Month: February 2009

Old Book Art

Old Book Art is a beautiful website..for everyone who appreciates art/illustrations in old books.

Courtesy of Old Book Art

The Mission of Old Book Art

To provide & facilitate access to free illustrations: pictures, drawings, maps and other images scanned from antiquarian, public-domain books and other old documents. We have over 3,200 images in our gallery with more added regularly, all at no cost and most available at very high resolution. Most of these we have scanned and edited ourselves. We will also screen and provide links to other high quality resources.

Why Does the Site Exist?

Simply to share public domain resources. Zephyrus Books comes across a lot of antiquarian books with wonderful old illustrations in the public domain. Many of these are not available for public sharing anywhere on the internet, at least not in an easily accessible or larger scale format, so this site was started as a free resource for anyone looking for out of copyright images.

But I imagine that hot-linking is not wanted. Click the images and save them to your own computer, ready for uploading to your site. Provide a link back to Old Book Art, along with the image.

Fabre’s Book of Insects. Courtesy of Old Book Art

Categories
Atlases & Maps
Children
History
Literature & Poetry
Nature & Natural History
Places & Travel

Wise Economic Survival Guide

Some wise advice was shared, from the following article, on HOMEschool Fellowship. The full article is by Chuck Norris, recalling his mother’s wisdom. I looked at the original article and thought it was too good not to share, especially when I turned on the news this morning to hear of even more Australian jobs being cut…fuel cost increases and interest rate rises, again!

An old Spanish proverb says, “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.” I believe that value will hold, in or out of a recession. And being that my 87-year-old mother lived through the Great Depression, I think her value (and those like her) will actually increase through these tough economic times, because their insider wisdom can help us all.

Chuck Norris asked his 87-year-old mother, “How would you encourage the average American to weather the economic storms of today?”

Here’s her advice, in her words:

“Get back to the basics. Simplify your life. Live within your means. People have got to be willing to downsize and be OK with it. We must quit borrowing and cut spending. Be grateful for what you have, especially your health and loved ones. Be content with what you have, and remember the stuff will never make you happy. Never. Back then, we didn’t have 1/100th of what people do today, and yet we seemed happier than most today, even during the Great Depression.

“Be humble and willing to work. Back then, any work was good work. We picked cotton, picked up cans, scrap metal, whatever it took to get by. Where’s that work ethic today? If someone’s not being paid $10 an hour today, they’re whining and unwilling to work, even if they don’t have a job. Today, too many won’t stoop to scoop poop, but I hear sewer work pays pretty well these days. The message from yesteryear is don’t be too proud to do whatever it takes to meet the financial needs of your family.

“Be rich in love. We didn’t have much. In fact we had nothing at all, compared to people today, but we had each other. We were poor, but rich in love. We’ve lost the value of family and friends today, and we’ve got to gain it back if we’re ever to get back on track. If we lose all our stuff and still have one another and our health, what have we really lost?

“Be a part of a community. Today, people are much more alone – much more isolated. We used to be close with our neighbors. We cared for one another, watched one another’s kids and shared meals together. If one person had a bigger or better garden or orchard, they shared the vegetables and fruits with others in need. We used to speak to one another daily at our fences – today, you can barely see over a neighbor’s fence. Society has shifted from caring for one another to being dependent upon government aid and welfare – that is why so many today trust in government to deliver them. They’ve forgotten an America that used to rally around one another in smaller clusters called neighborhoods and communities. We must rekindle those local communal fires, and relearn the power of that age-old commandment, ‘Love thy neighbor.’

“Help someone else. We never quit helping others back then. Today, too many people are consumed with their own problems and only helping themselves. ‘What’s in it for me?’ is the question most are asking. But back then, it was, ‘What can I do to help my neighbor?’ I love Rick Warren’s book, ‘The Purpose-Driven Life,’ and especially his thought, ‘We were created for community, designed to be a blessing to others.’ If we help others, others will want to help us too. But if we never reach out, and no one else knows our needs, how can we help people or people help us? Most of all, helping others gets our minds off our problems and puts things into better perspective.

“Lean upon God for help and strength. We didn’t just have each other to lean on, but we had God, too. We all attended church and belonged to a faith community. Church was the hub of society, the community core and rallying point. Today, people turn to government the way we used to turn to the churches. It’s been that way ever since Herbert Hoover’s alleged promise of a ‘chicken in every pot’ and President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Too many have abandoned faith and community. We trust money more than God. And maybe that’s a reason why we’re in this economic pickle. If greed has become our god, then maybe we’d be better off to view the recession more like a realignment. But who will admit today to being off center? We all get lost sometimes. We all need the Lord. I don’t know how or why people today try to live without Him. As the old adage goes, He’s always only a prayer away.”

Now’s that conventional wisdom that should be shouted and posted in every corridor of government, every community across America and every blog on the Internet.

Call me overly pragmatic, but I think a little practical wisdom and encouragement is what we all need about now. Mom has always been good for that. She still is.

Chuck Norris is the star of more than 20 films and the long-running TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger.” You can see more about him, his life and ministry at the official website: ChuckNorris.com.
You can see the entire article at World Net Daily.

Who Cares about Greens Anyway?

Why all this fuss about greens? Who cares? Why are they different to any other vegetable?
Green fruits and vegetables are rich in health promoting phytochemicals such as lutein and folate. Green foods can support most bodily functions and eliminate toxins such as heavy metals, which can weaken our tissues and lead to disease over time. Add arugula, avocado, kale, broccoli, kiwi, spinach, and Swiss chard to your diet to boost your energy level.

1. Mineral salts naturally occurring in greens help neutralize and expel waste in our bodies.

2. Greens are a good source of natural fibre, helping to keep colon healthy

3. Greens provide important nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and other minerals not found in fruits, nuts and seeds (unless you eat the white pith or seeds of oranges or figs, blended for digestion)

4. Greens are a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, D and E

5. Greens (especially sunflower greens – which are delicious) are a wonderful source of lecithin, which helps break fatty acids down into a digestible form

6. Greens are full of chlorophyll and carotenoids (components of vitamin A), which benefits the blood, tissues, and inflammation, supports our immune system, our vision, and protects against coronary disease, and tumours

7. Greens are our best sources of folates and folic acid (a B vitamin), which are important for cell growth and reproduction

8. Greens like spinach, parsley, kale, and mustard greens, are extremely high in vitamin C.

9. Unlike fruits and fats, leafy greens have never been accused of causing acidity in the body.

Hat Tip: Thanks to Raw Divas for this information.

Persuasion, manipulation, encouragement…call it what you will. Just eat your greens!

Some may call it manipulation but I call it the art of gentle persuasion. 😉 Gentle encouragement, strong encouragement, gentle persuasion, narrowing down the choices… call it what you want. I just want to get the greens down!

A few years ago I made my family drink Spirulina. Oh I mixed it with some juice but if you’ve ever had spirulina you’ll know that it seems to be the worst of all the green superfoods…it is just disgusting. “Pond scum” is what John and Lisa call it. But I made my family drink it…rather attempt to drink it. They were gagging and dry-reaching every time. I even tried to hide small doses of it in other foods but it seems that they could sniff it out a mile away! They just couldn’t stomach it.

I resorted to capsules. Man, those thing are the size of small vans! I broke them in two halves…I crushed them. But my family thought they were too clever and could detect Spirulina tablets in anything. There was no way it would work. So I tried Chorella and Barley Greens and Wheat Grass. Same result. But these are superfoods. I need my family to take them…don’t I?

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe there is more than one way to get all the goodness into their bodies. Enter Green Smoothies. Served in nice, real, glasses. (not plastic)

Some people like to add lots of fruit to their green smoothie to make it palatable for children. They say to start off with about 60% fruit and slowly increase the amount of greens each time. Pish posh! Soft! Maybe it will work for other people’s children but not for my tribe. I’ve never been one to go soft on my children- food and smoothies included. I say to go in with the hard line…then it’s easier to ease back…creates an attitude of thankfulness and a willingness to work with me, rather than against me. Is it manipulation? Um, is it any less manipulation than loading them up with way too much sugar (fruit) and then trying to wean them off? I don’t think so.

After the horrors of all the pond scum that I tried to make them drink, green smoothies seem so easy, so delicious. In their mind it’s either Green Smoothies or Pond Scum! Hehee, the funny thing is, my lovely family think they’re oh! so clever for ganging up on me and not drinking the Spirulina. But maybe, just maybe it was all part of my secret plan. Maybe there is a method to my madness!

Green Smoothies

Seeing as how my few readers seem so keen to talk more about Green Smoothies I thought I’d post a few links, a recipe or two and a video. I’m so keen to share this so would like to offer as much help as I can.

First, a few links but searching google will easily bring up many sites:

The Raw Divas has blogs, articles, recipes and more.
The Green Smoothie Blog has loads of information also.
Raw Foods-Living Foods has a section on Green Smoothies
YouTube search brings up many hits.

Recipes

Plain Smoothie
Little cold water
Blender full of greens. I used baby spinach.
2 apples
2 bananas
smidgen of flaxseed oil
ice

Fennel & Orange
One stalk of fennel including leaves and bulb
Two oranges, peeled and segmented
One handful baby spinach
Water or ice
Smidgen of flaxseed oil
1 tsp Bee Pollen

Plain smoothie
Cos lettuce
1 apple
1 cup carrot/celery juice (from the morning’s juicing session)
Handful of frozen strawberries
Some freshly ground flaxseed
Few grapes
Ice

Videos
ReasonablyRaw
Karen Knowles: quick and dirty guide to making a green smoothie

Blender Dilemma: SOLVED

Don’t you love your hubby? I do! Here I was researching various blenders, which would have taken me a month of Sunday’s to narrow it down, when on the way to the airport, to get Miss A, I told John that I could do with his input. I gave him the summary:

Super-duper expensive at approximately $1899.
Super expensive between $700 – $900
Expensive of the cheap range: approximately $200 or
Cheap: $200 and under.

Green Smoothie

1 bulb of fennel

2 oranges, peeled

2 handfuls baby spinach

dash of honey (or maple syrup)

Some flaxseed oil

ice cubes

He listened to my blurb about the Thermomix and said it would be good if we had a business and could recoup some of that money back…which we don’t. I guess he crossed that one off his mental list pretty quickly.

Then came the super expensive ones…thankfully my husband knows me to well. When I get an interest in something I need to dabble in it…but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily become a life long passion or lifestyle so I guess he crossed these off the list too.

I talked to him about the more expensive of the cheap range- and his ears pricked up…he was listening intently. Then he heard that it was in the Sunbeam Cafe Series (same as our coffee machine) and he took a detour and dropped into The Good Guys. Thirty minutes later and guess who has a new blender?

Whoohoo! Yup, that would be me! I’ve already put it to good use. I made a green smoothie and coerced, forced, strongly encouraged everyone to have a glass.

Do you make green or savoury smoothies? Please share your favourite recipes with me. I know there are many websites that have recipes, and I’ve visited most of them! but I’d love to hear readers favourites.

Growing Your Blog

Regular readers of my blog will know that I don’t do stats– don’t care about them, don’t record them in any way. It’s just not important to me. While visiting The Mother Lode today (who incidentally has a great post on “What curriculum should I use for my Kindegardener? ) she talked about AlphaInventions. Having absolutely no idea what it was I thought I’d pop over there and see. I’m still not sure what it is but it is designed to get page hits for your site. In the interest of seeing how this works and with the aim of letting others know about it in case it interests them, I thought I’d give it a whirl. Alphainventions.com is useful for wordpress.com, typepad.com, spaces.live.com, and blogger.com.

Perspective…again

What is it with me and perspective so far this year? Anyone might think I’m turning 40 this year! :silly:

Just a funny…although it’s probably only funny in our home, to us.

John doesn’t understand how I can build e-commerce websites and community websites that serve over 900 people yet I’m still technologically challenged with everyday household goods, like the TV, and x-box. (But, we have 4 remote controls with 2 recording devices and it all runs through his computer! C’mon, could you be bothered with that?)

I don’t understand how he can fix any gadget that has ever broken in our home…he can do all the back-end work of my websites (servers, php, etc) and can program his computer to record a TV show yet he can’t figure out an easy-peasy blogging platform like WordPress. Ha! I love it! :inlove: And he calls me technologically challenged. Uhuh. Sure honey…whatever you say.

:kissing:

Perspective eh?

Carnival of Relaxed Homeschooling

Whoohoo, there’s a new carnival in town…and it’s right up my alley.

The Carnival of Relaxed Homeschooling is for anyone using relaxed, eclectic or less traditional methods of home education for any or all of their studies.

Using a relaxed approach for the upper grades, i.e., middle and high schoolers, becomes a little more challenging so if you use a relaxed style in any or all of your studies, you have something of great value to offer to other homeschoolers interested in becoming less formal in their approach. Submissions can include ideas, approaches, successes, “failures”, frustration, encouragement or anything else!

Submissions don’t have to be new posts, they can be, but it’s not necessary. What you do want to do, however, is look for one of your best posts. Dig deep if you want, just submit one of your posts that is especially pleasing to you!

If you are new to the concept of “carnivals”, check out this post.

I always enjoy the homeschooling carnivals. I love to see how others approach home education so long as I understand and accept that I don’t have to try and incorporate all the ideas I read into our family home.

Day trip adds perspective

Yesterday we dropped Miss A at the airport so that she could go to Sydney for 7 days for the Senior Women’s National Softball Tournament. This is the final series so after being away four times over the last 4 months, I think she’ll be a little relieved to see the end of this series. It isn’t the softball she loathes, just the traveling and being away from home. However not only am I without my oldest daughter, who is also my personal barista but I’m still without my coffee machine!

We dropped into the brickwork Markets for an impromptu visit. Wow, it was empty, nearly lifeless. I pondered how my perspective has changed over the years. I grew up in a small, country, mining town where we had Big W, Woolworths and a small Coles. That was pretty much it in the way of department and larger stores. So you can imagine my delight and awe upon getting married and moving to Adelaide where shops abound. The furniture stores, the cheap $2 stores, etc. Man, I could get anything and everything in that place! [Adelaide] As I was newly married and decorating the home I started to decorate on a budget…which wasn’t that hard to do with all those cheap stores around. 😉 However over the years my taste started to refine. I came to see and appreciate fine quality and thought it was better to go without something for a long time than buy a cheap imitation only to have it break or look tacky.

Most of my regular readers will know that my husband’s job then took us to a few different cities: ACT, Brisbane, etc. where I saw many different styles and preferences and options for dressing and decorating, which I’ve since grown to appreciate although I might not wish to take on as my own style.

Anyway, I’m rambling, back to the story. I seemed to recall (from 20 years ago) that the Brickwork Markets had many stalls, many of local produce and home made, small business type of product. I loved this as the goods were all unique. Well, did I get a shock yesterday or what! Aside from most stalls being empty or closed, most of the stalls contained clothes that can be purchased anywhere- stock standard stuff that I could buy at Supre, if I shopped there…which I don’t. 😉 I was so disappointed. I guess I was expecting something like it used to be or similar to the markets at the Gold Coast or Caloundra. Had the Brickworks really gone downhill or was it simply my perspective?

Perspective

We then started talking with the boys and made an impromptu decision to drive out to Mannum and show the boys ‘our block’ with ‘our house’. When we were newly married, we bought 10 acres and built our home there. Actually to be truthful we lived in a shed and bus for 18months while the transportable was being built. So Miss A had her beginnings in a a shed! John built an extension on the house, along with front and back verandah’s and well, he built the entire house and land with his two bare hands! And then we sold. And then we moved.

We had to quickly drive home to change cars and pick up Miss R and her friend, Mr.D and get the camera. The drive there was uneventful although fun. I had a few wistful moments as I saw how expensive land there is now…but I don’t regret moving, just can’t fathom our luck. (Not that I believe in luck- it’s just a figure of speech) Anyway, as we ate hot chips on the riverbank and took the ferry across the river we listened to Miss R who was astounded at how small everything looked. It was all so much bigger when she was 3 and four! There were some things that had changed. Obviously some houses aren’t maintained so they deteriorate and new homes are built. But some things just don’t change- like the size of the buildings or our 10 acres. But her perspective changed- as she grew bigger. Her experiences changed the way she saw Mannum.

Perspective

I was struck with the thought that when I was young and my experience of fashions were limited I was easily pleased. As I’ve gotten older and had a few more life experiences I am a little more selective with my decorating, food, clothing style. That isn’t to say that my previous likes were wrong or even that there were immature but they were based upon my experience.

I likened that to my growing desire for God’s word. I’m starting to see things more from His perspective…the more I read, the more I spend time with Him, some Bible passages take on new meaning. Not because I’m seeing new things rather that I’m seeing them with the eyes of the Holy Spirit, not just the eyes of my own understanding.

Am I trying to say anything in this post? Nope! Just sharing our day and my thought process.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings to search out a thing.”
Prov. 25:2

Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme Feb15

Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme

First, I have to tell you about a Christian homeschool mum who is really into website development. She has a new website where you’ll find a little information about her service…but I warn you- the website is a little like a mechanic who never gets to fix his own car. Okay, so it’s really me and my site :rotfl: but still, why don’t you pop over and have a look? Kerugma Designs is where you’ll find a few details about my new website development service, where I help you to build your online home. If you need a web presence at an affordable rate, give me a hoy as the website isn’t finished with up-to-date details just yet.

Okay, on to some more links that I have enjoyed recently:

Biblical Descriptions of Women is a delightful post. Go through it with your Bible and your daughter!

The Bible is not a jigsaw by Frank Viola

Do your children know who you really are?

Rest & Peace by Sally Clarkson

Yesterday was Valentines Day (for anyone who cares!) and Phyliss has a post with some good article links and downloads.

Health & Nutrition

The World’s Healthiest Foods: The George Mateljan Foundation is a non-profit organization with no commercial influence, which provides this website for you free of charge. We are dedicated to making the world a healthier place by providing you with cutting-edge information about why the World’s Healthiest Foods are the key to vibrant health and energy and how you can easily make them a part of your healthy lifestyle. You might find the Getting Started page the best place to start looking at this large site.

The Recipe Assistant at WHF : Are you interested in customizing your search for WHFoods recipes? Then use our innovative Recipe Assistant. With this easy to use tool all you have to do is select foods that you want to be included or excluded (e.g., if you are lactose intolerant, you choose to identify recipes without milk) and it will provide you with a list of recipes meeting your criteria.

Healthy Eating Shouldn’t Cost an Arm and a Leg: Food Budget Strategies that Help Avoid the High Cost of Illness by Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Looking for some raw food recipes? Try here at Hallelujah Acres.

Home Managment and Organisation

Have I mentioned TipNut before? Tipnut.com began as a way to organize all the household tips, craft projects, recipes, kitchen & cooking tips and other neat-o hints that I’ve collected over the years.

Freebies

Mountain Bread CookBook– free download as pdf. Mountain Bread™ has a thin, dry and soft texture that is not doughy like other breads and is widely regarded as a healthy alternative and is therefore highly popular with dieters and doctors. Mountain Bread™ has traditionally been used as a bread substitute for sandwiches and wraps or as a pasta substitute; but there are many uses of this versatile bread ranging from savoury to sweet.

Also, just in case you were a bit of a blog stalker and wanted to know where else I read and comment, you can see most of my blogging travels and comments around the WWW here.

Are they bored?

“Life is never boring,but some people choose to be bored.”

I’ve never accepted it when my children have said, “Mum, I’m bored“. I would always respond with various quips until they simply stopped telling me that they were bored. I made a chart and pinned it to the wall so that the minute I started to hear that whine of “Muuuum…I’m …” I would send them to the chart. Always worked! They became busy and productive in areas and the boredom soon disappeared. However, I’ve always found it easiest to teach the children about boredom when they are not bored! I talked to them about it, taught them what to do when they’re bored…told them about their choices – encouraged them to be proactive. Then, when that familiar cry comes, I was simply reinforcing what I’d already taught.

I would tell the children that boredom is an attitude and a choice. They could choose not to be bored! That’s quite empowering, isn’t it? And it’s true. However, there are times when boredom is a good thing- if handled correctly. Firstly, I’d make sure that the child’s basic needs were all met- physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, etc. (The book series, The Five Love Languages are especially helpful for discerning needs of children) Once I had ascertained that their needs were met, chores had been done, etc I would point them toward the list.

Sometimes it’s good to be bored as it gives us the opportunity to have some quiet time and just *be*…time to think, to process. Usually though, this is a slightly different thing to boredom as my children have never claimed to be bored while having this ‘time’.

Here are the things I put on the chart but I’m sure you could think of much more.

Read a book
Make a card for someone
Write a letter
Play dress ups
Write a story
Jigsaw puzzle
Board games
Ping pong
Listen to music and dance
Take Jazz for walk
Do a nature hunt
Trampoline
Clean backyard
Clean car
Iron clothes
Bake a cake
Make popcorn and then make jewelry
Have a bath and play in it
Do a word search
Colour in or do drawing
Leaf or tree rubbings
Make paper (paper kit)
Throw softball
Rehearse a play and put on show
Write book review
Science experiment
Hide and Seek
Create cubby house
Make paper airplanes / dolls
Garden
Have a ‘drinking water contest’
Do a crossword
Look at photo albums
Carve soap
Chess
Lego
Look for ways to bless your brother/sister/mother/father…

“Only those who want everything done for them are bored.”
~Billy Graham

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true.”
W. R. Inge

“A man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore”
Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Originally compiled in 2001 but I lost it until hunting around on my computer in 2009

Firestorms 2009

I feel sick. Nauseous. A churning in my tummy that just won’t go away.

Two weeks ago, on was supposed to be our first day back at lessons, my brother-in-law passed away, after a long, difficult illness. Last Sunday, a service was held in the gardens to celebrate and remember his life. My husband (his brother) was asked to lead and facilitate the service. While this was an honour, I felt for my husband who was also grieving at the time. It wouldn’t have been easy to try and be ‘all things to all men’ while also going through your own pains of grief and sorrow.

The day after the service, Monday, we awoke to hear of the horrific fire storms that are ravaging Victoria. Stories of loss, homelessness and terror are hard enough but the deaths have been awful. I am many miles away and seemingly unaffected by the effects of this horror yet I can’t help but want to shed many tears. People being incinerated in their cars while trying to escape…in their homes…children, elderly…I just can’t think straight my heart is hurting for them. Three bodies were found crowded in a bath. They must have hoped the water would save them but instead it would have boiled in the intense heat. How?

I turn on the television to watch for a little while and catch updates but I have to turn it off. The torment, the fear, the devastation, the loss of life makes me ill. 173 people dead…but this is expected to rise within the coming weeks- and the fires aren’t even over yet.

We were living in Canberra during the awful 2003 fires. Although we were not directly affected our house was under threat from burning embers that had travelled miles and were falling on our roof. The devastation that fire caused was terrible but this one…this fire storm is huge. For those that don’t understand the enormity of this disaster it has been reported that the burn victims are much much worse than those victims of the Bali bombings. The fires moved incredibly fast at approximately 100 mph. The fires have been likened to a slow moving atomic explosion. Cars have melted, entire towns wiped out, over 800,000 acres burnt and over 750 homes destroyed. The loss of life is just to painful. And I’m not even there. I’m hundreds of miles away in South Australia.

For those readers who live in other countries and may not have a grasp on the tragedy that is happening, I’ll share a few links:

An interactive map of the fire storms. Here is another map which shows the fires.

Donate blood or money to the Red Cross.

A chilling tale of how one man survived: How we cheated flames of death.

There’s already an entry at Wikipedia on the Victorian Fires of 2009.

Victorian fires amongst the most deadly in the world.

Pray. Please pray. And give.

In ironic contrast, the northern end of Australia has been dealing with floods for over 3 weeks. You can read a little about it here at the ABC reports and here

Teaching Our Children How To Give Compliments

Have you ever spent hours on planning an evening meal to share with guests and you’ve worked yourself to a silly sweat in the kitchen…set the table with your finest linen, cutlery and crockery and eagerly awaited their arrival? I have. I made our family favourite – my go-to dish: home made lasagne.

The visitors came…and ate. The husband really liked the meal and complimented me. My own husband complimented me. My children complimented me, as per their upbringing. There was something missing. The woman’s absence of any comment made me believe that she didn’t like the meal…or that she didn’t appreciate that I had used our ‘best’.

Now I realise that my lasagne may not be everyone’s idea of delicious but…
From there, I have tried to practice the art of complimenting…on something. I’ve taught (am in the process of teaching) my children to do the same.

If you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.
~Acts 13:15

We’ve had friends who have very different standards to us…when it comes to cleanliness. Now I’m no perfectionist when it comes to cleanliness or tidiness but…I don’t allow animals inside. I would never allow my cats (if I had them) to wander on my kitchen benches to malt their hair all over the bread board and find its way into a sandwich and I certainly never allowed my pets (dogs or cats) to drink or eat out of the same cup/bowl as me. However, I’ve got friends who do this naturally…they wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.

These friends also had a generous heart and loved to entertain and be hospitable so they’d often cook and invite us over to share a meal with them. I’ll be honest with ya. I did not find it easy to drink a cup of coffee from the cups, knowing that they might share that cup with their pooch. In fact, my stomach got queasy and it just went against every instinct in my body. But, I forced myself to drink…and to do so with a smile. These guys just didn’t know any different…they didn’t see anything wrong. I firmly believe that if I had said anything or spoken with my body language we could have destroyed a friendship and discouraged them in their faith.

However I found it so hard to be encouraging. I found it hard to say, “Thanks for the cuppa, it was lovely” as it just wasn’t true and I want to be honest and transparent. So, what’s a gal to do? How does one not be rude when there’s little to be complimentary about?

Well, I try to have a policy. Yes, I have lots of personal policies but this one is:

Try to say something true, helpful, inspiring, kind, necessary or nice wherever possible.

Sometimes, most times, it is just plain rude to say nothing. How could I go to their place…drink with them, eat with them, share with them and hear their heart and not say something positive?

Along with my policy above, goes the second part that I try to consider when I do need to open my mouth:

Do I have any responsibility in this area? Do I have any authority in this area? Will my words be ones of encouragement, bringing comfort, peace, grace or will they be ones that cause unnecessary grief and concern and cause hurt? The question of what, when, and how to speak is usually answered as I ask myself these questions.

So, how then do I find something to say? Some people, and I’ve said to my children, that if you can’t say something good, then don’t say anything at all. And this is generally good advice but I think that is many situations you simply have to say something…so I have to find something to say.

Speak when the words build up. Speak if the words bring a smile. Speak where reassurance is needed. Speak what gives hearts courage. Speak how He would. Words that encourage. Words that give life. Words that bless.
If you have those kinds of words on the tip of your tongue, then please speak. Otherwise, maybe it is best not to.

Okay, back to my friend- so the coffee wasn’t nice. The cup was filthy and the kitchen table was covered in dog hair but…this woman had a giving heart. She’d give you her last shirt off her back if you needed it.She would be available 24 hours a day, to help you if needed. She had a servant’s heart and loved to bless people. She grew most of her own vegetables organically and she had a quriky sense of decorating. Oh, she decorated her house in the brightest, most vivid colours that most people would shy away from…but not her.

So, I found myself starting to use words like, “interesting” and fascinating, captivating, enthralling; appealing, attractive; amusing, entertaining, stimulating, thought-provoking, intriguing. (Yes, I used the thesaurus here)

I just couldn’t say the coffee was delicious but I needed to say something, right? I could comment on the new style of quirky curtains she made and put up. I could comment on her serving heart and how much she blesses others by making meals to give to those in need. In other situations I could comment on how the lemon gratings over the steamed broccoli was quite unusual, omitting to say that the potato was raw.

In other words, I don’t need to point out [what I perceive to be] her faults or areas she needs to change or improve in. That’s not my role. It’s glaringly obvious to all (or so I would think) but it’s not my place. No authority or responsibility.

I’ve learned that my preference is not that of anther’s. My lifestyle choices are not that of others…but this doesn’t mean that I’m right and they are wrong. This also doesn’t mean that I can’t fellowship with them. Sometimes we Christians can be so uptight, so self righteous that we appear to others to act as though our own sweat doesn’t stink…that we are holy and they are not. We might relay the message (through body language more so than words) that until they have their act together we can’t fellowship. Oi voi! I’m so glad that God didn’t wait for us to get our act together before He wanted a relationship with us. We shouldn’t use our convictions or beliefs as a weapon or a rod…leave that to God. [generally speaking in context with my post here]

So what are you teaching your children about manners and relationships? Is it acceptable to simply ignore those that don’t fit in with your views, your beliefs? Or should they speak out against every single thing that goes against their beliefs? How then do they speak words of encouragement to others?

And lastly, what on earth does this have to do with blogging, if anything? I really like the page, Biblical Advice for Bloggers, and I think 5 and 6 are quite applicable here, don’t you?

5. Let us therefore make every effort to blog what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (Ro 14:19)
And Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the blog of peace (Eph 4:2)
Do we make every effort to maintain peace and unity in the body of Christ? Or do we focus on what divides us? When we disagree, are we humble and gentle?

6. Accept him whose blog is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters…Let us stop blogging judgment on one another… whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. (Ro 14 1-22)
Let us be careful not to condemn ourselves by dividing the body of Christ over disputable matters, or by judging the spiritual state of our brothers and sisters with whom we disagree.

What say you? Does this ring true in your life…either in real time or online? Or am I so long winded that you gave up reading or I totally lost you? That’s okay, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something encouraging to say. O:-)

Zabaglione

My husband has fond memories of a special breakfast meal that his mother would prepare for him. I say fondness because that’s what I see and hear on his face as he recalls the memory. But the look on his face is strange, as though hiding mixed feelings. You know that look where one’s nose curls up in disgust yet the mouth is smiling? That look. I can’t quite figure out what feelings are behind the look and he can’t really verbalise it accurately. I do know that he is now extremely fussy when it comes to eating eggs- they now have to be cooked very well. He wonders if this extreme fussiness is because of zabaglione. (That’s my disclaimer)

Anyway, his ma would make zabaglione for breakfast sometimes. Not all the time, it was a special treat. Zabaglione is a simple but deliciously rich, Italian dessert made of egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine. Espresso, champagne, sherry or wine can be used. (My mother-in-law made it with orange juice in place of the marsala) It is usually served warm, though it can be served cold, or as a sauce, or even frozen. Coupled with fruit it is truly a deliciously, rich dessert. For breakfast, it can be served with biscotti and a cappuccino. when served with biscotti and coffee, you may find you want to add a little more sugar.

However, Italian cooking is so diverse that no two recipes look the same. Every region in Italy has its own style of cooking but even further, each village has their own way of doing things as well. So every town has its own recipe for bread or sauce and zabaglione. It doesn’t mean that the recipe is wrong…it’s just a different recipe, most likely from a different region than another recipe. Italians can tell what region a person is from often by their way of cooking. My husband’s family are from a southern region of Italy: Calabria.

Zabaglione
4 servings

4 large egg yolks
4 tbsp caster sugar (white will do)
4 tbsp Marsala, Espresso, juice or other
Drop or two of vanilla essence

1) Put the egg yolks and sugar in a large heatproof bowl and whisk together until light and fluffy and approximately doubles in size.. We use an electric egg beater but be very careful to not over-beat.
When the mixture starts to thicken, place the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. A double-boiler can be used if you have one. Alternatively, you can use a metal or other heatproof bowl that can be suspended over simmering water. Just be sure to not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.

2) Add vanilla, marsala, juice or espresso and whisk ( we cheat and use an electric egg beater) continuously until the mixture becomes thick, hot and foamy. The eggs need to be cooked gently so the mixture stays smooth.

3) Spoon the zabaglione into serving dishes and serve with accompaniments. (Either biscotti, cream, fresh or stewed fruit, etc)

Variations for dessert

Zabaglione with Cream
Take a tub of thickened cream and whip it until it is stiff. Once the zabaglione is cooked, very gently add most of the whipped cream to the slightly cooled zabaglione and gently fold together. Use the remaining cream to decorate after spooning the zabaglione into separate small dishes or cups.

Chocolate Zabaglione
Gently melt some chopped semi-sweet, good quality chocolate. Once zabaglione is cooked, gently fold in the melted chocolate. Decorate with shaved chocolate and fresh berries make a lovely addition to this dish.

Zabaglione with Ice Cream
Pour warm zabaglione over a good quality ice cream or gelati for a rich and beautiful dessert.

Baked or Chilled Zabaglione
Spoon the thick custard like zabaglione into individual bowls/dishes and sprinkle with chocolate or sugar. Either bake in the oven or chill in the fridge.

A few links although not too many as there are too many variations

Zabaglione at Anna Maria‘s

Simply Recipes

Cold Zabaglione by Nigella

Lydia’s Kitchen recipe

Video on youtube– cooking course 108 (this guy is verbose and one swear word)

Video on videojug

Do you have a favourite recipe for Zabaglione?

Addendum

Okay so I got it wrong. John’s ma used to make his different to what I posted last night.

She didn’t cook it! She would whip up the egg yolks with the sugar and a little coffee and just keep whipping it in the electric mixer for about 7 min, till it went smooth and creamy. Ewwwwww, is it any wonder he can only eat eggs that are over cooked? No cooking, just whipping! When I suggested that this could be the reason for his aversion to properly cooked eggs he responded with,

“Nah, the Zabaglione didn’t turn me off. That was yummy! But she used to make me suck raw eggs as a nutritional food”. Ewww gross!

Just thought I’d better come back and set the record straight.

Boy with Nails and the fence

THE FENCE

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down.

He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. Show your friends how much you care.

This was a story that I received via email many years ago. I shared it with the children as an object lesson and it has always stuck with them.

Sweet, rich, coffee at home? Thoughts on the Sunbeam EM6910

Triple rosetta, courtesy of AbiGrace

Oh no! The next three weeks are going to be tough…about the only thing to make it a little easier for me to bear is the heatwave we are in the midst of. I know I will get through it of course, but…it will be tough. I don’t have too many vices anymore, except the occasional chocolate (and it is occasional nowadays as I want to share it more with my children) and my love of dry, hard Parmesan cheese. But my greatest vice of all is cappuccino.

I mean how could it not be? Not only do did we have a great machine that extracted a sweet shot but the steamer creates the most velvety, creamy, sweet milk, which forms the perfect cappuccino. Well, I suppose I should be honest and say that it only works that way when my own Personal Barista makes it for me…my own shot is not quite so sweet and I burn the burn, separating the sweetness of it resulting in a slightly bitter and burned taste.

But alas! my beautiful machine is not well. She needs a major over haul and some internal surgery. I could be without her for up to three weeks! 3 weeks!!! What am I to do? I shall have to find some way to cope, I suppose. The machines run best when using filtered water only but we don’t have a water filter. Our earthenware water filter was cracked in our last move and we haven’t gotten around to buying another one. We think that is what has caused the problem.

Lisa asked me awhile ago to recommend a good espresso machine that wouldn’t break the budget. Well, I had asked Miss A (the Barista) to write a post for me and she was happy to but tell me, how does one pin a 17 yo young lady, who is driving all over the place, down to write a blog post? It obviously just didn’t happen. So here I am instead…but I am armed with her recommendation.

Our machine is a Sunbeam EM6910 (pictured above).

Why do we like it and what makes it better than some of the other machines on the market?

Paul Bassett was an Australian Barista Champion and he helped develop this machine. However, that alone doesn’t make it any good. With espresso machines you largely get what you pay for- in what it delivers and life expectancy of the machine. The reason this machine is better than others in a similar price range is that it has a twin pump and thermoblock system. It also has an espresso gauge so you can see/test the quality of your extraction. (Users like me find this helpful but the more professional users, like Miss A, would not use an electrical gadget to measure the quality of their coffee) And much more. Suffice to say that the quality is that of commercial use but for the domestic home.

Appreciating a fine coffee, we didn’t want an automatic machine because…

1) There’s no fun in it and…

2) It is cookie-cutter mentality coffee- not individualised. There are some automatic machines available (e.g. the Nespresso) whereby you have to purchase the manufacturer’s brand of coffee, pre ground. Eww, pre ground coffee beans are gross!

This machine allows us to extract a shot of coffee and texture the milk at the same time, resulting in a fresher cappuccino. We’re able to regulate the temperature of the water, which is very handy in getting a good cup. The machine is strong and robust and quite easy to clean. However, it does need regular cleaning – it’s not a kettle. It works with ground coffee and milk so of course it needs thorough cleaning. Not everyone realises the amount of work needed to care for an espresso/cappuccino machine and some people are disappointed by this.

There are other very good machines on the market for home use, but there is no way that we could afford the $3000 to buy one. In our opinion, this is The Best machine at an affordable price. However, it will only produce as good a coffee as your bean and your milk texturing technique. If you don’t want to take time to learn of these things it might be best to stick to store-bought or buy an expensive automated machine. When you purchase this machine, you are also able to do the free Paul Bassett Coffee Appreciation Course, which not only teaches you a little about coffee but more importantly, how to care for your machine.

So there. That’s my thoughts on the Sunbeam…no doubt AbiGracewould do a much more thorough job of it but she didn’t…and I did. So there. 🙂

How To Attract More Traffic To Your Site

I’m going to cheat a little and post something that I originally wrote as a response to a question on a favourite message board. The discussion was about how to build a reader base for one’s website or blog. Now I’m not into this kind of things for myself – goodness, I don’t even have a (and have a reason for doing so) but as part of my website development business I have learned these things. So here we go!

“Dear ____

Now on to building your blog/site. Bear in mind that as part of my work I know these things but I do NOT do them. I build websites but I don’t do any of this stuff because I don’t need/want to. But, it works!

Sadly, the important thing is content distribution- not even quality of writing. Sad but true. You need to build a commenting base and a readership.How to do this?

Comments! It’s the best way. You have to visit other blogs and leave comments. This lets other readers see you and follow back to your blog but so will the blog owner. I notice you don’t allow comments- matey, this is blog suicide! You need to build readership- you need to build relationships.

Link to other sites. Yep, I know it sounds contrary to send people away from your site but it works. Also link back to your own writings. refer to your previous posts but don’t expect everyone to know the history so fill in the blanks when doing this. Also link to your previous posts- keeps people on your site plus builds a relationship with them. Blogging is all about developing relationships!Subscribe to this blog and read the good articles

I notice you don’t have a blogroll. Don’t underestimate the performance of a blogroll. It helps build readership and get you around the ‘net.

Submit your site to all the social networking sites. Build your reader base through RSS. This is SO important. People read blogs via RSS more so than visiting the site these days so, get your feedburner account up and running and get it looking swish. Make it VERY easy for people to subscribe to your blog.

Get your name out there more…actually I just searched for your name/sitename and your ‘previous’ blog came up first so you need to do some more work on your blog to push it up in the ranks. Get your keywords. Tag all posts. Get your mission statement or aim and put it in your blog. Work that blog girl! Hey, I know you’ve done that but it needs more!

You need a few pages – A visitor will only be on your blog for about 6 seconds if you’re lucky. You need to GRAB them. They need to see everything in one hit. Where is your About Me page? How do I contact you? Remember, make it easy for me, the reader. Why would I want to contact you? Are you available as a guest writer? A guest speaker? Sell yourself to me T__ ! Tell me why I need you! Tell me why I want to visit your site.

Freebies! Everyone loves something to download so get some freebies to give away. You’re a gifted writer and speaker. Make a few podcasts and offer them for free!

Learn to use typography to your advantage. It helps break up a post into bite sized pieces and makes skimming easier. And, like it or not, most people skim.

Get some useful plugins. Do others readers really care about the live feed? I know YOU do but do others need to see it? Nah, not really. But how about a Related Postsplugin? That kinda thing. Oh, related posts to your OWN posts, not others. See this post of mine I have two plugins (they both give good related posts). One is at the bottom of each post and the other is in the sidebar.

Personalise your site even more! Yes, it is possible without giving away all your personal details. eg: design your own logo or avatar so that it can follow you around the Internet. Sign up with Gravatar or OpenID so that everytime you comment on another blog it links back to your site and it includes YOUR avatar! It is important- builds familiarity-relationship. You can include your avatar or logo on your site in the sidebar or in the top of every post! Design a banner that you can give to other sites to display, that links back to your site.

Study how to build your site. Subscribe to blogs that primarily exist for this reason.I’ll list a few with good info, but bear in mind that they are not Christian.

http://www.adsensetipssite.com/adsenseblogging/tentipsblogging.html
http://www.problogger.net/
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/
http://www.successful-blog.com/
http://www.blogbloke.com/
to name a few…but this would get your started.

Another way is to follow the example of others- look at Cindy Rushton and Robin Sampson! Now, there’s two Christian homeschool mums (moms) who are using the Internet to their full advantage to build a business. Study the things they do and see how you can incorporate some of those ideas into your writing site.

T____, pop over to my site. Now I know the colours aren’t everyone’s ideas of nice but they’re *mine*. I would tone it down a lot if it were a business site, but not everyone does, aka. Cindy Rushton. From the outset you can see my RSS feeds (posts AND comments) in the top right hand corner PLUS on every single blog post I remind the reader that they can subscribe.

I have an easy to use , and page and the navigation is fairly easy, I think. Also, you can see that I’ve put my footer to good use. It has the necessary stuff but also a link to another page in my site!

Does all this take time?

Yup! It’s a part time business but if you want to succeed to any degree you need a strong online presence. You have a presence- you need to build it and that takes work.

Of course if you’re really serious, you could also go with your own domain name and hosting which allows for heaps more individual customisation. Let me know if you need some help with that.

That’s it for starters…gee I should start a web development business eh? LOL

Month: February 2009

Guidelines in our home

Addendum

THE FENCE

Why do we like it and what makes it better than some of the other machines on the market?