Gregg Riding a "big guy" Motorcycle
29 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Totally NOT What I Expected to Hear
27 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Amish Friendship Bread
Posted by mommyx12
AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD
Sourdough Starter
5 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast (1 ½ teaspoon bulk yeast)
2 cups warm water
2 cups milk
Combine 3 ½ cups of the flour, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the yeast in a large bowl. Gradually add the warm water and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cover with a loose piece of cheesecloth or plastic wrap and let stand in a warm, draft-free place for 1 day. Follow these steps to finish the starter.
DAY 1: Do nothing to the starter.
DAY 2, 3, and 4: Stir the starter gently with a wooden spoon once a day (10 strokes).
DAY 5: Add 1 cup of the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, and 1 cup of the milk to the starter. Stir with a wooden spoon. Re-cover the mixture and set in a warm place.
DAY 6, 7, 8, and 9: Stir the starter gently with a wooden spoon once a day (10 strokes).
DAY 10: Add the remaining 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk to the starter. Stir with a wooden spoon.
You’ll know the starter is done when it has a pleasant, sweet taste; the mixture is creamy, there is no flour taste.
Divide the starter into three 1 cup containers and give to three friends with these instructions. (When I received my batch, it was in a freezer bag. Instead of stirring the starter batch in a bowl, it was squeezed in the bag. We also dated the bag so that you would know which day corresponded to the date).
FRIENDSHIP BREAD
1 c. sourdough starter
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 c. all purpose flour
3 eggs
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 (5 oz.) box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 c. chopped nuts
Preheat the oven to 350. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon (do not use metal). Pour the dough into 2 well greased and floured loaf pans and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Cover with foil toward the end of the baking time to prevent burning. Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let pans cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the pans and cover loosely to cool completely. You can substitute a bundt pan for bread pan; cooking time is the same.
I have included a picture from the web to show what it should look like. I've never made it before but it has been on my "to do" list for some time now. So I googled the recipe today and printed it which makes me one step closer to doing it. Now all I need is a good swift kick in the behind and it just might get started!!
Why Study Latin?
Posted by mommyx12Have you ever wished you had a good answer for those people who ask why you would spend your valuable education time studying Latin when you could be spending it on something more “practical”?
There are three reasons Latin has long been considered the one master subject before which all others must bow.
First, Latin teaches English better than English teaches English. “The study of one’s own language,” says classicist Charles Bennett, “is achieved incomparably better by the indirect method of studying another language ... It is because translation from Latin to English ... is so helpful to the student who would attain mastery of his own language ... that I find the full justification for the study of Latin.” In other words, education based on the study of the child’s own language is inferior to one based on Latin.
Second, the mental discipline Latin instills in students makes it the ideal foreign language to study. Latin originated with the Romans, and their character pervades the language they created. The Roman, says R. W. Livingstone, “disciplined his thought as he disciplined himself; his words are drilled as rigidly as were his legions, and march with the same regularity and precision.”
Latin is systematic, rigorous, analytic. Its sentences march “serried, steady, stately, massive, the heavy beat of its long syllables and predominant consonants reflecting the robust, determined, efficient temper” of the Romans themselves.
Latin is clearly superior to other languages in this regard. Like English, modern languages are “lax and individualistic,” reflecting the modern temper of those who speak them. Thinking that you can get the same benefit out of studying them is, in Livingstone’s words, “like supposing that the muscles can be developed by changing from one chair to the other.”
Third, Latin is the ideal tool for the transmission of cultural literacy. Latin is, in fact, the mother tongue of Western civilization—a language that incorporated the best ideas of the ancient Greeks, and which then, after the conversion of Rome, put them into the service of Christian truth.
Rome fell into ruin, but the dying language of the disintegrating empire was infused with new life. Harnessing the power and precision of the old Latin, Christianity transformed the tongue of conquest into the tongue of conversion, and Latin became the very language of the Christian faith for over a thousand years.
Christian Latin takes the intellectual discipline of classical Latin and adds another element: simplicity. Although the basic grammar and vocabulary of Christian Latin are the same as the classical, Christian Latin authors emphasized the transmission of Christian truth, striving for clarity and simplicity above all else. Because Christian Latin is easier to read, it is the perfect gateway to the more difficult classical Latin of Caesar, Cicero, and Virgil.
Another Great Speech by Ron Paul
21 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Ron Paul on the State of the Nation
Could it all be a bad dream, or a nightmare? Is it my imagination, or have we lost our minds? It's surreal; it's just not believable. A grand absurdity; a great deception, a delusion of momentous proportions; based on preposterous notions; and on ideas whose time should never have come; simplicity grossly distorted and complicated; insanity passed off as logic; grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff; evil described as virtue; ignorance pawned off as wisdom; destruction and impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism; violence, the tool of change; preventive wars used as the road to peace; tolerance delivered by government guns; reactionary views in the guise of progress; an empire replacing the Republic; slavery sold as liberty;
We have broken from reality--a psychotic Nation. Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom. Money does not grow on trees, nor does prosperity come from a government printing press or escalating deficits.
We're now in the midst of unlimited spending of the people's money, exorbitant taxation, deficits of trillions of dollars--spent on a failed welfare/warfare state; an epidemic of cronyism; unlimited supplies of paper money equated with wealth.
A central bank that deliberately destroys the value of the currency in secrecy, without restraint, without nary a whimper. Yet, cheered on by the pseudo-capitalists of Wall Street, the military industrial complex, and Detroit.
We police our world empire with troops on 700 bases and in 130 countries around the world. A dangerous war now spreads throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Thousands of innocent people being killed, as we become known as the torturers of the 21st century.
We assume that by keeping the already-known torture pictures from the public's eye, we will be remembered only as a generous and good people. If our enemies want to attack us only because we are free and rich, proof of torture would be irrelevant.
The sad part of all this is that we have forgotten what made America great, good, and prosperous. We need to quickly refresh our memories and once again reinvigorate our love, understanding, and confidence in liberty. The status quo cannot be maintained, considering the current conditions. Violence and lost liberty will result without some revolutionary thinking.
We must escape from the madness of crowds now gathering. The good news is the reversal is achievable through peaceful and intellectual means and, fortunately, the number of those who care are growing exponentially.
Of course, it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare, and that I'm seriously mistaken, overreacting, and that my worries are unfounded. I hope so. But just in case, we ought to prepare ourselves for revolutionary changes in the not-too-distant future.
Cowboy Gregg
20 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Robyn Playing America the Beautiful
Posted by mommyx12From Garden to Dessert Plate
Posted by mommyx12


- DIRECTIONSPreheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
- In a large mixing bowl combine rhubarb, white sugar, and 3 tablespoons flour. Stir well and spread evenly into baking dish. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine brown sugar, oats, and 1 1/2 cups flour. Stir well then cut in butter or margarine until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over rhubarb layer.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
Simple School Room
18 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Delightful Mary Pics
17 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Where did MOMMY X 12 Go?
16 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12
Imaginations Run Amuk
14 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Kombucha Anyone??
Posted by mommyx12



I May Be A Fish Out of Water
Posted by mommyx12
Happy Birthday Beckham
08 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12




Here is our family's latest birthday star. Our first grandson Beckham Kelly Mckendrick is a big 2 year old now. Here are a few pics from his backyard birthday party. The cake was a little frightening for him. I think he was waiting for it to blow up. Love you so much Beck.
Egg Lovers Only
07 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12Wordless Wednesday-(a day late)
Posted by mommyx12
As Jesus was present with His disciples in their storm of life, so He is with us in our storms of life. He does not forsake us, leaving us to struggle alone and to drown. He is with us to hear our pleas for his help. He is there to answer us in the midst of our troubles. "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Psalm 50:15. Yesterday this is what the sky was looking like as I was on my walk. A storm was coming our way and I got to thinking about them and how just like the weather, we too have storms that are more personal and how blessed we are to have the Savior in our lives to help us weather them.
This Oughta' Fill Em Up!!
05 May 2009
Posted by mommyx12

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk (or 2 cups half & half)
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar (white or brown, depending on taste preference)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups bread, torn into small pieces (I used my leftover whole wheat bread)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Directions:
1. In medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat milk (or half & half) just until film forms over top. Combine butter and milk, stirring until butter is melted. Cool to lukewarm.
2. Combine sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Slowly add milk mixture.
3. Place bread in a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole.
4. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Pour batter on top of bread.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm.
If you make the sauce to put on top of your bread pudding, adjust the sugar in the bread pudding recipe, change it to 1/3 cups sugar (the sauce has the other 1/3 cup in it).
Bread Pudding Sauce-(this looks really good but we have never used it. The kids just drizzle honey over top with melted butter)
Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. flour
dash of salt
Directions:
Mix everything together and bring to a boil for 3 - 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside for 5 minutes, then pour on warm bread pudding.





