Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - Wordless Wednesday ~ Waiting for Music Lessons
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - V*A*C*A*T*I*O*N*!!!
It's vacation time!!!
We LOVE vacation time!!! It means Honey is home with us...no giving him to Home Depot for 10 hours a day...he's just home with us. Oh, how I'd love to win the Publisher's Clearing House giveaway or the lottery. The ultimate dream has always been to have Honey home....dare to dream....
We haven't done anything super special...just done what we normally do, but all together. Today, we went for eye exams for Honey and me. Even that is more fun when Daddy's with us!
This Friday marks a birthday....mine.....I'm not feeling too chipper about it. This is my 40th...and it is not the age I see myself being. But, the alternative is not my first choice, so I'll take it. I know it's just a number. I know 40 is not old. I know, I know, I know. I just also know that me being 40 is so not cool.
This year will be odd for us, holiday wise. Rebecca will be gone with my family to Cozumel for the week of Thanksgiving. Not having her here with us is going to be sooooooo odd. Not sure I like it already!
Also this year will be another first...no family with us for Christmas. That has NEVER happened before...I've never not had some family around me for Christmas. I'm not too sure I'm happy about this...but it is what it is.
While we were eating today, I posed the question....would you rather go away for Christmas for a couple of days....or stay home with gifts and a tree? Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE decorating for Christmas. But, if we didn't have a tree and all that jazz....and didn't buy gifts...we could instead spend that money on a memory making trip. I was promptly and totally voted down. My children want to stay home, want a tree, and yes, even want gifts. Imagine that....
So, home we will stay. No clue where we will put our tree. With our new living room furniture, there's not any room left over. Perhaps if we were successful at selling our piano, we could put the tree where it currently is...and put up bookshelves after Christmas there.
Planning a trip to Nashville with friends next week. Always love going to Nashville!!! :)
I'm ready to turn in....it's been a long day. A fun day...but a day of being gone from home for over 10 hours.... ;)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - ~25 Days of Gratitude~
Today I am giving thanks...
~for men and women who serve our country, to protect my family and sacrifice everything for us.
~for sweet friends
~for lessons learned and re-learned....the Lord is gracious to continually teach this stubborn brain
~for His precious Words that fill our hearts and minds...
~for this blog post and this one...
and then if that wasn't enough meat to get out the steak knife for ....
I am grateful for this sermon....
No exuses for complaining....I am blessed!!!
Nov. 11, 2009 - Latest Family News...Neko James
Monday I flew to San Diego to bring home sweet little baby Neko James. He is a beautiful, precious little fellow and we are absolutely smitten! He has Down Syndrome like his big sis Charity. We are grateful for God's blessing to our family - rejoice with us! I have been playing catch us so I will share more pictures soon
Nov. 10, 2009 - Awesome Unique Pumpkin Recipes!
(To Participate in Tightwad Tuesday, write your post and visit CanadaGirl's blog to add it to the list!)
I read Annie Kate's wonderful tips for microwaving pumpkins, but was concerned about the warning she posted about them potentially killing the microwave (by overheating it), so I poked around a little to find a safer alternative for mine. (I already replaced my microwave and my refrigerator this year plus have had repair bills on my dryer and my oven, so I'm NOT about to take any more chances, LOL!) If you have a larger pumpkin, this will be a safe alternative that won't overheat the m-wave.
I figured that it would be safer (and yes, take longer) and healthier to just steam-cook it in the oven. A Google search brought me to "SeasonalChef.com" where I found this wonderful tidbit taken from a book titled, "The Perfect Pumpkin," by Gail Damerow:
***
"The standard method of producing a puree is to boil chunks of pumpkin, peeled either before or after boiling. But that method results in some loss of flavor and nutrients. So Damerow proposes a better way, taking a cue from Native Americans, who cultivated pumpkins for 8,000 or 9,000 years before Columbus reached the New World. They would bury pumpkins whole in the hot ashes of a fire. You could do it that way yourself, or more conveniently, use an oven.
'Baking a whole pumpkin will give you drier meat, which saves you time simmering off liquid if your ultimate goal is to make a pie,' she explains.
To bake a pumpkin, stab it in at least six places to release steam. Place it in a pan with some water in the bottom and bake at 350 degrees until the pumpkin is soft enough that you can depress the shell with a poke of the finger. Then let it cool, remove the seeds and scrape out the soft flesh.
Damerow recommends making more puree than a recipe calls for so that you can enjoy some of it on the spot, straight and hot, with melted butter and perhaps a sprinkling of cinnamon."
***
I know to cook an acorn squash at 350 degrees would take an hour, so for a pumpkin, I imagine it wouldn't be much less, if not more.
Author Damerow's book also has recipes in it, three of which are given on the "Seasonal Chef" website. One is for Pickles, another is for Canned Pumpkin Bread...soooo cool, you bake the recipe in greased glass canning jars, then take a jar out of the oven, wipe down the rim, and quickly put on a lid and tighten the rim around it...it'll suck in and seal the lid, and then you store it with your other canned stuff! How cool is that???
And this one looked so different, I want to try it sooner as opposed to later:
This recipe is from the Stonycreek Farm in Noblesville, Indiana, home of a month-long Pumpkin Harvest Festival each October.
3 cups raw pumpkin, sliced
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
1 tsp salt
dash cayenne
¼ tsp dry mustard
½ cup shredded Swiss cheese
Parmesan cheese
1. Saute the pumpkin in the butter until tender. Remove to a serving dish.
2. In remaining liquid in pan, combine the eggs, milk, spices, and Swiss cheese. Heat until the cheese melts.
3. Pour the cheese mix over pumpkin. Top with Parmesan.
Again, the website where I got all of this is "SeasonalChef.com" if you want to get the other two recipes! Yummy pumpkin!
God Bless
Lori
Nov. 10, 2009 - Cafes, Lattes, and the Like...
(To Participate in Tightwad Tuesday, write your post and visit CanadaGirl's blog to add it to the list!)
Mary, I LOVE the new graphic!!!
I am, at present, sitting in the college cafe, surrounded by laughing, chattering students, jazz music, and the smells of fresh roasted coffees wafting all around me. I am enjoying a tall half-caf coffee with blueberry flavor and cream...plenty of cream! It cost me only a little bit in change...that's all!
It's not because this is an inexpensive coffee shop...it's because I brewed the blueberry coffee, 1/2 regular, 1/2 decaf, at home before I left. I have a tall travel mug, which I like to fill up to the top and close off the lid so I don't drink it all in the car. Then, while Nathan is in his German class here at the college, I go to the cafe (I can get an internet connection there) and either blog, or do my Bible study, or lesson plans, if needed (though it's a bit noisy in here if I have to seriously concentrate, I am able to write even with lots of noise around me...it's not the best, but I can do it).
It's a wonderful way to enjoy the coffee shop atmosphere yet save the $4+ cost of a cup of java!
Have a blessed week!
Nov. 11, 2009 - Veteran's Day
(This is from my Company Front Porch blog section, "Homeschooling Through High School" ... thought I'd post it here at Plans4You, as well!)
Today's entry will be brief (perhaps a welcome alteration from my usual ramblings for some of you busy homeschool moms!). As always, the homeschool high school does not typically have a lot of "room" for "extra projects" or holiday crafts. So what to do about Veteran's Day when homeschooling through high school?
It is my personal opinion (and ONLY my personal opinion) that one of the greatest gifts this country can give to our veterans is to teach our children the history of our nation's battles. The very fact that the Korean War is nick-named "The Forgotton War" belies the lack of intentionality which most American's apply to their study of American history.
Philosopher, poet, literary and cultural critic George Santayana is known to have penned, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In the grand scheme of world history, America is but a babe of a nation. In comparison with, say, Europe or Asia, we here in America really don't have that much history to remember! As I reflect upon Veteran's Day, I feel that we owe it to the brave men and women who have fought and/or died in service to this great nation of which we have been blessed to be a part, to teach our children their history, and to teach it to them well. I wish to require a deep consideration of history at this, the high school level. And, most importantly, to unfold our nation's history...our world's history...by looking at it from the overarching viewpoint and plan of the Author of human history. It is, afterall, HIS-story.
I have recommended it before, and I'll recommend it again: the best history curriculum for high school that I have come across is Diana Waring's "History ALIVE!" Beginning with Creation and ending with the VietNam War, the curriculum is a three year tour through the history of the world ALL presented in a format that is glued to the Guiding Hand of God as presented in the Bible. You and your students will learn to see His purpose in each and every event for achieving His desires for His people, all laid out in Scripture. In the process, you will cover history, literature, composition, geography, art and architecture...even cooking! Every learning style is accomodated with Diana's coursework, and the course is a dynamic learning experience.
Give a veteran an important gift during these important years in your homeschool. Give a veteran a young adult who comprehends the gift that our veterans have given us.
May God bless you and your homeschool this week!
Lori
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - ~25 Days of Gratitude~
Today I am especially grateful for...
~His love....I am so undeserving He is so faithful and abundant in His love...
~a great night's sleep
~a warm shower
~a fun afternoon at a park with my 3 favorite girls...
Nov. 10, 2009 - Fleeting moments of grandeur
Sometimes I feel as if I'm on top of the world, excelling as a wife and mother, ordering my home and tasks with ease, accomplishing more than I imagine possible. I am confident and energetic. I feel like an achiever and a conqueror.
Those moments of grandeur are fleeting. All too often they are followed by mediocrity -- days of chaos and struggling to keep all the plates spinning without dropping anything. Weeks when I am rushing from one task to another -- or simply wandering around somewhat aimlessly, overwhelmed by all that I SHOULD be doing. In these moments, I am merely persevering.
In the moments of grandeur, those near-perfect days when I am feeling that maybe, I might be, almost, just a little bit of a Super Mom -- I think I am doing it all. I am the great one. I have my act together.
But when the chaos returns, and I'm trying to figure out what I've done wrong -- I have to admit that I am not SuperMom. I can't maintain the grandiose days forever. I am merely an imperfect human relying on God's grace.
Everyone has revolving (and evolving) moments of grandeur and mediocrity. It is just life. And life is much less about me than I often believe. It isn't really about what I'm doing RIGHT or what I'm doing WRONG. It's not all about my success and failure.
So in these days of mediocrity, disorder, distraction, and even laziness -- I am once again humbled, but also hopeful that the more organized and productive days will return. I like those moments of grandeur more than the days of just trudging along.
But I persevere, each and every day -- even when I'm not in my most glorious state. Even when I'm merely mediocre.
Galations 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Hebrews 12:1, 2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, ane let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith ... "
1 Thessalonians 4:11, 12 "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that our daily life may win the respect of outsiders ... "
Trusting In Him,
April
Nov. 10, 2009 - Carnival of Homeschooling
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up. Be sure to visit janice-campbell.com to find some great new articles.
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