Break the Cycle

Finally have something to contribute to Design Wall Monday hosted by Judy at Patchwork Times .  I started this quilt last year - its for my brother and sister-in-law ....  their decor is very country - and these fabrics will go nicely .... but I like working with brights .... so I keep putting this away.  Finally decided to get it done - I need 23 of these 16 inch blocks - I started the weekend with 8, now I have 12, so I'm halfway there.  Still not sure of the setting .... will work on that after I get the blocks done .....

Finally the weather has cooled off enough to bake again.  Can't wait until it's cool enough to make pita bread (it really heats up the kitchen) but yesterday I managed to make 5 loaves of Date Nut Bread, and 5 loaves of Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Bread - the Banana Bread recipe is my own, but I found the Date Nut Bread recipe HERE on the Joy of Baking website.  I forgot to take photos - but I'm making more today - so definately will get a few photos to share.  The Banana Recipe freezes quite well - I usually always have a few loaves in the freezer in case of unexpected guests for coffee.  Only takes a few minutes to thaw and it's delicious - here's the recipe - Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Bread (this makes 2 large loaves, if you only have enough bananas for one loaf - it can be halved.  You can also make it without the chocolate chips and nuts .....  but if you use the nuts - toast them first - it makes a world of difference) 3 cups flour 3 tsp baking ...

My father's 80th birthday is tomorrow - and I finished his quilt on time !  I'l be hand delivering this one - as well as a birthday cake and dinner !  I really liked how this one came out ... now on to the next project !

This recipe was posted on Stephanie’s A Year of Slow Cooking blog earlier this week. The same day I read it, I was in the grocery store, and beef ribs were on sale - that NEVER happens.  So I scooped up all 3 packages, and made these Hawaiian Ribs.  ALL 4 of my kids liked 'em.  My husband liked 'em.  Even I thought they were excellent.  This recipe definately gets printed out and stored in the master recipe box (only the best recipes make it there)  I thought about taking photos of the finished product, but my hands were sticky, and I knew if I left the table long enough to wash and get my camera, my share of the remaining ribs would be long gone by the time I returned - so no photos, also no leftovers.  Today, Judy from Patchwork Times posted that the very same recipe caught her eye - so it's fated that of the very few blogs I do subscribe to, brought up Hawaiian Ribs (I think those 2, Pioneer Woman, and 1 or 2 Homeschooling blogs are the ...

Today is the first day of Ramadan - the kids and I will fast from 4:46 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.  Adam will probably have something to eat and drink before his tennis lesson at 4 this afternoon, Nadia too if she feels she needs it, but the rest will break their fast in the Mosque this evening.  Today they were allowed to sleep in, but most days when we get up to eat a small breakfast at 4:30, we will stay up, do school for the day, and probably nap in the afternoon.  Ramadan in the summer is certainly hard, but that gnawing feeling inside that will come later in the day, reminds us of those that have that feeling everyday of every month, and hopefully makes us more mindful of those that aren't as blessed as we are and share with them our worldly goods. If you are interested in locating the exact times of Fajr (when the sky first begins to lighten) and Maghrib (when the sun sets below the horizon - these are the fasting times) - you can find your exact times at IslamicFinder....

We had a wonderful time at Penn State this weekend.  Leenah just aged up 2 weeks before the meet - so I was really proud she even had the qualifying times to go.  We arrived on Wed., late afternoon, and had an early dinner at Olive Garden.  She didn't have to swim until 4ish on Thursday, so we stayed up late, checked out the hotel pool and hot tub (and it was HOT!!!), and watch movies.  There was only one other swimmer from her team that was swimming on Thursday, so they both warmed up together with a coach from another team (thanks Coach Mark!) They both had excellent times - Leenah dropped a few seconds, and Mark dropped enough to make Zone times (he would make more Zone times over the weekend, so the next stop for him is Delaware)  Leenah had made the Zone team last year, and we are looking forward to trying again next year when she is at the top of her age group.  Overall we had a wonderful time.  All the kids swam well, we had some great laug...