Archive for June, 2004
Sorry I haven’t been by in a while… Things have been pretty “routine” and non-routine at the same time. Dh is working loooong hours. We’ve hardly seen him the past 2-3 weeks. “Make hay while the sun shines” as they say. The routine part is the keeping up with meals, housework, laundry and our read-aloud times. Usually, the children play outside all afternoon. The last couple of days have been rainy though so they’ve been in and we’ve extended our reading-aloud or quiet reading to ourselves…me included. (I’ve begun and finished a couple of books not listed in my right side bar.) I’ve also been working on some sewing not listed as well. Circumstances dictate that what used to be our quest/sewing room be turned into the master bedroom again. I have to clear out as much as I can. I inherited much scrap fabric and other things when dh’s grandmother passed away last year and I either have to make use of it or get rid of it. (Yes, I know I’ve mentioned cleaning up that room a couple of times at least…I get started on it and do well for a day or two and then I’m burned out again. This time, I’ve stuck with it most of the time you haven’t heard from me. 
) Anyway, I’m hoping that I can make some stuff to sell as circumstances also dictate that supplementing our income is a necessity.
I’ve also been busy trying to come up with some sort of a schedule we can follow. Even though we have a routine, we need more than that. We seem to float in between times too often. And, while that’s ok for summer, I’m looking ahead to Fall and buckling down to more academics…adding another student…officially there will be 4! While I try to combine age groups within subjects as much as possible, in math and reading/grammar/writing/spelling (mostly) I’m not able to really. Just those few things x4 necessitates buckling down. I’m also feeling lax in my training the children in other things (girls in sewing, etc., oldest son in chores, etc.) and enjoying each other in other ways. Puzzles and games that are often ignored in the back of the closet ’cause Mommy and Daddy are “too tired”…plan a Family Night or something… I just know we could be accomplishing more in many ways and I’m bound and determined that we will! A more disciplined life for us all! My dh is not satisfied with how life is going right now either and he’s talked about how he misses his martial arts training for exactly that reason…the discipline it offers. So…lots I’ve been thinking about and trying to accomplish around here. Still haven’t made it into the garage much to work on the boxes out there…sigh… See! Priorities! Tired of being lead by the “tyranny of the urgent” and want to get a handle on many things in many ways… Being a “single mom” is really tiring though and it seems I go full steam all day with out much to show for it in the end. Well, it’s a matter of prayer and I know God will help us work it out. I’m just a little impatient in the process… 
Originally, I came by to update you all on miscarriage info… I had another blood test last Wed. Had to wait forever and then someone finally came out to say they couldn’t find their lab person. I guess they called someone up from the hospital lab downstairs to do it (I didn’t recognize her). Anyway, the nurse called Fri. to remind me to come in for one. Told her I came in Wed. and she said, “Oh! Well, I haven’t seen a lab report…I’ll have to track it down and I’ll get back to you.” Just heard from her a few moments ago (a week later). Hcg levels are down again…107 this time from 395. (I think I said 360 before…not sure where I got that number from because I specifically asked twice what the numbers were and that’s what she told me (395).) So, back for another one some time this week. Ugh. This is getting old. Mostly, it’s just hard to get there…with dh working all the time…we share a vehicle and he needs to watch the children. Anyway, it’s important to keep up with this with the cancer risk.
Sorry to ramble on so… Guess that’s what happens when I don’t check in frequently. Can’t believe it’s been a week!
Gotta run…
ps - Last night, we had a thunder and lightening storm! Pretty exciting (especially for the children!!!) as it is a rare occurance around here. As opposed to the Interior - they fight fires every summer started by lightening. I don’t remember any thunder/lightening for a while…had a bit a couple of years ago when our oldest son was 2 yrs. So for him it was particullarly grand! We *all* sat in front of the sliding doors though and enjoyed the show God put on for us! Wow, He’s the Best at “special effects”! He would be…being the Inventor and all!
I answered Marysue’s question about one of our chicks in the 6/13 post.
We had *beautiful* weather this weekend and enjoyed living outside! For Father’s Day yesterday, we took our first family hike of the season up our favorite mountain.
Today the weather is beautiful again…being outside is the order of the day. I’ll be doing some laundry of course and hanging it out. Probably will clean out the pool and put fresh water in, let it warm some and then we’ll “swim”…for those of us bigger, we’ll wade. Plenty of reading aloud too! Yay Summertime!
The garden and plants on the deck, etc. are all doing well. Grow, grow, grow!!! is what they are to do now.
Here’s a pic of our chickies:
If you hadn’t noticed, the photo album link in the left side bar was deleted. I’m working on a new album but it’s taking some time…haven’t had much extra of that. When I have a bit more completed, I’ll share it here.
Gotta run. The afternoon is slipping away…
A blessed week to all if I don’t get back here again soon! 
Swiss Family Robinson If you can grow it, pick it,
preserve it, or butcher it, you own it.
Otherwise, you do without. Youd prefer to live
off-grid from the power company, since youre
nearly self-sufficient already. You enjoy unit
studies for the way they utilize all facets of
life and truly incorporate life and education
as a whole, not as separate entities.
What Type of Homeschooler Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Yay! We’re the Swiss Family Robinson!
Well…Wanna-be’s anyway. We are resourceful,have experience and feel confident we would survive just fine in such a situation.
As for the unit-studies, we like them sometimes but I prefer something a little more linear and structured although I use it flexibly. Right now, I classify us as “Eclectic Classical”… Looking at the other results, we could be a combo with Galileo…”Galileo-lite” as we haven’t done anything with Latin although we do have and use the Greenleaf guides. That was a fun little quiz.
It’s finally raining. I said to dh this morning before getting up that, “I wish it would just go ahead and rain already.” Day after day of low oppressive grey clouds…ugh. Just rain and get it over with! So, now it is. I love how everything smells after a good rain storm. Mmmm. Ok, rain today get it out of your system Mother Nature and let’s get back to sunny weather! My garden is being stunted by this…
Many things to do of course. Never-ending laundry, bathroom and kitchen cleaning (I did my pantry at 10pm the night before!) and, now, cleaning out the carrier for the chicks and letting them out for a run…amongst other things…school work, sewing, etc.
Gotta run! A blessed day to all!
Hey-ho, I’m back again!
It’s rhubarb season… It thrives here in this cold winter clime and I’m always looking for yummy ways to use it. Here’s the recipe I made the other day…it’s delicious!
Unbeatable Rhubarb Bars
Filling:
1 ½ C chopped rhubarb
½ C brown sugar
¼ C water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbl cornstarch
Base and Topping:
½ C coconut (I used shredded)
½ C sifted flour (I used ww)
½ C brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1 C oatmeal
½ tsp baking soda
&frac13 C melted butter (I used Crisco as I was low on butter)
For filling, combine rhubarb, ½ cup brown sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until tender, stirring frequently. Add cornstarch and cook until thick.
For crumb base and topping, mix the last seven ingredients together until crumbly. Press ½ mixture into a greased 8 x 8 pan. Spread with filling. Cover with remaining crumbs, pressing lightly. Bake at 350 ° F for 25-30 minutes. Cool and cut.
Enjoy!
Garden Journal updated.
Wow, journaled every day for a whole week…I’m on a roll! LOL
Today start off looking like it would be nice but the sky is filled again with dark threatening clouds. Hmph. It sprinkled a couple of times yesterday (at least at this end of town…I think other parts may have actually gotten rain) but that was it. Anyway, I’ve been putting off letting the chicks out again because of it but I can’t wait any longer and that’s what I’m off to do. Just wanted to stop in and say I chatted about my garden again mostly.
Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!
Garden Journal updated!
I have made six consecutive posts this week…has to be a record for me! LOL 
Have to let the chicks out to run for a while before it rains. It’s been threatening to rain all morning…but hasn’t yet… The chicks are on the deck in the carrier cheeping up a storm! (hmm, a pun! ;-)) The taste of freedom they had for an hour or so the night we brought them home and then ALL day yesterday has them clamboring for more! So, need to do it while I still can…
Hope everyone is having a blessed day!
I saw this quiz over at Rebekah’s blog (her link is on the left).
My inner child is ten years old!
The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether
I’m off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost
in a good book, or giggling with my best
friend, I live in a world apart, one full of
adventure and wonder and other stuff adults
don’t understand.
How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla
This quiz made me chuckle too Rebekah! I’ve always cherished this age…not old enough to worry about the preteen/teen thing and yet old enough to have a “clue” about a good many things. Given responsibilies over many things and yet still carefree. Aaahh, that was a good age…
Btw, the chicks slept in the kitchen last night. It was so neat to wake up early this morning and hear them start cheeping when they heard me moving around! We’ve taken them outside and let them run in the grass and they were catching mosquitoes again! We came in for lunch though and they went back in the carrier until we finish (have to do some inside chores too). We don’t have a portable pen set up yet so we have to “chickensit” while they’re/we’re out but it sure has been fun! I’ll have to post a couple pics later…
We Took the Plunge!
We finally did it after talking about it for a couple of years…
We are the proud owners of a small flock of chickens!!!
They are not as old as we were anticipating… I called a couple of weeks ago and they said they had some 2 month old pullets but after looking around we decided to go with these that are about a month old. They had never been outside so this evening was their first time wandering in grass,etc. And guess what?!? 7 mosquitoes were eaten between two of them! Yay! Way to go chickens! Proved themselves within 20 min. of being home! Right now they are out in a medium size animal kennel in the greenhouse. I’m debating about bringing them in or not. I put a cloth over the kennel door to hold in heat… I peeked at them just a few minutes ago and a couple are up pecking around at the grass we put in there and the others are huddling together in one of the corners but looking curious still. After the children are in bed (we didn’t get home ’til after 7pm then spent an hour with the chickens and then still had to have dinner so they are just finishing up getting ready for bed…), I may just do that. Into the house or the garage, I’m not sure. The cats are still sleeping in a chair out on the deck but generally go into the garage when it’s dark…but it really doesn’t get dark now… Anyway, I’ll figure out what I want to do after the children are settled.
This is what we bought:
Hatched 5/10/04 (35 days old)
1 Buff Orphington
1 Golden Comet
1 Golden Laced Wyandotte
Hatched 5/17/04 (28 days old)
1 Black Jersy Giant
1 Silver Laced Wyandotte
Hatched 5/18/04 (27 days old)
1 Aracuana
Hooray!!! We have chickens!!!
Oh! I almost forgot to mention it here again too…what with going to the doc Fri. and the good news Sat. and now chickens Sun.
Our baby boy took his first steps Thurs. (6/10/04) evening!!!
We were having our bedtime story on the couch and he was crawling around playing, etc. and then he came over to the couch, grinned and giggled at me. He sat down to look at one of his baby books and then stood up. He’s been standing solidly (whenever he feels like it ) for some time now but we still make a big deal of it…and while we were praising him and clapping he took 1 - 2 - 3 steps! Then, boomp, sat down, stood up and 1 - 2 - 3 steps again! Hooray for Q.!!! The last couple of days, when we try to get him to do it again, he gets silly and giggly and sits down and crawls away…has to be his timing I guess. But, he did it! Now, we can be “relieved” and when people ask if he’s walking yet we can say YES!
Ok, must hustle everyone to bed! ‘Night!
Good News!
My hcg levels dropped from 1040 on Mon. to 360 yesterday!!! The nurse said the doc was greatly encouraged by that and I didn’t feel pressure to go in and have “something” done. (Imagine my relief!!!) So, I’ll go in again at the end of next week and have my levels checked again. The goal is 0 and as quickly as possible and that they *stay* there over the next few months.
Thanks Jennifer and Marysue!!!
(And, to all the rest who are “quietly” praying…)
