My ETSY shop

Okay folks, its a go. I've got 6 different cuffs up at etsy. Can you spell Pro-cra-stin-ate?
Oh well its up there now.
So head on over to "achalmers" and have a look-see.
Blessing
amie

Victoria

Here are some pictures of our trip.
The ONLY good thing about Air Canada is the leg room.

Breakfast at the "Corner Coffee Shop" (isn't he handsome!)

Love the way these books are used to display the shoes.

A whole store of Conserves. Every colour of the rainbow.

A great second hand book store. I picked up three classics.
Went down to the water. It was cold but beautiful.
Saw a seal. I think he was looking for some handouts.
This is fisherman's warf. Its a group of floating houses. Very pretty and neat to look at.

We went out for supper. They had paper on the tables to write on. The food wasn't great BUT the company was divine!

Hamburger Buns

First, I worked for 4-5 hours on Saturday sewing cuffs for a large order. It was fun and felt good to get it all done. I wanted to share a recipe I made up in the last while. The whole family loves it, and I think they are great for lunches away from home. I'm calling them "Hamburger Buns"
First make a pizza dough.
My recipe for this is:
1 cup warmer water
2.25 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
4 tbsp oil
2 tsp salt
2.5 cups flour
Doubled easily.
Let rise 45-mins to an hour
Makes a soft dough. Don't work too much flour into the dough. Just enough to kneed it sufficiently and then let it be.
In the mean-time start on the filling.
1 Potatoe, peeled, chopped into sm cubes
1 carrot, peeled, chopped into sm cubes
1 parsnip, peeled, chopped into sm cubes
(try to keep all your veg chopped to the same size for even cooking)
1 sm onion diced
Feel free to add other root veg.
Now put a glug of oil in a pan and cook all of the above.
Season with Salt and pepper.
Now add garlic (all I had was garlic powder)
Dry thyme
Dry Rosemary. ( This really makes it great!!!)
Dry parsley
Once veg have had a good start cooking add Ground Beef.
About 1.5 pounds
Break it all up and stir until browned.
Cover and cook until Potatoes are tender. ( I don't have a lid for my pan so I just cover it with tin foil.) :)
Now add 1/2 cup frozen peas ( if you want), cook until just done.

Now the dough should be risen ( double in size)
Roll out into a rectangle. 1/2 - 1/4 inch thick.
Cut into squares. It all depends on how big you want your bun to be.
Spoon a good spoon full (1/4 cup or more) into the middle of the dough. The filling does not have to be cooled. Start bringing the dough up and around the filling.

Put on parchment paper lined sheet, seam side down.
Wisk 1 egg and brush on tops. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
Cook in a 375 oven for 20-25 mins.
So there it is. Yummy. I don't have a finished product picture. Sorry.
Enjoy. Have fun cooking.
amie

Saturday

I was able to do two things today that I have been wanting to do for a long time. Life just keeps getting in the way and there are so few free moments to just sit and do something you love. But today...today I got my chance. I was able to knit and play my guitar.
I've been working on these mittens for myself for...I'm ashamed to say how long. I guess less then a year. So that's not so bad, considering we had summer in there and who wants to knit mittens in +20 weather? Anyways, the pattern is from a great little book called, "Favorite Mittens , Best Traditional Mitten patterns from Fox and Geese and Flying Geese and Partridge Feet" I really like the pattern and I love the way the contrasting colours are working. The two yarns worked so closely together makes a thick warm fleece. I'm excited to try them out against the Sask.


And I picked up my guitar to try to write a little and just enjoy playing. I have been piddling away at a certain song now for a while and I went back to it again and enjoyed hashing it out again. Ian slept through it all. The other two where occupied ( I bet you can guess how) and I had a few moments too myself. Lovely.

Love it - hate it.

This is my alarm clock. Its great. I don't have to reset it every night. I just push a button on the remot in the morning when it goes off and then it rings again the next morning, no fail. This is great except for when you forget to turn it off on Friday night when you are excited to sleep past 5:15am. That's what happened this morning. The alarm clock faithfully went off and my body jumped into action. I tried my hardest to settle myself down and go back to sleep. It was helpless. I was awake. My mind was racing with all that I needed to do. I was thinking about how I can do my job better and faster. You know how you can go through 10 different things in your head when you are just laying there. And when I looked at the clock again, expecting it to now be at least 6:00am it was only 5:30. So I gave up on trying to go back to sleep and I got up to have some quiet time before the family is awake and begging for my attention...which I will be happy to give them!! :) I can hear one of the chicklets (that's what I call the kids) coughing, so I may not have much quiet time left.

"Whatever happens in a house, robbery or murder, it doesn't matter, you must have breakfast" Wilkie Collins THE MOONSTONE
amie

Cookies on my day off

Today I have a full day at home. Weekends are a beautiful thing. What have I done so far? Nothing important, which makes the day even better.
When i have time to kill my first instinct is to bake in the kitchen. So I started a batch of oatmeal cookies. I put the 1 cup butter in the Kitchen Aid, then the 1 cup br. sugar...then realized I needed my recipe. Have just moved I could not find my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe. I all through all my cards but it was nowhere to be found. So I turned to my "Cookies" by Martha Stewart. On page 90 she has a excellent oatmeal recipe. I have such a hard time sticking to a recipe. Something in me makes me always want to change it up. Here is her recipe followed by what I did today
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1 tsp bkg soda
1 tsp bkg powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup light br. sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
2 lg eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups raisins
Okay here is my version

3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup spelt four
1/4 cup heaping all purpose four
1/2 cup bran
1 tsp bkg soda
1 tsp bkg powder
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1 cup br. sugar
2 lg eggs
vanilla? I forgot that
1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips...no one in my family will eat raisins ( I know they are crazy!)
So as you can see I changed it a bit. But they turned out good. Probably nothing like Martha's but who really cares....they are cookies made by Amie!
And what mother an resist posting adorable photos of their children.

Oh by the way...Jon just came home from the men's breakfast and downed a cookie. Then says, "Man those are good honey, I'm going to have another one." He then goes the frigde and pours himself a glass of milk, grabs another cookie and sits down to enjoy them. I'm a happy wife!!!

beatiful pictures

I like to follow a great blog called "Pioneer Woman" She has different catagories in which she posts and sometimes other people too. Like, 'confessions', 'cooking', 'homeschooling', 'photography' and others. I usually just look at the 'confessions' one but today I decided to look at the 'photography'. Follow this link and enjoy these beautiful photos. Everyone of them is so beautiful and creative.

Here it is!

I'm selling Coffee Cuffs at the Point! People are actually buying them too. Amazing!!!
I'm definitely not a business minded. The manager of the Point (my boss also) asked me for a receipt for all the cuffs I've brought in to sell. Of course I've been to excited and thinking about other things to have thought of counting how many I brought in. Lesson #1 -keep track of stuff. I'd say, 'lesson learned', but I'm not ready to make any declarations just yet!

Natioal Geographic atricle

I just finished reading a very interesting and informative article by Paul Salopek and photographed by Randy Olson called "Who Rules the Forest." "In Central Africa, war and innocence collide with a tale of pygmies, rebels, sorcerers, and dreamers." The writing is riveting and so beautiful. I found the topic fascinating. The pictures are captivating and revealing.
I'd say it's well worth your time to take a look.
Actually the whole issue is amazing. September 2005.
If you follow the link that I've provided (click on the "who rules the forest"above) then click on "Sights and Sounds" on the left hand side you can see all the pictures and even hear the journalist talk a bit more about the pygmies if you
Enjoy!

I love Hens

and I love this picture of this hen.
Oh...the big surprise is coming. I need to take some pictures. Keep waiting.

Grace's Birthday

This was the best birthday yet. I made the cake but used a boxed cake and premade icing. What a cop out. the decorations as you can see were gummy butterflies that Grace picked out at the Bulk Barn. She also picked out the sprinkles on the top.
The garland I saw on Prudent baby. I changed mine a bit but I think it still turned out nice.
I had to leave it up cause it makes the kitchen look pretty!

No knead bread.

This is my first attempt at No Knead Bread. Try it out. Its super easy and very yummy!
Here's a vidoe of the original recipe.

It's Coming!

I can not wait to show you what I have been working on.
Here's a few clues
1. This has been a dream of mine for a couple years.
2. It involves creativity.
3. I can't think of another clue that won't give it away...

So watch for the big reveal!!!!

Watermelon Love

Ian LOVES watermelon. So much so that the seed in his belly button may sprout and grow him his very own to have at all times. Wouldn't that be convenient! Sorry you can't see his face. The picture is more about the seed in the belly button :)
Hot like Hades here today. Good training for Mombassa
blessings

Words of encouragement.

I wanted to share with you a blog that is always an encouragement to me. Along the Way The fact that my dad writes it is great, but has little to do with the encouragement I draw from the words. He usually writes scripture or about scripture. Dad writes with humility and a great desire to be more like Christ and find his Joy in Him.
I really appreciated his June 24th entry, "The journey of faith is not about finding your freedom, rather it is about finding your true Master." (Matthew 16:24-26)
I hope you will visit and be encouraged as I am.

knitting, and saskatoon berries

We've got a mix today. First i had to show you this beautiful picture of Grace and Ian. She is a really good helper. I can't thank the Lord enough for the love Elijah and Grace both have for Ian. They are always willing to help me with him.

Second I had to show you the vest completed. I changed it up a bit and he wears it as a tank top. I like the changes I made though. More summery.
And Thirdly, I wanted to show you the Saskatoon Berries I picked this afternoon with the kids and my friend Leanne. I wish I had remembered to bring my camera with me to the berry patch. We had a lot of fun. The kids found caterpillars and spiders and Leanne and I picked. The kids also accidentally knocked over the pails a few times, so they need a good bath when we got home. So that's what I'm doing in this frist picture. Two pails worth in the sink with cold water. Alot of the leaves and sticks and stuff floated to the top conveniently.


Then I took my little strainer and scooped out the berries. As I poured them into the bowl I grabbed out the bad ones and anyother stuff I don't want in my jam.
And here's the bowl full of yummy clean Saskatoon Berries. I picked too small of a bowl so they eventually ended up in my largest Tupperware bowl. It is unfortunately white, so I'm scared it is going to turn purple...but what's a girl to do?! I try to remember to take picture when I turn it into jam.

Idols

"Sometimes God seems to be killing us when he's actually saving us. Here he was turning Abraham into a great man- but on the outside it looked like god was being cruel. (when God asks Ab to sacrifice Issac) To follow God in such circumstances seems to be "blind faith" but actually it is vigorous, grateful faith. The Bible is filled with stories of figures such as Joseph, Moses, and David in which God seemed to have abandoned them, but later it is revealed he was dealing with the destructive idols in their lives and that could only have come to pass through their experience of difficulty."
-Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller (pg20)

Wisdom

Proverbs 3

¹ My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,

² for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you prosperity.

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. ^a]">[a]

⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.

⁸ This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.

⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;

¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.

¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,

¹² because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father ^b]">[b] the son he delights in.

¹³ Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gains understanding,

¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.

¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.

¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.

¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
those who lay hold of her will be blessed.

¹⁹ By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;

²⁰ by his knowledge the deeps were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.

²¹ My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment,
do not let them out of your sight;

²² they will be life for you,
an ornament to grace your neck.

²³ Then you will go on your way in safety,
and your foot will not stumble;

²⁴ when you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

²⁵ Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

²⁶ for the LORD will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being snared.

²⁷ Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.

²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"—
when you now have it with you.

²⁹ Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.

³⁰ Do not accuse a man for no reason—
when he has done you no harm.

³¹ Do not envy a violent man
or choose any of his ways,

³² for the LORD detests a perverse man
but takes the upright into his confidence.

³³ The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.

³⁴ He mocks proud mockers
but gives grace to the humble.

³⁵ The wise inherit honor,
but fools he holds up to shame.

could it be?

Could it be? Could I redeem my very unfortunate decision of letting Elijah hold the iTouch only to have it slip from his hand and be cracked?
I was visiting Pioneer Woman today. Her son dropped her iPad on the kitchen floor and it cracked. She of course was devastated. Someone commented with a link to a business called BrokeMyiPhone that repairs cracked screens. I've requested a quote. My fingers are crossed. I may have just happened upon something to make my mistake right again.

Packaging

Do love things in beautiful packages? Do you often wish you had something special to package something you have made? If your answer was yes, I have the website for you. It's called Bake It Pretty
I kid you not, you will be drooling. I spent a good hour (wow that's a long time to give to the internet...sad)exploring, and thinking of all the ways I could use her unique items. Lots of fun.