Shastina's Blog

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter


Mix together dry ingredients.  Add milk, egg, and peanut butter, and stir just  blended.
Pour into greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.  Cool, cut into slices, and top with your favorite jam or jelly.

This is a wonderfully easy and delicious recipe.

2 cups graham cracker crumbs  (about 32 squares)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 can  (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.  Spread into a greased 8 inch pan, bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

This is a versatile and easy recipe. This one is usually gone before it gets cool!

1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

-Topping-
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup shredded coconut

Mix together dry ingredients, add butter, milk, and egg. Beat until moist, about 20 strokes. Scrape into greased 9 inch cake pan, or 9 x 13 glass works too. Sprinkle chips across top of cake. In small bowl, mix coconut and melted butter, and spoon over top of the chips. When the cake bakes, some of the toppings will sink slightly into the center, and the coconut left on the top will brown nicely.

Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes.

Other toppings work well too, such as streusel crumb, fruit, (blueberries, crushed pineapple, sliced cinnamon apples) or even 1/2 can of cranberry sauce cut into slices and laid over the top, which creates a nice marbled effect.

This is one of my favorite recipes - it makes a wonderful breakfast, snack, or side dish. It is quick, easy, and nutritious.

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 mashed bananas
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup sugar (or brown sugar)
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup shortning, butter, or margerine
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Mash bananas in small bowl. Sift together dry ingredients. Add bananas and shortning, and beat well, about 30 strokes. Fold in walnuts. Bake in greased loaf pan or 13 x 9 pan, for 35- 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

If you love this recipe, pass it on - it has been in my family for 4 generations.

As a parent, you are the guide to the journey your little ones take as they grow. You are their mentor, their role model, their guiding light. So, for your own sanity, and to provide them a good example, learn some easy time saving tricks. Here are a few that I have incorporated into our household;

Chore Checklists - just a simple chart kept in a visible area (magneted to the refrigerator door) that has everyones jobs for the week. This reduces fighting and whining, if you outline it fairly.

Bathroom Checklists - another list of responsibilities that must be completed morning and night that outlines the basics - i.e. brush teeth, brush hair, clean socks, laundry in hamper, etc. This eliminates (in theory) the room for "I forgot....."

Shopping Lists - a blank note in an easily accessible area to jot down supplies when you run out, to keep you from running to the grocery store every day. We live so far out that we only get a chance about once a week to shop, so this one is necessary here.

Dinner Planning - weekly or monthly, line out what you plan to make, so there is no last minute decisions, and you are more likely to have what you need on hand. This can be a family exercise too, so everybody gets a chance to have what they like.

Cooking Ahead - I will often prepare breakfast the night before, usually with lots of 'help'. When cooking dinner, its not hard to mix up a batch of muffins or a banana bread. Do up a few and put them in the freezer, and this works great for dinners like lasagna, too.

Time Limits - A simple egg timer or a microwave timer works well to enforce time limits. It also creates a sense of urgency, and saves you from repeating your requests (hopefully). Twenty minutes to clean up toys or ten minutes to prepare for bed minimizes long ordeals, and gives a sense of accomplishment.

A few minutes of peace and quiet once in a while makes a world of difference, I hope some of these ideas help someone else to be able to find that.

Summer has flown by, as the usually do, and now it is time to start back into the monotonous grind of school. But, it doesn't have to be so bad.

Here in our home, we take a fairly relaxed attitude toward school. Well, as the teacher, I try to project a relaxed attitude to my kids. (me, on the their hand, I am quite anxious, but what's new?)

There are so many wonderful aspects to homeschooling. I have been formulating a curriculum for quite some time, and doing my best to gather all necessary materials. I have let the start date slide a little, as most students returned to school last week, we have taken the time to set up our school room. I feel that this eases my students into returning to a routine, rather than slamming them into a brick wall. This would be defeat before we have even started.

Rather than doing every subject every day, I periodically will introduce a new subject as the work days grow longer, and the kids become more accustomed to spending time sitting indoors. This way, they are given something new and interesting to do, which truly is the key to staying motivated. We will be doing a variety of "fun" lessons, like sing-a-long tapes for certain subjects, interactive CD's, and even sign language. This is a multifold solution, as I have quite a span of ages which I must entertain.

Here is to staying motivated, and lots of success and progress in the months to come.

Since I have last posted , so many things have happened, I don't know where to begin typing.

My family and I went to Phoenix, AZ in May.  It was a business trip, so we didn't have a whole lot of time to have fun, but I have to say that after visiting Phoenix for the first time ever, I thought it was a beautiful place.  The people there were very friendly, the freeways around the city were well laid out, and fairly quick and easy to navigate, and the Southwestern landscaping was so refreshingly beautiful - not at all what I expected.  Yes, it was very hot (I can't imagine how hot it is there now,  since it has been 100+ here in Idaho), but after the sun sets there in the evening, it  is absolutely perfect.

Our son had his third birthday, and he is finally coming around to potty training.  He has been exceptionally stubborn about it, and I have been so frustrated about the issue.  I have tried everything, and nothing had worked.  Finally, after months of trying every "helpful suggestion" I have gotten, I have resorted to rewarding him with candy - which I did not want to do, as I try to limit sugar to the kids.  However, I have come to the "whatever works" point, and he is now making real good progress quickly - it's about time!

I have been working some on a Google pages website in which I will try to sell the jewelry that I make - but as with most things, we shall see.   I will try to work on it for at least a few minutes a day, as that is usually all I have.  As soon as it is up and running, I will post a link.

Is anyone else sick of tripping over snow boots and chasing mittens? Here, we have had several feet of snow for the last six months, and until last week it has been in the 20's during the day. Too cold to go out - too dreary to stay in. Winter is the most miserable season....

I firmly believe that you have to be touched in the head to choose to live in such a miserable place - however, circumstances being what they, are I suppose some of us have not much choice.

A typical winter scenerio in beautiful (Godforsaken) Idaho ;
The snow is falling so hard that you can not see the road in front of you to drive, and constantly hope that the traffic you meet can see it better than you can (yeah,right) - if there is no snow, there will be fog, and you just hope that your reaction time is good enough in the 10 foot visibility to see the old man on the highway in front of you driving down the middle at 3mph with his hazard lights on. If the electricity stays on long enough to cook dinner, you still take a candle to bed at 7:00 because it is pitch black outside by 4:30. (Electricity? You don't need electricity! Kids love to eat peanut butter sandwiches!) The driveway has three feet of new snow when you wake up in the morning, and after half a day of shoveling to find the car, your hands are too numb to open the door, or are frozen solidly to the shovel handle. After a few days, the snow has turned to a thick sheet of ice, and it is a feat of ballet/skiing to get to the door without shattering a tailbone (grocery bags? Ha! Forget it! Just pretend you are bowling!) And there is so much kitty litter on the sidewalk that all the neighborhood cats frequent - well, you know...

And I have come to believe that snow boots for kids are nothing but SABOTAGE. They are slick and rubber bottomed, good for nothing but slipping and falling. The are always too big, and getting lodged in a snowbank somewhere, usually causing a case of search and rescue in the backyard, and then when the kids come in, they kick them off onto the carpet (stuffed full of snow of course) and any poor soul who is unlucky enough to be wearing socks around tries to avoid tripping on them (the boots), and steps into snow-puddles!

Anyway....

Winter seems to be receeding, and spring will be here soon, bringing with it lots and lots of mud...

Unfortunately, it is slightly too late (early) this day to be exceptionally articulate or long-winded with this post...

So - hello, welcome, and please check back soon for more, as time allows.