Monthly Archives: April 2016

Fun to Be Had

Fun to Be Had ~ Lifeofjoy.meLast week after running errands, the car had overheated. So Sunday on the way to church, we dropped it off at the mechanics. This caused me to have to cancel a meeting I was supposed to have on Monday but it turned out to be a blessing because now the meeting is at a time I am already in town. :)

A few days later it was ready to pick up. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. While it was there, we had him do the scheduled maintenance on the new transmission. I rode in with Mike on his way to work and we stopped at the mechanic’s so I could get the car. I drove it home and then Tiffany and I went into town to run errands.

She needed another new dress, so we did some dress shopping. We struck out at Ross but found one at Burlington Coat Factory. It is odd because the two dresses that fit her nicely this week were VERY similar to the two we got her before Easter. Anyway, we got her a pair of flat sandals to wear with it.

Then we were off to Sprouts. They had 25% off on all their vitamins. There were free things to be had and special deals. One of the representatives that was there was for siddha. I had never heard of them before. They are a company that makes homeopathic remedies from cell salts (whatever that is) and flower essences. They had a GREAT deal on them so I thought we’d give it a try. I bought one for emotional stress and one for improving sight. We’ll see. ;)

This weekend is the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators Consortium Convention. Unfortunately there is NOT one in our immediate area this year. Tracie, my sister, decided to go to Oklahoma City to attend and said I could share her hotel room and ride with her. So, I’m going! Well, actually, we are here already because we have to be at the convention center about 8am.

I hope I remember to take some pictures to share next week but we all know I’m not very good at that.

We checked-in the hotel about 7pm and then proceeded to take a trial run to the convention center so that we would know what we were doing the next morning. We discovered that parking will be interesting but at least we had an idea of what to do and where to go.

It’s going to be a full couple of days and Tracie and I are excited to be spending some time alone, away from all other responsibilities. :)

I hope you have a good weekend.

Until next time, God bless,
Michele ºÜº

Three Ways to Calm Your Child

3 Ways to Calm your Child ~ Lifeofjoy.meThis week’s article is from Kirk Martin, the founder of Celebrate Calm. I first heard him and his son speak at the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators Consortium Convention in Tulsa a few years ago.

I learned a couple of very valuable things from them:

  1. I can only change ME and my reaction to things.
  2. I need to respect myself enough to ask for the things I need, no matter what they are hugs, communication, or a new pair of shorts. ;)

These things have been tremendously helpful to me. I no longer expect Mike to guess what I want and I don’t think I can coerce, nag, or convince Mike to change anything he does. I work on ME. Sometimes that is hard because I don’t always have good reactions to things.

This weeks article is about ways to calm your child. I hope it will be a blessing to you.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

I Feel Helpless: 3 Ways To Calm Your Child Down.
When kids get frustrated, disappointed or upset, they often hit, kick, bite, scream, say things they don’t mean, throw things, or throw themselves on the floor. Some kids get visibly angry, some just shut down.

When parents get frustrated, disappointed or upset, they often yell, say things they don’t mean, or withdraw. And some throw themselves on the floor!

When kids (or your spouse) gets upset, remember to do these three things:
(1) “That doesn’t sound like you. Sounds like you’re frustrated and I totally get that. I would be as well.” Acknowledge that their emotions are legitimate even if you don’t understand. It feels good to be understood instead of someone barking, “I don’t know why you have to make everything so difficult…”

(2) Give people space when they are upset. Don’t stand over them. Instead of changing their behavior or emotions first, focus on controlling yours. The more people around me get upset, the calmer and more even, matter-of-fact tone I use. Lead them to a place of calm by doing an activity that’s calming.

(3) Motion changes emotion. Movement is a tool we give kids to help process emotions and calm down. You can’t think yourself calm. But here are some things kids (and parents) CAN do when upset: color, build with legos, pet the dog, listen to music, do a crossword puzzle, kick a soccer ball back and forth, do pushups or jumping jacks, jump on the mini-trampoline.

So let me give you two cool, but odd ways, to use this from real life examples:

HUGS AND SOFA CUSHIONS
So a Mom got our CDs and listened to them, then asked her emotionally explosive 7-year-old son, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but sometimes I lose it and need help calming down. Could you listen to these and come up with some ideas to help me calm down?” Mom was vulnerable and made it about her instead of her son. His idea? He said, “Mom, sometimes you just get overwhelmed being a Mom. What if our code word was HUG every time you got upset?” So he began giving her a hug when she was upset. That naturally led to his calming routine.

You know I love code words. Her son’s getting upset and she knows he likes physical pressure. So her pre-established routine is to say, “I can tell you’re frustrated. SOFA!” And that’s the cue for her son to take the cushions off the sofa and lie down on that hard frame. She then puts the cushions on top of him and lies down. The physical pressure is calming and they have an amazing talk because she’s not threatening him or looking him in the eyes.

Weird? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Want to hear another weird calming routine that works? I dare you to try this sometime!

A SAFE PLACE TO SCREAM
After listening to Casey’s kids CDs about how he calms himself down, a daughter told her Mom, “I just need to let out some steam by screaming without getting in trouble.” Mom thought for a moment and told her daughter to get her shoes and meet her at the car. The daughter kept asking where they were going.

Mom said, “I’m taking you somewhere to scream as loud and long as you need to.” Her daughter was stunned, but smiled as her mom pulled into a cemetery.

Mom said, “Well, the people in the cemetery won’t mind you screaming!” It’s completely out of the box and helps relieve the anxiety. The cool part? They don’t have time to go to the cemetery all the time, so anytime either of them gets anxious or upset, their code word is, “Is it time to visit the cemetery?”

I know our stuff is weird sometimes, but it’s practical and works.
In the moment, when you feel helpless and like a bad parent, it doesn’t matter if it’s weird or not. Nothing feels worse than not knowing how to help your child.

Stripes and Snail

iamthedivacztThanks for stopping by this week. Today’s tile is in response to the Diva Challenge and the Square One: Purely Zentangle Focus.

FB□1 ~ LifeofJoy.meThe Diva Challenge is simply to use stripes for the string. So it made it easy to add the Square One Focus tangle: Snail.

I drew my stripes at a slight angle horizontally. I decided to draw snail on every other stripe. That left me with some decisions for the alternating stripes. Ultimately I decided to go with the simple and comfortable tangle, shattuck using straight lines rather than curved ones to contrast with the circles of snail.

Here is the tile without any shading.

Stripes and Snail ~ Lifeofjoy.me

On last week’s tile, Eni Oken suggested that I pick a location for the light to come from and shade accordingly. So I decided to give it a try but I don’t believe I’m very happy with the results right now. I put the light source in the lower left side of the tile.

I then attempted to shade only the right side of snail. It looked odd, so I added a tiny bit of pencil to the left side without blending it in, just to thicken the line a bit, giving the illusion of a bit of a ridge.

Then I decided that the ‘bars’ on each stripe should be shaded a bit on the top of it and just a bit of darkening with no blending on the bottom of it.

Here is my finished tile.

Stripes and Snail ~ Lifeofjoy.meNot sure what else I should’ve done with this one but I’m learning. :)

Thank you for stopping by and a big thank you to any that take the time to leave a comment; it is greatly appreciated!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Easy Chicken Soup

Easy Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meThis soup is so similar to Granny’s Chicken Soup but just enough different to share. Here’s the deal. We’ve been fighting off feeling yucky around here. Saturday is usual homemade pizza night but Sean was feeling a bit achy and stuffy and asked if I had any soup on the menu that we could have instead of pizza. (I knew he wasn’t feeling good because he was the one that was instrumental in bringing back pizza night.) I did not but I had a chicken thigh in the freezer and could throw together a chicken soup with wide egg noodles. This was acceptable and much appreciated.

Well, then yesterday Tiffany was fighting off the same yuckiness and wondered if I could make some more soup. Thankfully I had a couple more thighs in the freezer. :)

Granny’s soup has potatoes in it and super thin egg noodles. This has no potatoes and wide egg noodles. Granny’s has chunks of carrot that you mash with a fork; this has thin slices of carrot that cook quickly. Those are the differences. Oh! Granny’s chicken soup uses a whole chicken, whereas this uses whatever pieces I have–preferably some piece with the skin and the bone.

This is a throw it together kind of soup. One that uses whatever you have on hand that sounds good at the time.

Fill the pot up with water, however full you need for your family. I fill my 6 quart dutch oven about 2/3 full. Add the chicken piece or pieces. I had one large boneless thigh on Saturday and two small thighs with skin and bones on Monday; both worked fine.

Add a thick slice of onion, one rib of celery, and one thinly sliced carrot. Add whatever you like. Yesterday I added about a quarter cup of frozen peas and about a half cup of frozen green beans, broken into bite-size pieces.

Easy Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meBring it to a boil and then simmer until the chicken is done.

Easy Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen the chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender, about 30 minutes, remove the chicken, onion, and celery (unless you want to eat the onion and celery but I only put them in for seasoning). Return to a boil and add in as many wide egg noodles as you like. I added more today than I did Saturday; it’s really about what you want.

Easy Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd more water or chicken broth, if needed. When I reheated this later for Tiffany, I added a glassful of water and about a half tablespoon of Better than Bouillon.

While the noodles are cooking, remove the meat and skin from the bone, if there is one. Shred or cut up the meat and add it back to the soup. Easy Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen noodles are cooked through, about 8 minutes, it is ready to serve.

Easy Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meEasy Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meServe with a nice soft piece of bread and you have a very comforting and satisfying dinner.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

Pray and Just Do It

Pray and Just Do It ~ Lifeofjoy.meThere are times when you are just tired and don’t want to be intimate with your beloved. I know. Trust me. But let me reassure you that the best thing you can do for your marriage is to stop and ask God to energize you and help you desire to be intimate with your sweetie right then.

But don’t stop there. Ask Him to help you “get into” it. Nobody wants just a willing participant. You want to make love with someone that is interested, passionate even. :) Ask God to help you and then have a positive attitude and love on your sweetie. It will be worth it.

You will have invested in your marriage, made a sacrifice of your own desires, and been a blessing to your spouse. That is a win, win, win situation.

Now I know there are special circumstances where you and your spouse may agree that postponing intimacy is best but those should be the rarity and not the normal.

There is no need to belabor this point today, so I’ll keep it short and I hope it was sweet. ;)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Fruit Update and Wildflowers

Do you remember me showing you the itty-bitty plums on our plum tree a couple of weeks ago? Well here is a picture of those same plums . . . they’ve grown from about the size of a dime to about the diameter of a nickle now. :) Yes, I know it isn’t very much but they are much easier to spot now. :)Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Here are some pictures of our Arkansas Black apples. They are now about the diameter of a quarter now. :)Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meHere’s a few more but not quite as big.Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meLast time I didn’t tell you about the blueberry bushes we planted at the same time as the fruit trees. There are eight plants, two each of four kinds. They are supposed fruit in succession throughout the fruiting season spring through fall. They are supposed to end up being about six feet tall and about three feet around. Nice!

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meThis is a really cool picture to show kids how the fruit grows because it has some of the blossoms right beside some that have lost the blossom and the fruit is developing. So cool! I had never seen this before either. :)

We have quite a few wildflowers going on the property. Well, we did until Mike mowed. Now we won’t see them for a long while. ;)

Here are some close-ups I took a couple weeks ago. They are tiny!

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meFruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meFruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meFruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meFruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meFruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meThe above picture grows up and grows these flower-like things. ;)

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meFruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meI don’t know what any of them are but they are pretty! :) Well, most of them are pretty.

Then we have wild onions.  And sometimes we have wild garlic too, which looks very similar to the onion so it’s hard for me to tell the difference just looking at them.

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meA couple of years ago we had this odd vine growing in our garden. I could not remember what it was. Turns out, it was on of the grape bushes we bought from Aldi and planted over 5 years ago. I thought it had died like the other fruit bushes we’d bought from there (because we did not care for them properly).

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meUnfortunately the grapes are very small and have seeds in them. Hmmm, I guess they’ll be good chicken fodder next time we get chickens. ;)

On the up side, my newest rose bush, which we planted last year, is doing good. It has a few buds on it already.

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meA couple of years ago my family planted some flowers and some trees for me for my birthday and Mother’s Day. Unfortunately only one survived.

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meThe one in the forefront is doing good but the one, the same size, in  the background is a goner. See . . .

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meMy Irises are doing better this year. I had about eight blooms. Last year I did not see a single one. I don’t understand how I can have soooo many plants and so few Irises.

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.me And finally, there is this mystery plant that grows very tall and nobody can tell me what it is.

Fruit Update and Wildflowers ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt has only ever grown where there is animal waste. So here I have called it the poop plant, I’m sorry to say. That aside, Tiffany got some nice shots of raindrops in that picture. She took a lot but I’ve already gone on long enough, so I won’t share anymore here today.

Have a great weekend!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Good Freebies

Good Freebies ~ Lifeofjoy.mePeriodically I drop by Homeschool Freebie of the Day to see what they have available. I did this recently and was amazed at what all they have available right now.

Yesterday they had a link to a website with a 16 chapter course on drawing cartoons. It even has a downloadable pdf so you don’t have to be online to read it.

Then the day before there was a link to a site with loads of math games, including logic puzzles. I love games for helping kids remember and retain information!

They also had a free ebook of Fairy Tales Too Good To Pass Up and a special deal if you wanted to purchase a treasury of ebooks.

There was even a link to a short course on Trigonometry for the older kids (or the advanced interested younger ones) and a link with suggestions of what to do to incorporate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

But don’t stop at the first page, click on the “Older Posts” button near the bottom and there are even more goodies to be found. One such goodie is another art lessons link, but it isn’t your typical art lessons. There is also a free reading primer, chemistry lessons link, free how to draw with numbers and letters ebook, Bible story comic ebook, 10-week Lego class pdf, and so much more.

Sometimes the links are time sensitive but other times they are just great finds around the web. It is definitely worth checking out every so often, to make sure you don’t miss something that will enhance your homeschooling journey.

Now, I would be remiss if I did not urge you to subscribe to their newsletter. You get a weekly email letting you know what freebies will be available throughout the coming week but then there is always something special that he only shares with the email group. This week’s was a link to specific bird cams but they really do vary from week to week.

Soooo, Go! Check it out! It really is worth your time. And subscribe while you are there; that way you will know ahead of time what days you need to go to their website and won’t miss out on something that could benefit you and your children.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Spring String + Shnek

iamthedivacztThis week’s Diva Challenge is to make a spring string. I followed the diva’s example and made a curly, spring-like line centered on my tile. I decided to take a picture of it before I did anything else to it because with this kind of string it is easily lost. ;) (I used my phone because I was nestled all snug in my chair with laptop, for Shnek directions, pens, tile, blending stumps, and pencils and didn’t want to undo all of that twice to scan it.)

Spring String + Shnek ~ Lifeofjoy.me

FB□1 ~ LifeofJoy.meThe Square One : Purely Zetangle focus this week is Shnek which is by Hanny W. I’ve learned my lesson and practiced this a bit in my drawing book, to kind of get a feel for it. There are so many variations she showed on her site, that I wasn’t sure which one to use.

Although I think I prefer the Shnek-knot version the best, it didn’t go with my string. Instead I chose the Shnek in a Circle version and chose to only tangle the loops of my string. In the end, my daughter thought that part was ‘out of place,’ so maybe that wasn’t the best idea. ;)

Then I decided to add the increasing dot version along the connecting lines of the spring string.Spring String + Shnek ~ Lifeofjoy.me

I considered adding MA-XIII since that is the focus of WZTV but I didn’t think there was enough space left to do it justice and I didn’t want to force it. I decided to shade it and see what I thought. Although I was pretty certain it needed some black area.

Wow! Shading sure does make a huge difference.  Here’s the same bit shaded. (I took this with my phone camera because I didn’t want to keep getting up and down to scan it . . . Okay, I was lazy.) But I think you will get the idea.

IMG_1877 (2)I liked it but I just thought it needed some more black to balance it out. So I decided to do a straight line of Shnek down the right side, but in a little bit so I’d have room to black in a little bit of the edge. (I think I may just make it jagged toward the center and blacken in the Shnek on that right side because I’m not real happy with the finished look.)

Then I thought I’d do just a little black along the left edge, as if it were a bit of an aura for that large increasing Shnek. Then I felt it needed a boundary on the top, so I penciled that in and smudged it a bit.

Here’s the final product . . . I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Spring String + Shnek ~ Lifeofjoy.meI should have gotten out my magnification glasses, so I could see to fill in those tiny circles better. ;)

Well, that’s it for me for today.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Sunday Pudding

My Granny with my parents ~ Lifeofjoy.meThis past Christmas I gave my dad a “gift certificate” for the “Quarterly Dessert Club.” ;) Dad had a hard time making a Christmas list last year, so this was my solution, since there are certain desserts that he really enjoys but doesn’t get very often.

A few weeks ago I took him the first installment. I decided to bring him this Sunday Pudding because it was his mom’s recipe and the only time we got it was when she brought it over. Then nineteen years ago we moved about 1200 miles from her and unless one of us made it, we weren’t getting it.

My sister Sondra, who is two and a half years younger than I am, attempted to make it a few times through the years. We enjoyed the attempts, even when it separated into layers. :) Then we lost the recipe for a while. I looked all over the internet but never found what I thought was the one.

One day, I really really wanted that recipe, so I prayed and asked God to help my mom find it. I commissioned the angels to put it in a place where she couldn’t miss it. Not too long after that Mom went into the spare room to play her keyboard and right there on top of everything was this recipe! Thank you God!

The recipe was a bit difficult for me to decipher the first time I made it.  The first several times I made this I made a triple or quadruple recipe because I took it to my parents’ on family day. I learned to make it before four in the afternoon when I made that much, so that it would have time to set and mix properly before going to bed that night.

Without further adieu, I present, Sunday Pudding. :)

Start by heating one 12 ounce can of evaporated milk, 1/2 cup water, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can use a bowl and pan, with the bowl acting as your double boiler pot.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meSunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meYou want water in the bottom pan but not enough to touch the bottom of the bowl or pan on top of it, when it boils. Bring the water in the bottom pan to a simmer, with the boiler pan on top of it. (Here you can only see my double boiler pan.)

I use a whisk to combine the nutmeg into the water and milk but it really doesn’t combine well for a while.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhile the water is coming to a simmer, it is safe to prepare the eggs.  Separate the yolks from the whites of three eggs. Keep the whites for later. :)

Place the three yolks, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in mixing bowl and beat until light.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meMeanwhile, keep checking that milk and making sure it doesn’t scorch.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen the milk is hot temper the yolk mixture by taking some of the hot milk and stirring it into the yolk mixture. This brings the temperature of the eggs closer to the temperature of the milk and keeps the eggs from cooking into lumps.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meSunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meYou can add some more of the hot milk to the yolk mixture if you are unsure about it. Then add the yolk mixture to the milk mixture in the double boiler pan.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meKeep stirring and cooking until thickened.

Meanwhile, put one envelope, 1 tablespoon, of unflavored gelatin (Knox is one brand),  in a small bowl with 3 tablespoons water to soften the gelatin.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meKeep stirring milk and egg mixture until thickened. See how thick it is on the upper edge of the pudding and on the spatula. It isn’t much but it is thicker.Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meNow it’s ready for the next step.Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meRemove the pans from the heat, turn off the burner.

I like to add a little of this hot pudding to the gelatin, because mine is usually pretty globby/stiff now and the hot pudding makes it easier to incorporate. Also add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to the gelatin.Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd this gelatin, water, vanilla mixture to the pudding in the double boiler and combine thoroughly.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.mePour this into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate.

(Sorry, forgot to get a picture.) Your choice of bowls is important. If you use a larger, flatter bowl, it will be nearly set much quicker than if you use a smaller, deeper bowl. I found a glass bowl at Dollar Tree that looked like one my granny would have used, so that is what I used. It was a deeper bowl.

Keep checking on the pudding. You want to catch it before it sets up firm but cooler and firmer than when you put it in.

I checked on mine and found the middle was still rather warm while the outer portion was setting, so I stirred it up a bit to get it all back to the same temperature.

When it is just about soft set, it is time to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Now fold the egg whites into the pudding. I like to do this in a couple of batches. I take about 1/3 of the whites and fold it in, not being overly concerned with keeping them stiff; this is to lighten up the pudding so the rest of the egg whites fold in more easily. Remember, folding is cutting down through the middle, scraping the bottom of the bowl as you bring the spatula up the side and fold the bottom onto the top, turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen there are no more lumps of egg whites, you are done. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate again. I usually make this the night before I want to serve it so it is good and set when we want to eat it.

I forgot to take pictures of it when I was done mixing and when it was completely set. So, I asked my dad to take a couple of pictures and send them to me. :) He did.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meThis is a light airy pudding that I was taught to squish a bite through my teeth, to fully enjoy it. ;) Daddy said he likes his with canned whipped cream but I always remember Granny serving this with chocolate sprinkles.

Sunday Pudding ~ Lifeofjoy.meI had intended to make some of this yesterday so I could show you the individual serving with chocolate sprinkles. But the day got away from me and got too late for me to make it and serve as dessert last night. Then it got too late to make and be assured it would soft set before I went to bed. So maybe later today I will get it made and can add some extra pictures.

Sunday Pudding

Ingredients

  • 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs, will be separated
  • 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Chocolate sprinkles (or chocolate shavings)
  • whipped cream (optional)

Instructions

  1. Put water in bottom pan of a double boiler and bring to a simmer.
  2. Add milk, 1/2 cup water, and nutmeg to the top pan of the double boiler, placed over the simmering water.
  3. Separate egg yolks from the whites, saving whites for use later.
  4. Beat egg yolks, sugar, and salt until light.
  5. Temper yolks with a bit of the hot milk.
  6. Add the yolk mixture to the hot milk mixture in the top pan of the double boiler.
  7. Soak the gelatin in the 3 tablespoons water to soften it.
  8. Continue stirring and cooking the milk mixture until it thickens.
  9. Remove from heat.
  10. Add the softened gelatin and vanilla extract to the pudding and combine.
  11. Pour into bowl and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate.
  12. When pudding is ready-set, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into the pudding.
  13. Cover and chill again until completely set.
  14. Serve with chocolate sprinkles on top (and whipped cream if desired).
https://lifeofjoy.me/sunday-pudding/

Now I must add that my kids prefer this pudding before I add in the egg whites but that is only because they never had it when Granny made it. :( They actually liked my flops where the pudding separated into layers, which was just weird!

I will also add that the original recipe said to pour it into a pie shell and top with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Granny NEVER served it in a pie shell that I can recall; Daddy might remember her doing it that way at some point in his lifetime though since he remembered it with whipped cream and I never remember her serving it that way either.

Well, I hope you enjoy this recipe. It is one that brings back fond memories of my granny and childhood.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Be Considerate

Being Considerate ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt is so easy to look out for yourself. This world teaches you to be independent and that if you don’t look out for yourself nobody will. But that can lead one to a very self-centered, if not selfish life and that is NOT what God asks of us.

I know it is hard when there are young children involved! You feel pulled on at every turn and really don’t feel you have any energy left to give out to your spouse. You must find ways to energize yourself to be able to give to him as well.

The good thing is that it doesn’t have to be in big ways. It can be something as little as when you go into the kitchen to get yourself something to drink, ask him if he’d like some too. It doesn’t take much more effort to pour two beverages than it does just one. If you are in the same room together, then there really isn’t any more steps involved either. AND it shows your beloved that you care for them.

Being considerate doesn’t have to take a lot of effort. It just takes some thought. Too many times I get up to get me a glass of water and don’t even think to ask Mike if he would like one too; it just takes a slight adjustment in my thinking to consciously include him in my thoughts when I’m doing something.

Sometimes Mike goes to bed before I do. On these nights, I try to change into my pajamas before he goes to bed so that I make as little noise as possible when I do come to bed. I also use the other bathroom, rather than the one in our room, for the same reasons. I move around without lights on too. These are just little things I do to be considerate of him.

I also try to purchase snacks that I know he will enjoy. I also ask him what he’d like to snack on so that he doesn’t get stuck with the same ones all the time. I ask him if there is any meal he’d like to have for the upcoming week, when I am making a menu. I finally found an easy way to do this. You see, Mike likes options, whereas I know what I want to eat, generally speaking. So, I told him to look at the Tasty Tuesday section of my blog and there he would find MANY options of things we already eat. :) This week he actually contributed two meal ideas to the menu! It means that I know I will be making two things this week that he will enjoy.

Oh! Don’t get me wrong. Mike is a very easy man to cook for. He likes most everything I make. Usually if he doesn’t like it, I probably didn’t either. :D

This week I bought the ingredients to make one of his favorite desserts: peanut butter cookies. :) These are all easy ways to show him love, respect, and consideration. It doesn’t take much effort.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº