Special K Bars My Way

Yup, there rather skimpy on the chocolate this time but my Fibromyalgia is whipping my butt, literally. My lower back and behind are hurting the most but other areas are competing as well as those of you with this achy disorder know. My Fibromyalgia stays pretty calm and I'd say was in remission most of the year but Christmas time when stress is high and the temperature really cold and now when it is hot I'm in full blown achies.





That means a craving for sweets and not so productive days when most of what I get done is in the evening when I've had my adrenal med quota for the day. Last night I canned beets, baked quick bread, wheat bread, and two kinds of cookies. Don't think I was going a house a fire because it took all day to get everything ready and many of the doughs were sitting in the fridge waiting for the cool of evening. Now if only I'd get the pie dough that has been sitting in my refrigerator for four days done. I'm pushing for tonight.





But what I wanted to tell you about is Special K Bars which is a no-bake bar that given my little twist with the recipe ends up being a real treat. One my family raves about and asks for when they come home in the summer time. And lets face it, if you have a tiny air conditioner that is in only one room of the house, baking is done late at night or not at all.

Special K-Bars

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn syrup

Place in saucepan on stove and cook until the sugar dissolves.

Turn off stove and add

1 cup peanut butter

1 to 1 1/4 cup butterscotch chips

Stir until melted and then add

6 cups of corn flakes

Spread into a buttered cake pan (not the big one)

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and spread chips across the top of the bars when melted.

So for those of you who already make this treat, try this change in the recipe and let me know what you think. The rest of you, you really need to try it. It's like having a candy bar, home-made.

Diversity or Adversity?

Yeah, my very first buckwheat crop is sprouting.



Diversity or is it adversity? I was told all my life to develop my talents. And I've given the same council to our children. Only problem is, I didn't know what my talents are so I just learned to do lots of things stretching my list of duties on beyond my endurance.


I'm wondering if many others have been given the same advice for recently I've discovered the siding company does not have skilled workers who can design the outside of your home and besides the cost of their materials plus labor is greater than the money in our bank account. So off to the Internet I went last week to check out materials and designing ideas. Did I ever tell you I'm just dumb enough to try all kinds of things especially if cost is an issue. Here's one example, I did the flowers and about everything for our daughter's wedding. Oh I didn't do the cake as a friend of the families did but our oldest is insistant that we will be doing hers. And I bought the wedding gown but had to shorten it six inches, take it in, add sleeves, a piece over the bodice and one in the back along with designing and building the veil. Even the flowers didn't' cause me to hire out as I gathered every book I could find on the subject and watched films until I figured I could handle the task at least awkwardly. Did I find I was talented, not really, but they did come out lovely.

So now I'm trying my hand at combining different material for a hopefully striking curb appeal for our house. We've decided to put off construction until next spring. But I can't quit and put it totally on the back burner or next spring will arrive and nothing will get done. I know how long it took to design our kitchen and make changes to the design to perfect it.


But even thought the siding is on hold, the water repelling landscaping can not be put off and I've been thinking about it for a long while though my ideas are yet quit solidified. Nor can the attaching of the house to the basement walls be put off. Can you believe they didn't do that when they built our home 30 years ago? The walls are tipping a bit inward putting those two projects on the have to right away list. Now if we can only get the contractor to call us back, we can move forward on the project. Kirk can't shovel much as he's had three back surgery's and that is one task that puts him down every time. Hence, hiring it done. Siding, I think we can handle as we can lift. Problem is it's been three four weeks since the contractor came to check out the damage and he doesn't return our calls. Pretty typical for around here.


Meanwhile, our daughter, with the three kids, finally got fed up with her crazy unscheduled work time which leaves us all wondering what we'll be doing next. That meant resume time and I'm the resume writer for the family. If I only stunk at it they wouldn't keep coming back to me but they land jobs and that fuels the cycle.


Of course since none of our kids do anything alone, ---I swear they don't.


Our other daughter has been thinking she should write a resume also. Which is a good idea since in her employment the past four years she has gained a great deal of knowledge and skills. I can see where it would be helpful to have a resume in furthering her opportunities within her company. She sent me the really rough draft to work on. No copy catting here as this resume will be nothing like our other daughters in style or content. It will in fact be far more difficult but I've never done one like we have planned before so it's a good thing I'm not scared to try something new.

Funny, but I've never written a resume for myself. Wonder what I'd write.

Can do basic hair cuts when not cornered to do so late at night. Then I've been know to put the wrong attachment on the clippers and do a buzzed spot in the middle of the head.
Skilled poop scooper - doesn't matter if it's goat, beef, horse, or chicken.
Vegetable gardener, organic methods preferred.
Talented cook when my eighteen month old grandchild is not hanging on my leg crying.
Spins a variety of fibers into yarn
Knits and crochets while hubby drives down the road and talks to me. This means I can multi-task.
Skilled teacher having a great deal of experienced working with tots to adults
Do my own taxes, but not always correctly as the IRS can attest for they sometimes correct them.
Not afraid to try something new though not a quick study of any particular subject ask my son how long it took to teach me to fly fish.


Mm......maybe I'd best stick to doing others resumes.



Beyond resumes, I even wrote a letter of recommendation for my sister once. Oh not for her getting a job but for one of her friends. One I've never met. My sister later told me her friend profusely thanked her and said it really help her get the job. LOL. How did I do it? I just looked at what job she was applying for and deduced what kind of skills and personality would best match the position. Then I asked my sister if the gal had those qualities and to give me a few examples of them. Sometimes I laugh at my audacity.

But before I could start working on our oldest's resume, beyond discussing it with her, my husband wanted some more of my talents or is it developed skill? He needed some photos taken of his knives for his web-page. Soon we will be off the American Bladesmith show in San Antonio, Texas. And before that it was discussing choices of handle material etc. for each knife. I want to do some fancier photos but for the moment,
( check them out at http://www.rexroatknives.com/ )
I haven't time,too many skills, too little time to complete them all. See what happens when you develop your talents and you don't know what they are.


And really I've got to quit complaining to you because I've hair cuts to give, a bowl of beets sitting in the kitchen waiting for me to get off this computer and can them, and peas to shell. Oh yeah, I'd better get hustling and mop the kitchen floor before the kids arrive this afternoon. I'm only getting this morning's break because our daughter hurt her back and is taking a couple days off from one of her two jobs.

But before I go I'll tell you what I've learned in the garden this morning as I was trimming the tomatoes. These little Siberian or Glacier tomatoes would be great planted in between the Roma and other larger type tomatoes because they produce early and are so little and short. The larger tomatoes planted together block light but this wouldn't be the case spacing them with these short varieties. I think I will try it next year. I'm also anxious to see if they do well with the colder temperatures this fall.

Photography Highlights For The Week

This photo was taken in Colorado near our daughter's home.
Word's of wisdom, "Don't walk through the clover on the lawn in your bare feet." Yup, two days ago one of these bumble bees,(I'm referring to this ones's relative) stung me and my foot swelled up. It's still swollen today.




Have you figured out by now that I become fixated by subjects. It was Canadian geese earlier this summer and now bugs and bees on flowers and Pronghorn antelope. Yup, the Autism in me can be stifled but it still pokes out.

Three Kids and a Haystack

Playing on the haystack was always a favorite past time when I was young and the appeal is there for our grand daughters also.
Only ours is covered in plastic, all the more fun to slip and slide on they think. Good thing it is sloped and not very tall. I'm also there to catch them.

A gal at where our oldest daughter works asked after seeing the pictures of the kids at the photo shoot if they'd modeled before.
Let's just say not professionally. Notice grandpa's shirt on the oldest and breakfast still on her face.
This munchkin wasn't even dressed yet. But sometimes when it's warm and chores are a calling, you just got to go milk in whatever state your in.

Oh the joys of youth.

Juicing Currants

Finally got around to picking the red currants.
Okay, not all of them. I left plenty for the birds to eat. Notice the yellowing of the leaves. Lots of plants are looking this way this summer and not just in my yard The yellowing didn't effect the size of the berries as they were very plump this year.
I figured this container was plenty. Our oldest grand daughter helped for a while and commented, " Grandma, we are kind of old maid farmers, aren't we? You know picking berries, growing a garden, and milking the goats." I smiled stifling a giggle and said, " Kind of, uh huh? in a yes tone. The part I was giggling inside about was the old maid part. I wonder if she even knows what that means?

After putting the munchkins to bed last night, I rinsed the berries and removed the leaves and put them inside the juicer in preparation of turning on the stove this morning.

Voila!, isn't it pretty. I have a little over three quarts and I'm giving it away. Currant jelly is great but I still have a fair amount in the basement and my neighbor has been wanting some. She has some summer squash she wants to part with and I know just where it would be really appreciated. I've been beating myself over the head about not getting any zucchini planted and though I like zucchini better than summer squash, it will definitely do.

Milk Goiter

The three munchkins stayed over night and I got up this morning to retrieve the two hive boxes full of honey I'd left on the ground beside the hives and chock full of bees. (I'll tell you about it tomorrow.) Then when I arrived home, Kirk was feeding the kids breakfast and it was off with them to do livestock chores. Please forgive the blurry photos as I wasn't functioning at my best trying to deal with them and the chores at the same time. Contessa refused to pose for me this morning and this little doeling has yet to receive an official name. I'd best get on that along with taming her down. She's rather wild. I think I'll try the animal cracker bribing method. Not something I'd do with the grand kids as I despise bribing children but I'm not so against it with animals and I'll take any short cut I can get at the moment. Got to get them registered also.

This doeling isn't quite as beautiful as Contessa but she's no slacker.

What I wanted to show you today was milk goiter. A few days before we left for Colorado, I put Cracker Jack here on Zoey so she wouldn't have to be milked and then put the two girls on Chicory eliminating milking her also. Kirk isn't real fond of milking. He's piled under trying to get knives made for a upcoming show and the less things he has to do the better. When I got back, I took one look at them and went "Oh, no what happened? " Thankfully Michelle was doing chores and she enlightened me. It is milk goiter. Something that happens fairly often I guess with Nubians and Boers. Not a bad thing as it just means the Thymus gland is enlarged from rich milk.

Funny but twenty-five years of raising Saanens and I never had a case despite having some does that milked two gallons a day. It is the cream level I'd guess as when I separated some milk of Chicory's last week, I was amazed at the amount of cream I got so early in her cycle. Her milk should be a gem for cheese making, butter, and ice cream. Oh boy!!

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell those of you who may not know, a goiter is located on the front of the neck where the thyroid is only this has nothing to do with the thyroid. It's the big lump.

I'm told the swelling will come down on its own and my research cautions against adding more iodine to the diet as goats can easily overdose on it. Iodine is for the thyroid not the Thymus gland and so iodine levels are normal with milk goiter. Yesterday, I put all three goats back on Chicory and at the end of the week I'll be taking Chicory out of the little goat's pen during the day, milking her at night and then putting her back in for the nighttime. That should bring the swelling right down. I'll let you know. I've found that kids nurse far less at night and wean more easily in this manner since nighttime is the most stressful time for a kid. I wean at two months as my kids are good sized by then and I need the milk. My health dictates I drink lots of it and Zoey goes home today.

Have any of you had this swelling occur in your kids? I guess it happens sometimes in sheep also.

Photo Shoot

I'm back. Did you miss me? Probably not but I missed you and I've loads to tell and show you. I was in the bees again today, and my goats have milk goiter and and ... but right now I'll show you what we did this weekend. We went to Colorado so our middle grand daughter could participate in a photo shoot for Crochet magazine by Interweave Press. They were gracious and when they saw the other two kids, they found things for them to model also.

But before I tell you about that, I've got to show off the cutest butt this side of the East coast. Oh some of you may disagree having cute little hind ends of grandchildren or children of your own but then you'll know just how partial I am to this one.

This is what we did after the photo shoot so the kids could release some of the energy they'd been stifling trying hard to be good during the photo shoot.

I had little opportunity to photograph the older girls as they were on the run and I could hardly get into position to shoot before they were off again. This is one of those rare moments.

The weekend was in part thanks to our oldest daughter who arranged for the middle grand daughter to participate in a photo shoot for Interweave Crochet magazine, where she is the assistant editor.
This middle child is all girl. She loves to take the clothes out of her drawer and her sister's drawers, and place them on the bed combining tops and bottoms into matching outfits. Did an image flash into your mind. Yup, you got it. Her room is often wall to wall clothes as she throws those shes matched off on to the floor in a rush to match up another outfit. Since she could use a little self-esteem boost, I thought this would be just the ticket. Besides she loves to be in front of the camera and is photogenic. So when her hair was fussed with and a touch of lip gloss and blush applied, she was in her element.
And if the pictures look a little cropped and funny, it's because you aren't allowed a sneak preview of the garments in the upcoming magazine. But let me tell you that there is this scarf that our middle grand daughter models that is a must make. It is whimsical and absolutely adorable.And then you'll have to keep your crochet hook out because the hat she models next is absolutely adorable. I know, I know you want to see for yourself but you'll just have to wait. Toni said we'd see a copy in October but I'm not sure when it hits the shelves. You can count on a heads up when the time is close so you can buy a copy.

Then as we were visiting and our middle grand daughter was being fluffed, as they called it, for her upcoming shots, they decided to use the other two grand daughters also.

The whole experience was fascinating watching the photographer in action, the stylist working with the kids, and just to experience the behind scenes of what goes into producing a magazine is an educational experience.

After seeing how amazing the shots came out, I decided that I was an amateur photographer for sure. That's okay, because though my photographs aren't anywhere near the caliber of his, I love to photograph and I've learned in life that there are always loads of people better at doing what I do. I'm glad, because sometimes I get an opportunity to enjoy and benefit from their talents.
My daughter made jokes about how handicapped I was in Photoshop. Yeah, that is definitely a thing I need to learn. Which is what I learned this color card is for - photo shop. Right before every new outfit, the model holds this card so when they go into Photoshop to tweak the pictures, they have a true reading of what the colors should be.

Note the computer to the right. As each shot is taken, it appears on the computer and the editor tells when the photos she needs have been all taken. Then usually five or better clicks later the photographer is satisfied and quits.

Also note the strobe light and there are reflecting screens also to the side you can't see to control the lighting. But what I was drooling over was the camera. Makes mine look pretty wimpy and the rich colors his produces is amazing.

If you get an opportunity to experience a photo shoot, take it. It's not about exotic motels and beach scenes unless it is Vogue or some high faluton magazine with a great big budget. Most magazines have pretty slim pockets and don't be surprised if the photos are taken at someones house that works at the magazine or in the photographer's backyard like they were here. Many of the models are not professionals as that trims the costs of the shoot. There is so much to learn in life and my knowledge grew from this experience. Since the girls were asked back to the next shoot, the beginning of December, I'll hopefully get an opportunity to do it again.