The Life of Mrs. Miles

BLUE FLOWER NO. 2 ELEMENT

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September, Fall is creeping nearer. There's a bit of 'bite' in the morning air that wasn't there before. The hotels are showing more Vacant signs instead of a big NO on their signs. Traffic has thinned out to a moderate flow and its rare to see someone actually IN the water at our lake. A friend and I were talking about my elements and she encouraged me to move into an Autumn Theme, so you can join me as I create a series of Autumn Looking Elements. I would love suggestions! My email is lalalime@hotmail.com and can you please put AUTUMN in the subject line.

I challenged my friend Sonya to a pizza bake off yesterday - and by the way, Sonya, who many of you know from Scrapbook-bytes.com, is launching, in the very near future, a blog about her twin boys. These lil guys will amaze and amuse you and her blog will be sure to inspire and help moms of twins. It's merely in it's opening stages but you can view her start HERE. I'm giving the link to you early so you can bookmark it and come back often!

MOM'S BIRTHDAY LAYOUT

created using Sonya Johnston's LUXURIOUS Kit

Paper Rose Elements - mine!

So, bout the bake off. I made a new dough recipe - yep, just calculated it up in my brain. It turned out very well, so I'll share it with you! This recipe will make a LARGE pizza or a cookie sheet, basically.

BARB'S OLIVE JUICE PIZZA DOUGH

3 cups flour

2 tbsp yeast

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1-1 1/3 cups OLIVE JUICE

2 tbsp olive oil

spices

I cheated and used the mixmaster my Mother In Law snagged for me at a yardsale, but this is just as well mixed by hand. (Probably better as your hand flavor is then in it! lol - everyone will ask you what the 'secret' ingredient is) In a bowl, pour the water, add the brown sugar and the yeast. Mix with a spoon till blended. Let sit for five minutes. Add the OLIVE JUICE, olive oil and spices. Start mixing steadily, adding in the flour until you have achieved a nice dough, you know, till its warm and soft as a baby's bum and is not sticky. Let raise for 1 hour.

HINT: I coat my pizza pan with oil, and sprinkle with cornmeal or finely ground cornflakes to make a crispy crust. Optimal temperature for pizza 425 degrees for 15 to 20 mins. (PS - I do not put extra salt in the pizza dough... the OLIVE JUICE makes it just salty enough!)

I would like to briefly share a thought and scripture with you which addresses something that has been troubling me. It seems that 'anything goes' almost these days, laws get approved that are detrimental to people and sometimes I struggle in my faith when I wonder why. When laws get passed we sometimes hear people crowing "well, its legal!" and it's hard to argue with that. However, this is what I found that brings me comfort:

Making Sin Legal Does Not Make it Harmless

"All things are lawful,

but not all things edify,

Let no one seek his own good,

but that of his neighbor.

1 Corinthians 10:23,24

This scripture encourages me to not be discouraged... to never give up, and to be the one who stands in in those areas which I can see are harmful to those in my life. Do you have thoughts about this you will share? I would love to hear from you.

I came across the following website recently and I would like to share it with you. Its a video of a talented young guitar player who playes Pachebel's Canon...but not in any traditional way you and I may have heard before. Though it builds into a 'rocky' style, you have GOT to admire the talent of this fella. I heard it on NPR (radio) and they said that his identity is revealed and he is a 23 year old from Seoul. You can view the video HERE.

BARB'S HANDY TIP # 65

Filthy Fan?

If you want to vacuum your ceiling fan, but your vacuum hose won't extend quite that far, tape the inner cardboard tube from inside your christmas wrap, onto the end of it!