Life At Korthuis Manor

Life At Korthuis Manor
Captain Randy and his First Mate!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Bread Recipe

Several months ago I did a post on jam and bread and many of you asked for my bread recipe................well here it is, better late than never !! :-)

Homemade White Bread

1/2 c. warm water
4 tsp. yeast (or 2 packets)
1/2 c. milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1 3/4 c. cold water
2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. sugar
6+ c. flour

In large mixing bowl add yeast to water and stir. Heat milk and butter in microwave until butter is melted. Pour water and hot milk into yeast mixture at the same time. Add salt and sugar and mix well. If you are using a mixer with a dough hook place all 6 cups of flour in the mixer. Start mixer and once dough starts to wrap around hook, sprinkle in more flour. Just keep adding flour until dough starts to "clean" off the bowl. The trick is to make dough so it's NOT sticky to the touch, and if you stop the mixer and let it rest for a minute and restart it, it's done if the dough wraps right up around the hook again.


If mixing by hand, place 3 cups of flour in bowl and stir. Stir in as much of remaining flour as you can, then place dough on floured counter and knead in enough flour so that dough is elasticky (my word!) and not sticky to the touch.

When your dough is done, place in well greased large bowl and flip over so all sides are greased. Let rise in warm place at least 1 1/2 hours.............................
Dough after 1 1/2 hr. rise (mine fell a bit before I took the picture)..........

Punch dough down and place on floured counter. Divide into 2 large or 3 small pieces. Roll dough long and skinny (probably about 16" long by 7" wide). Roll up in loaf and tuck edges under so there are no loose edges.

Let rise about 30 min and then bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 min. (I bake mine for 22 min).

Immediately remove from pan on cooling rack and brush with butter. I place them in bread bags after about 5 min. and that softens the crust.
I realize you see 4 loaves here - I make 1 1/2 batches to keep this family in bread for a week!

*******Tips I've learned***********
* water temperature is perfect if you run water over your wrist and basically can't feel it - just like a baby's bottle - body temp!

* sometimes I add raisins to one of the loaves - YUM!

* this dough works great for cinnamon rolls too!

* I use to use ONLY Robin Hood flour but I got tired of going to Canada, so now I go to Cash and Carry and get the brown label "MORBREAD" bag of flour - It's the only flour I use in my house and I love it.

* Once your family gets use to it - no more luxury of store bought bread :-)

* this bread makes the BEST grilled cheese and french toast EVER!!

Feel free to ask questions, I had plenty of training and will help where I can!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Dinner for 30

Friday Randy and I hosted a rehearsal dinner for Randy's nephew Jon and his fiancee' Bree.

My quote for the day is, "you are only as good as your help!". Jeff and Kathi, and Dan and Marla gave of themselves greatly in helping us!

Marla cooked all day with me,
Kathi (and my neighbor Stacy) pooled their resources (with a little help from my cupboards) and set beautiful tables........
My niece Marla made beautiful flower arrangements for the tables.......
Randy hung up lights outside, set up tables and chairs, cleaned up outside, put the furniture back together on the back patio (we had to disassemble it all during the great winds!!)
It was a very successful dinner, and all went smoothly.
I am so grateful for our fabulous friends (which I don't even really recall formally asking for help - I hope I didn't assume :-0........................... when I said that we would do the dinner they didn't know it meant WE!!!). I swear we work so well together -we could do this professionally!
And is this the sexiest thing you've ever seen? A gorgeous hunk o' man dressed up AND doing dishes!!! (I didn't even ask him to - am I blessed or what?!?!).
Today - I am tired - kind of in a fog..............I have to leave for the wedding in 2 1/2 hours and I haven't thought about hopping in the shower yet - too much work! I woke up at 9:15 (did I mention I stayed up until 12:30 cleaning and wiping down floors? - I just can't wake up to a mess!) and then laid in bed and watched a movie until 11am - YIKES - but it sure felt awesome!!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I am Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just a quick list to reflect on a FEW of the things I am thankful for! (these are not in any particular order- just as they come to mind)

1. Salvation and Grace from my Heavenly Father!

2. A husband that loves me - and boy has he proved that! He is SUCH A HARD WORKER, and I ride on the coat tails of his work ethic!!

3. A Godly heritage, and parents on both sides that taught us to fear, respect and love the Lord!

4. My children, each one so different from the other, my heart is full to every nook and cranny because of who they are, and are becoming.

5. Our friends, ...................comfortable is the word that comes to mind. Friends we can pray with, laugh with, eat with.........all with common goals and a love for the Lord.

6. A beautiful warm house with great neighbors.

7. 3 vehicles that are paid for AND running! (I thank the Lord EVERY time I hop in my van and start 'er up and she purrs - she's almost 9 years old!!)

8. A job that I love and employers that treat me very well!

9. A church family (for 23 years now) that we adore and BELONG to!

10. Hobbies that I love, when I have time. I love to sit and scrapbook, make cards, crochet.....

11. A dishwasher that works, (my friend's just died - ouch - makes me grateful!)

12. 5 brothers whom I adore (and quite frankly, I hope it's mutual). I have the best SIL's and nephews and nieces, and I LOVE having them all together.

13. A mom who lives a mile away and is always praying for and encouraging me.

14. At this very moment - BLUE SKIES TO THE WEST!!!!! YEAH!!

15. Getting to decorate my house for Christmas this weekend, and look forward to lots of fun get togethers with friends and family.

16. Knowing that I have $$ saved for Christmas gifts for my kids ( no stress!!)

17. That for RIGHT now, my husband has work - my husband reminded me that this time last year we were in the same spot, and for a solid year AGAIN, God has been faithful in bringing jobs for Randy.

18. That Brandon's first year of college was affordable (praying hard about next year!!)

19. Boating memories.......so many fun times and memories. God has given us a beautiful place to live and enjoy (I think it's time - I haven't been on the boat in a couple months!!!!)

20. A latte' machine at home - A MUST!

21. My girlfriends - there are SOOOOOOOOOOO many - how could one be so blessed?!

22. HEALTH - so good, so far. Thank you Lord!

23. A school that teaches from the same perspective that we are teaching at home - a blessing!

24. A FREE country, where we can pray, go to church, be self-employed, and not HAVE to live by someone else's ideas for us.

25. I'm sure there would be tons more - but right now - I'm heading to #20!!

Enjoy the food, family and friends today! God is good - ALL THE TIME!!!!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The choice..................

Last night we got together and worked on our "Daily December" albums. Tami was an awesome hostess, her house was WARM and cozy :-) (we weren't sure if it was the fire or a bunch of middle aged women having power surges:-), the food was delightful and the company was fabulous!Tami reminded me that Ali Edwards is the one that came up with the idea, and she talks about it on her blog - here:
http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2009/11/december-daily-qa-2009.html
(this is a blog you should have bookmarked!!)

I had to leave early to pick up Brandon in Bellingham (YEAH) and so I only got the cover and 6 pages done, but I've already been in my office this morning picking away at it. IT WILL BE DONE BEFORE Dec. 1st!

Here is the album I chose - with the help of the others!!

Before................................................

After.................................................

A couple of the pages inside......................................
I will post more when I get it done (by Dec. 1st)!! Nothing like a little blog posting to keep the pressure on to get a project done!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Making a decision.....................................

So - last year I was going to try and make a "Daily December" album. My friend had talked about it and I thought it was a great idea.

A Daily December album is where you take a picture for every day in December and put it in a small album. I started out strong last year, taking pics of traditions, etc. but I failed miserably!! I found out that I was missing a key ingredient last year.......................the album all made up and ready to go so you have incentive to get those pictures taken!! BRILLIANT!

This year, my friend Tami is going to do another one and invited a few of us over to pre-make the album - just the push I need! So, tonight I am going to make my "Daily December" album.

Here is where the decision comes.......................I have several mini albums in my possession,
and now I need to make a decision as to which one I will choose!

I love this one with the red glitter poinsettias, but I would have to creatively add some pages.....
This one is also fun and has some great embellishments, but again, would need to pick up some chipboard to get more pages in it........................
There are these two somewhat boring options, but some patterned snowflakes, stickers, etc and they would be great.............................
This is a cool album with a built in stand..................................
So............................which one will it be.......................................I'll let you know!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A week in review.............................

It's been a crazy week...................

Last week was Grandiflora's Annual Christmas Open House, so I spent a lot of hours inside the walls of Grandiflora.

Friday we headed to Whistler with Emily and her friend Jerika, Nathan came up later with Ben and Cory. We did a whole lot of nothing. Of course I didn't take one picture - my daughter even berated me for this........:-( But if you want to see some great pics, my friend Tami was up there and like a good blogger she took great pics. Check it out here.............................................. http://theladyinthestonehouse.blogspot.com/2009/11/whistler-love.html

Monday was meetings and more meetings, until 10pm when I walked out of the last one! YUK!

But.................in between meetings I snuck in a fun "meeting" at Homestead! I met some friends and we watched Sarah Palin on Oprah. I'm NOT an Oprah fan - but I AM a Sarah Fan. I think ONE of the things that attracts me so to her is her very outspoken pro-life opinion. Having been adopted and knowing that if abortion had been legal I would not be here, makes me respect her opinion on an unborn life. She lived out this truth when she gave birth to her down's syndrome beautiful little boy! Okay - enough politics, but again, I didn't bring a camera................so Becky emailed me some pics - whew! So here they are........................................

Sarah Janice......................Sarah Tami...................
Sarah Jodi..................................
Sarah Becky.....................................
By the way - if you've picked up on a theme.......................I DON'T CURRENTLY OWN A WORKING CAMERA - 2 broken ones yes, working ones, NO!

I can't spend a lot of money, but just need a decent point and shoot (at an inexpensive price point). If you have one you love - please let me know. I'm going to buy one this weekend - I PROMISE!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

There's a mouse in the house.........................

No - I don't have pictures! Because when you are chasing a live mouse around your house - you just don't have time to take a picture!!!! The whole time I'm up on the hearth (yes I didn't want to be at ground level), pointing to it's path and watching Randy and Emily chase it (while the cat sat in the corner licking herself like ...."yeah - I brought it in - you deal with it now"!!) I'm thinking - I SO WISH I HAD MY CAMERA IN HAND!! Our friend Katie was over for dinner and we were all laughing so hard, running, jumping up on things, etc. - nothing but the best for our dear friend - Dinner - complete with entertainment!

Needless to say - Lola the cat has figured out how to use the doggy door! She's known how for a while, but now she's decided that it's best if she brings us presents. In the last week she's brought a bird, 4 dead shrews, 1 half dead mouse, and 2 LIVE mice - that we know of!

Kind of freaks me out - HOW MANY TIMES HAS SHE DONE THIS WHEN WE'RE NOT HOME?!?!?!

Today I'm calling the Spay Station, cuz as SOON as she's fixed we have a new home for her! She's absolutely sweet and precious, but how do you UNTRAIN a cat to quit using the doggy door and bringing in dinner?

Maybe I'll keep my camera out on the counter so it's available should we have another encounter............................................

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Some scrapbook pages

A couple weeks ago you'll recall I got to spend a couple days scrapbooking with my girlfriends at an oceanside retreat!!

You'll also recall I GOT 26 PAGES DONE!!!!

Here are a few pages - I'm a very simple, straightforward scrapper. No time (or creativity) for fuss, especially since I have so many years to get put in these books!
Here's a fall page...........
I used a Cricut cartridge that Judy brought. I don't know the name of it, but all the letters are cut out in leaf shapes..........................here's a close up.
Every year since Emily was 1 1/2 my friend has taken "leaf pictures" of her. Here is her 4 yr old "leaf pics".
Emily's 5th birthday tea party...............................
Now I'm caught up to her 5th birthday - only 9 more years togo!! :-o
I guess I'll need a few more scrappin' get- aways!!

Monday, November 2, 2009

The 60's are still alive!

On Saturday/Halloween we got together as friends and celebrated Dan's 49th birthday. We decided since it was Halloween we might as well dress up in 60's to celebrate the year Dan was born!

Jeff and Kathi went all out!!(they totally look comfortable in their "look")
The girls got together and tie dyed shirts on Sat. afternoon - what fun!

Here are Randy and I.........................................

Dan didn't know the plan - I had told him we were having a wake - he wanted to know what we were putting to rest, and I told him he would find out. OBVIOUSLY we were putting to rest the first 1/2 century of his life!! :-)

Here are Dan and Marla when they arrived...................................BORING!!!!(Marla knew what was coming!)
Here they are after.....................................MUCH BETTER MAN!!!
Dan decided to impersonate Randy (w/his wig) and put Max on his head!! :-)
Jim and Stacy joined us for dinner.........................................(Jim was stuck in the 50's :-)
Brandon was home this weekend and when he came downstairs to Jeff and Randy in their wigs, he couldn't even look at them........................................
The table was set in bright neon colors (thanks to Stacy).
We decided on Thursday to have this little soiree' - so there wasn't much time for planning as I worked all day Fri. and Sat. until noon, but when you have a great group of friends you're comfortable with - you can pull off anything!