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From the kitchen...I am planning our weeks menu:
In the yard...we transplanted and divided a batch of hosta's. We had a new septic tank put in 2 years ago with 3 big concreate lids in the middle of our yard. I'm trying to camoflauge them.
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Posted in Menus, Recipes, etc...
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This week was small again, but like I said last week, it will pick up as time goes by.
I'm really hoping that I can get at least a full dozen eggs each week, hopefully next week we will start getting more. I did make a Rhubarb Pie and Asparagus with Ham Quiche. Everyone liked the pie the best, it was a new recipe from the paper. The quiche was o.k., but probably won't make it again. I need to make some soup out of the asparagus this week and will probably freeze the rhubarb for another pie later next month for a potluck. Don't know if I'll make the same pie because I found a recipe for a blueberry/rhubarb that I would like to try. |
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From the kitchen...I am making granola and bread. I also made an Asparagus and Ham Quiche, crustless. |
Posted in Menus, Recipes, etc...
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I just picked up my first week of fresh veggies. I signed up and prepaid for a 1/2 order that last 20 weeks. It averages out to $17.50 per week. I'm planning on keeping track of how much we get and what I would have paid for it in the store. I know this isn't completely fair since it is organic, but it will give me an idea of whether it is worth it or not. I'm pretty sure it will be worth it. So this is what we got and how much it would be at the store. Sometimes I may have to guesstimate.
Grand total of: $17.92 Now this is just the beginning of the season. The chickens were not laying good this week because they moved them into another coop, so we should get at least a dozen per week. She also told me that come July, instead of taking one partially filled bag, we will probably have two filled bags. They also had in our bag a sheet of paper with two recipes. I will probably try the one, "Asperagus and leek soup"", I hope they always have recipes for us to try out. The jam was awesome, I'm hoping she will give me the recipe for this. I'm going to be getting a big box of blueberries within the next month and would love to make this jam. |
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Posted in Menus, Recipes, etc...
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My dd is making a salad. She has dandelion leaves, violet petals, and sliced carrots. It is rather pretty. Doesn't taste to bad either. |
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A few weeks ago a young lady passes away, she was 16 and died of cancer. I didn't know her personally, but her parents are part of a homeschool yahoo group I'm on. Her mom posted about the services for her. At her services they read her 2009 New Year Resolution. In 2009 I want to... |
Posted in Homeschool
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yep, thats right, he's coming here. My older children did one of his seminars about 8 years ago and really enjoyed it. Now my youngest, who just happens to be 8 is going to one. I remember last time there must have been well over 100 children in a huge room, he was able to keep everyone's attention. We're using one of his book, "I Can Do All Things". We really like it, not doing it as fast as we should, but we are doing it. If you ever get a chance to do one of his seminars, I would highly recommend going. I'll let you know how this one went.... |
Posted in Homeschool
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Our homeschool group is trying to put together a Spring Formal for the 9th-12th grades. So far they have decided to rent a hall and have it catered. Because there are those who don't believe in dancing, there won't be any, so now they are looking for ideas of what they can do. Does anyone have any ideas?? There will probably only be about 20 kids. |
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Just thought I would check in. Were doing fine, just busy with life, work, co-op, science fair, school, etc.... I did want to share two recipes with you all. Cracked Wheat Sourdough Bread -this one I've been using for the last few months. It also has flax seed and sunflower seeds. Zuppa Toscana Knock-Off just made this one over the weekend, even my 8 yo liked it. |
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Well, after just shy of one year, my husband now has a job. It is seasonal, could turn into permament. He went to apply two Saturdays ago. There were 300 applicants, they were planning on hiring 80 over the next two months. He got a call the next Thursday telling him to come in the next day for orientation. He was one of 14 that were hired from that day. The others talked about their interview they had, he didn't have one. I'm guessing its because he had a resume and was well dress. Hubby said not many did that. He worked 6 days his first week. It is a $10/hour paycut from what he originally had, but we don't have to move and with what I make we will be fine. We just have to stick to our eating at home and getting movies from the library. We use to spend a lot on recreation, but then again, we had the money to do that. We figure we can be caught up by 6 months and start putting away for our emergency fund again. He will still be looking for something else, but now there is no preasure for at least 3 months. We have been so blessed, God has taken good care of us. The other great thing about his working is his hours. He goes to work about 1:00pm, gets home by 11pm. I get up at 2am and am home by 9am. That gives us from 9am to 1pm to be a family. If dd went to public school, she would never see her daddy. But it works for us. |
Posted in Homeschool
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Thought I would try and get my dissection labs posted. We are starting another session in our co-op, so it's a good time to get this done. Crayfish: www.smithlifescience.com/Crayfishdissection.htm This is the site I used. To be honest with you, I didn't like the worksheets I used. I probably didn't like them when I taught the class last during the fall session and forgot to make note of it. I think in the future I will just have a drawing of the crayfish that we can lable on one worksheet, and then on another worksheet describe the function of each of the parts we labled. Somehow make it so they are filling in some of the answer while going through each part. Then we can rip into the crayfish. Also, this time I had student who were in middle school, in the fall session they were all highschoolers. There is a difference. I had to move at slower pace. However the middle schoolers do like to take things apart doing "free time" before cleaning up. Other sites: www.middleschoolscience.com/crayfish.htm www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/crayfishexternal.html www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/crayfishinternal.html these last two sites would be better to use also. I used this format for another dissection lab, it went rather well. Realize that when dissecting, since these are not fresh specimens, it may be difficult finding things in them. But don't be discouraged, it's the experience that matters. Other Dissection Labs: |
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However at my new job, that is one thing I have to do. You know when you go to hotels that have a pool area with floor to ceiling window surrounding them, I get to do those almost everyday. Of course, then there are the banquet room windows, those are worse, the sun shines through them and shows every streek. Oh, I also get to clean 27 toilets, fun!! Other than windows, I do like my job. I get to work by myself except on Mondays. For a stay at home mom for the last 12 years who has been homeschooling, and whose husband has been umemployed, that can be a big PLUS. Thinking without any interruptions, wow, what a concept. However as great as it is to have some alone time, I wouldn't give up what I have at home forever. I still want to be a stay at home mom homeschooling my dd. Sleep has been an issue. On the nights that I have to get up early, I'm only getting 5-6 hours. However, on the nights I don't have to get up, I go to bed by 8pm and sleep till I wake up. So far, about 10 hours. So I do get to catch up on those nights. I seem to be making it. I have noticed just how old I have gotten. Man does my body ache......but in time I should be able to get over that too.... |
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Next problem: How to wake up at 2am and stay awake?
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A job opening at a motel for housekeeping came open this weekend. I applied on Saturday and was called in today for an interview. Pay isn't much, but the hours are from 2am-7am (5hours), but can start as late as 4am and be done by 9am if I want to. At least 20 hours per week, might be able to get 30 every other week. I would be able to bring home an extra $500/month. Right now with my husband still not able to find work, this would really help. His unemployment benefits are over the end of March. I'm really hoping I get this job. The interviewer really liked me. |
NEWS from CPSCU.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
CPSC Clarifies Requirements of New Children’s Product Safety Laws Taking Effect in February
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For Christmas my dd got some cool educational gift. A Telescope: this was a biggy on her list of wants. We didn't get an expensive one, but even the cheep ones are expensive, epecially when your on a tight budget. New Years Eve, at -7 degrees, we went out and looked at the moon and one of the planets. Someone said there were actually 3 planets that you could see, but we had trees in the way. Here are some sites I have found about astonomy, I haven't had time yet to really check them out, but they do look interesting: http://www.kidsastronomy.com/index.htm fun games, activities, and resources http://thetelescope.net/ Telescope And Stargazing Guide http://iya2009.org/ International Year of Astronomy 2009 website http://www.skymaps.com/ free starmaps each month Planet Earth DVD game: this is a great game for the whole family about the planet earth. There are catagories about the seas, deserts, jungles, etc... A friend of our got this for our dd for Christmas. The only drawback is, when they are talking about how old things are, they are talking millions of years. Disney Scene It:: o.k., this one isn't educational, but like the one above, it is interacting and great for the whole family, no matter what age group. Did your children get any educational gifts? |
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Today is the first day of "No Token...No T.V." for dd and I. I came up with this ideas yesterday, that if dd or I wanted to watch t.v. we had to have a token for each 1/2 hour. How do we get these tokens? By either exercising for 15 minutes or drinking 8 glasses of water during the day (can only get one of these a day). So today so far she has walked on the treadmill, jumped on the trampleline, and has drank half her water. We will also go out later and shovel the drive. She really likes the whole idea. We will take Sunday as a break, can watch movies as a family without giving up tokens. We can save our tokens up if we want.. I just wanted to somehow add some exercise or movement into her and my life. I was helping her try on some clothes the other day, it was time for me to admit that my daughter is overweight. Her dad and I are severely overweight. I need to help her get moving. I don't want to put her on a "DIET", but drinking the water will help cut down on the eating. I'm going to try and discourage second helpingsfor her and I both, use smaller bowls, so if we do want seconds, it won't be so bad. I'll also use the tokens for computer time for me if I'm using the computer too much unessasarily. I have things that I need to use the computer for, like yesterday, I spent 2 hours doing work for the co-op. The other benefit is I can use anytime earning tokens as school hours, two birds with one stone. |
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Since my husband is out of town on another interview, I'm going to try and get a bunch of Christmas stuff done today. He called me last night to let me know it was in the 70's.
Yes, we got alot of snow this morning, suppose to stop in about 2 hours. I got the impression from my husband that he would like to have the driveway shoveled by the time he got home late tonight. We only got about 8 inches so far, surely he could drive though it to get into the garage, lol. |