DoodleBlog – Page 32 – Crazy Smart Articles from Timberdoodle.com

Grandma’s Raspberry Delight

1 Min Read

A delicious, robustly raspberry dessert with a layer of cream cheese, a delicious nutty crust, and topped with Cool Whip; this dessert is a favorite with our family, coworkers, and even the local fire department!

Ingredients

Crust:
2 cups flour
2 cubes butter
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Middle:
8 oz. Cream cheese
1 cup Cool Whip
1 cup powdered sugar

Top:
1 lg. Pkg. Raspberry Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
24 oz frozen raspberries
Cool Whip

Directions

Make The Crust

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cut butter into flour and add nuts.
Pat into a 9” x 13” pan.
Bake 10 – 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
Set aside to cool.

Make Filling

Mix cream cheese, 1 cup cool whip, and powdered sugar.
Spread on cooled crust.
Put in refrigerator and let set up.

Make Raspberry Layer

Mix Jell-O and water.
Add frozen berries.
Pour over cream mixture and refrigerate until set.

Frost with with Cool Whip and keep refrigerated until served!

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Do You Have A Hard Time Getting Your Gifts Wrapped “Just Right?”

By Joy D.

In Christmas, Tips, Tricks, and Opinions

1 Min Read

A few years ago, our family began a quirky birthday tradition of not wrapping our presents with wrapping paper. Instead, pillowcases, bags, towels, and even tablecloths are not-so-elegantly draped around the presents. Once all the presents are opened, there is no mess of crumpled paper, and we just put the linens back into the cabinet for the next birthday. It’s easy, economical, practical, and green! Not everyone prefers it though, and it isn’t a requirement. A couple of my siblings always choose the road more traveled and ask that their presents be wrapped in real wrapping paper; claiming that it adds to the festive mood. We do that willingly, but the majority of our family opts to receive their presents in reusable wrapping!

Our giveaway this week is for the notoriously difficult to wrap Bilibo! The winner will get to choose their favorite in-stock color of Bilibo, perfect for spinning, balancing, playing, or just sitting. Perhaps they will try out a Timberdoodle Family wrapping technique on their new Timberdoodle gift! Enter to win here on Facebook. For more information about our giveaways read this article.

Giveaway now closed, congratulations to Alyson B. of CA!

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Chocolate Noir Bar Recipe

By Pearl D.

In Family Recipes

2 Min Read

We first came across the Chocolate Noir Bars recipe a couple of years ago, and it quickly became a go-to Christmas recipe for our family. With a deliciously rich flavor, Chocolate Noir Bars were a perfect dessert for our second traditional Timberdoodle Monday Meal of the year!

Chocolate Noir Bars

Ingredients

Brownie Base:

1 & 1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 & 3/8 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1 & 7/8 cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt

Filling:

12 tablespoons butter or unsalted butter, divided
1 & 1/8 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
2¼ cups powdered sugar
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons vanilla

Topping:

¾ cup whipping cream
3 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter or unsalted butter
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder

Directions

Brownie Base:
1. Heat oven to 350. Grease jelly roll baking pan. Melt cocoa and shortening in large saucepan over low heat. Remove from heart. Mix in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in remaining Brownie Base ingredients. Spread in pan.

2. Bake 30 minutes or until brownies start to pull away from sides of pan. Do not overbake. Cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

Filling:
3. Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter and 1 & 1/8 cups chocolate chips over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool.

4. In large bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining 9 tablespoons butter with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. On low speed, beat in powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until blended. Beat in cooled chocolate on medium speed until well blended. Spread filling over cooled base. Cover, refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.

Topping:
5. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat cream, 3 cups chocolate chips, 3/8 cup butter and the espresso powder over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Cool until lukewarm, about 10 minutes.

6. Pour chocolate topping over filling; spread to cover bars. Refrigerate uncovered until set, at least 2 hours or overnight. Use wet knife to cut. Store covered in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

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Caramel Corn Recipe

By Pearl D.

In Family Recipes

1 Min Read

Our family-favorite caramel corn recipe. We are serving it today as part of our first traditional Monday Meal of the year!

Microwave Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

Popcorn, popped, approximately 6 quarts
2 cups brown sugar

½ lb. butter
½ cup white corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pecans, toasted, if desired

Put brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Cook on medium low and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Blend and pour over popcorn. If you plan to add nuts, do so immediately after you pour on the caramel. Mix well. Microwave on high for 90 seconds. Take out and stir well. Microwave again for 90 seconds. Stir. Microwave for 60 seconds. Stir. Spread on flat surface to cool.

Enjoy!

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If God Is Good: Faith In The Midst Of Suffering and Evil

By Pearl D.

In God and Homeschooling

2 Min Read

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and for many of us, the holidays are a wonderful time to celebrate with our family and friends. But for those who have been through a heartbreaking year, the holidays are often just a reminder of what they have lost. If you or loved ones are having a difficult time seeing how God is good during the hard times, then we recommend If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil.
We have followed with interest the ministry of Randy Alcorn for many years, so when he first came out with If God Is Good, it was a natural for Mom to order a copy to read. After reading it through, she really felt it was something we would all benefit from reading. We ordered more copies of it, one for each of us, and began to study it as a family. We would read about two chapters a week individually, meeting during our Monday morning family devotion time to talk through what we had read.
If you wonder how a good God could allow evil and suffering, or if you are not sure how to answer the questions your friends and family have about good and evil, then If God Is Good will be of substantial assistance. To enter to win a copy, leave a comment on Facebook. Winner will be announced on Monday.

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About Timberdoodle Drawings

By Pearl D.

In Timberdoodle News

3 Min Read

How our Facebook and Doodleblog drawings work:

Easiest Way To Enter
Option one is simple, just leave a comment at the bottom of the post answering the mandatory question.

“Best Odds” Way To Enter
Use this Punchtab plugin to enter:

It looks something like this (they continually upgrade the interface) and will allow you accumulate multiple entries as you click through the various tabs. It has had glitches in the past which have resulted in not every option being available to every entrant. (IE occasionally it won’t let people who are already Facebooks Fans like and unlike the Timberdoodle page in order to count that as an entry. It just shows that you haven’t done that page.) That is why we have chosen to always offer both this method and the simple one mentioned above. More about PunchTab and our initial experiences here.

More Details About PunchTab’s Giveaway Widget
Punchtab is constantly upgrading and refining their options, but as of 10/21/11 here are the ways you can earn entries:

Liking the giveaway on Facebook. (+1 entry)

Becoming a Facebook Fan of Timberdoodle. (+1 entry)

Leaving a comment about the giveaway. (+1 entry)

Tweeting about the giveaway. (+1 entry)

Sharing the giveaway on your Facebook wall. (+1 entry)

Sending Facebook invites to your friends. (+1 entry for each invite)

Distributing a unique invite link to our giveaway. (+1 entry for each friend that visits the giveaway and +5 entries for each friend that joins the giveaway)

I Don’t Want to (or can’t) Use Punchtab but I Want Multiple Entries
As you can imagine, we just don’t have an option for that right now. But please don’t despair; simply leaving a comment as the first method shows will enter you just as surely as through PunchTab, and it only takes one entry to win! (Limit of one comment entry per person and email address, if more than one are submitted, we’ll simply count the first one so you don’t have to worry about it. This rule is to prevent anyone from spamming the drawing by commenting over and over again to get more entries.)

It Won’t Let Me Comment
Occasionally we hear that someone has trouble leaving a comment. Whether your ad-blocker is blocking our captcha code or you just have something crazy going on with your display, there is a last-resort option for entering. Simply email HelpMeEnter@Timberdoodle.com with your entry comment (answering the question from the post) putting the giveaway name in the subject line and I’ll manually enter it here before drawing a winner.

Picking A Winner
When a contest ends we simply use Random.org to select a winning entry from among all of those which we received. That entry is then verified for eligibility (see below) and the winner is contacted via email or Facebook as well as being announced on our Facebook page. The winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize, after that time Timberdoodle is free to draw another winner or simply close the drawing as unclaimed.

Eligibility

• To be eligible you must have a USA shipping address for us to send the prize to.
• Winner must answer the question to be eligible.
• After winning a prize you are not eligible to win again for 30 days. (Just to give everyone a chance.)
• In addition to all other legal requirements, these giveaways are not open to Timberdoodle employees.

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Timberdoodle’s Homeschool Vodcast

By Joy D.

In Our History

2 Min Read

We’d played with videos for awhile, so in 2010 we eagerly jumped into the world of vodcasting and set the lofty goal of one vodcast per week. 44 weeks later, we’ve produced 36 official vodcasts (including two which are awaiting release!) and released 10 Special Edition Vodcasts!

You have been very understanding as we learn through experience. Employees have either delighted in or turned down opportunities to star, and we have enjoyed roping in Nehemiah’s daughter, the little ones we babysit and even local talent such as baby Elisha and his mom!

About Today’s Giveaway (this post was originally part of our 25-year-anniversary giveaway celebration.)
One of our earliest homeschool vodcasts was this one about Bubber:

We were shocked and delighted when Nehemiah decided (on camera) to sample the Bubber, proving how non-toxic it is! While we don’t recommend eating it, Bubber is still an ongoing favorite around here. People of all ages find it difficult to leave alone and still harder to explain its texture. Soft as silk, light as a feather, unsticky circus peanuts… however you choose to describe Bubber, know that it is a fantastic alternative to modeling clay or sand. Wee ones will have fun squishing Bubber, while older children will love using the Castle Molds to make castles, muffins and all sort of other amazing creations. The most artistic in your group will want to use the mirett to carve details into the Bubber or make molds for Plaster of Paris. Moms will be relieved to know that Bubber vacuums up, even out of carpet, and does not leave a sticky residue.

Today’s Giveaway includes 1 Giant Bag of Bubber in your choice of color, 1 Castle Mold Set, and one Mirett.

Or read all about the giveaways here

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Surprise! Curriculum Planning Really Isn’t For Everyone. (Let’s build curriculum kits)

By Joy D.

In Our History, Science

3 Min Read

Timberdoodle Complete Core Curriculum — 4th Grade Core Curriculum

Families tell us they love our Core Curriculum Packages but I wonder how many realize why it took us so long to offer that option.

For over twenty years we clung to the belief that if you were going to go to the work of homeschooling, you would want to hand-select each item for each child. After all, that was what our family had chosen to do!

Of course, we had always been eager to help families, and it was not uncommon for a mom to call asking where to start for a particular grade. We would give some recommendations and often that was exactly what was needed.

Late in 2008 though, Mom realized that she and Dad approached computer issues very differently. Dad is very into technical specs and pricing on each component and won’t hesitate to build a computer to suit exactly what we need. Mom, on the other hand, expects her computer to work really well, but has no interest learning about the components. If not for Dad’s knowledge and interest, she would simply pick a package that looked good to her, open the box, and run with it.

Suddenly it dawned on her that this is what some moms face when they look at curriculum. The options are overwhelming, the details don’t make sense, and what they really need is someone they trust to point them in the right direction.

That was the last bit of motivation we needed to begin offering Timberdoodle’s Complete Core Curriculum. We took our general recommendations and began the process of making sure that each grade was complete and that it made sense sequentially.

We launched ourCore Curriculum packages in 2009, and immediately received feedback that they were very helpful for busy moms and those new to homeschooling. Other moms loved having a starting place for their own unique customizations. Then, with a quick email or phone call their own custom curriculum would be ready to order!

About Today’s Giveaway
In formalizing our recommendations we realized that we really didn’t have a good science program for grades 1-4 and began looking for something to fill that gap. Apologia’s Elementary – Young Explorers Series was perfect! “Not only does this in-depth curriculum, with its gorgeous full-color pictures and captivating, God-exalting text, sparkle in comparison to the mainstream dry-bones science program, it utilizes what we believe is the most sensible method to teaching science, the immersion approach…”

Or read all about the giveaways here

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2008 – Disasters On The Road

By Joy D.

In Our History

6 Min Read

It all started innocently enough. Timberdoodle was invited to purchase booth space at a California homeschool convention. During the past 2 years we had been easing our way back into the local homeschool conference/convention scene and decided to go for it.

Conference preparation went smoothly and we pulled out nearly on-schedule Tuesday morning. The trailer was packed full of inventory and heavy shelving, and we were pulling it all with our best towing vehicle at the time, an older Ford van.

Just after noon we were a little way from Medford, Oregon when one of the trailer tires totally shredded. We put on a spare tire and limped to the nearest Les Schwab’s, where they replaced it for us. We ate a late lunch and got back on the road, making it to Sacramento late that night. (It was our first time in California in 14 years!)

We don’t do well in heat, being used to Washington’s cool temperatures. Since Sacramento was over a hundred degrees, we were very grateful to get to a hotel that would have air conditioning – we thought. Technically, it did have AC, but it wasn’t powerful enough to help much. We also heard that the lowest temperature that night was at a record high – in other words, it didn’t cool down very much that night.

Wednesday morning we hit the road early and kept driving. Our engine was continually getting too hot on the passes – and the passes were plentiful. At the base of the Grapevine Pass we stopped, because our engine was already hot and we knew that the Grapevine was notorious for being hard to cross. Thankfully there was a gas station attendant who was kind to us, and he helped Dad to hose off our engine & cool it down a little, without cracking anything. We restocked our drinking water supply and continued over the pass, noting the many cars and trucks that had pulled over to the side.

Wednesday night we were delighted to roll into Anaheim and unpack into our hotel, which was not only nice and comfortable, but it also had working air conditioning! Thursday-Saturday were spent at our conference, where the attendance was disappointingly low but the people surprised us by their kindness and excitement to see our materials.

Sunday was spent visiting our cousin and her family’s church, dropping by their house, and then making our way to the beach to swim. Krissy’s family had flown Krissy, her sister Jamie and their mom in that afternoon, so we took the girls to the beach and played in the water. Monday and Tuesday were our fun days. We went to Disneyland for the first time, in order to take Krissy! She had been talking about this adventure (and saving up her cash) for months, and it was really neat to experience it with her for the first time. Those experiences (mostly good) fill pages of our family scrapbook, but I won’t take your time by recounting them here!

Wednesday we bade farewell to California and began the long drive home. While in the passes we saw a truck that had just been forced to use one of the brake-failure pull-off gravel strips. While talking about that, the truck in front of us started going slower and slower, and we began to get antsy. We talked about pulling around him, wondered if he was aware of the speed limit and just generally hoped he would speed up. At that moment, Dad tested his brakes and found he had NO car brakes! Because we had been traveling at such a slow speed, our trailer brakes alone (that was all we had!) were enough to stop us as we pulled off the side of the road. After cooling down the brakes we were able to limp into the next town Very Slowly and get our brakes worked on. Even though they squeezed us right in it took hours to get them fixed, and we were very ready to move on as soon as they finished.

As dinnertime approached and we were all shot, we stopped for a quick dinner and then headed back out again. Before hitting the road, we asked Dad if we needed to fuel up yet, and he didn’t think so, so we proceeded back up the freeway. Just a few minutes later, the van stalled. We couldn’t figure out why, until Dad finally realized that the 2nd tank which he’d thought was full, was in fact empty, and we were stranded by the side of the road simply due to lack of fuel. AAA sent out a tow truck, and while we were waiting Dad happened to notice an extremely flat tire.

Because of the fuel issue, we spotted the tire in a timely fashion and avoided potentially rolling the van & trailer. Once we saw God’s provision for us, it became a little easier to sit by the side of the road and wait! It still took a few hours for the truck to get to us and us to work out the fuel issue and change the tire. We were delighted to get back on the road, even if it was well after sunset!

Thursday we had serious transmission issues, but managed to limp home exhausted. We were sure that if we ever traveled to California again, it would not be with this car! We were also struck by how many times God protected us from very dangerous situations, even before we knew it. Also, I’m not sure home has ever looked better to us!

About Today’s Giveaway
Whether you are a seasoned traveler or prefer to spend most of your time at home, geography is important. Is there a better way to teach/reinforce geography than GEOpuzzles? The pieces of GEOpuzzles are shaped like individual countries or states, so you learn as you put the puzzle together. GEOpuzzles are made from durable cardboard. Jumbo-sized and brightly-colored GEOpuzzle pieces are easy for chubby hands to manipulate. Winner of a Dr. Toy Smart Play/Smart Toys Award, GEOpuzzles are perfect for ages four to 12, but we’ve found that few adults can leave them alone at conferences!

Or read all about the giveaways here

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2007 – Homeschool Firefighters?

By Joy D.

In Our History

3 Min Read

You may remember that Abel wanted to be a firefighter from toddlerhood. At age 18 he joined as a volunteer firefighter and soon was enrolled in classes and running calls. The more he did, the more he came home and talked about his experiences, and the more he tried to persuade us to join too. To make a long story short, two of my sisters and I joined the fire department in 2007, (Pearl wasn’t old enough yet) and in the fall we began EMT class. Abel has since worked a couple summers as a temporary hire for the department, while my sisters and I are strictly volunteers, and love it that way.

Because we work for Timberdoodle, we often have the luxury of being able to respond from work when the alarm sounds. The work will still be waiting for us when we return, and we can simply pick up where we left off! Of course there are days when deadlines are pressing and pagers must be turned off, but more often than not, at least some of us will jump into our cars, drive to the station, and respond to assist the medics.

As you can imagine, it is a bit unusual to have four adult siblings responding together! I can’t imagine being as close as we are today if it were not for the blessing of being homeschooled. Because we were home so much and actually learned to deal with issues as they came up, we enjoy working together and it is still a huge thrill for us when all four of us respond together. Another way homeschooling has blessed us is that we learned how to learn and we learned to love learning – particularly valuable in the ever-changing world of emergency medicine!

I still can’t believe we actually get to drive ambulances and fire trucks, help at wrecks, transport patients… but that never would have happened if not for the flexibility we get here at Timberdoodle! All our coworkers put up with the alarms and speedy dashes out the door with patience and good humor.

About Today’s Giveaway
Homeschool Movie Making is a lot of fun and a great gift, and where better to start than with an engaging manual (The Klutz Book Of Animation) and a Stikfas Emergency Response Team to begin your Stop Motion adventures. All you’ll need to add is a camera of some sort – that inexpensive digital camera you already have laying around would be perfect.

Or read all about the giveaways here

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