Even More Reason to Go for a Walk

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17662246/site/newsweek/

Exercise does more than build muscles and help prevent heart disease. New science shows that it also boosts brainpower—and may offer hope in the battle against Alzheimer's.

Toward the end of the article, it also mentions the link between exercise for kids and greater learning potential. So why are so many schools cutting PE and recess?

Anyway, I've been planning to start getting out for more walks. Like, half hour walks with the kids every day before lunch, and whole family walks after dinner, if I'm not working. It's good for Jeff's cholesterol, good for my weight and stress levels, and good for all of us in general.

One of the past impediments is that a "half hour walk" frequently turns into an hour and a half production. Finding shoes takes forever. We meet someone and chat once we're out and about. I give in to pleas that we stop at the playground. That eats up a big chunk of the day, and on days that I work or that we have other stuff going on (dance, library, etc.), I don't always want to take up that time. In spite of all that, I need to make it happen.

Now, if it would just stop snowing . . .

Fangirl Happiness

A few days ago, I heard that George RR Martin's fantasy series, A Song of Fire and Ice, is being developed as a series for HBO. I really like those books so far, and think HBO will do the best job of it. They plan to for each book to be one season, which is awesome. It gives them plenty of time to develop the story lines, and room in the budget for kick-ass production values. I was worried that Sci-Fi would get its mitts on it, and butcher it like they did A Wizard of Earthsea. So I'm optimistic. It's enough to make me think about getting HBO, because waiting for DVDs would probably kill me.

Then today I heard that The Talisman is going to be a miniseries on TNT or TBS in the summer of 2008, and might become a full-fledged series after that. That's one of my favorite Stephen King books, although the follow up, Black House, didn't do much for me.

Let the fantasy casting begin!

Incompatible

Most of my cooking and grocery shopping lately has been geared toward

• saving money
• food that can go in the freezer or be finished easily by Jeff while I'm at work

This equates to lots of ground beef, but not a lot of particularly healthy stuff.

But.

We just got Jeff's latest cholesterol numbers. As soon as he got off the phone with the doc, I yelled from the other room, "Someone's going to start eating oatmeal for breakfast!" He agrees that he's going to work on a healthier plan (good for all of us), and we're going to walk in the evenings after dinner whenever we can.

I canceled the holds I had on the Barefoot Contessa & Freezer Cooking cookbooks, and instead have holds for "Low Cholesterol Cooking for Dummies" and and a couple cookbooks from the American Heart Association. Salmon, tuna, and vegetarian, here we come!

Thoughts in a Whirl

(I almost titled this "Brain in a Blender," because that's more how I feel, and isn't alliteration pretty? But also, sometimes, nauseating.)

I feel like I'm on the Til-A-Whirl. Gawd, I loved that ride as a kid. The spinning, wheeeee!

But right now, my brain keeps running in circles, and I can't get it to slow down or focus very well. So here, for your confusion and entertainment, is some of the stream of consciousness that's been rolling around lately . . .

my student didn't show up for her makeup session, again, but she's out of luck now; we'll have a big review when we do the next part of the lesson; it's an extra $20 for me, but I'd rather have stayed home for the extra hour

Lauren's sick, but not much; "out of sorts," my Dad said, and she took a nap; I put it down to the time change and all the extra exercise & fresh air lately, but she had a little fever this afternoon; I don't like being gone if I don't have to

my morning class is done next week, and I'm sorry to see the $ go, but glad to have my mornings back

if I want to get an 8-week German session to finish by Memorial Day, I have to advertise for students yesterday; do I need just business cards, or a flyer? is it unethical to list myself as a certified teacher? I was certified, but it was in '92, and not in this state; I need to get my lessons ALL planned out NOW; flashcards; make audio CDs for practice; wish I could put more stuff on hold through the library, just to see if I like it; I wonder if Germany's Amazon.de will ship to me? I'd love to have Toy Story or Finding Nemo in German.

As it turns out, my student did show up for her make up, just late. Teaching pulls my head around and focuses me like nothing else--now I can't even remember all the stuff that was jumbling around while I was in the car. I am still spending a lot of time thinking about trying to get German classes rolling, like now, on top of everything else.

A Tale of Two (Potential) Businesses

My current teaching jobs are very sporadic. I'm working a lot right now, but when these classes are done, there's no way to predict if I'll have any more. It drives me crazy that I don't have a reliable income. I've looked at other jobs, but they either A) pay half of what I'm used to B) want full time work C) want someone with a Master's Degree.

I really like doing my digital photo albums, and I've had people tell me I should turn it into a business. I love teaching, and I've done that as a side business before (reading tutor). This time, I'm thinking about German, geared to home schoolers (I think I kicked this idea around a few years ago, too, but never went anywhere with it). Both ideas have pros and cons.

Photo Album Business Pros/Cons

• Pros: Fun, creative, potentially lucrative, most of the work could be done at home on my own.
• Cons: higher start up costs (a lap top and flatbed scanner would be nice, but at the very least, I'd need sample books, brochures, advertising), dealing with picky clients who have a different "style" than I do (Bridezillas, eek!), finding those clients in first place and selling them on my product. I'm not so much a salesman. Also, creating those images can be very time consuming, which cuts into the profit margin.

German Tutoring Pros/Cons

• Pros: Fun, creative (in totally different ways from above), potentially lucrative, most of the work done at home, much lower start up costs (business cards & flyers but mostly word of mouth advertising), I already have lots of materials created.
• Cons: If I had classes here at the house, the house would have to be immaculate all the time (Jeff would say that's a pro, heh). I don't know if I could get enough students on a consistent basis. Dealing with groups of kids can sometimes be frustrating. Also, do the parents drop off and come back later or what? I'd want to get a babysitter to watch my kids while I had classes (although I'd pay a bit less per hour, since I'd still be home).
  

Both ventures would require me to keep very good records. I can do that. I'm not good at keeping the house tidy, but if it's part of a job, I can be very anal.

One of our neighbors is a homeschooling mom who teaches music--in fact, Sarah's probably going to start taking recorder lessons from her, because I can't do much more with her. I could get some input from her on how she sets her stuff up, if she worries about liability insurance, etc.

Right now, I'm spending more time thinking about how to make the German classes work than the photo albums. I think I'd still do albums for spare cash if I knew someone that wanted them, but I think I'm going with what I know, and what I know I can do, at this point. Wish me luck!

The Lottery Game

You've all played this, right? The "What would I do if I won a million dollars" fantasy? No, I don't play the lottery, but that has no effect on playing the game. Jeff & I especially like the game when we're on long car rides. What charity would we give to, where would our second house be, etc.

Sometimes I play an abbreviated version--what would I do if I won $5K, for example. This generally involved the more prosaic things, like getting the car & shower fixed, having a professional do some landscaping, putting a swing set in the backyard, etc.

I've also been thinking about how much $ it would take to start a small business (more about that in another post). I was thinking that a spare $5K would be plenty to get me rolling. Then I realized that even if I had a spare $5K, it would go to the home things before anything else.

So apparently, I need to win $10K in the lottery that I never play instead of $5K.

Bandwagon

If Pez and Katie do it, then so will I. (What's that you say about jumping off a bridge if everyone else does it too?)

I can't deal with a physical calendar, because we're constantly changing and updating things. I keep meaning to add when bills are due, as well, because I'm so good at looking at Outlook, that if it isn't there, it isn't in my brain at all. Sometimes I think I should print it, at least weekly, but it eats ink, and I don't think we really need to. Sometimes we do forget things, but that's pretty rare.

Here is our March calendar. Light blue are my computer classes, green are ESL classes, dark blue is Lauren, purple is Sarah, red is birthday reminders, orange is church stuff and there are some other miscellaneous things without color.
It's a pretty typical month, at least lately. I don't know if my morning class will continue after next week; it depends on whether my student wants more training, or if she thinks the Basic package is enough. I like the class, and hope she does continue, although it would be nice to not have to teach during the day. On the other hand, I don't think there are any more classes coming up, so I need to get all I can while I can.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Home Business

After making the wedding album for Jeff's cousin last fall, I got a few suggestions that I should do that as a side business. I dismissed the idea, because I didn't think I'd be able to make any money at it. And although I can't make the same $/hour that I do for teaching, I can't teach at home in my pajamas while the kids do school work, either. It's a trade off, but one I might be able to live with, especially since my teaching schedule is so erratic (crazy right now, but there's no telling how long that will last).

So if I were to make albums for other people and charge for them, where would I get background images ("papers," in scrapbook-speak)? I need to get stuff that is copyright free, obviously. Usually, I just google image search for what I want, and since it's for personal use, I don't worry about it. Can't do that in business, though.

Also, I need to figure out pricing, how to get clients, a business name, and how I can afford to get started. A CM consultant suggested I sign up and just do their Memory Books, but I like my own, template-free program better. Aren't there grants for women to start businesses?

I'd really like to be able to do this, but the prospect of getting started is rather daunting.

"The only thing Nyquil ever cured . . .

is consciousness."

And that's why I love it. I took some Thursday night, and felt better the next day, and now I'm just about 100% back.

Really busy right now (I need to try to retro-figure all my mileage from last year's computer classes and medical appointments for taxes, which is going to be a big job), but I wanted to let everyone know I was back in the land of the living. Thanks for the good wishes, all!

Not Food Poisoning

After throwing up 7 times Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I had a good guess that I had either the flu or food poisoning, and I tried to think of all the things I'd recently eaten. I asked the waiter for my patty melt to be well done, and I think it was, but I really didn't pay attention. I had a little bit of bread dough, and that has raw eggs, but that was only an hour ago. Rice? Not likely. Half a pasty? Nah, I know those were cooked, and Jeff eats them all the time, and he's fine.

Wednesday morning, I canceled my classes (which are now totally messed up), and made an appointment at the doctor's. Luckily, Jeff had the day off anyway, so he could drive me. Doc said that it's viral, nasty, and been making the rounds lately, so go home, get a lot of rest, and stay hydrated. That last part is the hardest for me, because I worried that drinking anything would make me throw up again, and I do prefer to avoid that. But I did manage to get a little water and a little ginger ale, and spent most of the day in bed.

Today, I'm better. Not really well, but better. I still can't watch cooking shows, or think about dinner, but I am planning on teaching my class tonight, although I'm hoping I'll be able to sit more than running around. That's not likely, but it's only a two hour class.

Knitting

Apparently, I don't have enough hobbies.

Sarah has been asking to learn to knit, and since I don't remember how (I think I made all of one scarf while in college), my mom gave us a basic lesson yesterday. So far, all we can do is the garter stitch, which is fine for scarves. Sarah picked out hot pink yarn, and Lauren's is a dark blue with some subtle multi-colored flecks. It still looks basically blue.

Sarah pretty much has the hang of it, and I'm also doing ok, but man--is it slow! I worked on Lauren's last night, and it's only 30 stitches wide, but it's still less than six inches long. At this rate, the snow will be all gone by the time she gets to wear it! I can't understand how Katie makes all those sweaters.

We're also supposed to go scrapbooking Sunday, so I guess I should order some pictures for that.

Although it's just a hobby so far, I'm trying to figure out how to turn my digital photo album passion into a paying job.

Here's another Demo

This is a demo for my stepdad.

Demo

This is my demo post for my Web Design class.

We can change sizes, colors, and add links and pictures.

The Price of Happiness

Cost to make me happy yesterday: $1.67
What I got: this week's groceries (milk, eggs, cornflakes, bananas, bread, and frozen pizza are all I can remember right now, but I know there were one or two other things). We didn't need much, because I stocked up so much last week, and we took back about $5 in bottles & cans.

Cost to make Sarah happy today: $8.46
What she got: a yard of polar fleece and a yard of rip-stop fabric, both in purple, natch. I'm going to make her some snow pants based on a pajama pants pattern piece. I'll use thread and elastic I already have. They should be done tonight or tomorrow, not that she'll get to wear them while the weather is like this. (Current temp: 3 degrees.)

Cost to make Lauren happy today: $0.63.
What she got: helium for the balloon they passed out at the movie Saturday. We got free passes to see Cinderella III last weekend, and they were passing out balloons, but the helium tank broke. Ever since, she's been dying to have her balloon, and we finally had a chance to get it filled today. She's been squealing ever since.

(Note: I have decided that if Lauren is determined to be a "blue princess" again next year for Halloween [as she has for the past three years], I will cave and make her a true Cinderella dress. If anything will break the spell, I hope that will do it!)

Yum

I finally made the Pasties, and they are so yum! I might even get over my "once a year" rule, and make them again soon, because my mom & stepdad are going to be here in a few weeks, and the five that are left will not last that long. The combination of ground beef and ground pork (not breakfast sausage) is really tasty, and I'd forgotten how much I like home made pie crust.

The freezer itself is nicely full, so maybe I won't have to cook so much next week. Cross your fingers for me!

A Small Adjustment

Between December 21st and January 21st, I worked for four hours, over two days.

Between January 22nd and January 26th, I worked for 15 hours, over four days. I didn't get a whole lot accomplished last week around the house.

This week will be a little easier--no day classes, for one thing. But next week, I'm supposed to start a day class that will be twice a week, 3 hours each day. It'll last 5 weeks. That puts me at 16 hours a week, occasionally more.

Those will be some nice paychecks, and we surely do need it right now. Of course, I won't know if I'm coming or going most of the time. As it is, half the time I get in the car, I have to stop and consciously think, "Where am I going again?"

Since I'm going to be missing three dinners per week (and two bedtimes, sniff), I've tried to plan out our meals for the month. This means a substantial amount of prep work for stuff to go in the freezer. I've decided that although I might not be able to freeze the entire meal, I can have the basics ready to go. I have five pounds of ground beef, waiting to be turned into taco meat, patties, sloppy joe meat, Salisbury Steak and Pasties (those last two have to wait for the addition of ground pork, so I won't open the package and do those things until tomorrow or even Tuesday). I'll go to the store for the ground pork (as well as a rutabaga, pot roast, and a few other things I can't get at Aldi) tomorrow. I also have some Italian Sausage that is destined for pasta sauce. I put four freezer bags of leftover ham into the freezer tonight, too.

Wednesday, we're going to the roller skating rink to see if it would be a good place for an 8th birthday party. Saturday, we're going to the movies. Friday, I'm going to a Creative Memories party all by myself. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more than just sit there, dazed.

Of course, we also have various library, dance, and Brownie items to attend to, and now that we really do have snow, I'm asked on a daily basis if we can please go sledding someplace with a real hill?

Can you all say "oy?" I knew you could . . .

Homeschooling: Lauren

Lauren's Schoolwork is still at a very basic stage right now.

Bob Books Very thorough, systematic process of learning to read. Strictly phonetic. Dull.

Math Workbook I got a Kindergarten Math workbook because I knew it would be systematic and thorough. It's OK, not great. I still create extra worksheets.

Poker Chips A nice manipulative for counting, and she loves playing with them. Later, I can use them to teach place value, although I'll probably use pennies and dimes, which is more natural for that. They're also good for basic patterns.

Whole Language Once we get through the Bob Books (we're about half way), I'm going to start her on some material that I wrote. Instead of a phonics approach, it's whole language. I believe that phonics does have a place in learning to read, but I don't much like it. English isn't a phonetic language. I've seen so many kids get bogged down in sounding out a word that they lose the thread of the rest of the sentence. Whole language is more about reading for meaning, and using context clues to help figure words out. "What makes sense?" is something I used to say a lot when working with kids on their reading.

I currently have six weeks' worth of material, but writing more is easy. I haven't used those materials with Sarah lately (or written more for her) because her reading is pretty good overall, and there is so much stuff available online that serves her needs sufficiently.

Clock We have a little plastic clock that we use for practice. So far, we're only doing the top of the hour and the half hour. That's slow going.

Writing Right now, I have two sites that I use to generate writing worksheets. The ESL Handwriting Practice is nice to do one set of many words. The Handwriting Worksheet Maker is good for writing the same sentence many times.

Starfall She still loves this site, although we don't use it quite as often now that she knows her individual letters and many small words.

LittleFingers More Games

Book Review

Frozen Assets Lite and Easy: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month

I posted a while ago that I wanted to get the freezer stocked up so that getting dinner on the table would be easier, so I checked this book out of the library. I didn't realize that it was the Lite version, and that many of the recipes would be based on tofu, eggplant, and tuna. I did make the Turkey Divan (with boneless pork chops, of course). Jeff & I thought it was ok, but neither of the girls liked it, so I won't bother to make it again.

I also made the pork stir fry. I know it's traditional to coat the meat in cornstarch, but the coating ended up being a little heavy, and the sauce had way too much cornstarch in it. Next time I make it, I'll just use my own sauce as usual, although I might dust some of the meat with cornstarch, just to see if leaving the egg wash out makes a difference. Jeff said he prefers regular stir fry anyway.

There's one more recipe I wanted to try (Lime Marinated Pork Chops), but I don't have a lot of hope for it, frankly. I still haven't given up on bulk cooking--I've got a pork loin that I had sliced into chops ready to be individually wrapped, and I made a bunch of meatballs Saturday night. Still, it would be nice to be able to add some new recipes to the mix. I'm going to keep looking at the library. I've found a lot of online recipes, but those often don't seem to match our tastes, either.

I think I've lost my mind

Part of me wants a blizzard. I've been relieved that our winter has been so mild--the roads have been easy, which is a big relief to me. But I want to take the kids sledding. I want them to go make snowmen. I want to see big fluffy drifts.

I know that when this happens (probably in March), I will freak out and have fits and not care about what I'm saying right now.

Easier Than Expected

Wow, that only took a couple hours, including drive time and stopping at the teacher's store to pick up a Language Arts book for Sarah.

The Children's Place has jammies on major discount right now--I got 6 sets for less than $50. Of course, when I walked in the door, Jeff was on the phone with my sister who said, "Let's do Christmas presents next week, when you come over for H's birthday." Heh, she wasn't ready either! But now it's done and I don't have to stress over it any more.

I'm still taking suggestions, though, because we do have the 6 year old girl birthday coming up, then the 8 year old boy. How much does Darth Tater rock? Quite a bit, I'm guessing!

Christmas Shopping

Yes, Christmas shopping, today. Tomorrow is the first time we're going to see my stepsister and stepbrother since well before Christmas (it's my nephew's dedication). I'd been hoping to make Christmas jammies for all their kids. Well, a couple problems with that. One, I never got their measurements. Two, I never got my own kids jammies finished. Even now, they're waiting for me to pull the sewing machine back out. Yeah, gotta get on that.

So today, I'm off to shop. I have no idea what to get for

• a 10½ year old boy
• an almost 8 year old boy
• a 6 year old girl
• a 2½ year old girl
• a 3 year old boy
• a baby boy under a year

Stumped, utterly. Wish me luck.

Updates

I know I haven't been writing much lately, but I haven't been reading too much lately, either. Well, online reading. I've been getting books out of the library for me to read instead of just the kids--what a concept!

Lauren is getting over a sinus infection. I almost didn't take her in to the doctor (Tuesday), but her cough Monday afternoon was so bad that I swore I was going to. Glad I did, but really, how do you decide to take them in when they don't have a fever, and the runny nose is clear?

I'm making progress on cleaning out the house. My goal is to throw out one bag of garbage per day, and I'm getting there. I cleaned out a cabinet in the living room and that's now our arts & crafts storage center. Holy crap, we had about 30 cannisters of play doh! I threw out all the ones that were getting dry, though, which was about half. You can also see the floor in the back half of the basement now, at least in a small area. There is still a lot of organization to do, but once I get rid of stuff (to garage sale/Moms2Moms sale or donate, that is the question) that will be easier, too.

(whispering, for fear of a jinx) Lauren seems to have stopped sucking her fingers, at least during the day. (shhhhhh . . .)

I got Frozen Assets, Light & Healthy from the library, and there are a few recipes I'm looking forward to trying. They look like recipes I'd make anyway, but if I can make them in advance, life would be easier. That's kind of the idea, huh?

I'm trying to eat healthier, but less success there.

Meal Planning

I'm trying to plan out easy meals again, maybe prep stuff to go in the freezer. Since I'm going to be working three nights a week, we have to have things that are easy for Jeff to finish. I spent some time looking at Once a Month Cooking sites last night. I'm thinking that if I buy a big package of hamburger, I can divvy it up into

• patties
• meatballs (spaghetti sauce, BBQ sauce, sweet & sour, brown gravy, stroganoff)
• cooked loose (spaghetti sauce, tacos, chili, lasagna, sloppy joes, mostaccioli, shepherd's pie)
  

I'd like to think of things to do with leftover ham that don't include soup or anything creamy, since I'm the only one who really likes those things. I don't want Jeff to have to stress with the girls over dinner when I'm at work.

I'm also going to try doing some "pocket pies" (as seen on Good Eats) or calzones. I'd like to find some vegetarian and fish options as well. I'm also trying to do this on a reasonable budget. Time to dig out some cookbooks and get creative!

You want that? Really?

My uncle gave the girls gift certificates to Toys R Us for Christmas, so yesterday, we went to use them. We walked around a while, telling Lauren that she did NOT have enough money to get Dora's Talking Kitchen (thank God!).

First Lauren saw a very large stuffed Nemo, which she carried around for a while until she saw the McDonald's Cash Register. After that, it was all over for her. Since she's gotten it home, it is far and away the thing she has played with the most. She's constantly taking our orders, and never takes off the visor. I'm concerned about future job choices . . .

Sarah walked around even longer. I thought she was going to go for a skateboard--she's asked for one before, and she loved her bike, her scooter, her (new) roller skates--but she walked right past them and finally settled on a gladiator/knight dress up set. Two swords, a small shield, a breastplate, and gauntlets. I've taken to calling her "Zena."

Merry Christmas, Every One!

Baklava Dissection

I made baklava last night; here's the rundown.

It tastes ok. Sarah gives it "a thousand thumbs up!" I'm a little more discriminating, heh. It's definitely a thousand times better than last year's. Still, the bottom is a little soggy, a little over-saturated in the syrup. I've eaten a little to much of it to really be objective, though : my taste buds are on overload. There's enough to take a plate to my Dad & Sharon's tonight, and another plate to Jeff's parents' tomorrow night. We'll see how it's received there. No torte this year.

I still think there's too much sugar in the filling. Next time I make it, I'll do five cups of mixed nuts (instead of just the almonds--and no toasting, because then the almonds at the edges would burn for sure) instead of four cups, and a scant cup of sugar instead of two cups (the recipes I'm looking at online don't have any sugar in the filling, hmmm). Also, I only used three sticks of butter instead of four, which seemed to work fine. I didn't have cardamom on hand, so I used cinnamon, nutmeg & a little ginger. Worked ok.

The hardest part was remembering how many layers of dough I'd put down. It's really hard to concentrate on that when the kids are running around and constantly talking. I ended up putting them to work keeping track of the layers. I still have a few sheets of phyllo left, though.

Next time I make it, I'll be more willing to tweak the recipe, having done it once on my own now.

Breathing Room

As of today, I am free. Free from German classes, computer classes, dance classes, Brownies, story time, and Sunday School. Free until January 2, when German starts again.

Oops, I forgot Sarah does have one more art class on Saturday, but that barely counts.

All this free time means I have lots of time to bake and sew. I'll need it!

Sarah got her Girl Scout cookie order form last night. This year, her personal goal is 250 boxes. Um. Hmm. Last year, she sold about 75 boxes, and that was overwhelming. I don't know how Troop Leaders deal with it! I'm hoping she gets lots of sales from church & cookie booths, so we don't have to walk around the neighborhood too much, although she wants to go out today. Yeah, that's not happening. Last year, my Dad took her down to where he used to work, but I don't know if he'll be able to do that again. Jeff's company frowns on bringing in fundraiser stuff from kids, so that's out.

Simplify My Life

In the interested of making my life easier, I've decided not to make Christmas dresses this year. I just don't have time. I'll still make pajamas, starting tonight. Luckily, we found some cute dresses at Kohl's for $40 for the two of them. If I'd made dresses, it would have been at least $30, possibly more, so I spent a little more money, but I'm saving a buttload of time.

I didn't make baklava this weekend, nor did we make stockings for the teacher gifts. The dollar store had cute tins, so we went that way instead. I might make baklava later this week, but if I do, I doubt I'll make Christmas Torte. That would definitely make things easier as well.

Taking Stock

OK, what's left to do?

I bought phyllo dough & almonds, so it looks like I will make another run at baklava. Here's hoping it turns out better than last year, and better than the macaroons.

I want to put sugar cookies in with the Sunday School Teacher goodies, so those need to be today or tomorrow.

I need to sew up the felt stocking for said goodies, which also needs to be done today or tomorrow. I'm hoping the girls can help. Just a basic blanket stitch around the outside, but we'll see how it goes. A whip stitch would probably be easier.

Still need to buy presents for most of Jeff's family. Also, I'm picking up some Godiva for my stepmom--how did I turn into my dad's personal shopper, I'd like to know?

Lauren is constantly asking if we can make gingerbread cookies & a gingerbread house, and "wrap presents for me."

Cards go out today.

Pajamas, which I will probably start on Sunday. I'm still trying to decide if I want to put lace on the collar & cuffs. Since it's a plaid, the lace would "girl it up" a bit, and they'd both like that, but I worry that lace gets itchy at the wrists & ankles. So, don't know on that yet.

A Bomb

Not to be confused with "the bomb." My mom makes kick-butt macaroons, and the recipe only has three ingredients (14 oz coconut, a can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp. vanilla) and three steps (mix all ingredients, spoon onto a baking sheet, bake 10 - 12 minutes at 350 degrees). They taste like the inside of a Mounds Bar, and most other recipes I've seen call for beaten egg whites, so I figured this one was a winner.

Except, not.

They taste fine--really, more like candy thanks to the sweetened condensed milk--but they spread badly. The coconut stayed in a heap like it was supposed to, but there was a "puddle" of tasty goo around the bottom of each one. So those will not be going in the Christmas bags this year.

Today is a stay at home day. No work for me, no classes for the kids, no shopping (I still have some left to do, but it will wait). We're going to jam on housework and schoolwork, and make more treats, including turtles. Those are so no-fail, the girls do most of it. Just take a small pretzel (I use the square ones), put a chocolate covered caramel on it (I couldn't find Rollo this year, so I'm trying Hershey's Treasures), and put into a warm oven so it gets soft. Push a pecan half into the top so that it squished down a bit, then let cool. Yuuuuuuuuuum.

Library: check. In addition to the books I always get books for Sarah to quiz on at Book Adventure, she found three books about space exploration. They all look to be written in the 70's, and are at least junior high level reading. I'm sure she'll look at the pictures, but will ignore the words. I also got Curly Girl, about dealing with curly hair. I only glanced through it, but it already looks interesting. There are many anecdotes in the "I hated my hair and tried to straighten it, but now that I let it be curly, I love it" family. Yeah, I get it. Her hair is awesome, and I'm not going to mess with it, but I would like to be able to deal with it better, maybe even make it curl more. The most interesting thing so far is that the author recommends never using shampoo. I have yet to find what to use instead, though. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

Macaroons: nope, because I'm out of parchment paper. I did make peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate and a few mint chocolate dipped Faux-reos, though. Macaroons & more of the mint dipped cookies are on the list for tonight.

Christmas cards: bought, and signed by Jeff. I need to get stamps, and get the girls to sign them before I add mine and get the addresses rolling.

Internet shopping: bought a puzzle for Jeff's mom, and cheap software for the kids. I still need to order a Coney Kit for Jeff's grandma & uncle in Florida, and some CDs for his dad.

Work: Have you ever had a coworker you wanted to throttle but couldn't because she's also a good friend? I know she's overwhelmed right now, and they have her juggling too much, but every time one of those balls falls, it seems to hit me on the head. I'm not mad, just frustrated. I'm once again looking at trying to find something else. Of course, all the stuff I see either requires skills or education I don't have, or pays about half as much as I'm making now. This job really is great in most aspects. It just isn't reliable.

Today is grocery shopping, and once Jeff's parents get here to babysit, I have a few more presents to look for before I go to work.

Today's Plan

Today's plan includes

• internet shopping
• macaroons
• library
• Christmas cards
• figuring out WTF is going on with work
  

We decorated the tree last night--Sarah can get ornaments about 3/4 of the way to the top!

Last Week's Silence

I really planned to keep posting every day, or almost every day. I have a lot going on, and I still have more homeschooling stuff to talk about. Last week's big project was the shepherd girls' costumes for church. Well, not such a big project. Skirts that are made from two pieces of fabric, with one seam and a drawstring waist, aren't a big deal, even if there are six of them. But of course I procrastinated, maybe because it wasn't' such a big thing, and I knew they'd go quickly once I got started. But every time I went to post last week, all I could think was, "I should be working on those skirts." So I didn't post.

I had a couple sewing machine issues, but they did finally get done, and the girls really liked them. I'm glad no one tripped, because I left them as long as possible and they did go down to their ankles. The play itself went really well--Sarah even got to solo on "Teen Angels are Teenage Fools." CUTE! Lauren got a little bored and fidgety, but did ok for the most part.

So for this week, I have shopping, baking, and pajama sewing to do, in addition to the regular life stuff. We're decorating the tree this afternoon.

My job drives me up a freaking wall. Again. Some more.

Oh, that's right.

No pajama work tomorrow. I forgot that I promised to make skirts for the shepherd girls in the Christmas play, which is next weekend. I got the fabric from the Sunday School director today, and measured all the girls. Since they're all different sizes (6 girls, ranging from a 24" waist to a 31" waist), and I don't want to worry about who has which skirt, I'm going to do drawstring waistbands.

I have to confess to being a little gratified that at least one of the girls was excited I was making the skirts (I'm going to try for some kind of scarf/collar/shawl thingy, too), because she liked Sarah & Lauren's Halloween costumes so much.

The pajama pattern I want to make isn't on sale until next weekend anyway, and I'll hopefully be able to find some fabric I really like then, too. I don't need to have the pajamas for my nieces & nephews done until New Year's, since that's when we usually get together, so that's easier. I don't know if I'll do the tops and bottoms for all four of them. Last year, I made them pajama pants, got a t-shirt in a co-ordinating color, and made a pocket out of the pants fabric. This year, I might totally lose my mind and cut the letters of their names out of fabric and appliqué them onto shirts (not t-shirts, though--they keep their house really chilly). A lot of it will depend on what I find next week and how much it costs.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Done.

No baking tomorrow--we're going to Jeff's parent's house for his brother's birthday.

Monday will be either buckeyes (but I need to buy more peanut butter), mint-chocolate oreos (need to buy faux-reos), "turtles" (need to buy Rollo candy and square pretzels), sugar cookies, more tartlets, or macaroons.

Baklava is still on the "maybe, because I'm a masochist" list.

I do need to hit the fabric store tomorrow, though, so sewing might take up all of Monday instead.

Off to a decent start

When Jeff asks how my day went, the happiest answer is usually "productive." I love that feeling of accomplishment.

Yesterday, I accomplished (i.e. bought):

• TV Land--Detroit for my Dad. Soupy Sales, Bozo the Clown, Bill Kennedy at the Movies, Sir Graves Ghastly--all classic tv figures from my youth. There are more, from his youth, that I don't recall right now, but he'll love it.
• Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into Michigan for Jeff. He likes local travel & trivia, and you don't have to read it in the bathroom!
• Potholder loom, loops & book for Sarah. Remember making those? Sarah loves crafty stuff, and the book shows you how to do other stuff with your finished potholder, like turn two of them into a purse.
  
• 4 pounds of milk chocolate, 1 pound of white chocolate, and 50 cellophane bags in which to seal the goodies once they're done. Once I buy the Not-reo cookies, I'll be able to go to town on those.
  
• A shredder for my stepmom, from my dad. I've now done most of my dad's shopping this year, and am glad I could.
  
• An apple peeler/corer/slicer for Jeff's cousin Kristi. When she and her husband came over to look at the album I was making them for their wedding present, they really liked the apple pie I made. My P/C/S makes short work of apples, and she thought it was cool, so I got her one. I'm going to attach some apple crisp topping in a jar, and maybe even some apples.
  
• A freezable/microwaveable pillow for my stepmom. She's been really hot at night. I was going to get her a Chillow, but I've heard mixed reviews. I'm hoping the one I got stays cold. I have something similar that I love to microwave and put at the foot of the bed when it's cold, and it's wonderful!
  
• A book of Sudoku (sp?) puzzles for my stepdad.
• Playdoh tote for Lauren. She adores play doh, and most of our stash has gotten old and hard.
  
• Princess clock for Lauren. Sarah has a clock with her name on it, and Lauren really wants a clock of her own. I was going to get her the same thing, but I saw this, and it's Cinderella, and includes a picture frame. It's a little smaller than the one I was planning to get, but I think she'll like it. Also, it's small enough for her to take into bed with her, which she'll love. It's also small enough for her to easily lose, I just realized.
  
• The first double batch of Pecan Tartlets. (This recipe is a little different from mine in that it uses less chopped pecans and puts a pecan half on top. I use about 3/4 cup broken pieces. The girls did that part of it this year.) I got an even 5 dozen, but there are always a few that fall apart when I take them out of the pan. I'll make at least one more batch. These are the cookies that people look forward to the most. When Lauren was about 9 months old, I just didn't have the energy to do much Christmas baking. I mentioned this to Jeff's family when we went over there, and when his Aunt saw the Tartlets, she said she was so glad to see those, because they were her favorites.

Jeff is home again today (he had yesterday off) because the weather is terrible, he feels terrible, and they're not doing that much at work. I'm planning to go to the post office to mail the great-grandparents' photo albums, and then go to the store for a few things, including lemons. Once I get those, I can get lemon poppy seed bread out of the way. And someone please talk me out of making baklava--I don't think it would travel well/be good in goodie bags, but I have a very strong urge to give it another try this year!

Agenda

The weather this past week has been amazing. It's been more like mid-October than the end of November. We've been in the 50's and low 60's. Since Jeff is home today, I was planning to go run around and get some Christmas errands done. But today it's raining and chillier (we're supposed to get snow this weekend, which thrills Sarah beyond words), and I'd rather stay home and finish my book. I'll go out eventually, but right now I think I'll put some butter and cream cheese out to soften, so I can make my first batch of Pecan Tarts.

Arr, Matey!

I thought of Pez when I saw this, but I think it's fun enough to post on my own. Captain Bogg & Salty's Pieces of 8ight video. If you can't see it there, it's on YouTube. I want a substitute like this!

Did you realize?

I knew Christmas was coming. It's kind of hard to miss. In spite of that, the realization that Christmas is just four weeks from yesterday sends me into a little bit of a tizzy. I have so much to do: baking, shopping, sewing. Nothing has been done so far except for two rather important tasks.

1. I know what I'm planning to get just about everyone.
2. The photo albums are done.

Other than that, I'm utterly screwed. Happy Holidays, all!

Homeschool: English/Reading

For Reading, we're using a site called Book Adventure. It has quizzes on different books, both fiction and nonfiction, and you get points. You can cash in the points for prizes at the site, but we are just coming up with our own prizes. We started doing this in May, and Sarah has read 101 books as of today. She's earned a badminton set, a snorkel, swim fins & mask, computer games, and a magazine subscription. The quizzes are weighted by age, and if you don't get enough questions right on the first try, you get a second chance. I like that there is already a substantial bank of quizzes, although sometimes I question how they level them. Some books seem like they should be considered higher, and some seem too high.

When we go to the library, I take a list of books that I know have quizzes, which requires a bit of work ahead of time. I maintain a list, print it out whenever we go, and add to it when I have time. I also maintain a list of all the books she's read, or I'd be getting the same things out again and again, because I can't keep track. We also get out a longer book for me to read to her at night. We've been doing a lot of the Ramona Quimby books, which she likes, but I don't think she realizes that someone else in this house will probably identify with Ramona more than she does, at least eventually.

For English, we're working on Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives. We've been spending more time on these than I thought we would, because Sarah's having a hard time with them. We've recently added Common and Proper Nouns into the mix.

English Basics has a lot of good stuff, as does ABCTeach.com. Grammar Gorillas and Noun Dunk are good for practice. Naturally, IKnowThat.com also has lots of stuff.

I'm falling down on the job

by not posting every day lately. Unfortunately, today will continue that, because I just got out of the shower and the kids just woke up. In the next half hour, we have to eat, find clothes for church, get dressed, and get rolling. So--later, all!

So did I do it?

Did I go out shopping today? Hell, no!

When I was in college, my stepmom & I would go out for Black Friday, and we had a great time. We'd get up at 4 AM in order to get to the nearest mall by the time it opened at 6. Said mall was 60 miles away, via a 2-lane road (that's one lane in each direction), usually with a fair bit of snow. We'd go in and shop until lunch, then get McDonald's (a big treat, since that was also the closest McD's as well).

Now, though, it just isn't worth it. It's too cold, the lines are too long, it's too dull to go by myself, and I get too many good deals from shopping online. I'm still tempted sometimes ($1/yard flannel at JoAnn's!), but I haven't even bothered to go near a store the past few years.

I'm thankful . . .

that I have wonderful in-laws, who like taking my kids for sleepovers. :)

Sinuses . . .

suck. That is all.

Homeschool: Writing

Writing is one of the things I plan for us to do every day, but is likely to be shoved off until the next day. Which means that it just doesn't get done. I'm working to get better at it, but it doesn't help that it's far and away NOT Sarah's favorite subject.

There are a bunch of sites with suggestions for daily writing, and I pick and choose each week. One thing that has helped is that I put an organizer on the board, and do a lot of writing myself. That way, she doesn't have to worry about spelling, but can concentrate more on getting her thoughts down.

For examples, yesterday she wrote a movie review of Mary Poppins--we'd watched it for the first time on Friday night. This is the organizer I put on the board (she told me what to write, and those are our current German words are on the left):



And here is what she wrote:












Sites with topics for writing:
Journal Activities
Journal Writing Plan
Journal Writing Ideas
Primary Journal Ideas

This is a good one for 1st Grade: Sentence Starters

For fiction, I just found this, and love it. It reminds me a little of Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, which is one of my favorite books ever.

I think that handwriting practice is important, too. Sarah's handwriting is very poor (mine isn't great, either), but it's hard to find fun activities to work on that. I remember being a kid, sitting at the dining room table, copying line after line, trying to improve my handwriting. It never did help much. I recently read an article that handwriting is rather neglected these days, largely because of computers. I do think good keyboarding skills are important, but I don't want to let handwriting slide, either.

Sometimes I'll use a handwriting worksheet for Sarah's spelling words, but I really like them to give Lauren words to practice. Most of them (Tracing Paper, Handwriting Worksheet Maker) are set up with the words running across the top (good for a sentence), but if you want to practice up to ten different words, this ESL Handwriting Practice is the better way to go. Sometimes we just print blank pages.

Other blogs

No, not the personal blogs I regularly check out, although I probably will do a post about those before the month is up.

These are other funny/useful sites.
Want Not
Parent Hacks
Project RunGay
A Dress A Day
Manolo's Shoe Blog
Go Fug Yourself

Post Secret is only updated on Sundays, but it's another one I wouldn't miss.

Decisions, decisions

I wonder if I can talk Jeff into taking the girls to see Happy Feet instead of a minor league hockey game next weekend? We were supposed to do the hockey this weekend, but couldn't. We've been talking about hockey for over a month, and we all want to go, but Happy Feet looks REALLY cute!

More of the Same

Still trying to get a lot done, still staying off the computer as much as possible.

Resolution

I have a lot to do today, but I don't have to leave the house at all. It's my only "day off" all week. No dance, no story time, no classes to teach, no church, nothing. But I have a lot to do around the house. I was totally unproductive yesterday, and I'd like to take advantage of the time I have today. I hereby resolve not to get back on the computer (except to get stuff for the girls to work on) for the rest of the day. I'll check in tomorrow with the results.

Homeschool: Math

I was lucky to get a complete 2nd grade Houghton-Mifflin math curriculum from Jeff's cousin after she did her student teaching, so that's the text that Sarah is using this year. Since I want to keep it "clean" for Lauren to eventually use, we're either

• answering verbally
• writing the answers into a notebook
• photocopies
  
• making a facsimile with Word or Excel, then printing it for Sarah to write on

There is a long stretch of several chapters that don't deal much with plain addition and subtraction. These include Place Value; Plane Shapes; Data, Graphing and Probability; and Fractions. Last spring, we had started doing addition with regrouping ("carrying") along with the regular addition & subtraction, but this book doesn't get to that until Chapter 10. It bugs me a little to wait that long, but I committed to this book, so I'm not going to skip anything to get there faster.

But there's no way I'm going to ignore addition & subtraction until the book gets back there. We didn't practice much over the summer, and when we started up again in the fall, she had a hard time with 3+6= _____. So besides working in the textbook, we have addition & subtraction practice every day. I try for it to be short--usually no more than 10 minutes, and frequently much less. She's getting better, even if she still looks at her fingers for assistance more than I'd like. I know that eventually, she won't need that.

Practice options include (I'd usually rather she do something on the computer than print more paper):

• a printed worksheet (generator)
• Math Magician
• CyberChallenge
  
• Leon's Math Dojo
• flashcards
• Math Minutes
• Mathblox
• Blackboard Math
• Tic Tac Toe
• problems written on the white board
• Leon Math Movies
  

We also like Brain Teasers, even though they aren't specifically addition & subtraction.

Be careful what you wish for

Yeah, OK, I get it.

I've got my opportunity to make roast chicken for me and the girls this weekend, but I have absolutely no interest in making it. Jeff's going to be down in Florida for his grandpa's funeral. :( This is the first of his grandparents that has died. He was sick for a long time, but it's never an easy thing to have happen. The kids are upset that they don't get to see Grammy & Grandpa today, and that Daddy's leaving (he's flying out early Thursday, and will be back Sunday afternoon), but they'll be OK. I'm glad he can go down there, but sorry for the reason.

Homeschool: Keyboarding

D'oh! I had a nice long post about Math, but it got eaten, so I'm going to do something quicker instead. Typing/Keyboarding is another thing we practice every day. I thought that practice a few times a week would be enough, but it turned out that a little bit every day really makes more of a difference.

For learning to type correctly, Dance Mat Typing can't be beat. It's fun--I've even had adult students use it happily--and it teaches the correct finger placement. FreeTypingGame.net also has lessons, but they aren't nearly as fun.

We also have a few sites to go to play games for practice:

• Spacebar Invaders and The Frogs are Off Their Diet are just two of the games at FreeTypingGames.net. The nice thing about these games is that it's easy to set your level.
• Super Hyper Typer Spider This is probably Sarah's current favorite, and the one she's using today, in fact.
• Type Me
• Cup Stacking
  
• Bubbles
• Nimble Fingers
• Typing Exercises
  

Spelling: Follow Up

Pley: Ha, I never noticed that typo in the link before!

As for the words themselves, I had a terrible time choosing a site this year. It seemed like all the lists were either too easy, too hard, or based on books that class (but not necessarily ours) was reading. I'd like to do literature based spelling words eventually, but at this point, I feel she needs more of the basic instruction first.

As for the words she's having the most trouble with, I think part of the problem is that they really are a little advanced. Not a lot advanced--once we're done with all the lists, I plan to go back and review all the previous words, just to see how well she's retained it, or if it's easier for her.

I also came up with another practice strategy that we're going to try Wednesday. I've had her use Scrabble tiles before, but it's been "Here is the pile of all the tiles. Make your word." This time, it'll be "Here are the letter tiles that make your word. Put them in the right order." We'll see how it goes. (The original suggestion was to write the letters on dried lima beans, and put the beans for each word into a film cannister. I don't have lima beans, nor film cannisters anymore, but this should work fine.)

Homeschool: Spelling

These are the spelling words I'm using for Sarah. I give her the list of words Monday, we practice them through the week, and she takes a test Friday.
To practice, I have her

• type them with WordArt in Word
• write them on slips of paper, then alphabetize them
• spell them out loud
• write sentences using the words
• a crossword puzzle (made here)
• using rubber stamps (a little messy)
• cutting letters out of magazines (complaints about finding the right letters)
• painting them
• sidewalk chalk
• spelling them in cadence, kind of like a cheer
  
• using the "loci" method, where she looks at the word and has to walk to another room to write it down (the back and forth is supposed to help her keep it in her memory)
  

She has a lot of trouble with spelling. This week's words were the worst yet: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. (she did January & February last week, along with the days of the week.) We practiced them thoroughly, and I even gave her an extra day's practices. Yesterday, she took the test and got three out of ten correct.

She has a lot of trouble remembering/realizing that you need vowels in with all those consonants. Novmbr is missing a few letters--the letter M doesn't "say" em, it says mmmmmm. Luckily, most weeks are better than this past one.

Next weeks words are: because, children, friends, favorite, right, wrong, caught, everyone, answer, and beautiful.

Fun Sites to Kill Time

All very addictive!

• Snowdays Snowflakes Maker
• Make-a-Flake
• Interactive Tartan Weaver
• Jackson Pollock
• Flower Maker
• Jigzone

Groceries

I've discovered Aldi fairly recently, and I love shopping there.

• I love that, if I forget a quarter for a shopping cart (hey, it's only happened once), I can go in and they'll loan me one without batting an eye.
• I love that their soda pop can return is on the honor system: you toss your cans in the bin, and tell the cashier how many you had.
• Most of all, I love that I can get a ton of groceries for about $50.

I can't get absolutely everything I need there. Their inventory is limited (no low-sodium beef broth, old fashioned rolled oats, natural peanut butter, or sesame oil), and some of the brands don't appeal to us (we're sticking to Prego spaghetti sauce, Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, A1 steak sauce, and Kraft cheese singles, to name a few). But the kids don't care a bit if it's off-name cereal, the butter & ground beef are fine, the 12 grain bread is pretty good, and Jeff actually prefers their french bread pizzas to Stouffers.

Their produce section is also limited, but not bad. I prefer to go to a local produce store, which not only has incredibly inexpensive apples, lettuce, green beans, and broccoli, they regularly have more obscure stuff. We've gotten lychees, dinosaur eggs (speckled plums) and Christmas melon there, and you never know what will be there. I try to get one new thing every time we go. They also get wonderful bread from a local bakery. When I go there, I come home with bags of stuff, but never manage to spend more that $12 - $15.

Pasties: a Follow-up

Pasties are, essentially portable meat pies. Pie crust wrapped around a filling of ground beef & pork, diced potatoes, carrots, and rutabaga. This is the base recipe I use, although I leave out the MSG. I'd like to leave out the rutabaga, too, because I don't really care for it. But they're cheap, and I don't need more than half of one for a batch of pasties, and Jeff insists it isn't an authentic pasty without them.

They're somewhat time consuming to make, so I usually only do one batch a year, but that batch lasts quite a while, since it makes 8 or more, and the kids don't eat them. Some people eat them with ketchup, but Jeff insists that brown gravy is the way to go.

They're originally made by the wives of Cornish miners, who would take them to work because they're so portable and would hold them to keep their hands warm. It's a traditional Northern Michigan food, too.

And for Evil: Pasties rhymes with last-ies.

And that's our Nutritional Anthropology/Cooking lesson for the day. Hee, I'd love to video 10-minute cooking lessons and put them on YouTube or something.

Dinners

Dinner last night was supposed to be pork chops with apples, rice, and salad. But when Jeff got home, the pork chops were still one big solid block of frozen meat, so I whispered in his ear, "We haven't been to Coney Island in a long time." I barely had time to put my shoes on before we were out the door.

So, tonight - pork chops. Definitely.

I get so stuck in a rut with cooking. It seems like we're always having spaghetti (with meatballs or Italian sausage meat sauce), stir-fry, pot roast, spiral sliced ham, pork chops (though I have about 6 different things to do with those), tacos, kielbasa with potatoes & green beans, sloppy joes, or hamburgers.

When I try new things, sometimes they're a hit, but often not. We got a butternut squash at the produce market a few weeks ago, and Sarah wanted me to make soup out of it. When I did, everyone ate it, but no one really cared for it. That's kind of typical.

I'd like to make a roast chicken sometime, but it's stupid to do that when Jeff can't eat it. Of course, I'll be making a batch of pasties* sometime soon, so he could have one of those when I make chicken for me and the girls, and we'd just have lots of leftovers. I miss homemade chicken soup.

Yeah, maybe I'll do that sometime this month.

* Regarding the pronunciation of pasties: my mom once told me, "Past-ies are what you eat. Paste-ies are what Brooke Shields wore in The Blue Lagoon." I've never mispronounced it since. That also gives you an idea of about how long it's been that I've been eating pasties.

Homeschooling: Lesson Planning

Since Homeschooling is such a big part of my life right now, I'll probably devote several posts to it over the next month.

Today's is about Lesson Planning. I try to plan out lessons for the week over the weekend. I might make notes about things I want to do even after the next week, but if I get too far ahead, it gets too hard to stay on top of things. I use an Excel spreadsheet to plan things out for each day. I can link to online things, as well as things that are saved to my hard drive. I use one file per month, with a sheet for Sarah, a sheet for Lauren, and one for record keeping of how they do at online games.

We have several topics that we work on every day, because it's easier to spend a little time on them frequently than to devote bigger blocks of time less often. Repetition really does help, and although it may look like we do a lot, it still only takes 3 - 4 hours of our day. In spite of all that, there are many days when we don't do everything I have planned, and it gets pushed to the next day (usually) or dropped altogether (occasionally).

Favorite Writings

Best Novel I've Ever Read: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Best Non-fiction Book I've Ever Read: The Power of Myth By Joeseph Cambell & Bill Moyers

Favorite Short Fiction: Gertrude Talks Back, from Good Bones and Simple Murders, by Margaret Atwood

Favorite Poem: Invitation, from Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein

Favorite Fiction I've Read Recently: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

Most Disappointing Recent Read: Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Book I'm Most Likely to Check out of the Library Next Week: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Book I'm Most Eagerly Awaiting: A Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin

The other pictures

I was getting my photobooks all set to go (MyPublisher's new software is nice, and something of an improvement), when I realized that it's set up so that the first page is a dedication page, with just text. That would be really nice for an introduction, or a recap of the year, except that that's what the pictures are for! I've gotten around it, but now of course I'm thinking about putting some text there after all, even though I have no idea what I'd write, and the books have to be submitted by tomorrow.

Anyway, here are the other two pictures from the photographer. Lauren's, I love. She's got a very familiar expression. Sarah's is nice, but the photographer had to retake some shots, because the first batch had the backdrop set too high, so you could see duct tape at the bottom. I don't think her personality shows through the way Lauren's does.

Christmas Pictures

I realized that I could just post a page a day from the Christmas album for the rest of the month, and that would take care of it. Tempting though that is, I've actually been thinking of things to write about.

Our last session to the photographer was a little frustrating. Although they have the nice backgrounds & the crate for the kids to sit on, and know how to pose them, they don't have time to make sure they get really great expressions. Don't get me wrong--I like the pictures, but I'm used to having to force myself to choose just three, instead of picking the only three that have good expressions.

Not sure yet how I like this sepia background, with the color popping up. This is going to be the first page of the album, with no other background, so I want it to look great.

The "Joke"

OK, so I've been reading about Kerry's botched attempt at a joke at President Bush, which came out as a dig at soldiers.

Taken at face value, the "joke" was insulting. I believe that he didn't intend it that way--he intended it as a slam on Bush. But even then, it doesn't really hold up. I mean, Bush was never a brilliant scholar, but he did go to college. So he does have an education. Also, military standards are higher these days. You don't go into the military because you're too stupid for anything else. So, dumb joke, however you look at it.

It's not like Kerry is the first politician to make a gaffe like this, and he's not the first one to be villified over it. I can't count how many lists of stupid things Bush has said there have been, and let's not forget Dan Quayle. Yeah, the guy made a lot of dumb flubs. And got raked over the coals for it. Why should Kerry be any different?

Maybe a mistake

I'm taking the girls to have Christmas pictures taken today. If I want to get those pictures into the annual album and have the albums ordered by Friday to take advantage of the 50% off coupon, pictures must be taken today. That means they won't be wearing Momma-made dresses. I can live with that. I'm having a hard time figuring out what they will wear, though. They don't have to be Bobsey Twins, as Jeff says, but they shouldn't clash, either, and it can be hard to put stuff together when you're dedicated to not buying anything new at this moment.

In anticipation of said photo shoot, I took them both to SuperCuts yesterday. Sarah got her hair cut there last summer, and it was cute, so I had no qualms about that. Lauren's only had her hair cut once, by the stylist Jeff & I go to (read: pricey), and her hair is naturally more of a challenge, with all the curl, but I just wanted it a little shorter, a little layered, to bring out some more of her curl again.

Now, her hair was pretty long. It was well down her back, and she frequently got compliments from strangers on how gorgeous it was, even when it was a crazy mess. The stylist asked how much length to take off, and I indicated about two or three inches, still leaving quite a bit. Well, she took off a good four inches. From the front, it looks like she has a bob. A cute bob, but still pretty short. The hair in the back is longer, but not by much, and it looks like an inverted triangle. It's odd, and I'm not sure how I like it, but we'll see how it turns out after I wash it this morning. Both girls love their hair, and that's what really counts, right? Right.

Oh, trick-or-treating. It was chilly, but not too bad (Monday evening was 66 degrees at 6:30, which was amazing). We went out with a neighbor from 6 to 7, and turned off our porch light at 8. Jeff said kids were coming to the door pretty much constantly while we were gone, and once we were home, Sarah & Lauren both scrambled to be the ones to give out candy. They had a pretty good haul, and now I'm glad I can take some time to get back into the swing of things. Let's just say that the state of the house makes it very apparent that I did a lot of sewing last week.

CWoS: Results

Here they are! Lauren's picture from the back isn't very good, but it looks cute live. I decided to take a leap and try to make the crown part of the pattern as well. The giggles of glee from last night are not present tonight. The loops were easy, and looked great. The crown is a pain in the ass, and looks pretty crappy. That said, Lauren will still love it.

I need to PhotoShop some shoes into Sarah's picture, I think.

CWoS, D6: Friday

OK, almost there. I can't believe I still have to hem Lauren's sleeves, but that's it! I sewed down all the facings, put in all the hooks & eyes, ironed crisp pleats back into Sarah's skirt (glueing the trim down smoothed things out a little), bought Sarah a turtleneck (size 10/12 was the smallest they had, but it was only $5), and sewed the loops onto the back of Lauren's dress yesterday. Oh, and I have to run out and buy some monk's cording to lace it up.

The loops were the last thing I did, and I think I was a little loopy. I don't generally talk to myself quite that much, at least not out loud. "OK, where's the tape measure; this is four inches from the top; how many inches is the whole thing; where's that pin--dammit, now I'll probably find it with my foot in the morning; yeah, that's good, that works; don't you dare jam on me; three loops on a side or four; I have to make one more loop; stupid serger; doesn't have to be perfect, just has to be good; ohmygod, this is so cute; etc. Much of this was accompanied by wild giggles of glee that this was actually working, wow!

We're going to a potluck at church, followed by a Trunk-or-Treat, where the kids (not just from our church--we're throwing it open to the community, but only church members are giving out candy) walk around the parking lot to get their treats. I don't know how well it will work, since we're supposed to have really crappy weather. I do know that there's no way the girls are wearing their costumes during dinner. I can't stand the thought of getting ketchup or something on them within the first five minutes. Oh, who am I kidding? They'll be too busy playing to eat anything, as usual.

Look for pictures tomorrow!

CWoS, D5: Thursday

Yesterday wasn't all that productive, sewing-wise. I got Sarah's skirt done except for the hook & eye, but too late realized that the back doesn't match up. One side is almost half an inch higher than the other. It bugs me just enough to fiddle with it today. I still have to sew down the facings in the top and put in the hooks & eyes, but I'm going to wait until after we get her turtle neck.

I'm incredibly relieved that the ladies at the sewing store had a great solution to my eyelet issue. They agreed that eyelets are a pain and I would do well to avoid them. So what other options do I have? A zipper, buttons, velcro, blah, blah, blah. Then someone said "loops" and it was like a car screeching to a halt. How would I do that? Serendipitously, they had a dress someone had made in the store with fabric loops in the back that then laced up. Now all I have to do is "make it work." I also still have to figure out the crown issue.

So there is definitely plenty to do today, but I feel confident that it will get done in time for the party tomorrow evening.

CWoS,D4: Wednesday

Lauren's dress is almost done. All I have to do is cut about four inches off the bottoms of the sleeves and hem them, and figure out the eyelets in the back. What, I didn't mention the eyelets in the back? Oh yes. Eyelets. Not a zipper. Not buttons. Eyelets. This baby laces up. Did I mention I have no idea how to do eyelets? I'm going to take her dress to work with me today, and on my big break between classes, I'm going back to the nice store where they helped me yesterday and see if I can grovel for some help.

No more progress on Sarah's outfit, but there isn't a whole lot more to do. I want to finish Lauren's comepletly before I change the bobbin thread. Yes, I only have one bobbin. I don't know what happened to the others.

Unfortunately for the CWoS, I work quite a bit today, so I won't be able to get much done. Tomorrow is free, though. Oh, and I also need to get a white turtle neck for Sarah to wear under the top, and a tiara/crown for Lauren, since making the crown that came with the pattern doesn't look too promising right now.

CWoS, D3 Tuesday

No words for this. My sewing machine is broken. The needle won't move up or down at all. I'm going to have to take it into the shop in the morning. I don't have time for this, don't have money for this.

Update:
I took it into the shop, they cleared the fabric jam, and put new needles in my Serger, and rethreaded it. When I asked how much I owed them, the lady smiled and said, "You owe us customers." I am so taking a class there!

So, yesterday's progress: I didn't work on Lauren's at all, just Sarah's. (Come to think of it, I really need to be more sympathetic to Jeff when he gets frustrated at home improvement projects that don't go as planned and take longer than expected.) The cheerleader pattern directions aren't written very well, but I'm muddling through it. The top is done except that I have to lower the neck considerably, and stitch down the facings. I was working on the skirt last night when I had my jam, but that shouldn't take long to finish. I'm also fudging in that I'm not planning on doing zippers, but maybe just hooks & eyes to close things.

CWoS,D2: Monday

I got the sides and back of Lauren's dress put together, and the facings are in. They still need to be topstitched down, though. The length is perfect right now, so there won't be much of a hem. Oh, how I miss my (mom's) Serger! I broke the needle last summer while making these and haven't gotten it replaced yet. I'm told it isn't that difficult to replace, but the thought of rethreading the machine isn't appealing.




I tried it on her this morning, and from the front I didn't think it was as bad/big as I was worried about. Then I turned her around and grabbed a handful of fabric. Really, I could take two inches in on each side, and it would still be plenty big enough.


So I'll spend some time today taking it in (there's only so much I can do, though), and adding the sleeves. I'll do the hem and the trim later. Then I'll get Sarah's started.

Crazy Week of Sewing, Day 1: Sunday

No, that isn't a misprint. Although Halloween isn't until next Tuesday, Halloween parties start next Saturday.

Accomplished:

• cut out pattern pieces for Lauren's dress (typically, I cut out the size 5 for length, and size 3 width, and I still think it might be too big around)
• ironed the pattern pieces
  
• ironed out the big crease in the center of her fabric
• cut out the fabric
• waded through the mountain of mess in the basement to find interfacing (once again promised self that the basement will get cleaned and organized. um, soon.)
  
• cut out and ironed the interfacing onto the fabric
  

I would have gotten a lot more done, but I got distracted by AMC's "pop up" broadcast of Halloween. Honestly, I will watch just about anything that has extra trivia attached to it. The movie itself? Eh, it's ok. The fact that it was filmed in just 20 days, and made use of new SteadiCam technology? So fascinating that I can't look away from the screen long enough to read how to make puffy sleeves and a split neck, for fear that I might miss even one tidbit.

Thoughts on sewing

• I should work at JoAnn's on the weekends instead of tutoring, just for the discount. I'd never bring any of that paycheck home, but I'd be able to sew everything I want.
• I haven't started on Halloween costumes yet, even though I've had the fabric for Lauren's for weeks now, because I don't really love the fabric. It's not bad, just a plain dark blue satin. I must admit that I'm disappointed not to be working on something that has a heavier weight and more interest, like a brocade.
• I have a lot of sewing ahead of me. The game plan was also to have Christmas pictures taken right after Halloween, to take advantage of the 50% off coupon at www.mypublisher.com. I don't know if that will happen now, and even if it does, if the girls will be wearing Momma-made dresses, or store bought.
• In fact, I don't have time to write anymore. I have to go figure out how to make a pleated cheerleader skirt!

Photobook Frustration

Most people who read here (all three of you, ha) know that I make a photo album every year as Christmas gifts, and they are greatly anticipated and well loved. I made an album for Jeff's cousin as a wedding gift, and it turned out great. A friend of the family wants me to do one for her daughter as well, which I will hopefully have time for after the holidays.

In the past, I've used Snapfish and My Publisher. I felt that the Snapfish interface was more user friendly, but since My Publisher gives better coupons, that's what I used last time, and am planning on using next. But I've been talking up Snapfish to newbie friends and the Digital Imagery class I'm teaching. In fact, I tried to demonstrate it last week, but couldn't, because I didn't have the proper authorization for that type of site.

A neighbor came over last night with her daughter (another babysitter, yay!) and I wanted to show her how it worked. To my horror, I discovered that Shutterfly has totally changed their interface. They took something that worked quite well, and made it much more frustrating and hard to follow.

Luckily, I noticed a post at http://www.parenthacks.com/ a while back about this subject, so I checked it out again, and was interested in the description of www.picaboo.com. As most of these sites, you have to download free software to make an album. This is a drawback, especially for most of my students, who aren't very computer savvy, and don't all have high speed internet connections. But this site is awesome!

One of my major complaints about these programs is that you're stuck with their templates. I like more control to put things exactly where I want. But these templates are great! There are well over 50 of them (I couldn't count past that because Lauren kept talking.), plus various background images (or you can use one of your own pictures) and even photo corners. There still isn't as much control as I have using Picture It, but there are a LOT of options. And the books look really nice, at least on line. I've never ordered one, so I can't vouch for the final product.

I just hope I can get it downloaded onto at least one of the computers for my class on Thursday, so I can at least demonstrate it.

EDIT: I just got Shutterfly to work, and it's interface is very close to what Snapfish used to be, and it also has a gazillion layouts, including some that overlap, much like Picaboo. Since that one is more user friendly, that'll be what I demo my class on Thursday. Assuming I can get it to run, of course.

Politics

I watched the first of the three debates between Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos last night (they're running for govenor of Michigan). I didn't know much about DeVos going in, other than he'd "sent jobs to China" (according to ads) and he was in favor of teaching intelligent design in science classrooms in addition to evolution (according to a newspaper article) (that one irks the hell out of me--it's insulting to both science and God).

After watching the debate, I still feel like I don't know a lot about him. I thought his repeated use of the word "disappointing" when confronted with accusations was weak. I think that Granholm's attack on his involvement with Alterra (nursing homes where abuse took place) was nasty--if she had kept it to "he didn't make full disclosure of his tax records," she would have done better. Also, he's rather more conservative than I am, although that seems to be the case for a lot of people.

I thought Granholm gave better answers, and seemed more passionate (also, she actually referred to the constitution! what a concept!). The main thing she has against her is her track record. Michigan is in bad shape. She can't be solely blamed for the high unemployment--the auto industry is getting hit hard, and that's been our big thing for a long time. She also blamed Republicans for a lot of things. You know, if she'd been able to talk more about what she'd accomplished, I think she wouldn't have much to worry about. As it is, I think that Michiganders are so ready for a change that we're willing to take anyone else.