Journey Beyond Survival

Hagrid’s Treacle Fudge

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:37:04 +0000

For Christmas we gave the kids coupons for a date a month in their stocking. Miss went out with Mr. Survival, and Sprout had a coupon to shop for and create the recipe of his choice.

We picked this up from a specialty shop:

And bought this a while ago:

So we were ready to go.

Or so I thought. He. I also bought a candy thermometer and some marshmallow fluff.

My kids wanted me to recreate the messed up version that the half giant Hagrid produces in

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

chapter 15.

I tried my best to make the real thing. I’ve never had fudge turn out badly. Especially with marshmallow fluff.

It turned out exactly like Hagrid’s.

I pout. Kids cheer.

Letters from Mykala: Thoughts on Being Placed as a Service Dog

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:55:53 +0000

Dearest Meister,

My heart has been in turns elated with my position then mournful as I remembered you. I have thought of you often, especially between four and five o’clock. I like to stand in the front window looking for you when the family is not looking. I know that I am to stay here to love these people, but I cannot help when the love in my heart tugs me to you. I am trying not to let it interfere with my work, and it is happening less. I will do my best to honor you with my work.

The home you found for me has a nice family. They have a little boy that made me quite comfortable with his games and easy love, also an older girl with a voice like yours Meister. She has me quite wrapped around her finger. She was quite accommodating with her bed and I slept with her for the first two weeks.

As for the rest of the family, I must confess that I waited all this time to write you because I wasn’t really sure I could palate them. I have nothing against stereotypical compulsive hand movements, but they do make a child rather unpredictable. The youngest girl is quite delicious in many ways and we are working out the best ways to cooperate together in our home. It’s just different and we are both learning. Sometimes we are frustrated, but other times it is just right and we spend the sweetest hours napping together.

The man of the house put me off most when I arrived. As you know, I’m not exactly partial to men. I prefer a delicate bit if I must be bridled you know. This particular man invited a horde of three more of them to play games the night I arrived. I took it as a personal offense.

I must say I was highly affronted that the mother did nothing. I visited with her several times trying to convince her that her children were in danger and that she must defend her young, but she did nothing. I tell you Meister, motherhood these days is a dead art. She also allows her children to sleep haphazardly all over the house, and I have frequently had to shame her into bedding them down properly by keeping a steadfast vigil by the wayward child. Since the children have returned to school, this seems to have happened less, so let us hope that it was just a holiday indulgence.

I have been won over by treats hidden on the person of the baby child, as well as daily walks in a lovely park. They are not as diligent about consistent exercise as I would like, but I suppose that to a human twelve inches of snow and a wheelchair might be imposing. It is on those dreary few days that I have missed you most Meister. I have spent much time waiting for the man that brought me here to come back and get me so that I can continue to keep my loving servitude at your side. Him, or the bus carrying the children home from school.

I am your loving ever devoted student,

Mykala

Mine

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:15:18 +0000

Back off love.

Eating My Freezer

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:55:34 +0000

Since I’m holed up in my sewing cave in the basement most hours that I can, I had to find a way to take care of the normal business of my life. Like feeding my family for instance. Laundry, clean toilets, pee-free guinea pig bedding, all that can wait a day. Poor Browny the guinea pig.

The monsters won’t wait to eat, and there are only so many days that Mr. Survival finds it cute to have to make dinner after having wrestled the Bull Market all day to bring home a bit of bacon. Once, maybe. That’s what I’ve got.

So, when Miss and I wanted to go for a chatty walk on Saturday and we found that it was too cold, we went grocery shopping instead.

Then I came home and steamed up my kitchen. I made hot chocolate for the monsters to come inside to, and started chopping, baking and awesoming up my day.

Wanna know how I made my grocery list in ten minutes and was able to cook up enough meals for a couple of weeks? Hmmm?

I thought so. Heck. I do too!

This site has oodles of recipes. I use them as ideas, and generate my shopping list from them. I already had about 20 recipes in my “recipe box” so I just had to move the meals I felt like making to my grocery list. If you are lucky enough to be able to have apps on your phone, it is called iFood and I paid a couple of bucks six months ago for it. I love this because I have my list with me, I can print the list from my phone (so I don’t kill my battery checking it a million times) and add recipes to my list. This way, I sat up in bed for about 5 minutes and then sent my grocery list to my printer and picked it up on my way out the door.

zesty minestrone

This was the first thing I made. If you click on the pictures, it will take you to the recipe on Kraft Foods. I used V8 for the vegetable broth because I heard America’s Test Kitchen cooks saying it is the best tomato based vegetable broth. I also used some spicy sausage we have on hand, and I didn’t freeze the noodles in the soup. I cooked some noodles separately to eat that night, then I froze three meal size portions to have later.

roasted vegetable soup

Next I made this roasted soup. I didn’t use the red pepper. My family (the kids anyway) will cut off their own toes one by one instead of eating sweet peppers. The parsnips actually smelled divine. The part that really sounded delicious was that you roast the root vegetables (I just used olive oil spray with salt and pepper) and then you stick half of them in the blender with broth for the base. It looks so creamy that I can’t wait to try it.

won ton soup

Mr. Survival drifted in and started watching my Netflix movie over my shoulder. So, I gave the heavy dicing to him and left to do something else. This Won Ton Soup is really labor intensive. But, it’s actually so delicious! I can’t find the Kraft Asian Sesame with Ginger dressing, so I just bought another brand. Shh. (I substitute all the time) I dice the shitake mushrooms, green onions, and water chestnuts teeny tinsy so that it will get a nice mix of flavors in each won ton. I made Mr. Survival do it just like me. Also, this makes my kids eat things-like mushrooms, onions, and water chestnuts-that they claim not to. It’s kind of funny to see them gobble up their won tons and wrinkle their noses at the other half that is sliced and floating in the broth. HA! I win.

mixed greens and pear salad

Since they only sell the ground pork for the won tons in one pound increments, and the recipe only calls for a half pound, I doubled it and froze it all. Won tons are very fragile when frozen, so I only freeze them in a single layer. Also, I make them in an assembly line of up to six at once. Too many more than that and the egg white dries before I can fold them over and seal them. I’ll be serving the Won Ton Soup with the Pear salad above tonight. Yum.

lemon chicken

Finally, while Mr. Survival was STILL working (and watching MY show) I threw the ingredients for this stuff into a bag. I put all the dry ingredients in a separate sandwich baggie, then put it inside the gallon baggie with the veggies. Sidenote: put the garlic in with the vegetables. Garlic is wet. In case you were tempted. I buy my chicken in those big bags of frozen pieces. So, I’ll just take out what I need and toss it in ~~at five o’clock~~. I did use peppers for the lemon chicken, but my kids have too many toes anyway.

Also, rice does NOT freeze well, so I’ll have to make that too on that day. But I checked on everything else, and it’s fine.

I have a few other things on my menu, but none that would really freeze well. I did make extra pizza dough on Friday and freeze it, as well as baked bread/rolls/cinnamon raisin bread so that my family would LEAVE ME IN PEACE in my sewing cave. But, that would sound like I was an over achiever, so I won’t tell you about it.

Plain Dresses With Apron Strings

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:11:45 +0000

I have so many ideas to write about, but not much time to write in! We’re experiencing more lean wallet syndrome, and I’m trying to make what I can out of what I have. Sprout and his Bear ate getting pajamas. Miss is hopefully getting dresses for her American Knock-off girl Doll.

I did finish Chickadee’s dress, apron and shrug. I made the girl look Swedish.

This is the shrug. It looks gorgeous, but I’m not at all biased. It’s made from yarn leftover from another project.

This is the plain dress. It has not grown on either Chickadee or Miss. But they both tolerate it because of this:

My Mother-in-law gave me the fabric for the dress. Also, the apron fabric? It seems to be Depression era flour sacks. You know the kind? The ones that the manufacturers printed prettily so that women would buy their brand to be able to use the fabric! I

love

it. Mr. Survival’s Grandmother gave me two prints, and I’ll use the other for Chickadee’s Spring dressy aprons.

So, there you have it. Every second of my “free time” is before you.

Step up!

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:59:48 +0000

This just happened today!

Start at 50 seconds, and keep watching. It made Mr. Survival cry a little bit. It may have been a bit of dust in his eye too.

Chickadee’s pretty awesome.

Fairytale Endings

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:02:52 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a little princess who stopped doing something that was good for her. Nobody knew why she stopped, she just stopped. A reward was promised.

Finally, one came along that knew what to do. Weeks and weeks she worked with the princess. Until finally, it worked.

And she began doing it for this long:

(even to be able to do it for an extended 26 minute version!)

Then the princess began to be able to do more things:

And all was right with the world.

This Year

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:21:00 +0000

Last night we had a lot of fun. I’m shocked.

I don’t think that’s how this is supposed to go.

Do you like my tomato [cage]s ?

Little Tiny Aprons

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:35:21 +0000

These are the supplies.

These are a couple I’ve finished!

Fairy Lights

JourneyBeyondSurvival — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:06:43 +0000

Miss has enchanted me again.

We’ll be doing this tomorrow after she gets home from school, just as soon as I remember which tree had that gorgeous flower last Spring.

Check it out.

*If you hadn’t noticed, I’m trying to make this more of a family affair.