Christmas Notebook

7 days of shooting

~~Rhonda — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:32:22 +0000

Over the holiday season, I neglected the two flickr groups I enjoy the most. One is Macro Monday, to which one or two macro photos are submitted each Monday according to the week’s theme. The other group is 7 Days of Shooting. There is an overarching weekly theme and, also, daily themes that have to fall under the weekly theme.

I enjoy both groups a great deal. They help me stretch as a photographer and make me look for the details in every day items. Many of my 7 Days of Shooting photos turn out to be macros because I enjoy shooting the close ups so much. There is beauty in the mundane and a lot of detail that is missed unless we make time to look for it.

Last week, the week’s theme was “empty.” I managed to submit photos five days out of the seven.

Empty / Minimal Sunday
After seeing some of the other submissions and doing some research on minimal photography, I learned this particular photo isn’t as minimal as it could have been. Minimal photography is as much about the space surrounding the object as it is about the object being shot.

Empty / Macro Monday
This is a flower frog.

Empty / Go For Bokeh Tuesday
“Bokeh” means the unfocused areas in a photograph.

Empty / Thoroughly Abstract Thursday
This is from an art glass vase.

Empty / Shoot Anything Saturday
This is actually my favorite from the week. I like the color and the detail.

The current theme is “the letter P.” I missed submitting on Tuesday, but plan to finish the rest of the challenges. I’ll post those next week.

If you enjoy photography, I encourage you to challenge yourself with a theme or a list of ideas. Click this LINK for a list we used in homeschooling for art class. This LINK takes you to a list of weekly themes for some inspiration. Google photography challenge list for more lists and ideas.

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ january 30, 2012

~~Rhonda — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:33:46 +0000

We were highly entertained Sunday afternoon watching the twins wrap “presents.” They spent over an hour cutting gift wrap, pulling tape, wrestling with the packaging…so much fun! Pa got a bow, Ma got a box of cereal, Auntie got a box of tea and Sissy got a bowl of chalk.

Serious business!

They (and we!) had a great time!

We’re taking a day off school to catch up on some housekeeping needs in the scrapbook room and in DD’s room. Call it “home ec.” We’ll make the school work up later this week. In keeping with the home ec theme, here’s our menu for the week.

Monday
Beef and Green Veggies Stir Fry
Rice

Tuesday
Baked Potato Soup

Wednesday
Grilled Hamburgers
Grilled Veggie Foil Packets
Green Salad

Thursday
Salmon Bake with Pecan Crunch Coating
Herb Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Steamed Asparagus
Corn
Green Salad

Friday
Chicken Taco Chili
Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Roast Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Stir Fried Sugar Snap Peas with Cherry Tomatoes / Scroll down the link page for the recipe.
Corn
Green Salad

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

chicken taco chili

~~Rhonda — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:07:21 +0000

This Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili was a new recipe for me. See the link for the original recipe. I did change some things, so I’ll show those changes below.

I had planned to make the chili in the crock pot as the original recipe does, but didn’t have all the ingredients in time to do that. I made it in a soup pot on the stove.

Chicken Taco Chili

To a large soup pot, add:

3 pounds of chicken breast, boneless and skinless (about four large breasts)
water to just cover the chicken in the pot
1 T. dry onion
2 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. salt

Bring to a simmer and, once it begins to gently simmer, give it about 25 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the broth and let it rest for ten minutes or so before dicing or shredding. Return the chicken to the broth. Add:

1 16-oz. can black beans (do not drain)
1 16-oz. can kidney beans (do not drain)
29-oz. can tomato sauce (original recipe called for only 8-oz.)
29 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn
1 T. cumin
1 T. homemade taco seasoning (See recipe below.)
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

Bring to a simmer and serve.

The original recipe also added:
1 packet taco seasoning
1 T. chili powder
1/4 c. chopped cilantro. (I substituted parsley as I do NOT like the taste of cilantro.)

This is very good and a nice warm soup for a cold evening. It would be great served with cornbread, tortilla chips and celery sticks. Top with shredded cheese and sour cream, if you like. Could be served over rice, as well. It was even better the second day.

I doubled this taco seasoning recipe and used a tablespoon of it in the soup. I stored the rest in a glass spice jar. No more taco seasoning packets for us. Another small step in reducing excess packaging.

Taco Seasoning Mix

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Since making the seasoning, I’ve used it in Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken and to season homemade baked tortilla chips. Very good!

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ january 23, 2012

~~Rhonda — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:21:06 +0000

Happy birthday to my sisters, Mary and Margaret! I hope you both have a lot of fun celebrating your birthday today!

Our son’s family came over for dinner yesterday. Afterward, the twins helped Pa make cookies. There was a little taste-testing going on, too…

It’s 45* today, but windy. A good day to stay inside and plan the week. Here’s our menu.

Monday
Fridge Food / We have plenty of leftovers and tomorrow is clean-out-the-fridge day.

Tuesday
Ham and Potato Soup

Wednesday
Tacoritos
Celery / Carrot Sticks
Green Salad

Thursday
Baked Chicken
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Corn
Green Salad

Friday
Taco Salad with Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Baked Chicken Parmesan
Baked Potatoes
Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Corn
Green Salad

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

chicken linguine…with spaghetti

~~Rhonda — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:39:28 +0000

I’ve been trying some new recipes and gave Chicken Linguine a try last night. Everyone gave it a thumbs up, so we’ll be having it again. I did make changes to the recipe, though. You can find the original at the link, and I’ll post what I did below.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Broccoli (See? I’ve already changed it from linguine…)

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs (I used thighs because that’s what I had on hand.)
water – just enough to cover the chicken in a large soup pot
1 T. dehydrated onion flakes
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. salt
16 oz. spaghetti noodles (I would have used linguine if I’d had it. Next time. Was good with spaghetti, though!)
3 broccoli spears, diced
2 cups chicken broth reserved from cooking the chicken, divided into one cup each
1 T. cornstarch
1 T. lemon juice
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 chopped fresh parsley (Use a tablespoon of dried if you don’t have fresh.)

Place the chicken in a stock or soup pot and add just enough water to cover the chicken.

Add the onion, thyme and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 25 minutes.

When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan and let it rest for 5 or 10 minutes before dicing.

Bring to a boil the liquid left from cooking the chicken. No need to strain first. When it comes to a boil, add the noodles.

When the noodles are about half done, add the broccoli and cook together until noodles are al dente. Drain off the liquid, reserving two cups. Return the noodles to the pot.

Mix together one cup of stock, the cornstarch and the lemon juice. Whisk to combine well.

Add the diced chicken and the above mixture to the pot and cook on low to medium heat for a few minutes. Add some of the additional reserved liquid, if the noodles look like they need it.

Turn off the heat and stir in the freshly ground pepper and the parsley.

I served the spaghetti with a green salad, corn, steamed asparagus and homemade rolls.

I saved what was left of the reserved liquid and stirred it into the leftovers before putting them in the fridge. Noodles tend to absorb more moisture in storage, so adding a little extra liquid will help keep them loose.

I think this would be delicious made with sugar snap peas instead of broccoli. Or you could use asparagus. If I used asparagus, I would cook it separately and add it at the last with the chicken because it is so tender. Next time I make this recipe, I am going to add some minced garlic to it.

I had some of the leftover spaghetti for lunch today. Delicious. Definitely making this one again.

~~Rhonda

spring, is that you?

~~Rhonda — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:24:41 +0000

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~ a proverb

I know the winter hasn’t seemed that long or harsh this year, but I am so ready for spring. The daffodils are already three inches tall, which is about two inches taller than this time the past few years.

And soon, they will look like this…

And this…

Not soon enough. ~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ january 16, 2012

~~Rhonda — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:22:02 +0000

The three grands stayed over night Saturday. The twins spent a lot of time cutting with Ma’s scrapbooking scissors. They had a ball! It was interesting to watch their totally different approaches to cutting.

Always fun to have the grands. Following is the menu for the week. I’m trying a couple of new recipes. I’ve already made the Chicken Taco Chili for tonight, though I made it on the stove instead of in the crock pot. It’s very good. I left out the chilies, the taco seasoning, and the chili powder. And used fresh parsley instead of cilantro, because I do NOT like the taste of cilantro. The soup is very warming and delicious. It would be great with corn bread or with tortilla chips. Celery sticks would be good with it, too.

Monday
Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

Tuesday
Spicy Shredded Pork in the Crock Pot ~ I follow the pork recipe’s ingredient list, but I don’t blend them. I put the roast in the crock pot and throw everything in on top. I know it’s not the same as roasting it, so it’s different than the meat the original recipe would produce, but it’s still delicious! And easier.

Homemade Buns
Veggies / Ranch Dip

Wednesday
Beef / Bok Choy Stir Fry
Rice

Thursday
Taco Salad

Friday
Chicken Linguine
Green Salad
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

Saturday
Spaghetti
Homemade Sauce
Green Salad
Peas
Steamed Carrots

Sunday
Rosemary Ranch Chicken
Green Bean Salad I’ll add some edamame to the salad.
Stir Fried Zucchini and Yellow Squash
Cornbread

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

decoupaged ornaments tutorial

~~Rhonda — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:16:29 +0000

In my last post I shared some of the decoupaged ornaments I’ve made over the past few years. This post is a tutorial to explain how they’re made in case you want to try them yourself.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Clear ball ornaments

Paper

Scissors

Mod Podge (or white craft glue, mixed two parts glue to one part water)

Paint brush

Cup of water for cleaning paint brush

Paper towel or paint rag for blotting/wiping paint brush

Clear acrylic sealer

Ribbon (optional)

I use old glass ball ornaments, but you could use anything that can have paper glued to it. Craft stores have paper mache ornaments that would work. I just use what I have on hand. And old ornaments have nice toppers which give the ornament a finished look.

Because I was making ornaments with family pictures on them, I used Print Shop to compose sheets of pictures to use. Here’s one I made for ornaments made with cookie cutters. Lots of little pictures on one page.

Here’s the ornament I made from that sheet of pictures…not a decoupaged ornament, but the page I used is the same as one I would make for decoupage. Of course, you don’t have to use your own pictures. Any paper can be used, as long as it is thin enough to conform easily to the curve of the ornament. Magazine pictures, newspaper, tissue paper, napkins, printed pages from old books, etc. For inspiration, google < decoupage ornament >, click IMAGE and peruse all the possibilities.

For ornaments that require a lot of little pictures right next to one another, I start in Print Shop with a blank page, divide it into 1″ squares with guides, then import pictures. I crop the pictures to just the portion I want to use. The guides help me place the pictures right next to one another and also help me size them. I like to keep them small, not more than two inches square. Most are one inch square. Once the page is filled (pictures can be duplicated, as it won’t take an entire page to make an ornament), I print the page on regular printer paper. It’s thin enough to mold around the ornament. Heavier paper and photo paper are more difficult to shape and also leave bigger ridges under the paper when overlapped.

For an ornament that will have a large picture on it, like the ones I made of my parents’ high school pictures, I use print shop again.

I divide the blank page into two inch squares, import the pictures I want to use, crop them to circles, then put them in the two inch grid. They can be right next to one another. They will be cut on the edge, so there is no need for a margin. This way, I can get 20 picture to a page. As you can see in this sample, I duplicated photos, but each one can be different, of course, if you have that many to use.

In the same file, I have the image I used for the neutral background on the ornaments of my parents. I print a full page of it and cut it into pieces the size I need.

To begin, prepare the paper. Scissors can be used to cut the paper or the paper can be torn. For the ornaments with my parents’ pictures, I used deckle scissors to cut the paper/pictures. For this ornament, I used a decorative scallop scissor.

When the paper is cut into different sizes, snip the bits of paper all around the edge with regular scissors so they more easily form to the shape of the ornament.Here’s a picture of my Mom, snipped all the way around. When snipping pictures like this, try to cut in a way that won’t compromise the picture itself. In this instance it was pretty easy.

Sometimes the picture has parts that shouldn’t be snipped through. Try to cut so those parts are left whole. Like this example of my parents in high school. I cut between their heads and along the lines in the photo across the bottom.

Bits of clipped papers…the oval one has my parents’ names and high school graduation dates printed on the other side.

Remove the topper from the ornament and use small pieces of snipped paper to glue around the top of the ornament. Larger pieces won’t fit very well around the sharper curve of the top of the ornament.

When the topper is replaced, it will cover the top of the paper where it is pulled apart.

When gluing paper to the ornament, I first apply glue to the space to be covered, apply the paper, then glue over the top of it. I use the end of the handle of my paint brush to roll over the glued picture which helps remove air bubbles and flattens the paper. If I’m not reusing the paint brush immediately to apply more glue, I immerse it in the cup of water to keep it wet. Otherwise the glue will dry and the paint brush will be useless. Just blot the water before applying more glue to the ornament.

It’s helpful to work on more than one ornament at a time, because you can go back and forth between them, letting one dry before you continue. Some kind of holder is helpful. I use small paper cups.

When gluing down a larger piece, I apply glue from the center out, in four places, like a plus sign. Straight up and down, and across from side to side. Then I finish gluing the remaining bits down. Doing a large piece this way helps the whole piece fit more precisely.

When finished with the decoupage, I topped the ornaments with some tinsel, by hot-gluing it down around the topper. The ornaments can also be finished with ribbons.

When finished, the ornaments can be sprayed with a clear acrylic sealer to prevent tackiness.

The Graphics Fairy is an excellent source of vintage images and would be a great resource for a decoupage project.

~~Rhonda

decoupaged ornaments

~~Rhonda — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:21:12 +0000

I’ve made several different decoupaged ornaments over the past few years. I enjoy crafting them and I keep thinking of new kinds to make. Here are a few samples.

These are ornaments I made for the Christmas Notebook ornament exchange in 2006. They were decorated with pictures of our home decorated for Christmas and pictures of our family enjoying the holidays. I also used prints of vintage postcards for filler on the ornaments.

I made family ornaments for the kids in 2008. I used prints of Christmas pictures from when they were younger to cover the ornaments.

In 2008, I also made garden ornaments, using pictures of our yard and gardens.

These ornaments were made this past Christmas (2011) for a small group of women, friends of my sister, who came for an afternoon house tour. The picture was decoupaged to the back, then glitter was glued over the picture and along the edge of the ornament. You look through the ornament to see the picture.

I made ornaments for this year’s Christmas Notebook exchange using the same kind of base ornament as above. It’s a flattened glass ornament. For this one, I decoupaged on both sides of the ornament instead of just one, as above. This is the front:

And this is the back:

My side of the family has an exchange for our Christmas party, with a limit of $5. I like to make something for that, so I made two decoupaged ornaments using pictures of my parents in high school and pictures of their wedding. These went home with my youngest sister.

I’ll post directions in a day or so. ~~Rhonda

house concert 2011

~~Rhonda — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:02:46 +0000

During December, we were delighted to host Nathan George, Ross Sermons, and Mark Stoffel for the fifth year as they presented a house concert of wonderful Christmas music.

Nathan

With 62 guests, some had to find seats on the staircase, which is actually a great vantage point.

After the concert, guests had time to speak with the musicians, buy CDs and help themselves to appetizers and beverages in the kitchen.

The menu included:

Vegetable Tray with Beau Monde Dip
Three Cheese Spread with Crackers
Cheese Tray
Antipasto Platter
Chex Mix
Spicy Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce
Red and Green Seedless Grapes
Appetizer Wreath

We served Chocolate Cream Truffles, Peanut Butter Truffles and Candy Jumble on the buffet in the dining room.

Nathan, Mark and Ross always present a wonderful (and fun!) evening of worshipful Christmas music. While we host several large gatherings at Christmas, the concert is my favorite. We’re already looking forward to next year’s concert!

~~Rhonda