Vegetable Soup

When I make Veggie soup, I use a little beef stock with small pieces of meat. Then I add vegetable broth I have saved and frozen from left-overs of previous meals, onion, green pepper, celery and a little spaghetti sauce, mixed veggies and whatever vegetables I want to add from the refrigerator. Season and cook until done.

Eat Your Vegetables & Fruit

We returned from vacation last night. I never realize how many vegetables and fruit we eat until we go on vacation. I don't know why I am surprised how few vegetables we Americans eat. Unless you order a salad at a fast food, there are no vegetable choices there. Most American meals focus on meat and starch. I don't consider potatoes, rice, and macaroni and cheese as vegetables, as many restaurants do. Vegetables that are included are so cooked, I wonder if they are any good for us anymore. My husband and I are not vegetarians, but compared to what we had this week (which was very good, mind you!) we are close to it. Anyway, it is good to be back home and I plan to make a big pot of vegetable soup for supper! Then, after a trip to the store, we go back to a raw vegetable with each meal and fresh fruit for snacks.

A Smile

Brightens days
Cheers others
Refreshes spirits
Lightens burdens
Gives joy
Pleases God

© Belinda Jo Adams

The first time I told our daughters we would write a 2-word poem, one of them said, "That should be easy! I just have to think of 2 words."

Crafts

I wrote the article below several years ago. Recently, we went to a meeting and a woman spoke about how to recycle items that would be thrown away into beautiful items for decorating the home. That is what we did in the 60s-70s. I am glad it is being revived.

Decorating like Granny

I get tickled when I see items in stores for sale that look old fashioned. Don’t get me wrong, I like what they call country decorations. But, my granny decorated with what she had. She did not go out and buy things to try to look old fashioned! She used tin cans for flower pots, not flower pots that looked like tin cans! She used calendars from funeral homes or other places where they gave them away as their advertisement, not calendars that were made to look like those and sold at fancy card shops! She made quilts out of scraps of old clothing and left-over sewing, not material bought just for cutting up to make quilts to look old fashioned!
When I was young married, we made crafts out of left over items that would have been thrown away. Now, you go to a craft store and buy a kit with all the supplies right there in it. And what happens to all those items that we used to use and not throw away? They end up in the landfills! © Belinda Jo Adams

Laundry Detergent

This past October, I made homemade liquid laundry detergent. I made a half-batch and being I only wash 3-4 loads a week, it has lasted me a while. I figured it cost me a penny a load. So far, it is working nicely. Here is the site that I got the know how from.

Update: the link I had here is not good anymore, so I found a new place to go to with many different recipes. I usually go by # 2, but I only do a fourth at a time being I don't nned as much.

Home made laundry detergent recipes

CRA Private School

We called our homeschool CRA Private School because it was our girls' initials and homeschooling is about as private as it gets. We homeschooled for 8 and a half years back in the 80s-90s. We had many blessing and are very glad we chose that route for our children's education. Both have gone on to achieve many goals in their lives. We are proud of them.

Homeschooling

Homeschooling is a great adventure
A challenge and a blessing, too.
Learning comes not just from books.
There are many areas to pursue.

Seeing first hand what happens
By going on field trips galore.
Learning by on-hand experience
When freely allowed to explore.

If children can learn without hurry
And can go at their own pace,
Nothing can quite compare
With the victorious look on each face.

Being taught self-discipline is the answer
In learning to write, to cipher, or to read.
Training them to have concern for others
And helping when there is a need.

Homeschooling is not for everyone
But, for the ones who were willing to try,
God has surely blessed our efforts
And talents we were willing to apply.

© Belinda Jo Adams

Last week, I did not get as much done at home as I wanted to do. For we were out and about doing various 'other things' that needed to be done. I mentioned it to my husband and as I ended the sentence in 'because' and stopped, he added, "Life happened." Yes, life happened. And I am so glad we are capable of doing all the things we did. Now, to play catch-up this week!
We need to be flexible to have time to do all that comes into our lives, either planned or unplanned.

Butterfly Musings

Why Butterfly Musings? I am writing about various subjects ... just fluttering between ideas. I like butterflies and thought the idea fit my style of writing. I sat in a waiting room one day last week. A lady walked across the way, carrying a butterfly purse. As I watched the purse go by, I thought ... Butterflies .... blog .... musing .... Butterfly Musings. That's what I'll call my blog! The photos of butterflies are ones I took.

Microwave Oven 'danger' sites

Please read the post for Jan 15, about microwave ovens, before this one.

These sites explain more about the dangers of microwave ovens, if you care to research for yourself.
1 - microwave use
2 - microwave hazards
3 - Is your microwave killing you?
4 - microwave dangers
5 - Dangers of Microwaved Food
6 - microwave dangers
7 - microwave dangers

I so enjoyed my microwave, but I don't know about now! I guess next I will research plastics. I do know today I read for us to not use plastics in the microwave or dishwasher! More to come on that one!

Microwave Oven Use

When I was in high school, our home economics class went on a field trip to Jacksonville, FL to a department store. We were taken upstairs to a meeting room. There, they demonstrated the oven of the future to us. It cooked food fast and we were amazed that we could see something that would be for sale in our future.
The microwave oven has become a household item that we all think we have to have. I have had several during the years. I have heard controversial issues concerning them, have slacked off some, but always go back to it. Until now … I hope. While on vacation this summer, a friend warned us of the dangers of the microwave has for us. When I got home, I researched it online. Most of the places were similar and talked about almost the same warnings. Several are listed below. The only site I saw that rebuked those other places and said all was not a danger happened to be a place that sold microwaves!
I thought, you know, it would be neat to see if I could go without my microwave for a week. That week has now turned into almost 5 months. I did plug it in a couple times and heat water for us or someone, but mostly I used the stove top and toaster oven or an electric water pot. It was fun to challenge myself to do things ‘the old fashioned way.’ Then, recently, I was trying to heat up some meat loaf and it was frozen, had not thawed enough, we were hungry and it was time to eat. So, I plugged in the microwave, regardless of the danger and zapped it. After the meal, I thought about forgetting it and not worrying about it anymore. So, I went online to look at the links again. I came across Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s web site. I had not seen her site before. Some of the others I had seen before were old sites and it was refreshing to see a more updated one. I liked what she said and won’t repeat it all here. You can go to Kelly's site to read what she thinks.
I am not a health professional or anything like that. I am a housewife who is concerned for my family. For now, I plan to keep doing what I have been for the past few months. I feel as if there is something out there that is making people sick with so many different diseases. The microwave oven has been out for about 40 years. Could it be one problem among many other issues we need to be concerned about? I don’t mean to put fear in people, I just wonder why so many people are sick nowadays. I challenge you to try to do without your microwave for one week and see if you can do it!


This was our first microwave oven. Some friends gave it to us in the 80s (another neat story) and we used it for 20 years and passed it on to some more friends when we bought another one.

Thai Chicken Pasta

My niece won 3rd place in a recipe contest for her Thai Chicken Pasta. It is in the Healthy Cooking magazine Dec/Jan 2009/2010 issue. Page 32. Congratulations Jeni. I am proud of you!

Jeni's Thai Chicken Pasta