• Nov. 24, 2007
Moved!

My Blog has now MOVED!!!  Same blog, same girl, better blog host.  Just a little tired of HSB.  :)  My blog is now located at:

www.ChristsInstrument.blogspot.com

I'm turning off comments here, and you can now comment at the new address. :)

I'm looking forward to a long and prosperous blogging career at Blogger!  See you there!!!

God bless,
Sheila

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• Oct. 31, 2007
Clarification and suspense building...

Hello out there!

Clarification about 'Random Day', specifically for 'Poetess', who is apparently otherwise nameless. :D 

'Random Day' is a silly tradition I started on my blog last October 30th, just for fun, to post some random item (Last year it was smileys) on my blog, just for fun. (Just for fun. :) I used to post random posts all the time, but I try to be slightly more profound now.  (Hmmm...) The 'Random Day' gives me one day a year where I can post a totally nonsensical post, just for fun. (Just for fun. :) So, I decided, as I've been working on scales, to post scales.  It certainly is random, is it not? :)  Just for kicks, you see. :)  I'm really not that ridiculous on here all the time. {Grin}

And...I meant to post this yesterday.  I will soon be posting a series of two or three posts on music!  I will be posting audio clips of me playing, my thoughts on music, recent musical experiences etc.  I know I have elaborated on this before, but it was more in the realm of 'what I've done this year'.  This time it will be more general, directed at anyone with the vaguest interest in all things musical!  I hope you'll return soon to check it out! :)

God bless you all,
Until next time,
Sheila

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• Oct. 30, 2007
Happy Random Day!

Just noticed that a year ago today, I pronounced it 'Random Day'.  Well, then my random thing was smileys.  This year it is a random collection of scales.  :D  Yes, I recorded some 30 seconds of scales on the piano, just for randomnesses sake.  If you check back a few pages, you'll find I start this tradition last year. :)

Scales for Random Day: Click Here!

In Christ Alone,
Sheila

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• Sep. 28, 2007
Nice Matters Award

A big thank you to Ebell1993 and to Christianmusician1 for awarding me the 'Nice Matters award'!

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• Jul. 29, 2007
Blogger Reflections Award

A HUGE thank you to Ebell1993 for awarding me the 'Blogger Reflections Award'!

I am to award five different bloggers with this award now, in this manner:

“This award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you. Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy... of knowing them and being blessed by them.”

My only problem is that I can't think of five blogs, as most of the ones I would give it to either don't do awards, or have already received the award, etc.  So, I am awarding it to the following two blogs:

Ellie Skees - Ellie's family is so very encouraging!  Through this really tough season of their life, they are blessing others with their amazing faith and trust in God.  They have been through so very much, and yet even when  faced with very hard decisions, have been able to be an incredible encouragement to the readers of their blog.  Please join me in praying for their family and especially for Ellie.

Layne - I know Layne personally, and reading her blog is truly wonderful.  It's lovely to read her thoughts on God and life, and to be encouraged by her Godly example of young womanhood.  She puts everything together with much thought, and has a really neat blog all around.  Thank you Layne!

Rules of participating for the 'Blogger Reflection Award':
1. Copy these rules into your own post.
2. Replace my bloggers with yours & Reflect on five bloggers and write a least a paragraph about each one.
3. Go leave your chosen bloggers a comment and let them know they've been given the award.
4. Put the award icon on your site.
5. If you do not want to 'pass it on', claim the award below for yourself instead of the 'Blogger Reflection Award'. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now that I have awarded those two blogs with the 'Blogger Reflections Award', I shall continue to award a few of the other blogs I love reading with the all new 'You Don't Have To Pass It On If You Don't Want To Blog Award'!. 

"This award is designated for any blog which the giver decides is worthy of praise.  The awarded blogs are consistently awesome, encouraging, and enlightening.  Perhaps those blogs have touched the giver's heart, or have given them the one thought needed to go on in some particular area of life.  Remember, those who give this award, how much this really means!  It is a gesture of extreme importance, saying that this blog is highly valuable in some way.  Maybe it's just the simple things that are posted: the fun that it is, the joy that it brings, or the little snippets of life shared that push you forward.  That is what this oddly-named award truly means."

TeamBettendorf - A diary of life!  The Bettendorfs have also been through an interesting time this year, and are continuing down the road of God's grace.  Their large family and the stories Katie shares are a blessing to everyone who reads it, and she always reminds us of all the fantastic things we probably should be taking/using, but aren't.  :)  Thank you for sharing your lives with us!

MaidensOfWorth - Anna and Miriam have such a lovely blog, sharing everything from little snippets of life, to stories of faith and kinship.  Their friendship shines through, and an everlasting love for God encourages other young women to step forward and spread a beam of heavenly light around.  Thanks so much girls!

JenCluff - You make me laugh!  Jen's lighthearted flutey wisdom imparted through her blog is so much fun to read, and I always learn something new.  Her words inspire me to aim high in my musical studies, and to try these new things on the flute.  Be it a new flute player, whose notes ring clear in the air, or another flutish warm-up, it's always worth reading.  Thank you for the encouragement and inspiration, Jen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The only rule for this award is that you enjoy it, and take either the animated icon or the still image icon for your blog if you want it.  If you don't want it, don't take it. :)  Pass it on to other fabulous blogs if you want, don't if you don't.  We're all flexible! :)

I hope this means something to all of you. :)  It was a lot of fun to do, and I hope I'll see some more great blogs coming up in the future! :D

God bless you all,
Sheila

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• Jan. 21, 2007
The Big Blogger Question...

Who uses Blogger.com???  I know you do, Maria, what's it like?  Why did you use blogger and not something like this?  See, I've got a toss-up. I'd get more traffic if I switched to blogger, but then again, I'd also have the added 'bonus' of dealing with accidentaly clicking 'next blog' and getting some bad stuff.  So you see, I have a dillemma.  HSB is also sometimes very slow, and it's a little awkward.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks,

Sheila

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• Jan. 10, 2007
No longer a lonely blog!

Thanks Mariah! :D

I was going to get a hit counter so I know whether my blog is lonely or not...even if nobody tiddles, but I can't find one that doesn't want my URL.  :)  Oh well! 

Crocheting is awesome, I now can do three stitches - single, half double, and double!  YAY!  Feeling happy. :)  I should practicimo some more.  God bless,
Sheila

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• Dec. 27, 2006
Link to Picasa Photo Album

Enjoy these pics of our cuteys, Bitsy and Bunny!
Sheila

[EDIT:  The link-button is on the side bar under 'links'! :) ]

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• Dec. 22, 2006
Zimtsterne - Step By Step

Now, for the best ever Christmas cookie!  It's a tradition that we brought back from Switzerland.  It's fairly easy to make, although a little time consuming, but a lot of fun, and would be a great thing to do with kids, because you get to 'paint' the cookies at the end. :)  Please keep in mind that it's a European recipe, so everything is in metric weight.  Sorry!  If you want to convert it into cups/pounds, go for it!  Without further ado:

ZIMTSTERNE (Cinnamon Stars)

Ingredients:

4 Egg Whites
400 grams (Just under a pound) Icing Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
470 grams (A touch over a pound) Ground Almond (Find in bulk at the Grocery store)
4 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Lemon Rind

Separate the eggs, and set aside the egg yolks.  If I have time I'll post a cookie recipe that just uses the yolks, and then you can get rid of them! 

In a large bowl, beat the Egg Whites until very stiff.  (We use the electric mixer)  Add the Icing Sugar to the egg whites in small spoonfuls so that the beater doesn't make the tiny particles fly all over the kitchen. :)  Set aside just under half a cup (130 millilitres) of the mixture. (It usually has millilitres on one side of a measuring cup.)

The set-aside icing sugar/egg white mixture.

Now, in another large bowl, mix the Cinnamon, Lemon Juice, and Lemon Rind into the Ground Almond. Next, mix in the almond mixture into the large amount (NOT the set aside amount) of icing/egg white mixture.  This takes a little time and patience.  When this is mixed together, it should be dough-ish texture, not wet and gloopy.  If it is, you might have to add a tad more ground almond.  Spread out a tea-towel on the counter, and sprinkle with white sugar.  Take half the dough and shape it into a disk-like figure.   Place it on the tea-towel and sprinkle it with white sugar too.  Now, gently roll it out to about 1/2 - 3/4 cm thick.



Seeing as it's Zimtsterne we use the typical 6 pointed star cookie-cutter, (you could use any star that doesn't have long, thin points for the dough to get stuck in) but you could also do different shapes.  As you'll see at the end, we do a few weird shapes with the last rolling...whatever happens. :)


Fill a little bowl with white sugar, this is the 'grease' that you dip the cutter in so that it won't stick so much to the dough.  


You will still want to wash the cutter after every 2-3-4 cookies, depending on your cutter.  Wash in the tips of the points of the star too!  Don't forget to dry it very carefully after washing each time.


(I just noticed that you can see the dog's nose in this one on the bottom right corner!!!)

Place the cut-outs on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it.



Throw the little bits into a bowl for the other rollings.


Do the same (roll out on sugar, cut, and place on cookie sheet) with the other piece of dough, and then with the bits in the bowl.  At the end you may get tired of trying to make them all stars, and then we just cut the dough however it is, and make them into oddly-shaped cookies.  It's fun to see what shapes you get!  ("Oh, look, there's a swan flying...that one looks like a chipmunk"!)

This is the fun part!!!  Now you get to paint the cookies.  It's a great thing to do with the younger ones if there are any, because they can do it.  :)  Pull out the set-aside icing  and egg white mix.


You will need a little brush or two with which to paint them.  Even a couple old (CLEAN) small paint brushes would work fine.  Dip the brush in the 'paint'.




Paint the cookies right to the edge of the star, make sure it's evenly covered and very white, you don't want to see the cookie underneath! :)



Leave them over night on the counter or table to dry out.  In the morning, bake them for 3-5 minutes at 250 (482 Farenheit) degrees Celsius.  Technically, they aren't supposed to get even slightly brown, they are supposed to be pristine white.  But ours are always slightly brown every year.  I didn't know they were supposed to stay white until yesterday! :)

The finished product:

(See the weird shapes on the right tray on top?)



The best cookie ever: ZIMTSTERNE!!!!!!!

Hope you enjoy them!
Sheila

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• Dec. 15, 2006
Wow, Fancy!

This is a treat!  All this fancy stuff added to HSBlogger!  The photo albums, the private messaging, the extra options when writing an entry...pretty sweet!  I like!  Anyway, we got the Christmas tree today.  It was really slim pickings, but we got one that's not too bad. :)  All we have to do now is put it up! lol.  I guess I should go things that I should do.  ;)
ttyl,
God bless,
Sheila

PS.  There's one thing I just discovered that I DON'T like about the new stuff.  They just have the stupid little msn smileys, and my happy jumpy smiley is gone!  I knew I should have saved him!!!  Grrr.

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• Dec. 7, 2006
The History of the Knife and Fork

...There was a...
little old man,
sittin' in his hut,
an' he didn't know what to carve.

He had a nice, long piece of wood,
right there sittin' in front of him,
an' so he took a great long look at it,
an' he carved the very first knife.

Well, he found another piece of wood,
and carved the very first fork,
an'cuz he didn't know what he'd made,
used 'em to eat steak and lemonade.

Well he cut it up real small,
and he told friends and family,
an' they all really lik'd the great idea.

So, they past it on through generations,
and told the famous tale,
of the little old man of long ago,
who didn't know what he'd made.....(repeat, repeat, repeat, etc.)


Okay, okay, it's totally stupid...but I was washing dishes...and setting the table, and I was bored!  Hah!  I tweaked a bit when I wrote it out though.  lol!!!  Song for the bus???  Please...don't ask! lol!!!! :P
Sheila

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• Nov. 28, 2006
Quick Quote...

I found this quote from some Chinese proverb:

"If you can't change your fate, change your attitude." 

I thought that was really good.  So true, isn't it?  Sometimes there are things we just can't change and we have to live with it. :)
Sheila

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• Nov. 13, 2006
Bob the Ghoulish Tomato

I thought you might get a kick out of this.  It's one of the last tomatos from the garden, we were trying to ripen it, but somehow.....

Introducing: Bob the Ghoulish Tomato!




Sheila

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• Oct. 30, 2006
Happy Random Day!!!

As most of you who read my blog on any sort of regular basis know, I love being, well, random!  So as a tribute to that, I'm saying to you: Happy Random Day!  You may have never heard of it before, and it might not be written on your calendar, but October 30 is the international day for all things random!  Atl least... by my books it is!  Pull out the sparklers, hire a band, uhh...sing...random songs!  Be ... random! 

^^^  Yeah, kinda like that. :)  Anyway, the gingersnaps are about to come out of the oven, and I'm going to go for a very random walk...ttyl!!!

God bless,

Sheila

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• Oct. 27, 2006
Just cuz...

Hey there, I thought I'd write 'just cuz'. :)  I had an awesome flute lesson this week, actually piano was great too, and teaching yesterday went really well.  I have to read some science, and read a Shakespear synopsis and I have an hour of piano.  Meh...Not too bad I supppose, but I should get going.

Buuut, I guess I don't have anything to say.  Read my essay (posted below) and let me know what you think!  I love constructive critisism.   So I'm off in a cloud of dust,
God bless,
Sheila

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• Oct. 5, 2006
Thanks Liz!!!

I appreciate it when people post comments in reply! :D  Yay!  Anyway, in reply to your questions, yes, I have just finished a really good book!  I read 'The Beggar's Bible' by Louise Vernon, it's all about John Wycliffe, but it's a story, and the main character is a 13 year old boy.  It's really really awesome - and faithbuilding! :)

Sheila

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• Oct. 5, 2006
New Colours!

Isn't it awesome???  I now have funky happy colours, just the way I want them...I think.   I might change it more later, tomorrow, whatever.  Anyway, if you like it, let me know!  I'll blog more later,
God bless,
Sheila

PS.  Thanks for dropping by, Mariah!  You should have a blog too!!! :P

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• Oct. 4, 2006
THE SPOT WHERE I GOT MY NEW URL!!!!!!!!!

Looking for the posts from the 'Lina' blog???  All the ones below here were posted there...So if it doesn't make any sense, that's why. 

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• Oct. 4, 2006
Okay, before I get too great at this...

I'm going to change my Blog so I have a diff URL.  No one uses my nickname (Lina) and I don't want to use a name in which something might change or I might hate later (ie: horsiehappy, Musicismylife, etc.) Sooo, I'm thinking of Christsinstrument (which is my email) since I want to be an instrument of Christ in his hands, plus I love music.  If I decide to do the big thing, I'd want something...bigger anyway, so ya. :)  How does www.homeschoolblogger.com/christsinstrument look?

www.homeschoolblogger.com/christsinstrument

Not bad!!! :)  I like it!  Weeeeeeee!!!!!!!  (yes, that's my new 'thing'! lol )  So I'm off to make it so!
Sheila

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• Oct. 2, 2006
Rebelution, PoliticallyInCorrect, Etc...ME!!!

Okay, big thoughts here...problem is my url...it's www.homeschoolblogger/LINA  Should be www.homeschoolblogger/LALOS  or something (for Living A Lifestyle Of Surrender) Or should I start a new blog.  Okay, I guess I should say what my thoughts ARE!  lol, that WOULD help!  I'm thinking of doing something like what Alex and Brett are doing on www.rebelution.com and what Keirstyn is doing on PoliticallyInCorrectZone.blogspot.com and PalmBoy at PushBackIgnorance.blogspot.com etc.   But for Christian Homeschooled Teen GIRLS!!!!  Weeeee! 

Just think, weird little me, blogging for the all worlds CHTGs!! ! (Christian Homeschooled Teen Girls)  Hah!!!  Weeeeeeeee!!!  'CHTGs Living a Lifestyle of Surrender!' or something.  Hmmm.  Sigh.  Aah, please, if someone reads this (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) comment and let me know what you think.  I'm tired of blogging to the IN, I want people to read it!!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Enough said for now.
Lina

PS. Yes, I discovered the smileys!!!

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