Chocolate Squash Cake

I used the below recipe, slightly altered, tonight with super results! I also made one with homemade apple sauce and one with pumpkin. I used an almond, vanilla, cinnamon icing made with powered sugar, and a little white and brown sugar. My daughter(age 5) helped make these cakes and drizzled the icing over the hot cakes.

I had no chocolate chips, so used a bit of chocolate milk mix and extra cocoa powder instead. I deleted the butter for the recipe, adding apple sauce instead.

See recipe here.

Ingredients:
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. sifted flour
1/2 to 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. buttermilk (or regular milk with 1 1/2 tsp. vinegar)
1/4 c. cocoa
1 3/4 c. shredded zucchini(or other squash), drained

A Few Veggies From the Garden Today

Our little garden has not done well this year with the very hot weather, and my soaker hose sprung a leak. The plants are twisted around it, so there is no removing it this season. Something new this year - green peppers, and they have done well. I'll be planting this again next year.

Some years are more prolific than others, but the garden always offers up something.

Paper Roll Art

Búhos y un gato(Owls and a Cat)

Vintage Children's Poetry for August

Printable and in public domain. Found here. To Copy and print at link, right click on the image of the pages.

Printable Vintage Paper Doll Set - Mary Had a Little Lamb

Click to The Paper Collector for entire set.

Contact with Soil Can be Beneficial

HT to Tea at Trianon.

"...A strain of bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, has been found to trigger the release of seratonin, which in turn elevates mood and decreases anxiety. And on top of that, this little bacterium has been found to improve cognitive function and possibly even treat cancer and other diseases. Which means that contact with soil, through gardening or other means, is beneficial. How did this discovery come about? "

Read more here.

No wonder gardening makes me happy!

Easy Butterless Pie Crust

I made apple pie last night and used this recipe for the crust. It was so good with my filling made from our early season garden apples. I like a sweeter crust, so I changed the recipe by adding a handful of sugar and a bit more oil for workability. The subtle taste of salt in the crust is a delicious contrast with the sweet filling, and the extra sugar added to the crust recipe. I'd keep the salt despite reviews which suggest otherwise.

Open Wallet, Flying Dollars

When one thing wears out and breaks, more is sure to follow. My computer has meet the end of the road. I still have a big clunky HP PC, purchased about seven years ago. My old printer is shot as well. So I've ordered an Asus Mini-PC(Acer AspireRevo AR3700-U3002 Slim and Compact Desktop) and a HP Deskjet 3000 Printer. I can't wait to get them set up.

On a whim, I looked into prepaid wifi service. Last time I checked it was just at the cusp of being developed, and I have discovered that now it's readily available; the selection of service providers and coverage continues to grow. I went with T-mobile(good coverage in our area) prepaid high speed wireless service . I chose 30 days for $30.00(no contract). We already use T-mobile for our prepaid cell phones. By canceling our land line, we'll actually be spending less than we are now with dial-up which is $12.00 a month and phone service which runs about $30.00 a month. Our dial-up service has been relatively good, and it's been very reliable; however, it has limited us to web surfing and very slow downloads. If the prepaid wifi works out for us, we'll be saving about $120.00 per year.

I'm hopeful that all of these changes will be a good fit for us. And I think we got some good deals, but I always wish that things would last longer - technology marches on. Computer replacements tend to be a surprise expense, especially if you tend to use them up and squeeze out every last nanobyte.

One Step Tile, Stone, and Grout Cleaner & Resealer

A salesperson at Ace Hardware recommended TileLab's One Step Cleaner & Resealer for my tile floors in the bathrooms. Our tile work is relatively new, and I wanted to keep the grout looking new. In the past, I've used bleach or bleach based products and a stiff brush on grout, but this product is much easier. I looked up the toxicity, and it's made with non-hazardous materials(low VOCs). All I had to do was spray it on and wipe up. It was easy on my hands as well. This was a great find and really delivers.

Amazon carries it, but unfortunately, there is no free shipping. Amazon customer reviews are five out of five stars for performance. This product may be available at the big box stores. I know the Ace and True Value hardware stores carry it.

Children's Summer Ebook Reading: Classic Tales and Old-Fashioned Stories

Young Folks Treasury, 1909.

Free and in public domain, short and long children's old fashioned stories and classics with color illustrations. I like these free public domain Project Gutenberg books because you have the option of copying and pasting only the stories that you want to print. There are a good number of download options as well: Kindle, EPUB, HTML, etc.

Making Coffee in a Cast Iron Pot

A month ago my glass coffee pot broke from my electric coffee maker. I thought about purchasing a new one, but I am trying to do more with less. I like to maximize my space on the counters. The next morning in desperation for coffee, I tried making coffee in my cast iron tea kettle, and it was very good! With a little experimentation, I discovered that the grounds sink to the bottom when the water is left to come to a rolling boil, taken off the heat immediately, and then left to sit for a minute or two. I don't even need to strain the grounds. The tea pot is well seasoned, so clean up is very easy, just a rinse and quick scrub.

I cook two cups of coffee with half a pot of water and two heaping spoons of grounds. So easy! And I've got more counter space now, not to mention no glass coffee pot and coffee maker to clean.

Free Printable Children's Sewing Cards

See here.

Free MP3 History Drama: Signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776(Limited Time)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."


MP3 description: "July 4th, 1776 Philadelphia" from March 21, 1948 You are there for the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776 in Philadelphia. The heat is unbearable and even worse is the horseflies. The Founding Fathers are interviewed as well as some of the dissenters who are against Independence—who will win?

See here. Simply right click on the arrow to save, and the download will begin.

And yes, July 4th may not have been the actual day of the signing, just pretend.

Student History Supplement: Old Time Radio WWII Collections on Sale

Live broadcasts from WWII and other original programs from the era. Most MP3 CDs are $4.50 and include over 10 hours of recordings. Patriotic and Fourth of July collections are included. Check them out.
When you click through to a specific collection there will be a full review of the contents and a free MP3 sample.

Image source.

Free Children's Guide to Systematic Readings in the Encyclopedia Britannica

Bored children this summer? Have them read the Encyclopedia. Heh, heh, heh.

A Guide to Systematic Readings in the Encyclopedia Britannica by James Baldwin, 1897 Free and in public domain. The book is downloadable, and pages are printable. To print pages, right click in the image of the page. Text can also be switched to plain text for copy and paste; however, some words do not transition well, and editing will be needed.

Encyclopedia Britannica here.

"Now, my young friends, this habit of reading is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect pleasures that God has prepared for his creatures. But you cannot acquire this habit in your old age ; you cannot acquire it in middle age ; you must do it now, when you are young. You must learn to read, and to like reading now, or you cannot do so when you are old." —Anthony Trollope.

DIY Carpet Dry-cleaning For Wool Rugs

Today, I tried a dry carpet cleaning product called Capture by Milliken on our large Persian wool rug. This is an older rug(ebay) with low pile - easy to clean if I could use water. I was concerned that the colors would run with wet extraction cleaning, and getting the extra large room sized rug to dry would be nearly impossible. Not to mention, wet wool smells pretty gross after 24 hours. Someone at a local hardware store recommended Capture to me. Reviews online for Capture were very positive. The price was good as well, under $20.00($17.94)for the kit. So I thought I'd give it a shot.

I found a Capture carpet dry clean kit at Lowe's which contained a spray and powder. The spray goes on first followed by a lemon scented powder. I used a stiff broom to spread it around into the rug fibers, waited a half hour, and vacuumed with my heavy duty Rainbow vacuum. It worked quite well. The dirt from my bagless vacuum's water capture bowl was like mud! I had no idea the rug was that dirty. Tomorrow I'll use the Capture on two bedroom rugs, also Persian wool. I'd recommend this product for wool rugs. You do need a very strong suction vacuum to pick up the fine particulates. My bagless stick vacuum could not handle it(clogged), so I had to lug out my heavy beast vacuum.

Six Steps to Reducing Water Usage in the Garden

See here.

I like her homemade rain barrel; however, we'd need a closed top system in our area due to mosquitoes. A window screen over the top might work.