To be...

A while back I was asked what kind of woman I want to be. And frankly, I've thought about it here and there, but when I actually sat down to write it, I was surprised at how much like my mother I want to be. So here's to you Mumsie, for raising a daughter that could only wish to live in your shadow.

"I've always wanted to be an "artsy" person, and considering I've already achieved that, :P I hope to have it transferred into several aspects of my life.

I want to be the kind of wife/woman who decorates her home and her life with color, joy, and a love for all things living. I like the color green, because it represents living things. It's vibrant and clean.

I want to use it all throughout my home.

But I also want to BE green. Sorry if that's cheesy, but I see no reason with using fewer chemicals and rating organically.

I want to be healthy and fit, spontaneous and playful for my husband.

I want to cook for and with him, take long walks and have tickle fights.

I want to do little things for him all day long that brighten his day.

I want to cherish, honor, and respect him.

I want to have a big family and raise my children inter fear and admonition of the Lord.

I want them to be free to be themselves.

I want them to not have to live the way I did middle school, obsessed with what people thought of me, and whether or not I was worthy.

I want to show them what an amazing gift each if them are in the sight of the Lord and their parents.
I want to bake home made bread like mom.

I want to have a bug herb garden.

I want to have picnics in the backyard for no reason.

I want to build tents with all the quilts.

I want to let my little girls go out to eat in tutus and feather boas.

I want to make mud pies with my little boys.

I want to take then to reenactments and see then run around in breeches and petticoats.

I want to be what mom is to me: my closest confidant and biggest encourager.

I want to write stories for their bedtimes and stay up late with them drinking cocoa and reading books on Christmas.

I want to have family game nights that end with entire family pillow fights.

I want to serve, my church, my community, my world. I want to be a woman that gives, gives, and gives again.

I want to instill that passion for missions into my kids, and show them how much God loves his people.

I want to have a constantly full cookie jar.

I want music to be constantly playing. Whether I'm singing at the top of my lungs (and horribly out of tune) or someone playing an instrument.

I want dirty footprints and cotton curtains, open doors and windows, and jars full of butterflies.

I want to my children to know the Lord at a young age, and to LIVE their faith from a young age, and to not have waited to let the Lord do something in their lives until they were "older".

I might homeschool, I might not. But whatever I do, I want my kids to know their faith and to be fearless and to stand up for what they believe.

I want to the mother that all my kids' friends love and hang out at my house.

I want to be crazy in love with my husband and to wake up every morning to his face.

I want to spend time with him in the morning on the back porch, watching the sunrise, drinking my tea and digging deep in His word.

I'm an idealist, and I don't want the picket fence, but I want my country cottage and a man who lives the Lord and me, and children who follow the example of their father.

I want to love, be loved, and give love."

Yum Yum

Down in the dumps? Here's a recipe for a quiet, happier afternoon.

Snack:

1/2 cup of unflavored yogurt

1/4 cup of Cascadian Farms Honey and Oats Granola

1/4 cup of Ocean Spray Pomegranate Craisins

Mix together and Enjoy! I like mine with a warm mug of Celestial's Green Tea with Honey and Ginseng.

Grab a good book and some of Myleene Klass's music and your good to go!

Updates galore! Part 2

Oh for the love of butter! Well, Spring Encampment was a blast and my main employment was in the making (and cleaning) of butter. Sam and her sister Marci were my main helpers. Here's how it works.

I churned the butter for about an hour. Depending on the temperature outside, it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to and hour and a half (from my own experience) to make the butter separate from the butter milk.
Luckily, I had plenty of friends to keep me company while I churned. The giant apron I'm wearing was made with the sole purpose of making butter with it. It's wide skirt completely covers my petticoats and the bib keeps the butter cream from splashing up on my jacket front. Making butter isn't the cleanest occupation. ;)

When we finished, I scooped the butter out and ran water over it in the colander, until the water drained out clear. We then filled the bigger mold (in the background) and began to fill the smaller mold which Sam is holding. The bigger one can be seen in the background. The bowl in front is an 18th century pottery colander. We used it to wash the butter.

Pushing it out!

Popping the larger butter cake out of the mold. Marci was such a good helper!

Releasing the first mold. This one was kinda messy as the larger mold wasn't as good quality as the smaller one.
Getting the second layer out of the mold. This one was trickier because the suction was better. Sam's other sister, Vanessa is in the foreground.
Putting the two layers together...
Molding the butter.
Rubbing the two butter cakes together...
Picking up left over pieces of butter to fill in the cracks...
Here Sam explains to Marci how the butter mold works.
Smoothing extra butter around the edges...

Marci learned a lot about churning that day..

TADA! Butter! Here we are draining excess water off the plate before replacing the butter cake.
Getting all the butter off our hands...
Cleaning the butter molds. That's Lee in the background.
Washing the dishes...and ourselves! :D
Drying off our hands on my huge butter churning apron...

Mumsie had made several loaves of bread in the bake oven and between my butter and her bread, we fed plenty of people that weekend! By Sunday, the butter was entirely gone!

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed that little instruction as to 18th century butter making!

Catch Up Part 1

Okay here we go. I'm gonna dive head long into this, because we have a lot of ground to cover. Starting with: Red RiverAwesome pic by Lissi. me in the background.

Another by Lissi.

Dadio. Our cook for the weekend.

Me and Sam, serving at the resturaunt.

Me, Sam, Evan, Janessa, and Lissi.

Florida 2009

Well, I've finally found a lull in my day (or month as it were) to put some stuff up. So, here is the trip to Florida I took with Allison in September after my birthday.

Me and Lissie.

This is the dinner I made for us. Each of us cooked either lunch or dinner while we were down there. Lissi and I did dinner and the boys did lunch. I made chicken pot pie and fried apples. I have to admit, it was pretty good....especially the apples!

And here is Allison's. She made shrimp scampi (which was delicious by the way), green beans, salad, and garlic bread.

One day at the beach we had the idea to make Allison into a mermaid. So we did. And here is the finished project. We put seaweed around her for decoration, and on her head for a crown. It was tons of fun, but unfortunatly, the seaweed itched Lissi like crazy and her arm was really acky after laying like that for so long while we covered her in sand. A lot of people who walked by really liked it and took pictures!

The place where we stayed also had a neighborhood pool and we would go there when the beach got really windy and the currents became dangerous. Right to left: Elijah, me Lissi, and Lee.

The second day at the beach, Elijah and I decided to make a sand castle, which then turned into a contest between me and him, and Allison and Lee.

And the finished project: We won the "Best Aslan's How Look-a-like Award". Course, we were the only ones to build an Aslan's How Look-a-like. :) Oh well, it was fun and it really did look quite like it.

I had a great time and am so thankful to Lissi and her family for allowing me to go with them. Lissi teased me that I took the place of her guitar. ;) Hopefully some time this weekend or next week I'll have more pics up of Red River!!! Stay tuned.

Spring Encampment

Finally! A picture for you guys! Thanks for being so patient. This was scanned out of a newspaper which explains the funky quality. There is a story behind how the photorapher caught me this way. I was actually watching the militia muster and raising of the flag early Saturday morning. Something caught my eye and I looked away, right into the lens of the camera guy! I jumped and apologized laughing. He laughed and said it was alright. Then he asked me to "re-pose". So I did. I had no idea he worked for the newspaper! I thought he was just a tourist! Oh well. This the bake oven up at the house. From left to right: Janessa, our friend Evan, and Mumsie. My mom runs the bake oven and we do make bread, cookies, biscuits, cornbread, cakes and cobbler all inside. It works quite well and the food is of course delicious!

I borrowed this pic from my friend Jessica over at http://anthonycourter.blogspot.com

We (mainly I with a lot of help, since I was the only one who had made it before ina churn) were making butter. Janessa (on the left) decided to give it a try. From left to right: Janessa, Jessica, and Me. We did this on the porch of the house. It took about an hour and a half to make about four cups of butter from a gallon or so of cream.

I love doing this. Churning butter and baking is one of my favorite things to do at Mansker's. By the way, we were also making baked apples during this time and Jessica was making cooked greens. So much fun!!

.......

Hey guys,
Sorry about the lack of posts. Things have been really crazy this past week and a half. I have to run the house (dishes, laundry, cooking), try to get my school work done, take care of Janessa (who has become sick), and try and keep Daddy happy. It's been nuts. I hope to be able to post more about the prayer day after all of this (next week hopefully), and would like to be able to post more about my sewing projects and upcoming re-enactments. Thank you for all your prayers and support over the last few days. The food especially has been appreciated. You all are such a blessing to me and my family. Thank God for you all.
Until a moment when I have more time,
Janae

Cooking, Cooking, and more Cooking

Whew!! I have been in a flury of cooking. Yesturday I made banana bread, cranberry bread, and chocolate cookies. Today, I am making popovers, nisu, and cranberry sauce for tomorrow. Nisu is a Finnish braided bread. I'm not Finnish, but my friend Danielle makes it and it is amazing! Unfortunately though, it takes four hours to make. And I haven't even started. My church's Christmas Eve service starts at three, so I have to wait until afterwards to make it. I guess I'll be up late tonight! Oh, I almost forgot. I am making a pie/tart thingy Saturday that has apples, pears, and cranberries. Simply de-lish!