bookmark_borderChandlery

After some trial and error, I’ve made three different candles!

Left: Roughly half bacon fat, half soy wax (you can also use beeswax). Alice and I made this together. I tried 100% bacon grease, but it’s just too soft at room temperature and doesn’t hold up the wick as it burns. This and the middle candle both use wooden wicks, they are from a cheap bag of fondue sticks and work great. Does it smell like bacon? Not really, if it does it’s very subtle.

Middle: 100% butter! Just melted and poured. The simplest to make. The wooden wick makes it crackle and pop as it burns, which is nice. Another way to make a wick is a small wooden skewer wrapped in a bit of paper towel, shoved into the butter.

Right: Thick cotton wick + hole cut in mason jar lid + cute jam jar = olive oil lamp! Took a bit of tweaking because it would not wick the oil up all the way from the bottom. In the end I added a bunch of water, which is heavier than the oil and settles on the bottom. This keeps the oil near the top and wicking into the flame. This is my favorite because olive oil burns clean and lasts a long time. You can adjust the height of the wick/flame, and you can refill it just by unscrewing the lid!

All of these use common household fuels you have lying around, are easy to make, and end up being much cheaper than buying candles or lamps + paraffin. You can add scent with essential oils. All of them burn very clean, no black smoke.

bookmark_borderTwenty and Ten

Just for fun I wanted to see if I had pictures from 20 years ago and 10 years ago today.

Here’s what we got! 😛

2003 — Cousin Jaiden Holt
2003 – Cousin Nathan Murphy pettin’ the flamingos
2013 – Alice and the heater set-up. Please feel free to laugh out loud! 😀 We had this lady villain from a collection of vintage Strawberry Shortcake Dolls. Forget her vintage age, she would fit right in with the culture in 2023! LOL

bookmark_border‘Round Here

Highlight of last week was probably the “Grand Prix” at AWANA. Like Pinewood Derby. Ben and Alice had worked on this car and it brought home a 3rd place trophy. They were pleased!

And I guess we’ve been pleased with our gluten this week. 😛

Stacked pancakes were a nice start to the day.

Then I’ve been working on my 2 breads, one ‘Beautiful Bread’ and our Sourdough. Anyone have tips on how to make the sour taste even MORE sour? That is what we are aiming for. I’ve just been keeping it in the fridge for an extra long ferment.

And the staple tortilla chips! The guys meet here tonight so we try to keep them stocked. 🙂

Nice job Alice getting the Granny Square down this week!

bookmark_borderNew Hobbies

Solomon may have been correct in saying, ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. But there are indeed so many new things to learn and try each day! A few of my new ones…

Learning the ways of sourdough
bottle digging!
and cleaning them up!
creating with buttons

bookmark_borderMom’s 80th

In my head I hear Satchmo singing, “just don’t get around [to blogging] much anymore”.

Better late than never I guess! Special family party in November for my Moms 80th birthday.

At Colonial Inn
Cozy time in Henry Ford’s old bedroom!
Next gen guys
Fun cousin time

Some laughs with the birthday lady 🙂
Nice evening out!

bookmark_borderHomeschool 2022

This picture captures a few of our homeschooling values fairly well. Alice already knows more about excellent homemaking & housewifery than most girls twice her age.

I forget what this tower of ingredients turned into, but she’s made so many delicious things lately that I lose track!

bookmark_borderEvery Man Needs a Sharp Blade

At the dump today Jill found me a grindstone just sitting neglected in the dumpster. Now it has a new home. I paired it with a small piece of rubber and a drill bit:

Then I attached it to my drill and went to town on some hard-to-sharpen blades, like my two machetes and Jill’s whittling knife.

They’re not quite “easily cut through paper” sharp but they’re plenty sharp for what I need them for 🙂