Homemade Yogurt

Homemade yogurt is my most recent wholesome and frugal cooking endeavor.  I got the idea from a tip I read on Money Saving Mom.  My husband is 6’2” tall and needs to eat lots!  He takes yogurt with him to work every single day.  Recently, he was at a conference in France (tough life, huh?) and loved the yogurt there because it was less sweet.  Greek yogurt that you buy at the store is less sweet than other yogurts, but, yikes, that stuff is pricey!  

After reading lots of reviews on Amazon, I decided to purchase the Euro  Cuisinpro – YM100.  I wanted a decent yogurt maker, but I didn’t want to spend a fortune, since I wasn't really sure how it would turn out.  I pretty much follow the recipe from the booklet that came with my yogurt maker and it's turned out great every time.  If you're looking for an adventure, try it out!

Heat 32 oz. of nonfat milk in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Add ½ cup of nonfat dry milk powder.

Add 6 oz. yogurt with live cultures (the first time, use a container of Greek yogurt; after that, just use one jar of the yogurt you made).

Stir with a whisk.

Pour into seven 6-oz. glass jars in yogurt maker (the jars come with the yogurt maker).

Place lid on top and heat for 12 hours.

Remove jars and screw lids on tight.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before eating.

Flavor as desired. 

ENJOY!

Pasta, anyone?

When I have coupons AND something we love goes on sale AND the shelves are full, I say stock up!

Board Books We Love

We LOVE to read at our house.  We don't watch tv or even get cable, but we have bookshelves full of books!  (We do occasionally watch a short video on Netflix, though!)  This is the first of what will hopefully be several posts on books we love.  Stay tuned for a post in the near future with some ideas on how to save money on books.

While I know that there are many, many books out there, many of which we have not read, these are ten books that are well-worn and well-loved by the Mobleys.  I hope you will enjoy them, too!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
This is a great story about the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. My toddler loves to read this over and over and over and pretend to eat everything the caterpillar eats.

The Runaway Bunny
This is a wonderful story about a little bunny who tries to run away from his mother.  Everywhere he goes, his mother comes after him, so in the end he decides to stay and be her little bunny. My children have really enjoyed trying to find the little bunny in each picture. 

So Mad Bunny 
A friend gave my daughter this book when she turned three.  Little Bunny gets mad in several situations, so mad that he hits, screams, and throws sand.  In the end, Mama teaches Little Bunny to pray to ask Jesus to help him not be so mad anymore.

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
This is such a fun, fun, fun book to read to young ones.  You will have fun making wonderful noises for your child not to mention the great laughs you'll get out of your child's imitations of your sounds!

Goodnight Moon
This is a delightful goodnight book and there is so much more to do with it than just reading the words on the page.  Try finding the mouse on each page.  Observe the moon rising and the room darkening in each picture and much, much more.

What Makes a Rainbow
Kids will learn their colors as Little Rabbit learns from his friends what makes a rainbow.  My girls really enjoy the colorful ribbons at the top of each page.

Curious George's ABCs
There are lots and lots of books out there to teach children their ABCs.  While we don't have all of them, we do have our fair share.  This is by far our favorite.  I made up hand motions and noises to go with each page to add to the delight.  My five year old still remembers them and will be teaching them to her brothers before long, I'm sure!

Open the Barn Door
A friend gave me this book when we had our first child.  At first I didn't really think it was very spectacular, but it just goes to show, that children really love the basics!  It is simply an open the flap book where the text asks, "Who says xx?" and when you open the door you find the animal that makes that sound.  My children have enjoyed this book (who doesn't love to flip a flap and discover something underneath) with the added benefit of learning animal sounds.
 
Cat
We love this book and others by Van Fleet.  It includes flaps to push, pull, open, etc. for little hands.  Ours have been pushed and pulled so many times that some don't work anymore--a great sign of a well-loved book.

Barnyard Dance
At my first baby shower, a few ladies from church gave me a collection of Sandra Boynton board books.  I enjoy reading these books to infants because the rhymes are so zany!  If you're going to be reading something over and over, it might as well be humorous!  Warning: the crazy rhymes will go through your head at strange times!

Happy reading, everyone!

A Moment to Treasure

 

What do you notice about this picture?  NO LEGOS ON THE FLOOR.  I know what you're thinking: "What's so great about that?"  Well, listen to the story behind the picture.  Today, I was busy doing something back in my bedroom, and Mary came and told me she had a surprise for me.  What a surprise!  She cleaned up the legos not because I told her to but because she truly wanted to make me happy!  And it did!  Sometimes it seems like my children aren't going the way I would like them to.  Then, there was this moment today, when my little girl did what I would want her to do before I even asked her to!  She did the right thing all on her own!  It was a tiny glimmer of hope!  It was truly a moment to treasure! 

Homo Unius Libri

I came across this quote from John Wesley's Sermons on Several Occasions the other day.  It's a good reminder of our purpose:

I have thought, I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God: Just hovering over the great gulf; till, a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, — the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: For this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri. [A man of one book.] Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone: Only God is here. In his presence I open, I read his book; for this end, to find the way to heaven.

Why I Didn't Clean Last Week

We are back onto our cleaning schedule this week after taking a week off.  No, my task manager program did not fail me.  Actually, our pastor and his wife have begun the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia (read about it here).  International adoption is very expensive, so they are planning several fundraisers, the first of which is a yard sale.  We took the week off of cleaning and spent that time going through the house trying to find things to donate to their yard sale.  Thank you, Chad and Cole, for the motivation to declutter!

What works best for us in this season of life is to clean a little bit each day:

• Mondays--kitchen and dining room and take out the trash
• Tuesdays--bathrooms
• Wednesdays--dust or clean the picture frames/mirrors (alternating weeks)
• Thursdays--vacuum the floors and couches, take out recycling, clean living room windows
• Fridays--miscellaneous monthly or less frequent tasks
• Saturdays--yardwork

I keep track of my tasks here. I am loving our new system!  I am better able to train the girls to help in short periods of time.  Cleaning tasks are not so overwhelming anymore because, by cleaning at regular intervals, things actually stay cleaner.  Now, if we have a party or have out-of-town guests come to visit, I don't have to dread the deep cleaning that has to be done either because I've been keeping on top of it!  And, best of all, I don't have to think. I just check my task manager to find out what I'm supposed to clean every day.  Definitely a good thing, since I lost most of my brain cells on March 2!

Mundane or Meaningful?

As a stay-at-home mom, my days are certainly filled with seemingly mundane tasks.  There are diapers to change, stains to remove from clothes (and walls and furniture), coupons to be clipped, scrapes to be cleaned and bandaged, dishes to be washed, not to mention the endless requests for drinks and snacks!  Is there meaning or significance in any of this?  Too often I am prone to think there is not. 

Paul writes, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).  All of life is worship!  I am going to repeat that: ALL of life is worship!  When I change a diaper, I can worship God.  When I wash the dishes, I can worship God.  When I make food for my family, I can worship God.  I can even clip coupons to the glory of God!

I tend to think that I am serving God when I teach Sunday School but not when I act out stories with teddy bear counters.  I tend to think that I am serving God when I serve dinner at church but not when I serve peanut butter and honey sandwiches to my kiddos.  I tend to think that I worship God when I write a check to the church but not when I write a check for the water bill.  What Paul says here, though, is that every thing I do can and should be done as an act of worship to God!  YES!  The work that I do at home has eternal significance!  Let's be encouraged and set out this week to do everything for the glory of God!

Mocha Frappuccino Recipe

I am not a coffee drinker.  When my sister and I were little, we used to get to make my mom's coffee (she drank instant coffee).  You know what?  Every once in a while, I would sneak a sip of the "adult drink."  Guess what?  It tasted AWFUL!  Sometime in graduate school, I discovered mochas and frappuccinos.  Yummy taste, yucky price! 

For many years, I have been content with the quantity of caffeine in a cup of black tea.  In March, we had twin boys.  Take a look at these cuties!  They are really even this cute, when they need to eat every two hours:)

So, I set out to develop a homemade mocha frappuccino recipe.  Here it is:

Fill up a blender container with 2 cups of ice.

Add one cup of hot coffee.

Add one cup of milk (I use skim).

Add 2 T of chocolate milk mix and 1 T of sugar.

Blend and pour into a tall glass.

Voila!  WARNING:  Be prepared to share!

My Knight in Shining Armor

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, it's...SUPERCOCKROACH!

Seriously, we're lying in bed.  I'm cuddling with Jonathan; my husband's cuddling with Matthew.  Suddenly, something flies from one corner of the room to the other.  At first I thought it could be a moth.  Oh, no, it was a gargantuan cockroach.  Who knew they could fly?  They are fast little buggers, too.  Fortunately, my knight in shining armor was faster!

I've Entered the Blogosphere!

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a LONG time.  And, now, here I am, with my husband's technical assistance.  Bear with me...I am soooo not a techie person at all.  In fact, I still do not know how to load pictures from our camera onto my computer, but here we go anyways.   

Sometime when I was in high school, I told my mom that I was NOT going to have any children, EVER!  Yep, that's right.  I had big plans to become a big corporate executive.  I pictured myself wearing a suit every day to work carrying my briefcase and working really long hours.  But, God intervened.  He saved me and began preparing me for my spouse.  He changed my heart and my desires.  Here I am xx years later (really, you don't want to know how old I am, do you??).  I do NOT own a suit.  I carry a diaper bag not a briefcase.  I'm having a good day if I venture out with my teeth brushed and no spit up stains on my clothes.

About my spouse, what I have to say is God definitely has a sense of humor.  Could our backgrounds really be more different?  I don't think so.  I ate pop-tarts and string cheese, while he ate whole wheat bread and soybeans.  I read every single one of the Sweet Valley High books while he read Sherlock Holmes.  I watched the Fonz, while he watched the Cosmos.  For summer vacation, I went to the beach and he went backpacking in the mountains.   

God has a sense of humor and so do we.  Come back and read more about our crazy life!