High Priced Paid

Sabbath Praises

Act of Worship

 "Singing, as a part of religious service, is as much an act of worship as is prayer. The heart must feel the spirit of the song to give it right expression."

Personally speaking, I appreciate the song service at church now more than I ever have. It wasn't pleasant not being able to go to church for the 11 weeks, but now when I go, I totally appreciate every aspect of it! Just driving up the driveway to church is a blessing, because now I know how much I appreciate the freedom to do so! Praise the Lord for the freedom to worship the Lord with other believers!

True Object of Education

 "The true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul. In the beginning God created man in His own likeness. He endowed him with noble qualities. His mind was well-balanced, and all the powers of his being were harmonious. But the Fall and its effects have perverted these gifts. Sin has marred and well-nigh obliterated the image of God in man. It was to restore this that the plan of salvation was devised, and a life of probation was granted to man. To bring him back to the perfection in which he was first created is the great object of life- the object that underlies every other." PP595

Freshly Baked

Last week I spent some time in the kitchen baking bread. A friend of mine bought and gave me some yeast and when I offered to pay her she said some fresh bread would be great! So since when I see her - I also see a couple of other ladies - I needed to make up at least 4 loaves of bread- one for her, one for me and one for each of the other ladies. 

 This means I will more than likely be making more bread soon. Normally I make up several and I freeze several - to last me a while. But like I said I needed to make bread for friends. This is the Raisin/Walnut bread that I love so much! I hope my friends love it as much as I do!! 

Summers here in Texas are hot - but if I start my bread in the mornings then I can get the bread made before it gets too hot. It is a sacrifice I am willing to make to have fresh baked bread! During our really hot time periods - I have just put off making bread till the next week. 

Anyway that is just one of the ways I am keeping myself busy and out of trouble. How about you? 

Plastic Ball?

I don't know how long these have been around but I just discovered them! They are plastic leak - proof lids! So your canning jars are more versatile then ever before. This was a package of 6 for about 3.57. They come in regular mouth or wide mouth. 

I make my own granola and so I buy a bit of quick oats. I normally use old fashioned oat- but my granola recipe calls for 2 cups of quick oats along with 2 cups of old fashioned. Well while I was at Winco last week I bought more of both kinds. And I measured out 2 cups into 4 sandwich bags - so I can just grab a bag when I am making granola. Well there are a few other things I might use some quick oats for so I put what I had not bagged up into a quart sized jar. 

I think I am going to be quite pleased with this set up! 

Be sure and label the things that you can/store - and date them! 

Have any of you guys ever use the plastic ball lids? Were you happy with them? Anything I need to know? 

 

Important Information Before You Start Dry/Oven Canning

So as you all know I have been getting into dry/oven canning lately. Well today I wanted to share a few more important pointers to help you in your adventure with dry canning. 

 Last week I went to Winco and bought a 25 pound bag of lentils. By purchasing the 25 pound bag - I was able to get my lentils for just 67 cents per pound. Much cheaper than if I were to buy it by the pound bags. I also got lucky and found a couple more dozen large mouth quart sized jars. I was upset that Winco upped their price on the quart sized jars by 99 cents. Since then I have found quart sized jars at Walmart and HEB - and the dozen package was running about 10.58. A better deal than the 12.35 that Winco was charging. I am happy I just bought the one dozen at that higher price. I had not seen the quart sized jars at Walmart the last several times we had been there so I did not think I would be able to get them there. So I was very happy to find them there. And a better deal. 

So my first bit of advice is to be sure and compare prices. Don't allow places to price gauge just because it is getting harder to find things. 

Another thing that i wanted to share was I shared this photo of my shelving unit. 

It is a craftsman shelving unit. And it cost about $65.00 at Lowes. I love it! Each shelve is suppose to be able to hold 250 pounds. Well someone pointed out that by putting the heavy jars towards the top of the unit - it could get top heavy and tip over. That would be a disaster. All my hard work and money down the drain. Well there is something important that I wanted to share with you all - this unit came with some brackets that you connect to the unit and the wall behind - so that you secure the shelving unit to the wall - making it sturdy and safe to store your important things on. I am very happy that my hard work and investment in the future is secure. 

When learning something new - I would like to suggest you take in several different references. Don't just go by one persons information. No matter how helpful someone feels they are being - they will more than likely leave out just one key part of information that would be very helpful. Let me explain what I mean. Over the last couple of weeks I have watched 6-8 different youtube videos about dry/oven canning and I have learned so much, but I still had a lot to learn. Thursday morning - as I was looking at a list of videos that I might want to check out - someone had posted a video about dry/oven canning. So I clicked on it and I am SO very glad that I did. You see she told about something she does that ended up saving me a problem later down the road. She said that once a week she goes through her canned items and kind messes with the lids to make sure there was still a good seal. No one else had mentioned this important piece of advice. Well I went out to my sun room and I went through my cans. Guess what? I found 3 jars that had very loose lids- that kind of just flicked off!! Three jars! I was so glad I discovered this before a lot of time went by and my stuff was ruined. So be sure and do a lot of research - you may think you have all the information you need - but you just might be surprised with some new bit of information that is very helpful. 

So there is one more thing that I learned. So as I have watched the videos - people have done things a little different. Some people put their canning jars filled with wheat berries, oats, beans, or what ever on a sturdy cookie sheet and then place all the jars in the oven at the same time. Well this morning the lady that I was watching - placed her jars one by one on the oven shelf. Well every time I had done dry/oven canning I had placed them on a cookie sheet. It is quite heavy and then you pull the whole thing out at one time. So Thursday I decided to try it the way the lady on the video did it. I liked the bring one jar out at a time. So I got all 12 jars in the oven and I let it heat up and when the timer went off - I started bringing them out and wiping the tops and placing the lids and rings on. Everything was going very smoothly until I got to the 9th jar - at the back corner- and I accidentally tipped it over and spilled 1/3 of my lentils out of the jar...uggh what a pain! I had to wait until the oven cooled completely down before I was able to vacuum the floor of the oven out. At least my oven is nice and clean now. But I did decided that it might be a bigger job to bring the whole try out at one time but I will more than likely do it that way - unless I just think i can be extra careful. But I am thinking the cookie sheet is the way to go. It was frustrating to spill part of my stuff.. The other 11 jars all popped within 45 minutes. It was fun to hear the popping even from the other side of the house. 

So today we learned a lot more information about dry/oven canning that I think will be very helpful for the next time I do some. 

I found some half gallon sized Ball jars - I believe I will do some wheat in them. I will measure out how much wheat goes into each jar - then I will know how many batches of bread I can make per half gallon. I know when I did some wheat in my quart sized jars - that it will probably take 2 of them to make a big batch of bread. 

So what do I have planned to try next? Well you will have to come back to see. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head and I look forward to trying them. 

My Best Deal

Well I got this best deal about 3 weeks ago. The thrift store that I was volunteering at decided to have a garage sale outside on Sundays - 2 weeks in a row. And I was able to find a few neat things. 

This skirt was one of the things I got. I can't wait to find a great black top to wear with it. 

 This skirt only cost me $ 1.00!

 What a deal!! 

I am sorry if I had already posted about this skirt - best deals have been hard to come lately as I have not been going thrift stores - with all the restrictions - I would rather not shop then jump through their hoops. Continuing to pray that more of our freedoms will be released to us. 

*************************************************************************

For the first time I have a list of posts that I will be sharing this week: 

• Important Information before you start dry/oven canning 
• Plastic Ball? 
• Freshly Baked 
• True Object of Education
• Act of Worship 

Be sure to check back by every day to catch each post! May God bless you! :O) 

Sabbath Praises

Happy Sabbath! I hope you all are being blessed. And find some peace in this song. :O) 

How Are You Doing In These Areas?

 This past week my Pastor gave us a challenge.First he said: 

* Spend more time studying your Bible than watching the news

This one I am already doing a VERY good job of. 

But the next challenge was a bit more challenging to me. And I am sure to most people. 

* Spend more time studying your Bible than you spend on social media. 

This is a bit harder for me to do. I like to keep up with my friends and family. Especially during these challenging times it has been nice to continue to interact with people. I just wish there was a way to filter out what I get in my Facebook Feed. I would love to stay up to date on all of my friends and families lives. The personal things they share - about their joy's, sorrows, victories and such. What I get weary of many times - is all of the negativity. The politics and corona virus mess. A lot of that beats me down And I find myself feeling anxious or discouraged. 

I think the pastor had the right idea - sometimes we need to just turn off the TV or the computer or put our phones down and open up our Bibles. Most of the news media information is lies- there may be a bit of truth here and there but I get tired of trying to filter through it. But I can tell you that every single thing you read in the Bible is the truth. 

Every single thing you read in your Bible is the Truth! 

Every single thing you read in your Bible is the Truth! 

Therefore it is a very good use of our time to study our Bibles. When we study our Bibles - we better understand what is going on. We are also encouraged in our journey through our lives in this world. Especially during these uncertain times. 

So this week I have been working hard on spending more time studying my Bible. And less time on social media. 

Not only that but I am trying very hard to just share uplifting, encouraging things. In this world we have enough doom and gloom. It's is the best time to lift up Jesus and encourage those around us. 

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

Sometimes Procrastination Is A Real Blessing

Over the last several months I have been working in my sun room to make it a more efficient area. I was tired of all the wasted space. We cleaned up a metal shelving unit that was just rusting in the yard - and we painted it and put in into a corner. We had to move a few things around. And in the process I pulled an old sewing machine cabinet out from one corner. I pulled it into the center of the room. It had been where it was more for a place for the cats to lay on. But when I moved a book case over for the kids books I had to move the cabinet out of the way, I had every intention of getting rid of the cabinet. And the only reason I hadn't gotten rid of it a week or so later is because I had not been able to get anyone to help me move it. 

Then I began my Dry/Oven Canning adventure and as I worked out in the sun room, I discovered that I did NOT want to get rid of the sewing cabinet any more. I really enjoyed having the work space to set things on and use and I moved things around. And I realized that yes- it may be out away from the wall a bit but I did not care. There is NO reason to have a big empty space in the middle of the room. In order to make this room a more workable area- it was much better to have the cabinet there. Now I will store things in the drawers to make the space even more efficient. 

So even though the boxes of filled up canning jars is quite heavy, it was great to have this workspace nearby to use while I worked in the sun room. So you see the procrastination of others helped me to retain something that has been such a blessing to me every since! :O) 

My Husband Was Right, I Wish I Had Have Listened

The title to today's blog posts was created by my husband and I. I was planning on titling it - My Husband Was Right - and when I told him - He add the I Wish I Had Have Listened- after I told him that I wish I had have listened. 

Aldi's used to have their spaghetti sauce in glass jars with a lid that pops - the kind of jars that can actually be used to can - dry can or dry storage. He tried to get me to save them but I was like - what do I need with a whole bunch of jars. Yeah - storing my humming bird food in them was very nice. But I didn't see the use to save a whole lot of jars. Now I am wishing I had of listened. Aldi's has since changed to canning their sauce in plastic jars.... 

I have been paying attention to other jars I have and once I am finish with the item- I was them out and take off the label and I am saving them for sure!!! 

On Monday I made up a batch of granola. I use wheat germ and some ground up flax seed. 

Yesterday I finished up a jar of wheat germ I had - what a great jar to save!! 

In these uncertain times I think it is important now more than ever that we get back to doing what our grandmothers used to do. There was a lot of wisdom in the things they did. And saving these kinds of jars that have the pop lids is a great thing to hang onto. 

 

It Works!!

Last week I worked on a very special project~ Dry/Oven Canning. 

And I am very happy to report that it worked and I am very pleased with how everything came out. 

I already had some wheat and some rice that I needed to process to help it last longer- so I did those first. Then I went to Winco and I bought 10 pounds of old fashioned oats. And that was what I did next! 

This is what 10 pounds of oats looks like - 12 quart sized jars! There was a little left over and that went into my Tupperware container that I store my oats in for daily use. 

Oh and I bought some bulk popcorn as well. I used a bit different way to seal these jars. I was worried about putting them into the oven at the 215* that I used to process my other things. So I used my Food Saver Canisters to process these. And I was very happy with how they turned out as well. This will just help keep the extra popcorn that I bought to stay fresh longer. :O) 

I learned that I really like saving the boxes that the jars come in - to store the finished products in. Thankfully one of the ladies who gave me some jars - had saved her Kerr box and that is when I discovered how nice it was to have these boxes- whether the jars are filled up or empty - it is so much nicer to keep them in the boxes they came in. Yes - the jars filled up in there are heavy and you need to be careful with moving them around but that is where my post for tomorrow comes in. So be sure and stop by tomorrow.  

I had all my jars sitting on my favorite, new shelving unit. Then I watched a youtube- "No-No! Don't Do This With Your Canned Goods!" And learned something I was already doing wrong-  *leaving the rings on the jars! So I went out and I removed all the rings. 

Here is my pretty little basket that I had found at Aldi's several weeks ago - I did not know how I would use this basket - but was SO happy when I figured out that I needed a place to store my rings. 

This basket came in a 2 pack and my other basket is on the top shelf with my canning tools and supplies. 

 Another thing that I learned from this youtube video - *Do not stack your jars. You can stack the boxes of jars - but do not stack jars directly on top of one another.  Watch the video for more information. 

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. I am enjoying learning these new things and can't wait to learn more! :O) 

Cotton Candy?

So a year or so I experimented a bit with making my own laundry detergent. The only soap I could find at the time was Fels Naptha, which by the way has a very strong odor. I liked using it alright but wasn't totally sold on it. Plus we had some septic issues - tree roots getting into our septic line, which caused out septic to clog up ever so often and I thought that it could have been partly due to the homemade laundry detergent. 

As you know I have really gotten into watching Homestead Tessie's Youtube Channel and I have learned quite a bit from her. One great tip I learned helped fill the gap from store bought laundry detergent to homemade- the scent!! 

Homestead Tessie suggested adding something like Downy Unstoppables - to the homemade mixture and this week I tried it and I am really loving it. 

I am not quite sure what the difference there is between the pink and white soaps - but I decided to do a double batch so I could use one of each. Then the Unstoppable that I picked out just happened to be blue and once it was ground up and put in - my soap took on a Cotton Candy appearance!! 

Isn't it pretty!? Directions say to use 1 - 3 Tablespoon - depending on how big your load is or how dirty the items are. 

I shared with you last week - I believe that a couple of women had given me some canning jars.Well one of the jars caught my attention - it was different from the others and I just had to look it up. Come to find out it is a vintage jar! I love it! My double batch of laundry detergent made enough soap to fill up 2 quart sized jars plus a tupperware canister that I have - that is not the biggest canister- I think it is the second to the biggest canister. So I have the canister out on my washer and I store my two quart mason jars elsewhere to keep them safe from toppling off of the washer on a rough load. And once the canister gets low I can just add soap. I have written the date on the canister so I will know how long this soap lasts me. 

I am hoping not to have any septic issues. If I do - Homestead Tessie has a recipe and video showing how to make the liquid laundry detergent and I will give that a try. One reason I have not tried it so far is that you use a wand blender - to mix the mixture several times over a 24 hour period. Well I don't have a wand blender that I want to devote to this task -and right now I am not able to get out and look for one. Once I can go thrift store shopping again - I will be looking for one and once I get one I might try the liquid. 

Homestead Tessie also has a video showing how to make dish soap - the kind you use when you hand wash dishes - which is what I do most of the time - so i want to try that next!!! I will let you know how that goes and if I will continue to make it and use it once I do try it. 

My intentions were not to make cotton candy looking laundry detergent but that is exactly what I ended up with! It just adds that bit of fun every time I use it!! And the scent is so much better than what I used to make! I am very happy with this stuff!! :O) 

If you want an exact recipe as to what I do , it is very easy and I will share - just ask. :O) 

 

My Best Deal

So today I will share my best deal. It is actually something that I found more than 6 months ago. I can't remember exactly when I found these canning stickers for sure it could have been a year and a half ago. Not really sure. All I know is that after I had worked quite a bit in my kitchen doing some dry canning - and actually got all my jars labeled - I was looking for something else and ran across these. And since I really enjoy sharing my best deals, I thought I would share this. It is sad that I have not had much of an opportunity get out and look for deals.

When I run across things like this- it makes me happy. It reminds me that God is looking out after me and He is blessing me in areas before I even realize that it is a need. When I bought these I really did not have any intentions of doing much canning other than maybe some jam now and again. Now I have learned how to Dry/ Oven Can and loving it. There will be a post later in the week about it hopefully. 

There will also be a post coming up about something else that I learned that was able to improve something that I have toyed with in the past, but with this new information I am happier with the results. But that, too, is for another post. Today I just want to share with you these awesome Pioneer Woman Canning stickers. 6 sheets of 12 stickers! 2 different sizes. All for only 75 cents! 

What a great deal!! :O) 

 

Sabbath Praise

Blessings - to others, to yourself

"The springs of heavenly peace and joy unsealed in the soul by the words of Inspiration will become a mighty river of influence to bless all who come within its reach."

A Little Humor

Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite memes going around Facebook lately. 

I hope you got a laugh out of these memes. Laughter is good for the soul and good for the immune system as well. ;O) 

Just a Glimpse of Some Promises

Something I saw floating around Facebook and thought I would share- a lot of great promises! During these crazy times we definitely need some promises to hold onto.  May God bless you and you hold onto His promises! :) 

Grace, Humility, Truth, and Love

"The Life of Christ was a life charged with a divine message of the love of God, and He longed intensely to impart this love to others in rich measure. Compassion beamed from His countenance, and His conduct was characterized by grace, humility, truth, and love. Every member of His church militant must manifest the same qualities, if he would join the church triumphant.

I have added the following 1828 Webster Dictionary entry for Militant - so that this quote could easier be understood. Be sure and check out the 2nd definition.

Changed Nothing

"Daniel change nothing about his daily practice of worshiping and praising God, even though he knew that it directly violated the new law. ( a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Dan. 6:7b). Like his friends when they refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar's image (chapter 3), he ignored the human consequences of putting loyalty to God first."

What I Will Be Trying This Week

So I think I have shared with you before how much I enjoy Homestead Tessie's Youtube channel. I have learned some awesome things from her. And today I wanted to share with you something that I plan on trying this week. Dry/Oven Canning. I have some wheat and rice that I would like to get canned this week. I don't know if I have enough lids to get everything done that I want to do. You know, the canning supplies are hard to come by lately... I wish we had have realized that this was going to be something that I would get into before all this mess hit. Doing what I can now is better than nothing at all. 

Last week I asked my friends on Facebook where would be the best place to get canning jars. I was blessed by a couple of different ladies with some great canning jars. Some came with lids and rings, some not. And I am SO thankful that God had previously blessed me with this great canning book! I am disappointed that it is challenging to find the rings and lids though. But at least I have some and can at least get started on my project. 

What things are you doing to prepare for maybe a second way - of real or made up virus mess? Please share - it may be things that I need to do but just have not thought of. :O) 

Sabbath Praise

I am sure this is a repeat, but it is a great song and something we need to be reminded of many times! 

 Happy Sabbath. May you be blessed :O) 

Proved Disastrous

But Wait, There's More

I can't take credit for this great image, it was something floating around Facebook. 

Verses 5 and 6 have been favorites of mine for many years, but don't stop reading there - continue on we have a beautiful promise that is given in verse 8 if we will just follow the directions of verse 5,6, and 7 

"It will be healing to your flesh 

and refreshment to your bones."

This is what this verse says in the NET Bible: 

"This will bring healing to your body, 

and refreshment to your inner self." 

I don't know about you, but during these uncertain times- I need refreshment for my inner self and healing for my body- I am sure that the stress of all of this mess is not good for my health. And I need to continuously remind myself to Trust in God! 

A Special Blessing, How?

"Blessed is he that read it, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Rev. 1:3

Did you realize there is a threefold blessing in the very first chapter of Revelations?

1. He that readeth

2. They that hear

3. And keep those things which are written therein

How to keep the words of this prophecy:

1. Abide by the principles of the book.

2. Study its prophecies and wait for them.

3 Learn its promises, and lean on them.

As you can tell I am going through a study of the book of Revelations in prayer meeting. And sometime during the last year I had been blessed to find the book -Revelations Verse by Verse by Henry Feyerbend This book has been helpful as has several other great books that share information on each verse. Revelations can be an intimidating book to read. It can be challenging to understand, but if we will ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand - He will help us. And I promise each time you study it - you will find new gems. I have been blessed with several new insights so far and we are only on Chapter 5. I can't wait to see what else I learn. Tonight is another Prayer Meeting. I am looking forward to it! :O)

Praise the Lord!

Don't Be a Stumbling Block

"Jesus responded by saying, every disciple who understands what God's kingdom is all about is like a wise homeowner who blends treasured antiques with new items of great value. In the same way my disciples know how to give new value to old truths." Matthew 13:52 (Clear Word Bible )

Perfect verse to go along with something I learned this weekend. My pastor talked about Rev. 3:16 where God says "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

Why does God feel so strongly about those who are lukewarm?

Because often times they actually act as roadblocks or stumbling blocks to God.

Infinite Love of God

Sabbath Praise