I have found the very best homemade ranch dressing you could possibly ever make!  Crystal has a WONDERFUL website that has all kinds of recipes, some of which she has posted here on homesteadblogger.  I didn't have everything she uses in her recipe, but it still turned out so good.  This is how I made it:

Homemade Ranch Dressing

1 C mayonnaise

1/2 C sour cream

1/2 C milk

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp  garlic powder

2 tsp parsley

dash dill weed

1/2 tsp salt

Mix it all together and let set in the fridge for awhile before using.  It is SO yummy, you just have to try it!   We used it all up in just a couple of days.  We had salad a couple of times, then used it as a dip with raw zucchini, and then tonight I used the little bit I had left to throw together a smoked salmon pasta salad.  Here's my recipe:

Smoked Salmon Pasta Salad

brown rice rotini (or any kind of pasta)

frozen mixed veggies (I used carrots, peas and corn)

mayonnaise

left over Ranch Dressing (I had maybe a couple of tablespoons; I would have put it all in if I had enough!)

smoked salmon (I got from Whole Foods)

Fix enough pasta for your family; during the last 5 minutes add the frozen veggies.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Chop up about a cup of smoked salmon; add  to pasta and vegetables.  Add about a cup of mayonnaise and the rest of the Ranch Dressing and mix well.

My entire family loved it - which is saying A LOT.  With the five of us,  there's usually someone who doesn't like a meal, but everyone loved this!  If you have never been to Crystal's website, you really must.  She has all kinds of wonderful information there!

Blessings,

Carol

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This is awesome!  Hope you enjoy it!

Malachi  3:3 says:

'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up.

He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says:

'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember  that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Blessings,

Carol

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It rained on and off all day today, and is supposed to rain again in the morning.   I love rainy days - especially when the weather cools down from the usual 105+ degrees to the low 90's.  Right now, it is 75 and feels so good.  After dinner tonight, Luke and I took Dixie for a walk and it felt so much like fall.  Fall is my favorite season.  I love watching leaves change colors and fall from the trees, and the cooler temperature.   I know the temperature won't last, but it is such a nice respite from the heat.   The Lord is so good!

Blessings,
Carol

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Trying to catch up with laundry today.  I've got a few loads washed, dried, and put away and have another in the washing machine.  It's the worst time of day to use the dryer because it is just so hot, but I don't have a clothesline right now.  I miss hanging them out on the line; such a homey, comfortable feeling seeing laundry on the line, lol.   I need to buy a new clothesline and ask Keith to put another one up for me.  Since we don't have an "official" clothesline, he has just rigged one up for me between the fence and the swingset.  Time (and children) have pretty much torn the old one up, so it's time for a new one.

I'm keeping my niece, Jenna, and her stepbrother and sister today for a couple of hours.  They have been playing really well together.  I let them change into some old clothes and play outside with the hose.  Now they are down the street at the school playground, where my older daughters cheerfully offered to take them.  I don't think they'll stay too long since it's so hot, but the quiet house sure is nice!   They even took the puppy.  Dixie sure is growing, and can be quite mischevious at times.  Take a look at Luke's blog  for a naughty picture of her.  She loves tearing up toilet paper!  :P

I'm giving away two bags of clothes to Jenna's stepsister.  Why I kept them so long I don't know, but they're perfect for Madison right now, so I guess everything happens for a reason!  I'm working on decluttering, which has always been very hard for me.  It feels good to be getting rid of some things, though!

I'm supposed to start tutoring my niece and her stepbrother and sister before they start back to school.  Madison is pretty well on target in reading, but my niece and Parker aren't.  The new Christian school they will be going to uses Abeka, which I hear is pretty advanced, so I'm afraid they may have a bit of a problem at first.   They are both really smart, though, and I think they'll catch up pretty quickly.  :) 

Well, they are back now.  They lasted longer than I thought!  It's actually much cooler today at 90 degrees; it has been 105 or so for the past week.  Still, they are hot, thirsty, and tired.  Dixie went straight to the cool tile in the bathroom to cool off and rest, and the kids are putting on a movie to watch.  It's time for me to get off and get some more work done.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!

Blessings,

Carol

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Today was a really busy day, and it's not over yet.  I got up this morning, took the puppy for a short walk, went to the Post Office, drove out to hubby's work and picked up his check, brought it back and deposited it in the bank, drove out to the dairy and picked up 6 gallons of fresh raw Jersey milk (yum!) and 2 dozen eggs, drove a little further on to an orchard and picked up some peaches, strawberries, blueberries, zucchini, black eyed peas, cucumbers, okra and tomatoes.  Came home and ate a fresh peach with some yogurt, nutmeg and pecans sprinkled with agave nectar for lunch.  (Okay, I was still hungry so I had some chips and hot sauce afterwards!)   I put the peas on to boil, and I think we'll have some fried okra, cornbread and fresh tomatoes and cucumbers for supper tonight.  Then we may have some strawberries and blueberries with a little whipped cream for dessert.  Yum!   

I sure miss having a garden this year.  I'm thinking about starting a fall container garden and planting some greens and maybe carrots.  I've never had a fall garden so I'm not even sure yet what I can plant.  But anything we can grow will sure help the grocery bill, especially now that we have four rabbits.   The kids have wanted to have a rabbitry for the past few years and we finally got them some.  They have two English Lops and two Mini Rexes.  They are so cute!  Hannah just brought them in to relieve them of this Texas heat.  Dixie (the pup) wants to play with them so bad, but for some reason they really don't want to, lol.

We got something interesting in the mail today from an organization called People to People.  Our daughter Shera is invited to travel and study in England and France next summer.  I've never heard of this organization, but it was founded by President Eisenhower so apparently it's been around a while.  Has anyone heard of it or had any experience with it?   It sounds like a great opportunity, but there's no way we could ever come up with the money for something like that, much less be comfortable with letting her go off with people we don't even know. 

I'm off now to read a few blogs and get started on supper.  Have a wonderful evening!

Blessings,

Carol

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I came across something that I had never heard of - a solar food dehydrator.  I have heard of solar cooking, but this was something new to me.  I found this article in Mother Earth News, and then went to the guy's website.  You can order his book from Amazon for around $10.00.  Has anyone ever tried solar dehydrating?  It looks like it would be a lot cheaper than an Excalibur, which has been something on my wish list for some time.  Maybe now I'll just add this book to my wish list, if my handy dandy dh has the time to build it. 

I saw this book as well on Amazon:  Cooking with Sunshine: The Complete Guide to Solar Cuisine with 150 Easy Sun-Cooked Recipes and thought it looked pretty interesting, too.  While I have heard of solar cooking, I've never tried it.  That just might be a fun family project! 

Blessings,

Carol

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Does anyone know what happened to Scarecrow?  I just realized his blog disappeared.  Praying he's doing okay!

Blessings,
Carol

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My son, Luke, is now an official blogger here on Homesteadblogger.  He is so excited!  If you have a chance, please visit him at Luke's Place.  He would love to have you stop by!

Blessings,

Carol

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I'm sure this is one email everyone has received at least once, but it's certainly worth repeating and sharing with your children!

Blessings,
Carol

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. 
 

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Yes, we have a new addition to our family!!!  One for whom I have been waiting for years . . . . . .

I finally got my collie!  We named her Dixie.  This picture just doesn't do her justice - she is absolutely gorgeous!  And the next best thing is, my mom bought one of her littermates, whom she named Belle.  We are so excited to finally have a puppy again!

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Last night, dh and I went on a "date" for the first time in quite a while.  We took the kids to my mom's to spend the night and then went to an Italian restaurant for dinner.  Keith had a stromboli while I had cheese lasagna.  Yummy!

Then we went home and watched "On a Clear Day" netflix movie.  It was okay; I think we will have to see it again and use the subtitles the next time so maybe we could understand it a bit better.  The girls have been wanting to see it because Billy Boyd (Pippin in Lord of the Rings) is in it.  Because it is rated PG-13, I wanted us to preview it first.

Then we bowled a few games and played a few rounds of golf 2008 style - via the Wii, that is!    We finally broke down and got one after we got our income tax rebate.  It was my first time to play it and it is really fun!

We don't get to be alone together very much, and we really need to work on that.   We are blessed to live so close to my mom so that we can do that occasionally.  When the kids were younger, they spent at least one night a week there, but as they got older we just got out of the habit.  Hopefully we'll start doing this more!

Have a great day!

Carol

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For anyone out there interested in Affordable Mineral Makeup, here is an incentive for giving it a try!

Celebrate Earth Day, April 22nd with 15% off at Affordable Mineral Makeup.  Put the word earthday2008 in the coupon section to take off your 15%.  You must also put in the comments section one thing you'll make an effort to do to help the environment.

Have an awesome day!

Blessings,

Carol

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I am now officially HOME!  After much prayer, I felt it was time for me to quit my job at the daycare, and I have been home now for a couple of weeks.  It feels so good to be home with my kids!   I will be subbing from time to time, so I can bring in a bit of money here and there.  I really do need to get into a good routine because I end up wasting so much time and not even realizing it.  But I am HOME!!!

This will be a short post because it is now time to run to piano lessons, but I did want to mention that the herbal treatment for lice works great!!!!

Have a blessed day,

Carol

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I found this from www.welltellme.com:

40 drops Bergamot essential oil

20 drops Lavendar essential oil

20 drops Tea Tree essential oil

1/2 cup carrier oil (I used olive oil)

Mix together, drizzle over hair and work it in.  Wrap head in plastic and leave on a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.  Comb through with a lice comb, and then wash hair.   Do this twice a day for two or three days.

My sweet little niece has battled lice for over six months now.  My b-i-l has tried the regular over-the-counter treatment over and over, but they still come back.  We caught them from her a few months ago, and now Luke has caught them again.   My head has been itching, too, although I haven't found any on me.   Last time we found a wonderful herbal shampoo, Therapeutic Treatment Shampoo from Dessert Essence, that worked really well, but this time I thought I would try something else along with the shampoo.  I will not be able to do this twice a day, so we will just do it once a day for four days, which is what you are supposed to do with the shampoo.  It smells really great!  I'll let you know how it works.

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Reading Maa's Mom  entry tonight reminded me of a site that I had heard of quite a while back.  I always thought we would have moved by now so I never followed through with it, but it sounds like a great deal.  Here is the blurb from the main page:

 WELCOME

        Every year millions of unsold, high-quality, nursery

       plants are destroyed.

        Sheltered workshops all over the Nation can provide

       jobs.  The problem is to find enough work to keep

       the doors open.

       We find unsold plants, have those workshops

       package them and...

 The Plants are YOURS FREE!

          You pay only processing and shipping

Reserve your FREE Plants Now!

So apparently all you have to do is pay for shipping and processing, which I believe is a very modest fee of $7.95.  Like I said, I have never done this, so I cannot guarantee how healthy the plants and trees are, but $7.95 is not a big risk!  Here's the link:

http://www.freetreesandplants.com/index.html

Also, I just found out that if you join the Arbor Day Foundation for just $10, they will send you your choice of 10 free trees that are right for your zone.  Not a bad deal at all!  Here's that link:

http://www.arborday.org/

Hope this helps someone.  Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Carol

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Well, it seems that while I was offline a few months ago, I was tagged by none other than Randy, aka Scarecrow.  Here are the rules:

Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, although it has been quite a while since I was tagged, here goes:

1.  I am only 5 feet tall.

2.  For as far back as I can remember, I have ALWAYS wanted to live in the country - just haven't  realized my dream yet.

3.  I always get chocolate covered cherries in my stocking at Christmas.

4.  I am allergic to bananas and avocados.

5.  I have always lived in Texas.

6.  I have three surviving children, and seven in heaven.

7.  I love learning about anything pertaining to homesteading.

Now, instead of tagging others, I'll just say. . .

"If you read this, consider yourself tagged!" 

If you decide to do this, please leave me a message and let me know!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carol

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It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since I first started blogging here at Homesteadblogger!   It's also hard to believe that my oldest daughter, Shera, turned 15 today.  Where has the time gone?   Today she wanted to spend some time with just her daddy and me, so we went to her choice of restaurant - Steak and Ale - for lunch, and then dropped Keith off at home while she and I went shopping.   We went first to Kohl's where she bought two tops and then to Target for a couple of t-shirts.  We will be having her birthday party next week with my family.  She is saving up for a laptop so all she wants is money.   Here's a picture of the two of us on her birthday. 

You can see how much she has matured by comparing our pic from last year.

Speaking of laptops, my daughter Hannah has saved for quite a while to get one - and she accomplished her goal this year.   In fact, she got it today.  It is a refurbished one that we were able to buy from my nephew's company.   They sell them at a discounted price, plus he got another discount, so she was able to get an IBM Thinkpad for only $270.  She saved so much that she was able to buy herself a digital camera and still have some left over!  Luke would like one, too, but we'll have to wait and see about that.

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You may have already heard this, but this is just so awesome, it's worth repeating.  A 13 year old boy from a ranch in Nebraska called a Christian radio station distraught from having to take down a calf.  Listen to what the Lord taught him:

Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy

(Sorry, I don't know how to embed the video or I would have done it!)

Blessings,
Carol

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