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?

Kitchen Duty

I've got granola baking in the oven--my Dad liked the sugar-free version I made him for Christmas so much that he's already finished it and asked for more!

I've got No-Knead Bread rising on the counter--nothing like fresh bread with soup for dinner!

I also have chicken stock simmering in the crockpot--I briefly roasted a half a dozen chicken backs (cost: $0.92) last night, then threw them in the pot with water, an onion, a couple carrots & a couple stalks of celery. It went all night, something I would never do with a pot on the stove. I tried it this morning, and it still doesn't have as much flavor as I'd like, so I'm just going to let it roll on. I don't know if tonight's soup will be creamy potato or chicken noodle, but every soup is better with home made stock. In fact, Sarah has gotten to be quite a broth snob; she really doesn't care for canned broth.

Since any soup that I make tonight is going to have chicken as a main component, Jeff will have something else. We're having my mom & stepdad over, as well as some friends, so I've decided to make pasties. I'll be rolling on those shortly.

I love having a full kitchen!

Christmas pictures at my Dad's house

Book Reviews

Frindle is a book that I'd heard of, frequently, but not checked out until just recently. I got it originally for Lauren. Bookadventure lists it as reading level 3, but when I got it, I realized that Lauren won't be ready to read it independently for a little while yet. Interestingly, ARBookFinder lists the reading level at 5.4. I decided to read it myself, and really enjoyed it, so much so that it's one I'd like to add to our permanent library. Sarah read it very quickly and also enjoyed it. (She also just finished Holes, which is another one I'd like to have on our shelves.)

I read The Tale of Desperaux to Lauren while Sarah was on her Girl Scout trip; another good book, with great themes and characters, but I'm not quite as keen on having it on our shelves. Would I pass it by if I saw it at a used book sale? No, but I wouldn't squeal quite as loudly as if I found one of the previous two.

For myself, I'm making my way through The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education. This is one of those "rocket fuel" books: I have to pause frequently to digest what I'm reading. It's giving me a LOT to think about, and inspiring me for the coming school year.

I've just put The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains on hold at the library. I'm very interested in how technology is changing our world, and how this will affect the education I'm giving my kids. More thoughts on this in a future post.

Minority Rules

I'm in a minority of parents with school-age children--I homeschool.

I'm in a minority of homeschoolers--I'm not a fundamentalist, I don't take the bible literally, I couldn't care less if someone is gay, and your political and religious choices don't really matter to me.

I'm in a minority of "secular" homeschoolers--I'm a Christian.

I've always prided myself on being independent, but it would be nice to feel like I had more in common with people sometimes. I guess I need to look at the commonalities more and let the differences go.

Next on the Book Horizon

(ok, so I'm double posting, here/FB. sue me.)

We finished Wolves of Willoughby Chase, and the girls did like it. The weren't put off by the melodrama at all, which shouldn't come as any surprise.

Sarah is off with her Girl Scout troop for the next few days (and I totally forgot to have her stash a couple books in her bag--d'oh!). Here at home, we are going to read The Tale of Despereaux, which Sarah has read already but Lauren & I have not.

I haven't started Redwall yet; in fact, I don't even know where it is right now. I did jam through The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle the other day, which is my next suggestion for Sarah. That's also pretty dramatic, but I liked it quite a bit better.

Lauren's current reading is The Littles, which shares a basic premise with The Borrowers, but is shorter and seems easier/younger ((though Amazon considers them both for ages 9 - 12). She says she likes it, but I still had to nudge her out of a MTH book.

Right now, there are so many novels floating around that I don't even have any more on hold at the library. We have a downright glut of books, which is just how I like it. There is a used book sale up in Rochester tomorrow, though . . .

Books Are My Life

(I've been thinking of dropping this blog and blogging on Facebook instead, since I don't really have a lot of readers and I don't update all that often. Still thinking about it.)

I have an issue with library fines. The issue is, there are fines. Lots of them. This irritates Jeff more than he can say. I see it as a fee for using the library, and a necessary evil considering the number of books we go through (at one point a few years ago, we had 123 books out, and several holds waiting to be picked up). He sees it as lack of organization, and unnecessary. Lately I've been doing a better job of keeping the books together, but it's still hard.

I love children's literature, but haven't been reading as much of it lately. I'm also trying to get the girls out of their reading ruts. Sarah is still obsessed with Harry Potter, and Lauren grumbles if there is anything other than Calvin & Hobbes or Magic Tree House to read. I have nothing against any of those books, but I'd like a little more diversity on our shelves.

I recently found this list: Top 100 Children's Novels and got a lot of ideas for things I'd like us to read. Many of the books that made the list are old favorites of mine (The Witch of Blackbird Pond, A Wrinkle in Time, The Phantom Tollbooth), but some I'd never heard of. I reserved a bunch from the library, and am starting to make my way through them.

I just finished The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, and I have to admit, I'm glad I didn't just hand it to Sarah (it's a little above her reading level, but not much). The book is set in 1832, and reads like a kid's Gothic novel. There is some very archaic sentence structure, and a lot of the vocabulary is outdated. The plot didn't do much for me, but I can't say that it's worse than all those Nancy Drews I tore through when I was 11. I was frankly surprised to see the raves about it on Amazon. It's not something that I'm going to happily reread over and over again.

I'm looking for something to read out loud to the kids before bed. I'm not sure this is it, but I'll see what they think of the first chapter. For myself, Redwall is next on my list; I have higher hopes for it.

Balance

In a weird way, my life is generally in balance. I never have too much of a commodity. My two main commodities are Time and Money. When I have plenty of Time, it's a sure sign that Money is in short supply. When I have enough Money, that is generally a result of being short on Time. Occasionally, I am low on both Time and Money, and those are not good days. I can't remember having enough Time and Money on my hands simultaneously.

Right now, I need to spend some Time so I can make some Money!

Quilting Lessons

I'm making a t-shirt quilt for someone at church, and it's been a true learning experience. I'm hoping to make some more, even as a home business. As a first try, it's turning out ok, but I plan for next time to go a lot better.

Things I've learned:

• make a point of cutting everything very accurately
• cut the interfacing a lot bigger than you need; it's easier to trim it after than not have enough
• make sure edges are even before you sew them together
• go ahead and pin, even if you don't think you need to (see previous)
  
• iron seams as you go
• don't bother with iron-on batting--you won't save any time or effort over pinning in traditional batting (from now on, I'm getting Warm & Natural 100% cotton)
  
• buy twice as much thread as you normally would
• tear, don't cut, the selvage edges off

Will post a picture of the finished quilt once it's all done!

I'm at it again

This time, with a bit of a twist. I wanted to see how little I could get away with spending on groceries for the next two weeks. I plan to make heavy use of what's already in the cupboards/fridge/freezer. These items include:

• 2 pounds of beef sirloin tip steak
  
• almost 6 pounds of country ribs
  
• some colored peppers & broccoli
  
• lasagna noodles, spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce, tomato paste, canned tomatoes
• dried beans
• a can of chickpeas
• a pound of cooked ground beef
• a bag and a half of rice (some of it is going to a rice hand warmer I'm making for someone at church)
• 2 boxes of mac & cheese
• can of tomato soup
  

I went to the store today for milk, eggs, bread, soy sauce, cheese, sweet potatoes, lettuce, apples & bananas, among other things. I had $4.70 in can/bottle returns, and got a lot of stuff for $43. I did get pop, which normally I wouldn't do on such a screamingly tight budget. But Jeff is an admitted pop addict, and if there is pop in the house, he's less likely to want to go out to get some, thus coming home with other things as well. It's a weird kind of investment. One thing I forgot to get was peanut butter. We go through a lot of it, and for some reason, I thought we had two jars. Nope, and we're almost out of the one.

Planned meals for the next couple weeks are:

• Fajitas - this will be Monday, since the meat is no where near thawed yet, but the peppers need to be used up quickly.
• Chili - using the ground beef, spicy canned tomatoes, dried beans, cheese, rice. Leftovers will get incorporated into cornbread muffins. Salad on the side.
• Country ribs - these need to be thawed, marinated, and grilled. We'll have them one night as is, with baked sweet potatoes, and use the rest for fried rice, pulled pork, stir fry, lo mein, and anything else I can think of.
• Spaghetti - I'll finely chop some carrots, onions, & celery, then brown it in a big pan. Add tomato paste, let that brown, then a can or two of diced tomatoes. I'll cook up the Italian sausage and add that. Then I'll take the jarred pasta sauce I have and add that, so I should have tons. Salad & garlic bread on the side, and there will be enough sauce for . . .
  
• Lasagna roll ups - cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, an egg, and some Italian seasoning. Cook the noodles über al dente, and roll up the filling. Traditional lasagna is a little hard on portioning, so I'm hoping this will make it easier. Again, salad & garlic bread.
  
• Breakfast for dinner - always a hit! Scrambled eggs, biscuits, and ham leftover from Easter dinner.
  

I need to do a fair bit of advance prep, like cooking up the sausage and soaking the beans.

After beautiful weather this week, we're supposed to get back to a more standard spring--colder and rainy, so I'm looking forward to still being able to make some cool-weather foods before summer hits. Any ideas for what to do with the chickpeas and the rest of the sirloin?

2nd Grocery Bill

I didn't intend to go grocery shopping again so soon, but Randazzo's had colored peppers on sale for 69 cents a pound. That is crazy cheap, and a friend asked me to pick a couple up for her as well, so I ran in. I ended up getting 6 peppers, 2 lemons, a head of broccoli, some fresh ginger, a jar of honey, some Nona bread, and a dozen eggs. $10.55. I'm happy with that, and it brings my total for the month $30.62.

Tonight's dinner is peach pork chops with broccoli and rice, and I'll cook up some egg rolls from the freezer. Sarah requested biscuits & gravy, so I'll do that tomorrow. We still have some $10 Applebee's cards--maybe that will be lunch after church on Sunday, and we'll have a light dinner. Next week, I'm planning on pot roast one day; thinking of French Dip sandwiches as a leftover from that. Also, ham & bean soup. Gonna have to get to that bread at some point.

Lauren's mild fever kept hanging on all week, getting as high as 103 yesterday. Saw the pediatrician this morning, and she's had her first dose of Amoxycillin already. though of course she still doesn't feel great.

1st Bill

We ran to Aldi to pick up a few things yesterday, and even though I did pick up some splurge items, we made it out for $20.07. For that, we got:

• an individual pack of sunflower seeds (eaten by me and Sarah during lunch at CC today),
  
• a gallon of milk,
  
• a box of frozen french toast sticks,
  
• a box of individual bags of chocolate covered pretzel rings--100 calories per box (this is something I am certain I can make on my own, though portion control will be a big factor),
  
• a box of couscous,
  
• a package of three romaine hearts,
• a couple pounds of red grapes,
  
• brown sugar,
  
• two frozen pizzas (having them in the freezer means Jeff is less likely to go out to satisfy late night munchies),
  
• a bag of flour,
  
• a bag of Golden Delicious apples.

I haven't started any bread yet--yesterday got away from me, and we were at CC today. Well, Sarah & I were. Lauren had a 100.6 fever (NOT 106, as two people misheard me; guess I need to enunciate better!), so Jeff stayed home from work with her. She's doing better now, though she says her throat is still sore.

Tonight's goal is to eat leftovers and start some bread, which I can finish tomorrow. Don't have a plan for tomorrow's dinner yet.

No Bread for You!

Last night's soup was pretty well received. Jeff even took some for lunch today without being nudged. We'll see what the kids think about leftovers for lunch.

While making pancakes this morning, I realized that we are almost out of flour. I made a dozen pasties on Saturday (the kids actually ate them this time!), six of which are now in the freezer. That should keep Jeff through the cold weather. But it ate up a lot of my flour, and being out of flour is not a good thing. If I'm going to start making bread regularly, I'll need to get more flour and yeast. I might have to pester someone with a Costco membership one of these days . . .

But for today, a quick trip to Aldi for a few things (also low on milk) should take care of us. Today's agenda holds a lot of schoolwork, a lot of housework, and a few errands. Dinner will be soft tacos.

This morning I made "maple syrup." For a while, I was buying pure maple syrup. The problem with that is twofold. First, the cost compared to the rate we go through it. Between pancakes, waffles, french toast, and granola (used to make the granola, not to eat it once it's done), we were going through a lot of syrup. Second, I can't get it at Aldi or Randazzo's, my two go-to stores. When I go to Meijer, it's to get all the stuff I can't get elsewhere, and it's an expensive trip. Therefore, I go only when I have to.

I could buy the fake stuff, but I'm not a not a fan of all the extra stuff in it. So I make my own fake stuff. Make a simple syrup by bringing a cup of sugar & a cup of water to a boil. Let it boil gently for a few minutes, then turn off the heat. Add a teaspoon of maple extract, stir, and there you go! I even sprang for a restaurant-style syrup dispenser. I was using a plastic squeeze bottle, but the lid wasn't sealing tightly, so it made a mess.

For a minor cost breakdown, you can figure that a 5-pound bag of sugar is about $2. A 1-oz bottle of maple extract was $3.63. That makes my syrup about $.26 per cup. The dispenser did cost me over $6 (which seriously killed me), but that thing had better last forever. I think that's a pretty good deal for a homemade convenience food!

New Focus

I've been thinking & reading more lately about meal planning, cooking, saving $ on feeding the family. How do you eat for a week for $50? I've always liked reading Hillbilly Housewife, and although her $45 Emergency Menu, I haven't done a lot of the recipes there.

I am about to kick off a big soup season, though. Tonight is going to be Minestrone with Multigrain Rolls (Rhodes), and I've got a package of bean soup mix & a ham bone. I also have some beef bones & some barley. I'm going to cook up some dry beans and freeze them, so that making chili will be easy.

And since I got a Dutch Oven for Christmas, I'm going to give No Knead Bread a try, hopefully today/tomorrow.

I'm also going to post my grocery receipts, with an eye to keeping the budget down to $250. We have a very full pantry right now, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Minestrone Soup
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans (I'm using garbanzo beans tonight, because that's what's in the cupboard)
1 box frozen spinach, thawed & excess water squeezed out
1/2 cup Italian sausage, cooked & crumbled
6 cups vegetable broth (I'd use chicken broth if it was just me and the girls eating)
2 cups small dried pasta (I'm using small shells)
parmesan cheese

1. Saute onions & garlic in olive oil in a large pot. Add carrots & celery. Cook for about 5 minutes.
   
2. Add tomatoes, beans, broth, spinach & sausage.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for half an hour.
4. Add pasta; cook another 10 - 15 minutes.
   
5. Serve with parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top (if you have a leftover parm cheese rind, throw it in the pot with the broth)
   

Tomatoes and Beans and Peppers, Oh My!

I got not one but TWO seed catalogs in the mail yesterday. I looked through them while it was snowing. I love a good bit of incongruity!

Last year, I had such big dreams for the garden. I

• dog eared pages in my catalogs (in addition to the must haves of my title, I'd love to do sweet peas, pumpkins, lettuces, gourds, potatoes, cucumbers for pickling, and don't even get me started on the flowers!),
  
• considered starting seeds indoors,
  
• wondered how I could expand the size of the plot without breaking my back,
  
• worried about keeping out the critters (not so many bunnies last year, but there's a wood chuck living next door)
  
• and even dreamed of an apple tree (forgetting that you generally need to plant two close together so that they pollinate).

And yet, I planted nothing. (insert sad frowny face here) This year, I really would like to expand the size of the garden, if only to get it away from the back fence, because there is a lot of vegetation that encroaches on that area.

I've read a lot about lasagna gardening, but I should have started it three months ago. I think it'll still work if I start it once the snow is gone, though.

I do miss having a garden, so I hope I stay motivated this year.

Fresh Start

OK, the start of a new week. Still lots to do, but I feel so much more energized and ready to get started!

The Serger came unthreaded again (of course), and it's the one thread that consistently gives me trouble. I'm going to call the store today and schedule a private lesson on how to use it. It's pricey, but if it means I'll be able to use the machine more effectively, it'll be a totally worthwhile use of my birthday $.

So sewing & baking are at the top of the list this week. Jeff comes home tomorrow night, and he'll be home Wednesday & Thursday as well. Sarah has Spelling Camp tomorrow, and her Girl Scout Party on Wednesday. Lauren has her party on Thursday, and my Dad & Sharon are coming to take them to see the lights Thursday night.

Here's looking forward to a fun, busy, productive week!

Epiphany

One of the things that has been stressing me is this dance for Lauren on Sunday. I was really lost. I knew it didn't have to be Julliard-quality, but I really didn't know what to do at all.

Then I realized--all she needs to do is get out in front of the rest of the choir, smile, and have fun with it. Yeah. Lauren can pretty much do that in her sleep. I realized that what I really needed to do was get out of her way and let her go for it.

So we watched a couple authentic hula instruction videos on YouTube, and also watched the only YouTube file of Christmas on the Beach in Waikiki, which includes a bunch of guys in grass skirts being goofy. She loved it, and has come up with something fairly passable on her own already. We'll go over it a couple more times, but this is another thing that I do not need to have total control over. Yay!

a little overwhelmed

still don't know what to do with Lauren for her solo Hawaiian dance

my mom is recovering well from her surgery (new hip), but hearing her sound so subdued and tired (on the phone) is really odd.

my dad is sick with some kind of bug, and so morose that he's thought about starting smoking again, and is now ready for my stepmom to pierce his ear.

haven't done any sewing

haven't finished photo albums, still can't get good pictures

just not motivated to do much of anything

On my mind

• still need to make three kimonos--realized that I'm stalling because I don't have an official pattern.
• also need to make three more tiered skirts. Luckily, these are total no-brainers. Will need more elastic for the waists.
  
• need to figure out a dance for Lauren to do to "Christmas on the Beach at Waikiki" for church. Know it doesn't have to be authentic at all, but would still like it to look good. Fairly stumped on this, though I've been looking at a lot of YouTube.
• I deleted over 4000 old emails today.
• love this idea. If it's not too much of a pain, I'll end up making LOTS of them.
  
• Jeff's grandma died yesterday. Funeral is Friday.
  
• need to get Christmas pictures of girls ASAP, but no one is in a very cheerful mood today. Also, my flash won't work. And the pictures that I did get won't download (that happens periodically, but I don't know why.)
• so glad the girls found Christmas dresses they love, and that I am not sewing those.
  

Simplify

I've wanted to do/make an Advent calendar for a few years now. Some specific Christmas activity every day just sounded really fun. This year, I even went so far as to come up with 24 activities. The first one? "Start listening to Christmas music!" because it is seriously killing them that their mom is such a Scrooge and won't listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I also had things like bell ringing for the Salvation Army, making Christmas ornaments, watching Charlie Brown and the Grinch, and baking Christmas cookies.

My first idea was to make 24 little fabric stockings. Then, I could "take a day off" and just put some candy in that stocking. Then I realized that it would be easier to just write 24 slips of paper, roll them up, and attach them with ribbon to a streamer. Of course, that sends the candy out the window.

I was telling Jeff the other night that I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it after all. I like the idea, but wasn't sure I was up to the commitment of "this day, you must do this."

At church this morning, both girls got regular paper Advent calendars--no activities, no candy. No problem! I'm glad to be off the hook on this. I have plenty of other stuff going on.

Obstacle Removed

Our Christmas program at church this year is "Christmas Around the World." We already have most of the costumes we need, but we need kimonos for 4 little girls, including Lauren. That's convenient--Lauren already has a kimono from Halloween 2008.

But that still leaves us needing three. A kimono takes a ridiculous amount of fabric--over three 1/2 yards, even for someone as small as Lauren. Blame those crazy sleeves. Brocade fabric is at least $8/yard, even on a half off sale. Um. Yeah, no. I can't expect the church to shell out $75 for three little robes.

I decided to look around for a cotton fabric, more of a "summer" kimono instead of such a formal one. Still, the only fabric I could find was $6 - $8/yard. And if I was going to use cotton, I'd have to make four. It wouldn't be right for Lauren to be in a very luxurious garment, and all the other girls in something noticeably cheaper. This isn't "The Princess and the Peasants."

So I was stumped. It was seriously giving me a fair bit of stress, to figure out what to do. This morning, I went into the costume cupboard and found a huge length of really pretty floral fabric. It would definitely pass for a summer kimono and there was enough to make two for the smallest girls, if I was really careful on the cutting.

I was talking to the Choir director about what she wanted, and the grandfather of one of the little girls overheard us. He said, "If I just give you $30 for fabric, can she keep the kimono when it's all done?" My mouth fell open. "Um. Sure!" I mean, really, why not? It's not like a size 5 kimono is something we're going to need on a regular basis anyway. I talked to another girl's parents, and they're willing to kick in. too. The last girl wasn't there today, but I'll call her parents to find out what color she likes and her size.

So now I only need to make three (if they're all brocade, Lauren can wear hers, of course), and I can get the fabric that will really make it work. Now I need to figure out how much I need to get of each color.

And I need to rethread my Serger. Again.

"Good" news

I'm going to have plenty of time to sew and get ready for Christmas. The classes that were supposed to start this week have been postponed until January. They can't get enough people to commit to a class that runs during the holidays. I get it. But it's very disappointing, to say the least.

How many times have I said that I need a job with more stability & regularity? Again, this comes back to bite me in the butt. A little discouraged today.

Truffles

Dark chocolate truffles.

Dark chocolate truffles with bacon.

Insane, right? But the recipient loved them, even though I didn't have a chance to get them into traditional truffle form, and just gave her a bowl of the mixture. I'm not sure if they're quite mainstream enough for the gift bags this year, but we'll see.

Bonus Time

Remember how I said that Jeff would get the week of Thanksgiving off work, but not between Christmas & New Year's? Well, not only was I wrong about that, he's also getting next week of as well. Working from home on Monday, but that is still at home! So before the end of this calendar year, he has three weeks at home, yay!

Time, time, time

We're busy right now: Classical Conversations goes for the rest of this month before winter break. Happy thoughts that we get enough extra students in January to start a new class, which I can then teach (and get paid for, woo-hoo!)

Although I didn't work last week or this week, classes should resume the week after that and go right up until the week before Christmas. Hopefully, I'll get enough students signed up for the MS Word class, too.

Both girls have dance and Scouts. Although Lauren's Brownie troop only has two more meetings before Christmas, I'm the co-leader for her troop, and we're not only doing her investiture ceremony, we're also having a Tea Party, and a Hat & Glove drive (to donate to Oakland Co. foster care). Sarah's working on her own stuff for scouts, but we're still in Candy & Nut sales, and as soon as that is done, cookie sales are upon us!

On the plus side, Jeff is taking off all of Thanksgiving week (gone are the days when he had paid vacation for the week between Christmas & New Year's, but it was nice while it lasted), so I know the house will be spotless when we have everyone over.

One good time management tool that we're using right now is weekly checklists for the kids. For the most part, they detail school work (which pages to do in their math books, diagramming sentences for Sarah, Tin Whistle practice, etc.) but they also have things like Dance/Stretch. Sarah's dance class this year is considerably more challenging, and the extra practice even this early has been helping. By letting them see what all they have to do, and setting daily goals (we use a highlighter to select the boxes they intend to check off each day), we're getting better about getting stuff done.

Been a While

Blame Facebook.

Now that Halloween is over, my brain has room for other holiday stuff. For example, we're hosting our first ever Thanksgiving dinner this year. Which means I'm cooking my first ever turkey this year. Plus a ham for Jeff, of course. I'd like to make a tablecloth & napkins.

I'm starting to think about Christmas as well, of course. Pajamas, as always, are on the list. I think I might do a small quilt for each girl, also. This tutorial looks like a good one. Trying to figure out what else to buy/make is really difficult right now.

And I'm dismayed to realize that I've done nothing for this year's photo album. I don't even have the pages planned out, which I usually start doing in the beginning of October. I've been taking a lot fewer pictures this year, but don't know why. I'm still committed to the album, but it's not as high on the list this year.

Last major project I'm considering right now is an Advent Calendar. I've thought about it so many times in the past, and have seen many different options. I'm thinking I'd like to make 24 little stocking to string along the fireplace, with an activity or treat in each one. We'll see if that actually happens this year, in that form or another.

Taste of Summer

For lunch today, I made corn salad: cut some (boiled) corn off the cob, cut up some tomatoes, chopped some green onions, juiced half a lime, cut up an avocado, added some olive oil, salt & pepper. The topper--bacon, baby!

The kids liked it, but not as well as last time I made it. I should have put the avocado on the side so Sarah could have avoided it altogether, and the thinly sliced red onions I used last time were probably a better choice than the scallions. Still, it's a one of my favorite summer lunches.

Convenience Foods

Found another like-minded post: Convenience Foods

I've thought about many of these things, like the "instant" oatmeal, but it's the crumble topping for fruit pies that I never thought to make ahead, but now will definitely keep in the refrigerator. Dutch Apple Pie is Jeff's drop dead favorite, and this will be a quick fix. Not sure if I want to bother with freezing my own pie crust.

Gauntlet, Picked Up

One of my cousins is getting married next month, and my mom & stepdad are coming up for a visit. In fact, my stepdad is officiating the ceremony, which will be at Greenfield Village, where Jeff & I got married lo these many years ago.

The 'rents will be here for at least two weeks, maybe as many as three. They'll split their time between several family members. My mom has decided that they want an RV, so they can go wherever they want without having to unpack every other day.

In order for them to stay with us, they need room. Sarah's bunked with Lauren in the past, but there just isn't enough space in her room.

The only place with enough room is the basement. The basement, well . . . the basement is same old, same old. Full of toys, winter clothes, blankets, dress up clothes, desks, Christmas stuff, tools, a toy kitchen, golf clubs, books, etc.

It is amazing how motivated we all are, though. The girls have spent much more time than I have down there, and they really are getting a lot done, even throwing things away! There is still soooooo much to do: get the Fisher Price Little People all together, find a way to keep the dress up stuff organized (really want a rack of some sort, so we can hang most of it) Get all the kitchen stuff together, put all the books in one place, go through the clothes and sort out what needs to be kept or given away, and throw out the twelve metric tons of crap.

It's a big job, but the motivation is there, and the deadline helps, too. Will report progress back another day.

Thinking Ahead

Life is about to hit the fan after Labor Day. All our activities start back up again: dance, Scouts, Sunday School, and Classical Conversations--so excited about that!

Work will (hopefully) also start soon--making a phone call tomorrow to schedule classes. I'm also going to start an Etsy store to try to get rid of some of my sewing projects. More on that later.

So I'm faced with impending insanity, taking the form of very little time. One of the results of very little time is that we eat like crap. We get take out far too often.

I have a plan. The plan itself is very simple: fill the freezer with things that can be pulled out and heated up quickly and easily. A solid block of a pound of frozen hamburger does not fit this plan.

Things that do fit the plan:

• taco meat
• sloppy joe meat
• seasoned cooked ground beef (for chili)
  
• pasties
• meatballs (good for spaghetti sauce, bbq sauce, sweet & sour, or brown gravy)
• Salisbury steaks
  
• pizza roll ups
• leftover ham (spiral sliced hams don't go on sale for a while, but when they do, we get a lot of leftovers out of one)
• uncooked biscuits (haven't tried this yet, but looking forward to the experiment)
• dinner rolls
• chicken fingers (every time I've made chicken fingers in the past, the kids didn't really care for them, but I'm planning to give it another go)
  
• cooked rice (just saw this idea, looking forward to trying it)
• mashed potatoes

If I can get a full freezer, I really think that life will be a lot easier on all fronts!

Just Say No

I had what I thought was a really great idea for a fundraiser for our church: a craft show. Not only could we raise money by selling table space and charging a small admission fee, our youth group could sell dogs & bratwurst (we even have a lady who can make home made sauerkraut, always a crowd pleaser), as well as baked goods.

The problem is, I can't do it. I really wanted to take the lead on this, make it happen, make it successful. I'd even already mentioned it to a few people. Everyone was very enthusiastic, and one even offered to help me, although she didn't have time to take the lead on it herself.

But between homeschooling, Scouts, Sunday School, sewing club, and (hopefully!) working, I have no time. At all. I'm already maxed out. So I need to let go of this. Maybe find someone else to champion it. Maybe just let it go. It's already gotten rather late in the season to start something like this in time for this fall.

I'm sad, knowing that it likely won't happen now. But I'm also happy and relieved to know that I won't do a crap job with it because I just don't have time.

I needed that

Yesterday really helped. We didn't stay home the entire day. We did run down to a neighbor's house to get the scoop on taking care of their cat while they're gone, and out for some cold meds for Sarah. But I do feel a little less stressed about all the running around we do.

I did get her Harry Potter scarf (part of her Halloween costume) done. Probably not the absolute best use of my time--Halloween isn't for two months, and I do have other projects to work on--but it's nice to have it taken care of.

I also went to work in Lauren's room. I usually make her do it, but I really wanted to get in there and go to town. There is still some stuff on the dresser and on the bed to go through (today), but the floor is cleaned off.

Today is the dentist and then the beach, yay!

Wish Fullfilled

I get my day at home today. Sarah has a cold, so she is also staying home, but my Dad is coming to get Lauren for a sleepover. So once she's gone, I am OFF the computer. Cleaning up, sewing, etc. is the order of the day. My goal is that when Jeff gets home tonight (late--he's going to see G.I.Joe with some of the guys) and asks me how my day went, I can use my favorite word: productive.

Being a Hermit

I am a very lucky person. I have lots of opportunities to do lots of fun things. My kids are lucky. They have lots of fun things to do, places to go, and people to see.

LOTS of things. Things like park, the other park, swimming, the boat, golf, VBS, bridal showers, sleepovers, Girl Scouts, birthday parties, church, the beach. Throw in the mechanic, the hair salon, and the dentist for good measure.

I have to admit, I'm a little tired of the social life. Actually, what I'm really tired of is spending so much time in the car. I'd really like to have a day to just stay home and do nothing. Well, not nothing. Maybe sew. Maybe clean the basement. Maybe just hang out.

Maybe not.

Cop Out

I bought fabric to make shorts for the girls weeks ago. I wanted them to have something to wear to golf with Grammy & Grandpa. Well, today was the last day of golf, and they finally had their new shorts.

My original plan was to make a pattern from scratch, using http://patternsthatfityou.com/frshortscl.htm as a guide. I think it would have worked, but in the end, I had neither the time nor the inclination. JoAnn's didn't have any patterns on sale, so I went for See and Sew 4161. Of course, I still had to alter it, making it smaller in the waist and longer in the legs. I'd still like to make a shorts pattern from scratch--maybe next summer.

Since the fabric is plaid (come on, they're for golf--what else would I use except plaid seersucker?) I tried to match up the pattern, at least the horizontal stripes. Didn't come out perfectly, but it was ok.

One of the issues I have with making pants & shorts is that it can be hard to know which is the front and which is the back. With little kids, it isn't always that much of an issue, but since I knew I had some tags, I decided to put them in. Sarah told me she really likes hers, but that it's itchy, so I might have to sew it flat or take it out or something.

Oooo, for the future I'm going to get fabric tape for my Dymo label maker! That would be awesome!

Ready to Roll

I finally got the two things I needed to accomplish two projects.

1. I found the Wonder Under left over from an applique project I was working on last summer. Now I can make the sandwich bags I've been wanting to do for a while. Snack Bag Tutorial I'm sick of wrapping sandwiches in plastic.
2. I got the green light to post flyers/promote the Resume Writing Workshop. This must be my big project for the rest of this week. If I don't get students for this, I have to find another way to bring in some income. I'm nervous. Excited, but really nervous.
   

Progress

I got the kitchen sparkling.

I made the water bottle tote. Found the cutest button, so now it's adjustable. I think this is a big design improvement, and is going to be standard on any I make from now on.

Made a bunch of phone calls, but still need to make more today.

Want to sew more today: coasters, and I'd like to cover the notebook I'm keeping in my purse with fabric.

And of course there's the strawberry jam.

I don't know what time the kids will get home (or leave again), but I've got plenty to do!

Day of Freedom

In a couple hours, my Dad is coming to get the girls for a sleepover. Jeff is going to see Transformers with some buddies tonight. I have the day to myself. So what will I do with myself? Oh, the possibilities, they are endless.

But the goals, while few, are large:

Sewing. I'm making another water bottle holder, this time for a toddler. Shouldn't take too long, but I'm making a major modification to the design, which will hopefully make the strap adjustable but still sturdy. We'll see how it goes. If it goes well, I'll modify another one that I already made. Warning: this involves buttonholes, which are seriously iffy for me, even with my automatic buttonhole foot. I also want to make some more fabric coasters. I love the one I made already, but we need at least one more.

Clean the kitchen. DEEP CLEAN. 'nuff said.

Jam. We got a huge bucket of strawberries on Monday. I bought more jars, more lids, more pectin. Sadly, I don't think we'll get many cherries off Kelsey's tree, but if the weather is good next week, might go to the U-pick place. I need my sour cherry jam!!!

So. Three goals. Not much, right? Hah. We'll see how it goes . . .

Addendum: I forgot that I also have several phone calls to make, about classes to teach, having the faucet on the back of the house replaced, our homeowner's taxes, and masonry repair work and food service laws for church.

New Favorite Blog

Don't get me wrong. The Pioneer Woman still rocks it out for cooking, and homeschool stuff, photography, and great stories.

But I recently discovered 500 Pieces of Prudent Advice for My Baby Daughter, and I love it. It's like that "Wear Sunscreen" commencement speech (which was not delivered by Kurt Vonnegut). Anyway, go check it out. There is also some art interspersed, one of which is mildly not safe for work.

A Hard Decision

We have a friend over for a SUPERSLEEPOVER (her dad dropped her off yesterday morning and is picking her up tomorrow night). Now, three girls can usually find plenty of stuff to do on nice summer days. As insurance, I loaded up the schedule a little bit. Yesterday, we went to a Detroit Shock (WNBA) game. The Shock lost, but we still had a good time.

We're supposed to go on my Dad's boat with him today. We thought about going yesterday, but today's weather was supposed to be better. Guess what? It's going to rain, probably all day. Not good boat weather at all.

We could reschedule for tomorrow (which would have the added bonus of giving me today at home to get some cooking and sewing done), but tomorrow is Park Day, where we meet up with bunches of (mostly homeschooling) friends.

So, boat or park? I'm going to leave it up to them, whenever they wake up (we got home laaaaaate last night).

Update: They chose the boat!

Buy American?

Yesterday, I got an email forward from a friend called "Read Labels, Buy USA." It was about companies such as Hershey's cutting American jobs while opening a plant in Mexico, and how the original author switched from Colgate to Crest for the same reason. The final exhortation was to read labels to see where a product is made, and to make a point of buying American.

So I did an experiment: I picked up various products around my house to see where they were made (I'm planning to recreated this as a math/graphing lesson, too). Here are the results of this very unscientific study.

China

• The cheap MdDonald’s toys—well, duh.
• My camera
• The can of compressed air that we use to get dust out of the computer
• Plastic dishes
• Land’s End fabric kid’s hat
• Scooby-Doo beach towel
• A pack of math flash cards

USA

• My computer paper
• Avon hand lotion
• An old German textbook
• SoftSoap liquid hand soap
• Thank you cards
• Geography workbook
• Raisins (Meijer brand)
• Canned chickpeas (Delallo)
• Bigelow tea bags
• Pasta (Meijer brand)
• Crayola crayons

Brazil: Fish beach towel
Canada: non stick cooking spray
Malaysia: china plates
Indonesia: TV remote control
Bulgaria: Land’s End pajama top

There were also many items that said "Distributed from" instead of "Made in." Some things I couldn't find even that much.

The thing is, how do you determine if you really are "buying American?" Take cars. American automakers have plants in other countries, and foreign companies have plants here, as well as dealerships, etc. So there are American jobs there.

When we say, "Buy American," what does that really mean?

Classical Education

Classical Education, as defined by Susan Wise Bauer:

Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind. The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, systematically laying the foundations for advanced study. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments. In the high school years, they learn to express themselves. This classical pattern is called the trivium.

Susan Wise Bauer's book, The Well Trained Mind, is one of the best homeschooling books I've read, but it's a lot to implement on your own. The concept is very systematic, and well organized.

Classical Conversations is a program based on the trivium. We went to a meeting last night for a group that wants to start a local chapter. It was a fabulous, informative meeting, and it sounds like a great program, but I do have some reservations.

High on that list is cost. For both girls it could easily run over $1,000 for the year. That doesn't include Math, either. I could offset some of that cost by working as a tutor for the program, though I don't know how much. Also, I'd certainly prefer to be able to spend all my time with them in their classes so I can see more closely what the lessons are for that week when we work on them at home. It would be more work/stress for me, obviously, but that's what having a job and making money is, at least to some extent. Would I enjoy it? Probably, but it would also be nice to be able to take that time "off." I'm strongly considering doing no co-op of any kind next year.

Another reservation is the nature of classical education itself. I know, I really like that whole "building a solid foundation" model. But the parrot stage, with its rote memorization, bugs me. Memorizing terms that have no meaning (yet) irks me. I know that the classical answer to this is that the current education model is to expect kids to learn stuff before they're ready and to make judgments about stuff the don't fully understand. I also know that this style of learning flies in the face of the Whole Language reading method I strongly prefer. (I do not dispute the importance of Phonics--I think Phonics is important and useful, but without Whole Language, it lacks meaning.)

Whenever you use a "canned" curriculum, you relinquish some freedom for that convenience. In the past, I've loved developing my own curriculum. It's been one of my favorite things, in fact. Sadly, this past year I've done precious little of that and less follow up. A program like this has some accountability built in, which can be really helpful.

The last reservation is the strong literal Christian aspect. We're Christians, go to church pretty much every week. However, I'm not so interested in defending Creationism, which I know is a part of this. But it's also likely to be a part of any co-op we join.

So--I have a lot of reservations. So why am I even considering this group? Because it would give me quite a bit of structure and framework, which I like. I do see the value in the way it is set up. It does give me flexibility within that framework.

There is a lot to consider with this. And I'm considering it.

Happy Easter!

Easter outfits, completed just this morning. In fact, I didn't get the shirt done for Lauren, but did find a tank top in her closet that is the same color as the fabric she chose for the shirt, so it worked out fine.

I'd also like to make purses and fabric flowers. I have a fair bit of scraps left, so I have a lot of options!

Why my job is awesome

Two days a week, I teach Windows Vista to senior citizens. Most times, it's pretty fun. I'd love to be able to develop a mouse that doesn't move around quite so easily; many of my students have a lot of difficulty keeping the mouse in one place while they click.

That's not the awesome part (duh). Today, as I was packing things up after class, a man walked past the door and said, "How are you doing, young lady?" I gave him a big smile and told him I was doing great, thanks. Now, really--how often am I going to be referred to as "young lady" other than that?

Love it.

Blame Facebook

I got sucked into Facebook for a while, but it's changed recently, and it's more of a pain to use, so I'm not as interested. Fickle, that's me.

I did do a little more sewing lately. I have fabric for Easter outfits, but I spent a few days last week making a few outfits for one of Lauren's dolls as a birthday present.
I made:

• a tiered skirt in yellow, orange & red with a red tank top--very festive!
• a flowery tank dress with lace at the hem & neckline and a yellow bandanna/scarf
• a pair of jeans (complete with a hole for the poodle's tail) & purple top with a narrow ribbon around the neckline

I have a pattern for doll clothes for a 14" doll, but this pink poodle is from Build a Bear, and she's about the size of a newborn. The first skirt & pants I made were a little bigger than the pattern, but the pants still reminded me of the jeans I wore in high school, where I had to lay down on my bed in order to get them zipped up! I enlarged the pattern further still, which worked out pretty well, and I gave those first attempts to a friend, hoping they might fit one of her daughters' dolls.

There are a lot more things I'd like to make, but who knows when I'll get the chance!

Best. Seats. Ever.

Jeff & I got Red Wings tickets for Christmas from my parents. I've only been to a couple Wings games before, and they're generally nosebleed seats, because that's what we can afford. These seats though, were right on the ice. At first, we thought they were both second row, then realized that they were first and second rows, one right behind the other. For the first period, Jeff sat in the front--I wanted him to have the better view. But before the period was over, my knees were really bothering me and I realized I needed to be able to stretch. That's the beauty of front row, though--I did get that room!

Sadly, the Wings lost in OT--Osgood made some good saves, but let in goals within the first minute of each period, and the defense in general was lacking--but we still had a really good time.

Of course, the highlight for me was being close enough to get pictures like this:


and this:

Results

I thought I'd finally post the results of what I've been doing lately. The dress rehearsal for Joseph was Sunday, and I did get my three costumes in (luckily, all the other costumes didn't have to be made, just put together from stuff we already have), although there are some tweaks I'd like to make before the next dress rehearsal Wednesday night. In several of the pictures, cast members have taped their microphones to their faces, which is the white stuff you see. I wish I could have gotten pictures without that, but maybe I can get better ones during the show itself.

This is Kelsey as the villainous Mrs. Potiphar (that's someone else's arm behind her, by the way). The most frustrating part about this was that my flash was too slow to get all her great facial expressions! Poor Joseph just didn't stand a chance.

I'm happy with the dress itself: It's panné velvet, with a basic scoop/square neck, empire waist, six-gored skirt. I used gold lamé bias tape around the neck (which was wonderful finishing, so I didn't have to worry about the facing) and around the sleeve on the upper arm. It doesn't show, but I also put it around the cuff. I didn't even bother to hem it--knits don't fray and I didn't have time, so I just cut it as evenly as possible.

This is Jeff as Pharaoh/Elvis. He has the most awesome dance moves--not that I'm biased at all . . . This is the costume that gave me the most difficulty in figuring out. I was seriously stumped for the longest time as to what to make.

I briefly considered making a full out jumpsuit, but it would have taken at least six or seven yards of fabric, and I just didn't have time. Also, he's wearing black pants anyway for the chorus and as Judah, a brother, so it wasn't even necessary. I finally remembered an Evel Kenievel costume my sister in law made for Jeff's brother one Halloween. She started with a white dress shirt and went from there with decorating it. At first I thought I might use a shirt as a pattern to make something totally from scratch, but then I came back to my senses. I got a nice, heavy shirt from Jeff's Dad. Someone had donated a few yards of a wavy gold tissue lamé, and I used that to cover the cuffs, collar, and front & bottom edges. I also made a short cape. Once I was done, I thought it might be more Liberace than Elvis, but I do think it works!

This is the one I want to fiddle with, though. The front doesn't lay flat the way I'd like. I'd originally wanted the shirt to close in front, with maybe an Egyptian style flap in front, but I ran out of time, and also couldn't figure out how to get it to fasten. I didn't want to sew it shut, because then he'd have to put it on & take it off over his head--awkward and slow. Velcro seems to be the obvious choice, but I've never liked it. In order for it to be really stable, I have to sew it down with many seams, and I don't want them to show. Also, I was afraid that the force might damage the lamé. Hooks on the front edges are a possibility, as are snaps if I want to overlap a little. I'm not sure that if it's closed, he'll be able to do all his moves in it, though. I also got a suggestion to put some extra white fabric between the gold on front and fasten it with tape. That's also in the running, because I could attach it to the white shirt fabric instead of the lamé. Whatever I choose, it has to be today or tomorrow, so we can see how it works tomorrow night.

This is Corey as Joseph. Although this coat took the longest to make (on Mom's recommendation, I made a muslin, which really was a huge help), it ended up not being all that difficult. Now, there were problems and there are things that I would do differently if I were to make another one.

Namely, I would use the gold lamé to underline the coat, not line it. In other words, I would cut out an identical piece of lamé for each part of the coat--fronts, back, sleeves--and sew the lining right to it, then sew the pieces together. Instead, I made essentially two coats and attached them to each other. The point was to make nice finished seams on the inside. The problem was that I didn't measure well enough and cut the lining too narrow. I had a miserable time fixing it. I ended up edging everything with more gold lamé bias tape (which Eagle Eyes Sarah saw--I didn't even know such a thing existed) anyway, so it all turned out ok.

I am happy with the basic design of the coat--I wanted it narrow at the top and flowy at the bottom, so I used 3.5" x 45" rectangles of the patterned fabric (a wild Hawaiian floral that was a bitch to cut and had to be interfaced), For the solid pieces in between, I made a trumpet shaped piece that was 1.5" at the top and 13" at the bottom, with the flare starting 18" down. My rotary cutter was a true blessing for this project. Also, making it only 45" long meant that I could use narrow pieces of fabric and cut selvage to selvage as the length. Each solid color only needed 3/8th of a yard of fabric. I only had a to buy a few pieces, since quite a bit was donated. Even the smaller donated pieces ended up working for the sleeves.

Originally, I was going to make top and bottom separately, then attach them. After much talking, my mom convinced me that one solid line would not only look better, it would be easier in the long run. As usual, she was totally right. Trying to match all those seams would have driven me to madness. She also talked me out of set in sleeves, instead just running one seam under the arm and down the side. I can't remember how many hours I spent talking to her on the phone about all the sewing I've done over the past month, but it's been a LOT. It's absolutely true that I never would have made it without her help. Thanks, Mom!