The Hunger Games

I finally persuaded my husband to get an e-book copy of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for our Nooks. He's been half-disinterested in reading it. I hadn't made up my mind until I considered it for a little while. Everyone I know who has read the books--every last one of them--LOVED it. That's never happened with any book I've heard my friends speak about before. Some of them LOVED the Harry Potter series, a lot of them thought it was too shallow for them. Some of them LOVE the Dresden Files books, many are lukewarm-ish to the ones they've read. Ayn Rand, most of my friends actually really hate her books. There's a couple of people who like them. All the books we were ever assigned to read in classes. There's never once been a case where absolutely everyone agreed. But everyone I've spoken to LOVED The Hunger Games. And I finally caved in to peer pressure, and started reading the first book last night. I am currently five pages away from the end. I can honestly say, it isn't just the story line that drew me in. The story is mesmerizing, don't get me wrong, but the voice with which it's written caught me completely off guard. I enjoy first-person narratives, and particularly this one, because it's a lot less like a story and a lot more like a conversation with my sister. The one part of it my husband and I discussed was from a very early point in the book. I'd been reading a free sample, and I could only describe the author as very blunt. My husband was intrigued by one of the subtleties the author had laid for us. After talking about it for a moment, we discovered he'd used the word "subtle" to describe the same exact sentence in the book that made me call it "blunt". If that makes any sense. Anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, at least as much as one CAN enjoy a book about a post-apocalyptic fight to the death involving children. And I think it's mostly because the way Collins tells the story (through Katniss's eyes) feels so very raw. So. That's today's odd little bit of sunshine.

Memorial Day

Today's post could only have been about one thing. As I understand it, Americans have a global reputation for being greedy, slovenly, bloodthirsty, arrogant, ignorant, pretentious--the list goes on and on. And that is a pity. I have a hunch that the majority of the people who hold that opinion of our people have never been to America, or if they have, have never made it out of a major city. Or perhaps they've never met an American; or if they have, they've only met the poorest examples of Americans. So seeing these examples and saying what they do would be rather like me reading one article about a French person and calling the whole country drunken and debauched. It isn't true. I've not been to France, but it seems like it would be a lovely country with wonderful traditions, and I'd love to have the opportunity to see it someday. But this country I know a little something about. And I've met many examples of greed, and laziness, and arrogance. But I've met far more people who are generous. Helpful. Humble. Innovative. Intelligent. Open-minded. I've seen volunteers who feed the hungry on a regular basis, because it's the right thing to do. Many of my friends speak at least three languages. (Personally, I will confess that I am no longer fluent in Spanish, and I speak just barely enough Japanese to get myself into trouble.) As a student at a STEM-focused university, I met extremely intelligent students with invention ideas that, should they come to fruition, will change the world. American researchers have made great inroads into scientific discoveries. I wish the world could see these examples. I'm not sure when opinions about America and her citizens took such a hard left turn, but it pains me to see it, because I love this country. We are ultimately blessed to have things like clean water, access to fresh food, the right to voice our opinions, choose our own church, go where we want whenever we want...the list, again, goes on and on. And a large number of these things we would not have today were it not for the bravery of our soldiers who have fought to keep our land safe. Starting today, I renew my promise to not take these things for granted.

Sunday Fun

So I mentioned that, every once in a while, my daily drop of sunshine would be something personal. And today is one of those days. After lunch today, we took the kids to the public pool for a couple hours. The local public pool is actually a really nice one. It was very warm today, and surprisingly enough, the pool was not really all that busy. We had plenty of space to play. I spent the entire time up at the toddler pool with A2. My husband was down at the main pool with A1 for most of the time. They had a lot of fun and got a bit sunburned (but mostly they're okay, which is saying a lot for two kids of Scandinavian descent on a bright day), and played and played and played. Afterward, I asked my husband if he wanted to go anywhere else...and he said no, until I mentioned the idea of ice cream. :) So we went to Dairy Queen, and got some treats. I got the kids chocolate malts--partially because I thought they would enjoy them, but mostly because they'd have lids and straws and let's face it, they're messy critters. On the way home, A2's cup started to tip over. She righted it, then started to lick a dribble of chocolate from her hand. And as she stuck her tongue out and put her hand to her mouth--she slowed down, her eyes dropped shut and she fell asleep. With her hand in midair and her tongue hanging out. We all enjoyed a good laugh there. Anywho, they also wore themselves out enough that they're good and asleep now. And probably will be all night. :)

how do you choose a favorite charity?

I had the best problem the other day. One of the newsletters I subscribe to is Tastelite. Every time he gets ready to leave for a cooking gig (he's a yacht chef), he starts a contest that he calls ”Where in the World is Chef Jeff”. We get one clue. This time, my guess was San Diego. My prize was $100 donated to my favorite charity. It's tough to choose one! I could have chosen something related to my sorority, because our centennial Convention is fast approaching. Or to veterans, because I believe that our country has a responsibility to care for the people who have fought for our freedom. Or to breast cancer, because my mother's birthday is also fast approaching and she would have been 59 this year. Or any number of things. It's tough to choose, because there are so many things that mean a great deal to me. I eventually asked that the money be given to St. Jude Children's Hospital, because what they do there is amazing and well worth supporting. This is the best problem to have, and I'm grateful it was one I had.

I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookiee win.

It's nerd time!

One of my friends pointed out that the original Star Wars film debuted in theaters 35 years ago today.  I was not there--I was still four years away from being born, so I have an excuse.

Since then, being a Star Wars nerd has kind of turned into one of my defining characteristics.  I didn't realize it until one Thanksgiving when we were at my parents' house, and my husband and father were discussing something.  I rounded the corner in time to hear my husband say, "Barbara will know, she's a Star Wars nerd!  Who was it that played Obi-Wan?"

My response was, "Okay, first of all, I am NOT a Star Wars nerd, and second of all, it was Sir Alec Guinness."

Mom laughed so hard she snorted.  Which got us all laughing.

But it's true, and it makes me happy.  I love most everything about the series.  My favorite movie is The Empire Strikes Back, and I actually don't hate the most recent movies like everyone else seems to.  They aren't the best, but I definitely enjoyed the stories.  If they could be done over again with a different cast, they'd be far better.

I'm off to start watching the series again.  See you all tomorrow.

removing Jello stains

I can't speak for other people.  But some days, my daughter's clothing is a good introduction to her...

"HI!  Today I had a cold but I also ate a hot dog and some jello and some chocolate milk and played in the grass and scraped my elbow and accidentally got into the brown sugar and crawled under my bed and I like to draw!"

Today, it was the jello one that had me really freaked out.

She was wearing one of her favorite shirts today--my husband got it for her during his last business trip to California.  It has his company's logo on it, along with Elmo.

Usually, if she's going to be eating something messy, I'll take her shirt off of her before she starts eating, because she is NOT a neat eater.  Especially with Jello.  ESPECIALLY with raspberry Jello.

And I did.  And she still managed to get stains everywhere.

So I tried everyone's favorite quick stain remover, in a modified version.  I made a thin paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and dabbed it on her shirt.  A few minutes later, I rinsed it off...and now I think I'm gonna have to soak her whole shirt in a solution like this, because WHOA it removed stains I could not even see.

Wonder if this will work on the carpet where she dropped a big blob of it.

Remind me, why do I feed her Jello at all? Oh, right, because they love it and because it's summer....

Super pretty magnet time!

So remember the magnets I had holding up the Summer Cricut sign a few posts ago?

I made more today as an end-of-year gift for my son's teacher.  And here is the tutorial!

I found this idea originally on Pinterest.  It is super easy, super fun, and super cute.

First up, assemble your supplies.  You will need:

(please ignore my daughter's lunch at the edge there.)

• some scissors
• a pencil
• a sheet of scrapbook paper that you like
• a bag of large clear flat glass stones (available in the floral area of your craft store)
• a tube of E-6000 glue
• a glue gun
• some good strong magnets (the magnets I have pictured are ideal for this--strong enough to hold something to the refrigerator, but not so strong as to rip works of art)
• a nice cup of tea

Trace the stones onto the paper.  I would suggest doing a few at a time--they aren't uniform in size or shape, so that kinda makes this step a tedious one.

Cut the circles out.  Put a glob of E-6000 on one of the stones, squish its paper circle onto the glue.  Repeat for all the stones.

While those dry, enjoy your tea.  You've earned it.  :)

Break out your glue gun, put a dab of hot glue on the back of the paper, and add a magnet.  Once again, repeat for all the stones.  (Realistically, you can use whatever kind of adhesive you think will work best here.  I used Krazy Glue on these--I don't recommend it.  It leaves a dark-ish spot on the other side of the paper that you can see through the magnets.)

And...that's it.  You're all set!

I'd post a picture of the finished product, but I haven't figured out the packaging yet (and I can't find my real camera--had to use my phone for the one I got).  Hopefully tomorrow?

Making yogurt!

I know I said it wasn't going to be today's post...but it's been one of those days.  I'm not feeling well (but if a sore throat and a touch of fatigue are the worst of my complaints, I've got it good) and don't really feel up to writing tonight.  But days like this are exactly what made me decide to try to do this.

I made yogurt yesterday.  I follow the instructions that are on Crockpot365, at least mostly.  Her instructions include times for everything; but I've been doing this long enough to know that my crock pot is old and cannot do things at the same rate as hers.  After careful reading, I've learned the temperatures involved and have been using my candy thermometer to do this ever since.

This is my general rundown:

INGREDIENTS:
1 half gallon 2% milk
1/2 cup live active plain yogurt
1/2 cup dry nonfat powdered milk (optional)
1/2 cup sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Pour that half gallon of milk in your crockpot.  Turn it to low.  Check the temperature every hour or so--Crockpot 365 says this step takes 2 1/2 hours, I've discovered mine takes more like 3 1/2.  Either way, get your milk up to 180 degrees.

ONCE IT'S THAT HOT, turn off your crock pot and let it sit for a few hours.  Your target temperature this time is 110 degrees.  (Otherwise it'll kill the live active cultures in the yogurt--kind of like making bread.  Start off with your liquid too hot, and the yeast doesn't do anything at all.)

Scoop out some of the milk from your crock pot.  Mix it with your yogurt and your powdered milk.  If you're using the sweetener and the vanilla, add it now.  Stir the mixture back into your warm milk in your crock pot.

A note, before I go on:  the powdered milk is optional.  I add it mostly because, otherwise, this recipe tends to be a bit on the thin side for my tastes.

Now for the strange part:  Put the lid back on, then wrap your crock pot in a heavy blanket.  Fold up another heavy blanket and put it on top.  Scoot everything away from the reach of marauding toddlers.

Wait eight hours.

Unwrap everything, and behold your glorious homemade yogurt.

Then scoop it into jars for storing in the refrigerator.  I usually put 1/2 cup into its own tiny container and stash it in the freezer--that way, I don't have to buy another tub of yogurt to do my next batch!

This will keep for about a week to a week and a half.

But what if I'm lactose intolerant?


I've never tried it with soy milk or the like, but I have friends...the general impression I've gotten is: almond milk works a lot better than soy milk.  Instead of the milk powder I have seen recommendations to use tapioca starch in its place.

SO now I have fresh yogurt in my refrigerator.  I'm gonna have a big scoop of it tomorrow with a frozen fruit cup (thawed of course, eating a big frozen chunk of anything does not sound groovy).


With a little luck, tomorrow will be a craft thing day.

Chicken Pillows

I was GOING to post something today about the yogurt that I am currently making.  That's gonna wait for another day, because what I am super excited about now is tonight's dinner.  I made Chicken Pillows.

No pictures, because mine did not look as pretty as the ones she made.  :(

The recipe I cobbled together is:
8 oz softened cream cheese (I used low fat)
1/2 cup sour cream (again, low fat)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped chives (I didn't have any chives.  So I used rosemary.)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh minced onion
3 cups cubed cooked chicken

Mix those ingredients together in a bowl.

Open 2 8 ounce cans of crescent rolls.  Press the seams of two of them together to make a rectangle.  Put about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture in the middle of each, and fold the edges over the top.  Make sure there aren't any leaks or things get messy!

Dip your pillows in melted butter, then in bread crumbs.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  I served them with fresh steamed broccoli, because we all love broccoli.

There's a gravy recipe on the site linked to above, but I spaced on making it.  :(  Maybe next time.

But the thing is--we all loved it.  My husband even asked me what goes into them, and he NEVER asks about what goes into a recipe.

Anyway.  Good dinner days make me very happy.

The yogurt post will probably be Wednesday--I don't want to turn this into a food blog!

What's in my garden

I am not much of a grower of things.

As in, I'm really bad with plants.  Most of them I just can't figure out.  So here, in our little apartment, all I have in pots on the patio are lavender, rosemary, basil, peppers and tomatoes.  I so far have one tiny tomato on my plant.  I'm hopeful it won't be the only one.

What I'm really excited about is the rosemary.  It's going nuts!  I've never had a rosemary plant behave this well.  Maybe it's the soil.

I have a good healthy bunch of it that I've snipped off the bush, and once it's dried, I'm going to put it in what's left of my bottle of olive oil.  A note:  any herb-oil infusions you make, the herbs MUST be dried.  Otherwise you're tainting your oil with water--which can and will set off some bacteria.  It's bad news.  So.  Dry your herbs.

I DO have a dehydrator, and I'll post some stuff about that later this summer when the farmer's market starts back up.  For the rosemary I have now though, the dehydrator would have been a bit of overkill, so they're air drying.

So in a week or so, I'll have rosemary infused olive oil for marinades and sautees and...it's gonna be fun.  :)

Mama's New Toy: The Cricut

My dear husband gave me a Cricut for Mother's Day.  I love it so far, and I've barely scratched the surface of what this thing is capable of.

The very first thing I made was some letters.  I had a vision in mind for something I wanted to put in the scrapbook of my parents' wedding photos, and the Cricut I got came pre-loaded with the perfect one:

(Those were the photos I got from their reception.)

A few days later, my newest cartridge arrived for it.  I made a card:

I'm planning to send it to my son while he's at camp.  :)  I also programmed it to cut out the envelope, but that was how I learned NOT to use heavy paper for envelopes.  I'll find a lighter paper and try it again.  (The grasshopper in the picture above is also supposed to have a frame around it, but I rather unwisely cut it out of the same light green paper.  So...no frame for the time being.

Then, just to show off the layers feature, I made a little thing:

In the yellow:  the Silhouette feature.  The red paper shows the Layers, and the orange is the Shadow.

Assembled, it looks a little something like this:

(The magnets are a future post--I have more to make!)

The Layers are a little hard to see , but there's two dots underneath the first M, and the other accents are inside the U, the E and the R.

And like I said, I've barely scratched the surface of what I can do.  I know people who have made their own stickers, or vinyl clings, or labels...I could go on and on.

Anywho.  With the number of scrapbooks I have coming up to make, this thing is going to get a LOT of use.  I'm thinking once Adrian's camp scrapbook gets underway, this Summer cutout will go in it.

There are some significant drawbacks to a Cricut--not the least of which is the cost.  The machines are NOT cheap, especially if you want to be able to use all the cartridges they sell.  There is a much less expensive model available, but rather than cartridges, you have to use your computer, and I'm not sure what designs are available that way.  The cartridges are expensive too--if you're lucky, you can find them on sale at the local crafts stores for $35.  Otherwise they're anywhere from $40 to $90.

The sticky mats don't last forever--but I'm told there's a way to re-stick them.  Haven't tried it, will let you know when I do.

What truly sold me on wanting one was when one of the ladies I talk to told me her kids use hers for school projects.  I can imagine this thing will help make any poster cool, no matter how boring the subject matter has the potential to be.  :)  (Cuz let's face it, we all remember some of our class projects being VERY boring.)

My husband is right, my mother would have loved this sort of thing.

SOS Mix

Before I begin, I should mention that at least for a while, this is going to look a lot like my Pinterest boards.  The difference is mostly going to be that the stuff I'm putting here is stuff I have tried and will do again.

So like I mentioned yesterday, I like to cook.  And a lot of times, that involves cans of cream of whatever soup.  (Most recipes are specific--cream of mushroom, cream of broccoli, and so on...but I decided a long time ago, I don't care.)  Canned cream soup comes, usually, with a number of considerable drawbacks.

First, although it isn't a diet plan I follow, several of my friends do...and they tell me it's difficult to find gluten free cream soup.  Of course, you could make your own, but that's time consuming and not that easy to store without a lot of freezer space.

Second, have you ever looked at the sodium content of a can of cream soup?  It's terrifying!  I don't tend to make a huge fuss over most labels--sodium and cholesterol are two of the places I'll make an exception.

There's a number of things I'm sure I'm forgetting, but those are my two main ones.

So when I joined Pinterest and started reading One Good Thing by Jillee, one of the first things she posted that I read was about a bag of Soup or Sauce Mix her neighbor gave her.

Effectively, it's a powdered mix using ingredients available in most kitchens that you can use to make sauces.  Or the equivalent of a can of cream of chicken soup.

The ingredients are:
2 cups powdered non-fat dry milk (which is available at most grocery stores, either in the baking aisle or near the evaporated milk)
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup instant chicken bouillon (regular or low-sodium--I used low sodium)
2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
2 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)

Mix well and place into a resealable container (whether it's a bag, a jar, whatever you want to use)

To use, mix 1/3 cup of the mix with 1 1/4 cups cold water and simmer till it's creamy.

There's a wealth of information available at the link above--Jillee includes pictures and lots of wonderful information.

I've used it in a number of recipes so far, and I honestly don't know that I'll buy cream of whatever soup again anytime soon.  It isn't something I just eat on a regular basis, it's always been recipes, and flavor wise?  This is almost better.  I think it's creamier, and I KNOW it's less salty.

Anyway, that's my bright spot for the day.  Maybe tomorrow's will include pictures!  I DID find my camera battery...

Reboot!

Well.  After wandering away for (ahem) two years, we're going to try this again.

And this time, it's in my list of daily bookmarks, so I am (hopefully) going to be able to stay focused.

Welcome to Seeking Sunshine.  My goal here is to post one thing a day that I have tried and loved.  Or something that puts a big ol' goofy smile on my face.  Some of the things may well be personal in nature (kids' birthdays, my upcoming sorority Convention, that sort of thing), but I'll still post projects, recipes, DIY sorts of things.  You will notice I am passionate about a number of things:

Good Books.  I love to read, and I love to read recommendations from friends, and I love to recommend books to friends.  And I love to read to my children, and I love that they love to read/have stories read to them.  Granted, reading recommended books backfires on occasion (I once read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand because someone I trusted recommended it to me--I hated it and it may well be one of the only books I've ever thrown away).  Most of the time it works out (I also once read the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher on the recommendation of a friend, and now it's one of my favorites).

Good Food.  I love to cook and eat and eat and eat.  If I post enough recipes, you'll notice I am not diabetic, abstaining from alcohol, vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose intolerant, etc.  I kind of like the old joke that I'm on the seafood diet--I see food, I eat it.  There's exceptions (I seem to be allergic to mushrooms, and brussels sprouts are not allowed in my house), but mostly, I like food.

That said, if you have recommendations for altering a recipe so that it is friendly toward any of those ends, I am all ears.  Particularly if it helps me lower my cholesterol.

Crafts.  I am not, in general, a terribly arty person.  I like to scrapbook, but I've noticed that my scrapbooks look kind of amateurish next to people who are really good at it.  I'm very much a beginner there.  But I think it's fun and hey.  My memories are preserved!  I also like to sew, but I'm not entirely certain where my sewing machine is at the moment.

Nerdery.  I think we've all got a geeky side.  :)

Football.  I love football season, and I think they could benefit from making it longer.  I totally understand why they can't play dozens of games per season, but I live for the start of preseason.  I am lucky enough to have three teams I can claim some semblance of hometown loyalty to, so unless it's a really bad week, I'll be cheering for SOMEONE who will win...

Anyway.  My name is Barbara.  I am a stay at home mother to two wonderful kids--A1 is a six year old boy with high spirits, A2 is his rough and tumble sister who is two-and-a-half years old.  I live in Pennsylvania, though I am a Kansas girl to the core.

That about sums it up.  If you made it through all that, hats off to you.  I promise I'll talk less tomorrow.