Change It Up With Grandma's Coleslaw!

I would be remiss if I did not mention a few of the women who mentored me along the way.  So today I will talk about my "Grandma Lola".   I can still her say things in my head like:  "Can't never did anything!" "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right!" "If everyone jumped off the bridge would you?"  She was a remarkable woman who excelled at many things in her life.  One was her cooking skills and I am including her coleslaw recipe at the end of this post.

My grandma sewed for several women in town, gave home permanents to several shut-in ladies, and had beautiful flower gardens. I remember cutting peonies, placing them in canning jars and taking them to the cemeteries with her on Memorial Day.  Do people even do that anymore?  She decorated cakes, including a 3 tiered one for our wedding.   Later in life she even taught herself to oil paint beautiful landscapes and flower pictures. I told you she was remarkable!  She did all these things plus canned tons of fruits and vegetables, fed hay crews that worked the farm, and kept my grandpa happy!  

I find myself being a lot like her because I like to change things up also.  One day I might  bake, one day I might sew, one day I might read a book or write a blog, one day I might make cards, or one day I might clean (notice I put that one last)! I think that might be the secret to being a contented stay-at-home woman.
I would love to hear what you do to change it up in your lives, so feel free to post a comment.   What I am saying is this:  If you are stuck in a rut....try something different!  You just never know what you have the talent for.

The Proverbs 31 woman was a very versatile woman.  She selects material and sews it (vs 13), she cooks (vs. 15), she's in her own business ventures (vs. 16),  she spins, so she must have crocheted or knitted (at least this is my reasoning for crafting) and she reaches out to the poor in charity (vs 20).  She knew how to keep from getting bored.  Here's grandma's coleslaw recipe... so tonight I invite you to change it up and instead of that traditional salad try this tangy goodness!

GRANDMA'S COLESLAW
1 bag of Preshredded coleslaw
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. white vinegar
1/2 c Miracle Whip (do not substitute)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve.   This will feed a family of 5.

IT PAYS TO PERSEVERE!

"Rip it out Becky and try again" are the words I can still hear my Home Economics teacher instructing me.  Do they even have Home Ec. classes anymore?  I was never known for my sewing skills.  In fact I used to laugh and say that is why the Good Lord gave me 3 boys because He knew I couldn't sew!  I'm posting a couple of pictures of some sewing projects I just completed.  As you can see, I have been sewing American Girl Doll clothes for granddaughter's and a great niece.  Now, before you are really impressed with my work and try to swamp me with orders, you need to know the countless times I had to rip out seams and even threatened to throw the project out the front door! But I persevered and now have some finished projects.

So begins my analogy for this week.  Paul tells us in James 1:4, "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything." (NIV)  In order to gain the prize awaiting us in heaven we must persevere!    Is it easy?  NO!  That is why this place is not called HEAVEN. Does it sometimes take every ounce of our being not to throw it all out the front door?  YES!  But the final outcome will be worth it.  The scripture tells us that if as a born again believer we do persevere, we shall be clothed  in righteousness and that fit will be just perfect!  I am so looking forward to that, aren't you? I've included a link for a simple skirt pattern I designed for an 18" doll.  Believe me it is simple and could be finished in a half an hour.  This might even be a great project to begin sewing with your daughter or granddaughter.

Instructions for sewing skirt:
Fold hem line under 1/4" and then another 1/4" so raw edge is tucked under.  Like this:

Hem with straight stitch or hemming stitch.
Sew back seam 5/8" from the edge.
Press seam open
Sew a 1/2" tube at top (turning edge under).    Make sure you leave 1" opening to
insert elastic.
Feed 1/4 " elastic through the tube. (I attached a safety pin to the end of the elastic.
in order to feed it through the tube more easily). Like this:

Sew elastic pieces together going over them a few times.
Sew the 1" opening of the tube shut.  There you have it!  A simple skirt in under 1/2 hour and hopefully you didn't have to rip out one seam!

For a pattern of this skirt go to this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_crp1yuz21yd0hZTnBFVjlUTFE/edit?usp=sharing

IT REALLY WORK'S!"

You know how we sometimes post something from "Pinterest" and wonder to ourselves, "Will this thing really work?"  Well I'm here to tell you that in this particular case and as my pictures prove, "IT REALLY WORKS!"

My husband was recently moving around a bunch of old farm machinery at his parent's farm.  He did wear older jeans but when we got home and I was laundering his clothes, there was grease (and who knows what else) in several areas on them.  I thought the jeans were hopeless!  The following picture only shows one of the many stains.  So I decided to conduct my own experiment.  I marked the stains with safety pins so I could actually tell where the stain had been after I washed them.  Mind you, this was already after I had washed them at least two times with just regular laundry detergent!

Before Washing

I sprayed the spots with WD-40  (which we purchased at the local "Dollar Store") and waited 10 minutes.  I don't know if this part was really necessary, but I wanted to give the product plenty of time to work.  I then washed the jeans on the hottest setting with a cold rinse and here is the result:

After Washing

There is just the faintest stain left which I hope to get the next time I wash them.

Trust me, it is the same pair of jeans I just couldn't get the same lighting!

Ever the analogy queen, this got me to thinking about my own life.  I, too, was in a hopeless state filled with all kinds of stains.  As a young woman, I asked Christ to be my Lord and Saviour and just as He claimed to do, He removed my stains and cleansed me.   Romans 10:9,10 says:  "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (NIV)

Does that mean that I never sinned again?  No!  But when I do, He forgives me and cleanses me. (I John 1:9:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify (cleanse) us from all unrighteousness." (NIV)  It's a New Year and perhaps you are tired of wearing those old stained clothes of your life.  Christ can and will make you new, all you have to do is ask Him to.  And believe you me, His cleansing is better than any WD-40 could ever be!

What Does Retirement Really Mean?

As some of you know, I "Retired" in November.  Since then I have been asking myself the question, what is retirement?  When I think of retiring something, I think of Precious Moment's figurines. When the company retires a figure they are actually saying that they will never make that particular figure again.  I believe I remember my mother saying something similar, "They broke the mold when they made you Becky!"  The plus side to that statement is... it only makes that figurine more valuable, so there you go.

This retired philosophy got my wheels to spinning so I was asking my husband the other night about retreading tires.  Funny question for a wife to be asking her husband, don't you think?  What has retreading tires have to do with retirement?  It seems they retread tires by grinding the tire down to the core and then building it back up so they can get some extra miles out of the tire.  This makes the tire cheaper to buy and also can be why we see those big chunks of tires on the highway!  Didn't know this blog was going to be so scientific did you?

I'm sure you are getting the drift of where I am going with this.  I'm not looking at the next (hopefully) several years of my life as being placed on a shelf for retirement, but as RE-tiring (retreading) for more action.   And hopefully,  it won't take too much grinding away to get me there!  It will be fun to see where life leads and what adventures lie ahead.  All I can say to you younger women..."Hold on to your hats, the best is yet to come!"

Proverbs 16:9 says, "In his heart a man (or woman) plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  A life verse worthy to be remembered!

Here is a recipe that I will never be retiring.  It is one of my husband's favorites:

MOM'S MEATLOAF

1-1 1/2 lbs of ground beef

2 eggs

1/2 c. bread crumbs

2 T. chopped onion (frozen, dried, or fresh)

1 T. green pepper (if desired)

GLAZE:

1/2 c. ketchup

3 T. brown sugar

1 T. yellow mustard

MOM'S MEATLOAF

Mix ground beef, bread crumbs, eggs, onion and green pepper together.
 Don't be shy girls...you have to get in there and use your hands!

Form into a loaf in a 6 1/2 x 10" baking dish or larger if you use more ground beef.

Mix ketchup, brown sugar and mustard together and pour over the top.

Microwave for 15 minutes for 1 lb. or
20-25 minutes for 1 1/2 lbs.

WHAT DOES THE TITLE MEAN?

I've considered myself a "Mentoring Woman" for a number of years.  In fact over the past 20 years, I  have mentored more than 17 women in either programmed settings such as  "Heart to Heart" and  "Titus Ministry" or just through personal acquaintances.

My heart just seems to lie with training younger women "to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their own husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God" as Titus 2:4-5 instructs.  Trust me ladies, it's not because I have somehow have this all figured out and achieved the market of perfection in this area.  Far from it!  But I have learned a few lessons and tips over the years that I hope you find useful and encouraging in the weeks ahead.   Who knows? I might even share my husband's favorite meat loaf recipe or his mom's noodle secret's!

So let's begin this journey...shall we?  I'll try and update this blog every Friday (Yikes!  Did I just commit to that?)