Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...cloudy and gray. The trees still have lots of color though and some of them are so bright yellow it looks like sunshine. :)
I am thinking... about what else needs to be done today. Mondays are always very busy.
I am thankful... for the grocery store and being able to buy food to prepare for my family.
From the learning rooms... this week we are learning about the letter I. Maybe we'll make some homemade ice cream and take a field trip to IKEA to do some Christmas shopping. And who knows what other fun we'll have!

In the kitchen... I have both my crockpots going today. One with soup for dinner and the other one making yogurt. So blessed that we got two crockpots for wedding gifts!
I am wearing... Green cargo pants, black turtleneck sweater and black striped socks
I am creating... had fun making a baby gift this past week for my friend Theresa's baby shower. Now onto Christmas gifts. Working tonight on a scarf for my grandma. Also, need to finish up the little "mailboxes" for the fridge so we can leave each other notes.
I am going... to pick up James from wrestling practice in a few minutes. Football is now over, so it will be good to have something else to keep him fit and active and busy so he's not moping around the house bored. :)
I am wondering... if I'll ever get more organized in the kitchen with my cooking. Even though I plan my meals and stick to my list with shopping it seems like I always forget stuff, and get stuff that I don't really need.
I am reading... the Bible, and Cranford
I am hoping... to get a lot done and organized this week while hubby is out of town for work.
I am looking forward to... Thanksgiving
I am hearing... the girls chattering away, the washer going, and classical music.
Around the house... some friends from church brought us a kid size table and chairs today that they got from their neighbors...for free! The girls are loving it! Now to organize the furniture just right so if fits in their room.
I am pondering... an article I read on imperfection the other day. It was very encouraging.
One of my favorite things... pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving with lots of whipped cream! :)
A few plans for the rest of the week: a trip to the library tomorrow, dropping off Christmas boxes with our friend for Operation Christmas Child, lots of fun with the letter I, playdate with friends, and whatever else happens to come along.
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

The girls enjoying a beautiful Fall day!!

Rieska

 Today I thought I'd share a fun, quick recipe with you. One that originates in the country of my ancestors, Finland. We sampled this delicious bread at the Mill City Museum's Test Kitchen in Minneapolis, MN when the girls and I were back in the Land of 10,00 Lakes visiting my mom in March. This stuff made the whole museum smell amazing! And it tasted just as amazing! One of those samples you just want to keep eating...you know, the sneaking-back-a-few-minutes-later-hoping-no-one-notices kind of sample. Anyway, they were super nice and let us copy down the recipe so we could make our own. (It is from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook).

I am just sad I didn't pull out the recipe until today to try it at home. It is so super fast and easy to make and it makes a great snack with a little butter on top. And I think it would be quite fabulous with soup instead of biscuits for a change. (We eat a lot of biscuits because my hubby likes bread and I don't usually have time to make anything other than biscuits.)

Rieska

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups whole rye flour (pumpernickel) *I used light rye flour and it seemed to work fine

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup butter

3 cups buttermilk *I didn't have buttermilk on hand so used part plain yogurt and part milk with lemon juice

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x18x1 inch half sheet pan.

Whisk together oats, and flours with sugar and baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until thoroughly distributed. Stir in buttermilk; the mixture will be kind of goopy, that's okay.

Transfer the dough to the sheet pan, and spread dough out until it is about 1/4 inch thick and covers the bottom of the pan completely.

Bake until the top is light golden brown and springs back to the touch. 17-20 minutes. *Mine baked about 15 minutes*. Remove from the oven and cool on rack before slicing.

Enjoy!

Frugal Friday: Headband Storage

Happy Friday! This week I wanted to share a recent quick project I made for all of the girls' headbands. But first, I just have to share my exciting news! I got my own computer this week!!! My very own pretty, white MacBook! Our friend who just moved in as a roommate of our other friends right next door was talking with my hubby the other night about computers and such. My hubby was telling him how we were considering either getting an iPad or some other computer so I could have something to use now that he will be traveling out of town with his new job. Our friend said that he had a MacBook that he didn't use anymore that he would sell to us. (He was pretty much just going to give it to us, but we wanted to give him something for it). We just had to add a new operating system to it. God is so good at providing what we need, when we need it. I am soooo excited! And hopefully, I will be able to write more on my blog too since I don't have to wait for my hubby to be off of his computer.

Okay, on to the headband storage. I wish I could say this was my own idea, but I found it once upon a time on some other more creative person's blog. So long ago, that I can't remember what blog, otherwise I would totally give credit for this awesome idea.

It is super easy to make. All you need is an empty oatmeal container (the bigger size), some pretty paper or fabric and some mod podge (I used homemade. You can find a recipe for that here.)

Measure and cut your paper to wrap around the oatmeal container and then simply mod podge it on, spreading mod podge on the container and sticking your paper on and then mod podging over the top of your paper.

When it is dry, you simply slip your headbands around the container and there you have it! We keep our other hair accessories inside of the container so now we have everything all together.