Unpopular Opinion

Sego lily, Rocky Mountain Elk, sugar beet, Browning semiautomatic pistol. Reminds me of the Sesame Street song: "one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong." Except that they all do have one thing in common; they are all state symbols of Utah, or very nearly so.

States can designate all sorts of things as official symbols. Idaho has a state horse. Michigan has a state stone. Utah is the first to designate a state firearm.

I understand that the Browning has historical significance. And I understand that "There is a huge difference between the actions of a madman using a firearm … [and] patriots using a firearm to defend our country."

But the only purpose of a handgun, as far as I know, is to injure or kill people. Is injuring or killing people sometimes necessary? Yes, I think so. But I think that making a handgun a state symbol glorifies that occasional necessity. I think the "woo-hoo, guns!" attitude is unsettling at best. I'm finding it hard to articulate how I feel about this beyond "man, that stinks."

Another Resolution

I spent a good three hours between last night and this morning deleting pictures, and consolidating folders. The hard drive was so full that we couldn't even burn the pictures from 2009 onto a backup disk. So I do hereby resolve to stay on top of pictures, delete the ones that aren't great, and label folders with useful names. I may not be able to get my basement cleaned up, but this I can do.

Brownie Bag

Lauren made her Brownie Tote Bag today, and did a pretty good job with it! I did the ironing, and a few seams at the end, but other than that, she did all the work herself, and is very proud!Tearing fabric to make strips for the shoulder strap--much easier than cutting!
Sewing the body of the bag.
Attaching the strap.Modeling the finished bag!

Details: this is a very basic bag. No lining, no interfacing. I did have her square the bottom seam, and I did sew along the vertical seams on the edges, but other than that, it doesn't have much shape. It's downright floppy! I somehow cut the strap very very long, and by the time I realized, it was already attached to the bag, so we just folded it over on itself and now it has a little extra padding over the shoulder.

The best part? She loves it, it holds all her Brownie stuff, and I don't think she'll forget it, ever. Bonus: monkeys & cupcakes are cuter than the Absolut logo!

Starting Shakespeare

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare ``It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare. - Bernard Levin, quoted in The Story of English, p. 95.

When I signed up for a Shakespeare class in college, I was so excited, because it was being taught by a professor I really liked. I couldn't wait--which plays and sonnets would we cover? Would we lean more towards the comedies or the dramas? No emoticon in the world can convey my disappointment when I discovered that we were going to cover the histories. The histories? Oy. Dull. I didn't do very well in the class, largely because I had a very hard time keeping track of who was related to which person, and who was fighting with the other, and who was an ally. That's not a family tree; that's kudzu.

One of the basic tenets of the classical model of education is an emphasis on the classic literature. In lower elementary, you read a picture book about Hamlet. In junior high, you read a novelization. By the time you get to high school, you're ready to read the original. You're not bogged down by the plot or the characters, because you already know it so well, so you can really focus on the language. It loses a lot of the intimidation factor.

This year, we're doing the Middle Ages & Renaissance for History. When I friend offered to take Sarah to see Richard III for free, I jumped on it. But I knew I had to prepare her for it so that she didn't get lost in trying to follow the plot.

I've found two great Shakespeare resources if your kids (or you!) are just starting out.

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
This is a 4 disc set, with three 25-minute episodes per disc. I thought it was a great format for introducing the story, and both girls really got into Richard III, down to yelling at him when he went into battle that they hoped he would die. "I hope his mother's curse comes true!" They immediately wanted to watch Julius Caesar, and were disappointed that we had to return it before we had time to watch Hamlet. We have two more discs reserved at the library as well, and I'm sure the last one will also make an appearance in our DVD player eventually. It isn't traditional animation, but that didn't bother us at all.

Shakespeare Stories
The link I included only goes to the Richard III book. There is a whole series of a dozen Shakespearean plays that have been retold for elementary readers. Again, it's a good place to start.

As for full length movies, Ian McKellan's Richard III is amazing. A little too intense for our family to watch right now, though. I'll be very interested to hear what Sarah thinks of the version she sees. We've recorded A Midsummer Night's Dream (with Mickey Rooney as Puck), which we'll watch fairly soon. Lauren is especially interested in that, since she recited his final speech at Salem's talent show a few weeks ago.

When it comes time to do the History Fair this spring, I'm really hoping they want to do something Shakespearean, but in order for that to happen, I would probably be the one to end up doing it!

Practical Project

Lauren's Brownie Girl Scout Leader has recently instituted a very wise policy: if a Brownie comes to meeting without her supplies (Quest book, composition book, 3-ring binder, crayons, pencils, a pair of scissors) more than twice, the mom of said Brownie will have to stick around the meeting while the leader checks the bag to see if all supplies are present. If all supplies are still not present, the Brownie will have to go back home to get the supplies and return to the meeting (or not, depending on the distance involved and mood of the mom).

As I said, I think this is a very wise policy.

Two weeks ago, before the first meeting of the semester, I asked Lauren if she had all her supplies. Quest book? Check. Comp book? Check. Crayons, etc? Check. 3-ring binder? "It's in the car." That sounded a little suspect, but I wasn't going to give her the car keys to go look for it. The next day, I didn't think to ask her about it until we were almost there, and of course she couldn't find it in the car. She got a warning from the leader because it was the first week.

This week, we went through it again, down to "it's in the car." This time, I had the forethought to ask her to check before we got out of the driveway. "Yes, it's right here." But it was too big to put it in the tote bag she'd designated as the Brownie Bag. It was then that I started getting an idea that she might need a different bag.

Fast forward to the end of the meeting, where the leader kindly tells me that Lauren didn't have her binder, again. How was that possible? She (Lauren, not the leader) whined that she hadn't been able to find it, and it didn't fit in the bag anyway. The leader & I talked about some other things, then we went to leave. As we were walking out the door, I noticed what Lauren was carrying: in one hand, her tote bag; in the other, her binder. Are you kidding me? Yep, it was there all along.

As we were walking to the car, I noticed one last thing. The tote she'd chosen had a logo on it: Absolut Vodka. Yeah, that's a charming thing for an eight-year-old to carry around. Tomorrow, Lauren is going to make herself a new tote bag that is big enough for all her Brownie supplies. If I can find an extra zipper, I'll probably throw together a pencil case, as well.

The Best Laid Plans

. . . are still sometimes all for naught.

Last week, I was planning to get some sorely needed new clothes on Thursday, while the kids were with my Dad, but I felt kind of miserable/sick, so didn't.

I then planned to go out on Saturday, but it was snowy and cold, Sarah was getting over being sick, and Lauren was starting to get sick, so I didn't leave the house. I know, Michigan in January, what did I expect?

I planned to make Pioneer Woman's Easy Mulligatawny last night. The kids like my curry, the soup sounded good to me, and I had chicken & broth. Let's reexamine the first part of that sentence: the kids like my curry. If it ain't broke, don't fix it; how many times have I said that? And yet, I tried someone else's reinvention of the wheel. Needless to say, the kids didn't care for it, and asked why I didn't just make curry.

On the bright side, I haven't made that in a while, so that's one less thing I have to think up for dinner next week.

It's an odd curry, more Caribbean than Indian. Sure, it starts with onions & garlic, and is seasoned with ginger, curry, cinnamon, & cayenne, but there are no other vegetables, and it does have apples, pineapple, coconut, and bananas. It gets thinned down with cream, and although I usually make it over rice, the kids are most excited when I take a little extra time and make spaetzle, or spätzli, as they're called in Switzerland, which is where I got the recipe in the first place.

Reason #5,391 I Love Homeschooling

Because we get Medieval Demonstration days, and my kid says, "Mom, I look like William the Conqueror!" while wearing this: Because they get to taste whey after making cheese.
I guess the Vikings liked it, but no one in our group was too enthused.

Because we got to make chain mail key chains.

Because we learned that drop spinning is hard!
Because even though I was with Lauren's group, I still got pictures of Sarah like this:
and this:
Because we got to have an awesome feast with friends and eat meat pie with currants, from an authentic recipe! Sorry no pictures there. Great time yesterday!

Gardening

This is the view from where I'm sitting at this moment. It doesn't even begin to convey house thickly the snow is falling. It's pretty to look at.

And what else would you think of when looking at this scene, but gardening? It's such an obvious connection!

Sarah found some of last year's seed catalogs the other day, and we were talking about what we'd like to put in our garden this year. (Disclaimer: I'm not much of a gardener. I don't really like the digging involved, or the weeding. In other words, the work. The harvesting? I can get behind that!)

We came up with a rather long list, including tomatoes, peppers, green beans, peas, potatoes, onions, zucchini, butternut squash, rhubarb, raspberries, apples, and several herbs. Jeff & I would also really like to put some more landscaping in the front of the house, as well as flowers front & back.

I viewed this list as just a wish list, until I got an sale email from Gurney's yesterday. I took the next step and wrote everything down in Excel, then started looking up prices. The total came to well over $200; I don't know how much shipping & handling on all that would be. I started to edit, taking out the rhubarb, onions, dill, mint, and lemon grass. There are already a lot of new things on that list--we don't need to do everything this year.

I'm trying to decide between a lilac and a butterfly bush. Lilac is my favorite floral scent ever, but they bloom for such a short time.

We've also been talking for a few years about putting in an apple tree. Our yard is totally open right now, and for a suburban house, not a bad size. It's also very sunny. Up until a few years ago, neighbors on both sides of us had large trees. The tree on the right shaded half the yard in the morning; the tree on the left shaded the other half in the afternoon. Both neighbors cut the trees down in the same summer. Now our yard gets no shade whatsoever. It's good for the vegetables--I actually had peppers that turned red instead of staying green that summer! But it's not so good for kids playing back there, and the setting sun shines right into our living room window. We'd like to put an apple tree in the path of that setting sun, and eventually getting some apples out of it would be a nice bonus.

It looks like Pixie Crunch would be a good choice, but apparently, apple trees don't self-pollinate, so we'd need to get a second variety to plant as well. I'm going to call them to double check on this, because putting two apple trees and a substantial garden would eat up a lot of yard space. Jeff wouldn't mind losing some lawn--less to mow!

I'll also order peat pots & seed starting mix, because if we're going to get this much stuff, we might as well start from seed. In the past, I've always waited until Memorial Day and gotten seedlings, so I'm a little unsure of how this will go. I guess we'll find out, and I'll have lots more to blog about! The bonus is that we won't use all the seeds this year, so next year's costs will be considerably less.

I'm also hoping that we'll be able to borrow a rototiller from either our neighbor or my stepbrother, because digging out where the garden will go (different area from previous years) is miserable to do by hand.

Quid Pro Quo

There's been talk lately about homeschoolers getting a tax break.

Would it be nice to get some credit to spend toward buying books? You bet! Would it be nice to have to deal with the regulations & restrictions that would come with it? Not so much!

How do I prove I'm a homeschooler? Would I have to submit my lesson plans, demonstrate how many hours we spend on school work? Does a field trip count? Does bowling?

What if my kids don't pass a standardized test? Would I be required to send them to public school? (Conversely, if public school kids can't pass my test--or even the state test--can we require them to be homeschooled?)

There's no such thing as a free lunch. I'd rather keep my independence and my choices for my family, thanks.

German vs. Latin

When I was in 9th grade, I told my parents that I was going to take German. And Latin. At the same time. Wisely, they told me that starting two languages at the same time was a bad choice. Even at 13, I could concede the point, so I settled for German. The next year, we moved west, and although I continued with German through high school and college, I never did take Latin.

Considering how much German I know, it's kind of embarrassing that my kids don't know more. Every year, I say that I'll get up actual lesson plans and go to town. Every year, I let them listen to various songs & such, but it's never very organized.

So I'm making it official. This semester. Official lessons--I'll even post them here to keep me accountable. They'll still be casual, though. Sarah will be in 7th grade next year, and that's soon enough to expect her to learn to conjugate verbs and know the difference between der, die, and das.

Latin? Well, I actually had that on the list for this semester, too. I borrowed Getting Started with Latin from a friend, and it looks great. But then I decided that if it was too much for me back then, it would be too much for the kids now. Latin will wait until this summer, and we'll do it as a "bonus" thing. I can't wait to read Cattus Petasatus!

Pastie Experiment #1

I make pasties a couple times a year, using this recipe as a starting point. I prefer a beef/pork mix, but frequently use all beef; I don't use MSG; I usually add a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce. I do make the pastry. This last is definitely the most labor intensive, pain-in-the-butt part. When I was making them last week, I was kind of under the gun, because we were having family & friends over for dinner, and I let both my mom and my daughter help with the pastry. For whatever reason, it didn't turn out well. Don't get me wrong; they tasted fine in the end. But that crust was terrible to work with.

So I started thinking of alternatives. My mom really likes the Pillsbury pie crusts, and they're ok, but they still have that faintly chemical, almost plastic, taste to them. I thought puff pastry might be a yummy alternative. But when I got to the store, I was in a hurry, and the first thing I saw was crescent rolls in a can. I know, I know. "You complain about a fake taste in pre-made pie crust, but you're ok with pre-made crescent rolls?"

Well, no, not really. But I got them anyway.

Fast forward to last night, the last night of my current German class, the night I have to get out of the house by 4:30, the night Jeff has a Property Committee meeting at church, to which he'll take the girls. I decide that since these are of necessity going to be pretty small pasties, I'm not only going to dice the vegetables small, I'm going to par-cook them first. I saute the onions, then throw the chopped carrots, potato, and rutabaga in the pan, pour a little water in, slap a lid on, and let them steam a bit. This was the successful, smart part of the experiment.

After the veg cooled down and I added it to the meat with seasonings, I cracked open the crescents. This was the frustrating, irritating part of the experiment. The pieces wouldn't hold together. Besides coming apart at the perforations, they also broke apart in the middle, or smaller pieces broke off from the ends. So I had to piece them together, and patch across the top, making Franken-pasties. They were not attractive, but they were done, and I ran out the door to class.

When I got home, Jeff & girls were not yet back, but I saw there were a couple pasties left. It turned out that both girls ate them, and even liked them! O miracle of cheap, crappy crescents! Jeff also thought they were good, but agreed with me that the crescent part was too rich, and also kind of flimsy.

I won't use crescents again, but puff pastry is still a possibility. So is bread dough, though that really is not in keeping with the original idea. I'd still rather not deal with pre-made crusts, so the real answer might be to just suck it up and make my own crust again. But I like making them smaller, and par-cooking the veg is a good choice.

Maybe next time I'll have pictures!

Feeding the Family

I always say, "I'm not a short order cook. I make one meal. I hope you like it. If not, there's always tomorrow." That said, there are those nights when I make a couple different choices. A lot of this is for my own sake--if I want chicken, I need to make sure Jeff has another option. And of course, Sarah & Lauren have very different tastes. Lauren is the carnivore, and Sarah is the carbo-girl.

Case in point over the weekend. I threw some chicken leg quarters in a roasting pan with some lemon juice, garlic cloves, salt & pepper, and roasted them. I liked them, Lauren really liked them, Sarah barely finished hers. I picked the rest of the meat off the bones and stashed it in the refrigerator. Last night, Lauren requested chicken, and when I asked what else she wanted, heard "Carrots." Sarah made herself soup from some stock, carrots, onions & celery. She didn't add any pasta or rice, but she did go a little overboard on the pepper. She loves grinding up pepper in her mortar & pestle, but this was so much that she couldn't finish the soup.

Both girls like to cook, and are slowly building their culinary skills. Cooking, Nutrition, and healthy meal planning are definitely going to be major themes in this semester's school work!

Resolution

to blog more frequently, at least once a week. This counts as one, right?