Did you all see? Our own Jessica was featured on the Cardigan Empire! Go see what she has to say and give her a shout out!!

don't wait a single moment

How wonderful it is that we need not wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

~Anne Frank

Happy New Years!

"I have these memories of you, wearing long red socks and red shoes, I have these memories..."

Things are changing, as you can probably tell.


The posts are slowing, things are being reworked.
Alicia, Jessica, and I are all sorting through new experiences with the coming year, which is making life a bit hectic, but memorable.We can't wait to tell you all about it.In the meantime, please be patient with us!Love, the We Are Women Writers

Christmas Time

We have been down and out here at the Fish residence. Well... I have been down and out and Billy has been taking care of everything, including working all week and most of the weekend, coming home to keep me alive, taking care of the child, and keeping the house clean. After what I thought would be a easy surgery and quick recovery, we finally went to the Instacare to get antibiotics, and pump me full of fluid and pain medicine. I am feel much better and have been trying to get that darn Christmas Spirit back and seems to have gotten scared away by all the throwing up and terrible pain.

But now that I write that, I think there has been a lot of Christmas Spirit roaming our house, just not the way it usually is. While I was too sick to take care of my normal duties, friends and family brought over hoards of food, took care of our teething feisty crawler, decorated for the Christmas party that I was suppose to decorate, and help me get some Christmas shopping done. So much charity and love.

Thank Heavens for true Christmas Spirit.

wake up!

this quote hit me the other day - and made me really want to wake up.

we all have the power to move mountains.

it's realizing we do that's hard part, sometimes.

(art by kirby)

"nature seemed to me benign and good; i thought she loved me, outcast as i was; and i, who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, insult, clung to her with filial fondness."

~Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre

inspiring me today

Are you loving this season? I always hate how fast it seems to flit on by. Here are some things that are helping me to remember to make the most of it and to love the things that really matter most.

Happy Holidays!

Savor // Shutter Sisters

A marvelous Christmas Mix by Marilyn of Passionista!

Sarah of Sarah Jane Studios (she's an illustrator and designs fabric... how cool is that?) posted her Christmas children's book advent last year and I love it. You don't even have to own all the books. You can get some library books, wrap them up (make sure you open them before they are due, of course), read them together, then return. She's a clever one, that Sarah.

I have loved this idea from Danyelle of dandee and I think we are going to try to use it this year with Millie (even though she is nine months old and couldn't careless one way or the other). Want. Need. Wear. Read. (You can read how they got started here.)

This video is so inspiring. The song is from Hue and Hum i.e. Caitlin and Robbie Connolly's Christmas album (that you can buy here). Caitlin is showing how she did the album artwork. Those two. Man. They make me want to create something all my own. (via here)

"Canned Bread & Butter," or How My View of Food Storage Has Changed Drastically.

Before last week, my idea of food storage was cans of beans, pillowcases of raw grains, and the occasional Twinkie for dessert. Nasty. Thanks to Grandma Hendrixson, my future food storage will actually be edible-- and even moreso, enjoyable and dare I say, delightful!

I give you,

How to can bread and butter!

Bread: You can use either the store bought dough, or make your own. When the dough is made, spray a tall Mason jar with Pam, making sure all surfaces are covered. Put the dough inside the jar, filling it about half way up, let rise, then put the jar (uncovered) in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

While it's baking, sterilize the tops of the jars by boiling them in a saucepan of water (you can see the saucepan in the picture above). When the bread is baked, take it out, cut off any muffin-top, and seal it with the sterilized top. Done! Soon you will hear the "ping!" of the top sealing.

Butter: First, sterilize the jars (without lids) in a 250 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Sterilize the lids in boiling water (see above).

Put 2 sticks of butter in a glass measuring cup and microwave until it's melted. Pour the melted butter in a jar and seal it. Keep melting butter and putting it in jars until you are done filling jars.

While the jars are cooling, make sure you are continuously shaking the jars until the butter hardens. You want the white stuff at the bottom of the jars to be mixed throughout the butter (see above). If there's still that separation when the butter hardens, you'll want to stick the jars in warm water to re-melt the contents, then keep shaking to mix everything together.

There you have it! Canned bread and butter. The butter, we know, lasts at least 5 years. The bread-- we're not sure. No one's ever kept it in storage long enough to find out. I guess it's just that good!

P.S. Neither bread nor butter need to be refrigerated. They will keep just fine on the shelf until opened.


To learn more about becoming self reliant, click here.