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.