What a wonderful day my 11yodd and I had today! My boys went to work with dh today; since they are both wanting to work with him when they graduate, this is an "early release" program, of sorts; at least that is what we called it when I was in high school YEARS ago.
Anyway, I had the day laid out for us. We would do a modified day of book work because it is the day to "bless our home". (Any Flybabies out there know that what that means is that we clean our house today. Our "home blessing" consists of vacuuming, dusting, cleaning mirrors and front glass door, sweeping and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors, and cleaning the rest of the bathrooms, as well.) Normally this task is accomplished by the boys, Tiffany, and I all taking a project and getting it done in much less time because many hands make light work. Well, since the boys went with Mike today, that meant Tiffany and I must pick up the slack and get all the home blessing done by ourselves.
So, I'd planned that after the guys got off this morning, we would get dressed, eat breakfast, and then we would read two of the books we are reading for her school time (Pollyanna and Quest at Diamond Peak), an audio from Homeschool Radio Shows, spelling, and a math game. The rest of her school for the day, would be Life Skills of home blessing and making dinner.
Well, we got off to a good start with getting dressed and eating breakfast. We got a little behind then and started reading Pollyanna a little later than I wanted to. We started reading with chapter 7. We were enjoying the story so much that neither of us wanted to stop. We ended up finishing the book; yes, all the way through chapter 32. We really enjoyed ourselves. Those four hours flew by!
I had never read Pollyanna before. Imagine my delight when I discovered that there is a sequel! And yes, I have already put in a request for the book to be put on the hold shelf for us at our local library. I also found that our library system also has the movie. I hope it is good; we'll see, as I have that one requested too.
During our cleaning, we found ourselves playing around with the Glad Game ourselves. This book was a delight! If you have never read it, do, it is a treasure! I'm so glad for homeschooling! I'm enjoying so many books with my children that I never read before. It amazes me that we didn't read some of these when I was in school. But when I really think about it, it doesn't surprise me because these books have some really good character lessons in them. Books like Heidi, A Little Princess, Little Britches, and so many more.
I just finished reading The Chosen with my son. Well not exactly with him but we were both reading it. It was a really good book too. I was glad to discover that it too has a sequel. I love books that I don't have to leave the characters that I have come to love with the end of the book. I also like that these books were written so long ago, so that I don't have to wait for the sequel to be written and published. (hehehe)
We read an article in Girlhood Home Companion yesterday about Precious Memories. In the article, the author was saying that many of her precious memories were of working hard with the family. Tiffany and I talked about it after reading the article and I have decided that what made the "hard work" a precious memory was because it was done with others.
This made me think about work we do. I mentioned to Tiffany that I figured she would probably end up with fond memories of us cooking together because we do that together. But I doubt she will have precious memories of emptying the dishwasher, which happens to be her task and she frequently forgets to do, nor does she enjoy it. Not that she loves cooking with me but she likes it a whole lot more than emptying that dishwasher.
So, today when I knew that we would have to take on the jobs that the boys usually do, as well as what we usually do, I did not just give her more chores. Instead, we worked together and did a good job of cleaning up the living room and preparing dinner. Of course, we do have a bit left to accomplish before our guys come home, but we are taking a well-deserved break right now.
Well, we better get finished, still have a few floors to mop and a few dishes to clean . . . oh, and some bathrooms to clean. At least I can be glad that dinner will be easy, since we did all the prep work.
Blessings,
Michele ºÜº
PS. The pictures have nothing to do with the words on the page. We took them at the aquarium last month and I just love anemone. I think they are beautiful. Anyway, Ann V. inspired me to add pictures even when it isn't directly related to what I am talking about just because they are pretty. (I remember seeing a photo of a bird of paradise on her blog and she was not talking about it. I also remember how much I enjoyed the picture and others, even though they were not depicting something being written about at the moment. They were simply a part of God's beautiful creation and she was sharing it.) So, I hope someone enjoys these.
I got this really neat little gadget a couple of weeks ago from the grocery store (OK, it is a Super Wal-Mart). I happened to see that it was on clearance, so I picked it up.
My daughter used it for the first time Friday, to wrap a gift. We made homemade wrapping paper from brown packing paper, masking tape, stickers, and a flower die cut. (It turned out cute.)
Anyway, this cutter made cutting that paper SO easy!!! Now Tiffany wants to help me wrap gifts, but she only wants to be in charge of cutting the paper. LOL!
I've always used my scissors, partially closed, to slide across the wrapping paper, cutting it as it goes. But many times the angle would get messed up and I'd end up with a jagged cut. This just goes across smoothly and very quickly! It should make wrapping Christmas presents go much more smoothly this year. (Of course I'll get some practice with it on the three birthdays before then.)
It is a very good thing that I don't have all the rooms that are listed in the Holiday Grand Plan. Why? Because I am now, officially, two weeks behind. No big deal! I can get caught up this week.
I got a new printer, actually all-in-one unit, a couple of months ago. I have always had a bad habit of leaving my printer on all the time!!! Well, I just read part of the manual yesterday, and found that when the printer is shut off, it "caps" the print heads so that the ink does not dry up or clog the print head. Ugh!!! It would have been good if I would have read that sooner because I think I have clogged print heads that are not coming clean. Soooo, I had to order new ink cartridges.
I love a Canon printer because the ink tanks are so easy to fill. You just take the ink tank out (which looks like the ink cartridges of other machines but no print head on the bottom) and turn it upside down and drip the ink on the recessed area on the bottom. Well, I got a great deal on this all-in-one machine BUT the ink tanks are not just tanks, they are ink cartridges with the print head on the bottom. Ugh!!! Thus making them expensive!!! I did figure out how refill the cartridge but because of leaving the printer on, it did not work as well. Another thing I'm wondering about, is if it holds less ink because it was with the printer at purchase. I know other machines will put less ink in the cartridges packed with new machines, so maybe Canon does as well.
So what does all of that have to do with being behind on the HGP? I need to print some pages out to complete.
Last week I made extra taco meat and have some in the freezer now. I didn't even realize that it was an HGP assignment. So, I'm not completely behind.
So I encourage you, if you have not started thinking about the holidays, check out the Holiday Grand Plan. You can still join in. Come on, join me! And let me know you are!
The holidays are quickly approaching! I know that some of you don't think so, but they really are. And it is time, once again, to start the Holiday Grand Plan (HGP).
In case you are not familiar with the Holiday Grand Plan, it is a plan to thoroughly clean your house AND get ready for the holidays, all at the same time, in nice little steps. Since my house is small and I don't have as many rooms as others do, I'll get extra weeks to work on the rooms I do have.
This week is List Week and Clean the Front Porch. Since I have a very tiny and uncluttered front porch, it will be easy for me to do this one. AND that is a very good thing because it is a very busy week.
First, we had unexpected company, which is turning out to be a humongous blessing.
Second, yesterday was Labor Day, making it a short week.
Third, today was grocery/errand day, meaning we were not home for the majority of it. (My Aunt and Uncle were visiting my parents and they are leaving today, so we went by to say good-bye before they left. It was so good to see them. I only wish I'd take some pictures—this seems to be something I continually say—I'm going to have to work on this.)
Fourth, my daughter is having a tea party on Thursday, so tomorrow will be a major preparations day and Thursday will be FUN!!!
Finally, Friday is our Back-to-School Picnic with our homeschool support group. Unfortunately, we will have to drive for about an hour and a half to get there but I'm sure it will be worth it. Tiffany is looking forward to swimming at the picnic.
So, as you can see, it is going to be one very busy but very fun week!
Here is the link for the Holiday Grand Plan. It is great because occasionally they even tell you to make a double batch of something you are cooking for dinner and freeze it, to eat during the busiest weeks of the holidays. But, just like any curriculum, do not make it your master. Use it as a tool, to help you get organized but remain flexible and at peace, not thinking you absolutely HAVE to do everything listed or when listed. Take a few days to look it over and see where you can change things around, for your circumstances—like, I don't have 2 living areas so I get to use both of those weeks on my ONE living area. It is a great TOOL!!!!
I'd love to hear, if you end up doing this too. It is neat because I mentioned it to my sister about a month ago and she put it on her calendar to start this week too!
So, this week I am thinking about my front porch and trying to consider how to make it inviting. I will probably look into getting some kind of fall leavy garland or something for the railing and a nice mat in front of the door. Maybe hang my wreath outside, it is a big grapevine wreath but I think I need to spruce it up a bit. I will sweep the porch, clean the glass door, and sweep the side of the house to ensure no webs are dangling. The only other thing I can think of, is to find a place to store the new boots the kids got a few months ago. They are all laying on the front porch, neatly, but there all the same.
The other thing to do is start making all those lists!!!! Looks like I'll end up doing that on Saturday, the way my week is shaping up. OR I just may have to do it next week. BUT I could do it Thursday evening. We'll see! Remember, the HGP is a TOOL not a task master.
Let me start today's blogging off with a note about my last post. I have since read some negative reviews of The Shack and am in the process of re-reading it, to see if it hits me any differently. I will admit that I am "put out" by the Foreward of the book; I don't think the author needed to go so far "trying to make us believe the story is real", as it is very misleading. For anyone that has not visited the author's blog yet, let me tell you that this book came about from "conversations" the author had with God himself; he even considered naming the book Conversations with God but realized that someone else had already used that title.
I still stand by my recommendation for The Ultimate Gift, 100%! It is a great book!
On to today's comic relief. LOL Last Monday, I was on the telephone with my mother when I heard a crash. It sounded like it was on the roof. I looked out the back door. I looked to my son mowing the grass but he was an acre away with the lawn mower, so he had no clue what it was. I looked out the front door and still couldn't figure it out. I decided to just mention it to my husband later that night. Well, there were so many other things we needed to talk about that night that it completely slipped my mind.
Then Tuesday afternoon I was getting ready to go to my local Homeschool Support Group meeting, GCHero, and I opened up the closet door. Well maybe I should say that I tried to open up the closet door. I couldn't figure out what was making it so hard to open. And then I saw it. My clothes rack had crashed!
Once I got the door open further, I saw that only my half of the clothes rack fell. And in actuality, it didn't fall; it bent right in the middle of the rack. The last time it fell, yes you read that right, it fell once before, my side fell and my dh's side rose, like a see-saw. When he fixed it, it was supposed to be so strong that it would never fall again. Well, that worked for his side but not my side.
Now for the lesson for all of you to learn from this little experience of mine: when you feel God suggesting that you do something, just do it. See about a month or two ago, I felt like I needed to go through my closet and dresser and get rid of a lot of clothes that I've been holding onto that are smaller than my current size. I am going to lose this weight and it will be nice to have something to wear as I do. But, what I've realized is that I have some clothes that I will NOT wear even when I can wear them and to hold onto them because they are nice, new, or I might like them, is ridiculous. So the Great Closet Clean-Out is about to commence.
Have you cleaned out your closet lately?
Michele ºÜº
P.S. I hope to put up at least one picture of the rack collapse sometime soon, but didn't want to wait on it, to post this.
Wow, what a week!!! We had freezing rain last Sunday night/Monday and we lost our electricity Monday morning at 8:00. The longest we've ever gone without electricity has been about 4 hours so I thought, no problem!!! Boy was I wrong! My mom called and said their electricity had gone out at 5:30 that morning. At least, we have our gas stove and could turn it on and off to warm up a little bit and to COOK!!! (You wouldn't want to keep it on all the time because of the gas usage and the carbon monoxide poisoning threat.) Another plus is that it was (and still is) very cold so the food in the refrigerator didn't go bad.
I'm normally very warm natured and don't even wear sweatshirts or fleece shirts often but I put on a turtle neck shirt AND a fleece shirt. I also had on my lined wind pants. We lit candles and the kerosene lamp and kept ourselves busy. I was shocked when it didn't come back on before we went to bed. I was even more shocked when we woke up and still had no electricity. I was fine with plenty to do . . . I worked on putting together a Christmas Countdown, fixed a big pot of soup, checked my Christmas gift list, and then read a book. I did get everything that I'd bought for people, not living in my home, out and ready to wrap but realized I didn't have any tissue paper or enough boxes. Ugh!!! So, I put it all in a nice stack and we ate a nice bowl of hot soup, which went a long way to warming us up!
When it got dark outside my husband lit every candle in the house! I asked him what we were going to do if the electricity didn't come on the next day and he said we'd have to go into town and get more (a 20-30 minute trip in the best conditions). He said that if he didn't have the place lit up he would have to go to bed, even though it was only 6pm.
We went to bed around 10. We usually have our comforter and a blanket on our bed in the winter but that night we added another heavy bedspread. All the kids added an extra blanket and we all slept great, UNTIL we had to get up in the cold.
We cooked up some hot bowls of oatmeal to heat us up a bit. Later I reheated the soup I'd made the day before. We debated about going into town and finally went armed with my weekly grocery list, making the list as small as possible, since it didn't look like dh would work much this week. I hoped Wal-Mart would be open; my mom told me that it was closed the day before. We got into town around 12:30 and found that they must've just opened within the hour. They were restocking the perishables when we arrived. We did find some candles and the few groceries I needed, as well as some tissue paper and some boxes. We went to Aldi, which re-opened at 1:00, and got the few things I needed from there and home we went.
On the way home, we debated about going to my sister's home, which still had electricity, to take some showers. They did offer for us to spend the night but I rather like sleeping in the cold, it is the getting out of bed that bothers me. LOL So we went over there after eating some dinner and spent the evening. We all got showers and nice and warm; and my children and dh got their gaming fix (X-Box Live), as the boys' gameboys ran out of charge. Needless to say, they recharged them while were there.
The next morning we got up in the freezing cold but thankfully our electricity came on around 10:00 that morning!!! Hallelujah!!! We are so blessed; I know others that still don't have their electricity back on. My parents' electricity came on around 6pm but after about 45 minutes, it went back off. When Dad called, they said that two polls were down and they had to turn it off and wouldn't be able to get it back on until Friday or Monday. Thankfully, it came on yesterday around 11 a.m.
Thursday I went Christmas shopping with my mother and we met my sister and her young daughter for lunch. We had both gotten much accomplished, even though many stores were still without power. We had planned to go on Friday but the weathermen were predicting rain changing over to snow and then accumulating. We decided we better go a day earlier. As it turned out, we were too far south for any accumulation at all, which is a big bummer because we love snow and like to have some several times each winter, to play in.
Well, I've finally gotten caught up on my email and now my blog. I've also printed out some craft ideas from some websites for my Sunday School class tomorrow, AND I even found a website with Christmas carol sheet music that you can have it transpose it to any key you want. Awesome!
I'm giving them the Advent Paper Chains as my gift to them. Things are tight so this will have to do this year.
Well, I'm going to run so that I can get these chains made up, supplies gathered, and food started for tomorrow to take to church (Taco Soup). We have play practice after church and they said they'd supply dinner (probably pizza) but I cannot have pizza (because of my diet) and dh is allergic to beef and won't eat pork, because of concerns that he might be allergic to it as well, so I thought I'd take this yummy soup with us to share.
Well, it appears that I truly have changed this to a weekly update rather than daily. Maybe I'll be able to get it updated a few times a week; we'll see!
My husband finally finished painting our kitchen. He is a painter by trade and paints in the upper class homes downtown. It was nice to get him to do some more work done in our home. (You know the cobbler's children don't have shoes, kinda thing.) I'm going to try and put in a couple of pictures here so you can see the before and after. You'll really have to look hard in the background of the first picture to see the wall; in the front is my husband and brother-in-law being very very silly but having a great Christmas Eve. The wall is back behind my brother-in-law and the red microbead pillow. As you can see, it is was white wallpaper with blue and maroon flowers on it. So that is the BEFORE!
Here is the after, not the same wall but the same room. It is from the counter up to the ceiling.
It is so nice and really makes a big difference. We replaced the linoleum several years ago to a wood laminate, which made a HUGE difference. This paint job makes as big of a difference as the flooring did. I'm so thankful to have it done.
I went shopping with my mother and sister again on Monday. We had a wonderful time but we were exhausted by the time we quit. I left my house at 8:45 am and didn't get home until 9:30 pm. I crashed the next day! Thankfully, we had enough groceries to make it another day, so we ran our errands on Wednesday instead of Tuesday this week. But that meant that Thursday I wasn't feeling like I wanted to paint my Christmas cards. I'm going to HAVE to do them next week!!! Instead, I read a really nice Christmas romantic comedy by Debbie Macomber called There's Something About Christmas. It was a fun read. I could really see this as a Hallmark movie or a Christmas chick flick. One word of warning though, there were 2 or 3 kisses but that was it.
BUMMER!!! I just realized that I missed most of the sessions in Cindy Rushton's Quiet Time Seminar today! Ugh!!!
I'm gonna run for now. Have a very Merry Christmas Season!!!
Michele ºÜº
Wow, has it been a week! After last Tuesday's experience with attempting to get the driver's permit for my son, we decided we just go back there on Thursday rather than going into the next county on Wednesday. (Hindsight says we should have prayed and asked God what to do and I bet He would have spared us 'the rest of this story'.)
We saw on the sign that the Driver's Examiner would be there from 9-12 and 1-3. We figured if we came at 10:30, we'd be OK. Before leaving the house at about 10:05, I saw the reading proficiency certificate (RPC) on the counter, which made me look in my purse to ensure that we had the social security card and birth certificate. We did. Off we went.
We got there at about 10:30, the place was packed! As we pulled up, my son asked me if the RPC was in my purse. Of course it isn't, it's on the counter at home! Why would I pick it up when he should've. UGH! He ran in to double check the times and back home we went. We debated along the way about if we should come back here—because of that hour lunch issue—or go to the neighboring town, which will be busier but have more examiners. We opted to just come back and we'd wait over lunch break if necessary. But we really thought he could take his test and be done in 15 minutes (lot we knew).
We got back to the Tag Agency and I dropped my son at the door while I looked for a place to park; who knew there would be even more people there than the hour before? When I walked inside, my son was sitting waiting, so I sat down beside him. I asked him if he'd found out what to do yet and he said he would in a minute. Well, after we'd been there about 15 minutes, he finally got up to the lady and she asked if he was signed in. No? Then you won't get seen today. WHAT? It is only 11:45 and I'm not going to get seen today? For crying out loud! They said their computers had gone down, but really, that's ridiculous. We wonder how the teens in that county get their permits—do they have to skip school?
We went to the other town. First, we go into the tag agency and stand in their small line of 3 people. I read a sign that said something about testing being done in the rock building across the street. So, I went to the other side of the counter and asked. Sure enough, go across the street.
Upon entering the rock building, we see lots of chairs with lots of people in them. The number on the display was 699. My son went up and took a number from the number dispenser—749. Oh, I did hope that the numbers would go fast. After standing around for a few minutes, we decided to go and have a seat. There were two seats on the front row, beside a lady. During our first 10 minutes there, only one person was helped . . . it was 12:30. I said something to the lady beside me and we struck up a conversation. [This is something I learned to do in college. Prior to college I was a VERY shy individual and talking to someone that I did not know, was not something I would do. But during college, and especially during the long lines of registration, I learned the art of small talk with a total stranger, who happened to be stuck in the same situation as I was.]
Come to find out, she had number 721 and had been here for about 3 hours or so. The computers were down for a long time and many people left. But then we later saw that many came back after having eaten lunch or what not. To make matters worse for her, she had been there the day before and had to take another half-day off from work because she either didn't pass the test or forgot some papers or something. Anyway, we ended up making the most of a bad situation. We waited for 2 hours. My son did pass his exam for his permit, just barely. Back to the other building across the street. Thankfully, we were able to be helped right away.
Come to find out, if the computers go down in one tag agency in the state, they go down in ALL of them in the whole state!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About a month or two ago, my sons went into Radio Shack to find an adapter to connect both our VCR and antenna wire to the television at the same time, all the time, so we don't have to keep switching between the two on the back of the television. This adapter and the cable that you need to connect it all, would cost around $60. We decided we'd just wait and see if we could find one cheaper.
Well, we walked into the Dollar Tree, right next door and they had the adapter we needed for only $1. They didn't have the cable we needed but hey, we already drastically reduced the price of this connection. Well, while my son was taking his RPTest, I went into the Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree just a few minutes away. To my surprise, there was the cable we needed. I got 2 of them. So now we spent $2 on the cable and adapter that Radio Shack wanted $60 for. Albeit they were not the same quality as the expensive ones, but we did not need something that great, just workable. Praise God, He provides.
It is funny too, because I felt like I was pushing the time for him to be done with his testing and I almost skipped the Dollar Tree, but I really felt like I should go in there. I am very glad I did.
Have a great day,
Michele ºÜº
PS. Please drop me a line or post a comment. It really keeps me motivated to write, if I know people are reading.
Well, once again, I don't think I have much to say. So watch out! LOL!
We ran our errands today and while we were driving into town, I asked God to give me some good deals. Today was the day that I decided that I needed to purchase the cardstock to make my Christmas cards. We went into Hobby Lobby and went to the scrapbooking section. There were signs up advertising a 50% off sale on all of their scrapbooking papers! Hallelujah!!!
Tomorrow is my dear husband's birthday, so we needed to get him a gift. He needs some casual clothes. We went to Kohl's, which I rarely ever go to, and Praise God! they had a Buy 1 Get 1 free offer on pants (jeans) and some shirts. So I was able to get him 2 outfits for the price of one NICE one! WooHoo!!! God is so awesome!
We also went to Mardel. There we saw some t-shirts. (My husband's name is Mike.) We got him a t-shirt that has a stick man on it and it looks sad and it says, "Jack doesn't know God". Then there is a happy stick man that says, "Mike knows God". Then it says, "Be like Mike". Isn't that neat? We think he'll really like the things we got him.
Then I was in Wal-Mart and called him to see what he wanted for dessert for his birthday. Of course he didn't know. So I had to make some suggestions. He decided on cheesecake. I went to the freezer section and was amazed to find a cheesecake sampler for less than $7. God strikes again! :)
We were in Aldi's and I needed some mushrooms. They had them on sale for 99¢ a package! Wonderful!
Overall, it was a very blessed day! We were gone for 8 hours and when we got home, we were exhausted! But before I could put the groceries in the refrigerator, I had to clean it out. Somehow and some time ago, something spilled in the fridge and went under the veggie bins and even in the bins. The bottom shelf was nasty too. So I now had to spend time cleaning the refrigerator. But it cannot be as simple as that, now can it? NO! I have to pull the refrigerator out of its snug spot and angle it so that the bottom bins can be removed and cleaned. Ugh!
Then I still had to fix dinner! I ended up fixing vegetable fajitas. They were very good but I don't seem to cook enough veggies. Thankfully, the boys clean the kitchen after dinner and I was able to sit down and rest for the evening.
I'm really going to have to try getting to updating this blog earlier in the day, as I am being called to bed now.
Tonight's post it truly just me rambling, as I have nothing that I have predetermined to write about. I trust I will be a blessing in my ramblings.
I made my grocery list today because we will be running some errands tomorrow. It is always a daunting task. My dear husband is allergic to beef and we don't eat pork either. Recently, he decided that he needs to restrict all meat and dairy in his diet. To add to all that, I am trying to lose weight and am following the principles of Let's Do Lunch. (For more on this visit my website.) So, making out a menu for 2 weeks that limits meat and dairy (btw, we are cheese-a-holics) but is tolerable for the rest of us, is a bit of a task. Needless to say, I will be looking for more new recipes over the next couple of weeks, that are vegetarian. The problem with vegetarian cooking is that many times it includes pasta, rice, or potatoes—all of which are no-no's on LDL. BUT, brown rice and an occasional potato ARE allowed, just not recommended for optimum weight-loss. Well, I figure if I'm giving up my meat and cheese on those nights, I can have some good whole grains!
Three weeks ago I made a menu that included some new vegetarian meals. Some were good, some were not, and some were skipped. Thus, I have a few that were on the menu before but never tried. Does this ever happen to you? You go through the trouble of making a menu and then something happens and you don't end up making some of the things you planned to make? This happens to me a LOT.
In theory, if I'd make a menu for a month, I could then repeat said menu and have a wonderful variety of food. But for whatever reason, I have been making menus for about 4 years now and still do not have any ready-made menus that I can pull out and use. Of course, it could have something to do with the fact that I have been on different diets over those 4 years and thus the food choices have changed drastically. Then there is my dh's new food allergy; well, I guess new isn't exactly the correct, since it has been about a year now since we realized what was causing those horrible rashes and stopped eating beef. It is really weird too, because we used to eat beef 5-7 nights a week!
Well, after we try some of these new recipes, I'll post about them and/or make a page for them on my website. I know I'm always looking for new meals/recipes, so maybe it will help someone else.
OH! I almost forgot to mention this! It never fails, when I make a menu, I always have 1-2 days that I cannot come up with anything for. Now one might suggest that it may be because I won't need to make anything because of going out to eat but we live way out in the country and do not go out to eat or something, but a couple of times a year. We always need those meals, whatever they end up being. But I always get stumped for what to make for at least 1 day each week. The bummer comes when it turns out to be 2 days each week and I'm making a two week menu. Ugh! That means that I have 4 meals to figure out!
It happened again tonight. I got all the way down to one night left. I just couldn't think of anything. I asked my husband and he couldn't come up with anything either. So I left it for a while and took a nap, as I was very tired (I stayed up until 2am watching the end of the old version of Manchurian Project on OETA Movie Club.) and my eyes were burning when I tried to read the computer screen.
When I got up, I got back to it and made my grocery list. Well, just a little bit ago I asked again about that poor empty slot. Again, nobody had any suggestions at first, unless of course you count the suggestion to make LDL Cottage Pie both weeks, which I vetoed because it is more work than I like to do and I already said I'd make it once. Finally, my middle son (14yo) suggested Chicken Fried Rice. Well, this is a bit of a 'fudge' on the eating plans but at this point it was a suggestion that I took. It will just be one of the times we eat brown rice this week.
With that task complete, I moved on to the computer to make me a nice to-do-list. I opened up program after program (4 of them to be exact) and none of them had a format for a to-do-list. I couldn't believe it. {Just now I'm wondering if MSWorks has one. Hmmm . . . As I am going through editing this post, I checked and it appears that MSWorks—a program which I have NEVER liked—does, indeed, have some sort of to-do-list creator but it looks like I'll have to take the tutorial to figure it out . . . another thing to add to that list.}
So, I went to the internet. I could not believe what I found! Did you know that they actually have whole programs dedicated to To-Do-Lists? I had no clue! All I wanted was a pre-made form to write my list of projects that I need to complete on. I did finally find a few but it appears that I just may be making one myself in the near future. It was not a wasted time though because I found a few really good websites and a few freeware programs that I may end up downloading later.
Well, for someone that had nothing to say, I sure did say a lot.
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
We are starting school, so it's time to look forward to the holidays!
My boys went to work with dh today; since they are both wanting to work with him when they graduate, this is an "early release" program, of sorts; at least that is what we called it when I was in high school YEARS ago.
We ended up finishing the book; yes, all the way through chapter 32. We really enjoyed ourselves. Those four hours flew by!
I love books that I don't have to leave the characters that I have come to love with the end of the book. I also like that these books were written so long ago, so that I don't have to wait for the sequel to be written and published. (hehehe)
Maybe I'll be able to get it updated a few times a week; we'll see!
So that is the BEFORE!
Well, after we'd been there about 15 minutes, he finally got up to the lady and she asked if he was signed in. No? Then you won't get seen today. WHAT? It is only 11:45 and I'm not going to get seen today? For crying out loud! They said their computers had gone down, but really, that's ridiculous. We wonder how the teens in that county get their permits—do they have to skip school?
I ended up fixing vegetable fajitas. They were very good but I don't seem to cook enough veggies. Thankfully, the boys clean the kitchen after dinner and I was able to sit down and rest for the evening. 
Of course, it could have something to do with the fact that I have been on different diets over those 4 years and thus the food choices have changed drastically. Then there is my dh's new food allergy; well, I guess new isn't exactly the correct, since it has been about a year now since we realized what was causing those horrible rashes and stopped eating beef. It is really weird too, because we used to eat beef 5-7 nights a week!
I just couldn't think of anything. I asked my husband and he couldn't come up with anything either. So I left it for a while and took a nap, as I was very tired (I stayed up until 2am watching the end of the old version of Manchurian Project on OETA Movie Club.) and my eyes were burning when I tried to read the computer screen.
I couldn't believe it. {Just now I'm wondering if MSWorks has one. Hmmm . . . As I am going through editing this post, I checked and it appears that MSWorks—a program which I have NEVER liked—does, indeed, have some sort of to-do-list creator but it looks like I'll have to take the tutorial to figure it out . . . another thing to add to that list.}
