Right at the moment, my whole house smells great! Bert is cranking out the chocolate chip cookies and between mixing and baking I was able to use the big mixer to make my oatmeal bread.
Bert’s Chocolate Chip CookiesMary’s Oatmeal BreadThis is the big mixer compared to my KitchenAid mixer.
So for a few days, I’m also not able to do anything in the kitchen…no other meals, no skin care products, no cooking…just heating things up in the toaster and microwave! Of course, I haven’t bothered to take new pictures since I’ve documented both the cookies and the bread in other posts. Sooooo…let me give you those links here:
The main thing I can tell you is that the cost of making 170 pounds of dough into cookies has almost doubled. That doesn’t even count Bert having to figure out the change in ingredients when the cake flour boxes are no longer 2 pounds but 1 pound 10 oz. He’ll have to change the recipe to reflect that. At least this year he was able to find the ingredients he needed. Who knows what will happen next year!
Check out those links above for details about the cookies and bread! I’ll be at the other end of the house trying to not sneak into the kitchen to snag a cookie!
When I last posted about the garden, in late August I think, the only vegetable that was still in the ground was carrots. Our plan was to leave them in the ground as long as we could and around Christmas we’d dig up what was left. In the past, we dug them up in early September, cleaned them up and stored them in the refrigerator in the basement. They took up a lot of room and did not keep well. Last year and this year we figured they’d do just as well right in the ground.
This is what the garden looked like in early September:
The first row from the bottom is the lavender. The carrots are in the second and third rows. That third row looks pretty sparse because we planted so late but we wanted to wait to see what would actually grow in the fall.
This is the garden now:
The lavender is resting and should come back next year. Bert has started to dig up the second row of carrots.Here is a close up of the pile of carrots.A few were really huge!Bert hosed them off and needed a scrub brush to get some of the mud off. The very tiny carrots got separated out for a friend’s pet rabbits.The rest of the carrots were laid out to dry on the kitchen table for a few hours.This row of carrots were extra large but were not perfect. I’ll clean them up and they’ll be just right for Daisy (see previous post https://marykisner.com/carrots-for-daisy/ )
When they were finally dry and not so cold I packaged them up into Ziplock bags, standing upright. Then I put them down into paper bags from Trader Joe’s) and set them in the garage.
Overnight they still had lots of moisture in the bags so I opened them all up. They will keep better if they are dry.It will be easy to grab a few for dinner or a snack!
It’s too bad houses today don’t have root cellars, where the conditions are perfect for storing vegetables over the winter! Enjoy!
Have you ever wondered how the process of making soap was discovered? It is a complex chemical process that I don’t even need to learn about while I make things with my melt and pour soap. I start with a product that has been commercially produced that takes all the complexity out of it for me.
But I’m frequently asked, how is melt and pour soap different from “regular” soap? Who even figured out how to make it? In an article about the origin and history of soap I found these paragraphs:
“According to Roman legend, soap was named after Mount Sapo, an ancient site of animal sacrifices. After an animal sacrifice, rain would wash animal fat and ash, that collected under the ceremonial altars, down to the banks of the Tiber River. Women washing clothes in the river noticed that if they washed their clothes in certain parts of the river after a heavy rainfall their clothes were much cleaner. Thus, the emergence of the first soap…or at least the first use of soap.
The earliest known written soap recipe was written on clay tablets and is credited to the ancient Babylonians. A soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of Babylon…is evidence that soapmaking was known as early as 2800 B.C. Inscriptions on the cylinders indicate that fats (rendered from a slaughtered cow, sheep or goat) were boiled with wood ashes and water.”
So how about that! Up until about the 1600’s soap making rose and declined with the popularity of bathing and personal hygiene in a culture. The availability of other animal fats and vegetable oils encouraged each culture to develop their own signature soaps. like olive oil soap in Italy.
Discoveries in the early 1800’s in the process for transforming common salt (sodium chloride) into an alkali called soda ash and the chemistry behind the relationship of glycerin to fatty acids were instrumental in setting the stage for mass soap production.
Additives to basic soap recipes helped to make the final product appropriate to be melted down and poured into shapes. This final product…a melt and pour soap base…is what I use to customize with fragrance, color and plant material to make my soaps.
If you look at the labels of the melt and pour bases I use, you’ll see the chemical components that have been combined to make that soap.
As you can see, both of the soap bases shown above have a combination of oils, water and lye (sodium hydroxide) along with various additives (emulsifiers) that help the extra ingredients (like Aloe Vera gel and goats milk) stay mixed. The actual chemistry of working with caustic lye has been done for me.
Now when I melt the Aloe Vera soap base down, I can add additional ingredients like fragrance, color and even plant material, like Aloe Vera Gel to the soap.
Things I will add to the Aloe Vera soap base.Bars of soap ready to be wrapped in plastic wrap so they don’t absorb moisture from the air around them.
I’m also learning which soap bases I like best! Apparently, soap will act differently depending on whether the water in my house is hard or soft. With our hard water, some soaps will make a nice lather, others will not. I’ve also found that I’m not happy using goats milk soap…my hands will itch after a few days. Not sure if that has anything to do with my allergy to dairy products, but I now know to avoid goats milk soap.
I’m grateful I don’t have to deal with the caustic chemical process of making soap. I also don’t have to wait 6 to 8 weeks for the soap to “cure,” which allows the crystalline structure of the soap to solidify. If you see a display of bars of soap at a craft fair with each one wrapped with just a paper sleeve and exposed to the air, you know that they were made using the hot chemical process with lye…which will continue to cure over time.
By using the melt and pour soap base, the curing time is already done. After I melt the soap down and pour it into molds, within an hour or two it is firm and ready to use.
Because melt and pour soap contains glycerin it will continue to absorb moisture from the air and could leave a white residue on the soap. That’s why I wrap each bar of soap in plastic wrap when they are done.
These Aloe Vera guest soaps, individually wrapped in plastic wrap, will stay clean and dry until needed by a guest.
So, while I’m constantly trying new things with melt and pour soaps know that I’m working with real soap…it’s just the caustic chemistry I’m avoiding. Using melt and pour soap is safe for even young folks to make cute and useful gifts for themselves and others. Enjoy!
As a member of the “baby boom” generation, I will admit to growing up in a time of “plenty.” My parents were raised, married and had children during the depression and war years from 1912 through 1946. Their values and habits of “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without” influenced how they handled their goods and money. My mother could make a meal out of the smallest pile of leftovers and as children we never noticed or felt deprived. It wasn’t until she passed away and I had to clean out her cupboards and closets that I realized how thrifty she was. I found things like extra thread and saved buttons; scraps of fabric ready to patch knee rips; recipes that started with leftovers; piles of delicate hankies, neatly pressed and folded; rags from used sheets and clothing ready to grab to clean up a spill. There was no stash of paper towels or Kleenex in her cupboards.
By the time I married and had children, those values of thrift had been overwhelmed by advertisements for consumables…don’t fix things, throw them out and buy this new model. Over the years, throwing things away became necessary…things were often made of materials that could not be fixed like plastic instead of wood or metal. Luckily, I married a man who can fix almost anything. His shop full of parts and tools along with his knowledge about how to use them has saved us from throwing things away that just needed an easy fix. While I realize my stash of supplies and tools solve other problems that deal with fabric and clothing, my habits have changed so I’m more dependent on consumables like paper towels and Kleenex. It wasn’t until the supply chain shortages of some items that I realized my behavior has strayed from the values of my parents. This was especially obvious in my use of paper towels. I use a LOT of paper towels in my day-to-day activities…when cooking, cleaning up the counters, preparing food, etc.
Needless to say, when shortages of paper towels appeared I panicked. My impulse was to stock up like crazy…so I’d never run out! The longer the shortages continued, the more I felt that I needed to change my behavior. Obviously, lots of folks manage to keep a neat and tidy kitchen without paper towels!
First Attempt
I was enticed by some ads on Facebook for various substitutes for paper towels made from recycled plastic water bottles (www.geometry.house). They looked pretty and they were washable. Why not?
These sheets were about 8″ x 9″
So, I ordered two sets of 12 and the wooden tray to store them in on the counter. The way I use paper towels it had to save money, right? When they arrived, I first put them in the wash. It was like washing pieces of plastic bag…they stuck together! I gently pulled them apart and put them in the dryer on low. Once dry I could fold them in half and stack them up in the wooden tray.
Now came the test. My counters were wet from placing rinsed dishes on the counter while I loaded them into the dishwasher. These cloths would not absorb anything, they just smeared the water around. I rinsed one out and hung it to dry. It took 24 hours to dry. So that experiment was a bust! What a waste of money. I’ll have to see if I can use them for an art project or something.
Second Attempt
I had forgotten that I went through a phase 10-12 years ago of trying to do better about using paper towels. I found in the back of my cupboard a roll of “washable bamboo towels.” The company, www.bambooee.com, sold these rolls of towels, called The Un Paper Towel to save trees. They are made of woven bamboo fibers and are reusable, machine washable and bleachable. Each sheet is about 11″ square and rips off like a paper towel. It is basically a rayon fabric made from bamboo. This company is still in business too so check them out!
Here is the wrapper that was around the roll of Bambooee towels.
So, I pulled out the roll, tore off a sheet and gave it a try. The first swipe to clean up the water on my counter convinced me! It cleaned right up! Of course, next came the dilemma of how to let it dry. I didn’t want to drape it over the spigot or the handles that open the windows. Luckily, several years ago Bert made me a little drying rack in the kitchen that folded open to let things dry. It has been folded up for a while but it worked great to let the cloth dry.
Here the drying rack is closed and held by magnets to stay closed.Here is the rack open, supported with chains to keep it at the right angle.
I finally rinsed out the un-paper towel and hung it to dry. A few hours later it was completely dry. After a day or two wiping up water on the counters, I’ll throw it in the wash! Yea!
Now comes the test…can I change my behavior and grab the reusable bamboo cloth? It would be so great to not worry about shortages of paper towels.
So here is a comparison…a roll of paper towels, a roll of Bambooee towels and a clean Bambooee towel ready to grab for the next time.
I’m not sure I’m ready to replace my Kleenex with cloth hankies but if shortages happen, I know I have a stack of pretty hankies ready to go! Thanks, Mom!
There are some events that we remember that aren’t written down or honored with a Hallmark card. We really don’t talk about our first date much, but we’ll always remember it. I can’t let today go by without thinking back about how momentous our first date was…of course it was special to us, but those of us of a certain age will remember November 22, 1963…the day President John Kennedy was assassinated…forever. We all know where we were when we heard the news, much like young folks today know where they were when they heard the news about the 9/11 disasters.
This year was our 55th wedding anniversary, but we’ll never forget 59 years ago when we had our first date.
President John Kennedy rides in a motorcade from the Dallas airport into the city with his wife Jacqueline and Texas Governor John Connally.We’re reminded that our 15 yr. old grandson doesn’t even remember 9/11! I’ll be interested to follow his memories into the future to see what speaks to him!
Boalsburg is gearing up with lots of activities for locals and visitors during Hometown Christmas 2022. Please join us!
Hometown Christmas in Boalsburg will be held on December 3rd from 4:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. on the Diamond. Santa will arrive shortly before 6:00 p.m. to light the holiday tree. The event, which is being organized by the Harris Township Lions Club and the Boalsburg Village Conservancy, will feature hot chocolate, popcorn, cookies and live music.
Live Nativity: St. John’s UCC invites you to a live nativity with a reading of the Christmas story coinciding with the Boalsburg Hometown Christmas. Shows will be in front of the church (218 N. Church Street) at 4:30pm and 5:15pm.
The Boalsburg Heritage Museum will hold a Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00p.m. Come enjoy the beautifully decorated museum, music, children’s crafts in the Barn, including “Holiday Caricatures by Molly.” Hot mulled cider and hot chocolate straight from the fireplace in the Summer Kitchen will be served. A Homemade Christmas cookie sale will be offered. Adam Swartz, Puppeteer, will be presenting a puppet show in the Lower Barn at 2:00, sponsored by a gift from Colonial Press. Many local businesses have donated wonderful raffle items in support of the Museum. Come and enjoy the day at the Boalsburg Heritage Museum with your friends and neighbors. The Museum is open for tours every Sunday afternoon between 2;00 and 4:00 and by appointment. boalsburgheritagemuseum@gmail.com or check the website at https://boalsburgheritagemuseum.org/
Enjoy local history at the Boalsburg Heritage Museum
The Boal Mansion and Christopher Columbus Chapel has the following activities planned:
December 2 & 3—Candlelight Tours of the Mansion and Chapel at 6:00, 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. $15 per person.
December 2—Springhill Paranormal Tour Reveal at 7:00 p.m. in the Boal Barn Great Room. All are welcome.
December 3—Kristkindle Market. Come join in the fun and start your Christmas shopping with us in the Boal Barn Great Room from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Photo op with St. Nicholas from 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. Teddy Bear story time on the stage in the theater at 11 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Sleigh rides provided by Misty Lane Farms from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
December 4—Christmas Tea & Tour: Will be held in the Boal Mansion ballroom at 4:00 p.m. Seating is limited to 30 people so reserve your seats now. $65 per person. https://boalmuseum.com/
Many Christmas activities will be at the Boal Mansion.
Duffy’s Boalsburg Tavern on the Diamond is having its traditional Colonial Christmas Dinner for the weekend of Boalsburg Hometown Christmas (Friday, Dec. 2 to Sunday, Dec. 4). We design our menu around the original settlers in the area: Scotch Irish, Scottish, Irish, German, Spanish and French (the last two honor the women of the Boal family).
Enjoy a traditional colonial Christmas Dinner at the Tavern
A Basket Full on Main Street is having pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus on the porch on Sunday, December 11 from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Come enjoy hot chocolate and cookies as well.
Lots of sales going on at “A Basket Full” on Main Street
It’s hard to let Mother Nature be in charge with our wild animal friends. While we sure enjoyed watching our little deer friend over the last several months we wondered if he/she would make it through the winter. It was very small (about 35 pounds) and had an unsteady gait. It was always alone at the bird feeder and would spend an hour or more during the day just standing there, looking around, munching on spilled seed on the ground.
Bert had recently put out seed on a post that was just the right height for our little friend to just swipe its tongue across the seed.
Unfortunately, a few days ago Bert found it out on the busy road by our house. It looked like it had been bumped by a car but there were no damaged car pieces around. It was certainly dead. I wonder if someone even knew they had hit it. Bert dragged it off the road to rest among the trees on the far side of the road.
I can’t believe we’ve watched this deer for several months and just last week I thought to take these three pictures. So, thanks for the memories, deer friend. Rest in Peace!
I’ve heard “necessity is the mother of invention” all my life and wondered where it came from. Turns out it can be traced back to the year 380 B.C. from the work Republic, written by the Greek philosopher, Plato. The idea behind it is that having a problem supplies additional creativity to come up with innovation solutions. There are several other explanations mentioned, but they all seem to refer to stories about folks that had a problem of some kind and found interesting and creative ways to solve it.
Solving a Problem: Giving Stories a Focus
In the early 1970’s my grandfather was living with my parents in State College. He was approaching 90 years of age and was still able to take care of himself. However, my parents needed to be out of town for several days and thought I could stop by to visit just to check on him and maybe entertain him for a few hours each day.
Grandpa John, about 85 years old.
I was teaching elementary school and was happy to help. Grandpa always had entertaining stories ready to share. I got him talking about what it was like in 1913 when my dad was born. The more he shared, the more I realized I needed to give him a focus to tie his stories together.
I had seen an Advent Calendar project in a craft magazine and decided I’d try to create one with his help. The 25 days leading up to Christmas are celebrated in many ways, from parts of the Christmas story to tiny bits of chocolate. I wanted something that could be changed from year to year.
The next day, I came prepared with art supplies, starting with a piece of Masonite (24″ x 30″) covered with flannel, and a pile of extra felt, fabric and glue.
Then I had him tell me about his house in 1913 when my dad was born. As he talked, I laid out the rooms. Each room provided tidbits of information. For example, when I was asking about what I would find in the pantry, he mentioned vegetables like the pumpkin. Then I added bananas, mostly because they were an obvious shape I could cut out. He had to tell me about the first time he ever saw a banana…he was 8 years old! He was born in 1884 in Minnesota, and bananas came from far away so weather conditions had to be just right to make the trip on the train. In other words, in 1913 in Minnesota there were probably no bananas in his pantry! Oh well. I had already glued them down, so they stayed in the picture.
Over several days we managed to flesh out each room in the house. It was definitely fast free form cutting and gluing but the project served the purposes of keeping him entertained and giving me a project to do.
Over the years, the decorations on the Christmas tree have rubbed off.
Solving a Problem: Giving the Right Kind of Attention to my Kids
For a few years, the calendar was just a decoration at Christmas time. During the late fall of 1977, when Kathy was just 2 months old and Ted was just 1 1/2, I had a problem. Kathy needed my attention and Ted wanted my attention!
The Advent Calendar became a teaching tool! Little slips of paper were put into each pocket showing a drawing of a present or a candy cane. He had to find the right number and “read” the drawing. Each year, the slips of paper had words for him to read. Ted became an enthusiastic learner so that made it fun for me too. As Kathy got older, Ted was teaching her too and so the tradition began.
Of course, over time, the items for each day added up to a pile that probably could have fit into their Christmas stocking…but it was worth it to me to have that distraction every day for a month!
They were a little surprised when they hit preschool during the month of December and asked their friends, “What did you get for the Advent Calendar?” and the other kids had no idea what they were talking about. Explanations were necessary, but I really couldn’t say…our Advent Calendar is just about helping me through a tough month! Oh well, it was worth it!
Now my grandkids are hunting every December morning for “The Elf on the Shelf” and opening little drawers in a wooden Calendar for prizes. I understand completely!
They will surely outgrow the need for these gimmicks, but look out…they may remember the tradition when they have children of their own! Enjoy!
The sun may be shining today, but we woke up to 22 degrees! Ahh…fall weather in Pennsylvania! I’m spending this week making dog coats and usually that keeps my focus inside the house. Lately, however, we’ve had an unusual daytime visitor to our bird feeders that keeps distracting me!
Almost every day…and now several times a day, this small deer has been visiting. We’ve been watching it for more than a month…at first it came only at dusk and was always alone. The larger deer came later in the evening. We wondered if it was abandoned from its herd.
Bert had put a smaller feeder on a post out for some some of the larger birds, and apparently it was just the right height for our deer friend to just swipe its tongue across the seed.
I’m imagining the challenge of trying to get a coat on a deer!
So today, while I’m trying to focus on cutting out and sewing greyhound coats, I’m distracted by an adorable deer outside my window. Frankly, this deer is about the same size as the greyhounds…just with longer legs!
Here are a few of the coats I’ve made recently and my current project:
The collar (or snood) folds up to cover the ears if it’s really cold out.Green plaid seems to be a favorite with adopters of the Irish Greyhounds.This tie dye coat will ensure a dog doesn’t get lost in the snow!As we get closer to Christmas, I’ll start incorporating red fleece into some coats. The lining of this black and white fleece coat will be red.
My thoughts on this beautiful crisp day will focus on sewing cozy coats for our greyhound friends and wondering how our tiny deer will do over the winter. I hope you’re enjoying the day too!
I had a wonder birthday surprise this weekend! My daughter and my grandkids decided to come for a short visit to help me celebrate my birthday! Their school activities have kept them close to home this fall, but luckily, many of those activities were finishing up and they had time to come visit us!
I had not had an actual birthday cake for the last several years, since I had to restrict eggs and dairy. But I could have coconut milk ice cream and thanks to frozen cakes from Sara Lee I was able to pick up an assortment to satisfy everyone.
This was my compromise to putting 76 candles on the cake. Best I could do!
My 15 yr old grandson texted me before they came asking if I would help him make some lip balm…apparently he uses a lot of it because he plays trumpet in the high school marching band he really needs it between performances.
In addition, would Grandma help him and is sister make some soap too! Now this was starting to sound like a fun birthday activity!
So last night we had cake and ice cream.
Say cheese!
This morning after breakfast we got busy. Ben chose the recipe for lip balm that had cocoa butter in it. With the addition of Peppermint essential oil, he felt like he was having a peppermint patty candy bar!
Here is the recipe:
When finished, he had 11 tubes of lip balm. He’ll be able to put one in every pocket! I was ready to help him label them and he said to not bother…he usually just peels off labels! So, I guess one good whiff will remind him these are the peppermint lip balms.
The we started in on the soap. Ben wanted clear glycerin soap and swirled in purple soap tint with a stick. Not my cup of tea…but he loved them!
Kind of looked like a science experiment in the making!
My granddaughter wanted a different mold with orange scent and light orange color.
I think I’ll use this mold another time. They turned out very nice.
While they were waiting for the soap to set up. Ben had to play the pump organ and Anna took a break after shopping at Trader Joe’s with her mother.
This pump organ was built in 1900. Bert’s mother got it around 1960 and Bert rebuilt the inside (he was 14). My grandson (age 15) really enjoys playing it.Anna just got braces (age 10) so her smile was nice and shiny!
They had to be on the road by 3 p.m. today, so I was glad we were able to get all these projects done today. It was a great birthday for Grandma! Quiet, low key and fun! The hugs were the best! Enjoy!
