6 months...what happened to my little baby?

After a long weekend of driving, a funeral, family and lots of people, I am tired out and ready to just sit at home and do nothing. So my dirty clothes will stay in my bag, my dishwasher will store my clean dishes, my counters will continue to hold all the "stuff" that counters hold, Jensen's diapers will just stay in a laundry basket and get folded as needed, and I will sit on my couch and drink coffee (wait, the coffee is all gone, snarfed by my hard working husband who had to go back to work early this morning).
     Going to a funeral is something that nobody wants to do but everybody has to do once in a while. This funeral was such a sad funeral...a young life taken in the "prime" of life seems so different than an older person who is "expected" (?) to die. I was taken back to a funeral eighteen years ago that was for four teenagers from our church who were killed in a car accident (there were actually five, but one funeral was held separately in a different community). I don't remember much as I was only 9 but I do remember the huge number of people who were there and that whole row of caskets. And the families who were all of a sudden small, a youth group that was missing four members and a community that was so united in grief. I can only imagine the grieving that happened at that funeral.....
     .............and life moves on.......Jensen is 6 months today-half a year already! I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like he is learning so much right now...he sits up by himself, rolls all over the place, reaches out his hands to us and absolutely loves it and gets so excited when daddy gets home from work. He likes bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, cereal and trying to drink out of a sippy cup. He's even been practicing his talking...saying things like "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma" etc. He's gone from being eight lbs to being somewhere between twenty and twenty-five lbs!
     One thing that I've been doing more of this winter is knitting...here are a couple of hats that I made for Jensen...I'd like to make some to sell as well, but who knows if or when that will happen!

It's that time of the month again....

to make granola. For the last year or so, I've been making granola instead of buying cereal. I just love going to the grocery store and not having to fill my cart with all those things that other people have to get every week. I am still trying to figure out how to not have to the grocery store at all, but unless we start our own farm and have a cow, some chickens etc...there will still be things we need almost weekly. And then there would be the small problem of toilet paper, but then again, there would be substitutions for that as well. Not that I want to go there though! But, back to the subject of granola....it is a wonderful way to save a little money, have a healthy breakfast and not have to eat three bowls of cereal in the morning to fill you up. It is especially cheap if you have a bulk store close by where you can get all the ingredients in bulk. That is one thing I definately miss about good 'ole Iowa and Stringtown Grocery!

Here is the recipe:
12 cups regular or quick oats    
2 cups wheat germ
2 cups wheat bran                    
2 cups powdered milk
Optional add-ins: coconut, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds
     Mix all these ingredients together in a large roaster pan or whatever pan you have that is big enough. You can also use a couple cookies sheets or jelly roll pans but if you are going to stir those tend to make a mess.
     Boil together:
2 cups brown sugar                  
2 cups oil
1/2 cup water (September 2012 edit-so sorry I forgot this little detail! Hope there weren't too many burnt messes to clean up)
     When boiling, add 2 teaspoons of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of vanilla flavor or maple flavor for something different. The baking soda will make it foam up so hold pan over roaster pan of dry ingradients so you don't have a mess to clean up!
     Mix liquid into dry ingredients and put in a oven at a really low temp. Somewhere around 150 F should work If it scorches on the bottom it is too hot or you may need to stir more often. Bake for about 4-5 hours, or until it seems dry. Heat 1/2 cup honey and pour over granola when still warm. Add raisins if you want. Stir and enjoy!
     Speaking of which, I am going to go and enjoy a bowl right now....so long for now!