Down the Road Less Traveled

Weekly Menu Planning

2011-02-07T22:46:00.000-06:00

Mon. – Creamy potato soup, steamed broccoli, roasted garlic bread

Tues. – Veggie lasagna, French bread, salad
Wed. – Cheese/bean quesadillas, black beans, corn
Thurs. – Farmer’s Pie, rolls
Fri. – Homemade pizza, bread sticks, salad
Sat. – Sesame stir fry, rice, homemade egg rolls
Sun. – Leftovers

Homemade Pickles - Straight from the Garden

2010-09-08T16:14:00.000-05:00

Back to School

2010-09-07T22:07:00.001-05:00

Today was our first day back to “school.” So, what does that mean for homeschooled children that go to “school” year-round? Well, it means that my kids happily plunged into their new materials that have been sitting on the shelf waiting for them for the past few weeks. We still have a few loose ends to tie up from last year, but for the most part, everyone is moving forward with new materials.

With a new school year comes an updated family schedule. I wish I could tell you that wake up every morning, fly by the seat of our pants, and everything is magically completed at the end of the day. Unfortunately, that just isn’t so. I try every so often to work without a schedule, and find that we just don’t get as much done. So, the schedule is updated and perfected each year to reflect our needs. Again, we structure our time, not our content, still giving us quite a bit of flexibility with our day.

We have also updated our chore chart. The kids were getting tired of completing the same old chores each day, so to mix it up, we decided that we’d change chores every six months or so, so that everyone got a chance at the different chores.

In order to help us remember what we would like to get accomplished each day, the kids have a daily work chart.

If you can’t tell, I am a visual person, so the charts help me to know what we still have left to accomplish each day. I have each chart in a page protector on the refrigerator so the kids can mark off each item when they complete them, with a dry erase marker.

I am working to get a listing of each of their curricula and will post it as soon as I have it complied.

Here’s to a great “school year”!

Oily Beach - My Child's Unprompted Feelings

2010-09-01T20:02:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday - Jolie's Second Locks of Love Donation

2010-06-09T21:02:00.008-05:00

Locks of Love

Tackle It Tuesday - Homeschool Papers

2010-05-18T20:43:00.005-05:00

For me, I never know exactly what I should save of the kids' "school work." I am one of those who could save every scrap of paper the kids ever scribbled on. Because I know that about myself, rather than fight the urge, I have come up with a mini-compromise...organization.

For school work, I comb bind the kids' papers each year for each subject. Well, actually it has been several years since I have taken the time to get the comb binder out, so that was my challenge for today. I organized each child's work according to subject and year, and then put it all in chronological order.

Putting everything in chronological order is the most time consuming. The kids place their completed work on the right side of their folder, saving the left side for unfinished work. I had multiple folders to go though for my older two, spread over several years, which made for a fun game of hide and seek.

The comb binding is a synch, and takes hardly any time at all. I got my comb binder as a gift one year, and have gotten quite a bit of use out of it. I would highly recommend one for any homeschooling family. It comes in particularly handy for binding handwritten or typed stories that the kids have illustrated.

After my comb binding, I organized all of the kids' completed workbooks and placed them in a box. Not too difficult. I would like to upgrade to a Rubbermaid container at some point, but for now a moving box works just fine.

Next I tackled the unused curricula. It all fit in one moving box as well. I took out the supplies we'll need for next year and organized all of the books by subject. I will have to get the box back down at the end of this "school year" so I can put away this year's books, but they should all fit nicely.

So I feel I accomplished something today. I went from having several boxes of loose papers on the floor of my closet to having comb bound "books" by subject, date, and child. And the three boxes will take up considerably less space in my closet.

Wordless Wednesday - Armed Forces Kids Run

2010-05-12T21:49:00.007-05:00

Child Safety Seat Laws

2010-04-07T20:21:00.002-05:00

Today I did some research on child safety seat laws after talking with a friend about car seats. I thought I knew the child safety seat laws for the state of Florida, but after our discussion, I realized that we had different ideas on the actual "law" in Florida.

I was surprised to find out just how diverse the child safety seat laws are across the country. One state might require a child to be in a booster seat until they are 8 years old AND 80 lbs., while another might only require that a child is in a car seat until age 3.

I am disappointed that Florida has some of the least stringent laws regarding child safety seats in the country. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website, in Florida a child 3 years and younger must be in a child restraint, and children 4-5 years old are permitted to wear adult safety belt. With that said, technically none of my children are required to be in a safety seat of any sort. I'm not good with that. My youngest is 4, but is only 35 lbs, and my 7 year old is only 42 lbs. I do not feel that either one of them should be riding in a vehicle without some sort of child safety seat. In the case of my 4 year old, he is currently in a traditional car seat, while my 7 year old is in a high-back booster seat. To be honest, my 10.5 year old just stopped using a backless booster seat last year, and is about 65 lbs.

I tend to lean on the side of caution and safety, and prefer the guidelines set out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA advises parents of four steps to help protect their children while riding in a vehicle.

1. Infants - from birth to at least 1 year old and at least 20 pounds For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until a minimum of age 1 and at least 20 pounds.

2. Toddlers - Age 1 & 20 lbs to Age 4 & 40 lbs When children outgrow their rear-facing seats (at a minimum age 1 and at least 20 pounds) they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds).

3. Children - from about age 4 to at least age 8 Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds), they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly. Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest (usually at age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall).

4. Tweens - age 8 and older When children outgrow their booster seats, (usually at age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall) they can use the adult seat belt in the back seat, if it fits properly (lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest).

I would encourage everyone to find out the child restraint laws in their state. If the laws in your state seem a bit lax, you may want to adopt the guidelines set forth by the NHTSA. Sometimes meeting the minimum standard just isn't enough when it comes to the safety of our children.

Fieldtrip to the Battleship USS Alabama

2010-02-25T22:03:00.007-06:00

This month's Co-op fieldtrip was an adventure to Mobile to see the USS Alabama battleship and the USS Drum submarine. Since Hubby is a US Navy sailor, our family knows a thing or two about ships, but they were all young (or not born) the last time we toured a naval ship.

The USS Alabama is a decommissioned WWII battleship that was purchased with donations collected by Alabama school children in 1964 after they learned that the ship was to be scrapped. On January 9, 1965, the USS Alabama was opened to the public, and was later joined by the USS Drum on July 4, 1969.

The kids had a wonderful time. Some of the younger children were a bit hesitant to go down the first few ladder wells, but by the end of the tour, most of them were handling them like pros. My younger two, on the other hand, did not care for the ladder well at all, so I had to carry Jensen down all of the ladder wells, while Jolie walked down directly behind me so I could catch her if she fell.

It was fun to see how sailors lived during WWII. Many things were different about their "ship life," but there were many more that were very similar to way sailors live on ships today.

Here are a few photos from our adventure. Enjoy!

King Arthur's Sour Cream Muffins

2010-02-16T21:42:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite holiday gifts of 2009 was the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook that Hubby got me. We've sampled quite a few of the recipes, and have loved every one. Our favorite recipe thus far has been the Sour Cream Muffins.

Sour Cream Muffins

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen berries or diced stone fruits

Coarse sugar for sprinkling

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the bowl to ensure the butter is fully incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix just until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients on low speed and mix just until the batter is smooth. Gently fold in the fruit. Refrigerate the batter at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a muffin tin or line with papers. Scoop the batter by the 1/4-cupful into the prepared muffin pan. Bake the muffins until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 to 26 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

We have tried both chopped, frozen red raspberries and chopped, frozen strawberries as add-ins on different occasions. The photos above are the strawberry version. I also have substituted low fat yogurt for the sour cream on both occasions. I don't always have sour cream on hand, but usually do have plain yogurt and have found that the plain yogurt still gives a recipe a similar bite as the sour cream, but without all of the fat and calories.

Room For Everyone

2010-02-11T22:33:00.007-06:00

This is the scene at our house most nights.

I'm not sure why we even have another bedroom for the kids. My vote is to buy a king size bed for the kids and the puppy, and turn the other bedroom into an office/guest room. Not really, but the thought does cross my mind from time to time.

Aren't they cute?

New Year, New Blog Layout

2010-02-08T21:12:00.003-06:00

Out with the old, and in with the new.

I thought it was about time to give this old blog a bit of a face lift...and hopefully with the face lift will come some more frequent blogs.

I did some searching on how to create my own blog background and found that digital scrapbooking materials do the job well. I found several sites, but liked the materials offered at ShabbyPrincess the best. ShabbyPrincess has some great scrapbooking collections that they offer as free downloads for personal use (even for use on personal, NON-commercial, blogs - check out their Terms). PowerPoint 2007 worked wonders for creating my background and made saving it as a .jpeg a breeze (just be cautious because not all of the older versions of PowerPoint have that nifty ability). I uploaded the background .jpeg and header .jpeg to PhotoBucket (but, again, I'm sure another site, such as Picasa, would have worked as well). A little fiddling with Blogger and I was done.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

If you get a chance, jump on over and check out Jolie's new blog background. She, too, is hoping to get some new blogs posted in the near future. She has already begun writing a new story to post.

Pickles on Their Eyes

2010-01-11T22:39:00.003-06:00

One of my children, who shall remain anonymous, asked the other day why people put pickles on their eyes. I explained that it was cucumbers that people sometimes put on their eyes, and it was to relieve puffiness. I was then corrected that cucumbers are made into pickles, so technically they were pickles. Rather than argue, I just smiled.

So, here are my little ones with pickles on their eyes...

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

2010-01-11T21:50:00.004-06:00

In less than a month I will be running the Pensacola Double Bridge Run. As the title suggests, it is a 15K run over the two bridges from Pensacola, through Gulf Breeze, and onto Pensacola Beach.

I consider myself to be a fit person, exercising quite regularly. I run, bike, hike, kayak, walk. I even participated in a 5 hour Adventure Race with my hubby last year. But I have yet to run 9.3 miles in one stretch.

I'm working my booty off (literally) in preparation for this race. Hubby and I ran 61 minutes on Sunday (he's running the race too). I'm trying to keep up with Dad, who ran over an hour as well on Sunday. He'll also be joining us for the race.

I'm looking forward to the continued challenge of extending my runs and ultimately running the 15K race. A first place (or any place) ribbon are not on my agenda. I'm just looking forward to the challenge and finishing the race. I'd love to work myself up to a half marathon in the next few years...but let's focus on one challenge at a time.

Hubby and I also planned out our two Adventure Races for the year. We're looking at one in June and one in September. I truly enjoy spending time with him preparing for and participating in these races. Woohoo for marrying your best friend! Let the good times continue to roll.

2010 Goals

2010-01-04T21:16:00.001-06:00

With a new year come new goals. January 1st always feels like an opportunity at a fresh start. I used to have New Year’s “resolutions,” but like many, found that they were in some cases too lofty to actually achieve, or became tedious after a few months. Instead of “resolutions,” I like the idea of “goals.” Goals give me something to strive for, and if for some reason I find them to be too overwhelming, I have the opportunity to alter them as needed.

After reading about The Happy Housewife’s goals, I decided to break my goals down into categories, that way I can work on multiple areas of my life this year.

My 2010 Goals

Organization
Purge the house – work on one room each month (clean from top to bottom)
Hold two garage sales (spring/fall)
Reevaluate filing system – purge unneeded items; possibly scan others to disk

Health
Stay active – make exercising a priority (30+ minutes 5+ days/week)
Complete two or more running/adventure races
Complete the Detox Strategy or similar detox program
Try an Elimination and/or Rotation diet

Financial
Do not add pay increase to budget – save part of the increase (to fund fall vacation), pay down Jeep with the rest
Check budget weekly to monitor spending

Learning
Increase time spent reading to kids
Work more one-on-one with each child
Schedule kids’ learning time around their individual clocks (Jolie early morning, Jensen midday, Jake early evening)
Plan and order new materials in the spring to avoid rush

Personal
Have some fun – go on a monthly date night with Hubby (rock climbing, kayaking, biking, etc.)
Try hard to stick to my schedule – I know I work best with a schedule, and need to stick to it
Get out in the garden daily (if the weather allows)
Decrease computer time
Read more books that are outside my comfort zone (political, economic, etc.)

Dancing Eves are Fun!

2009-12-23T20:52:00.005-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Decking the Halls

2009-12-22T21:27:00.003-06:00

Photos of our home decorated for the winter holidays.

You Lied to Me!

2009-12-22T21:14:00.001-06:00

So, apparently I am a liar.

This year, Jensen has become obsessed with the holidays. And when I say holidays, I mean presents. For a child that is usually very giving and non-materialistic, he just won’t leave the idea alone. It is puzzling to me.

While I was reading an article today, Jensen came up and asked me a question. I was focused on the article so I said, “wait a minute,” so I could finish the article and then focus my attention on him. When I finished the article he said that he was going to open a present from under the tree. I told him that he needed to wait a few more days, and then we would open the gifts.

Jensen stopped dead in his tracks and glared at me.

Jensen - “You lied to me! You told me that I could open a present.”
Me - “No, I didn’t. It isn’t time yet.”
Jensen – “You told me I could open one ‘in a minute.’”

With a smile, I had to explain to him that I meant that I would be able to listen to his question in a minute, not that he’d be able to open a gift. He wasn’t pleased with my answer and walked away sulking, assured that I had lied to him.

Note to self – remember that four year olds are in a literal phase of development.

Thanksgiving Recap

2009-12-16T21:27:00.005-06:00

For the past twenty years or so my family has been spending Thanksgiving in the Smokey Mountains. When we started the tradition, my family shared a small two bedroom cabin with some family friends. We have now grown from four adults and six young children sharing a tiny cabin, to 20+ people splitting two large, luxury cabins, fifteen of which are now part of my extended family (up from the original six). It isn't often that we are all able to get together, so we all try our hardest to make it to the mountains for Thanksgiving.

This year, my sisters, their significant others, my dad, Justin and I all hiked the 11 miles round trip to the top of Mount LeConte, an elevation of 6,593'. It was an awesome hike with breathtaking views. The last time we did that hike Justin and I were seniors in high school and he just about slid off the mountain. We tried looking for the little pine tree that saved him twelve years ago, but by now, that sapling would be a full-fledged tree, and they all sort of look the same now. I knew that the tree was still there, poised to save another novice hiker silly enough to hike in loafers on an icy day. NOTE-Justin is no longer a novice hiker...this year he even sponsored a dead reckoning trip over a mountain ridge and taught us all something about orienteering (notice the smile on Jolie's face).

I thought I'd share some photos from this year's adventure. I found some prints from twelve years ago and will try to get them scanned so I can share them as well. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy Holidays – A Rant

2009-12-15T22:05:00.000-06:00

Happy Holidays! What is wrong with saying “Happy Holidays” to someone? This isn’t the first year that I have heard people complain about being told “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” during the holiday season. I guess I just don’t understand why “Happy Holidays” is offensive to people. Last time I checked, the United States was NOT a Christian country, but instead a melting pot, with people who come from many different religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.

Christmas is not the only winter holiday that is celebrated in the United States. Many of the world's religions have a winter festival (most of which focus on light during a time of darkness). We are lucky to live in a country where we are able to freely practice the religion of our choosing. Here are just a few additional winter festivals that are celebrated across the United States and around the world: Hanukkah (Jewish); Kwanzaa (African American); Solstice; Yule; Diwali (Hindu); Yalda (Persian)…the list goes on and on.

To me, generally saying "happy holidays" to someone during this season of multiple holidays seems appropriate. The statement validates that there are different holidays occurring during this time of year, and that everyone's religious holiday has importance and should be respected.

Respect…wouldn’t that fall under the Golden Rule? Treating others as you would want to be treated? Respecting others as you would want to be respected?

During this time of Peace and Joy, when supposed Love and Kindness abound, maybe we should consider adding Respect to our holiday list…and be sure to check it twice.

Homemade Dough for Playing

2009-12-13T17:45:00.001-06:00

I’ve tried several recipes for homemade play dough. Some were coarse, some were sticky, and some were downright dry. I seemed to strike out every time I tried to make a copycat of the ever popular Play-Doh. That all changed with a recipe I received from a close homeschooling friend the other day, who told me the recipe was tried and true.

I can now agree that this recipe is wonderful. No sticky hands, no coarse texture, no difficulty in manipulating. I have some very satisfied customers. This will be my go to play dough recipe in the future. The price is right (most ingredients are readily available around the house), the process is simple, and the kids can have whatever color tickles their fancy. Enjoy!

Play Dough Recipe

1 C flour
¼ C salt
2 T cream of tartar
1 C water
1 T oil
30 drops food coloring

Mix the dry ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Add the water, oil, and food coloring and heat over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly. As soon as the dough forms a ball, turn the dough out on the counter and knead for a minute or so. Store in an air-tight container.

Dear Blog...

2009-12-12T09:24:00.001-06:00

Oh, how I have neglected you over the past few months. I think of you often, debating in my head throughout the day what I should type on you to share with others as the day winds to a close. But, after a long day of thinking and brainstorming, cleaning and caring for children, learning and having fun, I have found it hard to sit and type as I used to. Dare I say my evenings have recently been spent reading, playing board games with the children, baking, watching movies with my husband, and yes, I am ashamed to say, even playing a video game or two.

I will try harder to include you in my daily routine. I truly enjoy sharing stories about my day, about life, and about how to make the world just a little bit better. I will do better. I promise. Thank you for being here, patiently waiting for my return. Again, I am sorry for neglecting you.

Your-trying-to-be-faithful-author,

Jaynelle

Donating to Locks of Love

2009-10-28T21:52:00.008-05:00

After Jolie donated her hair to Locks of Love in May 2008, I decided that I would grow my hair out and make a donation as well.

Locks of Love is an organization that makes prosthetic wigs for children who have medical conditions in which they are unable to grow their own hair. The organization creates prosthetics with donated hair for children who are financially disadvantaged. The use of donated hair helps the organization provide quality prosthetics to needy children. Donated hair that does not meet the 10 inch requirement is sold to help cover manufacturing costs.

It has been over a year since I've had a haircut. In the Florida heat, all I have been able to do in recent months is to put my hair up in a bun or a ponytail because my hair is so heavy and thick. Leaving it down was just getting to be too much. I decided a few weeks ago that tt was time to take a big step and get my hair cut to donate, but I had to wait until after the Navy Day Ball so I could have my hair put up for the Ball.

Here are the before, during, and after photos.

I'm happy to be able to do a little something to help make a child smile. It will take some time to get used to my new "do," but I think it's going to grow on me.

Surfing in October

2009-10-11T20:13:00.002-05:00

Apparently the weather has neglected to look at the calendar and realize that it's fall. Our temperatures have been in the upper 80s all week. In an effort to work with the weather rather than against it, we decided to spend Sunday afternoon at the beach. The boys went surfing, Jolie played in the sand, I sat under the umbrella and read. It was a wonderful trip all around.

Garden Update - Before & After

2009-10-05T21:11:00.008-05:00

One benefit of living in Florida is the extended growing season. We are lucky that fairly mild winters make it possible for me to have a second planting...almost a second "garden."

Due to the heat of the summer, my garden started to slow in its production. The peppers remained the main staples that were able to brave and survive the heat. The volunteer watermelon did well, giving us four large watermelon. The tomatoes did fine too...that is until Lincoln broke into the garden and decided to romp through them, breaking many of the plants. We got one nice egg plant during the summer. The lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, potatoes and onions were a bust. Still operating on a Virginia planting cycle, I planted them too late into the season and they basically fried in the early heat wave we saw in May.

Below are photos of the garden at the close of summer -

Once the heat started to die down, I decided it was time to rip out the no longer producing plants and till under the overgrowth to prepare for my fall planting. I spent three hours one day pulling up plants, ripping out weeds, and tilling. Very therapeutic.

Here are some photos from my newly prepared-for-planting garden -

I have since planted three sections of green beans, with two types of lettuce and spinach in between. The broccoli and cauliflower that I started from seed have been transplanted next to my two sections of sweet potatoes. My egg plant decided to re-flower and currently has three fruit. The pepper plants (jalapeno, banana, bell, and cayenne) are still producing. I'm hoping to purchase a few tomato plants at the farmer's market this weekend, and will try to grow onions from seed again this fall. I am waiting for my garlic to arrive in the mail, and as soon as it does, I'll get it in the ground. The pumpkin plants that I started and transplanted, didn't make it. I think they got root bound before they were transplanted. I will miss having our own pie pumpkins this year, and am hoping that the farmer's market and/or our CSA will have some nice ones I can use to make pumpkin puree.

I am pleased with this year's garden. I am still working to learn the growing seasons down here. I figure as soon as I get everything figured out, it will be time to move again. I'm looking forward to seeing how this fall planting works out. I'll keep you posted.

2009-2010 Daily Schedule

2009-09-10T21:30:00.005-05:00

As I think I've mentioned before, I work best on a general schedule. Without a schedule, I tend to be lost...time management goes out the window and I come to the end of the day feeling like I haven't gotten anything done.

My kids tend to have the same problem. Without some guidance, they would entrench themselves in one or two activities (primarily Legos and imaginary play) and disregard all other responsibilities (such as brushing one's teeth and changing out of their pajamas).

For both the kids and myself, I have come up with a guiding schedule to help us glide through the day. We have time to complete our responsibilities and still have time for some fun. The schedule is not set in stone, allowing for some flexibility.

How do you keep your family rolling along? Do you have a strict schedule, a guiding schedule, or do you just fly by the seat of your pants? I love hearing and learning about how other families structure (or don't structure) their day...so let me know.

Butterscotch Pudding

2009-09-09T21:53:00.005-05:00

Tonight I made homemade pudding for the first time. Butterscotch is my favorite pudding, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. WOW! is all I have to say about that. Yummy! Justin and I had some (still warm) tonight and it was wonderful. Making pudding from scratch takes a few extra minutes, but was well worth it. Here is the recipe I used-

Butterscotch Pudding:

3 cups (720 ml) whole (full fat) milk - (I used organic half 'n half)

3/4 cup (160 grams) dark brown sugar - (I used organic light brown sugar)

1/4 cup (30 grams) cornstarch (corn flour) - (non GMO, of course)

1/8 teaspoon salt - (I used sea salt)

4 large egg yolks - (I like free range)

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract - (organic and fair trade)

2 tablespoon (28 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces - (organic)

Garnish: Lightly sweetened whipped cream

In a large stainless steel (heatproof) bowl whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks. Whisk in 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the milk until you have a thick paste. Set aside while you heat the milk. Have ready a fine medium-sized strainer and bowl as you will need to strain the pudding after it is cooked.

First, rinse a medium-sized heavy saucepan with cold water and then shake out the excess water. Doing this step prevents the milk from scorching. Then pour the remaining 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) of milk into the saucepan and bring just to a boil. Gradually pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the pudding mixture to a clean large, heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract. Pour through the strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed during cooking.

Pour into 4 bowls or wine glasses. The pudding can be served warm or if chilling, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the warm puddings to prevent a skin from forming. If you like the skin, simply leave the pudding uncovered until cooled, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. The puddings can be made a day or two ahead of serving. Garnish each pudding with a large dollop of softly whipped cream.

Makes 4 servings.

Let me know if you have a favorite homemade pudding recipe. I'd like to try some others.

Weekly Menu Planning - August 31st

2009-08-31T20:47:00.002-05:00

Mon. -Brown rice pilaf, apple sauce, bread and butter
Tues. - Mac & cheese, hot dogs (soy/meat), mixed veggies
Wed. - Creamy potato soup, bacon (Justin), broccoli
Thurs. - Tofu/tuna casserole, apple sauce, peas
Fri. - dinner with sisters
Sat. - dinner out with family
Sun. - Leftovers

Weekly Menu Planning - August 24th

2009-08-24T22:22:00.002-05:00

Mon. – Eggplant parmigiana, penne noodles, tomato sauce, green beans
Tues. – Yellow rice, salsa, green olives (skipped last week)
Wed. – tacos (beef or bean), refried beans, Spanish rice, corn
Thurs. – tuna / tofu casseroles, peas, apple sauce
Fri. – bagel pizzas (cheese or pepperoni), salad
Sat. – Command Picnic…leftovers if we’re hungry
Sun. – Three bean vegetarian chili, corn bread (skipped last week again…we had dinner with our neighbors…I made mac & cheese, carrot soufflé, leftover baked beans from the freezer and corn on the cob)

Black Bean Soup

2009-08-20T22:40:00.005-05:00

Tonight we tried a new black bean soup recipe. We've had black bean soup before, but weren't really pleased with its flavor, so I decided to do some searching on Recipezaar and AllRecipes for black bean soup recipes. I usually sort my results according to ranking. I figure if others have tried the recipe and liked it, maybe we will as well.

One of the highest ranked black bean soup recipes on Recipezaar was TGIFriday's Black Bean soup, so we gave it a try.

It was definitely a keeper. The children who tried it liked it, which is success in my book.

We coupled the soup with some Corn Pudding. It wasn't quite the consistency I was hoping for. The corn casserole I usually make is more of a creamy corny corn bread type casserole. Justin, Jensen and I liked this version, but I think I'll keep looking for a corn casserole recipe that really wows us, but you may enjoy it.

Happy eating!

Weekly Menu Planning – August 17th

2009-08-17T09:39:00.001-05:00

Mon. – yellow rice (add chicken for Justin), salsa, green beans
Tues. – Rotini alfredo, garlic bread, salad
Wed. – chicken/tofu casserole, apple sauce mixed veggies
Thurs. – Black bean soup, bread
Fri. – French bread pizza
Sat. – “meat” balls and rice (meat and vegetarian), bread, mixed veggies
Sun. – three bean vegetarian chili, corn bread (skipped it last week…had leftovers instead)

Our 2009-2010 Homeschool Curriculum

2009-08-12T19:38:00.005-05:00

5th Grade

History – Famous Men of the Middle Ages; Magna Carta Jackdaw, Columbus and the Age of the Explorers Jackdaw
Science – Science Explorer: Earth Science; Story of Science: Newton at the Center
Math – Math U See Zeta; Mathematicians are People Too, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
Language Arts
Writing – Writing Strands Level 2
Grammar – G.U.M. Drops Grade 5; Painless Grammar
Spelling – Explode the Code 7 & 8; Painless Spelling
Latin – Getting Started with Latin
Logic – Mind Benders B1/B2 & B3/B4
Typing – Typing Instructor for Kids

1st Grade

History – Story of the World Level 2: Middle Ages
Science – R.E.A.L. Science Earth Science
Math – Math U See Beta
Language Arts
Writing – Writing Strands Level 2
Grammar – G.U.M. Drops Grades 1-2
Spelling – Explode the Code 3 ½, 4, 4 ½; Natural Speller

Fun At the Farm

2009-08-10T21:16:00.008-05:00

The kids and I took a trip to Illinois last month to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday with my extended family. Though the car trip was long, it was well worth the effort. Grandma lives on a farm in the middle of farm country. Transplant her farm up to Washington, and it would be my ideal final land…there is plenty of room for a large garden, a nice size pond, some timbered area, and planted fields that would make for great grazing area.

I always enjoyed my trips to the farm growing up and I feel somewhat of a connection to that place. My hubby always asks why I feel so attached to the farm, and I think I can finally say that no matter where we lived (I moved frequently as a child), my grandparent’s farm, and my other grandmother’s house “in town,” never changed. They were sort of like a constant in our ever-changing lives.

Now that I’m older, I feel even more of a connection to my grandmothers and their way of life, because in many ways, it is their “traditional” ways that I find myself yearning for. I am teaching myself to can vegetables; we are cooking most every meal from scratch; and trying to live as frugally as possible. I only wish I lived closer so I could glean more from my experienced grandmothers.

My kids thrived in the wide-open spaces, catching lightning bugs, picking up sticks for our bonfire, and running until they were nearly wiped out. Jolie asked if we could move up to the farm. I share her enthusiasm for the country…and cooler temperatures.

Here are some photos from our trip.

Weekly Menu Planning – August 10th

2009-08-10T20:58:00.001-05:00

Better late than never...

Mon. – Biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and sausage (for the meat eater)
Tues. – Chick pea soup, salad
Wed. – Red beans and rice, shredded chicken, frozen green beans
Thurs. – Grilled cheese, tomato soup
Fri. – Homemade pizza (cheese and pepperoni), bread sticks, salad
Sat. – Three bean vegetarian chili, corn bread
Sun. – Black bean veggie enchiladas, chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, black beans

Weekly Menu Planning – July 27th

2009-07-26T22:06:00.001-05:00

Mon. – Homemade mac & cheese, mixed veggies, apple sauce
Tues. – zipper beans & rice, honey glazed carrots
Wed. – vegetable or chicken potpies, sweet potatoes
Thurs. – creamy potato soup, broccoli
Fri. – homemade pizza (cheese and pepperoni), bread sticks, salad
Sat. – roast chicken, baked tofu, orange soufflé, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies
Sun. – sesame chicken or tofu stir fry, oriental veggies, rice

Weekly Menu Planning – July 6th

2009-07-05T22:31:00.000-05:00

Mon. – Homemade mac & cheese, hot dogs/tofurkey, green beans
Tues. – Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad
Wed. – Veggie rice casserole, bread, fruit
Thurs. – Black bean soup, tortilla chips (purchased last month)
Fri. – Bagel pizzas, salad
Sat. – Meatballs & rice, bread, green beans
Sun. – Greek salad, tazhiki sauce, pita bread

Monthly Challenge – Unprocessed Groceries

2009-07-05T22:15:00.005-05:00

I’m a little late in posting this, but I decided to give myself and/or my family a monthly challenge. I thought it might be fun to have a goal to work towards each month.

After reviewing last month’s grocery spending and realizing that it was WAY over budget, I thought that a grocery-based challenge might be a great place to start. Over the past few months, our grocery spending has been all over the place. For some reason, it is one of the most variable areas of spending in our budget. I think that it is primarily because I find myself stocking up on groceries when they are on sale, which then results in higher food bills.

So this month, we will not be purchasing any prepackaged goodies, snacks, cereal, and the like, in hopes of lowering our grocery spending and eating more healthily. We already eat a primarily process-free diet, eating a majority of our meals at home, made from scratch. We will really just be cutting out some of the extras. It shouldn't be too much of a loss. I plan to buy in bulk (from our natural foods store), make all of our snacks (such as granola bars), and try to do some preserving of goods from our garden.

According to a 2007 USDA Publication about the average food costs of individuals and families, it is suggested that our food costs should fall between $631.20 and $1236.10 each month for a family of our size. Now, these figures are for the thrifty plan and the liberal plan. In our efforts to keep to the most frugal ways possible, I would like to see our grocery costs fall between the thrifty and the low-cost plans. The low cost plan would put us at $820.40 per month for our family of five.

An average of the thrifty plan and the low-cost plan puts us at $725.80. My goal is to get our food costs down to $650. I think that is an attainable goal. Let’s see where we are at the end of the month and see what adjustments we need to make.

So far this month we have spent $115.07 on groceries. I’ll keep you updated.

Free Fun in the Sun

2009-06-28T22:20:00.006-05:00

We spent a few hours at the beach this afternoon just enjoying some family time. Here are some photos from our wonderful day in the sun.

And because fun cannot be had without some sort of injury...here is Justin. This is what happens when flesh meets shells and sand. The thought that blood in the water might lure certain creatures to shore kept Mr. Justin out of the water the rest of the trip. Unfortunately that meant that he had to miss out on his own surfing fun, but the younger boys sure did have fun.

Weekly Menu Planning - June 29th

2009-06-28T21:51:00.005-05:00

This week's menu might get changed around...we'll have to see. Justin and I will be starting our P90X exercise program this week, and I have yet to read the "diet" portion of the plan. Hubby says that it isn't much different from the way we usually eat, so I'm not too concerned. I'll look it over tonight and see. Here is a rough draft of this week's meals.

Mon. – Quesadillas, fruit, black beans
Tues. – Red beans and rice, kielbasa, green beans
Wed. – Chicken casserole / tofu casserole (Jake changed the menu on me last Wednesday for his birthday, so we'll try casserole again this week), mixed veggies, apple sauce
Thurs. – Out to eat (Mexican) with my parents
Fri. – Homemade pizza (cheese and pepperoni), bread sticks, salad
Sat. – Burgers (veggie and meat), Italian pasta salad, cinnamon apples
Sun. – Leftovers

Happy Birthday, Boogie-man

2009-06-24T22:31:00.005-05:00

Today, Jake turned 10 years old. We celebrated a bit early when we were visiting family a few weeks ago. He is now the proud owner of a surfboard! It's just a trainer, but it will serve him well for the next few years, I'm sure. He got to take it out last weekend to paddle around (of course I forgot the camera), and had a blast. He and Justin are hoping for waves this weekend so they can get out there and catch a few.

I can't believe how quickly the past ten years have flown by. It seems like just yesterday he was playing "knock knock" in utero, and now his feet are bigger than mine (which really doesn't take much...I wear a size 5.5). He is growing more mature and is becoming more reliable every day. I look forward to watching him grow into the man he will some day be.

I love you, Jake. Happy birthday.

Here are some photos from his Fiesta Celebration!

Can Your Puppy Do This?

2009-06-22T21:33:00.003-05:00

That’s right, folks. He is actually getting himself ice.

Lincoln has figured out how to press the ice button, all the while avoiding the water button. He is up there getting ice every fifteen minutes or so.

Who could blame him…the heat index has been 105+ for the last week. Nice job, Lincoln. Good boy.

Weekly Menu Planning – June 22nd

2009-06-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

Many of the blogs I follow post a weekly menu. Because I’m such a follower, I thought I would start posting my weekly menu as well. I’d like to write about a different topic each day of the week (i.e. frugality, homeschooling, eco-friendliness, recipes, etc.), but I haven’t gotten there yet. Maybe a weekly menu post will steer me in the right direction.

Mon. – Tacos (bean and cheese or shredded beef [that was given to us as leftovers from a retirement ceremony and froze nicely in the deep freezer]), Spanish rice, refried beans, corn
Tues. – Pasta primavera, herb bread (premade and in the freezer), salad
Wed. – Chicken casserole / tofu casserole (yes, I’ll make both to please the masses…great for leftover lunches), mixed veggies, apple sauce
Thurs. – Grilled cheese, tomato soup, salad
Fri. – Homemade pizza (cheese and pepperoni), bread sticks, salad
Sat. – Tuscan pasta salad, shredded roasted chicken (leftovers from the freezer), salad
Sun. – Taco salad (using the leftover taco fixins from Monday), tortilla chips, salsa

Baking Soda is My Friend

2009-06-03T23:42:00.001-05:00

As a child, I loved to clean the bathroom. I’d grab the can of Scrubbing Bubbles (after I was assured that it didn’t contain any CFCs) and went to town. I would trade chores with my sisters so that I could clean the bathroom. To me, cleaning a bathroom is fairly straight forward, and orderly…just the right core for me.

Well, now that I am older and wiser, and no longer use Scrubbing Bubbles or any chemical in my bathroom, my joy of cleaning the bathroom has waned a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy it more than say the kitchen, but for a while, it just wasn’t the quick and easy project I was hoping it to be.

So there I was, cleaning the bathroom one day, struggling to get the hard water stains and soap scum off the all-in-one tub/shower with vinegar and water, when for some reason I got to thinking about Comet (you know, the powdery stuff in the green can). I’d never used the stuff before, but I had seen the commercials as a child and got to thinking about baking soda. So I said to myself, “I wonder if baking soda will work like Comet does?” Again, I’m not sure exactly what Comet is made of, or how well it works (I could look it up online if I really wanted to), but the fact that it popped into my head some twenty years after seeing a commercial really does say something about advertising…or my memory, not sure which one.

I sprinkled some baking soda on the side of the tub, and started scrubbing a bit with a wet rag. Guess what? With little to no elbow grease, the hard water stains and soap scum were seemingly melting away. I was so excited. I had found my new best cleaning buddy.

Now, looking back at my Green Housekeeping book, it talks about using baking soda for a plethora of things…controlling odor, draining cleaner, fire safety, stain removal, etc. It does mention the use of baking soda as a nonabrasive cleanser in the kitchen section, but for some reason my “memory” must be lacking in some areas because I completely forgot about it. I guess I should maybe reread this wonderful book and see what other useful information I can “re”glean from its pages.

So give it a try. I can get a large, 4 lb. box of baking soda at the Commissary for next to nothing (they used to carry the 12 lb. bag, but I can’t seem to find it anymore). Sprinkle a bit in the sink or in the tub and just give it a little rub with a wet rag. Let me know your thoughts. I’m a big fan. Can’t believe it took me so long to “re”discover this tried and true cleaning method.

On a side note - I also found a book the I’m going to check out from the library, Baking Soda : Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of by Vicki Lansky. I’ll let you know if I come up with any other useful tricks for baking soda.

Kayaking the Intracoastal

2009-05-27T22:35:00.005-05:00

Justin and I grabbed a babysitter and ventured out into the Intracoastal on Monday to kayak around the islands near the Navy base. That was my first time kayaking in waves, and I think I did okay. My near drowning incident made me a bit leery, but knowing that Justin was there to “save” me, made all the difference.

The water temp was wonderful, and the sun’s rays weren’t too hot. We saw a pod of dolphins swim by, a jumping fish, and possibly a sea snake. The waters started to get crowded with boats towards the end of our trip, which increased the waves dramatically. I’d like to try that trip again when there are fewer boats out and about (plus, the smell of exhaust on the water is not all that appealing).

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Being There For Liftoff

2009-05-25T21:40:00.006-05:00

How many children can say that they were at Kennedy Space Center to see a space shuttle launch? Not many, I’d say. As of May 12th, my children could add their names to that short list.

Last fall I bought tickets for us to see a night launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its way to make repairs on the Hubble telescope. We decided to take my father with us as his birthday present. Unfortunately, there was a delay in the launch due to a malfunction with the Hubble telescope, so we had to wait until the mission was rescheduled. That delay pushed our trip to just a few weeks ago.

I was under the impression that there were “limited” tickets available for the launch viewing area, so I figured that there would only be a few hundred people at the space center to view the launch. We would be able to meander around the Space Center, taking our time at each exhibit. Boy, was I wrong! There were several THOUSAND people there to see the shuttle, not to mention the thousands of others who made the trip to the Cape Canaveral area in hopes of seeing the launch. It was somewhat overwhelming at times, but spectacular nonetheless.

Growing up half of my childhood in Florida, I had seen several launches…some from home, some from school, and one from the beach. Same for Justin. The kids, on the other hand, hadn’t and wouldn’t have that same opportunity, so we were all really excited about the launch. Unfortunately, many of the exhibits were closed, so there weren’t as many things to see as there were the last time we were at Kennedy Space Center. We spent a lot of time waiting to get into the Space Center and then a lot of time waiting in our viewing area to see the shuttle go off.

Because of the volume of people, we decided to secure our viewing location nearly three hours before the launch. The kids did great. We ate a nice picnic lunch and then the adults took turn saving our spot, while the rest of the group went and saw the exhibits that were available. I walked the kids around several times while we waited and saw some “wildlife”…alligators and turtles.

The launch was amazing. From our viewing area, we could see everything. I know the kids were impressed. We watched a power point that showed some of the preparations made before a launch the day before, so when the kids saw the shuttle on the launch pad, they were able to visualize the steps that were taken to get the shuttle to its location. During the following week and a half, we followed the crew’s progress on their telescope repairs.

The experience was definitely an educational experience enjoyed by all. There aren’t any additional improvements planned for the Hubble, so the trip was somewhat special. I’m glad we were able to expose the kids to a wonderful program and bring it close to their hearts.

Here are the launch and landing videos from MSNBC.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Her First Art Show

2009-05-25T20:43:00.003-05:00

On Friday, Jolie participated in her first art show. She and her teacher went through her art that she produced in her class throughout the year and chose two pieces to present. The rest of her artwork was put in her portfolio and made available for people at the art show to look through. She and her homeschool classmates’ art work was combined with the art teacher’s after school art classes’ art work to complete the show. Jolie was truly excited about the opportunity to show off her work to more that just her family.

The art teacher is offering summer classes, so Jolie will probably attend one day a week. She really enjoys the classes, so I’m willing to pay a little bit each week for her to improve her art skills, learn about artists, and have an hour each week away from her brothers.

I will reevaluate at the end of the summer and see if we choose to enroll her in classes next year.

Win a Free Rosetta Stone Latin Program

2009-05-19T21:46:00.003-05:00

While browsing the Five J's blog (there can't be that many families of five out there that all have J names), I found out about a contest to win a free Rosetta Stone Latin program.

We have been learning Latin for a few years now. We started out with Latin's Not So Tough during the second half of Jake's second grade year. It was a nice starter program for us. We completed levels 1 and 2, but hit a roadblock in level 3. I don't necessarily think it was the program so much as Jake's learning medium had changed enough that he wasn't as interested in workbooks/worksheets any longer.

This year we have been dabbling with Getting Started With Latin and truly enjoying it. I like that we can do all of the lessons orally and that Jake is doing more than just memorizing vocabulary. Maybe it is just because he's older, but Jake really seems to be retaining much more from his Getting Started With Latin lessons than he did with Latin's Not So Tough.

I would love to win a Rosetta Stone Latin Program to further our Latin studies. Here are the rules should you also choose to enter the contest. But if you don't, that's okay too. Your lack of participation gives me a better chance to win.

Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.

This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!)This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!

Again, head on over to Jeneric Jeneralities and enter (or not) today.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

2009-05-18T22:23:00.009-05:00

We spent this year’s Mother’s Day with my parents. Because we weren’t going to be home for Mother’s Day itself, the kids (Justin) wanted to do Mother’s Day early. You have to understand that Justin is a terrible surprise-er…a wonderful gift giver, but terrible with surprises. Case in point, I was proposed to at a stop light, while driving two of my younger sisters to youth group, with Justin leaning through the front seats from the back seat of the car (it’s a great story that I’ll have to tell some day). He just couldn’t wait any longer. The ring had been in his possession for maybe six hours. Justin gets that excited to give me gifts, which I think is really sweet, but somewhat annoying. We’ve decided that he can’t purchase any gifts more than two days before a holiday or event, that way I only have to listen to him ask me if I want to open the gift early for at most two days.

So, last Thursday (before dinner, of course) I was presented with my presents.
1. Ice cream maker – electric and hand crank capabilities
2. Running clothes – shorts and sport top
3. Marley & Me dvd
4. Electric griddle

Needless to say, he went a bit above and beyond his gift giving limit for Mother’s Day. I have been somewhat sloppy with our budget so far this year, and am in the process of reining in our spending a bit, so although I loved all of my gifts, it seemed a bit excessive.

Ice cream maker – this has been on my Wish List for quite some time (we keep a running wish list on the refrigerator so that I know who is in need/want of what when a holiday or birthday rolls around). I am finding that we eat a good amount of ice cream. In trying to eat as healthily as possible, I purchase organic/natural ice cream without any additives. Having an ice cream maker will allow us to create the healthy(er) ice cream I feel better about feeding my family. Grade – A; good functional gift

Running clothes – these too have been on my wish list for some time. I try to run at least 10+ miles a week, and need to update my running wardrobe from the old cheerleading shorts from high school that ride up as I run and sports bras that reveal a bit more that I’d like, to something a bit more functional. This outfit is great…I will be able to wear the shorts for running or biking, and the top covers my midriff, which isn’t always my favorite feature. Grade – A-; another functional gift

Marley & Me dvd – I don’t watch much if any television except for the occasional PBS special. Instead, we have a Netflix membership and get weekly movies. Because of this, we don’t purchase many movies. If we do, they are usually just those that we have seen and truly loved. I really enjoyed the movie, although I cried my eyeballs out for what seemed like hours, but I’m not sure that it will be watched all the time, thus decreasing its functionality (we hadn’t previously seen it). Grade – B; beautiful movie, not very functional

Electric Griddle – we are breakfast people. I make a lot of pancakes, French toast, etc. Justin was trying to be sweet and get me a pan that would allow me to make more pancakes at one time so that we could all eat together. Right now, I usually stand over at the stove making pancakes while everyone else eats. I hate when food that I’ve worked hard on gets cold, so I want everyone to eat, but I too would like to be eating with them. I, however, was concerned with the non-stick coating on the pan. Plus, finding the receipt in Justin’s pants sealed this griddle’s fate. I took it back to the store and will instead add an enamel coated cast iron griddle to my Wish List. Grade – C-; functional, but not needed

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day…both early and actually on Mother’s Day. I’m hoping to finalize the updated budget and brief Justin on it in the next week or so. Then he’ll know who much he is “allowed” to spend on gifts that he has to purchase at the last minute so as not to spoil the surprises that I so love. I love you, Bub.

Just for the record...all I "asked" for for Mother's Day was a small bamboo plant. Go figure.

Beach Kids…Well, Sort Of

2009-05-14T22:08:00.006-05:00

My hubby lived his entire childhood in the Sunshine State. I’m not sure that he actually left the state more than twice before he turned 18. Living in Florida, most people are no more than two hours from the ocean, whether it be the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. This was definitely the case for Justin. As a child, he was always at the beach. It is no surprise, then, that he took up the arts of surfing and skim boarding. You can imagine his excitement at our return to the state of his youthful adventures and his visions of spending ample time on the sandy shores, romping and playing with his family.

Daydreamed visions can be deceiving from time to time. I’m sure Justin imagined us driving the few miles from our house to the beach, jumping out of the van and running excitedly to the water, spending hour upon hour basking in the sun and enjoying the surf. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.

I had a near drowning experience when I was 14, and don’t care much for the ocean. I’m not a strong swimmer, and rip currents are definitely not my friend. I prefer a river or lake to the ocean any day. Justin knows that I will not go in the water above my knees unless he is right next to me ready to save me if necessary. I am also a burner. I just think of the sun and need to reach for the aloe leaves. Instead of a tan, my freckles just connect.

Jake really enjoys the beach. Justin has started to take him out and teach him to surf. He can swim, but could use some fine tuning, which swim lessons this summer on base should help with. When he’s not trying to surf, Jake is in the water boogie boarding his heart out. If he gets tired, he’s content with building sand castles with Jolie and Jensen, but is really at home in the water.

Jolie hates the beach. She had her first Florida beach experience when she was about 6 months old. Justin dangled her feet in the ocean as a wave approached, and it was downhill from there. For a while, she hated the sand. We took a family vacation to Kitty Hawk, NC and actually had to carry her from the hotel room down to the blanket each day. She finally warmed up to stepping off the blanket the last day we were there. Now that she’s a bit older, she will walk down to the beach and actually enjoys playing in the sand. The water is another story. She, like me, prefers to stay dry at the beach.

Jensen has no fear of the water. He will take his sandals off and walk straight into the ocean. He is getting some exposure to the water and shows swimming potential. He doesn’t care for cold ocean water, but I’m sure if the jelly fish stay away this summer, he’ll be out enjoying the water with this brother and daddy.

Justin loves to surf and skim board while we’re at the beach, depending on the waves. He has gotten in the habit of checking the surf report every morning when he watches his morning news on the computer. The beach is relaxing for him, and I’m sure he’d spend as much time at the beach as possible if he could.

We may not be the picture perfect beach family, but I think we all get some much needed free recreation time during our beach adventures. I’m sure the kids will fondly remember their beach time, or at least that is what I hope. I bet Jake will be surfing before we leave Florida, Jolie and Jensen may dig their way to the center of the Earth, and once Jensen can swim, I’ll be able to relax under the umbrella and read a good book. We won’t live in Florida forever, so I hope that we can all enjoy it while it lasts.

Getting Caught Up

2009-05-14T21:14:00.002-05:00

Much has happened since the last time I posted. One of my sisters gave me a kick in the behind to get me blogging again. It can be hard to get back into the blogging routine once I'm away from it for a few days.

I'm sorry if the next few posts are a bit out dated. Got to get everyone caught up to speed.

First CSA Delivery of the Spring

2009-04-30T23:56:00.002-05:00

Tonight we got our first CSA delivery of the season.

In our basket we got-
1 large green cabbage
5 large radishes
Small bunch of greens (not sure what type, I’ll need to ask the farmer)
1 ½ lbs of new red potatoes

Because a lot of the spring greens were damaged in a hail storm we had last month, the early CSA veggies are going to be somewhat sparse. According to the farmer, the summer pickings should offset the sparseness of the spring, helping to even everything out in the long run. Like my mom always says, “It will all average out.” And I’m sure it will.

If you are interested in finding a CSA near you, or other locally grown or produced goods, check out Local Harvest. They have a searchable site that allows you to find local farmers, bakers, dairies, and more.

Purchasing Locally Grown Produce

2009-04-30T23:40:00.001-05:00

As many of you know, we signed up for a half share of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to supplement the vegetables that we will be harvesting out of our garden. We will be getting a weekly delivery of in season vegetables, right to our door. Not knowing how our first year gardening in Florida will result, I figured it was a good idea to supplement our efforts with the CSA. I have paid $15 a week for our weekly half share, which will continue for the next thirteen weeks and will be delivered on Thursdays.

In addition to the weekly CSA delivery and our garden, we are still going to the farmer’s market each week to see what the farmer’s have in stock. I am finding my weekly farmer’s market trip to be very relaxing and educating. I talk with the local farmers, find out about their produce, and learn a bit about what grows well locally. I have met a wonderful organic seedling farmer (who gave me a “new” type of tomato to try last Saturday) who is very knowledgeable and has beautiful herb, vegetable, and flower seedlings. She is one of many local farmers who are interested in getting to know the people who are purchasing their goods and to share their philosophies, background, and little tips to boot.

To cover all my bases, last week I also signed up for a local “buying club.” This buying club is for organically grown local veggies. I paid $10 to become a member for the year and will be able to purchase in season vegetables each Saturday as I need them. This farmer has a website that will list the weekly offerings and prices, so I will know ahead of time what is available for pickup each Saturday. My friend and I both had trouble finding his farm last week, so he has generously offered to specially pick strawberries for us this week, which are no longer part of his weekly offering.

Because my CSA delivery is on Thursday, and I can check on my buying club offerings at any time, I will know before Saturday’s farmer’s market what I will need to round off our fruits and vegetables for the week, hopefully allowing me to frugally buy locally grown, in season produce each week.

I feel that it is important to support local farmers and local businesses. Buying locally grown and produced goods help reduce the need for transportation of such goods. Take for instance a bunch of collard greens. Buying locally grown collard greens eliminates the need for fossil fuels to be used to transport collard greens thousands of miles from another country, or even from another part of this country. Buying locally also helps the local economy. If my dollar is going to the local farmer, that farmer is then able to spend the dollar at a local restaurant or to purchase clothing from a local retail shop, keeping the money circulating in the local economy.

I know that we won’t be able to purchase all of our produce locally, but we are sure going to do our best. I have decreased our purchasing of produce such as bananas (which for some reason don’t seem to be grown in abundance locally) and avocados (from Mexico). I try to stock up, in particular, when I see locally grown fruits. For instance, I’ll be getting three pounds of strawberries from the buying club this weekend. I’m sure the kids will eat quite a few, but I plan to freeze a good portion of them for use throughout the summer. When our garden’s vegetables are ready, I’ll be canning and freezing them so they too can be used throughout the year, rather than buying the same item later in the year from another country.

I’m looking forward to the challenge of buying locally, or if necessary, at least produce grown in the USA. I’m going to start having the kids look at the labels on fruit and vegetables at the grocery store and talk to them about where our food is coming from and see what they have to say. I’m betting that they will choose to buy local goods rather than those from another country, and may even choose to walk right on past the grapes from Chile.

Slowing Down a Bit

2009-04-29T22:02:00.001-05:00

The last few months have been pretty busy around here for some reason. We’ve been running here, there, and everywhere to participate in all sorts of activities and events. Many of the activities have been homeschool related…park day, art class, PE, Lego club, Roots & Shoots, co-op, fieldtrips, etc. Each and every activity is loved by one or more members of the family, making them all seem like “needed” activities.

I am finding, though, that the more time we are spending out and about, the more tired and irritable each of us is becoming (not to mention the house is also suffering in our absence). I am truly coming to realize just what a homebody I really am. Because of this new revelation, I have decided that it is time for my family to slow down a bit (and trust me, Justin agrees).

After speaking with my co-op friends, we’ve decided to combine some of our activities to coincide with co-op, and to switch our meeting day to Thursdays (Fridays are our “pizza and a movie” night, and I just wasn’t getting home early enough from co-op of Fridays to get our pizza ready). We should be able to create a diversified offering of activities throughout the month that will be enjoyable for all of the kids (i.e. Lego building, arts/crafts, nature study/community service, fieldtrip), and cover most of the outside activities we’ve been participating in.

As of right now, the summer weekly plan is as follows:

Monday – Park day (rotate park location each week around town)
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday – Co-op (rotate location and activity each week)
Friday –
Weekend – Family activities (farmers market, beach/park, yard work, church, etc.)

Do you see those blank spaces? They bring a smile to my face. Actually, they probably won’t be blank for long. I need to fill in baking, grocery shopping/errands, canning (when the veggies are in season), etc. It would be great if I could pair grocery shopping/errands with our Monday and Thursday events. Because they each rotate around town, I should be able to get quite a bit of my shopping done before or after those outings, saving time and gas.

This has been our first week trying out our slower paced schedule, and I think it is working well. We are all getting back into our regular routines (i.e. exercising, chores, etc.); the house doesn’t look like it’s falling apart anymore, the kids are getting to bed on time (except Jensen because he just doesn’t go to sleep on anyone’s schedule but his own), and I’m not nearly as stressed as I’ve been.

I think spending some much needed time at home will be good for all of us…especially me.

Sloppy Sandwiches All Around

2009-04-23T23:13:00.003-05:00

Today we had Sloppy Joes for linner (Justin is working evenings, so we have our main meal before he leaves for work). Traditional sloppy joes aren’t a big deal unless you are vegetarian, making the meat-filled sloppiness a bit unappealing.

There are currently three vegetarians living at my house, so I am learning to revamp some of our family's favorite recipes to be meat-free, offering meat on the side several times a week. Or sometimes I just make two main dishes, one with meat and one without. Today was one of those “with and without” days.

Last month I discovered a vegetarian sloppy joe recipe that looked promising. I’m not a big fan of tofu (I will eat it, but it isn’t one of my favorites), so I was looking for a recipe that was tofu-free. I found Sloppy Sams on AllRecipes.com and fell in love. I was able to freeze half (from last month) and reheated them today. Not only is the sloppy sam mixture good on buns, but I've enjoyed spreading it on romaine lettuce and eating it like a taco. I also found a wonderful (I am told) regular sloppy joe recipe as well. This recipe is super easy and went over really well with the masses…Justin ate three sandwiches just himself.

To round out our meal, I attempted some baked curly fries and honey glazed carrots. The carrots were amazing (recipe below). Just enough sweetness without being overwhelming. Now the curly fries could use some tweaking. I neglected to follow the recipe exactly, so they didn’t come out quite right. The recipe calls for boiling the potato curls for three minutes before coating them with the seasoning mix and baking. Well, I set the potatoes in the water before it was fully boiling and didn’t start timing until the water was boiling. Oops, my bad. The flavor was still great; the potatoes just didn’t hold their shape. I’ll definitely make them again, but will follow the recipe exactly next time.

This meal used a few pans (Justin hates when I use every pan in the house) because I made two main meals, but was worth it, I think. The kids all ate their sloppy sandwiches and loved the fries. My kids aren't big fans of cooked carrots, so those just sort of sat on their plates. I need to find another way to get some orange veggies into their system…ooh, sounds like a mission.

Vegetarian Sloppy Sams

INGREDIENTS
3 cups water
1 cup lentils, rinsed
salt to taste (optional)
1 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped tomato
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons molasses
salt and ground black pepper to taste
4 hamburger buns, split

DIRECTIONS
Combine water and lentils in a saucepan; season to taste with salt if desired. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook onions with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions have softened and turned translucent, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, ketchup, mustard powder, chili powder, and molasses; simmer 5 to10 minutes until thickened.

Drain lentils and reserve cooking liquid. Stir lentils into sauce mixture, adding cooking liquid or water as needed to obtain the desired "sloppy joe" consistency. Serve on buns.

Honey Glazed Carrots
1 lb. baby carrots
salt
2 T butter

1/4 C honey

Boil baby carrots in slightly salted water until tender. Drain.

Melt butter and honey in pan; add carrots. Simmer on low 2-3 minutes, stirring to coat.

A Fabulous Farm Fieldtrip

2009-04-22T23:44:00.003-05:00

Today we celebrated Earth Day by going on a fieldtrip to a local farm. This farm is actually the one I get our free range chicken and eggs from, and starting next week (as well as in the fall), where I will be getting my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetables.

The kids got a chance to walk around the farm and see the raised vegetable beds, which they weren’t overly thrilled about. Mr. Farmer and one of our homeschool moms got to chatting about some organic/natural farming methods and the kids were not interested, so they wandered around, climbing on wood piles and playing with the farm cats. I enjoyed seeing how Mr. Farmer planted the vegetables in his raised beds so close together; having some vegetables “share” the same space. An example was turnips and carrots. Mr. Farmer explained that since the turnips would be harvested much sooner than the carrots, they could occupy the same space because when the turnips were ready to come out, the carrots would be ready to start rooting more deeply and would then have the space needed to thrive. I didn’t plant my seeds as closely as Mr. Farmer did, but did utilize more of a wide row planting method as opposed to traditional rows. I’ll have to do some more research and see if maybe next year I can have some of my veggies “share” the same space, thus saving me precious garden space.

The laying chickens and sheep were a huge success. There was a four day old lamb and a twelve day old lamb that the kids took a liking too. Mr. Farmer let the kids into the pen with the laying hens and let them feed the chickens some fresh grass. I was proud that none of the kids chased the birds, but instead respected their space and crouched down to feed the birds, allowing the birds to come to the kids if they were interested. The meat chickens weren’t as interesting. They were kept in smaller pens that are moved every day to allow them fresh “grazing” space. We had some vegans in the mix, so I’m not sure that the talk of utilizing animals for meat was very popular.

Mr. Farmer showed the kids a wild blackberry that had vined itself around a small hedge and the kids went to town. I don’t think my kids had ever had blackberries before, but let me tell you my boys loved them. Jolie wasn’t a big fan, but enjoyed picking them for her brothers. We also went mole cricket hunting, with no success.

The kids wrapped up the fieldtrip planting seeds of their own in small peat pots. Jake and Jensen planted watermelon, and Jolie planted watermelon and sunflowers. I have some watermelon plants ready to go in the ground, so we should have plenty of watermelon to go around this year. I also got to take home some goodies. Mr. Farmer had some left over pepper and tomato plants, so I grabbed two large red cherry tomato, two banana pepper, two jalapeño pepper, and two bell pepper plants. I need to try to get them in the garden tomorrow.

My kids left saying that they all wanted to be farmers when they grew up. I said I too wanted to be a farmer when I grew up. Jake spoke with Mr. Farmer about coming back at some point and doing some work around the farm. I think that might be a great plan. Mr. Farmer offered to have us back again soon, maybe to see one of the other plots they have…either cows, timber, or some other wonderful farm area.

I think it the farm fieldtrip was a wonderful way to spend Earth Day. Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Updated Garden

2009-04-17T22:45:00.010-05:00

Okay. So I'm still slacking in the blogging department, but the garden is coming along.

Here is an updated view of My Garden Design. The items off to the side have yet to be planted.

I hope to get a bell pepper plant this week and get the pumpkin, watermelon, and cucumber planted. I still haven't found a place for the vining plants. They will probably have to be planted outside of the fenced garden because of spacing issues. My herbs have not yet arrived from the organic grower. I'm not pleased thus far with that particular seed company, so we'll see if I order from then again. Hopefully the herbs will arrive this week. I've decided to plant them out front, again because of spacing issues. My garlic will be arriving this fall some time. The last thing I need to do is to order my sweet potato slips. I could/should have started them on my own, but I want several varieties that aren't available at the natural foods store.

Let me know what you think. I know the garden will be crowded, but I'd rather use every square inch rather than loose out on precious gardening space.

Still Alive

2009-04-15T22:11:00.002-05:00

I'm still alive and kicking (in case anyone was wondering). I've been staying busy out in the garden, rearranging bedrooms, proof reading political science papers, and running the kids all over town.

I have a lot on my mind to blog about...I hope to get back in the groove tomorrow.

Until then, hope you all are doing well.

Tilling Begins

2009-04-06T23:08:00.004-05:00

The garden is coming along. I went ahead and started tilling on Saturday. I worked until I ran out of gas, tilling about 50 sq. ft. I estimate the garden will be 500 sq ft. or so. The tilling wasn’t hard. The soil isn’t as sandy as I thought it would be. It isn’t nearly as fertile as our soil in central Washington, but I think it will work. I decided to wait on the mushroom compost (I don’t have a truck readily available to get it here and delivery costs as much as the compost itself!). I will use what compost I have out of my composter as mulch once the plants are established. We’ll see if I’ll need something more to supplement.

My fence was finished yesterday, and looks wonderful. Thanks, Big Al.

Today was beautiful, so I was able to get half the garden tilled. It took some time and I got a workout, but I got it done. I was so excited when I finished that I went ahead and planted about ¼ of the garden. I redesigned my garden on PlanGarden.com. I’m not done with the remodel…it’s a work in progress. After printing out my original plan and taking it to the garden, it just wasn’t flowing well.

I decided to plan my peas between the different varieties of corn. Since peas tend to like cooler weather, I thought that some shade from the corn stalks might be helpful. We’ll see. I’ve not had much success with corn before, so I’m hoping they will do well.

I plan to plant another ¼ of the garden tomorrow and will hopefully get some more tilling done. We have freeze watch in effect for the next two nights, so I’ll be bringing in my tomato, pepper, strawberry and cucumber seedlings to ensure they don’t sustain any damage. As soon as the warning has lifted, I hope to get them in the ground, hopefully before the end of the week.

Let the gardening begin!

She Finally Lost It

2009-04-06T22:02:00.004-05:00

Jolie lost her first tooth on Friday. It has been holding on by a thread for the past few days. Late last week, she pulled me aside and asked me to look at a "cut" in her mouth. It was no cut...it was her adult tooth coming in behind the baby tooth. That puppy was ready to come out. She wouldn't pull it herself. I got the honor this time.

Jolie was blessed with the "first tooth bonus" from the Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy brings $5 for the first tooth and $1 for every subsequent tooth. Saturday morning I actually had to ask her what she had gotten from the Tooth Fairy. She joyfully ran out of her room with her wad of cash. Not long after, she wrapped her arms around me and whispered, "Mom, you're the best Tooth Fairy ever."

That's right. She's hip to the jig. Last fall she asked if fairies were real, and I asked her what she thought. She said no and seemed satisfied. A few minutes later she asked, "What about the Tooth Fairy, then?" As Justin whispered, "Don't lie to her," I asked her again what she though. She pondered again for a few minutes and said, "No. I don't think she's real. Do you give us money?" And from that point on, the innocence was broken. I asked her not to tell Jake because he didn't know yet, and we agreed that it would be our secret.

About a week later, Jake came out of his room and said, "So, the Tooth Fairy isn't real, huh?" I asked him where he'd heard that, and he plainly said, "Jolie." Of course, he decided to take it one step further and the inquired about Santa. I in turn asked him what he thought, and he said, "No, I think you and Daddy get us gifts." Well there you go. But wait. He had to clarify all mystical beings that bring him gifts, including the Easter Bunny. Again, I asked him to keep Santa and the Easter Bunny a secret from Jolie and Jensen, since they were still young...and as you can imagine, that didn't last long.

I'm not sure how much Jensen knows as of yet. I do know that he was sitting at the table the other day saying to his Legos, "Mommy and Daddy are Santa." I wonder who he heard that from...

Getting Started on the Garden

2009-04-01T21:42:00.006-05:00

After what seems like forever, we were able to get started on the garden today.

The weather has not been cooperative the past week or so, preventing any real outside work. Tornado warnings and flash flooding tend to keep home gardeners inside. The rain was much needed, though, and helped to green up our no longer dormant lawn. My rain barrels runneth over and are eager to be of assistance during the dry weeks.

We have also been waiting on our “fence guy” to get started on our fence. We debated back and forth for several weeks about what type of fence we wanted to enclose our garden. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t need a fence at all. But as you saw, my angelic puppy and his little sidekick enjoy making landscaping adjustments without prior approval, necessitating a garden enclosure. I originally thought that a simple poultry fence would be fine, but after looking at one at a friend’s house, I wasn’t sure that it would hold up to the dogs. I then thought that maybe a chain link fence would work. It would allow plenty of light through and keep the dogs out. My fence guy suggested a wood picket fence, which he felt would add much more value to the property and didn’t cost much more than the chain link. I decided on a short, wood picket fence. Fence Guy is going to hand make it so that the slats will be wider apart than a standard fence, allowing the most light through without letting Chester in. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product…hopefully before the end of the week.

Jake, Jolie, and I spent the morning digging up and transferring piles of last year’s pine needles and oak leaves that we saved from last year. Well, actually they just didn't fit into our composter, so we had to pile them all up next to the composter and add them to the mix as the compost broke down over time. We spread the partially decomposed material over the garden area, having just enough to cover most of the garden. My goal is to have the area tilled before the weekend so that I can add one more layer. I will be getting one cubic yard of mushroom compost from a local garden supply store this weekend to spread over the top and till it one more time. If the weather holds, hopefully I’ll be able to start planting Sunday after church.

Here are some photos -

Before

Step 1

He Must Have a Really Ruff Life

2009-03-31T21:25:00.008-05:00

Awwww. Look at that angelic, sleeping puppy. Isn't he so cute?

Don't be fooled. That angelic puppy is the same puppy that decided a few days ago that he wasn't content with the look of his yard and decided to take it upon himself to improve the landscape...

with none other than large breed puppy sized hole! In just a couple of swipes, nonetheless.

Okay, so he USUALLY is a cute, angelic puppy who loves to be babied by his kids.

And I just happen to have the awesome privilege of filling the large hole he so thoughtfully decided to strategically place in the middle of my yard. Wasn't that so gracious of him?

"I'm Not Sick"

2009-03-25T22:42:00.005-05:00

Says my three-year-old with a 102 degree temperature, as he's laying in bed semi-wheezing with bloodshot eyes that are somewhat sunk in his head, dozing off to sleep.

He woke up this morning with a fever and I was letting it go until it hit the 102 degree mark. I'm not a big fan of medicines. We choose natural remedies whenever possible. Unfortunately, my urge to quickly lower his fever overcame me today and I gave him some Motrin. Two doses thus far. He still isn't feeling well, although he won't say so. He laid on the couch watching movies most of the day (the only time they really get to watch an obscene amount of television), groaning and dozing. He hasn't complained about anything bothering him so far, so I'm just keeping an eye on him.

I just felt him and he's burning up again, so I think I'm going to try some cool cloths while he sleeps and see how that works.

I'm hoping that he'll feel better tomorrow.

Anyone have any tips on natural method for fever reduction? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Sadness from the Fish Tank

2009-03-23T22:26:00.002-05:00

We lost one of our beloved gold fish this morning. Our four gold fish are about two years old and made the move from Virginia with us, so they are definitely included in the list of family members when the kids are asked who is in our family. They each have a name as well. At first, they were each a different color/shade with certain defining marking, but they are now all the same shade of orange, two with "fancy" tails, and two that are plain.

We lost Ally, one of the fancy tailed fish. When we got home yesterday from our camping trip, I noticed that one of them was swimming very slowly at the bottom of the tank and figured something was wrong, so I wasn't surprised when one had died this morning. After taking it out of the tank and checking on the others, I realized that it was a different fish that had died. The slow moving fish was still slowly swimming at the bottom. Wondering if something was wrong with the tank, I changed the filter and am keeping a close watch on it. I don't want to lose any more fish if I can help it.

The kids took the news rather well. I told Jolie as soon as she got up because the tank is in her room and I didn't want her to be alarmed when she noticed there were only three fish in the tank. We discussed that fish and animals sometimes get sick or just grow old and will eventually die. Jake got a slightly more advanced explanation, having a better understanding of the loss of an animal. Jensen, on the other hand, is still in the dark on the fish situation. He slept later than the other two, so I’ll have to give him the news another time. He isn’t really interested in the fish (unless he gets to feed them), so he probably won’t notice for a while.

My parent's dog just passed away as well, so they have had some experience in this area. Hercules was 13 1/2 years old and lived a wonderful life. He was the only dog that I had growing up and he will always hold a special place in my heart. Jensen still doesn't understand that he is gone, and keeps talking about Herk and how he is old and sick. I'm sure he'll understand more the next time we are at Mom and Dad's and Herk isn't there.

Losing a pet is so very hard. I don't want to go through a major loss again for a long time to come.

A Wonderful Weekend for Camping

2009-03-22T21:57:00.008-05:00

We have been so busy lately that it was nice to finally slow down for a change. We have a local military recreation facility that has some wonderful campgrounds, paintball fields, playgrounds, disk golf, bike trails, miniature golf, and water access. The price was right, too, so we loaded up the tent, kayaks, kids, and dogs and headed over with our neighbors for some much needed R&R.

The site doesn’t take reservations for camping, so the kids and I drove over Friday morning to pay for and pick out our spot. We were quite indecisive and took nearly 30 minutes to find the “right spot.” We didn’t want to be too close to the bathhouse, but not too far away either (small bladders, you know), and we didn’t want to be squished between two big RVs (we have a tent, but our neighbors had a camper and we were sharing the site). We did finally find a great spot and were stoked. The kids and I loaded up the car with all but the kayaks in preparation for Justin to get home. He strapped on the boats and we were on the road.

We hadn’t been camping in over three years. Our last camping adventure was a wonderful trip we took down the west coast from the San Juan Islands in Washington to the Redwood Forest in northern California. It was a beautiful trip. We went whale watching, saw the Sea Lion Caves, a bunch of lighthouses, and the towering Redwoods. My parents and one of my sisters went with us on the trip. We all loaded up in our (no longer with us) Suburban, and saw the west coast. Seeing the Redwood Forest was one of my requests before we left that side of the country, and doing so in a tent was a wonderful way to see it.

We got to take the kayaks out for the first time this weekend. We got them about two weeks ago (our belated anniversary gifts to ourselves), and since Justin is now able to lift things and exercise again, we wanted to get them in the water and try them out. I LOVED it! I had never been kayaking before and to be honest have some fear of the water (a near-drowning experience in 8th grade will do that to a person), so I was surprised with how relaxed I was once I got the hang of paddling. It was so quiet out in the water. I could have stayed out there all day. Justin and I let Jake have a try with my kayak, and he was a natural. He loved it as well and has requested a kayak for his 10th birthday in June (we’ll have to see about that).

Due to the dryness of the area, fires were off limits, but who says you can’t cook S’mores over a charcoal grill? I’m not sure how good that actually is for you, either the charcoal flames or the S’mores, but I guess you only live once. Justin and Jensen had traditional S’mores with marshmallows, organic graham crackers and Hershey’s chocolate bars. Jolie and Jake, on the other hand, are vegetarians and won’t eat gelatin that is found in traditional marshmallows. I ordered some vegan marshmallows online, but they didn’t get here in time. I tried making some marshmallows from scratch before Thanksgiving, but didn’t have any luck. I’ll try again, I’m sure, but in the mean time, the kids used marshmallow fluff (they weren’t too happy with that either because it does have some blue food coloring in it and corn syrup), fair trade chocolate, and organic graham crackers. There is a ricemellow fluff that is out on the market that I need to try and find for the next time we need “the fluff.” I just assembled the alternative S’mores the same way I would a regular S’more, and placed the whole thing on the grill grate (near the edge, away from the flames) so that the chocolate could melt. Everyone was happy. I think our neighbors thought we were funny for using alternative ingredients, but the kids enjoyed their treat.

We took a nice walk through the forest along the bike trail. There were wild blueberry bushes everywhere that had already flowered and were starting to produce fruit. Justin was excited to find the trail and might use it as a training area for his adventure races.

The fun had to end this morning, so we packed up and headed home, but continued the relaxation by watching movies all day (after putting away the camping gear, of course). We did well setting up and taking down the tent and accessories. We could have used some additional child participation, but I’m sure that will come with time. The dogs were doing quite well by the end, and I think they will warm up a little more each time we camp.

I’m itching to get back out there for our next camping trip. I’m hoping to see if I can get my parents and whichever of my sisters that are able to attend to meet up sometime next month for a little camping rendezvous.

It’s back to the real world tomorrow. I have a floor that needs to be mopped (it is Monday Mop Day), a yard that needs raked and mowed, a garage that needs to be cleaned out, and (hopefully) a garden that needs to be tilled. Slow and steady wins the race, but first I have to get a good night’s sleep. I’m not much good without my beauty sleep.

Here’s to positive thoughts and a great week ahead.

Monday Mop Day

2009-03-09T23:38:00.004-05:00

Mondays are Mop Day at our house.

Justin got me a book for my birthday last year that opened my eyes to a new way of mopping. Green Housekeeping, my first resource for keeping my housekeeping green, very gently pointed out that each time I mopped I was sloshing around dirty water on my supposedly clean floor. It didn’t matter if I was using one of those squeezable mops or an old fashioned cotton mop. Either way the dirt from the floor was being added back into the clean water and I was mopping the rest of the floor with that dirty water. Gross! Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier? I had been mopping for nearly fifteen years and had never thought of that grodiness factor.

In Green Housekeeping, Ellen Sandbeck introduces the idea of using a Dutch Rubber Broom, a bucket of water and vinegar, and some clean rags as a means of mopping. One just wets the rag in the water and vinegar, wrings it out slightly, drops it on the floor and scrubs away with the Dutch Rubber Broom.

Well I’m all for cleaning effectively and efficiently and decided to give it a try. I don’t have a Dutch Rubber Broom, but found an old Swiffer Sweeper in the hall closet when we moved it. I have been using the Swiffer instead of the rubber broom with much success.

I grab several old rags, fill a bucket with water and vinegar and go to town. The wet rag fits nicely on the Swiffer. I mop with that rag until it’s dirty, and then I toss it in the laundry room and grab another. The floor gets mopped with clean water, rather than dirty. The vinegar and water give the floor a nice shine without any film. I also use the technique on the laminate floors, just using a slightly damp rag without any vinegar.

The floors look much better now than when I used to use other cleaning products and a regular mop, without the need for harmful chemicals. I've been very pleased.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

2009-03-09T22:40:00.002-05:00

Several years ago I stumbled across the Fly Lady when a friend mentioned she used the Fly Lady’s cleaning techniques to keep her house organized. I really liked the program. At the time, it helped me to get an established schedule for cleaning. Focusing on one area of the house each week of the month really helped to "zone" in on each area and get it up to par. Though the program does work, I don’t follow the Fly Lady program to a “T” anymore. I just don't have the time to be as meticulous with my cleaning as I once was. We now focus on cleaning basics and get the nitty gritty when needed. Because of this, I have created a somewhat modified program that meets my family’s needs a bit better.

Rather than divide the rooms of the house and concentrate on one room each week, as in the Fly Lady’s method, we focus on a different room of the house each weekday. I do the major cleaning, and the kids help with some of the smaller tasks in addition to their other daily chores.

Monday – Kitchen (mop; wipe cabinets; clean microwave; wipe out fridge)
Tuesday – Bedrooms (vacuum; dust; wash sheets; clean off dressers)
Wednesday – Office (pay bills; file papers; organize desk)
Thursday – Great Room (dust; mop; organize book shelves)
Friday – Bathroom (scrub; wash towels; organize under sinks)

Each day I will look to see of any additional organization or cleaning needs to be done, and will do them as needed. Sometimes a drawer will be unruly, so I’ll spend Fly Lady’s fifteen minutes and get that drawer organized. Basically, each area of the house is getting the same amount of cleaning time on each program; I just like to see things done on a weekly versus monthly basis. We can usually have each room (and all of the daily chores for that matter) done in two half hour sessions during the day.

We have been using this schedule for a few years now and it is nearly second nature to us now. The kids’ daily chores are tailored to meet the “room of the day” (i.e. Jakob chose wipe cabinets as one of his daily chores…and did a fine job I might add, and tomorrow they will strip their beds and vacuum their rooms).

The schedule helps keep the house clean and ensures that everyone works together as a team to get the job done.

Saffron Yellow Rice

2009-03-03T22:00:00.002-06:00

Another tasty recipe to add to the mix. We have always loved yellow rice (with chicken for those family members who eat meat). For the longest time I just picked up one of those packets of yellow rice mix from the store (okay, really two packets because my family loved it so much), added shredded chicken to half of it, and POW, dinner was served. Well, not exactly. Some liked to add salsa to the top (me included) and there were always green beans on the side.

In my attempts to healthify my family, I have been reading any and all nutrition labels. You'd never guess what I found in my innocent looking yellow rice mix. None other than MSG! That's right. That pesky little preservative was hiding out in my rice mix, just waiting to cause a migraine or CVS episode. I have since banned said rice mix and we have gone without for several months.

Jolie is a really big fan of yellow rice and asked about having it again several weeks ago, which prompted my search for a healthy alternative. I knew that the rice mix had saffron in it, so I started there. I spent a whopping $8.50 on saffron at the commissary and started looking up recipes. I looked through quite a few, hoping for a vegetarian version that I could add chicken to for my omnivores. I finally settled on a variation of the Arroz con Pollo recipe on the McCormick website. I figured they sold me the saffron, maybe they had a recipe to go with it.

Below is my altered version, lovingly called "Saffron Yellow Rice." I doubled the recipe for my hungry brood. I wish I had a photo to share, but it went so fast, that there just wasn't time.

Enjoy!

Saffron Yellow Rice

1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper, Ground
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup long grain rice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) vegetable (or chicken) broth
1/4 teaspoon Spanish Saffron, crushed
1/4 cup sliced green olives

Heat oil in large skillet on medium heat. Add rice and garlic; cook and stir about 1 minute. Stir in broth, salt, paprika, pepper, and saffron. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 20 minutes or until chicken rice is tender. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with olives, if desired.

Mother Nature's Reminder

2009-03-02T21:51:00.001-06:00

Since placing my seed orders, I’ve received one box of seeds in the mail. I have measured out the garden and started working with the PlanGarden software. Jolie and I bought some tomato and pepper plants from the farmer’s market last weekend and are planning to get some strawberry plants this weekend. There are also some blueberry bushes and an orange tree in our near future.

Needless to say, I have the itch to get planting.

Luckily for me, Mother Nature has her own special way of reminding those of us with plant-itis to just hold our horsies for a little bit longer. Several nights of below freezing temperatures will solidify that hint every time.

It has been cold here the past few nights with temps in the low 30s at night and mid 50s during the day. According to PlanGarden, our last spring frost is around March 13th, so not too long before I can really get out there and get my hands dirty. There are a few plants that I can start indoors. Unfortunately, most of those plants are in my second seed order that hasn’t arrived. Hopefully it will be here soon, so I can get some of those seeds started.

Here is my garden plan thus far.

My Garden Design

I’m not finished with it yet. I still have some tweaking to do here and there, but you can get the general idea of it all.

I’ll keep an eye on the weather and follow Mother Nature’s cues. I’ll plant soon, but not too soon. Mother Nature is sure to keep my on my toes this year.

Jake's First Projects

2009-02-24T22:41:00.005-06:00

Here are Jake’s first two woodworking projects.

The first is an ornament he made for me his first time working with Sir.

The second is a Harry Potter wand that he made on Saturday. He has several wands at home from Alivan's, but this one is unique and special.

Jake and Sir have another woodworking day planned in two weeks. Jake has many projects in mind, so I’m not sure what he has planned next. I know that I am not allowed in the shop while they are working, though. I wonder if something is for me.

I like that Jakob has been bitten by the creativity bug. He has come home with great ideas after each of his woodworking adventures, ranging from other woodworking projects to home and vehicle designs. I will continue to stoke Jake's interest in woodworking. Maybe he'll build me my "someday" house someday.

Tasty Collard Greens

2009-02-20T17:09:00.002-06:00

One of my sisters asked me for my collard greens recipe, so I figured I'd go ahead and post it here in case anyone was interested.

Collard Greens

2 bunches collard greens
1/2 C chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 T olive oil
1 scant teaspoon sweet, smoked paprika
1/4 t salt

Remove and discard the stems from the collards. Wash leaves thoroughly to remove any dirt or grit.

On medium heat, saute onion until caramelized. Add garlic, saute until softened about 3-4 minutes.

Add smoked paprika and saute for one more minute.

Add collard greens and stir to coat with oil and cover.

Cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring periodically. If the greens begin to stick to the bottom, add a bit of water.

Remove from heat. Add salt and stir to combine. More salt (and lemon juice if desired) may be added to taste.

[Adapted from My Spiced Life]

Yummy Sweet Potato Fries

2009-02-19T23:02:00.006-06:00

We had these tasty fries again tonight and they were wonderful. I made them two weeks ago and ate all of them by myself, so I went ahead and doubled the recipe tonight. The kids love them. They aren't overly sweet, but have very nice flavor. If you like your fries crispy, be sure to cut them thin, and if you like them a little squishy, make them chunky. Enjoy!

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries
serves 4-6

1 - 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (preferably the easy release kind).

Peal the sweet potatoes. Cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide on each side.

Place the sweet potatoes into a sealable plastic bag. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.

Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a paper towel lined plate and serve warm.

Vegetable Exposure

2009-02-19T22:11:00.002-06:00

I was never really exposed to a variety of vegetables as a child. We usually ate the traditional canned green beans, peas and carrots, and mixed vegetables. We’d have corn on the cob when it was in season, potatoes and carrots with a roast, and a bagged salad from time to time. I just don’t really remember having a wide offering of vegetables on the dinner table.

As an example, I don't remember ever really having sweet potatoes. I believe my first encounter with sweet potatoes was Thanksgiving 1988 when a close family friend made sweet potato casserole (you know, the one with the marshmallows on top) for our first Thanksgiving getaway to a cabin in North Carolina. They were orange and scary looking. I’m not sure if I even tried a bite.

It wasn’t until adulthood when one of my sisters mentioned having a sweet potato at a restaurant as a substitution for a regular baked potato did the thought of sweet potatoes intrigue me. I didn’t realize that substitution was a possibility, nor how it would taste, so I decided that I should go ahead and give them a try. Well golly gee, they were pretty darn tasty. Why hadn’t I ever experienced that yummy-ness before? It was settled, sweet potatoes would be a semi-regular part of my diet.

To be honest, sweet potatoes still had to be dressed up pretty heavily in order to be “tasty” in my book for a long time. Sweet potatoes and marshmallows were supposed to be paired like peas and carrots, weren’t they? Now that I am older and wiser I can tell you…no.

Hoping to break the cycle, my kids have had a considerable amount of exposure to vegetables of all shapes and colors. I do have to admit that we renamed carrot soufflé "orange soufflé" so that the kids would try it, but now that they are hooked, they have all been let in on my little secret. They each have their favorite vegetables and squirm a bit when they see certain vegetables on their plates, but each is a good sport and tries my new vegetable concoctions (wish I could say the same for Justin). They all know that if they give me constructive criticism (not, “yuck, Mom! That sucks!”), then I can adjust recipes (or chuck them if they really do suck) accordingly to meet most everyone’s needs (again, Justin can be hard to please sometimes…can you say “MEAT AND POTATOES!”).

I have started to take the kids with me to the farmer’s market each week to look at and purchase vegetables from local farmers. Two weeks ago we bought some collard greens to try as a family. To be honest, I had never had collards before (forgive me, my parents grew up in the mid-west), and was interested in trying them. I searched online for a recipe and tried it out. It was a success in my book. Everyone tried them and Justin actually loved them. The kids weren’t big fans, but as their exposure increases and they try a little each time I make collards, I’m sure that they will start to grow on them as well. I’m excited to see what the farmers will have in stock on Saturday for us to try.

I think getting up close and personal with our food is important. That is one reason why I asked the kids what they wanted to grow in our garden this year. I figure if they have a say in what we are growing, then hopefully they will be more inclined to help with the cultivation and ultimately in the consumption of the “fruits” of their labor. Just today, after making creamy potato soup with broccoli, I was asked if I was sure I had ordered broccoli and potatoes for our garden. When I answered in the affirmative, there were cheers all around the table.

My suggestions for exposing children to new vegetables is to do just that, expose the kids to new vegetables. Don’t overwhelm them, mind you, but a spoon full of squash in conjunction with another vegetable that they do like is a great way to give the new vegetable some face time. I always have our trusty standby, lettuce, on hand just in case. If my new vegetable concoction doesn’t go over well, I quickly fill in with a lettuce salad. I have one that loves salad by itself, one that likes to have a small amount of dressing on the side so that they can dip their salad, and one that doesn’t really care for salad, but when presented with a scary vegetable concoction, will douse a salad in ranch dressing and call it a day. A child who never encounters zucchini, will more than likely turn their nose up at it without trying it when they are older, but if they are exposed to it when they are young, there is a possibility that if they don’t immediately fall in love with it, that it might grow on them over time. At least with repeated exposure, the child, and ultimately the adult, will be able to say how they like (or don’t like) a certain vegetable prepared (raw, steamed, baked, grilled, etc.).

The My Pyramid website has a lot of great information about the “newer” designed food pyramid. It looks dramatically different than it did when I was a kid. If you haven’t seen it lately, you may want to pop over and give it a look-see. The site has some helpful tips as well as a My Pyramid Plan to personalize the pyramid for yourself and/or your kids to see exactly what types and how many servings of each food group should be consumed.

Seed Orders are In

2009-02-17T22:35:00.003-06:00

I finally got around to ordering the seeds for my garden. I’m probably a little late considering we live in Florida and the weather seems to be making the shift toward spring. I am also delinquent in planning my garden design, building fencing, and getting my tilling done. If the weather holds, I will be getting my hands dirty this weekend for sure. I did find a garden planning website that looks promising. Plangarden.com has a 45-day free trial, so I think I might give them a try and see if it works for me.

I ordered seeds and live plants from two different companies. I’ve never ordered seeds online before. In the past, I have just grabbed some seeds when we were at a home improvement store and threw them in the ground. I have had fairly good luck with my generic seeds, but since we are making adjustments in other areas of our lives in order to be more health and eco-conscious, I decided it was time to spring for something a little different.

As I learn more about homesteading, becoming self-sustaining, improving our nutrition, and eco-friendly practices, I am realizing the importance of growing food to sustain my family nutritionally and financially, as well as ensuring that my gardening is having a positive impact on the environment.

Buying organic is important to me not only for the nutritional value of the organic food, but also the way in which the food is grown. There is some great information on sustainable agriculture and organic farming on the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service website. We buy organic products to reduce the amount of pesticides being used, support non-GMO crops, and encourage the growth of the local farming community.

Because our garden is in the start-up phases this year due to our move, we have decided to participate in our local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program offered by one of the local farmers. His produce will help to supplement the veggies and fruits we will have in our garden this year. We are also currently purchasing eggs from this local farmer and will have chicken this spring and turkey in the fall. Supporting the local famers is important to our family, so we will be making a trip to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday to see what is available.

It should be no surprise that the seeds I ordered are organic, open-pollinated, and in many cases heirloom. I am excited about their arrival and know that I need to get a move on so that I’m ready to plant not long after they arrive.

Here is the list of seeds (by company) that I ordered. I’m looking forward to trying out some new varieties (Hopi Blue Flour Corn, for instance) and getting back in touch with some old favorites (Blue Lake Bush Green Beans).

Wish us luck!

Seeds of Change
Seeds-
CAULIFLOWER, ALL-THE-YEAR-ROUND
CORN, HOPI BLUE FLOUR
CORN, DAKOTA BLACK POPCORN
CORN, SWEET, HOOKERS
CORN, SWEET, STOWELLS
ONION, VALENCIA
PEA, SHELL, PIONEER
PEA SNAP, CASCADIA

Heirloom Acres Seeds
Seeds-
Black Turtle Bean
Small Reds Bean
Black Eyed Pea
Sunflower, Mammoth Gray Striped
Blue Lake Bush Green Bean
Green Sprouting Broccoli
RedCore Chanteney Carrot
Paris White Cos Romaine Lettuce
Buttercrunch Head Lettuce
Evergreen White Bunching Oregon
Sugar Pod Snow Pea
California Wonder Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Long Red Cayenne Pepper
Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
Sugar Baby Watermelon
Tall Utah Celery
Sesame

Live Plants-
Inchelium Red (garlic)
Yukon Gold Potato
Bay, SweetDill Plant
Basil, Genovese
Chives, Onion
Parsley, Flat
Rosemary, Arp
Sage, Broadleaf
Oregano, Greek
Tarragon, French
Thyme, English

Do You Freecycle?

2009-02-11T20:56:00.001-06:00

What is Freecycle you ask?

Freecycle is a network of people who give things to others (for free) that they might otherwise toss into the landfill when no longer needed, though those things might still have some usefulness left in it. Items that you have outgrown or no longer love, but have not worn out or worn through, are all acceptable offers on Freecycle. No, those holey shoes your son wore through wouldn’t be a good thing to give through Freecycle. But that cool mist vaporizer you have sitting in the garage would.

The mission of Freecycle is “to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.”

To get involved with the Freecycle network, check out their website. It is a great feeling to know that the Freecycle network is available throughout the country and across the world.

We recently Freecycled a VCR, two fake-leather folding chairs, and a vacuum that needed a new plug. I was in need of a carpet shampooer and asked if anyone had one they were looking to get rid of. A few hours later a woman posted that she did and would leave it on her porch for me.

Freecycle is a great way to keep useful things out of the landfill, save some money, and help out others in the community that might be in need of something you are ready to get rid of. I have another pile of things in the garage just waiting for me to post to my local Freecycle list. I hope that they will be useful to someone else and continue to be utilized.

Helping With the Filing

2009-02-10T20:28:00.002-06:00

A large breed puppy’s idea of helping with the filing.

True Mentorship Becomes a Reality

2009-02-10T20:16:00.002-06:00

Jake had his first opportunity to do some woodworking with Sir. He spent several hours learning about the tools, different types of joints, and how to use several different machines. Sir picked a project that could be completed in one sitting so that Jake would have a product to take home with him. Jake made a beautiful ornament that hangs from a stand (I’ll post a photo tomorrow). I’m hoping that Sir won’t mind Jake coming over every other week to learn more. Jake had such a great time. Sir gave him a book to look through so that he can choose his next project.

At the beginning of the “school” year, Jake mentioned that he wanted to learn about woodworking. I am so thankful that Sir offered to teach him a skill that neither Justin nor I have. I look forward to watching Jakob and Sir’s relationship grow. This mentoring relationship is just what Jake needs to help mold him as he is quickly growing into a young man.

Proof is in the Photos

2009-02-03T21:06:00.005-06:00

Congratulations, Jolie!

A Little Parody

2009-01-30T08:27:00.001-06:00

I saw this on my TJEdSecular Yahoo! list and just had to share...

Home Eating a Threat to Public Kitchens?
State Allows Growing Trend of Eating at Home
A Parody by Angela Paul
April 13, 2099
Reunited Press

After much heated debate on the house floor, legislation was passed today to allow a growing number of families to cook meals for their families in their homes. The children must have annual physical examinations to assure proper growth and weight gain. Attempts to require weekly meal plans and monthly kitchen inspections were voted down.

A spokesperson from the National Association of Nutritionists (NANs) condemns this decision. "These children are being denied the rich socialization and diversity that is an essential part of the eating process. Without the proper nutritional background, it is impossible for the average person to feed their own children. We, as child advocates, see this as a step backwards and speak out for the sake of the children who cannot speak for themselves."

Homecooking parents say the benefits of eating at home include increased family unity and the ability to tailor a diet to a particular need. Elizabeth Crocker, a home cook, states, "We started cooking and eating at home when we realized that my son had a severe allergy to eggs. The public kitchens required him to take numerous medications that had serious side effects in order to counteract his allergy. We found that eliminating eggs was a simpler method and our son has thrived since we began doing so."

After this experience, the Crockers decided to home cook for all of their children, and converted their media room into a kitchen. Elizabeth says, "We have experienced so much closeness as we have explored recipes and spent time cooking together and eating together. We have a dining circle with other families where we sometimes share ideas and meals together."

The Crocker children have done well physically under their mother's care, weighing in at optimum weights for their ages and having health records far above average. It should be noted that Mrs. Crocker, while not a professional nutritionist, has a family history rich with nutritionists and home economists. "Surely the success of the Crocker children is due to the background of their mother," responded the spokesman from NANs. "The results they have achieved should not be viewed as normative." Mrs. Crocker counters that her background was actually a hindrance to the nutritional principles she follows. "Our paternal great-grandmother was a home economist, but she prepared most meal from pre-made mixes. In our homecooking we try not to duplicate public-kitchen meals, but to tailor our meals to the needs and preferences of our children."

In a related issue, legislation is in committee that would provide oversight for the emerging homecooking movement. Says the Home Eating Legal Defense Association (HELDA): "We want to provide umbrella kitchens to aid parents in the complicated tasks of feeding their children. Many families lack the expertise of the Crocker family, yet desire to eat at home. As we have seen, the umbrella kitchens meet the needs of all concerned. We are happy to provide this service."

Copyright © Angela Paul, 1999 - 2008.

A Mentor Comes out of the Woodwork

2009-01-28T19:34:00.001-06:00

Jake has been interested in woodworking for some time. He got a set of tools for the holidays and thus far has cut down a dead tree and repaired a toy with them. He would really like to start designing and creating some projects, but woodworking is not one of Justin or my skills. Don’t get me wrong, I loved shop class and would love to build some great projects with wood, but we are lacking in tools and I’m lacking in time right now.

We brought the kids with us to Justin’s most recent General Surgery appointment with the approval of the surgeon. I mentioned needing to find a babysitter and he said to just bring the crew with us. So we did. Jake was really impressed with a wooden ship that was on a shelf in the doctor’s office. He got it down and showed it to Jake, telling him that he had designed and created it himself. Jake was very impressed and told him about his interest in woodworking. The doctor continued around the room showing Jake all of the items that he had created and told him about the furniture that he made in his shop at home. Needless to say, Jake was impressed.

It was then that an amazing thing happened. The doctor asked Jake if he would like to come to his shop and learn about woodworking. After looking over at Justin and I with a gleam in his eye, he exclaimed that he would love to. The doctor gave us his card with his home number and address on it and encouraged Justin to bring Jake over and that he would teach Jake about safety, design, and woodworking. Jake has been ecstatic the past 36 hours thinking about the possibilities.

I am a firm believer in the importance of mentors. I try everyday to set a good example for my children, but know that there are areas my children are interested in for which I do not have the adequate skills to assist in their development. For Jake that is woodworking and for Jolie that is art. Jolie has found a wonderful art teacher that, though I am paying her for classes, I feel Jolie looks up to as a mentor. Jake will now have the same opportunity.

If we lived closer, I’m sure that the kids would receive lots of mentorship from their grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Being a military family, most of the time we look to each other for mentorship and guidance. I am glad that the doctor was genuinely caring enough to give of himself to benefit my son. I look forward to watching their relationship grow over the next few years. As soon as Justin is feeling better, he is planning to take Jake over for his first “lesson.”

Happy Anniversary to Us

2009-01-23T23:20:00.005-06:00

Today Justin and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

I am so blessed to be married to my best friend. The last ten years have flown by, as I’m sure the next ten, twenty, and fifty years will as well.

Honey, I look forward to what the future holds for us. I will always be “dreaming my dreams with you.”

When Superman is Broken

2009-01-22T21:51:00.003-06:00

You fix him.

My superman has been broken with (another) hernia for the past few months and was partially fixed yesterday. He’ll have another surgery next week to fix the other side.

He is (and I am) excited for him to be on the road to recovery, though it will be about seven weeks or so before he’ll be able to lift more than ten pounds.

He (hopefully) has more adventure races in the near future and needs to recover so he can get back out there. He’s hoping to drag me along on one too. We’ll see how that goes!

Feel better, Superman. I love you.

An Historic Day

2009-01-20T21:08:00.005-06:00

So what were you doing at 12pm ET today?

I'm sure people will be asking that question for years to come. No matter your political affiliation, today was special. Today the first African American was sworn in as President of the United States of America.

So where were we? We were rushing home from art class, trying to get home so we could watch the swearing in on C-SPAN. We heard Vice President Biden take the oath of office while we were rushing home (I promise I was trying to go the speed limit). I was sure we were going to miss watching President Obama say his oath on television, but to my surprise (and extreme enjoyment) there was a wonderful quartet arrangement that preceded his oath. We pulled into the driveway as the musicians were finishing up, and ran in and grabbed seats on the couch.

My kids will look back on today and say that they watched the Presidential Inauguration as a family, lined up on the couch, watching history unfold.

My Selfish Weekend

2009-01-18T20:29:00.004-06:00

I have had a selfish weekend and I don't really feel too bad about it. I don't ever take much time for myself. Every now and again I'll steal a few minutes to relax in the tub, or maybe every few months I'll attend a Mom's Night Out. But this weekend was different.

What did I do, you ask?

I READ A BOOK!

Yes, a whole book. And not a little wimpy book, but a big whopper of a book.

Justin and I watched the trailer for the movie that will be coming out and I really wanted to read the book before seeing the movie. Luckily, there wasn't a long wait at the library and it came in on Wednesday while we were there for Lego Club.

So what is the book, you ask?

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. It was fabulous...all 569 pages of it. Dan Brown is also the author of The Da Vinci Code. I would highly recommend both books to any and everyone.

I started reading it Friday while Justin was on duty (which gave me the whole night after the kids went to sleep to read and read and read). I think I may have slightly neglected the kids on Friday...I did feed them and got them into their beds, but between lunch after our co-op Friday and dinner (which was just leftovers), they basically played nicely together both inside and out(I'm so glad that they get along so well). Saturday was much of the same. I did make a big breakfast for everyone, but got right back to reading while Justin slept after his night on duty and again the kids played. I did take a break to have a nice Date Night with Justin to celebrate our upcoming anniversary, but went right back to reading while he and Jake watched a Civil Rights movie from the History Channel that we got from Netflix and fell asleep on the couch. I finished early this morning, slept a little, got moving today and cleaned the garage. I guess I wasn't completely selfish this weekend...though I did clean the garage so I could get my van back in the garage.

I won't go into my thoughts on the book here. I think it is a book that one would need to read and interpret for themselves, much like The Da Vinci Code. I'm sure it will resonate differently for everyone.

I don't do it often, but having a selfish weekend felt pretty good...almost regenerating. Maybe I'll have another selfish weekend soon....possibly to till and plant my garden. I'm not sure that it counts as selfish, but either way I can't wait.

Brown Rice Pilaf

2009-01-13T21:05:00.003-06:00

I have been looking for a nice rice pilaf recipe. The ones in my cookbooks look pretty bland and boring, so I ran straight to Allrecipes.com and found a nice one.

Justin and I had it for dinner tonight (he worked late, so I made an earlier dinner for the kids). He had seconds and requested the rest for tomorrow’s lunch. Definitely a keeper.

I made some adjustments from the original. Below is my updated version.

Home-Style Brown Rice Pilaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup frozen corn
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup chickpeas
freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Bring 1-1/2 cups water to boil, add rice. Bring contents back to a boil, cover the pot and simmer for 45-50 minutes, or until rice is tender.
2. Approximately 20 minutes before rice is finished cooking heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions and sauté them, stirring frequently until they soften. Add the carrots and celery and continue stirring for 5 minutes.
3. Place corn inside of skillet and cook until heated all the way through, about 5 minutes. Add the chickpeas and cook 1 more minute.
4. Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in pepper and parsley. Spoon the cooked rice into the skillet and stir well. Serve the pilaf hot with soy sauce on the side for added flavor.

A Cultural Experience

2009-01-12T22:12:00.002-06:00

We feel that it is important to expose the kids to all types of people, cultures, and religions. Americans are fortunate that our country is a melting pot of diversity. We can all learn so much from people who are different from ourselves. Variety is the spice of life, is it not? If everyone were the same, the world would be such a boring place.

Today, I had the opportunity to branch out and expose the kids to something new. We were invited to join a group of homeschoolers for an African drum performance and a Tibetan bowl demonstration.

The African drum performance was wonderful. The gentlemen went through some African history, touching on the importance of the drums and their link as a sort of ancient telephone, used to communicate with others throughout the village and beyond. The kids learned a West African welcoming song, Funga Alafia, as well as a rhythmic song that we all danced to. They have hardly stopped singing Funga Alafia since we left the get together, and were sure to teach it to Justin when he got home from work.

The Tibetan bowl demonstration was very interesting to me (I’m not sure that the younger kids got as much out of it as was hoped). The local gentleman used different mallets to create different pitches from the many antique bowls. One of my friends was asked to stand in the largest bowl while he created different vibrations and pitches with that and additional bowls. At the end of her time in the bowl, she had gone from having a horrific toothache, to having no pain at all. At the end of the demonstration, the gentleman explained the natural healing powers of the vibrations of the bowls. It is definitely something that I would like to do some more research on.

We were all glad that we had the opportunity to attend and learn something new. The hostess is hoping to hold other cultural events at her home throughout the year. I look forward to her next event and getting the opportunity to expose the kids to yet more culture from this greatly diverse nation of ours.

Updated Allowance Chart

2009-01-11T20:28:00.002-06:00

The kids and I have been doing a great job at choosing our chores daily from our envelope chore system. Jensen is even getting in on the fun. I guess it is time to make his envelopes so he can officially join in.

I really like the idea behind Chore Wars. I think that it is nice that a family can tailor the program to suit their needs rather that being a one-size-fits-all site. It was, however, getting to be somewhat of a chore (ironically enough) for me to put everyone’s chores into the site at the end of the day. There were times when I’d forget and have to go back several days to input chore information to ensure that everyone was getting his or her points. The other problem I was having with Chore Wars was that the site would keep a running weekly total for all chores completed during the previous seven days. The kids were having trouble figuring out exactly how many points they had earned from Monday morning to date because there were additional days from the previous week also being added into the total.

In an effort to streamline the process, I decided to do a slight adaptation of the method set forth in America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right On The Money, by Steve and Annette Economides. (I enjoyed the book and recommend it to others as a refresher in getting one's family back on financial track, or as a way to glean a few more tips on how to pinch pennies here and there.) Their program focuses on a point system and the children are awarded an allowance based on the points they have accumulated during the week.

Rather than keeping points for each chore completed, the kids are now scored in four different categories; morning chores, school work, daily chores, and bedtime. If a child completes his or her morning chores (get up, get dressed, make bed, brush teeth and hair, and wash face) on time, they will get one point. Another point is earned if they complete their individual educational goals each day before we start our evening routine. If they complete all of their chosen daily chores, they get another point. Finally, if they are ready for bed and reading quietly at 8pm, they receive their final point.

I finalized the chart last weekend so we could use it this past week, as we got back into our regular routine. I think it was a success. Jake earned $3 (out of $5), Jolie earned $1.10 (out of $2.50) and Jensen earned $.30. The chart is posted on the side of the fridge next to our daily routine so that they can keep track of their responsibilities without me needing to harp on them to get their stuff done. I have put the chart into a plastic paper protector and us a wipe-off marker to keep track of accumulated points.

As usual, if the method isn’t working, I’ll modify it to meet the needs of our family or scrap it completely for a different method. I'm semi-flexible like that.

Next weekend we are planning to sit down on “Pay Day” (Sunday evening) and delegate the kids’ earnings into Savings, Charitable Giving, and Personal funds. We want the kids to learn how to save, how to give, and how to have a little fun with what they work hard to earn. Hopefully learning those skills early will set them up well for life in the real world when they are grown.

It Must Be A Breed Thing

2009-01-08T19:57:00.011-06:00

This morning I tried out a new whole wheat bread recipe that I saw in my Mother Earth News magazine. The recipe comes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois, and was featured in the magazine. The dough sat in the refrigerator over night and was ready for a section to be cut off and baked today. The bread rested, cooked and then sat on a cooling rack in the middle of my extra large, square kitchen island.

While it cooled, I decided to take a minute to read an article online. Not long later I heard a noise in the other room. Assuming it was the kids playing, I continued reading my article for a minute or so more, only to continue hearing this strange sound.

As I came around the corner of the island, I found an oversized, shaggy white thing devouring my newly baked loaf. My response…GRRRRRRR! Lincoln dropped the bread and ran outside to devour the piece he still had in his mouth.

As you can see, he did a number on the loaf. And yes, that is a piece of grass he had brought in with him from outside. I decided to cut the loaf open before throwing it away, and it looks like it should be a nice, sandwich bread.

Our first Great Pyrenees would do that same thing. He used to steal Amish Friendship bread off the counter when we lived in Washington. It would never fail. One batch would make two loaves and he almost always got away with one of them. That combined with just about anything else he wanted from the counter (we had a really shallow counter top). Ekimo and the cat would some times tag team the mission. DC would jump up and knock things off the counter that he wasn't able reach. He would then tear it open so that the two of them could munch. I can't count the number of bags of bread and buns I had to throw away because they had been demolished by the tag-teaming duo. DC is a bit older now, and somewhat selfish. You'd be hard pressed to find her teaming up with either of the dogs at this point. I wonder if Lincoln will be so kind as to share his next treasure with Chester, the eleven pound terrier mix. I'm sure he'd really appreciate it.

I guess it doesn’t matter where food is kept on the counter…nothing will stop a Great Pyrenees from their prize.

But really, who could stay mad at a face like that?

Our Annual Winter PJ Ritual

2009-01-07T20:20:00.005-06:00

For the past ten years, we have each gotten a new set of pjs to celebrate the winter holidays. We usually open them on Christmas Eve, sleep in them, and then open gifts in them the next morning. Each year, the pjs have a colored theme…this year’s color was blue (my favorite)…I believe last year’s color was blue too. I guess I should mix it up a bit next year.

I had been searching online for organic cotton fabric so that I could make the jammie pants. I made them the year Jolie turned two…they were blue flannel camouflage material and came out wonderfully soft. Jake is still squeezing his little self into his four years later (I made them big so he could grow into them). I found quite a few companies that sell organic cotton fabric, but the prices were seemingly pretty high. I was looking at $15-$20 per yard for organic flannel, and $12-15 for knits. Ouch! For the patterns I have, I was going to need 11 yards of fabric to make all five pairs of pants. You do the math.

I decided to give my local fabric shops a call just to see what they had in stock. None of the mom & pop shops had any sort of organic fabric. As a last ditch effort, I decided to check out JoAnn Fabric’s online store. To my surprise, they had organic cotton fabric! It is listed as a “cotton solid” and as a “quilting fabric,” and comes in eight different colors. In the hopes that my local JoAnn store would also carry the organic cotton, I stopped by while I was on that side of town running errands and found that they too carry the fabric. Of course I had my 40% off coupon with me, decided on the New Navy color, and got 11 yards to make the pants. It ended up that the fabric was already on sale ($5.99/yd; regularly $9.99), so I had to use my coupon on something else, which was alright by me. I was pleased that I had found the fabric for less than half the cost of other online companies.

The jammie pants turned out well. Since I didn’t make any of us jammie shirts, I had the kids wear their UU rainbow shirts that they had gotten last year, and we wore our UU principles shirts. The kids were all excited to open their winter pjs. They have each requested me to do an additional load of laundry here and there so that they can wear their pants again the following night.

I like our jammie tradition. Next year we will probably shift our jammie opening to solstice and possibly stay up all night wearing them. I have some other new traditions that I hope to start for next year’s solstice. I’m enjoying reading about other family’s solstice traditions on my UUHomeschoolers Yahoo! group. I look forward to morphing our holiday traditions into some that will be meaningful for our family for years to come.

A Green Dilemma

2009-01-06T21:58:00.003-06:00

I am an Earth-hugger through and through.

I was the nine year old that boycotted McDonalds and Burger King when they were serving their burgers in Styrofoam packaging. I was the ‘tween who informed everyone I knew about the danger of CFCs and the hole in the Ozone layer. I was the teenager who searched out the school recycling bins and inquired if each of my classrooms didn’t have one next to the trashcan. I am now the sister who packed up all of the “un”recyclable items during our Thanksgiving vacation and drove them home from North Carolina to ensure that they were in fact recycled. It is no surprise, then, that my kids are the ones who check their unopened toy packaging for evidence of post-consumer recycled content and whether or not the package itself can be recycled.

We try our hardest to make as small a footprint on this world as possible. We recycle, turn the heater down, leave the windows open, combine errands, grow our own vegetables…you get the point. As a family, we are doing what we can to try to make a difference.

In an effort to improve the aesthetics of our home, and hopefully increase our home’s appeal when we try to sell it several years down the road, we decided to give the walls a fresh coat of paint. This facelift was planned in conjunction with the installation of new flooring in our great room (after experiencing hardwood flooring in Washington, carpet just isn’t the same).

Our mini-remodel came upon one big roadblock…cost. Being as eco-friendly as we are, we knew that our best flooring options were bamboo or cork and that our best paint options were no or low VOC paint. After much research, we were humbled by the cost of these eco-friendly options. Bamboo hardwood flooring was priced three times higher than laminate flooring and no VOC paint was twice the cost of traditional paint.

As with many other good VS bad products on the market, I was disheartened by the extreme price difference between the more eco-friendly home improvement products and the more harmful/less helpful products. Whether it is food, cleaning supplies, or now home improvement products, I am upset at the cost difference between the helpful/healthful products and the polluting/contaminating products.

Being the naive person that I am from time to time, it is hard for me to understand why a company would 1) create a product that is harmful to people; and 2) continue to sell it when there are more environmentally friendly and/or healthy options available. I personally would be the first company to want to scrap the old product line in order to provide a more positive product to my customers/consumers. I guess that’s just me.

In the end, because of cost restraints, we decided to go with laminate flooring and traditional paint for our mini-renovation. We are pleased with the flooring, although it isn’t the same as hardwood, but much better than carpet. I enjoy the wall color (Behr’s Brown Teepee); it’s warm and inviting. Had we just needed one gallon of paint, I could have afforded the no VOC variety, but when purchasing 8 gallons at once, the cost was more than we could afford at this time. I’m considering painting Jolie’s room some time this spring, and hope to be able to “spring” for the no VOC paint (I looked at the brand offered by Home Depot…FreshAire…and the colors look wonderful).

I hope that companies will consider cost when marketing new, more environmentally friendly products. Making those products affordable will allow more consumers to purchase eco-friendly alternatives and compel other companies to either transition to “greener” product lines or force them out of business. I guess I can continue to hope that someday, environmentally friendly products will be affordable for all.

Back from Hibernation

2008-12-29T17:05:00.001-06:00

I’m back and ready to blog.

Sorry for the mini-blackout.

Stay tuned for updates on the home front, some new life perspectives, and general discussions.

The Holiday Letter – Informative or Impersonal

2008-12-11T22:21:00.005-06:00

My project for this weekend is to work on our holiday cards.

I have been sending out holiday cards to family and friends since Justin and I got married just about ten years ago. At the beginning, I didn’t have many cards to address and send out. Each one had its own personal touch with a small individualized note for the recipient to savor, knowing just how much we cared.

Things are a little different now. We now send out approximately 75 holiday cards to family and friends near and far. The military lifestyle ensures that we get a new address and some additional friends every few years. Because of that, I have gone from sending ten personalized cards, to sending 75 cards with a single spaced, 9 pt. font, form letter stuffed inside a card with a winter landscape on the front.

I have mixed feelings about the evolution of my holiday card giving. Everyone loves a personalized message from the sender. It’s always nice to read “Dear Justin and Jaynelle, Our family missed your annual Memorial Day at the Miller’s party…” I am a realist, though, and know that not everyone has time to write out 75 personalized messages, me included.

To be honest, it’s the thought that counts, right?. A simple card with just a signature lets me know that the sender was thinking of me this holiday season. A few simple lines written inside might even step it up a notch. I do have to say, though, I am equally delighted to get “informational” form letters from friends and family during the holiday season. They give me a small glimpse into the sender’s year, all on a single sheet of paper (I have had to shorten my letter a bit over the years. No one appreciates a two page, front and back, 1.5 spaced holiday letter with .5” margins, even if it is action packed…so I’ve been told). A simple form letter gets me caught up quickly and in the “know” on what is going on in the lives of family and friends whom we might not see or hear from on a regular basis.

As usual, this year's holiday letter will be filled to the brim. I’m sure I will have to weed out the “not so exciting” parts so as not to run over my one-page limit. I’ll ask each family member what information they want included about themselves, giving everyone their own paragraph. I have always included a family photo in our cards. I guess it's because I'm a visual person and like receiving photos myself. In more recent years, I have started to include the kids’ “school” photos in the holiday letters (they each have their portrait taken near their birthday in place of actual school photos). I’ve found it makes it easier for me to remember who I’ve sent photos to if I send them all at the same time.

So what do you think?

If you have a minute, please fill out the polls in the upper right of your screen. I'm interested to see what people think.

Saving on Gift Giving during the Holidays

2008-12-03T22:44:00.003-06:00

According to today’s standards, I come from a big family. I have three younger sisters scattered throughout the country, each of them has a significant other, one sister has two children, and who can forget Mom and Dad. When you add it all up there are 15 of us in all. After celebrating Christmas at my parents’ house one year after Jolie was born, we decided that once everyone had children (probably 2-3 per couple), we were going to be forking out a ton of money on gifts throughout the year.

My sisters and I came up with a solution. We have decided to set financial limits and to divide up the gift giving. (Okay, so actually I’m the one who needed to create some parameters and everyone just agreed with my plan.)

For the holidays, we choose names to divide up the gift giving. Each sister chooses another sister and has a $50 gift limit; each guy chooses another guy and has a $25 gift limit, and we each choose a child (I get my sister’s kids because I have the most children…and I’m the oldest, I guess) and have a $25 gift limit. For Mom and Dad, some years we sisters all go together to purchase a larger gift and some years we each purchase an individual gift, it just depends.

Now, I understand that gift giving isn’t all about the cost, it’s about the thought. With each of us sisters in a different profession, making different salaries, it is just easier to set a limit and divide up the gifts so that no one sibling is overwhelmed with the cost that can be associated with the holidays. The kids will each have two gifts (one from an aunt and one from Grandma and Grandpa), which is more than enough in my opinion. We know that each holiday season we will average about $150 on the 3-5 gifts we’ll give to our extended family.

For the past few years we have been celebrating the Holidays during Thanksgiving, when we all gather at a cabin in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. We have been heading to the mountains for Thanksgiving since I was eight years old. There was a chunk of time in which my immediate family missed our annual trip to the mountains because we lived across the country. Now that we are back on the east coast, we are able to participate again. Because we are all in the same place at the same time, we have been decorating a small tree and opening gifts on Thanksgiving. It works out especially well for the kids and Grandma and Grandpa. Mom and Dad get the chance to see the smiles on the kids’ faces as they open their gifts…a win-win for everyone.

So how do you handle gift giving for your extended family during the holidays? I’d love to hear how other families make it through the holidays financially intact.

A Simple Way to Green your Holiday Gift Giving

2008-12-02T23:48:00.003-06:00

All of those packages under the tree, the menorah, or the kinara, wrapped up in colorful paper, are just that…wrapped in paper. According to Hotfact.com, during the time between Thanksgiving and New Years, Americans throw away about 25% more trash than they do during the rest of the year. This extra waste is estimated to create about five million tons of trash, with about four tons of that waste coming from wrapping paper and shopping bags.

Traditional paper gift wrapping is, as you know, a paper product. Soft wood trees are cut, milled, bleached, and dyed, forming what you see down the “wrapping” aisle at your favorite big box store. This process can adversely affect our environment unnecessarily, especially since there are alternatives that can be used instead of new paper gift wrapping.

So how can you help to decrease some of the waste associated with the holidays and help to green up the gift giving process? Reduce, Reuse and Recycle…your gift wrapping, that is.

Reduce – Rather than wrapping all of those little bundles with new paper wrappings, why not use reusable cloth bags. Wrapsacks are wonderful alternatives to traditional wrapping paper and they can be tracked online adding to the gift giving fun.

Reuse – If you do choose to use traditional wrapping paper, try saving and reusing that paper for another holiday or event. You might also try wrapping gifts with newspaper (the funnies might be fun) or letting the kids decorate brown paper bags from the grocery store and wrap your gifts with a little extra love.

Recycle – Be sure to have a recycling bag or bin handy to catch all of those paper wrappings and packaging to recycle. Check with your local recycling center to find out whether or not they accept traditional wrapping paper.

The EPA has a great list of ways to reduce holiday waste; everything from recycling trees to purchasing rechargeable batteries.

Please join me in reducing or eliminating the amount of new, traditional paper gift wrap that finds its way into our nation’s landfills by reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Sugaring Hair Removal

2008-11-22T23:33:00.002-06:00

I recently found a wonderful recipe for Sugaring on Pioneer Thinking, a website providing information about natural and simple living. I feel this recipe works as well if not better than many of the commercial versions currently on the market and is much cheaper too.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
Juice from half a lemon
1/4 cup honey
A drizzle of Molasses (optional)
Something to spread the mixture with (i.e. tongue depressor, popsicle stick, etc.)
Cotton fabric (I use old strips from a previous sugaring kit, but any cotton fabric strips will do)

Make sure the area you plan to sugar is clean and dry and has at least 1/8 to 1/4 inch of hair growth.

Microwave - Mix lemon, sugar, and honey in a bowl. Microwave on high for about 2-3 minutes until it bubbles into a smooth consistency.

Stove – Mix ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat on medium-low until the mixture bubbles into a smooth consistency, stirring often.

Let the mixture cool until it can be safely touched.

Spread a thin layer of mixture on the desired area. Cover the area with a strip of fabric. Rub the strip in the opposite way of hair growth about three times. Grab the end of the fabric and pull it off very quickly against the direction of the hair growth. If the mixture gets too hard to spread, reheat the mixture slightly.

This recipe stores for a long time. I keep mine in a covered container in the refrigerator and reheat when needed.

Birthday Time Again

2008-11-19T22:38:00.003-06:00

Six years ago today…no, I won’t put you through that.

Today my baby girl turned 6. She is becoming a wonderful young lady. She makes me smile every day.

I love you, Jolie. I look forward to watching you become the woman you will someday be.

Polie Bear Time

2008-11-17T23:03:00.004-06:00

Jolie has started her own blog. The blog will be based on her written and illustrated stories, as well as her artwork and photography. She is very excited about her blog and has already added (or rather I added) two of her stories. I'm sure there will be many more to come. I hope you will check them out.

One Step Closer to Home

2008-11-12T23:11:00.004-06:00

We now feel a little closer to our “someday” home. We received and put our new Washington license plates on the van.

We are Washington State residents. Yes, I know we live in Florida, all the way across the country from Washington (don’t remind me), but we enjoyed Washington so much when we were stationed there (both sides of the Cascade Mountains) that we changed our residency from Florida to Washington several years ago and plan to eventually retire from the Navy and settle in the Evergreen State.

We are pretty serious about this plan…

We are registered Washington State voters
We have two vehicles registered in the state of Washington
We have Washington college funds for each of the kids
We are saving to buy our “someday” land

As of today, when I grow up I want to be a farmer. You know how it is when you’re growing up…your career plans change over time, but for a while now I've wanted to be a farmer (my Grandfather would be proud...my Grandma told me so).

I’d like to have some land; raise Angora goats (for fiber), Great Pyrenees (for breeding and herding), and chickens (for eggs); grow some pumpkins (to sell); and have a nice big garden. I don’t think that’s a terrible dream. I’m saving my pennies to make it happen.

All you Washingtonians be looking for us in about 9 and a half years. We’re trying to get there sooner, but if all else fails, we’ll get there eventually.

One Week Down and All’s Well

2008-11-12T22:45:00.002-06:00

Lincoln is doing wonderfully.

He has only had two accidents (knock on wood) and they were caught in mid-action and redirected.

He loves playing with Chester…a little too much sometimes. He has figured out that he can grab Chester’s collar and pull him around while they are playing. Chester is doing a good job of getting him back, especially when Lincoln’s lying down.

The kids are enjoying having a bigger dog around. I think they each have a scratch to prove it. Lincoln might only be about 30 lbs., but his swipe packs a pretty hefty punch.

He's a great addition to the family.

A New Addition to the Family

2008-11-07T23:59:00.007-06:00

Surprise!

The Miller family has grown by one.

I’m surprised I was able to keep it a secret from so many of you for so long. I wanted to wait to tell everyone until he made his arrival.

Actually, he was sort of a surprise to us as well. I guess I never imagined that it could happen so quickly, considering how long it took last time.

We would like for formally introduce you to…

(Abe) Lincoln Miller

We got him Wednesday from a local breeder. Lincoln is a Great Pyrenees. The Great Pyrenees are in the same family with the Newfoundlands and Saint Bernards. He’s just about three months old and currently weighs 30 lbs. He will be about 120 lbs. when he is full-grown.

It’s kind of a funny story of how he came to us. I was reading through our daily FreeCycle posts online and saw a listing for an 11-month-old Cairn terrier puppy. Chester is half Cairn terrier (darn those breeders!) so I thought he might be a great addition to our family. I emailed the owner asking about the puppy’s gender, color, whether or not it got along with other animals and children…all of the responsible questions I thought. Well, two days later I saw in that day’s postings that the puppy had been picked up. I guess I asked too many questions and the people just wanted to get rid of a dog, not find him a good home.

While I sulked, I decided to look up Great Pyrenees breeders in our state.

[You have to understand that we have had a Great Pyrenees before. We got Ekimo when Jake was about five months old and he was about two months old. The two of them grew up together. He had what the vets considered doggy Irritable Bowl Syndrome or Inflamitory Bowl Syndrome. He got very sick just before Jensen was born and unfortunately had to be put down. Losing him was devastating. He had been part of our family for six years.]

I found a breeder and was admiring her dogs. Justin walked up behind me and said that I should call them. I was just looking, so I said I didn’t want to…so he did. He found that the breeder had a 4 month old male and a 3 month old male and female available as well as five day old puppies that would be available near Christmas. I was just looking for more information, but Justin was hooked. We had to really talk it over because this addition was going to be a big one for us. Adding another animal means that we no longer qualify for military housing (you can only have two pets in housing). It also means that it will be very difficult for us to find someone who will rent to us with three animals, to include a large breed dog, so we will need to purchase a home at our next duty station.

We went for a run and thought about it. By the time we were home we already had his name picked out. I called her back and Justin wanted to know if we could come and get him that day. He needed his health certificate done, so we had to wait until Wednesday.

Eventually I would like to breed Great Pyrenees dogs when we have our land in Washington after Justin retires. I figure I can grow Great Pyrenees and Angora goats side by side and it will be wonderful. I don’t think I’ll breed Lincoln. He will just be ours to love.

He is doing well thus far. He, Chester and DC are getting along well. I wonder if he looks at Chester as a giant chew toy sometimes (Lincoln is already three times Chester’s weight). DC was sure to hiss and bat at him right away to show him who was boss and he hasn’t given her a second thought. The kids love having him around. I’m not sure, though, if they enjoyed today’s poop roundup in the back yard. Lincoln is a much bigger dog if you catch my drift.

I was on puppy detail the last two nights, so I think Justin is planning to take over tonight since he doesn’t have to work in the morning. Lincoln is used to sleeping outside, so his first night inside he was a bit restless. He slept outside half the night last night (only because I was tired of fighting to keep him in) and he pawed at the door at about 2am to come back in for the rest of the night. We’ll see what tonight holds for us.

Though getting Lincoln was a bit of a spontaneous decision, we have yet to second guess ourselves. He is an amazing addition to the family and will be loved forever.

Teaching the Water Cycle and Water Pollution

2008-11-07T23:05:00.001-06:00

The first Wednesday of the month we gather with other homeschoolers for Roots & Shoots. This month I was in charge of leading the group and chose to focus on the water cycle and water pollution.

Being me, I stressed over the presentation for weeks. I had lots of great ideas…have the kids test water samples…teach them about our watershed…go on a fieldtrip to the water treatment facility, but none of them came to fruition.

I did find several nice water projects for us to do as a group, but the timing was off and the kids in our group were a bit young. Although we didn’t participate in that one, I think I will have my kids participate in some of the other projects offered by The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education throughout the year because they look very interesting and engaging.

After utilizing the adrenaline associated with procrastination, I found several fabulous activities to do with the kids. Because I like multi-sensory presentations, I tried to mix up the demonstration a bit.

We started by discussing the water cycle. I was surprised that some of the kids didn’t know about the water cycle, so I explained and then showed them a picture and read the captions from one of the books I displayed on the front table. I then had them color a picture of the water cycle. I had two different sheets, one for the older kids that was a bit more detailed and one for the younger kids that was simpler. From there I had them gather in a circle and taught them a song to help them remember the water cycle. I thought it was a cute song. My kids have been singing it around the house for the past few days. We then transitioned into a game that walks the kids through the water cycle. I think it would have worked better had we had more kids (we only had eight and that included Jensen) and if they had bee a bit older.

I was also surprised that the kids couldn’t explain what water pollution. The two nine year olds knew, but the six and seven year olds (five of them) had trouble with it. I read them A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry. I thought it was a wonderful story that followed the life of a river from its discovery by a Native American tribe to the pollution of the Industrial Revolution to the cleaning of the river. The kids’ eyes grew wide as they learned about companies polluting the river with chemicals and dyes. We had a great discussion about the book, which led us into our experiment.

I created two models, one represented a landfill and the other represented someone’s yard. We talked about harmful things that some people throw into the trash (i.e. motor oil, medicines, etc.). Then I showed them how when it rains, the water washes some of the contaminants into our lakes and streams. The same went for the pesticide model. The kids saw how the water washed the fertilizer into the pond at the bottom of the hill. I think both models had an effect on the kids. The moms were pleased with it, so I was happy that all of my stressing had paid off.

I found a great reading list of books covering water conservation and water science. The list includes books of all levels for students and adults.

I got the idea for the landfill and fertilizer runoff models from Water: A Resource in Crisis by Eileen Lucas. If anyone is interested in recreating them, here’s how –

Materials (per model) –

Rectangular plastic food storage container (mine was about 11”x7”)
Pea gravel (about 4 cups)
Foil
Small saucer
Cotton ball
Food coloring
Water

Place the saucer at one end of the plastic container. Stack pea gravel three-fourths of the way up the opposite side of the container. Lay a piece of foil from the edge of the container and up the sides down to the saucer, completely covering the gravel and slightly overlapping the saucer. Add additional gravel over the foil, not covering the saucer. You should now have a “hill” on one side of the container with a “pond” at the other end. Pull the cotton ball apart slightly and drop several drops of food coloring onto it (I used red for the landfill and green for the fertilizer). Place the cotton ball on top of the “hill” and cover with a bit more gravel. Pour water on the top of the “hill” to symbolize rain and watch the runoff that collects in the “pond.”