This Day

This bright, New Day......
Complete with 24 hours of opportunities, choices and attitudes.
A perfectly matched set of 1440 minutes.
This unique gift, this one day cannot be exchanged, replaced or refunded.
Handle With Care.
Make the Most of It.
There is only 1 to a customer.


author unknown

Political Parties

There is a story that I read to our sons when we were homeschooling.  It was a wonderful story of a man who lived on a farm but he was revered highly for his knowledge in matters of governing a country.  I'm sorry to say, I can't remember all of the particulars but what was impressive about the story was the fact that after the man help correct the major problems and got the country back on track he went back to his home.  The people of this country wanted to make him king or president but he wanted nothing to do with all that. They offered him all kinds of things but he would have nothing to do with any of it.  He wanted to help the people and he did, then he wanted to return to his life of living in the country.  Someone was telling me that it sounded like George Washington but I don't think it was. I wanted to post this story because, for me, it was very moving and it was an example of how I believe leaders of all countries should be.  Their service should not be for personal gain but for the welfare of their citizens.  I know I saved that book containing that story, but I haven't found it yet.  But as I have been looking thru all of my history books, I sit in awe of what I read.  The very thing the founders feared has happened.

I've watched more news in the last 6 months than I have in the last 20 years.  I have had a very passive attitude because I've thought what can you do, who can go up against that corrupt system and change anything.  But as I listen to our elective officials talk about partisan politics it has become disgusting to me.  It became clear to me that they don't care about the people of this country they are concerned about their political party.  Then when I started going through my history books and reading about the constitution I was pretty amazed.  It would be to the benefit of us all to go buy a history book and start reading about the constitution and what the Framers intended. 

In the Federalist, James Madison argued that the Constitution would control factions.  He defined a faction as a group of citizens that pursues it own selfish interests without thinking of the common welfare.  The Framers believed that factions were dangerous for the republican government, whose purpose is to promote the common welfare.  The Framers thought that political parties, groups of people who join together because they have similar views about government and factions.  If parties became part of the political system, they would fight to promote the interests of their own members.  The Framers feared that the strongest political party would then control the government.  Under such circumstances, the government would not equally protect the rights and interests of all the people.  It would instead promote the interest of the party in power.

Thomas Jefferson (my man) believe in a narrow view of the meaning of the constitution.  He believed in small local government.  Jefferson believed that a broad interpretation of the constitution would give to much power to the national government. 

I would say that is exactly what has happened!  There are no easy solutions.  But there is one commandment that should play in the decision making of our political leaders, "Treat Other People The Way You Want To Be Treated and Life, Liberty and Happiness for mankind." When they are voting on bills they should be asking themselves these  questions.  It's not about your political party but it is about American citizens and what is best for them.

Lemon Buttercream Cake with Homemade Blackberry Ice cream

We celebrated our daughter's birthday last weekend.  She told me to not make a cake and go to all that work but I wanted to do it and I had been thinking about this special combination of lemon cake and blackberry ice cream.  It was divine!

My husband loves ice cream.  When our children were little, I would always give them a snack before bedtime and he got one too.  :)  He still has a snack before bed and if he had his way it would be ice cream every night.  I know that is not good for him so I have been experimenting with making different ice cream flavors and making it tasty but leaving out some of the heavy cream and using coconut milk coffee creamer, I've tried two different recipes and I think this one is the best.  The best recipe, I think, has a custard that you mix with the berries and the ice cream comes out a little more creamy than the other recipe.  This is how I make it~

Blackberry Ice Cream
4 pints of blackberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
Juice of one lemon
3 cups half and half
10 egg yolks
3 cups coconut milk coffee creamer

Combine blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and the lemon juice in a sauce pan and cook over low heat until the berries break down.  Should take about 20 minutes.  When the berries have broken down pour them through a fine mesh strainer.  Take a wooden spoon and smash the berries continuously through the strainer until you have the seeds and pulp left and discard this.  Heat half and half and remaining sugar over medium heat.  Beat egg yolks and temper with half and half.  Cook over medium heat until this mixture thickens about 5 minutes.  Pour coconut milk coffee creamer into the berries and mix well and then pour this mixture into the custard and mix well.  Refrigerate this until cool and then pour into your ice cream maker.  When ice cream is done put into containers for the freezer and let it set overnight.

I can't say enough about this cake.  It is delicious and it says, "it's springtime!"  This would be a wonderful cake for your Easter celebration.  This recipe is only for two 8 inch cake layers.  If this is going to be your only dessert and you are having a lot of company, you will want to increase the recipe 1/2 times to make two 9 inch cake layers.

Cake
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (I substituted this with lemon extract) for a more lemony flavor
1 cup milk

Lemon Curd
1 tablespoon cornstarch
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Lemon Buttercream Icing
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons milk
(I increased the icing recipe one half to make sure I had enough icing.  It's been my experience that most icing recipes do not make enough icing to do layers and the outside of the cake.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 2 8 inch cake pans.  Mix together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. I made the lemon curd next because it has to cool.

Lemon curd -  In a sauce pan, mix together lemon zest, lemon juice and cornstarch until smooth.  Mix in butter and sugar and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat.  Boil one minutes, stirring constantly.  In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks until smooth.  Whisk in a small amount of lemon mixture to temper the eggs. Then add the tempered eggs to the custard whisking the hot lemon mixture rapidly.  Reduce heat to low and cook stirring constantly 5 minutes or until thick (not to boil).  Pour into a bowl.  Press plastic wrap to surface so a film won't form.  Cool at room temperature and then put in refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Cake batter - In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla (or lemon extract).  Beat in flour mixture alternating with milk.  Mixing just until incorporated.  Pour batter into prepared cake pans.  Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from cake pan and cool on rack completely.

Icing - In a large bowl beat confectioners sugar, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest until smooth.  Beat in milk and increase speed until light and fluffy.

To assemble cake  -  Use a serrated knife and cut each cake layer in half.  Lay cut side down on cake plate and spread half of the lemon curd.  Top with another layer and spread about 1/2 cup of buttercream icing.  Add third layer and spread remaining lemon curd.  Press on final layer and frost top and sides of the cake.  Refrigerate cake.  Let it set at room temperature several hours before serving. 

You can garnish the cake with twisted lemon slices and fresh mint, I used blackberries.  You could use raspberries or small strawberries.  Even a melody of berries with fresh mint would be pretty.

Hope you enjoy this wonderful cake!
So sorry for the pictures.  :(

Serious Clean Out

The dumpster arrived yesterday!  We have been going through closets and cabinets getting rid of stuff and clothes that we don't need or use.  As I said before, it feels good!  So, we decided to move outside.  It's kind of funny, none of this was thought out or planned it has just evolved into a major clean out. This all started with Asplundh showing up and trimming the trees in front of our property.  They looked terrible when they were done.   It looked like half of the tree was gone. They were very old elm trees and so we decided to have them cut down.  Then we decided to remove a huge old hedge in front of our home that looked horrible.  Actually, everything is looking pretty good now....  it's a blank canvas.  The front of our house is going to look very different when everything thing is done.  It's interesting, if the outside is a reflection of the inside, boy are we getting rid of a lot of junk in our lives that has held us down from being who we were intended to be.  And we are processing through that too!

We have a pole barn, our barn and a huge metal building full of some good things but mainly a lot of junk.  Example, as we were looking through stuff we had about 30 boxes of homeschool books and notebooks.  Fifteen years of notebooks for four children. Oh, my!  I did save it because I didn't know if there would be a problem when they went to college and I wanted proof of their work.  There was no problem, you just need to pass the ACT test.  Of course, momma wanted to look through all the notebooks and as I saw the progression of hand writing and learning, different memories came to mind.  Yes, I would do it all again but with major changes and I wish I could do it all over again with the wisdom I have now.  It was an education for me as well, and I developed a love of learning and reading through the homeschooling of my children.  I don't know what I learned in school but it wasn't much. But I did have a lot of fun.  I did have a wonderful eighth grade English teacher who was fresh out of college and I still remember the books we read.  George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, we dissected those books, which at the time was boring to me.  :( 

I'm really glad we are getting this done.  I don't plan on leaving the planet anytime soon, but when I do all of this clean out will make things a lot easier for our children.  :)

Well, for the next month a lot of spring cleaning!

Memories from Junior High Days

We are still cleaning and throwing stuff away.  Found this in a old box full of memorabilia from my junior high days.  I still remember the day Bert and I made this.  It was for a student council election and everyone who was running for an office would hang their banners across the hallway from the ceiling.  Such wonderful memories!  And by the way, I won! Who wouldn't with a slogan like that.  LOL

Our kids were down helping us and everyone got a big laugh out of this.  This will be thrown away after 50 plus years but I will keep a picture.  LOL

Maybe I should consider running for political office after the swamp is drained.  I could sure do better than what has been in there.

Cleaning and Getting Organized

My kids are not here, so I can't figure out how to turn this picture around.  Sorry about that!
For the last several weeks, off and on, I've been cleaning out and once again downsizing and getting rid of things I don't use or wear.  Gary and I recently cleaned out our closet and chest of drawers and we now actually have two empty drawers and a lot more room in our closet.  Let me tell you, it feels great! Someone will be getting a lot of good out of some nice clothes.  As I was digging through our closet, I found 2 dress coats that are like new that I haven't worn in years.

I tackled the ice box yesterday.  It has needed a good cleaning for some time.  You know, a cleaning where you take all the shelves out and wash them.  It's sparkling clean now.  I wanted to show you the Rubbermaid lazy susan. I saw this idea on a cooking show.  I love it!  You can just turn the lazy susan and get to all of the containers a lot easier.  We usually have to take out all the containers to get to something in the back.  Now, it's a lot easier. 

When I started down sizing several years ago, I probably had 15 t-shirts that I used to garden in.  The funny thing is, I always went to the same three t-shirts to wear and the rest just sat in the drawer.  When I realized what I was doing I emptied the drawer except for the three I always picked.  That felt good and that is what got me started.  I went to the kitchen and got rid of everything I hadn't used in 5 years and it was out.  The thing that holds me back, is the thought, what if I need that sometime.  Well, I got rid of it anyway and I have never missed it.  It freed up a lot of space in my kitchen which I really needed.

Maybe I have inspired you, I hope so. 
Have a great weekend~

Misfortune

Within misfortune, good fortune hides.    

Dr. Wayne Dyer