You may have been wondering where I have been. Well I have been swamped ! As I said before, my girls and I are all in the Christmas Carol musical. We have had practice an average of 5 nights a week. In addition to this, I took on the task of sewing costumes for us. I just wasn't pleased with the costume department's selection. (I am a costume finatic )

So I have been sewing 2 full dresses for my oldest daughters, 1 giant fitted skirt and jacket for myself, 2 capes, 1 hat from scratch, and reworked 4 other hats. It has been a full time job, literally. Thankfully, my daughters have been keeping school going and doing almost all of the chores. My husband has also been amazing, helping out with working around my schedule, cleaning the kitchen, and fixing some of the meals.

So I wanted to give you an update. I will post photos of all the finished costumes soon, one night when we are in full costume, hair & make-up. Saturday we will have our first Dicken's Singer engagement at our local Zoo. We will go there in costume during the evening and walk around singing Christmas Carols. The Zoo has a lights display that many people in our city go to. We will also be participating in our downtown parade and be on TV for that. Then in a few weeks, we will have our performance. I am really looking forward to the show and also to slowing down again soon.

So look for more in the next week or two. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

      It's been a busy week! Christmas Carol has been really consuming a lot of my time. I spent Sat.-Wed. there this week. On Saturday I had costuming, on Sunday the girls had dance rehersals and then Mon.-Wed. we had blocking. I was supposed to go Thursday as well but I celebrated my grandma's birthday with her.

      Today we went to the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, MI. It was a field trip I wasn't so sure about and the price we a little high I thought even though it was an educational discount. TURNS OUT I WAS SO WRONG! This place is awesome and worth WAY MORE than we paid. I spent 6 hours in the museum with my children ages 2-14 and they ALL had a blast!

      The museum has way more than cars as you would expect from Henry Ford. There were huge exhibits on the different decades, furniture of all eras, carriages, GIGANTIC trains, bicycles, 100's cars, a 1940's house of the future that was never manufactured but that you could completely tour, dollhouses, gun exhibits, Full size airplanes including a whole Wright Brother's display that included a replica of their first flight and more. History displays included our fight for Independence, Slavery, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's actual chair he was assassinated in, Women's Sufferage movement, Civil Rights Movement and Rosa Parks actual bus that you can get into!!! They even had JFK's fateful convertable car on display that he was shot in.

      What really struck me is how they had so many things that were the real thing, and not just replicas. It was awesome and now the kids all want to go back to Greenfield Village, which looks AMAZING! We hope to get a family membership this year for Christmas.

      Visit my daughters blog to see what she had to say about it and see some pictures.

Hi! I'll post pictures of my trip soon! For now, here is a fun MEME that you can participate in also! Click on the link below if you would like to make your own.

Heart of the Matter Online

I am heading out of town tomorrow so I'll see you next week. While I am gone, check out this website and this website . I would love to start something like this around here.

God Bless,

Michelle

Ok, Here are my winner's for bulk cooking.

Chicken Pot Pie

This is really good! I made one change to the recipe when I made it. I reduced the amount of peas and carrots and added 2-3 cubed & boiled potatoes to it because I love potatoes. I don’t think potatoes freeze well so I will just add fresh potatoes when I am whipping up a potpie from the freezer.

*Original recipe yields 1 deep dish or 2 standard 9 inch pies.

Cooking Day Instructions

Cook peas and carrots according to package directions; drain. Cook onion in butter until tender but not brown. Stir in flour, salt sage, and pepper. Add water, milk and bouillon granules. Stir constantly with a wire wisk until thickened and bubbly.

Stir in drained cooked vegetables, chicken, pimiento and parsley; heat until bubbly. Freeze in gallon size baggies. About 3 ½ cups of mixture per bag.

TIP: Pre-measure your dry ingredients and mix in a bowl. Pre-measure your wet ingredients and mix in a bowl. You’ll need to more quickly one you have mixed in the flour mixture. Add a little bit of the liquid at a time and stir till mixed. Continue until all the liquid is in the pan.

Serving Day Instructions

Thaw completely. OPT. Boil 2-3 diced potatoes to add to the mixture.  Roll out bottom pie crust and place in 9inch pie pan. Place chicken mixture in pie dish; top with upper crust. Bake in pie shell in 400 degree oven for 25-30 minute or until golden brown.

Just a few short days until my family and I head out on a little vacation. Can you guess where we will be going? That's right! Holmes County, Ohio to see the beautiful fall colors and visit our friends the Amish. But before I go, I still have a lot of posts I want to make. Today I would like to talk a little about our main curriculum, Tapestry of Grace.

Tapestry of Grace (a.k.a. TOG) has been such a blessing to me. It allows me to have a weekly plan, while allowing me the flexibility to choose which books, projects and activities my daughters will complete. One thing I love to utilize with TOG is resouces from Homeschool in the Woods.

I own the following from Homeschool in the Woods:

• Time Travelers New World Explorers
• Time Travelers Colonial Life
• Time Travelers The Early 19th Century
• History Through the Ages Collection of Historical Figures on CD (A one time purchase for your whole schooling career)

I am using the Early 19th Century CD with Tapestry of Grace Yr. 3 . The projects in this are wonderful and I would like to help you out by starting a chart here to coordinate the CD with TOG. I will add to this as I work my way through TOG, so if this is something your interested in, please check back to this post in the future.

      Remember how we made applesauce last week? Well yesterday my husband made tomato juice using tomatoes from our garden. It was so fun and easy because of this great tool we are borrowing from my mother-in-law.

      Here is a blog that shows exactly what it looks like and how you use it.

      Both my husband and I fell in love with this wonderful old tool and were talking about how we would love to keep it. I know that wasn't possible though because my mother in law called it her "pride and joy". It used to belong to her mother.

      Well I got to thinking and I told my husband that we should just start keeping an eye out for one at thrift shops or estate sales. I finally figured out what it was exactly when I visited Dawn's Blog yesterday and saw her using one to make applesauce as well. It is called a Chinois or a China Cap. Thank You Dawn, or really one of Dawn's commentors pointed out what it was called.

      That brings us to today. I was getting ready to go workout at the YMCA just after my husband left for work. He called me to tell me there was an estate sale two streets over and I should stop by sometime today. He then joked and said, "Who knows maybe they will have that tool!" I got ready and decided to drive by on my way to the YMCA to just get an idea where it was. As I was driving by, I felt strongly that I should stop and go in, so I did. I knew I would probably be late for the YMCA so I parked a bit away and jogged in.

      First I went into the garage which didn't look like much. Someone asked if there was more inside (because there were no signs) and the lady said there was. So I went in. WOW the place was loaded with people and stuff! I went through all the rooms and then headed downstairs to the basement. I walked all the way to a cubbord in the back of the basement and peaked inside. WAY in the back of the cupboard was my tool! I pulled it out and saw it had everything including the stand, the wooden pestal and a jam bag. It was in excellent condition. What made it even better was the price, $2!!!

      Oh wait, I wasn't planning on stopping by till after I worked out. So I had them hold it for me while I ran back home, but when I got into the van I saw my purse was under my seat. I opened it up and I had exactly 2 dollar bills! (Ok, shall we call this a blessing from the Lord now? YES!)

      I went back in and paid for it. I now had a Chinois or a China Cap as they are called. After working out, I called my husband and told him. He was blown away! He was laughing and praising God. (Can you tell we love this tool?) I compared it to my mother-in-laws and it is exactly the same right down to the name brand and patent number on the side. So I am off to give it a good washing and praising in God!

My good friend Julie sent me this recipe that is Weight Watchers friendly! I would love any more recipes anyone has to send me that can help us all with our diets. I'll post them here for you all! So send 'em in!!!

Bran Raisin Muffins

Mix following ingredients in large bowl with lid:

6 cups Complete Wheat Bran

½ box Fiber One  (Wal-Mart cost is $3.50, Kroger is $4.25)

1 ½ cups sugar

5 cups flour

5 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. salt

Mix in:

3 cups baking Raisins

In smaller bowl, mix the following:

4 eggs

½ cup oil  (can use applesauce)

1 Tbls. Vanilla

2 quarts of buttermilk

Stir wet ingredients into dry and refidgerate overnight with lid on.  When ready to bake, spray muffin tins with non-stick spray.  DON”T STIR mixture at all.  Using a ½ cup measure, fill muffins tins.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Make 60 muffins. 1 point each.  These freeze well! 

Is Christ ***Magnified*** in your

daily thoughts and actions?

"For to me, to live is Christ..."      Philippians 1:21a

"for if we live, we live to the Lord."         Romans 14:8

Here is my workout schedule for the rest of this month and a bit of next month. I workout at the YMCA for my aerobics class (cardio) and at home using body for life for weight-lifting. I am using Weight Watchers points materials to monitor my eating. Watch my weight loss ticker up top to see my progress!

UPDATE: I have decided as of today that I am going to go to the YMCA everyday and do the workout machines as opposed to doing the workout at home. I find I get a better workout at the YMCA than at home because I can focus more on what I am doing and I have more space to get it done. We'll see how it goes. I'll head over there tomorrow at 8:00am.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	October 6 Cardio 9:15-10:15	7 Upper Body	8 Cardio 9:15-10:15	9 Lower Body	10 Cardio 9:15-10:15	11 Upper Body
12	13 Cardio 9:15-10:15	14 Lower Body	15 Cardio 9:15-10:15	16 Upper Body	17 Cardio 9:15-10:15	18 Lower Body
19	20 Cardio 9:15-10:15	21 Upper Body	22 Cardio 9:15-10:15	23 Lower Body	24 Cardio 9:15-10:15	25 Upper Body
26	27 Cardio 9:15-10:15	28 Lower Body	29 Cardio 9:15-10:15	30 Upper Body	31 Cardio 9:15-10:15	November 1 Lower Body
2	3 Cardio 9:15-10:15	4 Upper Body	5 Cardio 9:15-10:15	6 Lower Body