It felt like a good idea

I love telling stories to children. I have to say that I think using felt pieces makes story telling extra fun. Children can see the story, and you can animate it for them. Then after you tell the story the children can play with the story elements.
I have even used felt pieces when teaching my creative writing class to older children. They loved it.
There are lots of sets out there to buy. The best ones tend to be rather expensive. I have been blessed because some friends gave us a bunch of felt pieces. Some of them are simple shapes and animal shapes. I use these to help the girls practice counting and simple addition and subtraction.
We also have some sets of fairy tale stories. They love to listen to those stories, then make up their own variations during their own pretend play time.
Most special of all, my Grammie gave me her felt board pieces that she used to use in Five Day Clubs. They are Bible characters and stories. Some came from kits, others she drew and colored herself. They are in amazing condition. It was so special for her to pass them to me. She knew I would use them as she had.

So, imagine my extreme excitement when I discovered a bag stuffed full of felt Bible pieces in our local thrift store for $20. I wanted to see what pieces it contained so I took it to the counter and opened it. Much to my dismay when the bag was opened an odious smell rose to my nose. To me the pieces reeked of cat pee. They were also covered in cat hair. (I am allergic to cats)

I brought this to the attention of the two ladies at the counter. So the ladies took turns sticking their faces in the plastic bag. "Oh no," they said ", it doesn't smell like cat pee, a cat just sat on it."
I was not convinced, I was still smelling cat pee, but they were sticking their faces into that smelly bag and coming back up only smelling cat.
So then began the group discussion as to whether or not these felt pieces could be washed.
Another customer joined the discussion and also smelled the bag. The lady thought they could probably be washed in the machine on cold and a delicate cycle.
Everyone had voted and I was out numbered. But, I was not going to pay $20 for a bag of felt pieces covered in cat fur and possibly cat pee.
So the ladies at the counter decided to take the bag of felt pieces to the experts in the back.
The experts in the back said that it reeked of cat pee and that they were going to throw it out. However, if I wanted them I could have them for free.
At this moment my brain malfunctioned.... it focused in on free felt pieces... sweet! I forgot to remember: #1. These are covered with cat pee. #2. They are covered with cat hair, and I am allergic. #3. I never looked to see what stories it contained. #4. Do I have time for this project?
Finally, after months of procrastination, I decided to open the smelly bag.
My friend Maria had started selling Norwex. The Norwex products are really quite amazing and I will be featuring them on my blog often. She gave me a sample bottle of the odor eliminator to test out. (All the products are environmentally friendly and safe for people with extremely sensitive allergies and asthma).

I threw the bag of stinky felt into the wash on cold with the odor eliminator. Amazingly it worked! There was no odor! But, they still had cat hair on them.
There were a lot more felt pieces in there than I realized. But the more I looked at them, the more random and weird they seemed. I had to lay them out to dry, and they took up my entire counter and table. Then I ended up using the lint roller on each piece. At this point Rory was very concerned that I had totally lost my mind.
I had to do an extensive online search to try and determine what story the pieces were from. In the end, they came from a bunch of different stories.
So there is a sad ending to this story.... I couldn't use any of the pieces!!! After all that time and energy.
However, the church has a similar set that someone donated. So maybe they will be used for good after all.
And, I got to test out the Norwex Odor Eliminator and I like it a latte! Check it out!

More than a Little Chicken

On Fridays I would like to take the time to talk about facing some of my many fears. Now, when I refer to something as a fear... it is more along the lines of an apprehension. For the purpose of this blog I will define 'fears' as:  things that I am not confident with, avoiding, have never done, or have tried with out much success. Since I have many  things that fit this description I have decided to devote a category to it on my blog. Here is the first installment of Freaky Friday. Freaky Friday is devoted to me sharing with you the story of how I tried to face yet another fear.

Today's Fear: Cooking a whole Bird

One of the most important keys to keeping your grocery budget down is to stop buying individual pieces of meat. It is best to wait until chicken goes on sale and then buy the whole bird. Your first meal will be Chicken Dinner, then you cut up and freeze the cooked meat and use it in other chicken dishes through out the month. From Chicken sandwiches, to salads, to stir fry, to chicken pot pie.... the list goes on. This should save you time and money.
I have heard this rule of thumb time and again. It makes sense.... I want to do it, but some how that bag of frozen, boneless, skinless, chicken breasts keep jumping into my cart while at Costco.

Then this little hen fluttered into my life....
As a family in the ministry at a church in a rural farming community we enjoy and also rely on people from the congregation sharing with us. We enjoy and survive on fresh meat, fruits and vegetables donated by people from their personal farms. It is a wonderful thing!
So when my friend Kris put a frozen chicken in each of my hands-- I thought "Here's my chance!"
These chickens came home with me sat in my freezer for a month, while I worked up the nerve to cook them. Then one day it happened.... we needed chicken. I defrosted the bird in the fridge and put it in the pan. Then I panicked.
What do I do with this thing! Do I need to reach up it's crevasse and pull some stuff out? Does it matter that there are a few feathers on the feet? Do I wash it off or something?

Fortunately my friend Maria was on her way over. She knew exactly what to do.
First she asked me, "How well did you know this chicken?"
"Well, I didn't know it personally, I am sure I saw it pecking around my friend's house before," I answered.
"Ah, so it's a laying hen!" Maria replied.
I just gave her a slow wide eyed nod at that point.
"Well in that case, put it in a pot and boil the heck out of it! Don't take it off the stove until the meat falls off the bones. You can't bake a laying hen, the meat will be too tough."

In a few swift moments Maria then sliced the laying hen open to make sure there were no parts left inside. She got rid of what remained. Then she washed the dirt off in cold water and plucked the remaining feathers.

I pulled out my one big pot and stuck the bird in there. But there was an issue with the feet. The fact that there were still feet.

No problem, Maria tired to use a knife to cut them off and then just started bashing the leg/foot against the edge of the pot until it broke off.

After filling the pot with water I added celery, onions, carrots and various herbs and olive oil to the pot while it simmered. Then when all the meat was falling off the bone I strained out the bones. I set some chicken and broth aside for chicken and rice soup. I kept a few containers of meat to use in Chicken Pot Pie. I also filled several ice cube trays with broth so that I would have smaller amounts available while cooking. Then I froze larger amounts of chicken broth in cleaned out yogurt containers.

As promised, that little chicken has provided several meals for us and lots of nourishing broth to use is many meals and soups to come.