Twelve hours later

Just thought I'd check in since it was a perfect day. J had some passes for free baseball tickets (we have a local minor league team) and so he took dsB. We have been to two other games this month with other kids so this was a nice time for them. B is babysitting and the younger three are watching Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims. We listened to the Focus on the Family radio theatre production of Squanto, which is fabulous, by the way. That made them want more of Squanto's story. When we got to the part in the CD where Squanto returns to the New World to find his village completely gone, W cried for him. We are enjoying getting to the stories of the pilgrims after being away from American History for several years.

We worked solidly this morning, with everyone finishing their 3 R's by lunchtime. After lunch, we read our science lesson for the younger ones, which is taxonomy this week. I found some flashcards with the major phyla of the Animal Kingdom and I need to print them and have the kids illustrate them. Then we got to the real fun-- home economics. The girls REALLY wanted to cook so we did two lessons today. The first was a lesson on measuring. They learned how to measure dry ingredients and wet ingredients, how many tsp are in a Tbsp., and how to clean up. We talked about the rules of baking (#1 on the list is get an apron, so perfect that we made aprons in our sewing group this summer). Then they had their first recipe. They were supposed to make banana bread. Well, they are also supposed to make the recipe two more times during the next week to practice and R doesn't even like banana bread so we found a recipe for lemon bread that she could make. It ended up being a little more complicated than she was ready for so I helped a bit. Next time I'll have her substitute pumpkin for the bananas in the simpler recipe.

Anyway, both girls made their breads and learned about how to clean up. They will repeat the process in the morning. We'll freeze some of these quick breads to take with us when we pack lunches on Monday and Tuesday. Each lesson has a sweet coloring page with a verse from Proverbs 31 on it, so the girls are coloring those. I am copying the recipes and a few other useful things (like the rules) and they are creating Home Economics notebooks for the year. The final unit is one on hospitality and they are supposed to host a party. They are already looking forward to this event.

In B's Home Economics, she is doing the unit on inner and outer beauty. The fun part of this is getting a salon makeover/beauty treatment. I plan to call the local beauty school and see if we can get the works for a good price. I used to get a manicure there when I was in college for $3, pretty cool, huh? It was right across from where I worked and I could go in after work for a bang trim and a manicure for $5.

I am trying to help dsB develop some responsibility. He is resistant to work and very stubborn so we are locking horns frequently. He is currently solving complicated ratios in his Algebra and he refuses to show the steps needed. He wants to be able to do it all in his head. His method earned him a 73 in his lesson today so he had to go through it with me and then do the second set in the lesson to prove he was able to do it and move on. I hope he realized how inefficient this was for him. He doesn't get his chores done. He is not allowed computer or TV privileges until it's done, but he doesn't seem to care. He just reads his books instead. sigh...as I type his laundry is all over the couch because he dawdled and didn't get it put away before we left to take him to Dad for the ball game. I couldn't delay leaving since the whole family had other reasons we needed to leave at exactly 5PM. Tomorrow I guess I'll get him up extra early to put it all away.

Now I plan to sweep and mop the floor. The girls did what they could but there is stickiness everywhere. Then I need to start the girls' laundry and iron some shirts. I am previewing a movie about Jamestown so we can watch it tomorrow so I'll iron while I watch it after kids go to bed. I don't expect the guys home from the baseball game until after 10. Filed in homeschooling and homekeeping.

Sunny Thursday Morning at 8:00

That's where I am right now. I'm waiting for the blueberry muffins to be ready and checking things on my new laptop in the kitchen. I do love the flexibility it allows me. One night I took it to soccer practice and got all of my students entered in the grade program. This was our first week of classes so I have lots of new adds and a few drops as schedules changed. WHen it's all said and done, I think I'll have just under 100 students. That's my overall goal for my student load, and to have reached it in only three years is amazing to me. The first year I had about 50 over three days. This is twice the students in only 2 days. That means the most efficient use of my time. That first year most classes were 3-5 students. Now the smallest is an advanced Chem class with 6. Most others have 12-16. That's perfect. I close the classes at 18.

Today we will not go anywhere. We have had soccer each night and Scouts for dsB on some of them. After I posted about becoming an accidental Soccer Mom, I was surfing and found an article over at Ladies against Feminism about a woman who is proudly an Anti-Soccer Mom (http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/artman/publish It's near the bottom of the page) . Honestly, I would have written this myself 4 or 5 years ago. I wholeheartedly agree with everything she says. But I do want to address a few points she makes. I think there are some stereotypes about that hobby/sport that are not entirely true.

She says she will eat healthier. That this activity causes families not to eat together and to eat fast food. We address that by intentionally planning meals which are easy to eat quickly or to pack for eating at the field. One night practices began at 6. That night we ate a real meal at 5 instead of a snack at 4 and then we had smoothies and popcorn for a bedtime snack when we got home. We were all together and we ate nutritious food. The next night practices were from 4:30-6, so I planned a meal I could do quickly when we returned at 6. We had potato and Canadian bacon omelette with strawberry/cantaloupe smoothie and a fruit salad. (It's still very hot so we want cold fruit instead of hot vegetables. We ate cold raw vegetables for lunch)

She also mentions that her little ones shouldn't have to be dragged around to practices and games. While I agree with that, some children enjoy going with their older siblings and playing, as long as they are not being kept up past their bedtime and also being dragged around all day. This is one reason I limited our team activities in the earlier years. Now my youngest three are the ones doing it and I dont' have any babies to drag around.

Her third point that I don't feel applies to us is the fact that all this organized activity takes away from spontaneous play. This may be true for children who sit in a classroom for 8 hours a day and then go to soccer/baseball/cheerleading all night. But our children have lots of free time to create their own play. I wouldn't be nearly so eager to do this if they were in public school. Also, we consider this their PE. It's all well and good to say children get enough activity running around in the backyard. But not all children will enjoy playing outside without the structure. THis is the first inkling of interest in physical activity that H has shown. This is a good thing for her. We are very concerned that our kids get enough exercise to establish it as a lifelong habit. This is something they enjoy and believe me, I wouldn't do it if it wasn't fun.

Some people argue that chidlren won't be able to get their homework done if they are at a practice. We take care of that by getting all of our school work done in the daytime. Only my highschoolers have homework, and they aren't the ones playing soccer.

Most of the families we have met in our soccer teams are very nice people. I don't know how they handle their meals or their finances or their free time, but they are doing what they feel is best for their children. Most of them only have 2 or 3 older kids. I would agree it's not for everyone and if you want to be home more, that's great. But this activity is filling a need for lots of families and we can't dismiss it because it doesn't fit our family's philosophy. I have seen lots of kids go astray because they don't have a place to fit in. Each child needs to find their "thing". For my oldest son, it's Scouts, for B it's church. I've yet to determine what that "thing" is for my younger ones, but the only way to find out is to let them have varied experiences in a controlled setting (meaning I'm still in charge of not letting it take over our family).

So, tonight I'll enjoy the fact that we don't have to go anywhere and we will enjoy the time at home all weekend. But next week, we'll be ready to get out on the field again for a little fun exercise.

Miscellaneous Moral Hints

From Chapter 1 of A Mother's Book of Traditional Household Skills by L. G. Abel, published first in 1852.

Excellence is providentially placed well beyond the reach of indolence, that success may be the reward of industry, and that idleness may punished with obscurity and disgrace.

A sound moral discipline, and a well regulated mind, can under God, carry a man through life so that he will not be the sport and victim of every exchange that flits across the scene. Every day that passes, and every step that we take, without making it the object of earnest attention, renders the acquirement more difficult and undertain, until a period at length arrive when no power exists in the mind capable of correcting the disorder which habit has fixed.

Servants and children will be punctual where their leader is so.

A straw will make an impression on the virgin snow, but after a time a horse's hoof cannot penetrate it; so it is with the youthful mind.

Gratitude is one of our first duties to God, and should not be forgotten when due to man.

How Did This Happen?

I woke up yesterday morning and...I am now an official Soccer Mom. I never wanted to be one when I was growing up. I have no training for this career. I am not certified (maybe certifiable). It just happened. It crept in slowly with one small boy who enjoyed the game last spring. He ran around on that field every Saturday morning with a huge grin on his face. It was harmless enough. Practice once a week and a game on Saturday. The real trouble arose because his sisters thought it looked like fun, too. I'm sure you are getting the picture now.

You see, from 2001-2004 we had a long period of unemployment. When tough times hit, activities like soccer and dance are the first thing to be cut. We continued church and Scouts since they were relatively low cost. But individual activities can be very expensive. So for that period, no child did anything "extra". That led to guilt. We live in typical suburbia where kids are overscheduled and moms are overwhelmed. By being unemployed I was able to avoid that for our family. We were still plenty busy, and the kids were never deprived but we didn't have 10,000 different places to be on any given week night

That has all changed now. J thinks we owe it to the children to catch up on all those things before they are too old. When H wanted to play, we were overjoyed since this is her first interest in physical activity (other than swimming, but that has a limited time frame unless we want to get competitive.) And then when little R wanted to play too, we could hardly say no to her? Right? Well, I may not buy that hook, line, and sinker, but J "encouraged" me to let them all play. I said it would be chaos. I said we'd go crazy.

I'm halfway there already, and we haven't even started (my kids would say it was a short trip). We now have 5 practices at 2 locations, 3 games at 2 locations (plus the oldest will travel), and it lasts for 8 weeks. I figure I can do anything for 8 weeks. Last night H had her first practice and after a rocky start in the 103 deg heat, she began to have fun. Her coach is responsible for 3 teams of girls so there were 30+ girls out there in the heat running and kicking brightly colored soccerballs around. As H went to bed last night, she said "I can't wait until practice on Monday night." That was music to my ears since this may well be our last opportunity to turn her on to physical activity before the teen years hit.

I have mixed emotions about this level of chaos in our family evenings. I will probably be packing more dinners than not. But at least we'll all be eating together at the soccer field. Because one thing we established early on was a pack mentality. Wherever we go, we go as a pack. And if I get to see that silly grin I saw on W all spring on all 3 of my young children, it will all be worth it. I don't know how it happened, but if I'm going to be a Soccer Mom, I'd better dust off my soccer chair. And think of the knitting I can get done!

Remembering the Lasts

On our trip to Disney I had lots of time on the bus for reading. I was finishing a book by Karen Kingsbury in which her son, the youngest of her 5 children is getting married. She has written a poem to him about how we always remember the firsts in our children's lives but maybe we need to think about the lasts. You know, the last time you nursed. The last time you rocked a crying baby to sleep. The last time they kissed you goodnight. It brought tears to my eyes. This picture was taken during one of those long bus rides by my friend Kristi. Just looking at it makes me think of that poem. This may very well be the last time I get to hold a sleeping child. W is 5 now and he doesn't sleep much at all, certainly not in my arms!

One morning this week he came down to me and announced that everything was different now. He sleeps on the TOP bunk, he takes showers, and he uses mint toothpaste (instead of bubblegum). He started Kindergarten this week. He moved to his new Sunday School room UPSTAIRS this morning. I think W is right! Everything is different...and I'm so proud to be his mommy, especially since he is my last. Filed in children.

Did you know?

Did you know that you can use your computer to get copies made by the professionals without even leaving home? I am working hard this weekend to finish preparations for my classes this fall. I have to get all of the registrations finalized (80 students so far) and have all of the syllabi updated and tweaked for printing. I plan to give them out at the Open Houses this week. Since my printer is lousy and my time is valuable, when I have a large print job like this I send it by email to Office max. I just attach all of the documents and tell them how many, what kind of paper, and even to staple and hole-punch them. First thing Monday morning I will stop by and they will be done. He already sent word that he had received the message was already working on them. And I never left my keyboard (well not for that anyway). Did you know you could do that? And it doesn't cost anymore than having them do it when you take it in. I have a discount card so big jobs are cheaper there. Little daily/weekly jobs are better done at my local mail store where she lets me buy 2500 copies at a time for $.04 each and I have a code to the copier that allows me to go in and make copies without standing in line to pay or get a cartridge. Short of owning my own, this is a good deal.

Also on the "DONE" side of my list today are The Library for the school books, the post office, the grocery store, pet store for dog food, and a special outing with H to Barnes and Noble. We bought a logic puzzle book and sat in the cafe with our special drinks and solved one while we chatted. H is my child whose love language is "Quality Time" and her second is "Physical Touch". She said as we were running around this afternoon that she liked this time even better than Disney World. While I'm not sure she was entirely serious about that, she is the one who loves to just pal around together. And I don't mind sitting around in a book store, drinking cool drinks with one of my favorite people either :)

A Homeschooler's View of Lunch

The ladies over at Choosing Home have asked for sharing about lunches . I shared our usual lunch pattern but then we had a special lunch that reminded me of another approach to lunch. Every teacher knows about the "teachable moment" That is when a particular lesson is most receivable, if that makes sense. Look for opportunities to fit a "lesson" in your everyday living. That is what homeschooling is about, is it not? Well, this week our lunch lesson is a Boxcar Lunch. And here are my Boxcar Children. The Boxcar Children is a children's story about four orphans who are afraid of being turned over to the custody of their grandfather and so they try to hide out in an abandoned boxcar. In our reading yesterday, the teen brother, Henry, had gone to find work and food. While he was gone, the younger children picked wild blueberries. Upon his return, they feasted on milk, blueberries, brown bread, and "fine yellow cheese". To them, this was a very special meal. I just happened to have all of those things on hand, so we spread a sheet on the livingroom floor (they ate on a spread out laundry bag) and shared in a meal like that one. To my children, this seemed a bit sparse, and plain. I even warmed and buttered our bread, which was not authentic. We had discussions about how the children must have felt. Alone, orphaned , scared, and hungry.

In the past we have had "hoecakes" or "johnnycakes" while studying pioneers. When we studied Laura Ingalls Wilder and read about the sugaring off party at Grandma's, We had pancakes with real maple syrup for lunch. At the end of our Ancient Greece study, we went out for a lunch at a local Greek restaurant. We celebrated our study of the Middle Ages with a Medieval Feast (which I blogged about as well). This week I picked up a Colonial Cookbook for our upcoming studeis. The kids love eating food that they have read about. And it often provides an opportunity for them to learn to cook something new.

There's an old email joke circulating that asks how many homeschoolers it takes to change a lightbulb. It starts with the one Mom to get a book about Thomas Edison from the library, and proceeds to tell of dozens of homeschoolers who study various aspects of electricity and light before the lightbulb is purchased and installed. This reminds me of lunches some days at our house. You'll notice my older two are not in the above picture. When I told them what I had planned for lunch, they groaned and said, "Aw, Mom! Can't we just eat???" But if I had taken pictures later, you would have seen them just as fully engaged in our Boxcar experience. They're just too old to admit it :) Filed in homeschooling and cooking

Homemade Laundry Detergent- with pictures

Here is the way I make my powdered laundry detergent. Above are the supplies I have on hand to make it up. Washing soda is NOT the same thing as baking soda, even though it is the Arm and Hammer company. It is found in the laundry section of some groceries and some Walmarts. When I find it, I buy 3-4 boxes. You can use any number of soaps. the purer the better. Fels Naphtha and Zote are two brands of laundry soap and I have even heard of people using Ivory soap. This is Kirk's castile soap made of coconut oil. I pay $1.19 per bar at the local grocery store, not an easy find. I bought about 10 bars this week. The white tub is Borax. In the store look for it in the laundry section in a green box, brand name 20 Mule Team. The little dropper bottle is lavendar essential oil, which I purchase through an online company, but it is NOT essential.

In the middle you see a picture of the soap, cubed. I do that to help the food processor along, but you can grate it too. Then combine 2 parts grated soap to 1 part each Borax and washing soda. This bar grates to almost exactly one cup so I add 1/2 cup of each of the other things. Then I add 2-3 drops essential oil as it processes. In the end it is a fine powder which I store in a little tub on the dryer. I bought a 2 Tbsp. coffee scoop to keep in it and I use just under one scoop per load. I have to make a batch about once every 7-10 days. I have noticed my clothes are just as clean as with regular detergent and the smell of lavendar is soft but fresh. Filed in homekeeping.

What's for Dinner: Acorn squash

You may have noticed I haven't been sharing many dinners this summer. That's mainly because every day I can, we're at the pool from 4-6 PM. This means dinner is usually a crockpot or very simple affair. These are not pretty dinners. These are "get-the-family-fed-" affairs and they are not blog-worthy. But, alas, with the start of schools in our area, the city pools have closed except on weekends. Bummer! But it is lucky for my family because it means I feel like cooking in the afternoon since we aren't rushing off to the pool. Last night, I needed to use up some breakfast sausage I had in the fridge. I also had two beautiful acorn squash I had bought a few weeks ago. They hold for so long but they needed to be eaten. I came up with my own recipe...not at all like the scallops of a few weeks ago. This time I sauteed the onions, mushrooms, and peppers with the sausage, added cooked brown rice, and filled the squash. The great thing about this recipe is that I did it all in the microwave (well not browning the sausage) but I cooked the cut squash for 5 minutes, then filled, covered and sealed, then cooked 5-7 more minutes in the microwave again. And they turned out delicious. Even the kids liked them. Filed in cooking.

A Mother's View of Lunch

Today went very well, as far as first days go. We finished up about 3:15, which is a victory here. A few years ago, it was 5:00 PM and we were still going at it. Today, we did not have all of our subjects since we won't start science yet and the older two will be doing writing at a place where I teach. But we did a good day's work in. Early in the morning I started a quiche intending it for dinner, but when lunch time came around, it was warm and inviting. Why not? There was just enough to leave one piece for Dad to take for lunch tomorrow. And we need to get back to a routine for lunch anyway. In the past, I have had a set menu for lunch each week. We pack on Monday and Tuesday but the other days we are home. Lunch needs to be fast, simple, and universally appealing because I am NOT a short order cook. Some of our favorites are :

Burritos (tortillas, refried beans, and cheese) fits all criteria
Grilled Cheese sandwiches (with or without chicken noodle soup)
Popcorn, cheese and fruit (usually eaten with toothpicks)
Tuna or egg salad
In the winter, I put soups in the crockpot to be ready by lunch. Too hot to think about that yet.
Tortilla pizzas (have my own canned sauce always at the ready)
Noodle Omelet (boil tiny egg noodles, put in omelet made of eggs and cheese)

All lunches are served with a fruit or vegetable (like baby carrots) and/or yogurt. I try to pack J's lunch each day and he gets either leftovers or a sandwich. I bought some divided refrigerator containers and when there are leftovers, I pack it right into the tray, stick in the fridge. Then when he is leaving early in the morning, I can pull one out and pop it in a lunch bag. Sometimes I add a napkin with a heart on it. One time I put a balloon in that I had blown up and drawn I (heart) U on, then deflated. When we were in his office last month, I noticed it on his bulletin board. Awww!

Lunch is my least favorite meal simply because once we change gears to eat, it is hard to get back in the groove of schoolwork. But being prepared with a P-L-A-N helps make it go more smoothly. Filed in cooking and homeschooling.

Twas the Night Before Homeschooling

Tomorrow's the day...the first day of school. We are getting up bright and early tomorrow morning to start on our new school year. This is actually the latest we have ever started. I used to start in mid-July because it was just too darn hot to do much else. But this has been an unusually busy summer and I haven't had time to blink, much less plan for an early start. So tomorrow we will sit down to read, write and do a little 'rithmetic even though Mom is not perfectly prepared. I've done the important parts. They all have math lessons planned. We know what to read. W's plan is easy since I plan to do Sonlight's K with him because I have it and because I don't think he'd benefit much from the older students Tapestry of Grace studies. He'll always be present, listening in but he needs his own books., too. I've planned the first 6 weeks of history/literature so I think we're okay there. I still have lots of science work to do but we won't start that for 2 more weeks, when my classes start. We'll all be doing Biology this year.

So, come 8:30 in the morning we'll be cuddled up on the couch to read our Bible and our Truthquest guide to begin our study of colonial America. Then I'll rotate through the children, youngest to oldest, checking on math lessons, giving language lessons, and reading to them as appropriate (or listening to them read to me). I'm pretty excited about the prospect of having 5 full time students. No more toddlers to entertain while trying to get some "real" work done. Even though Kindergarten will be much less demanding than B's high school course work, W takes his school seriously and he will be fun to work with. I am also a bit nervous about our first foray into high school. This will require more discussion time with her than we have had in the last few years. We need to read, talk, and write about all she is learning. I just hope I can get it all done in a day. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment. I thought once I graduated, I'd be done with First Day Jitters...guess not! Filed in homeschooling.

An Old Sewing Project

This is an old sewing project I was very proud of. Our very first baby purchase over 15 years ago was a baby jogger. It was a floor model and we got it for a song. But after many years and several children, it had been used heavily. The original seat was a thin red fabric, almost like that of a tent. The seams were coming apart and it wouldn't even stay on the fram. I took the whole thing apart, ripping all of the seams, and used the pieces as my new pattern pieces. I had this khaki twill which had been an ebay purchase and I had lots of it. Later, I'll show you a coat I made for dsb out of the same khaki twill. I bought lots of red bias tape and starting sewing. I was most pleased with the result. The back has a large pocket which closes with velcro. I added a smaller pocket just inside the large one for keys, etc. The straps are the original since they were in fine shape. You can see that parts of the handle are held together with duct tape, but the seat is most comfortable. Now that we don't need it much, I don't know what to do with it. Most new moms want their own NEW stuff and it isn't very pretty anymore, but the seat is like new and sturdier than new so I can't bear to just get rid of it.

Kids Have Been Sewing

These are some recent pictures of projects the kids have finished. The pillowcases were actually their first project. Since everyone else was getting one, I made one for W, too out of a batman print on the dollar table. dsB made a quillow out of polr fleece. It has a pocket on the underside ( he has his feet in it now. ) You can fold the whole thing into the pillow pocket and it becomes a pillow. All of the children have one and they are terrific for travel. The bottom picture is the totebag the girls finished in sewing class this week. That was our last class since all of our friends, and us, are starting school next week and we need to be done sewing. My two girls will complete their quillows on their own in the next couple of weeks.

Coffee Recipes for Summer

I'm not really a coffee drinker but I do love a fancy coffee drink, especially cold ones. Unfortunately, my budget can't afford the hoity toity drinks at a well known coffee joint which happens to be on every corner in town, including the one on my way to, well everywhere. But through a little research and trial and error, I have come up with two drinks that are just as good as anything you can get from said coffee shop. Here they are for your enjoyment.

Iced Coffee

1 1/2 c. brewed coffee
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1/2 c. half and half
1/2 tsp vanilla (I use coconut extract sometimes instead)

Mix together, chill if there's time. Pour over ice cubes. I like to make ice cubes out of coffee so it doesn't dilute as much but this is fairly rich and strong so it doesn't dilute much even with regular ice.

Mock Frappucino

1/3 c. warm water
2 T. instant coffee
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla (or other flavoring-try almond or coconut)

Put coffee and water in blender; blend. Add milk and flavoring; blend until smooth. Add crushed (or small cubes) ice to the blender until almost full. It makes about 6 cups. You may need to add a bit more water if it is too thick. Blend until very smooth and then pour into glasses; drink with straws and top with whipped cream for a fancy drink.

Enjoy - filed in cooking

New Blogging feature

If you're really observant, you may have noticed I added a new feature to the blog this week. I finally found a way to add categories at Blogger. It actually makes use of the search function so it pulls up all posts with the Key Word in the title or text of the post. This means I may have to go back and edit some of I want them to be found. And a word like "children" will pull up lots of posts. I haven't figured a way around that but now that my blog is getting full, there are old posts even I want to find so I need a way to file them. I may go back and edit mroe of the older ones later as time permits. Rigth now I am knee deep in getting ready for school. I have several ideas for terrific posts so I'll be trying to get to those soon (lots of pictures involved, which is time consuming.)

We had our last sewing class this morning as most of us are starting back to school next week. The last project was a tote bag. Aside from a few machine malfunctions, they all turned out very nicely. Of the 8 girls who participated, only 2 have decided sewing is just not for them. One of them happens to be my H. This morning she was at her frustration limit and just said, "I would rather cook than sew!" She is not into the details and her motto was "it's good enough!" We skipped the last row of top-stitching. She was so done...

As I said in my teens...
Longer
Letter
Later...

Kim

Cleaning Break

We had a morning free today and since I didn't ahve to go out, I decided to focus on the upstairs. It can get terribly cluttered in a flash. We have two bathrooms up there for the 5 children to share. They are in charge of cleaning them most of the time and I go in to do it thoroughly every once in a while (i shoot for once a month). Today's that day. Gross is putting it mildly. I know I am not a great housekeeper but I can't understand how children cannot see orange gunk behind the toilet when they clean! I used bleach, Borax, vinegar, and a multitude of scrubbers, wipers, and rubers to get the grime out. Then I brought all of the children into their shining bathrooms to show them how it SHOULD look.

In the meantime, they were supposed to be organizing their rooms. The boys constantly have tiny pieces (Legos, K'nex, Magnetix) all over their floor. I buy them nice containers, I even help them sort. But they prefer to be able to have them "displayed " on the floor for ease of use, I suppose.

We are in the process of weeding through the girls' clothes. What I am finally coming to the realization of is this: It doesn't matter how cute I think the outfit is. IT doesn't matter where it came from. If they don't like it, it is destined to have a long and lonely life on the floor of the closet. So I gave them permission to keep only what they really like. I won't even look at the giveaway bags because they are too old for my opinion to matter. As long as everything is appropriate (which it is or it wouldn't have gotten this far) i don't really care what they wear. I'll be able to give it away knowing that some other girl will enjoy it, even if mine don't.

We are now taking a break for lunch. After lunch, We need to keep the momentum going so they can have clean rooms to start the next week. All of this is my way of getting us ready to start a new school year.Filed in homekeeping

Lavender, Laundry, and the Lord

All this talk of laundry reminds me of this quote I saw over at Mommylife

"Laundry is like the love of God...it's never ending."

filed in homekeeping

Lavender in the Home and Bath

Around Christmas I started to get interested in aromatherapy and using essential oils for myself in the bath and for health reasons. Eucalyptus oil was fabulous for that terrible headcold and stuffy nose of winter. I cleaned out an old lip balm tube and put a bit of cotton down in it. I dropped two drops of eucalyptus oil onto the cotton and had a homemade inhaler. Lemon oil is a refreshing addition to a morning bath. But the most versatile oil I bought was the lavendar oil. I use it in the bath at night to help relax. I use it in my homemade laundry detergent to make my laundry smell spring-clean. I put a few drops in my mop water (only water and vinegar) to make the whole house smell fresh when I mop. It is reported to have germicidal properties as well so if that is true, a good mopping with it is beneficial on many levels. I have a linen spray from my mother that is lavendar scented. I can spray it on the sheets in the morning, let dry during breakfast, then make the bed. When I get in at night, oh, so fresh smelling! I have not grown lavendar myself but I may look into it next year. I bought lavendar buds in bulk and they make lovely sachets for the drawer or closet. I've even read of lavendar lemonade. Haven't tried that one, yet, though. Filed in homekeeping.

Also, on different note, today is my little brother's birthday. our birthdays are only one day apart, which makes it very easy to remember (we are 5 years apart, however) My favorite bday memory is the year I turned 15 and he turned 10. We rented the pool and both of us invited all the friends we wanted to the pool party. My parents had two cakes, two separate times for presents and singing. It felt like separate parties but we all had a great time together. So, Happy Birthday C!!!

Quiet Sundays

It was a quiet Sunday here at the homestead. We were out late last night attending the "theatre in the park" performance of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". So much fun. So, 6 am came early this morning. We went to early church, but before we left, I did manage to get the last of the turkey parts in the crockpot with vegetables and seasonings so we could come home to soup ready to eat. And it was only 88 deg when we got home so I baked some cheddar-garlic biscuits to go with the soup and salad. Delicious!

Then the kids settled in with Dad to read the funnies while I cleaned up the kitchen and checked email. The older two had no youth activities at church tonight , much to my relief, so we headed to a nap! I think at least half of us got a decent nap in this afternoon, me included.

After a nap, I was ready to plow into my homeschool planning again. I have finished almost everything except the science, always the biggest job for me, since I coordinate the younger ones with whichever course the older two are currently taking. This year, that's Biology. Today I worked on the little girls Home Economics book. They will be using the Pearables home Economics-Book 2. It is a very cute book written to the girls. I will have to hlep each weeek but it will be minimal, and no more than I would ordinarily help them in some cases. They spend a good portion of the year learning how to cook such things as quick breads, tacos, soups, casseroles, and pizza. I am impressed with the recipes they will use. They will learn to make a white sauce at 8 and 10. I didn't learn that until I went to college. And they have a 6 week unit on sewing but they'll already be ahead on that game so Iplan to just let them pick a project from the book we've been using this summer to work on during that time.

About 5:30 the natives got restless for supper so I made a skillet pasta dinner which they always love. I had leftover sauce from the pizza on Thursday night so it was easy. Having to make a new batch of sauce always gets me hung up on those easy Italian meals. I get spoiled having it at the ready when I can it. But I was out this week of my own canned sauce so I started over. I'm not really in the mood for the big canning project so I made a small batch and froze one night's worth for pizza and had about 2 cups left for this dinner. I browned some ground beef, cooked some spiral pasta, dumped it all in the skillet together and sprinkled with Parmesan, the good kins. Served with a salad, and voila! Dinner. They all had ice cream Sundaes for dessert and are immersed in a movie tonight while I finish up some planning here.

I did make a new batch of laundry soap tonight. I make it in small batches so I need to do it about once a week. I may get more soap this next time and make a larger batch. The thing is I make it in my tiny food processor so as not to create more mess in the process and this size batch is just perfect to fit into it. I make a powdered version which is much easier than the liquid one I have seen elsewhere on the internet. It works just fine and I like that I only use 1-2 Tbsp. per load.

While I was in the middle of posting this, J brought me a laptop that I can use for my business this year. It will be so nice to be able to have my grades and other documents on site with me. I can enter grades right away for kids to see their averages, print reports, check for quizzes, etc. I am pretty excited about this. I've been working on getting the students entered into the grade program, which I had to download again onto this new computer. I have over 65 to enter so it may take a few days to get them all in.

I am looking forward to our last week of summer this week. Next Monday, we'll start school. The next week, I have open houses for my classes and then we start the following week. Last year, I got a much earlier start on our own school work, but this summer was just way TOO busy!

Tax-free weekend

Blogger and I are having issues again. It's back to the 30 second delay. Any keystoke I make takes 20-30 seconds to register. So correcting mistakes is very painful. Please forgive typos. I'd rather blog than not so I persevere.

In Texas, the first weekend of August is designated tax-free on certain items. Those items are clothes, shoes, belts, ties, etc. Each itme has to be under $100 and it does not include backpacks or school supplies. The crowds are horrendous and the stores play it up big. I have doen it most years for shoes, jeans, and underwear. Last year I spent $100 on underwear alone for the 7 of us. But this year, I just can't get myself motivated to fight the crowds and I'm not sure we can't wait several more months for any of these purchases. Most of the kids dont' really need new shoes or underwear this year. Jeans maybe...but at what cost. My sanity is worth more than the measly 8 cents per dollar I'd save on tax. So I think I'll skip it this year. Let those big spenders duke it out in the shoe aisle. I'll wait for the calmer, cooler days of october when all the others are back into their school routine and we'll go to the quiet mall on a school day in the early afternoon. That sounds so much more appealing, don't you think?

Lone Ranger Moms

I realize I haven't blogged all week but I've been too busy living and the living hasn't been blog-worthy. I could tell you I ran errands, drove kids to activities, sewed a little, planned a LOT, read a little, cooked precious little, and tried to take a nap or two. how exciting is that?

One thing I did lots of this week was laugh and visit with my friends. I have the best group of homeschool moms I can laugh with. We meet at the park year round, once a month moms only" and during the summer, almost daily at the local pool. And this summer, I am teaching the girls of these moms to sew so we are together for that once a week too. I haven't laughed so much in one week EVER! We have a continuing conversation going this week about introverts. Most of the others are (i am NOT) and they laugh about how hard it is to force interaction. But do you see how much we are together. We were talking about how many moms are out there trying to do it all alone wihtout a support network. Whether you are homeschooling or have only preschoolers, life at home with only children can get lonely. Mind you, it's never boring, as another mom is getting lots of attention for writing an article about. But it can be lonely. There were weeks during my early parenting years where I could go a week without seeing another adult besides the clerk at Walmart and my dh. Now, considering my dh is an extreme introvert, I got very lonely. It was only when I started taking the kids to library storytime and a local mom's group that I made some friends and felt better about my days. Now I would kill for a whole day alone but that's another post!

If you are home fulltime with your children, it would behoove you to look for a few close friends with whom to share your frustrations, your joys, your boring dinner plans, and your joys in your daily journey. I'm not suggesting a gripefest on the horrible things your dh has done or a complaining session about your bratty kids. But we all need someone to help the way. Sometimes being there for a friend in need can also help to take our focus off of our own troubles for a moment and be a friend to another in need. And besides laughter is truly the best medicine. I'm the healthiest person around this week.

God bless you, all my friends! Thanks for the laughs.