Monthly Archives: July 2018

Matcha Nin

Energy Boosting drink with great health benefits.

Matcha Ninny is the newest of the Trim Healthy Mama drinks. It can be served hot or cold. It’s summer, so we are drinking ours cold. Here’s the link to the video on the benefits and how to make it. If that link doesn’t work for you, here’s a different one.

So we make a few tweaks to their recipe. We use chocolate protein powder!!!! They use plain protein powder but we love the hint of chocolate that the other gives to the drink. I’m not a huge fan of milk, but chocolate milk, that’s a different story entirely. :)

Sooo, in this house, you don’t make one of anything. :D So we are making two here. For yours, you’d just use half of your chosen container for both almond milk and water. Ours are these cute pint jars. We got the red one at Dollar Tree, so cute. The other has a chalk board label and was about $3 at TJMaxx or Ross or someplace like that. ;)

By using half almond milk and half water it lightens the caloric load.

water in jar ~ Lifeofjoy.meAlmond Milk in pint ~ Lifeofjoy.meIngredients ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Add the liquid to the blender.  Then add the other ingredients: matcha, sweetener (We use Super Sweet.), vanilla, coconut oil, and salt. We just get inexpensive matcha at Walmart. It probably isn’t the best quality but we like it and can afford it.

Matcha add sweetener ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd matcha ~ lifeofjoy.mecoconut oil ~ lifeofjoy.mepinch of salt ~ lifeofjoy.meDon’t forget the vanilla.

Blend.

Blend matcha nin ~ lifeofjoy.meThen add the protein powder and give it a quick whirl. Now if you like it frothy/foamy, then blend it longer but we don’t like foam.

Pour into your containers. We add a couple ice cubes because it is so hot right now that we need cool refreshment. Enjoy!

Matcha Nin ~ Lifeofjoy.meYum!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Praying for Marriages

Prayer for Marriages ~ Lifeofjoy.meI am soooo happy to hear that, the author of Unglued and Made to Crave, Lysa TerKeurst’s marriage has been healed!!!! I remember how saddened I was when I heard that it had fallen apart. I prayed for her and her husband. I know that once you are married it is God’s will for you to remain married, although I also know that there are exceptions to this.

At that time, some marriage blogger suggested praying for marriage bloggers and authors, knowing they were under attack. I think it is a good practice to get into to pray for those that take a stand for moral marriages.

I like that Lori Byerly of The Generous Wife, has a Cyber Prayer Meeting on the first Sunday of every month encouraging those that see her posts to pray for the marriages represented by those that read her blog. It is a good thing to pray for marriages because the devil wants to tear marriages and families apart.

Prayer is often overlooked. It is so important and we all know to do it, we just tend to forget. We tend to get so caught up in the frustrations we are experiencing that we forget God is on our side and that all we have to do is ask and He will help us. Of course, the help may not be in the form or manner we had hoped or even prayed for (if we prayed in specifics) but we can be assured that God heard our prayers and He answered them the way they needed answering.

Until next time, keep praying and God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Vacation Ends

I realized that I posted some pictures from our vacation out of order but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to share them with you today because Liam (my grandson) was there! :)

So after the horribly hot day at the zoo, we went back to the hotel, showered, and napped for a bit until it was time to leave for dinner.

Paul had been told by someone at his workplace in South Carolina about a restaurant in OKC that was highly recommended. Pretty interesting. So, although it was a little pricey, we made it happen. The restaurant is Cattleman’s and is in historic Stockyard City.

Cattleman's restaurant ~ Lifeofjoy.meMy oldest, Brian and long-time friend, Stephanie. And that, my friend, is the extra butter we requested for our veggies.

Cattleman's restaurant ~ Lifeofjoy.meI do have to admit that the croutons were really nice. They were slices of like a homemade toasted bread and you break them up into your salad. I broke off a small corner to taste. :) But I have to tell you the small filet was delicious!!!! It was a 6 ounce steak wrapped in bacon and was so tender! I wish I had taken a picture but alas, I was too busy living in the moment.

Michael got the catfish and enjoyed it. Tiffany got the ham steak which she really enjoyed as well. Sean got the chopped steak . . . that boy loves hamburgers  . . . but he liked it. We all got the steamed vegetables and side salad with the dressing on the side. It was delicious.

After dinner we went outside and chatted for a bit. There was music playing and Liam started dancing! It was soooo cute.

grandson dancing ~ Lifeofjoy.meHe had some teeth cutting, so he needed the pacifier to gnaw on. ;) I feel so bad for him when he’s being troubled by tooth pain. But we had fun dancing.

grandson dancing ~ Lifeofjoy.megrandson dancing ~ lifeofjoy.meUncle and nephew dancing ~ Lifeofjoy.meAfterwards we went back to the hotel but didn’t feel like swimming again in the salt water pool because then we’d need to shower again. Besides, the pool area was soooo warm, it was nearly a sauna. I have to say that this particular Hampton Inn that we stayed at wasn’t the best one but it was still nice. They’re pool area just needs to be updated. ;)

So we went back to the hotel and got comfy and visited for a while before going to bed.

In the hotel room ~ lifeofjoy.mehotel visit ~ Lifeofjoy.meWell, we had fun! Oh, we did have some dessert after getting back to the room because I made some THM desserts and brought them with me so that we would not feel deprived on vacation.

I hope you are enjoying your summer.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

Are You Training Your Child or Is Your Child Training You?

Training Children ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt is difficult to know when to begin putting your foot down with children. As babies, many times, we are the ones that are trained . . . they cry and we feed them, change them, hold them, put them to bed and so on.

I tried to get mine on a schedule as quickly as possible, mostly because I do not function well on little sleep. :D Filling their bellies and making them wait for about 3 hours before feeding them again trains them. Whereas waiting until they cry to be fed trains you. Hmmm . . .

It continues as they get older and begin wanting things. Our church is a family centered church which means that the children stay with the parent throughout the entire service and there is no children’s programs available. When my children were little, we sat in the back row near the bathrooms so that I could make a quick escape with a noisy child. My children did not tell me they wanted to go to the nursery; I didn’t allow it. They learned to sit and play quietly in the service.

If one of the children became noisy and me tapping them did not stop it immediately, we went into the bathroom where I corrected them and then we promptly returned to our seats.

One weekend I had my grandson in church with us. He is not yet two years old and this was last year some time as I recall. At any rate, we sit near the front and we did not change that this day. He got a bit fussy and loud, so I took him to the lobby and quieted him. When he stopped fussing, I took him back into the sanctuary but sat on the back row, in case I needed to escape again quickly, which I did about 15 minutes later. These are valuable times and worth missing the service if necessary for a few services to train the child that they must be quiet in service. I could still hear the speaker via the sound system, as I adjusted our little fellow’s attitude. He finally saw the light and we went back in for the remainder of the service.

This is how you train your child. If you are not training your child then you are the one being trained. Yes, sometimes it is easier just to give in and do what will keep them quiet in the moment but is that really teaching them the thing you want them to learn.

Also, giving them too many things to occupy them for the service time is not really training them to pay attention or sit and listen either. I do not believe a child should have an electronic device in a service; there are probably rare exceptions but is your child really an exception? Teaching a child to sit and write, draw, or color during service are a good idea. I even have some links to some printable listening pages you can print out for your children to use in services. There are even some set up so that pre-readers can use them.

Remember the Bible tells us to train our children not just to raise them. We also need to be setting good examples, being the best role models we can be for them. That means that you should be paying attention to the speaker too and not on facebook or doing something else on your phone. I know there are Bible apps on the phones now days, but if the temptation is too great to get sidetracked, maybe you’re better off with a printed Bible and notebook too.

I hope you’ve endured my rant and don’t hate me. :D

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Crocheting and Knitting Again

I mentioned Monday that I’d started crocheting again. Tiffany has started using a bar soap in the shower because she has found she needs to stay away from parabens and sulfates, as they have started making her skin itchy. The bar we found that is clean of these is Yardley. Her new shower puff (loofah) came apart with the first use. I have some nice crochet cotton for dishcloths in my yarn stash, so I decided I should make her this soap saver.

I’ve made this twice before, once with scrap yarn I had about, which was too rough, and again using the cotton yarn recommended. I still use the second one I made.

I made three this time, one for Tiffany, one for Sean, and another one for me, so that I can occasionally make sure it is clean.

Soap Saver in Use ~ Lifeofjoy.meNew Soap Saver ~ Lifeofjoy.meSolid color Soap Saver ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt’s a nice quick little project. If you are new to crochet, this is an easy project.

I’m new to knitting and have made one scarf for my hubby years ago and dishcloths. :) I saw this cool dishcloth online and started it over a year ago, well maybe even 18 months or more now. I got about halfway done with it before I put it down. Well, after making those three soap savers I decided I wanted to finish off the dishcloth.

When I started it, I didn’t have a solid color of the cotton yarn. So I used a variegated red to white yarn hoping it would still work okay.

Heart dishcloth ~ Lifeofjoy.meYou can almost make out the hearts but the variegation makes it really difficult to see them and all the work I did to make them happen. ;)

Here is another picture that you can see it a bit better.

hearts dishcloth ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt’s not perfect but it is nice. I will make it again with a solid color. She has some other designs on her website that I’m wanting to try. There is a pumpkin one somewhere that I hope I have enough yarn to make next. :)

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little diversion from lineart into practical yarn art. I like doing things with my hands and keeping busy.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

 

Caulirice ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Caulirice

When fresh cauliflower is inexpensive, make ‘rice’ from it yourself instead of paying over $2 for a 12 ounce bag. It’s easy!

It can be frustrating to have to make so many things just to make dinner, so the convenience of having riced veggies in the freezer is tempting. But I have a hard time paying ($2.48 for 10 oz and $2.48 for 12 oz.) $3.31 a pound for it when I can make it so easily at home. Lately I’ve been able to get a whole head of cauliflower for only $1.69 at Aldi or 98¢ a pound at Sprouts.  At 98¢ a pound, I can get nearly 3 times the amount of cauliflower for the same price.

When buying fresh cauliflower by the head, I get the biggest head I can find. But it’s really important when buying by the pound to get the best trimmed heads so that there is very little going into the compost bin. ;) When buying by the head, it isn’t as important to get the best trimmed head because you’re not paying for the leaves and such per pound, it’s just part of the head.

Making riced veggies is soooo easy and takes a really short amount of time. I break or rough cut the cauliflower into similarly size pieces and then give it a quick whirl in the food processor. Then simply put it in a pot with some water and cook it for a few minutes or sauté it in a pan either with water or good healthy fat.

So here we go. I got a head with little leaves.

Cauliflower Head ~ Lifeofjoy.meRemove the leaves.Remove leaves ~ Lifeofjoy.meGreen removed cauliflower ~ Lifeofjoy.meRough chop into similar size pieces.

Rough chop cauliflower ~ lifeofjoy.meThis was a large head, so I could only do half of it at a time.

Cauliflower in Food Processor ~ Lifeofjoy.mePulse 5-10 times until it is broken into rice size pieces.

Processing Cauliflower ~ Lifeofjoy.meCaulirice ~ Lifeofjoy.meCauliflower Rice ~ Lifeofjoy.meI then put about an inch of water in my pot and add the riced cauliflower. Cook until desired softness is achieved.

Cook Caulirice ~ Lifeofjoy.meI put a lid on it and cook it about 10-15 minutes. Serve with salt and butter or sauce.

I hope this helps you save some money. I know it helps my budget.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

 

You are Changing

change ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhether you think you are or not, you are changing; everyone is. As we go through life, experiences cause us to make changes in our lives, whether we realize it or not.

Your spouse is not the same person you married x number of years ago. And you are not the person you were then either. The truth is that even just getting married changes us because it is two people coming together and meshing their lives together. Odds are the things that have changed are not the things that you hoped would change, well except for celibacy that is. ;) Many times there is something about your fiancé that you secretly (or not so secretly) hope will change but generally it is that very thing that does not change but I digress.

I read this article about how we change over the years and we are not who we once were but that it isn’t always an improvement. ;) I did not necessarily like the article but it did make me think about change and how we all change.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that we are all changing. I want to be changing for the better; so I make an effort to read  things that will help me to change for the better. I also pursue activities that enrich my life. Lately I have been crocheting and knitting again. It started out of necessity for an item and progressed to enjoyment. But all that aside, the point is that I am doing things that are helping me change for the better. I cannot change anyone but me and my reaction to others (but that’s a talk for another day ;) ) so I don’t waste my efforts on things that are not profitable. :)

I find good Christian marriage authors both of books and of blogs, that help me to consider the things I do and how I can make positive changes in my life. I go to church and listen and put into practice the things they teach that will enhance my life. I spend time praying and worshipping God, and reading my Bible which are all going to help me make positive changes in my life.

I hope my ramblings have helped you in some way today. When I realize that I’m changing, for better or for worse, and what I’m thinking on fuels that change, it makes me more intentional about my choices.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Fun Day in Tulsa with Friends

On our friends last day with us, we decided to go walk a trail nearby and see if we could find some glow-in-the-dark mini golf. We found the desired mini-golf in Tulsa so chose to find somewhere to walk there as well.

We headed over to Turkey Hill; a new experience for us. We’ve lived in the Tulsa area for over twenty years and have never been there.

Thankfully Paul likes to take lots of pictures and he shared some with me, which I’m sharing here today. :)

Turkey Hill River Parks ~ Lifeofjoy.meWe perused the the trails map and chose the one that was 1.2 miles with steep areas. We’ve walked trails in the mountains in VA and figured we could handle it.

Turkey Hill Trails Map ~ Lifeofjoy.meAnd off we went.

Hiking Turkey Hill ~ Lifeofjoy.meWe decided to stop for a quick picture before we got hot and very tired.

Hiking with friends ~ lifeofjoy.meThere were some spots that were a bit steeper than we expected and I found it more difficult when we looped back around and had to come back down those steep areas. ;) There was also a tree felled across the trail at one point, which really should be removed because it is difficult for short people to climb over it and difficult for heavy people to crawl under it. 8)

There was a pond along the way that was full of turtles. We paused for a moment and the turtles headed toward Sean and Tiffany near the pond’s edge. We guess that people probably feed them and so they were headed for the food source but we disappointed them and some turned away.

Pond stop at Turkey Hill ~ Lifeofjoy.meTurtle at turkey hill pond ~ Lifeofjoy.meWe finished our hike and went for some lunch. Then we were off to play some mini golf.

We’ve never been to Incredible Pizza either, erroneously assuming it was just for younger kids. ;)

Incredible Pizza Tulsa ~ Lifeofjoy.meWe got the minimum allowed per person, which is $10 and decided to give it a go. The buffet actually looked good, although I don’t know how much would be THM compliant. ;)

We started with the glow-in-the-dark mini golf. I have to say though that this was not as nice as the one we went to in McAlestar. That one was in an enclosed area, so it really glowed! This one wasn’t completely enclosed, so the lights from the surrounding areas kept us from enjoying the full experience, but it was still fun.

Glow in the dark mini golf ~ lifeofjoy.meThese were taken in a darker corner, so you can see the good bit. ;)

Glow in the dark mini golf ~ Lifeofjoy.meHere you can see how it was a little bit of a let down but still good fun.Not so glowing mini golf ~ Lifeofjoy.meNext we opted to play some mini bowling.

Mini bowling ~ lifeofjoy.meMini bowling ~ lifeofjoy.meAgain, there was something I didn’t like . . . it was only five frames.

We still had a bit left on our cards so we all played some skeeball–a carnival type game that we all enjoy. We ended up with enough combined tickets that we could get some large foam dice.

Foam Dice prizes ~ Lifeofjoy.meIn the end, we had a fun time and worth $10 each. :)

Group Picture mini golf ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt was a fun morning. I recommend it if you want to have some family fun, even if you don’t have any little children. ;)

It was a good ending to a lovely visit with friends. I forgot to share our dinner out our last night in OKC which had some fun Liam moments that I really want to share with you next week.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Mother Culture

Refreshing ~ Lifeofjoy.meMother Culture is something I learned about when I was reading A Charlotte Mason Companion. It has been mentioned in a variety of ways in the homeschool community.

When I think of mother culture, I think about what a mother does. Not the mothering, wifeing, housekeeping, and such but the things she does for her. Now I’m not talking about going to a movie with girlfriends or getting a pedicure, although those things can and should be a part of your life. I’m talking about interests and continuing to learn; a continuing education if you will.

It’s important to continue growing and learning. Are you a musician, artist, crafter? Do you actively pursue these ventures? Do you take time to read each day? Do you make sure you have time with God every day, praying, worshiping, reading the Bible, just plain communing with Him on some level every day? I know it is easy to let this slip. There’s so much to be done but this is really one piece of your daily puzzle that you NEED.

Aside from spending some time, be it a few minutes or longer, in pursuit of God, you also need to be spending time doing something you enjoy and if it will nourish your mind, that’s a bonus. ;) It is good for children to see you doing these things. This way they see that you place value on them. If all your children ever see you do is work and watch television or spend time on social media, is that really the example you want them to follow?

Remember that you are making disciples of your children. They pay attention more to what they see than what they are told. Remember you are the most important role model in your children’s lives. If they see you pursuing God, knowledge, and profitable activities, they will follow suit in time.

I’m including some links here if you desire to find out more about Mother Culture.

After reading those articles, you will find that Mother Culture is also closely related to reading. It is suggested that you have three books going at any given time (other than the Bible), a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel. At any given time you read whichever one you feel like reading.

Tiffany has said that she finds it difficult to talk to new moms because she asks about them and all they can talk about their child. Although she loves hearing about the children, it also hurts her because she knows it is important that they continue to have pursuits of their own. Thankfully she’s read A Charlotte Mason Companion and is convinced of its value. I hope you are too.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Honeycomb

This week I had my Zentangle group.

Tulsa Zentangle Group ~ Lifeofjoy.meSince it wasn’t our usual week because of room availability, I was the only one there other than the CZT, Pam Neumann.

She taught me Raddox and then showed me how some others have drawn it. One of them in particular was spectacular! She drew it in the round and it was stunning. If you have the Mosaic app, you should be able to find it . . . it resembles a star.

Here is the learning tile I did with Raddox.

Scanned Learning Raddox Tile ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Yeah, it looks better in real life. Here’s a photo of it.

Learning Raddox Photo ~ Lifeofjoy.mePam showed me some tiles she’d done with Raddox and that led to Orlique, Tagh, Indy-rella, and Zinger. We didn’t get around to actually doing a tile with Raddox in it so I thought that’s what I’d do for today’s tile.

I went to Tanglepatterns.com and decided to use String 016 by Jill Dobis. It is a rather unusual string and I thought it left some good spaces to enable me to use several of the tangles Pam and I went over the other day.

Here is my tile, which I am calling Honeycomb, because Michael said that’s what it looked like to him. :) This is the unshaded version.

unshaded raddox, tagh, orlique, zinger, indy-rella ~ Lifeofjoy.meI found it difficult to carry raddox around the curve and thus the black stripes happened. ;) Then for tagh, I decided I needed some more black contrast so I attempted to inverse it a bit, making the tag or tongue white and drawing a double line for the outer border to enable me to blacken it in a bit. I’m pleased with how that turned out.

Orlique is the one in the middle. Next time I will probably use one pointed line and one curvy lines, trying for a little more distinction. But it turned out okay. I’d never drawn Indy-rella before and I actually liked it. I can see I may be using this one more in the future.

I really like Zinger, always have. I just need a bit more experience shading it. The largest one got a bit out of hand though. :D

I’m always amazed at how much shading helps. And to think that in the beginning I was afraid I’d mess up my hard lineart with shading. Now I look forward to shading to cover up my wiggly lines. :D

Here is the shaded scan.

Shaded Tile using Raddox, Tagh, Indy-rella, and Zinger ~ Lifeofjoy.meLooks better in real life. Here it is a bit smaller . . .

Shaded Tile using Raddox, Tagh, Indy-rella, and Zinger ~ Lifeofjoy.meI like to show it larger because I like to see the detail in other’s work, so I do what I’d like to see. ;)

Again, the photo looks so much better, even though it was overcast when I took them.

Tile using Raddox, tagh, indy-rella, and zinger ~ Lifeofjoy.meAnd here it is a bit smaller. ;)

Tile using Raddox, tagh, indy-rella, and zinger ~ Lifeofjoy.meWell, in real life, it looks more shaded than that. You know, I know how much I shade to get it to look like that; some of those with dark shading must really really shade to almost black. :D

Well, that’s my rambling and art for this week. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº