My grandma always had a “round tuit” on her fridge. I remember looking at the little round wooden circle with the word “tuit” on it and thinking it was the silliest magnet there ever was. What in the world was a tuit???
Finally one day I asked Grandma what a tuit was. She chuckled at me and asked me what shape the magnet was. Um…a circle. Circle Tuit? That doesn’t make any sense. Silly little magnet.
Then Grandma said that yes it’s a circle and if circles are round…what does that make the magnet?
Hmm…a round tuit. OH!!! A round tuit!!! I got it!!! AROUND TO IT!! Suddenly that little magnet went from being ridiculous to the funniest thing my grandma owned. I can still hear Grandma chuckle at me when my “light bulb” went on.
I always wondered what happened to Grandma’s tuit after she died. Of all things to wonder about. Apparently I had told my friend Anne about Grandma’s round tuit. Sometime last year, Anne found a wooden round tuit and gave it to me so that I could have one like my grandma had. Truly it was one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given.
But here is my question: Why…now that I have a round tuit can I still not ever get around to it?
I have so many things to do and posts to post…but I seem to never get around to it. I have an email inbox full of questions you’d like me to answer on my blog. Plus all kinds of recipes and links and fun ideas I want to share with you.
If only I could get around to it.
Here are some of the most popular questions I’ve received from you that I’m going to write about just as soon as I get around to it:
- Soaps and sundries…what kind of detergents, soaps, cleaners do I use?
- Homeschool schedule…how do I structure our day, teach all the boys and keep the little one occupied during it all?
- Grain Mills…which one do I have…which one do I recommend?
- Grinding Flour…does it save money to grind your own? What kind of grain do I like?
- Making bread…for those who are new at making bread…would I please share a tutorial on the whole process, especially how to knead the bread?
- Giving little boys hair cuts
There are others waiting in my inbox…but I think I can safely say that those are the most frequently asked questions.
I’m going to make a big effort to answer these questions within the next few weeks.
What I need to know is: WHICH of these questions are you interested in me answering first? Which one is more important for you to know about? I’ll be answering all of them as I get a round tuit…but help me out by sharing what you want me to work on first?!
Giving little boys hair cuts !!!!
I second the motion! After three girls, I NEED to learn how to give a little boy a haircut!
Ooh, Ooh, ooh! Bread kneading tutorial, please!
By the way, I love your blog and recipes!
My grandma totally has one of those on her fridge and I still laugh about it every time I see it when I’m visiting (I live 1700 miles away now).
I REALLY would love for you to write about your homeschool schedule. I would also like to know how you structured your days when you first started off. I have one in K, a 3 y/o and a 12 mo. old. I know that is probably a completely different post but if you could some day share that I would absolutely love it!
Haircuts!!!
For purely selfish reasons, I would like a boy haircut tutorial and bread making tutorial.
Homeschool schedule & how you did it starting off
I’d love to know about your soaps and if you made your own. I did for a while but then found out that borax can cause infertility.
And I’d also like to see a pictoral view of little boys haircuts. That would be so helpful!!!
Thanks
I would love to hear about your schedule and the dtergents and soaps…
oops detergents..
Bread making tutorial!! I have everything to make it, just fail at it every time!!
Next up would be your homeschool schedule.
Chris
Soap/Detergents and Boys Haircuts
First choice: Little boy haircuts!
Second Choice: Soaps, etc
I would love to hear about what grain mill and grain you recommend. I use a lot of Prairie Gold Wheat and would love to grind my own, but I want to be sure I get the right mill.
#1 Homeschool schedule… This would be my biggest need as I have children ages 6, 4, 3, and 1. It’s a little crazy trying to do school. The best thing I’ve found so far is waiting until the 1 yod is napping and having the other two sit quietly and read, however, I hate to wait to get it done until the late afternoon…getting it knocked out in the morning would be so much better.
#2 Making bread… For some reason, I almost always have a hole in the middle of my loaf. I thought it might be a result of my shaping method, but after trying a number of things, I still end up with a hole. :/ – I’m wondering if my oven temperature isn’t off a smidge.
#3 Giving little boys hair cuts…I always buzz my son’s hair since it’s so easy but it would be nice to have something else to try.
#4 Soaps and sundries…
My two cents on the last two…
– Grain Mills…I already have the Wonder Mill which has worked well for us over the past three years. I might be inclined to purchase the Nutrimill after this one dies though as it’s canister holds more flour. Although, maybe not, because I heard that it’s hard to clean. :/
– Grinding Flour…Already do it. Does it save money to grind your own? It depends on what you’re already accustomed to buying. If you buy the .99 cent special for bread, making your own bread will not likely save you money. However, if you’re buying bread at a few dollars a loaf, you’re going to save some money. There are a lot of factors here. It doesn’t save us money because we always bought the cheapest loaf, but I wouldn’t change it for the world after reading Sue Becker’s article on the benefits of freshly milled.
What kind of grain do I like? I always use Hard Red Wheat because it is the least expensive in our area ($25/50# bag from a local Mennonite…no chemicals ;), and I don’t notice a huge difference between the various types of wheat.
Thanks for taking the time to share YOUR thoughts and experience with us!!! :D
Warmly,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth,
When you form your loaves, if you slam each one on the counter about 7 times, it should eliminate the hole in the middle. Slamming it will pop those pesky little air bubbles. Then I just plop it in the pan, and let that shape the loaf. Hope that helps.
I would love to hear about your homeschool schedule. I have three boys, 13, 8 and 3 and let me tell you the three year old is WILD! (In a very boyish way, not a BAD way!LOL) I also am a better late gal so we are just getting into the MAJOR schooling with the older two this year. Last year it was only one child (for the most part) and it was a breeze! This year has not only two children but one very active 3 yo! I would love to hear how you deal with BOYS and schooling! Gotta love boys:)
Shorty
#1 Bread making tutorial
#2 Little boys haircuts! MY youngest has hair in his eyes and it is driving me crazy. I am ready to chop it off any day now….
Bread making please.
#1 Giving little boys haircuts
#2 Soaps, detergents, etc, and have you ever made your own?
soaps and sundries please!
the recipe I sent you originally said borax is optional so I don’t always use it, just the washing soda in the recipe.
With all the essence oils and glycerine one can buy cheap online I just don’t know where to start? And I would like to learn to make home cleaning products as well. So far I only know 1 thing: amonia + bleach =lethal.
A round Tuit!!That is so funny.Later I`m going to see if anyone in our family can guess what that means!!
Sounds like you have alot of great ideas for future posts!!I`m looking forward to reading them!!You also gave me alot of great ideas for my blog as well!!! I hope you don`t mind if I borrow some of them sometime:)Take care!!!
I vote for homeschool schedule and grain mills please! We just started homeschooling our four “littles” this year. (all under age 6) and I’m hoping to get a grain mill for my upcoming bday.
And also…for those interested in making your own soap try the blog, passionatehomemaking.com
I think she does a really wonderful job explaining what’s bad and good and has good soap recipes that are inexpensive and natural.
I would love to know more about your homeschooling schedule. Do you have any suggestions for my 2 year old? We’ve been working on tactical skills like cutting, playing with clay, coloring etc. while little sis (9 mo) is napping in the mornings.
Do you have a BOSCH mixer to “knead” your bread dough?
Haircuts, bread, soaps.
Thanks for taking the time to post everyday! I am a loyal reader and really enjoy your blog. Even though you feel you don’t have time to get around to it, your blog is still helping and entertaining many people!
Making bread…I have never done it. It is super intimidating to me even though its probably not that hard. I’ve never done it, nor do I know anyone who makes there own bread…so “making bread for dummies”…Please!
homeschool schedule please!
Soaps and sundries!
I would love to hear about your homeschool schedule! We are new to homeschooling this year ( I have a K5 and and 3yr. old) and I am struggling with how to structure my day. Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks!
I’d love to hear about the grain mills and grinding flour. Also, about little boys haircuts–It seems crazy to pay like $10 every month to get it done, but I’m scared to do it myself, especially since he’s only 19 months!
Haircuts please!!!! You should see the number I did on my son this weekend and I’m not talking about the guard number either! :)
Soaps and sundries get my vote but any of the topics would be interesting!
Breadmaking
grainmill
haircut for little boys
Please tell us how to cut little boys’ hair. I have three sons. This would be a big financial savings. Thanks.
Homeschool schedule first please. I have an 11th grade boy and a 4 going to be 5 year old boy. Some inspiration for dealing with that would be a blessing. Thanks!
Then any bread making and grain grinding info would be good.
I love the round tuit! Now you’ve got me on the hunt for one for my husband.
I would love to learn about cutting boys’ hair. Coincidently, I was just talking about this last night as a skill I wanted to learn.
Bread-making, pretty please!
Soaps and detergents are next on my wish list.
I would be curious about the soaps — without borax (or lavender), please ;-)
I should be interested in boys’ haircuts, but I like to leave the ‘barbering’ to DH and the barber – I can do a buzz just fine.
re. bread-making, I LOVE our Electrolux mixer. I chose the NutriMill grain mill since you can’t hurt it by starting/stopping in midst — and I need to be available. It sounds like my own private jet, but it does a nice job with the grains. I use a pastry brush to sweep the flour out of the ‘corners.’
Oh, and we also really like hard white wheat. DH thought the taste improved tremendously with fresh ground. I can ‘hide’ it in about anything. And it is much cheaper than buying ww flour from the coop (UNFI).
Question on bread too, though. I used to add vital gluten. I’m out and would rather not use it. So I’ve added lemon juice (per friend’s suggestion) to somehow improve the texture/keeping of it. Last week I was out of lemon juice, so I decided to try some apple cider vinegar – just a slosh into the batch like I did with the lemon – usually added to the oats as they are soaking before I start mixing. Any scientific thoughts or personal experience with that? I guess my thought pattern was ‘soaking grains’ with something beyond the plain water. I would like to try the soaked flour bread, but haven’t done it yet. We do really like the pancake recipe!
Thanks, Laura. Love the Round Tuit, too! My kids found one rolling around the house the other week — maybe I’ll find it again and add a magnet for my frig =)
Little Boys Haircuts please!!! I have 3 very shaggy-haired, very little boys (age 4 and under) right now, to the point where I was about to look for a book on Amazon this week to try to learn how to do it myself! Two of them melt down at the hairdressers, and it’s so expensive anyway. I do also have another little boy who isn’t quite haircut age yet (2 months!) so I need to know these things for when he gets bigger! ;)
Also, homeschooling schedule. I’m about to start homeschooling my almost-5-year-old and have three others younger than him, so I would LOVE to see how you do it! I’m looking for good tips and examples!
If I had to pick just one of those, it would be the haircuts. Their hair is in their eyes already. Pleeease post soon! ;)
Grain mills and grinding flour costs please! I make bread already, am not yet homeschooling (he’s only 1) and love my vinegar and Charlie’s soap for things that need cleaning. So, selfishly I’d like to learn about grinding wheat.
Also, do you use a water filter system? I think I read that you did, but I’d love any and all info you could provide about what you do for water and what led you to that. We are really considering a Berkey and are looking for all the guidance we can get.
Thanks and keep up the great work,
Heather
A bread making tutorial would be great!
My vote is for bread making, please. Could you address these two questions?
1. Do you grind your flour on the finest setting or does it even matter?
2. If you freeze bread, do you slice it first so you can take out just what you need or just freeze the loaf whole?
Bread making!
That story about your grandma is adorable. Now I want one ;)
When I was a kid- my dad gave me one of those when I didn’t get around to cleaning my room. I thought it was kinda dorky then- but I wish I still had it now.
I would love to hear a combined grain grinding tutorial and breadmaking tutorial in one!! (and if it isn’t too much to ask just to throw in what your grinder is, more details could be in another :)
thanks!
homeschool schedule. I have 4 kids ages 8, 6, 3, and 1 and this is our 3rd year homeschooling, but boy do I still need some help in the getting it all done department.
next, would be, grain mill. I really would love one. They are selling this blender at Cosco right now (its called blend??? and I can’t remember the rest); it grinds rice and corn and stuff, it’s supposed to be better than the vitamix. Do you know anything about this blender?
I would love to know it all, but boy does my son need a haircut. Thanks.
Everything! But I’m considering beginning to grind my own flour, so info on that would be timely for me. Thanks!
Found this in my digging in case you can ever use it:
use unscented baking soda and bake it to make unscented washing soda.
baked bi-carbonate make carbonate by cooking off the moisture.
Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ¼ cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300 °F for 1 hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. You can use baked baking soda rather than washing soda in this recipe as baking soda from a grocery store is always food grade, while washing soda may not have the same purity requirements.
I would love to hear about baking bread. I can help you with the cutting hair post!!! I love to cut me some boy hair..hehe
Soaps and sundries please. I just learned about the toxic stuff in shampoos and how it is absorbed quickly through the skin. Help.
Thanks and love your blog. And I just need to figure out how to cut my own hair. I can cut boy hair as well as most professionals and my husband, too, but my own costs $30. I asked a friend and I had my daughter watch!!
God bless you for knowing what a Round Tuit is! My grandma had her Tuit needlepointed and hanging in her kitchen. I thought I was the only one who knew what it was. I’m now inspired to make my own Tuit. :)