Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

- Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

The little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.

Becoming Behavior

Many women look to Titus 2:3-5 as a model for the testimony of our lives:

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

"...behaviour as becometh holiness..." .... I love that phrase!

What better encouragement as we seek 'behaviour as becometh holiness' than that of other women seeking the same thing?

And where do we go to find that?

At the well, just like women of 'olden days'! :)

Beginning this Monday, February 2, the website "At the Well.. In Pursuit of Titus 2" will be up and running offering encouragement to women as homemakers, mothers, wives, and daughters of the King! :)

Shall we gather at the.... well? :)
Check it out!

(and click here to find out how to be eligible to win great door prizes!)

Snow on demand

A couple of days ago I mentioned a craft project Dale and I did together. As promised, here it is, a snowglobe in jar:

*Complete, simplified instructions at the end of this post*

A snow globe was one of the things we had on our list fun things to do before Christmas, but for one reason and then another it just didn't happen.

But Dale didn't forget, and asked fairly persistently if we could make our snowglobe. (As in, every other day for 6 weeks.) :)

As simple as the project itself was to do, gathering some of the supplies proved a little difficult. The most challenging was finding the centerpiece to go inside the baby food jar.

This little guy came from the seasonal aisle at wal-mart. He was the topper for a tube of Christmas candy.

To make him a little taller so stand above the rim of the lid and the ridges in the top (bottom after you flip it (of the glass jar) I added in a lego block for a little boost.

While the glue on your centerpiece dries, fill the jar about 1/3 full of glycerin. Should be in the pharmacy section at Walmart. Ours was with the first-aid stuff if I remember correctly.

The second time we went for it, that is. The first time we tried they were out. I guess everybody was making snowglobes for Christmas. :)

Anyway.... about 1/3 full of glycerin. Give or take.

Then add your glitter. I poured a little in the cap for Dale to put in himself.

We used just enough to barely cover the surface of the glycerin.

Fill the jar the rest of the way with water. Because I was doing this the lazy quick way, I didn't test it first to see how much water our little penguin would displace. I just guessed. We ended up with a little air bubble, but that's ok. ;)

Be sure and dry the rim of the jar.

Finally, squeeze a thin line of hot glue around the inside lip of the jar lid before quickly screwing it on.

Allow it to set for a few minutes (I love hot glue) and give 'im a shake!

Snowglobe in a jar:

Clean, empty baby food or other small jar
Plastic toy or decoration
Glycerin
Glitter
Water
Hot glue

Hot glue toy to inside of jar lid.

Fill jar approximately 1/3 full of glycerin.
Add a couple of pinches of glitter.
Fill jar almost to top, allowing for a little displacement by toy.
Dry top of jar well.

Squeeze a thin line of glue on inside lip of jar lid, and screw tightly onto jar.
Allow glue to dry before turning jar.

Ours was a little cloudy when we first turned it over, but once everything mixed it all cleared up and has remained that way!

If you're feeling particularly fancy you can paint the jar lid to match the toy or season. Obviously we weren't feeling fancy. :)

Odds and ends from my corner of the web

Weather report from the buffalo range:

Cold. Very cold. And semi-icy.

I spent a good chunk of time this afternoon re-arranging my living room furniture. Partly because of cabin-fever, I'm sure, but mostly because of the inspiration from this post from The Nester. I haven't got it just like I want it yet, but I certainly got far today! (If you haven't visited The Nester's blog before then take the time to look around - it is beautiful, and filled with good ideas!)

Oops. I was going to let Daddy Buffalo be surprised by all the furniture arranging when he got home, but now he'll read it here first. So.. uh... surprise!

In other web-reading, MyfriendConnie at Smockity Frocks recently posted an interview with her sister about her (the sister's) recent cochlear implants. I guarantee you will learn something and be touched by the story in this interview!

Tomorrow the boys and I will be venturing out in the cold. We'll be visiting the library, buying some groceries (the cupboards are looking a little bare!), and a couple of other errands.

We'll be starting the day going in to get Alan's regular lab work done. I am halfway expecting the results to be off as a result of the cold Alan currently has. For some kids a cold isn't 'just a cold', as Darcy of Life With My 3 Boybarians stated very well in this post. It is definitely worth the read - a great insight into how little things can have a big effect.

Gotta go - I'm about to have a buffalo stampede on my hands if I don't get off this computer! Stay warm, and be sure and come back to let me know what you thought of some of these links! :)

I'm not crazy, I'm just blogging!

Some people talk to themselves.

I talk to my blog.

Seriously... I find myself randomly narrating my life, with an imaginary blog audience. I think I narrated inwardly before the blog too, but now the thoughts are geared toward you guys.

Even though the grand majority of what I tell you never actually makes it here to the blog.

And that is probably a good thing. ;) I've told you many times (in my head) that I love hot showers. Really. A very hot shower is one of my favorite things. So now you know.

Why do I do this? I have no idea.
Am I crazy? I doubt it.

Lonely? Perhaps.
I had a bowl of rice crispies late last night, and I think I enjoyed listening to them talk as much as I enjoyed eating them!

Of course, at that hour I should have been in bed sleeping. I usually am that time of night, but last night I stayed up and did a little sewing.

I made this! Since I began sewing a few weeks ago, about half my pins have been in the little plastic box they came in and the other half have been loose in the bottom of my quilted used-to-be diaper bag that holds my scissors and other stuff.

So now they have a real place to live! And I won't get stuck when digging for the seam ripper.

Not that I need a seam ripper all that much. Ahem. Right. Moving on.

And yes, that IS the fabric I used for the apron. One of the few scraps I have to work with right now, but I thought was cute for this project. Which, by the way, I made following this tutorial.

Check back in later this week to see the fun little craft project Dale and I did today. I might even do a little tutorial of my own. :) That is, if we still have electricity following the pending ice storm. Brr!

Know, Knew, Knee?

Do you ever stop to think how much stuff is out there to be learned?

How many things we don't know? And don't even know we don't know?

And in addition to what we don't know are things that we think we know, but don't.

I've had an enlightening weekend - one thing I thought I knew and was WRONG, and another fun little discovery that I knew but didn't know I knew.

Are you confused yet? Good! I will now leave the generalities (and the words "know" & "knew") behind and move on to what I actually have to say.

Which isn't much, after all this buildup.

ANYWAY.... I have a phrase that comes in handy in all sorts of ways, and I have always used it as a Biblical truth.

Word to the wise: anything you hold as a Biblical truth you should be able to provide a Biblical reference to back it up.

I was very dismayed to learn that "all things in moderation" is not in the Bible. Similar passages you could use to argue a point, maybe, but not that phrase. Oops. Disconcerting.

And my other little discovery...

There is Veggie Tales song in which a character portraying King Saul asks the one playing David, "you aren't going to sing are you?"

When David nods in response, Saul then says, "Couldn't you just play your harp and I'll throw things at you?"

I have always, (as in, for the several years that I've known this song) thought this was a reference to people throwing rotten tomatoes at performers. Especially since the people were being portrayed by vegetables and all.

But today in the van it all of a sudden hit me what that REALLY meant!

As you may have already known or guessed, that line is actually a reference to the time Saul threw his spear at David while David was playing his harp for Saul. (I Samuel 19:9)

I'm not sure how long I have known that story, but it's been long enough I should have made that connection by now.

Makes me wonder what else is right under my nose that I don't know!

Chicken Spaghetti

Oh my goodness. I just-this-very-moment read Jennifer's comment about chicken spaghetti on my potpourri post and had to right-this-very-minute post the recipe.
Oooh friend you don't know what you are missing! Chicken spaghetti is one of my all-time favorite foods!

Once on a mission trip in college we all divided up and a different group cooked supper for everyone each night. Since I was the leader of my little group and spaghetti is good for a crowd I decided to make chicken spaghetti on my group's night.

Only - I made it from memory.

Which turned out fine except for one tiny thing. Actually it was one BIG thing.

I was waaaay off on the servings, and we ended up with about 3 times as much spaghetti as we needed. It was much like one of the Strega Nona books from Tomie DePaola. You know the story when the magic pot keeps spittin' out spaghetti until the town is full up with it?

Except in my case it wasn't magic, just poor memory!

So - for Jennifer and anyone else missing out on this wonderful dish, here is our family's recipe, as made by my Nana and my Mama, for Chicken Spaghetti.

And in case you need to know, it feeds 8-12, depending on how hungry they are, how sides you have, and how many are men. ;)

Chicken Spaghetti

1 chicken, boiled and cubed
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped bell pepper
1/4 c pimento
1 tsp paprika
12 oz spaghetti, broken
1 can mushroom soup
1 c grated cheddar cheese


Cook onion and pepper in 2 quarts chicken broth until clear. Add cut up chicken, salt, pepper, paprika, and uncooked spaghetti. Cook 20 minutes. Add mushroom soup and pimento. Put into a 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle cheese over top and bake until melted.

Man oh man I love this stuff. Served with a salad, garlic bread and Italian green beans (the flat kind) it makes an unbeatable meal! :)


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