by jphilo | Dec 27, 2017 | Show Notes
by Jolene Philo & Anne Fleck | Home Again
Jolene and Anne recommend these products for combatting depression when the long winter begins:
Finally, here’s a list of DVDs that make us happy in winter:
- Parks and Recreation
- 30 Rock
- Longmire (rather dark)
- Gilmore Girls
- Parenthood (Anne thinks this one is too emotional)
- Psych
- Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
- Father Brown
- Pushing Daisies
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- The Dick Van Dyke Show
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by jphilo | Feb 3, 2016 | Recipes
We went to see the grandkids last weekend and had a blast, as usual. We spent part of our time making scented play dough in an effort to beat the winter blues. Here’s the recioe, just In case you’re looking for something to wile away the long winter days that keep kids cooped up inside. This recipe first appeared on Gravel Road about a year ago…just before my grandson and I made our first batch together.
The recipe also makes a big batch, so we put half the ingredients in one saucepan and the other half in another. Then we added a package of Koolaid to each pan and cooked one panful and then the other. Last weekend, we made yellow, green, purple, and orange, enjoying ourselves immensely.
Scented Play Dough
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2/3 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 packages unsweetened Koolaid
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups water
Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients together in a sauce pan. Then add the oil.
Add the water, about a quarter cup at a time, whisking as you go. Keep whisking until all the lumps are gone.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan frequently…
….until the dough stops sticking to the side of the pan.
Let the first half-batch cool while you make the second. Then, turn the first batch onto the counter and knead a few times. Once the second batch cools, do the same thing again.
It is very, very important to play with the dough as soon as it’s cool enough. You don’t want to miss the sensation of warm, juicy-smelling dough squeezing through your fingers, do you?
by jphilo | Jan 14, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
Winter, even when the weather’s mild, is not my favorite season. This winter’s been a hard one so far, requiring constant doses of positive thinking. Today’s dose of the top ten positives about winter should be taken with a full glass of water…or hot cocoa in front of a blazing fire.
10. Staying indoors out of the cold means there’s plenty of time for those household tasks so easy to procrastinate about during spring and summer. Like cleaning the refrigerator or behind the stove.
9. Also time to clean closets and take stuff to Goodwill, so when it’s time to move after decades in the same house, the task won’t be quite so daunting.
8. Winter’s a good time to learn to do something new on the computer or to take figure skating lessons. Though a smart pill would make this item much easier.
7. This is the perfect time to day dream about summer without having one’s hair go wonky from the humidity.
6. Now’s the time to play the board games given as Christmas presents…while the games still have all the pieces.
5. Trying out new baking recipes makes long winter nights shorter and keeps the house warm and cozy.
4. Book research is much easier to concentrate upon when the weather outside is frightful.
3. During winter, a person can to go to bed when the sun goes down, read for hours, and still turn out the light at a decent hour.
2. Winter is the absolute best time to check out DVDs and catch up on TV series missed during busy child rearing decades.
1. A winter like this one is long enough to write a book…a mystery novel, to be exact.
