Yay! Shiny Things!

As most of you know, I have spent several years making handmade jewelry. In the past two years, I've started selling my work at the craft fair at my church, and also have an Etsy store for online purchases.

Well, I'm happy to announce that I have added two brand new listings to my Etsy shop!

These necklaces are made from Aragonite chips, acrylic pendants, and Citrine pebbles.

This necklace is made from genuine Tiger's Eye Quartz.

These necklaces are made from Russian Serpentine (Left and Right) and Grainstone (Middle).

Please take a minute to visit my Etsy Shop and see if any of these pieces spark your interest! I'll be adding new designs every week, so check back often!

Also, feel free to leave a comment below to let me know what you think of these two designs, and what else you'd like to see from me in the future!

A Work in Progress

When I was a kid, I always heard the adults saying things like, 'Time flies,' or 'As you get older, your life goes by in the blink of an eye.' I didn't really understand it, so I attributed it to the long list of Adult-isms that are pure nonsense to children. But as it so happens, I understand it better now.

It's been four weeks since my last post. In that last entry, I committed to posting again, and with a more regular occurrence than before, but here I am, a month later. In my defense, at least it's only been a month, and not another year. But I digress.

The woman I mentioned in my last post has been a gentle reminder to me in the past month, nudging me back to my commitment to return to writing. We haven't had a chance yet to talk at length about our work, but she has given me a few books to browse to help me along on my journey. In this last month, I've been going around in circles in my head about what I would be writing about. Not just for this blog -which is a large enough commitment on its own- but for my other writings as well.

Not many people know that I've been writing since I was around 14 years old. I originally got started writing in journals, as a way to process my life, and draw closer to God through writing to Him. It later developed into a poem for my Youth group, partial-novels that came to me in a dream, and attempts to complete the 50,000 word writing challenge present by the NaNoWriMo website for National Novel Writing Month (November).

One of those partial novels is a children's novel that I began countless years ago, and never got around to finishing. I never told anyone about it before, thinking that it was too trivial and amateur to even mention to anyone. I was embarrassed of a story I hadn't even written yet, a story that I had intended to never finish, and never let it see the light of day. I mentioned it to my new friend, and almost as if she knew what I needed before I even figured it out, she latched onto the idea as a worthy challenge. Since we met a month ago, she has focused on the idea of the children's novel, encouraged me to figure out why I haven't finished it, and brought me books about how to write my story, and get it published. Without her encouragement, I doubt I would have ever looked at the unfinished story again.

We have scheduled a meeting for this week, for us to talk about the stories we're working on, and brainstorm what steps each of us need to take to get our novels done. I'm hoping that with her encouragement, and the added accountability of having someone who knows about the novel, I will finally be able to say that I've finished the story. My goal is to get an outline written, and get as much backstory completed as I can by October 31st. Then if all goes according to plan, I will write out the novel during the month of November, and hopefully complete two challenges in one: accomplish the 50,000 word count goal for NaNoWriMo, and finish this novel that has been on the back burner for far too long. I plan to update periodically with my various accomplishments, as an added source of accountability for myself. Wish me luck!


"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" Colossians 3:23

Donna

So, it's been almost a year since I last posted anything on Motley Party of Two. This isn't exactly a coincidence, however. My last post was in mid-August of last year, which just so happened to be about two weeks before I started classes. 

I decided after much deliberation that I wanted to go back to ARC to get another degree- this time for Horticulture. I've since finished my first year back, and am currently enjoying a few months off, before the start of year two. I am absolutely in love with my classes. Within the first couple of weeks I knew that this was where i was supposed to be, and this is what I am supposed to be doing. Luckily for me, I've always enjoyed school. I've made friends, learned lots of new things, and have been tirelessly working towards my dream of owning a piece of property and starting a homestead. I've been so busy in fact, that it has left very little time for writing this blog. But hopefully, all of that will be changing soon.

I was at a church meeting and BBQ this past weekend, where I met a very nice woman. She sat next to me, and we spent the entire dinner portion of the evening chatting and getting to know each other. As it turns out, we have quite a few things in common, one of which is that we are both aspiring authors. This was very exciting for me, since I only know of one other woman at our church that is a writer, and I was eager to talk to this new friend about her work, and what she writes about. As we talked, she suggested that we get together soon to talk about our writing, and perhaps read our work for each other. I loved the idea, until I realized that I don't have anything current to read to her, or talk about with her. I mentioned that I have this blog, and then again, I realized it had been quite a while since I'd last posted anything. So here I am now, working to rectify that. I'm hoping that this new friend will be the spark I needed to get back to writing, and posting. Lord knows that I always have something new to write about now!

Marinated Beets

One of my newest fascinations is pickling things. Now, I haven't yet pickled anything aside from eggs, but this recipe was what sparked my curiousity. These beets aren't exactly pickled, more like marinated. Even still, they're delicious in a salad.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch (4 or 5) beets
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1 Remove greens from beets. Scrub the beets free of any dirt.

2a Boiling method. Place the beets in a medium saucepan and cover with water by about an inch. Bring to a boil on high heat then lower the heat and maintain a simmer for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the beets, until they are easily pierced with the tines of a fork.

3 Once you have boiled the beets, drain them and rinse them cold water. Use your fingers to slip the peels off of the beets. The peels should come off easily. Discard the peels. Quarter or slice the beets.

4 Make the vinaigrette by combining the cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, and dry mustard. Whisk ingredients together with a fork. The dry mustard will help to emulsify the vinaigrette. Adjust to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine beets and vinaigrette in a bowl and allow to marinate for a half hour at room temperature.

Teriyaki Sauce from Scratch

I was craving teriyaki chicken a few weeks back, but I didn't have any sauce on hand. So I decided to make some! I found this recipe, and tried it out. So easy, so delicious and SO going into my recipe binder! Cook up some rice (Or quinoa), some chicken, and saute some veggies, then enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 5 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons honey
• 1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ cup cold water

Instructions

1. Combine the 1 cup water, brown sugar, soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat.
2. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with the ¼ cup water and whisk until dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan.
3. Heat the sauce until it thickens to your desired thickness. If the sauce becomes too thick, add more water to thin it out.

Part Three: Homemade Dog Food

Here's the final part of the three-part series about the importance of food for our dogs' health. I told you the stories of Annya and Tessie, how the poor quality of their food was affecting their health. Now I'll talk a bit about the alternative to store bought, processed foods: Homemade Dog Food!

Now, I'm not going to lie. There is a lot to take into consideration when making food for your dog. First, and often the most simple choice, is whether to make wet food or dry. I chose to make wet food, because less processed food is the main goal for Annya.

After that, there's all kinds of complicated things like calorie requirements, rations of fat, protein, and carbs, how often to feed your pet(s), etcetera, etcetera. So the easiest way to go, is step by step. Obviously, I'll be using my own information about Annya as the basis for this post.

Calories: There's a fancy complicated formula for working out how many calories your pet needs, but it's all based off of the weight and activity level of each animal. To simplify the process, I've provided a calorie requirement chart for you to check with. For Annya, there is a calorie range for her between 800-1100 calories per day. This will vary depending on her activity level, and whether or not she needs to lose or gain any weight. It is a constantly changing variable, so typically I just give her as much food as she'll eat, and let her decide how much she needs to eat in a day.

Protein, Carbs and Fats: According to my research, most people say that appropriate dog food should contain 45% Protein, 30% Carbs and 25% Fat. Personally I think dogs should have much more protein than that, so I try to make Annya's food with at least 50% protein.

Frequency: I used to feed Annya in the morning, just filling her bowl up with her dry food, and letting her nibble on it throughout the day. Now that her food is made fresh, it shouldn't sit out for long, so instead I feed her once in the morning, and once in the evening. If she seems particularly interested in my meals, I'll feed her another smaller portion in the middle of the day. The whole process is about trial and error, so just test things out, and see what works for your animals.

So now that we have all of the complicated stuff out of the way, we can get to the fun part: Making the food! This is actually a lot easier than it might seem, especially since I've taken quite a bit of the leg work out of the whole process. All you really need to do is pick and choose which foods you want to use, figure out how much you need for your dog(s), and then voila! Homemade dog food!

Tips: I'd recommend keeping as much food raw as possible, to make sure the nutrients of the ingredients are intact. Of course, this will depend on your dog's taste preferences. Annya won't eat raw carrots, but if I cook them she will. If you can get away with the raw ingredients, do it. Also, if your dog has any dietary restrictions, keep those in mind when making the food. And don't be afraid of switching things up. You dogs, like you, appreciate new flavors.

So go on then! Pick some ingredients, fix them up, and let your dog tell you what they think about it!

Sources of carbs:
Sweet potato*
Banana (Not too often, it can upset the stomach a bit)
Rice (Like the banana, some dogs tend to have a hard time digesting too much rice.)
Quinoa
Carrots
Peas
Apples* (Remove cores and all of the seeds.)
Berries*

Sources of Protein (All cooked):
Turkey*
Beef*
Chicken*
Fish*
Lamb
Pork*
Beans
Lentils

Sources of Fat:
Coconut (Dried flakes, milk, or just the oil are all good options)
Flax (Seeds or ground meal)
Olive oil
Hemp seed

*These foods have have 100mg or more of Zinc in portions of 100 grams. For Annya, these are the foods I need to make sure she eats regularly.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to bake. Part of the reason for that, is that I love to eat the things I make. It's the best part of baking, right?

When I spent the summer at my grandma's house several years ago, she taught me how to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. When I came home, I forgot to get the recipe from her, and I've been testing out recipes ever since, looking for the right one. Yeah, I could always call and ask for the recipe, but where's the fun in that? So far, I haven't found anything that perfectly replicates the delicious, chewy cookies I'm looking for. Until now, that is. Pinterest has once again come to the rescue, and has provided me with this lovely recipe from Deliciously Sprinkled.

Now, I know. There's the glaring problem of these cookies not having chocolate chips in them. However, the base cookie is absolutely perfect. For this trial recipe, I added pecans to it, because I was skeptical that the plain oatmeal cookie would be worthwhile on its own. Oh, how wrong I was. These little beauties can definitely hold their own against any other cookie you can bake.

Next time I make these, I'm adding chocolate chips, to test how well they'll really hold up against my grandma's cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups old fashioned oats

Directions:

PRE-STEP: Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

STEP 1: In a large bowl, using an electric or stand mixer, cream together the granulated sugar, light brown sugar, butter, and shortening.

STEP 2: Add eggs one at a time, mixing between each egg.

STEP 3: Add baking soda, salt, baking powder and vanilla extract.

STEP 4: Add flour and old fashioned oats until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX!

STEP 5: Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough into balls about 2 Tablespoons each and place onto prepared baking sheet. Place baking sheet with cookie dough balls in the freezer for 10 minutes. Once chilled, slightly press down the cookie dough balls and place back onto prepared cookie sheet.

STEP 6: Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack.