What can I say...

I'm a lame blogger. I was never very good at writing in my journal, either. That's life I guess. Some things we can be good at, and others will just have to work a little harder at. Fortunately for me, blogging is not a requirement in life. Just a bonus.

This has been a busy, fun summer for the girls and David. David started off the summer in May taking a 'Tour of Texas & New Mexico', sorta. He took a grad class in professional development which went on a 2 week tour of of these 2 states visiting various galleries, artists and art collectors. It was a productive 2 weeks!

The month of June, Jacob came to visit. The girls always love seeing Jac! He's grown a lot (taller now than both me and David) and also enjoys all the attention from little girls. David took the kids camping in NM mountains just north of Santa Fe. He's found a campsite there that he likes a lot.

July was also very busy. David took a TTU class off-campus at their Junction, TX site. He was gone for 3 weeks. During that time, Althea went to visit her Memaw in Arlington and the little girls went to the Collins place in Clyde, TX. Althea and Memaw also got to travel to Buffalo NY to visit my sister Amber for a week. While there, Althea got to cross the border to Canada (on the last day) to see Niagra and left her phone for the Niagra Falls Police to find. Thank goodness they did! Amber was a wonderful host and kept them very busy seeing the sites of the Buffalo area. Althea really enjoyed her stay.

As for me, well I've been working. I'm grateful to have a job and that's the best I can say there right now. While everyone was away for 3 weeks in July, I cleaned house and re-decorated Althea's bedroom. The re-decorating was a lot of fun. The cleaning, well, that's everyday and normal, so not so fun! I missed having the family around A LOT! It's easier to clean a house with the help of 5 bodies.

Also, we've added 2 new members to our little family. In June, a kitten was found at work and he stole my heart and made me take him home. Alexandra and Addison then started arguing over the kitten, so David said, "find another kitten or this one has to go." Well, I couldn't let him go! He stole my heart! So, while everyone was gone in July, I found another kitten. Meet Tiger and Whiskers. Whiskers is the smaller kitten with white, Tiger the tabby.

I'll try to post more later!

Christmas pics 2008

Here are a few pics of our Christmas this year:

Althea's 2 favorite gifts.  The Wii (family gift) and her new phone.  

Addison wanted "soccer stuff" this year.  She hopes to start playing on a team this spring.
Disney Princess was a theme for the 2 little girls.  Such beautiful Princesses!
Althea also enjoyed getting new trucks and wheels on her skateboard.  Love those colors!

Alexandra and Addison often play 'animals'.  Either they are acting the part of the puppy, kitten or raccoon, or they are using their stuffed animals and playing independently.  Animal lovers all the way!

Christmas 2008

We had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas this year. We just stayed home and enjoyed our own little family time independently this year. Most years we are doing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (afternoon) with extended family. In fact, I think this is our first year as a family to just stay home and focus on our immediate family. It was really quite fun! We got a Wii Sport as our family gift and have been enjoying the time getting to know each other's strengths and weaknesses in bowling, boxing, golf and the like. David had to work all weekend after Christmas, but my Mother and sister, Heather, came out from Dallas area to spend a Friday-Sunday. We learned that Memaw is a Wii playing fool who might just have to splurge on a Wii of her own! LOL!!! The 6 of us girls went to the drive-in here in Lubbock for a movie Saturday night. We took 2 cars and went to 2 different screens. Though we were apart, we still all really enjoyed ourselves! IT WAS COLD so we had to keep turning the cars on to keep warm. Blankets just weren't getting it done! Fun times and a good family focused Christmas. That's what it's all about.

New camera...

Our old camera got dropped down some stairs.  We got a new one on Friday and here are some tester pics for you.  The newest, most recent pics I have of me and the girls... and cat (one of the 'girls')  

So Sorry!!!

Ok. My bad. I haven't been blogging or updating much of anything in a while. So sorry! 

So today, and yesterday, I went in and updated my myspace page, for those who do that. I put some great songs on there for your listening pleasure. Hope you enjoy! For those seeing this blog via 'blogspot', my myspace is www.myspace.com/katheaus. GO THERE! 

I also have a facebook under 'Katrina Cauthen Collins'. I use that to mainly keep in touch with friends from work and school from way back. I like facebook, and that has my most updated pics etc. Though... I'll probably update pics on my myspace today as well. Go fig. 

Anyway, not much going on here. I don't blog cause I don't have much to say! I'm in Lubbock, looking for a job still, and just taking care of the everyday home life. Like I said, not much going on. I'll let you know when the job thing happens. Keep me in your prayers there!!! Also, we have to figure out David's schedule for next semester. His professors don't want him working FT, but at this time, we need that! Grr... Fun times! 

Take care all!! 

Fresh bread each week. Yummy!

OK... so here's another Vegan bread recipe.  Don't be afraid of this one!  It's super easy, super good for you and tastes... Delicious!!!  I've made this bread twice now and the kids and David love it!  So do I.  It's SOOooo easy!  No knead and quick.  I hope you enjoy as much as we do!

No Knead Oven-Raised Bread

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup cold water

1/2 tablespoon dried yeast

flour (*see note)

1 teaspoon salt

seeds to sprinkle on top (**see note)

Directions:

This is a recipe outline.  Infinitely variable, wonderfully delicious.

In a large bowl, dissolve 1 tablespoon brown sugar in 1 1/4 cups of boiling water.  Add 1/2 cup of rolled oats and 3/4 cup cold water.  Stir.  Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of dried yeast over surface, without stirring, and leave for 5-10 minutes, until frothy.  Stir in enough flour (see note) plus 1 teaspoon salt to form a dough which resembles a biscuit or scone dough.  

Well oil a 2lb bread pan and spoon dough in.  Smooth the surface with an oiled spatula, pulling surface edges towards the center a little as you go.  If desired, sprinkle the surface with some seeds, such as sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, linseed, poppy or flax and press lightly onto surface.

Place in a 125 degree oven to rise, until the edge of dough has reached the top of the pan and formed a slightly domed surface above it.  This takes approx. 35 mins.

When risen, increase oven temp to 375 degrees and bake for 50 mins.  Leave in pan for 5 mins before loosening the sides with a knife and sitting the loaf crosswise on the top of the pan to cool.  Experiment (the key to successful bread making).

* Flour options:  This bread may be baked with innumerable combinations of flours and grains.  To start, try 1/3 white and 2/3 whole wheat.  Vary this combination and add other ingredients as you become more familiar with the process.

** Other possible additions:  Try whole or ground linseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, ground millet, dried fruit and spice (for a great toast), kibbled grains.  Let your imagination be your guide!

Serves:  1 loaf

Super Yummie Apple Bread recipe

I got this recipe from www.vegweb.com, my new fav website. This is a Vegan website with recipes galore. You can un-vegan this by using real eggs and butter, but it is SUPER good with the vegan way! Enjoy!

Apple Loaf
Ingredients (use vegan versions):
1/2 cup soy margarine
1 cup white sugar
teaspoons Enger-G Egg Replacer
4 tablespoons water (for egg substitute)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup apples-peeled, cored and shredded (I used 2 c apples, the more the merrier!)
2 cups all-purpose flour (I also subbed 1/2 c ground flaxseed and only used 1 1/2c flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped of your favorite nuts (or... my kids don't like the crunchy nuts, so I ground them up and add them anyway! sneaky!)

(You could also add cinnimon and nutmeg to spice it up some.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 C) Grease one 9x5x3 loaf pan, or muffin tins. Mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt and nuts in a bowl. In a large bowl, beat soy margarine, sugar, egg replacer and water until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Stir in shredded apples. Pour flour mixture into batter. Stir only until moistened. Scrape into loaf pan, or spoon into muffin tins (leaving a little room for expansion) This will not be like a normal vegan bread dough. Bake for 50-60 minutes ((30 minutes for muffins) or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes, then remove from pan. Place on rack to cool. Absolutely scrumptious! Serves: 1 loaf, or 12 muffins Preparation time: 20 minutes