Pour two cups of borax in the jar, add the lemonade packets, then a little more borax (you don't want the soap and lemonade to touch), add a couple drops of dish soap and finally add two cups of washing soda. Put the lid on, shake it all up and its ready to use. We put about an eighth of a cup in for one load. Just half the recipe for a pint. Some of the reasons we make our own detergent is; it's cheaper, and we know the ingredients in it. So that's what we do for dishwasher detergent. If you try it, comment and tell me how it works for you :). Blessings, Lydia [A note from Bethany: Mmm... :) Doesn't that look like powdered sugar?] |
Our family has been using this recipe for about five years now and it works great! It's very simple and easy to make. [A note from Bethany: Before we started making our own, we bought a creamy yellow detergent that was lemon scented. One time Naomi and I told Emily that it was lemon frosting and she tasted it! This was, of course, several years ago. Needless to say, it didn't taste as good as it looked or smelled :p]
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Hey ya'll! It feels like a lot is changing here in our household and family. I am "in kitchen" for a couple months. So, sometimes when the mornings are busy, I need something quick for breakfast. Overnight oatmeal (oatmeal parfait) is great. One of the great things about this recipe is you can change it to fit just about everybody's taste. Ingredients: 1/2 of oatmeal 1 cup almond milk or milk of your choice or water 1/2 cup water 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla, and or cocoa powder, cinnamon, etc... sweetener of your choice Chia seeds yogurt or cottage cheese bannanas, peaches, blueberries..... Here's how you make it! Heat oats, almond milk and water in a pan until almost cooked. Mix in vanilla, sweetener, cocoa, cinnamon, etc... Now layer- oatmeal, cottage cheese or yogurt, fruit and chia seeds. We usually layer the ingredients about three times. Put the lids on and place in refrigerator until ready to use. This is enough to satisfy a large appetite, so you may need to adjust it a bit. You can change the order of the layering if you want. Most of my family likes it when we put fruit at the bottom of the jar. Sometimes we use peaches and others bananas or apples. Be creative and have a good time! Comment and tell me the combinations you come up with! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Blessings! Lydia :) Joe and Naomi came for a visit in May! While they were here Emily and I did a photo shoot with them. It wasn't a very long one, but we got some good pictures and had fun. We went to a local park for the shoot. So here they are! These were taken when she was 7 months pregnant. Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Shalom! Lydia Pictures taken by Emily and Lydia. Pros: - It is a time efficient way to chop wood (so it allows you more time for the important things in life… like watching moss grow on the side of Mount Everest) - It will be sure to captivate your spectators - Using this machine will enable you to be fat and happy - No need to replace ‘fuel’ that you would have burned chopping the wood by hand - You would be less likely to injure yourself then if you used an axe - This machine would be more practical in jobs that need completed quickly or if you have large amounts of wood that need to be chopped on a regular basis Cons: - Chopping wood with a machine burns fewer calories then chopping manually (manual wood chopping burns greater then 400 calories an hour) - Sitting in this machine gives you none of the social time, none of the camaraderie, and none of the relationship building that that chopping wood with other men would - You would be more likely to injure others with heavy machinery then with an axe - No fresh air - The machine requires fuel - And lastly, it’s a lot more expensive to fix your machine then your axe… This is a joke. This real post is about…
The Pros and Cons of sharing a room with two of your sisters! Cons: - It’s hard not to wake up sister #1 when you and sister #2 are early risers - When you wake up earlier then sister #1, it’s hard to see without the light on - Not having a light on in the morning makes it more difficult to see where you’re going and where your things are - Changing clothes is a cold experience when sister #1 turned the space heater off and sister #2 left the door opened, allowing the heat to escape and the cold to be sucked into the room faster then a raisin being sucked into a vacuum hose - Apparently, my sisters think that the best time to have a conversation starts at the same time that I fall asleep - Also, don’t be surprised if the sisters come to bed late and act as if it’s the middle of the day; turning on lights, talking and banging things around (Thankfully, they don’t do this anymore) - You may be woken up needlessly by your sister’s alarm because she set a reminder for 12:30pm but accidentally set it for 12:30am… Pros: - You get to have a ‘sister night’ more often because you are all in the same room anyway - You learn the valuable skill of compromise (the more sisters there are, the more you have to compromise) - You learn patience… oy vey - The room stays cleaner because you have two sisters nagging you to make your bed instead of just one! -Sometimes sister #2 makes your bed because she can’t stand when it’s unmade- I think this is a bonus! Okay, this post is a little silly.. But we all need a reminder to lighten up! Do you have a list of Pros and Cons to share? While I used these lists as a fun way to relieve stress, you can also use them when making a decision, such as; Where should I shop for a new skirt? (Department Store or Goodwill); Which cell phone should I buy? Should I play a prank on my mom? Have fun! Bethany Hello everyone! We have been getting ready for so many things recently. Passover....Unleavened bread......Emily's graduation.....Joe and Naomi visiting. This year my family and I are going to Tennessee to celebrate the spring feasts. I can't wait! So many things to look forward to! One of the things I did to get ready is make Granola, yum! Here's the recipe that I use: GRANOLA 1 stick of butter 1/2 C coconut oil 1/2 C olive oil 1 C honey 12 C rolled oats 1/2 C chia seeds 1/2 C sesame seeds 1 C sunflower seeds 2 C raisins or chopped dates 1 Tbsp cinnamon In medium pan add: butter, coconut oil and olive oil. Heat on low heat until melted. Add: honey. Stir well, until melted. (Can add 1 tsp vanilla.) In large plastic bowl put: rolled oats. In coffee grinder, grind: flax seeds, chia seeds and sesame seeds. Add to bowl. Add raisins and cinnamon. Mix wet into dry ingredients, a small amount at a time until very well mixed. Let set for 30 minutes. Preheat oven on 275*. Spray 9X13-inch pans or cookie sheets well. Put granola in pans just until all of bottom of pan is covered (about 1/2 inch). Bake 15-20 minuets, until golden brown. Take out and let cool on racks. Use a spatula to remove. Can store for 3 weeks or more. Well, I got to go! Blessings, Lydia This is a picture of the yummy shakes. Hey ya'll! I decided to write about my experience of shake making lately. It's so fun to try different kinds, maybe they look gross but taste absolutely delicious or maybe they look wonderful but taste awful. I have had good success so far, I mean they didn't all taste wonderful but they were okay. But this afternoon I made an unbelievably yucky one! My first mistake was to try putting home canned peaches and unsweetened cocoa powder in the same shake. The second mistake was completely forgetting to take the sticker off the Pear (although I did wash it).
Now imagine this, I gave my brothers their shake and waited to see their reactions (I wasn't being mean, I hadn't tasted it myself yet). At first they didn't say anything. I grabbed my shake and sat at the table ready to enjoy a nice refreshing shake. I took a sip and I was surprised to taste, well, I can't really describe the taste but it didn't taste appetizing at all. After tasting it I said "this doesn't taste good at all", then Sherman said he didn't think so either and Clayton said "I don't like it." A little later Sherman and Clayton came in saying they couldn't finish their shakes. Imagine! My brothers, who eat almost everything, cannot finish their shakes! It really didn't disappoint me since I thought it was rather gross myself. I guess it was the weird fruity chocolate taste combined with getting a piece of sticker every once in a while. Well, I learn from my mistakes!! Here is a recipe for a yummy shake that turned out tasty: Tasty Shake about 1 - 2 cups of milk a hand full of dates two handfuls of ice or a frozen banana one celery stick two apples cut into fourths with seeds cut out 1\4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 - 1 tsp. vanilla frozen berries (optional) and a little Kiefer (optional) Blend thoroughly, until smooth, and enjoy!! Hope you enjoyed the story! And the recipe! Blessings, Lydia Alright, Bethany wrote a review on Rise Up and now I am going to give you my point of view. For your information this IS from my point of view, I am not comparing mine to Bethany's so I might say some of the same things as she did :). The reason I started to work out was because I wanted to get fit. I have also changed my eating habits since I have started working out. Changing my eating habits helped a lot towards getting fit. At first it was very hard to get up in the morning, so one way that helped me was I had Bethany get me up. I found it is so much easier to get up when somebody woke me up rather then waking up to an alarm and it being quit easy to reach over, turn it off and go back to sleep. So if you have trouble waking up, have someone wake you in the morning. When I started to workout, Rise up wasn't easy, but when I had been doing it for a while it got easier and easier so I did the exercises faster and added some movements to make it more of a challenge. One of the ways to do this includes doing jumping jacks instead of a half jacks (a jumping with only half your body at a time). One of the things I really appreciated about this particular workout was the moves are simple and very easy to follow. Throughout the workout Jennifer is always positive. A scripture is shared at the beginning of all her videos. She also is modestly dressed as well as if anyone who joins her. When explaining the moves there is not a lot of direction, but this doesn't matter as the moves are easy. When doing "Rise Up", you NEED to make sure you resist or you won't feel or look any different. If you just go through the motion without resisting you won't get any stronger or lose weight. If you only go through the motions then the workout will be too easy. I have been working out for about a year now and have noticed some positive differences in my energy level, I feel more productive since I have been working out. Although I really liked "Rise Up" when I first began working out, I don't do it as often now, it's too hard to add enough things to the workout to make it challenging. If your goal IS to lose weight then you can do it with this program. However that is not my goal, my goal is to keep active stay healthy and strong (and gain strength). For me to NOT lose any weight I eat more than I would if I wasn't working out. I can also stand to have more high calorie foods then someone who is trying to lose weight. I hope you have fun trying out this new workout! Have a great day! So long! Lydia Here's a link to Bethany's Review- Rise Up- A Review We want to know more about you! Take this survey if you like :) Have Fun!
Lydia At the beginning of the year our family had no idea what changes Yahweh had in store for us. A courtship, a betrothal and a marriage and now as we are coming to the end of 2013, we are happy to announce that another big change is coming! Joe and Naomi are expecting their first child in August of 2014.
This past year seems to be marked by one particular event- Joe and Naomi’s relationship. In November 2012 Naomi and Bethany had planned a trip to Kansas in order help a friend who was dealing with cancer, Mrs. J. The J family was having trouble keeping up with the regular demands of life (homeschooling, farming, cooking and cleaning) in addition to a rigorous juicing schedule (as well as other natural cancer treatments). Fast forward to January and our family is excited at the prospect of Naomi beginning a relationship with a young man named Joe. Before January we had no idea who Joe even was! Now here he was a prospect of marriage for Naomi. Joe was living only 10 minutes away from where Naomi and Bethany were going to be staying in Kansas. We thought that this could possible be an advantage for Naomi and Joe getting to know one another, in an otherwise ‘long distance’ relationship. After e-mailing for a few weeks, Mike and Gina met with Joe and his parents to see if this young man was indeed a prospect set in place by Yahweh himself. This whole relationship was filled with prayer from the beginning, constantly asking God for wisdom and discernment. After a nice lunch and dinner together both families agreed that Naomi and Joe did appear to be compatible in beliefs, interests and life goals. Joe was the sort of man that Mike and Gina trusted to be honorable in his interactions with the girls, even when they were not present. Naomi and Bethany’s trip to Kansas went very well. They both had fun and learned a lot. This time was a wonderful opportunity for Joe and Naomi to get to know one another. Joe helped on the farm and the girls spent several evenings cooking, talking and laughing with Joe and Kat (One of Joe’s sisters). Toward the end of the girls’ stay Joe called Mike wanting to know what the ‘next step’ was in the relationship. They agreed that Joe should come and meet the rest of the Potts. After getting home from Kansas, we had a week and a half to prepare for Family Week, a week long camping trip that celebrates Passover, the feast of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits. This was our second year at Family Week and we are hoping to attend again this coming year. It’s a great opportunity for cleaning out the leaven and re-learning to depend on God for the strength to live the life He has called us to. Joe came to visit us two days after we got home from Family Week. The whole family enjoyed getting to know Joe over those two weeks! During that time Naomi happily agreed to become Joe’s wife! In other words, they got engaged-to-be-betrothed and the planning for the betrothal started. The remainder of Joe’s time in Indiana was spent with Naomi, writing out their Ketubah (written vows). Naomi and Bethany had planned on attending Purify 2013 Retreat for Hebrew Singles, but since Naomi wasn’t single anymore, Emily went in her place. Emily and Bethany both grew in their relationships with Yahweh, with each other and with other singles. While those girls were at Purify, Naomi kept Lydia company at home and they started working out the details with the Betrothal ceremony. Emily and Bethany are planning to attend Purify 2014 and Emily is going to be one of the photographers for the event. The Betrothal date was set for May 19th, Shavuot. The ceremony was beautiful- and exciting! Two sheep got loose and had to be chased down. The place was crawling with excitement as we celebrated their betrothal- but that’s not the only thing that was crawling! Shofar Mountian is also referred to as “Tick Mountain”. Naomi and Joe were excited to make their commitment to one another but the excitement was bittersweet. The Potts family and Naomi Fox left in the morning, and the newlyweds would not see each other again until September 10th, when Joe would come to take Naomi as his bride. Throughout their betrothal, Joe and Naomi chose to keep contact through handwritten letters. During that time it wasn’t unusual to ask “where is Naomi?” only to find that she was writing to her husband! In the summer we were busy harvesting the garden! With the harvest came the canning… is it just me or does the canning season always collide with the hottest, muggiest days of the summer? Either way, we were very blessed with many tomatoes, green beans and hot peppers. Because our home fellowship has nearly out grown homes, Mike and Gina have been a part of a project started by two other families in our fellowship- The HUB. The HUB has proven to be a wonderful idea, bringing people together who, otherwise, may not have known each other. One of the main purposes of the HUB is to start other ‘home fellowships in central Indiana. Naomi, Bethany, Emily and Lydia celebrated their fist “Blog Anniversary” this year. They have all enjoyed writing articles for young ladies and women, to encourage and challenge- not only to encourage and challenge these women but also themselves! Finally, after a long separation, Naomi and Joe celebrated their wedding on September 10th! This is a definite highlight in our year. After the wedding, Naomi and Joe started on their way to Arkansas. We joined them in Arkansas for part of their Sukkot celebration and they came to Indiana for part of ours. Joe taught a knot-tying class for the boys at Sukkot, Sherman and Clayton enjoyed learning the new knots. Now Joe and Naomi are soon to be parents and we have a house full of future aunts, uncles, one grandma and one grandpa. We are blessed. May Yahweh continue to bless and grow our families in this coming year. Yah Bless, The Potts So I was looking for something to have for dinner one night and I found this on www.food.com. It sounded really good so I decided to try it and it was good! Below is me modified version of the recipe, I hope you enjoy!
Ingredients: 6 cups vegetable broth 2 Tablespoon tomato paste 4 cups chopped cabbage 1 cup green beans 3 cup chopped kale 1 yellow onion 1 cup carrot 8 garlic cloves (or more!), minced 2 cups navy beans, cooked 1/2 teaspoon basil 1 teaspoon oregano salt and pepper to taste 1. Spray pot with olive oil and saute kale, onions, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes. 2. Add broth, tomato paste, cabbage, green beans (I used our home-canned ones), navy beans, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. 3. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are tender then add Zucchini and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Serves about 12 We also really liked putting milk or plain yogurt in each bowl when it was ready to serve. . Be happy and Healthy! Lydia |
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