Trash to Display Board

 A while back when I went to drop off our recycling I noticed these two shutter like things stuck in the the paper recycling. They obviously didn't belong there and I thought they were kind of neat looking so I decided to bring them home. They sat around for a month or two out in the garage but then I found a "need" for them.

   I brought them in and scrubbed them up good and then I decided to polish them a bit with shoe polish to make them look a bit better. Then I used raffia and tied them together so they could stand up.

  They were first pressed into use for my bridal show last weekend. I was having a rustic theme so I thought they fit in fine. I put it behind a centerpiece, hung a picture on it and also attached a ribbon to which I hung some boutonnieres for display.

 After I brought it home again it was stripped of the bridal show stuff and then yesterday I decided to make it into a display board. As I have been going through things around the house I have found various little odds and ends that friends (that either visited and were from) have brought me from other countries. I had dug some of the them out for our Homeschool day and thought it would be fun to have some way to display them.

  When making the board we decided to add some pictures to it as well. I had a cool calendar that Ken had given me a couple of years ago that had pretty pictures from all over the world- we added some of those to the display.

  I had thought I would put this in the boys' room as they love geography and have their walls already plastered with maps and flags from other countries. However we weren't able to find a good wall spot there so we ended up hanging it in the hallway that leads to the kids' rooms.

  The kids have had fun looking over all my odds and ends. It is a fun way to remember friends that live in other countries.

  And as always I had fun making something for my home without buying anything!

I am also linking to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM and Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors.

Trash to Display Board

 A while back when I went to drop off our recycling I noticed these two shutter like things stuck in the the paper recycling. They obviously didn't belong there and I thought they were kind of neat looking so I decided to bring them home. They sat around for a month or two out in the garage but then I found a "need" for them.

   I brought them in and scrubbed them up good and then I decided to polish them a bit with shoe polish to make them look a bit better. Then I used raffia and tied them together so they could stand up.

  They were first pressed into use for my bridal show last weekend. I was having a rustic theme so I thought they fit in fine. I put it behind a centerpiece, hung a picture on it and also attached a ribbon to which I hung some boutonnieres for display.

 After I brought it home again it was stripped of the bridal show stuff and then yesterday I decided to make it into a display board. As I have been going through things around the house I have found various little odds and ends that friends (that either visited and were from) have brought me from other countries. I had dug some of the them out for our Homeschool day and thought it would be fun to have some way to display them.

  When making the board we decided to add some pictures to it as well. I had a cool calendar that Ken had given me a couple of years ago that had pretty pictures from all over the world- we added some of those to the display.

  I had thought I would put this in the boys' room as they love geography and have their walls already plastered with maps and flags from other countries. However we weren't able to find a good wall spot there so we ended up hanging it in the hallway that leads to the kids' rooms.

  The kids have had fun looking over all my odds and ends. It is a fun way to remember friends that live in other countries.

  And as always I had fun making something for my home without buying anything!

I am also linking to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM and Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors.

Tender Cranberry-Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

I made these wonderful cookies over Christmas and I couldn't stop eating them. They're chewy, sweet, nutty, tart.... all things I love in cookies rolled into one.

Tender Cranberry-Raisin Oatmeal Cookies (adapted from King Arthur Flour.com) (dairy-free substitutions in blue)

3/4 cup butter (Earth Balance)
1/4 cup lard (or shortening)
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

Preheat your oven to 350*. Lightly grease (or line with parchment paper) two baking sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, lard, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, vanilla, beating until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; then add the syrup. Stir in the fruit and nuts, then the flour, beating gently until well combined. Add the oats last, making sure they're well distributed.

Scoop the dough by Tbsp's full onto the baking sheets leaving about 2" between cookies. Bake cookies until they're barely set on top- about 12-14 minutes. Leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or two then transfer them to a cooling sheet to cool completely. Makes ~30 cookies.


I'm excited to add this recipe to the great list at "Sweets for a Saturday"!

Friday Feature- Dhikr and Tasbeeh(prayer beads)

Asalam Alaikum,

These are Tasbeeh(prayer beads). Muslims sometimes use them when making dhikr(remembrance of Allah{swt}). They can be made of many different materials- wood, metals(like steel or silver), pearls, ivory, glass, or precious stones. Some tasbeeh have 33 beads with two separating beads making three sections of 11, and some tasbeeh have 99 beads with two separating beads making three sections of 33 beads. One of the most common forms of dhikr is to recite "Subhan-Allah"(Glory be to God) 33 times, "Alhamdulillah"(All praise be to God) 33 times, and "Allahu Akbar"(God is the Greatest) 34 times.

The ones in the middle of the picture above are a ceramic set of 33 that belonged to my mother in law. Tariq asked me to fix them because the string had broken and the beads were loose, but they are a little heavy and no one really uses them. Each bead says "subhanAllah". The beads on the far left and the second from the right are both wooden sets with 99 beads. The second from the left(light blue) and the far right(pale yellow/greenish) are both plastic sets with 99 beads.



Some people don't use tasbeeh to make dhikr, as they see it as a bidah(innovation), so they prefer to use the joints of the fingers. My view is that if you let the tool become more important than the action(like saying-"I can't find my tasbeeh, so I can't make dhikr"), then that would be wrong, but I don't have a problem with the beads themselves.

Ponoka Alberta 1955?

On Jan. 24 I was at my usual knitting group. A new lady had joined our group the previous Monday and her name was Lois (that's all we knew that day)
This Monday she sat beside me again (coincidence?)..we were chatting and we mentioned being raised in small towns on the prairies and she mentioned that she was raised in Ponoka Alberta... I nearly choked...I asked her "Are you Lois Evans?" and she was as shocked as I was..oh yes, it was Lois Evans. We went to school together from Grade 5-8.....then my family moved to Saskatchewan.
We've since been busy reconnecting with others in our school pictures.
Found Doug Wessel in Duncan, BC...lives about 7K from my daughter's place...
This world of ours is getting smaller and smaller....
If anyone reading this blog recognizes someone else...please let me know!
in the bottom picture..Lois is in the very centre of middle row(checkered skirt with vest) and I am second from the right in the middle row. Grade 6 in Ponoka, Alberta.

The 'friendship stick' was made in Gr. 5 when Lois and I were at a Girl Guide Camp...see her name carved in at the top right...(Yes, I do save things!)