food etc

Grease opens tonight! Yesterday Jake and I made three batches of brownies (round brownies in the cupcake stone) for concessions. We also made some gingerbread cookies from a kit we had. For breakfast yesterday we made chocolate chip waffles. Little by little I'm learning to replace premade/ convenience foods with our own "slow food". I also made my own taco seasoning this week...I was winging the amounts and it was a little spicey, but everyone ate it, so around here that's considered a big hit!! Today's smoothie (some for the whole family) had spinach, watermelon that had seen better days, frozen blackberries, a frozen banana and kefir in it. Mike, Jonathan, Madi and I all love it, Jake not so much. Many of our friends are hooked on green smoothies that are actually green. We are including spinach in ours, but they are still berry color and we are happy that way. Maybe by St Patrick's Day we'll be ready to drink an actual green one! What do you put in your smoothie?

Here's something to ponder...

Focus on your home today. The world can find another volunteer, but your husband and children have only you.

Seven Quick Takes

1. I finished a great puzzle the other night. The Vermont one that we got at the Ben and Jerry's Factory. The ice cream was good, but the puzzle yielded much more satisfaction.

2. I stole these two pictures from Tiffany's blog, they were taken by OBM aka Snapshots of Grace photography. These pictures were taken last week. I love them!!


3. Jake was clubber of the month at AWANA the other night.

4. We've mostly gotten our three hours a day of schoolwork in. Jonathan was gone all day today because he went to see the Shakespeare play All's Well that Ends Well. Jake has gotten the hang of "carrying" in math, so much so that he doesn't actually write the number up at the top (I still do even in the checkbook).

5. GREASE is next week! In a few minutes I'm taking Madi and some of the other kids to Chick-fil-a for a mini performance. All you locals...come see it!! Jonathan (Sonny) and Madi (Jan) have their main parts on Thursday and Saturday.

6. I'm really mentally trying to focus on simplifying our lives and yet, we can't seem to find anything that we'd want to cut out. The oportunities are just too good! We are decluttering a lot, so that is something. I'd really like to de-clutter the schedule, but I'm not sure how.

7. What do you do when...

...you're planning on going to Disney, but two of your kids don't even want to go?

...you're son was supposed to unload the dishwasher before going to see a play, but while you were in the shower, his ride came early so the dishwasher didn't get unloaded and his retainer didn't make it back into his mouth?

...your first child had a blood sugar issue as a toddler and so to get him to eat (to live) you let him eat whatever he wanted. This carried over to the other children and while the first child with the original problem is a good and fairly adventurous eater the others are not?

...you're trying to make your families lives healthier phyisically, mentally, and spiritually...how do you decide what is really important, and what is just extra?

I think I know the answers... these circumstances are unique to my family and the answers are as well. There really is no one right way to do it is there?!

For more seven quick takes go here.

Impromtu Daybook

For today, Tuesday, March 2, 2010

On My Mind...I was heading upstairs to take a hot shower, and had a detour at the computer and ended up copying and pasting Cindy's daybook prompts onto my blog. Why the hot shower? Because I'm FREEZING! I spend an hour talking to friends outside PE and another hour talking to friends outside Theatre (some of the same friends) and now I'm chilled to the bone...isn't it March?! Isn't this FLORIDA??!!

Outside My Window...It's cloudy and windy...and cold!


What We're Reading...I'm reading Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom. I read all of the new American Girl books (Rebecca) over the last two weeks. Madi is reading Pictures of Hollis Woods for next week's bookclub (I still have to read that too). Jonathan is listening to the Red Badge of Courage on CD. Jake and I are reading Underground Railroad books, today was Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt and Under the Quilt of Darkness.

What we're Listening to...a bunch of Lenten CDs.

What We're Watching...American Idol of course!! We're also hooked on DVRed Cosby Show episodes right now.

Did you hear Kate Gosselin is going to be on Dancing With the Stars...I'm not sure what to think about that...I'm torn between feeling sorry for her and feeling completely annoyed by her. (last year at his time I'd just read her book and loved her!)

I am hoping...that the weather warms up soon, but doesn't get too hot too quickly.


Quotable Quote...If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. William Penn

In the Kitchen... cookies in the oven oatmeal chocolate chip with flax meal and chia seeds...good for you and YUMMY too! Tacos tonight.

Around the House...everyone is back on track with their chores...Jake is misc this week, Madi is laundry, and Jonathan is kitchen. I'm attempting a rudimentary schedule (it's not written down, just in my head) where we make sure to get three solid hours of schoolwork in each day. The times will vary because everyday is different, but the amount of time should stay the same. We're two for two so far!

Coming Up this week...the usual without too many extras thrown in. Next week is "show week" (GREASE) and is another story all together!

I found that story...

...that I mentioned yesterday. We read it in the beginning of a book by Matthew Kelly, but I'm not postive that he's the original author. Either way, it's a good illustration and I copied an pasted it below...

The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio. You hear a little
blurb about a little village in India where some villagers have died suddenly,
strangely, of a flu that has never been seen before. It’s not influenza, but three or
four fellows are dead, and it’s kind of interesting, and they’re sending some
doctors over there to investigate it.

You don’t thing much about it, but on Sunday, coming home from church, you
hear another radio spot. Only they say it’s not three villagers, it’s 30,000
villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and it’s on TV that
night. CNN runs a little blurb; people are heading there from the disease center
in Atlanta because this disease strain has never been seen before.

By Monday morning when you get up, it’s the lead story. For it’s not just India;
it’s Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and before you know it, you’re hearing this story
everywhere and they have coined it now as “the mystery flu”. The President has
made some comment that he and everyone are praying and hoping that all will
go well over there. But everyone is wondering, “How are we going to contain
it?” That’s when the President of France makes an announcement that shocks
Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan, or any of
the countries where this thing has been seen.

And that’s why that night you are watching a little bit of CNN before going to
bed. Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman is translated from a
French news program into English: “There’s a man lying in a hospital in Paris
dying of the mystery flu.” It has come to Europe. Panic strikes. As best they can
tell, once you get it, you have it for a week and you don’t know it. Then you
have four days of unbelievable symptoms. And then you die.

Britain closes it’s borders, but it’s too late. South Hampton, Liverpool ,North
Hampton, and it’s Tuesday morning when the President of the United States
makes the following announcement: “Due to a national security risk, all flights
to and from Europe and Asia have been canceled. If your loved ones are
overseas, I’m sorry. They cannot come back until we find a cure for this thing.”

Within four days our nation has been plunged into an unbelievable fear. People
are selling little masks for your face. People are talking about what if it comes to
this country, and preachers on Tuesday are saying, “It’s the scourge of God.”

It’s Wednesday night and you are at a church prayer meeting when somebody
runs in from the parking lot and says, “Turn on a radio, turn on a radio.” And
while the church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to
it, the announcement is made. “Two women are lying in a Long Island hospital
dying from the mystery flu.” Within hours it seems this thing just sweeps across
the country. People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote.
Nothing is working. California. Oregon. Arizona. Florida. Massachusetts. It’s as
though it’s just sweeping in from the borders.

And then, all of a sudden the news comes out. The code has been broken. A cure
can be found. A vaccine can be made. It’s going to take the blood of somebody
who hasn’t been infected, and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest, through
all those channels of emergency broadcasting, everyone is asked to do one
simple thing: “Go to your downtown hospital and have your blood type taken.
That’s all we ask of you. And when you hear the sirens go off in your
neighborhood, please make your way quickly, quietly, and safely to the
hospitals.”

Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that Friday night,
there is a long line, and they’ve got nurses and doctors coming out and pricking
fingers and taking blood and putting labels on it. Your wife and your kids are
out there, and they take your blood type and they say, “Wait here in the parking
lot and if we call your name, you can be dismissed and go home.”

You stand around scared with your neighbors, wondering what in the world is
going on, and that this is the end of the world. Suddenly a young man comes
running out of the hospital screaming. He’s yelling a name and waving a
clipboard. What? He yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says,
“Daddy, that’s me.”

Before you know it, they have grabbed your boy. “Wait a minute, hold it!” And
they say, “It’s okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want to make sure
he doesn’t have the disease. We think he has got the right type.” Five tense
minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses, crying and hugging one another -
some are even laughing.

It’s the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and an old doctor
walks up to you and says, “Thank you, sir. Your son’s blood type is perfect It’s
clean, it is pure, and we can make the vaccine.” As the word begins to spread all
across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and praying and
laughing and crying.

But then the gray-haired doctor pulls you and you wife aside and says, “May we
see you for a moment? We didn’t realize that the donor would be a minor and we
need . . . we need you to sign a consent form.” You begin to sign and then you
see that the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty.

“H-h-h-how many pints?” And that is when the old doctor’s smile fades and he
says, ” We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren’t prepared. We need
it all!” ” But – but…” “You don’t understand. We are talking about the world
here. Please sign. We – we need it all – we need it all!” “But can’t you give him a
transfusion?” “If we had clean blood we would. Can you sign? Would you
sign?”

In numb silence you do. Then they say, “Would you like to have a moment with
him before we begin?”

Can you walk back? Can you walk back to that room where he sits on a table
saying, “Daddy? Mommy? What’s going on?” Can you take his hands and say,
“Son, your mommy and I love you, and we would never ever let anything
happen to you that didn’t just have to be. Do you understand that?” And when
that old doctor comes back in and says, “I’m sorry, we’ve – we’ve got to get
started. People all over the world are dying.” Can you leave? Can you walk out
while he is saying, “Dad? Mom? Dad? Why – why have you forsaken me?”

And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your son, and some
folks sleep through it, and some folks don’t even come because they go to the
lake, and some folks come with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care.
Would you want to jump up and say, “MY SON DIED! DON’T YOU CARE?”

Is that what He wants to say? “MY SON DIED. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW
MUCH I CARE?”

“Father, seeing it from your eyes breaks our hearts. Maybe now we can begin to
comprehend the great love you have for us. Amen.”

So much on my mind...

I turned 40 yesterday. It was a day to stop all outside activities and focus on what is really important. I didn't plan on that, but when Jake threw up first thing in the morning, that's what the day turned into. Yes, I spent part of the day feeling sorry for myself, but I spent much more of it feeling sorry for Jake. Not so much for the sickness, since as far as sicknesses go it was very mild, but because he was so disappointed that he was sick. "Why do I have to have this?" "Why did God make germs?" "Why can't we just sneeze the germs out instead of having to throw up?" These and many more were the questions I attempted to answer yesterday. Jake also felt bad that he was sick on my birthday. I spend a lot of time on here harping about what I often consider Jake's downfalls, like his lack of regard for what other people think, but really his heart is so tender. He doesn't always show his tenderness, but it's in there. Sweetness from a more challenging kid is just that much sweeter. He's pretty much back to normal today (good normal), and while the other two were at PE I took him on a Mom and Jake date to eat some soup and crackers. We are having a very good day!

From the learning rooms...
I love educating the kids. I am often frustrated by all of the other incidentals in our life that take away from our time reading and learning together because that is really my favorite thing to do. Jake and I have been really enjoying our five in a row books (sometimes he enjoys my reading when he's playing his DS {on mute at least}). Last week (actually for about 2 weeks) we did The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills. We read our five in a row book everyday for at least 5 days, but I often don't do the activities the way they are presented in the manual...I sometimes don't get that book out for weeks. With the rag coat, I taught Jake to use the sewing machine while we worked on a little blanket that I am making out of some of the kids' old baby clothes. We also have a story (I guess it is a song too) by Dolly Parton about a similar rag coat, we discussed the two books. A school scope and sequence would say "compare and contrast", but we just had a pleasant conversation about the two stories. This week Jake and I are doing Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter. We also got another book by the same name (different author) out of the library that has a CD to go with it. It has the same song (an escape song used by the underground railroad to help slaves escape north to freedom), but is about a different family. Reading Rainbow had an episode about Winter's book and we got that out of the library and watched it as well. I seem to be meeting a lot of people who are new to homeschooling, and I've gotten a lot of questions about what I recommend for young kids. I always say five in a row, but it is hard for me to explain what school really looks like in my house because it is hard to see "school" it is really just life.

Jonathan had to do an experiment for science this week where he had to dissolve a boullion cube in warm water separate it into 4 glasses. One glass was the control, one went in the refrigerator, one had salt added to it and the forth had vinegar added to it. As you might have guessed the contol grew a lot of bacteria in a short period of time (you could tell this by trying to read a piece of paper through the glass), the salt and refrigerated ones grew some bacteria, and the vinegar one grew almost none. What a great and easy way to show how food spoils and why we need to refrigerate it (or salt or pickle it) to keep the growth of bacteria to a minimum. I really feel that the things we do and the products that we have found to help us are so basic and easy and yield great information with hardly any preparation. This "no preparation" is key because as difficult as it is to make time to sit down and do the basic activities, it would be next to impossible to find extra time to actually "plan lessons". That whole lesson plan question to me goes hand in hand with the how long is your school day question. The answers I tend to give for that one fluctuate between 5 minutes and 24 hours depending on what you consider school. Our life seems so obvious to me because it is the life we are living, but the more I talk to other people (those who don't really know us) the more I am reminded that what we do is "different".


From the kitchen...
We've gotten into the habit of making brownies in muffin tins instead of a 9x13 pan. So much easier! Why did that one take me so long to figure out?!

Madi has made the challah in a bag twice now and it is soo good! She also made a yummy cake for my birthday!

I've been making homemade cocoa instead of the instant stuff...also easy and without any of the fake stuff. The recipe is right on the can of cocoa.

I've seen the term "slow food" in a few different places lately. Apparently it is the catch phrase for food that you cook from scratch. I figure if little by little we replace some of the convenience foods that we still use with the slower, healthier variety, we'll get to all "slow food" eventually without a huge transition. We've been heading in that direction for years anyway.

On the no microwave front...we've not gotten rid of it, but use it much less often...baby steps.


More misc...
Mike went to a trade show yesterday and came home with balsa wood model planes for the kids. It's still the simple toys that kids like. Jake has played with his all day today...even while listening to me read.

I love facebook! I know there's a lot of "issue" with so much technology etc... but I love that so many people wished me a happy birthday via facebook yesterday. Like everything else there are negatives, but used correctly I think it's great! Jonathan does have his own account. I noticed yesterday that one of his "friends" used some horrible language. We discussed it. Not only does he know that I can go on his account he often leaves it pulled up on my ipod. I'm not "friends" with all of his "friends" and I'm nosey and like to see what's going on (not just in the "mom checking up sense", but in the I love to know about all people all the time). Today I read an amazing little story by Matthew Kelly to Jonathan and Madison. Jonathan's immediate response was..."I want to put that on facebook". [I'm trying to find a link to the story because while it is short it is too long for me to type on here...you can "friend" Jonathan on facebook though because I think he plans to type the whole thing out later]

I just started a new puzzle...it is a White Mountain puzzle of VERMONT (I know Vermont is the Green Mountain State...white mountain is the puzzle company). We bought it at the Ben and Jerry's factory.

My early favorites for American Idol are Casey James, Aaron Kelly, and Katie Stevens. Who do you like?

Fun questions...

I found this on a blog (actually Carolyn-- who commented on my last post--who found me from 7QT). They seemed fun so I'm going to use them... (I'm too lazy (or maybe too hungry...or too eager to go do something with my family) to actually link to the original place where the questions originated, but here goes...)

1. Have you ever hit an animal with your vehicle?

I'm pretty sure I've hit a squirrel (or maybe about 25 squirrels), but I'm pretty sure that I've never hit a pet. (I've hit vehicals before-- usually in our own driveway...Madi, who has taken to sitting in the front seat when she's the only one with me, said the other day that she's safer in the front seat anyway since I only hit things when I'm backing up!)

2. When you see a string on your clothes do you pull it off or cut if off?

Pull it off usually. Sometimes cut if the scissors are handy, but they're usually not handy. If it is a knit fabric like a sweater sometimes I pull it through the other side. So I guess my answer is it depends. (I was going to say I'm a "DEPENDS" sort of gal, but then that made me sound older than my 40 years!)

3. Did you have your own room or share a room when you were young?

My own room. Well, I shared with my brother until I was about 8 {he was born when I was 4} (in two different houses).

4. Would you rather wear the same thing for the rest of your life or eat the same thing for the rest of your life?

I'd definitely rather wear the same thing...I almost think I might like that actually.

5. What was your favorite TV show as a child?

Depends (again) on when we are talking about, but the first thing that came to mind is Family Ties, so we'll leave it at that.

Seven Quick Takes

1. I think I found my first grey hair. I've been looking for years (and especially regularly this past year). It's been a race to see if I'd get one before I turn 40, but with just 5 days to go, I'm pretty sure the grey won out.

2. I've never colored my hair (unless you count "sun in"...in my teens {or was it twenties?}...I can't remember now that was too long ago!) and don't plan on starting now.

3. I'm pretty sure the color grey can be spelled grey or gray...I like GREY...just like I spell THEATRE that way.

4. Speaking of the color grey, Jonathan, Madi and I just went to see the play The Giver. (the characters in the story don't see colors, only grey) It was incredible! That is such an amazing book and everyone should read it. Lois Lowry's genius rivals JK Rowling. The book is controversial and for that reason a lot of people don't want their kids to read it (or read it YET), but we LOVE it!! We had a lot to discuss on the way home about the benefits or lack of benefits in a utopian society. Jonathan made a great point when he said the people who have banned that book or don't let their kids read it are sort of creating for themselves the community in the story, in trying to protect them; where nothing is bad, there is no benefit to the good. If you don't understand what I'm saying...READ THE BOOK!! We also talked about how important good literature is and how people (often schools, but not exclusively) place so much value on "paperwork" and test scores and so little value on real learning, good literature, insightful discussion, etc... because those things can't be quantified.

5. I went to confession yesterday...how freeing...it feels wonderful!!

6. I wish I was having another birthday party tonight...it went by too fast!

7. I was the 48th person to sign up on the seven quick takes thing, I've done this for 3 weeks and I'm pretty sure no one new found my blog from there. Maybe because I just put Julie as my link and don't have a cute, clever blog name attached like "Julie@ grey hair". If you happen to be visiting my blog and I don't know you, say Hi!

PS I'm pretty sure that you've never read a blog post that used the word grey so many times, and if you did, they probably didn't spell it the way I do!!



For more 7 quick takes go here.