beautiful they are?!". Tom and I couldn't afford maintenance and upkeep on that house. Thankfully, that house isn't a human. However disappointed I could be over this experience, it also serves to remind that every interaction we have with others is an opportunity to encourage, love, and speak the truth of Christ - whether we use words or not. :)I discovered I really DO love wood floors... and picket fences... and stained glass windows. Thoughts for the future, perhaps. Wherever we live, we want the atmosphere to "feel" similar to how it felt inside that house - pretty colors, warm floors, beauty and the "extra touch" that makes a welcoming atmosphere in every corner. We may end up renting an apartment to start off life together, which is fine with me... but wherever we live, it's great to remember that those touches are the externals. No matter how pretty those details are, it still doesn't make up for the foundation and building blocks of a true home. Personally, I believe having both are possible, by the grace of God, and I look forward to seeing how He will move us and WHERE He will move us. For now, back to freezing peaches.... and who knows what today will bring? 

Modified raspberry muffins... :)

So, I was given a pint of raspberries and went on a whim of muffin-making. Raspberry muffins are pretty, and especially delicious when the berries are in season. 

This is a slightly modified recipe I got from allrecipes.com - I like messing around with recipes. I was slightly conservative with my "messing", since this was my first time working with the recipe. Next time I'd try modifying the amount of sugar and mess around with some different types of flour... maybe a bit more cinnamon, too. 

This recipe makes about 36 muffins. 

1 cup butter

1 cup cane sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups King Arthur flour

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder

1 tsp aluminum-free baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 cups fresh raspberries (straight from the bushes!) :)

Streusel:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup regular oatmeal

1/4 cup cane sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup butter

Cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs. In another bowl, mix sour cream, milk and vanilla. 

Combine dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture alternately with sour cream mixture until just moistened (this was lots of fun).

Gently fold in raspberries.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Combine streusel ingredients until crumbly; sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-22 minutes.

Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing.

Yum! 

By the way, Heidi (a blogger whose talents I hope to emulate someday!) at "Frantically Simple" just posted a recipe for homemade deoderant here. I'm going to make a 1/2 recipe - excited! :)

Cherries

Well, I'm in the middle of pitting (to freeze) about 40 pounds of cherries. 

Just thought I'd share. :) I probably won't eat cherries for awhile now. Haha... but they are yummy!

A bit of randomness

Sometimes you have days where you try to conquer too many things.

My brain is tired. I am grateful tomorrow will be a new day. So here I sit with a cup of (herbal) tea, trying to deflate.

My sister leaves for China in the morning, so I gave her a back massage to start her trip right. I probably need one, too. :-P

Thankfully we can still laugh - we laughed super-hard before she went to bed.

Some days you just have to laugh more.

I love my cousins. 

In other news, Homeschool Performing Arts officially announced their season. So now I can publicly declare I'm looking forward to assistant directing...

Watch out, world. The McDaniel sisters are BOTH involved this year. There's no telling what may happen. :)

Oh - I might pick and freeze blackberries in a couple days. Yum.

I think I'm ready to sleep now. Good night, world. :)

Homemade deoderant?

So, has anyone had any success with making homemade deoderant sans baking soda?

Aluminum is something I have tried to avoid putting in my body. Partly because once it gets in, it doesn't come out and partly because controversy exists about aluminum's link to Alzheimers, breast cancer and the list goes on. Besides aluminum, in almost all deoderants I've found triclosan, propylene glycol, parabens and other sketchy ingredients. Personallly, I don't want these concoctions of toxins daily slathered on one of the most sensitive areas of a person's body (and I just sounded like Dr. Seuss... brilliant...).

I did try making deoderant last winter - aluminum-free baking soda, coconut oil and a couple drops of lavender oil. It worked, but after a few days of application, the baking soda was irritating my skin - and honestly, who wants irritated skin there? Constant friction and my poor skin would be red and irritated for several days. I used it all, slowly. After trying to put up with the constant red, I tried putting it on every other day (using a commercial deoderant or a salt crystal on the opposite days). However, it still wasn't idea. So I've searched around internet world. Kitchen Stewardship blog has a great article here about homemade deoderant, but it seems very similar to my recipe. Perhaps I'll try less baking soda next time. 

Does anyone know of any recipes for homemade deoderant that do not include baking soda? 

4th of July

Happy 4th, everyone. Grilling out, fireworks, family time and relaxing in the sun is on the menu today (with Mom's famous cinnamon rolls and homemade buttercream frosting). However, we won't forget this celebration would not be possible without my ancestors, grandfathers, uncles, cousins and friends.

Although I am what I would consider a patriotic American, on this day I am always reminded of our spiritual freedom we have been given through Christ's life, death and resurrection as well. The LORD has truly been good to us and given us far more than we could ever imagine. Happy 4th of July, everyone, and I pray we may always remember that freedom is a most precious gift!

Hello, world.

I decided it's been way too long since I've blogged regularly. :) This is my humble attempt at re-starting at least somewhat regularlyposting. I think my blog is going to begin taking shape and focusing on home-building and Judeo-Christian holidays. Influences include my grandmother and mother, Karey Swan, Abby Warmington and Sally Clarkson.

I'm marrying a farmer in November! Wow. Life has certainly changed for me in the past 6 months. I got a text message from a friend this New Year's day that offered up a prayer for God to have "many great blessings up His sleeve" for me this year. If you could have told me that day that I would be engaged by June, I think I would have laughed... rather like Sarai. God's plans certainly aren't our own. While I was trying to cry/laugh/kill dreams/make new dreams about how I would live as a single person for the foreseeable future, He was smiling and preparing my heart for a much different path than I was beginning to envision.

My fiance is an incredible man of the Lord who loves and pursues me with his whole heart. He's goofy, passionate, raw, sensitive, honest, hard-working, patient and many other wonderful things. His downfall is chocolate and ice cream... I think we've gotten along rather well on those points, though. :) We have made our semi-long-distance relationship (50 miles) work, thanks to cell phones and vehicles. He calls me his treasure and we are growing in our love for the Lord and one another. I look forward to seeing how the Lord continues to grow us and lead in our journey of paths uniting. November 19th is coming soon!

One of our biggest physical hurdles right now is a dwelling place. We have looked at a few houses and discovered a LOT in a short amount of time. This week we're scheduling a showing at a house in Lake O which we're both kind of excited about. Some pros: it has an acre+ of land (bonfires and gardening opportunities!), a basement which they actually took pictures of for the website (big bonus, trust me), brand new copper plumbing and electrical wiring AND a one-year home warranty. Some cons: no trees in the yard, I don't like some of the paint/carpeting, and there's not a garage. These "cons" all seem pretty feasible to modify in time... unlike a basement that's crawling or permanently flooded... you get the idea.

One smaller hurdle we are currently crossing is purchasing a freezer to fill with produce for the winter! I think Tom is purchasing this one tomorrow, thanks for a 4th of July sale.

My first contribution: strawberry jam. I researched and found a pectin that needs WAY less sugar (Pomona's Universal Pectin) - for 6 quarts of freezer jam, I only used 3 cups of sugar. Hallelujah! The color is beautiful and Tom definitely approved on the initial taste-test. It's about $4.80 a box at Harvest Health. 1 box probably makes between 3-4 quarts of jam - using only 1-2 cups of sugar (my favorite Certo recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of fruit and 4 1/2 cups of sugar - you do the math). You can also use honey as a sweetener - which I wasn't quite brave enough to do on my trial run, but I would probably try it now, at least with certain kinds of fruit (peaches?).

Needless to say, I will be patronizing Pomona's for quite some time (thank you, Harvest Health!). I am very excited to fill a freezer with jam and other good things for my home.

See you all again soon!

Seasons - Part 1

Like the skintone of summer, sunkissed and glowing

Warmed by the moments of passion and longing

But whirlwind romance wouldn't last mid-September

Soon all the leaves fell away

And love only lasted a day...

October winds came with lengthening evening

Chilled by memories both empty and haunting

Even though pain found each hour of the day

When the heart threatened to break

Hope still whispered to wait...