Lady A and I made a litre of yogurt today....well actually we started it last night and finally were able to eat it today.  Thanks 

to my grandma for donating the yogurt making machine it was a relatively easy process.  We used the recipe in the instruction booklet.

                         31/2 cups homo milk

                            1/2 cup dry fat free milk

                            1/2 cup yogurt (for a starter)

Heat milk and powdered milk until close to a boil and then put the pot in cold water to bring the mixture to room temp.  Next you stir in the yogurt and and throw the whole thing into what looks like a plastic thermos that plugs in.  Leave it in the machine for 4-12 hours depending on how bitter you like it........ we only left it in for 4 hours because the bitterness of plain yogurt drives me nuts. After that you put it in the fridge for 2 hours min and VOILA you have yogurt.  I must admit that ours had a wonderful custardy taste but the texture was quite distgusting...sort of like white school glue.  I 

have a feeling it has something to do with the powdered milk..... maybe i put in too much.  My task for tonight is searching online to solve my yogurt texture mystery.  I do love being able to make things from scratch and buy as little packaged goods as possible.  I lay in bed thinking last night about the benefits of  making my own yogurt as opposed to buying it and I came to the conclusion that I really just like the idea of knowing that I am having a hand in my family's health and that I am somehow nurturing a healthy attitude towards food for Lady A.  

She helped make her breakfast this morning, of course including the yogurt which she referred to as "slimey" and only had 2 mouthfuls of.  I choked mine back because I was trying to set a good example but I'm sure 

my face was telling a different story as I was exclaiming "oh this is delicious"......oh the things we do for our kids.  

Is it fun or is it child labour???

In an effort to organize my life I am going to start blogging again... and I know that all of my faithful readers are jumping out of their computer chairs with joy.  My life is so full of excitement and change right now that I feel like I should be documenting it (I guess a plain old journal would have done the trick).

We have eliminated TV from our home for a one year experiment (except for Friday night movie night) in an effort to become more creative as a family a la Soulemama and her book The Creative Family .   It has only been a month so far and I think we are all doing really well except for the minor freakouts that quickly pass with the suggestion of playing Mr. Potatoe Head.  I am hoping to include pics of our daily creativity and fun because I am finding that without TV we all have really become more imaginative and willing to participate in life....which always makes for hilarious pictures.  

Today we spent a lot of time playing in the sink washing dishes.  Lady A decided that it was essential that she pull her little chair up to my tiny sink area to wash the dishes and play in the sink, so I let her have at it.  She spent so much time scrubbing the pots (for fun)that they actually came clean for once. She also spent a lot of time dumping large amounts of water out of the sink and onto the floor.  I am certain that I am now going to have to battle for a place at the sink every time the dishes need to be done.  I tried handing her the dishtowel so that she could feel important with the ever so  helpful job of drying but she quickly threw it to the ground yelling "NO YIKE IT" and hopped back up on her chair.  I think we both learned something today....Lady A learned the obvious fun factor of playing in the water and I learned that fun at the sink actually equals a lot of mother labour in the clean up department.