Out Galavantin' Again...

Kitchen Tip Tuesday will return next week.  

Today ya'll will find me over at Raising Homemakers.  

See you there!

Motivation Reminder!

I started out the day a little unmotivated. I decided to look at my Motivated Mom's list for the day and it gave me the boost to get started on my chores today.

Since it helped me I thought it might help you today, too!
The perfect system...for me, anyway. Unless your name starts with 'M' and ends in 'artha' you probably need a little help staying organized and motivated. Motivated Moms has come up with close to the perfect solution! And they are on SALE for only $4!  

What you do is click on the red button down there on the right side of my blog and it'll take you to their page. Or click on this LINK.  

You pay for the planner, download it, save it to your computer and print it out at your leisure. I use the top one, the 8.5" x 11" regular planner. I print out one month at a time and put it on my clipboard. I can NOT live without my clipboard!

They also have other types which include appointment sections, Bible reading plans, etc. I got the same version last year and loved it! It's not just a place to write things you have to do, but it keeps you motivated with certain house chores for each day so that you don't have to spend the whole day cleaning and so that you don't have to remember to do things like check the furnace filter, refill the toilet paper in the bathroom, clean a certain room's windows, send cards and gifts, etc. They remind you! Wonderful!!! I love it! Now go on and click on that link and take a peek!

Easy Homemade Dinner Rolls

 

I love my KitchenAid stand mixer!  What I love even more is that with it's help I can create wonderful dinner rolls in less than an hour!  (And the mixer came with a great cookbooklet with this recipe in it!!)

Homemade Dinner Rolls
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 packets of active dry yeast (6 3/4  teaspoons)
1 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small saucepan.  Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves.  Cool to lukewarm.
Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl.  Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups flour.  Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer.  Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.
Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes.  Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer, or until dough is smooth and elastic.  Dough will be slightly sticky to the touch.
Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover.  Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 15 minutes.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. I either shape them into balls or you can make cloverleafs.  Divide dough into 24 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a ball and place in greased muffin pans.  With scissors, cut each ball in half, then quarters. 
Cover.  Let rise in slightly warm oven (90 degrees) about 15 minutes.  Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. 
 

Queen of the Castle Week: 34

For those of you playing along...(if you've just joined us you can get caught up a bit here) we are on week 34 of the book Queen of the Castle: 52 weeks of encouragement for the uninspired, domestically challenged or just plain tired homemaker. 

This week's chapter is "The Job of Queen:  Homemaking As a Profession, Part 1".  Lynne says "Sometimes it feels as though we homemakers are dismissed by the rest of the world.  They don't seem to comprehend that we actually have a job."  This job requires skills and talents!  In 2001, author Ann Crittenden estimated the value of a mother's work at an annual $100,000!!  The work we perform each day in our homes is incredibly valuable."  

I really needed to hear this today.  It was a rough one.  We've all had them, though, and the following excerpt helps us get back on track.

"From the raw material of four walls and a roof, a shelter over our heads, we will have made a home by force of our own personalities.  We will have warmed, cheered, and sustained the head of that house, turned progeny into a family.  We will have learned a dozen skills and enjoyed the fruits of such skills.  For us the baby will have taken his first step, repeated his first word.  We will have heard the schoolchild call "Mommy" as soon as he puts a foot inside the door, not so much to have a reply as to be assured that he is safe, life is ordinary, and that We are there...

Free choice, importance, the prizes as well as the perils of a career -- they are all ours.  What more can one ask of a profession?"

-- Phyllis McGinley,  Sixpence in Her Shoe

"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised."  Hebrews 10:35-36