Saturday, October 11, 2008
Gobble Gobble
So I am early on the turkey leftovers triumph, but here's the thing--turkey was half the price of chicken, which was cheap compared to beef and pork. So when I found such a deal on a 21 lb turkey (16 bucks) I couldn't pass it up! After three meals (just turkey, turkey soup, and turkey salad sandwiches), I now have in my freezer 12 cups of chopped, cooked turkey, 20 cups of turkey broth and a quart of turkey noodle soup. I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm about out of freezer space, though!
Friday, October 10, 2008
People Making a Difference
It isn't often that I cry when reading the local paper. But I have been following this story for a week and today the news is amazing.
Burke Jensen and his wife, Heidi, bought a house in a new development. They were given a year to landscape the yard (2.5 acres!). Unfortunately, Lt. Jensen was a military reservist and was called up and sent to Iraq, leaving his pregnant wife behind. Instead of, you know, being sympathetic and thankful to someone who has risked life and limb for the rest of us, the developer has taken action against this family for not getting the landscaping done in time. 'Cause, you know, grass is so much more important. Riiiight.
This man would not back down and has made several rather rude and just-plain-stupid comments to the press. But now, it won't matter.
Because now, dozens of people and businesses have banded together to landscape the grounds, install a flagpole, and treat this family the way they ought to have been treated to begin with. I pray God blesses them greatly for it.
Burke Jensen and his wife, Heidi, bought a house in a new development. They were given a year to landscape the yard (2.5 acres!). Unfortunately, Lt. Jensen was a military reservist and was called up and sent to Iraq, leaving his pregnant wife behind. Instead of, you know, being sympathetic and thankful to someone who has risked life and limb for the rest of us, the developer has taken action against this family for not getting the landscaping done in time. 'Cause, you know, grass is so much more important. Riiiight.
This man would not back down and has made several rather rude and just-plain-stupid comments to the press. But now, it won't matter.
Because now, dozens of people and businesses have banded together to landscape the grounds, install a flagpole, and treat this family the way they ought to have been treated to begin with. I pray God blesses them greatly for it.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
I Heart CJ Banks
Most of my clothes are pretty casual, so while we were out getting Nate a new winter coat (which was among the entire wardrobe he outgrew in 6 months), I stopped by CJ Banks to check their clearance racks.
Seriously, I think they are the only place I've been where a girl can buy a 40% off clearance skirt for 11 bucks and STILL they wrap it pretty and tuck the receipt in a little envelope and you leave feeling like a millions dollars!
Nate did not have as much fun as I did, though. He says I need a daughter, but I think what he means is he desperately needs me to have a daughter, LOL.
Seriously, I think they are the only place I've been where a girl can buy a 40% off clearance skirt for 11 bucks and STILL they wrap it pretty and tuck the receipt in a little envelope and you leave feeling like a millions dollars!
Nate did not have as much fun as I did, though. He says I need a daughter, but I think what he means is he desperately needs me to have a daughter, LOL.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Typical Day in Our HomeSchool--October
I frequently hear both homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers wondering what a typical homeschool day ‘looks like’. That or they think it looks like public school, which is rarely true. So I thought I would share a day from each month, to give people an idea.
Note: I am currently unemployed. Actually, I have been unemployed for far too long and it’s a serious problem, but that isn’t the point of this post. Obviously, when I am working, our days are quite different.
Up at 9 a.m. We have been staying up rather late at Nate’s request. I think it’s puberty, ‘cause he used to be quite a morning person. Now he needs about an hour to laze around after he gets up, before he can accomplish much with any enthusiasm. So this morning he put on a Magnum P.I. episode while I checked my email and fixed breakfast (smoked sausage, eggs and hash browns). After his show was over, he got dressed. Handwriting comes first nearly every day. I am using a modified version of Donna Young’s instructions for making remedial handwriting lessons in a composition notebook (handily acquired for 25 cents apiece during the crazy back-to-school sales). Today I will also have to make more entries for his handwriting book, as he will run out tomorrow. I use tongue twisters for his practice sentences because I find them funny, they are easy to Google and they tend to repeat letters, which is good for practicing. His handwriting has improved quite a lot in the last couple months, and that is a relief! (I used her printable worksheets first, and then moved to the composition book method when we ran out of the worksheets)
After handwriting I gave him his Key to Percents book. He’s on the very last one! (Some other day I will share my theory, scope and sequence of math ed. with you.) Today he did three pages, and completed them with few mistakes and plenty of cheerfulness. But wait! It has not always been so. He used to complain at nearly every Key assignment, beg to do one or two fewer pages than my schedule called for, promising to make it up tomorrow (when I knew he’d beg again), and take two hours to do the work. However, not long ago, something in his brain finally clicked and not only is he enjoying his math, but he is ‘seeing’ things that he was not ‘seeing’ before. That is to say, he could follow the processes and do the work, but he is now discovering for himself WHY things work the way they do.
Then break time—for Nate that means heading downstairs to play on his computer, and for me that means doing the dishes and putting a load of laundry in. Since I had to go downstairs anyway, I commandeered my son to help me work on the still-packed boxes from our move over a year ago. I have a theory: if I can just spend 10 minutes working every time I go down, eventually I will actually make progress. Nate vacuums.
Once we are finished with that, we find it is noon, and thoughts of his coming hunger haunt me, so off to the grocery store we go. Come home, eat lunch, and then work on grammar. On Mondays I have him do Spelling and then Grammar is spread throughout the rest of the week. While he does that I organize school papers and such.
Because it is Tuesday, we have a bit of a time crunch. In addition to Jukido Jujitsu class in the evening, we know that DVDs are coming in the mail from Netflix. Since we haven’t gotten any for a few days now, and we don’t have regular television, when they arrive it is difficult to get the kid to concentrate on anything else. Fortunately the mailman doesn’t usually show until late afternoon!
Tuesday is also a typing day. I am not as militant about that as I would like, but I am improving. He will also do his Teaching Textbooks Math 7 program on the computer. He will take out the garbage, put away the clean dishes, and then be free for the afternoon.
The movies will arrive, during which I will probably strip the turkey I roasted the other day and put the carcass in for stock. Dinner is turkey and rice pilaf. Because it is my sister’s boyfriend’s birthday, we will bake some cookies, as well. Off to Jujitsu, home to feed the boy once again, probably stay up later than we ought watching the presidential debate (I know I said we don’t have regular TV, but we have bunny ears and can get OK sound and a really fuzzy picture of four candidates. Yes, I know the rest of you can see only two. That’s my point.) and something off the DVDs.
Note: I am currently unemployed. Actually, I have been unemployed for far too long and it’s a serious problem, but that isn’t the point of this post. Obviously, when I am working, our days are quite different.
Up at 9 a.m. We have been staying up rather late at Nate’s request. I think it’s puberty, ‘cause he used to be quite a morning person. Now he needs about an hour to laze around after he gets up, before he can accomplish much with any enthusiasm. So this morning he put on a Magnum P.I. episode while I checked my email and fixed breakfast (smoked sausage, eggs and hash browns). After his show was over, he got dressed. Handwriting comes first nearly every day. I am using a modified version of Donna Young’s instructions for making remedial handwriting lessons in a composition notebook (handily acquired for 25 cents apiece during the crazy back-to-school sales). Today I will also have to make more entries for his handwriting book, as he will run out tomorrow. I use tongue twisters for his practice sentences because I find them funny, they are easy to Google and they tend to repeat letters, which is good for practicing. His handwriting has improved quite a lot in the last couple months, and that is a relief! (I used her printable worksheets first, and then moved to the composition book method when we ran out of the worksheets)
After handwriting I gave him his Key to Percents book. He’s on the very last one! (Some other day I will share my theory, scope and sequence of math ed. with you.) Today he did three pages, and completed them with few mistakes and plenty of cheerfulness. But wait! It has not always been so. He used to complain at nearly every Key assignment, beg to do one or two fewer pages than my schedule called for, promising to make it up tomorrow (when I knew he’d beg again), and take two hours to do the work. However, not long ago, something in his brain finally clicked and not only is he enjoying his math, but he is ‘seeing’ things that he was not ‘seeing’ before. That is to say, he could follow the processes and do the work, but he is now discovering for himself WHY things work the way they do.
Then break time—for Nate that means heading downstairs to play on his computer, and for me that means doing the dishes and putting a load of laundry in. Since I had to go downstairs anyway, I commandeered my son to help me work on the still-packed boxes from our move over a year ago. I have a theory: if I can just spend 10 minutes working every time I go down, eventually I will actually make progress. Nate vacuums.
Once we are finished with that, we find it is noon, and thoughts of his coming hunger haunt me, so off to the grocery store we go. Come home, eat lunch, and then work on grammar. On Mondays I have him do Spelling and then Grammar is spread throughout the rest of the week. While he does that I organize school papers and such.
Because it is Tuesday, we have a bit of a time crunch. In addition to Jukido Jujitsu class in the evening, we know that DVDs are coming in the mail from Netflix. Since we haven’t gotten any for a few days now, and we don’t have regular television, when they arrive it is difficult to get the kid to concentrate on anything else. Fortunately the mailman doesn’t usually show until late afternoon!
Tuesday is also a typing day. I am not as militant about that as I would like, but I am improving. He will also do his Teaching Textbooks Math 7 program on the computer. He will take out the garbage, put away the clean dishes, and then be free for the afternoon.
The movies will arrive, during which I will probably strip the turkey I roasted the other day and put the carcass in for stock. Dinner is turkey and rice pilaf. Because it is my sister’s boyfriend’s birthday, we will bake some cookies, as well. Off to Jujitsu, home to feed the boy once again, probably stay up later than we ought watching the presidential debate (I know I said we don’t have regular TV, but we have bunny ears and can get OK sound and a really fuzzy picture of four candidates. Yes, I know the rest of you can see only two. That’s my point.) and something off the DVDs.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Note to my Forums Buddies
I am not ignoring you or too busy, I have been banned. Apparently, telling someone that continuing strife an bitterness makes the Enemy happy is against the rules. Too bad it's true.
Wonderful!
I saw this story on our local newspaper's site. I am thrilled! Not only is this mom making a difference for other moms, but she is getting good reception from the local businesspeople.
I hear so many times that moms should not breastfeed in public, but that attitude is rooted in ignorance and the terrible mis-use of breasts in the media. New mothers are terribly uncomfortable doing one of the coolest things possible, and that's a shame!
I am far past the breastfeeding stage with my kids, but I can remember getting dirty looks, my grandmother talking of nursing in a bathroom stall (ew!), etc. Society needs an attitude shift in this, and the mom in the story above is helping make that happen.
Thank you, Brittany Hansen!
I hear so many times that moms should not breastfeed in public, but that attitude is rooted in ignorance and the terrible mis-use of breasts in the media. New mothers are terribly uncomfortable doing one of the coolest things possible, and that's a shame!
I am far past the breastfeeding stage with my kids, but I can remember getting dirty looks, my grandmother talking of nursing in a bathroom stall (ew!), etc. Society needs an attitude shift in this, and the mom in the story above is helping make that happen.
Thank you, Brittany Hansen!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Boys Will Be Boys
My friend, Kathy, says that boys are genetically predisposed to battle, and we moms just have to live with it and not try to suppress their instincts, and if we do, we'll be sorry, because then who will protect us?
In any case, from the 'Things I never thought I would do... until I gave birth to sons' file...I just placed an order on Soldier City Dot Com.
Unfortunately, they don't have any NCIS gear, or the kid would be in heaven. What I actually ordered were belts. His is falling apart, and he refuses to wear anything but military issue cotton web belts with a slide buckle. Go figure.
In any case, from the 'Things I never thought I would do... until I gave birth to sons' file...I just placed an order on Soldier City Dot Com.
Unfortunately, they don't have any NCIS gear, or the kid would be in heaven. What I actually ordered were belts. His is falling apart, and he refuses to wear anything but military issue cotton web belts with a slide buckle. Go figure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
