A Little Helper

I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast yesterday.

I had an eager little helper.

I did not have a regular biscuit cutter so I used some cookie cutters instead. I could have just used a glass or cup as a round biscuit cutter but shapes were more fun. Lily was all on board for that!

Um...as you see the meat part of our biscuits and gravy was a little lacking and the fluffy element of the biscuits was (or is it were?) missing but no one complained!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Improvising Tina Style

I call it 'improvise cooking Tina style' and it is usually how meals are created around here.

We very rarely have all the correct ingredients that a recipe calls for.

I am getting very good at knowing how to fudge with some recipes.

Yesterday it was pancakes frugal style!

Feeds 17 people

6 cups of flour
3 tablespoons of baking powder
1/2 tablespoon of salt
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup melted butter
6 eggs
6 cups of water
1/3 cup white vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients together then add the water,eggs, and melted butter. Mix well.
add the vinegar and stir well. Let the batter set for a bit before cooking on a hot griddle that has a nice coating of melted shortening on it.

What makes this a frugal pancake recipe?

See no need for any milk. If you actually had milk, which we usually do not,just exchange the milk for the water. Maybe you have powdered milk? Add about 1/3 cup powdered milk with the dry ingredients for every cup of water you add.

If you do not have vinegar just leave it out.

Only 5 eggs? Then just use what you have adding more water or milk to make the batter the thickness you desire.

Only have a half of a cup of butter or none at all? Use melted shortening or a combo of shortening, butter,and oil but probably just not all oil.

Add more or less white sugar or a combo of white sugar and brown sugar. You really can not fail.

We did not even have syrup so we used powdered sugar instead. At times I have made syrup by heating to a boil brown sugar or white sugar with water. I have even boiled jelly and some water for a bit for a treat. We have even used straight corn syrup.

They might not be your Perkins variety or like the ones your mother made,or even 'politacly correct' health wise but they are frugal, tasty, and when cooking for a large family, perfect.

P.S. Our church passed on to us a ton of little cute pre-packed butter dabs which we really appreciate!

They made our pancakes look fancy.

A side note: If,say,we ended up not having any butter to mix up our pancake batter I would have just opened up a lot of the pre-packed butter dabs and used them. See 'improvise cooking Tina style' is not a hard thing once you get used to it.

But then again, company usually does not happen to drop by during meal times...


Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Children's Christmas Program

Yesterday morning was the church's children's Christmas program.

Josh, Odell, Ekie, Naomi, and Anya worked real hard memorizing their lines and practicing the last few weeks.

I was so very excited to watch.

Although I tried, this was about the only picture that turned out well.

You can see Josh, Naomi, Ekie, and Anya. Odell was just to the right in the picture but was cut off.

Great job kids!

On the way into church to watch the play, I took this cute picture of Joel, Lily, and Grace in the church lobby by the pretty tree.

A sweet sibling moment.

After church Grant is entertaining Lily and Joel watching videos with his notepad.

Enjoy your week!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Highlights

Once again our caroling party was a blast!

Thank you to all who took the time to stop by and help us sing and eat!

The carolers assembling

There was a lot of great food to eat!

and a lot of conversation.

This really was a fun time!

Thank you everyone!!

See you next year!!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Curtains and Bedrooms

Over the last few years we have been working on painting the attic bedrooms.

Things are starting to look real good.

Grant brought home some beautiful fabric from Ghana so I made curtains for his bedroom.

I kind of made them a tad shorter than I wanted. Some child cut up my measuring tape so I only had inches 22-60 left to work with.

Although, for the rest of the population that would not prove to be a problem, my mind was having a hard time measuring correctly.

The fabric is beautiful and was so fun to work with!

Josh and I painted Grant's room a light brown since he had new curtains.

As you can see Grant is a bare minimalist when it comes to room decor.

That is just fine. There is less to clean that way!

Once upon a time Josh shared a bedroom with Josiah, Cyrus, and Nolan down on the second floor but thought the little attic alcove would be just perfect for his own private bedroom space.

I agree.

He uses his space well.

I guess 18 year old young ladies (aka: Elena) do not need to clean their rooms...

Patches the cat does not seem to mind the mess,though.

Alan's bedroom.

He painted it black and dark green.

His room is usually pretty clean so the mess you see is not a common sight.

We just need to:

paint the attic hallway.

On our 'if we ever win the lottery' wish list would be to replace the windows and bring better heat and electricity up there.

and Elena dreams of her own bathroom...

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Happy Birthday Jeff!!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

You Are Invited!

 

You and your family are invited to:

 

The 7th Annual Frye Caroling Party!

When: Sunday, December 16th, 2012

 

Time: 2:00 pm

 

Where: The Frye House

 

What to bring: A favorite Christmas treat to share,

 

warm clothing (we will be outside for some of the time),

 

 Bring the

whole family! :)

 

                    

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Silver Lining?

"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore gloomily.

"If it is a good morning," he said. "Which I doubt," said he.

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it."

"Can't all what?" said Pooh, rubbing his nose.

"Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush."


I apologize for my blog shut down for a few weeks.

I really could not decide if I should keep my blog up so I disabled it for a bit.

I had had a few very discouraging weeks.

I am not the person I thought I would be at this stage in my life.

I am not the person I want to be.

I am tired.

I am frustrated with myself.

I am frustrated with my life.

I am frustrated with EVERYTHING!

I feel stuck in a rut with no strength to get out.

~Sigh~

This middle age stuff is just so hard.

No matter how hard I fight, stamp my feet and refuse to face it, my life is plowing forward.

Can someone make it stop!

I want a do-over.

I was being very pout-ish and fussy because well...

Sometimes...well...Jeff and I do not get along.

I think we know each other less now than we did 19 years ago.

Sometimes...well...the weaknesses of the kids are too much for me to face

and the conflicts come like a rapid fire machine gun.

Sometimes...well...I can not see beyond my own weaknesses.

I feel sort-of alone.

I am not the most sought after person in the blog world.

Or the Etsy world,either.

Ha ha.

What a discouraging post!

So where is the silver lining, you ask?

How did I turn the corner to realize that the sun was shining this whole time and it was me just walking around with my eyes closed?

You are waiting for the happily ever after part?

Hm...

Well...

Um...

God is not afraid to point out areas in my life that need to change, thought patterns that need to shift, behaviors that need to be abandoned.

God is not afraid to call things for what they are. God has the perfect combination of firm mixed with gentleness.  I like that about God.

God knows that sometimes hope and hard work go hand in hand.

And God knows me!

"Praise the Lord,
for he has shown me his
unfailing love.
He kept me safe when my city (mind) was under attack.
In sudden fear I had cried out,
"I have been cut off from the Lord!"
But you heard my cry for mercy
and answered my call for help.

Psalm  31:21-22


Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Interesting...

I was looking at our utility (water/electric) bill yesterday and noticed this...

Well...we never wanted to be average anyway...

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

A Two Day Wrap Up

I finished my square quilt top last night.

It looks good.

I tried very hard to keep the corners matched up.

That was my goal while making the quilt.

I did a pretty good job but towards the end of piecing the quilt top I ran out of certain squares and was scrambling through my stash to find alternates that fit the quilt look. I was not careful in cutting out accurate 4 inch squares so the piecing got a little funky and outmatching in certain areas. Nothing horrible just bothersome. I plan to meander quilt it and meander quilting does a good job of hiding those little goofs.

Josh worked all afternoon yesterday making this mini quilt for me.

It is wonderful.

He is still in the sewing mood because he asked me today for some flannel fabric pieces for a new project he is working on.

I am excited to see his latest creation.

I have been having a few low days lately. The colder weather is already getting me down.

One of the kids made this note for me a few weeks back and we hung it in the bathroom so I could look at it while I brush my teeth.

As I was looking at it last night I caught my self thinking "Tina, you really are not very super you know..." So true. And I am too tired to shine on... Love the negative talk. Instead of fighting it, I let it roll. No good comes out of letting negative talk roll...

Here is my first draft of the Tootsie Roll hat I had envisioned in my mind.

It needs lots of tweaking. At least Lily did not mind it.

I guess it can be reversible. Bonus! I added a layer of flannel in between but still not 'Minnesota winter warm'.

I heard while I was napping today the big kids and their friend were trying it on making fun of it. Ha ha. Maybe these Waseca teens are not as fashion forward as I thought. Ha ha. It does look rather odd...

I will give the hat another try after I change things a bit.



Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom