Keeping Warm

I rarely make an appearance on my blog in photos as I'm the one typically behind the camera so I had Becca take a photo of my sporting my new scarf.

Right Now

I'm watching out the window as snow swirls it's way to the ground. Almost all of the snow was melted in our yard so I suppose it was time for a new fresh layer. It's a peaceful scene outside on a day where the children all woke up on the wrong side of the bed and are fighting like cats and dogs.

I've been spending time working on a scarf for myself. I finished it last night - just in time for this snow!

I visited a local yarn shop in town on Saturday and fell in love with this soft, gorgeous purple wool yarn. I had to have it for myself! Wanting to learn how to make a hat and mittens next.

I finally found a recipe for sweet potatoes that I like. It's taken years of failed attempts to finally get me to eat them.

Wash the sweet potatoes and cut into chunks. Sprinkle a bit of olive oil on them, toss gently, lay on a baking sheet and bake for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees until fork tender. Put into a bowl, throw a few pats of butter on top, a drizzle or two of maple syrup, and salt and pepper. Toss. Enjoy!

I'm angry that my weight loss has stalled out never started. Seriously, I've been trying since January 1st to lose weight and I haven't lost a single pound! This is after changing my eating and exercising more. My mom keeps reminding me that muscle weighs more than fat but I'm getting frustrated. So frustrated, in fact, that I gave up last week and ate whatever I wanted. Now I'm frustrated at myself for that. Deciding not to even pay attention the the numbers on the scale for the moment and focus instead on balance and health.

Joe has become very creative with his homemade play-doh and spends lots of quiet time working with it at the table. Becca and Jacob have turned into bookworms and are going through piles of books weekly, begging me to stop at the library several times a week to replenish their book piles. It's a request I'm happy to fulfill while out and about on errands.

My children have become hungry little monsters the past few weeks. Growth spurt? Extra fuel for these cold days? Whatever it is, they are eating me out of house and home. Yogurt, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches , a bowl full of popcorn, and an ice cream cone was just one meal yesterday for Jacob and he was hungry not even an hour later. My weekly shopping trips have had to become twice weekly and our food budget is having to go up. Yikes - I need to sit down and rearrange that and see what I can come up with!

Waste Not

Several months ago I was flipping through a PEOPLE magazine while getting my hair cut when I ran across the article about a Zero-Waste Family. I found the article intriguing, as I too have been trying to cut down waste. I was impressed by the family, who recycled most everything and by the end of the year just had a small jar of what was actual trash, which is incredible considering that the average American produces around 4 lbs. of garbage a day. I did find the article a bit misleading, as it stated that when they make a large purchase such as a computer they leave the packaging at the store to be disposed of (that means that they are producing more then the small jar sized amount of trash that they claim). All in all, it was a real eye opener.

We live in a town which has curbside recycling each week. We are lucky in the fact that all we need to do is throw our paper and metal into one bin and set it out to be picked up. Recently, they stopped accepting glass. I feel bad throwing glass away so have been trying to re-purpose as many jars as possible. I'm using a lot of jars for storing bulk items in my baking cupboard. Popcorn, rice, barley, etc. It's free storage, looks nice on the shelf, and is saving trash from the landfill.

We have a compost bin outside which we throw all our food scraps into. This saves a lot of space and waste in our garbage...think of how much waste a watermelon can make. Our food scraps, in turn, are making rich compost for our garden. I'm also beginning to learn to use food scraps for other purposes - more about that later!

I'm still bad about remembering to take my reusable bags to the store with me. I have plenty of them but almost always forget to grab them before venturing out, or forget to take them into the store with me. While I intend to do better about that, I do still re-purpose the plastic bags. We use them while walking the dog to pick up waste, and save the rest to bring to my aunt's consignment shop where they re-purpose the bags for their customers.

I hate throwing things away. And yet, we still are almost always at the maximum of three garbage bags a week. Occasionally I am able to get it down to two bags. My goal is to get it down to two bags weekly this year. I would love to someday get it down to one bag! The first goal is to make sure everything that can be recycled is. We are pretty good about this but occasionally a recyclable item will be thrown in the trash. Next, our purchases should be chosen more carefully. More bulk purchases, reusable produce bags, such as these (I have never bought these but am considering them!), choosing items with the least amount of packaging or the one with the most recyclable one, etc. We no longer use disposable products such as paper plates or paper towels. It's still a work in progress but at least we are aware of our waste and trying to do something about it!

What are some of your tips for reducing waste?

Coloring Outside of the Lines

"Why doesn't she have her math facts memorized?"

"He is still holding his pencil in a fist grip instead the pinch style."

"They prefer doing instead of sitting for book work."

These were some of my concerns as I spoke to the certified teacher whom we work with. In our state, if we are not dual-enrolled through a school we must work with a certified teacher and have eight contacts a year (four must be face to face).

Each time we have a meeting I come away refreshed and relieved. As parents, I think we can all admit that from time to time we question whether we are doing the right thing for our children. While I know homeschooling is right for us, sometimes I question whether I am doing a good enough job.

Then the certified teacher swoops in and assures me I am. When the kids fell behind with school last year the teacher assured me they would catch up later (they did). When Becca was struggling with math the teacher told me she wasn't ready to grasp those concepts and to work on reading instead (this year she has been sailing through her math).

I realized I am stuck on "rules". Someone, somewhere, sets rules for children at school and I blindly follow along. Back in the late 80's I learned reading in 2nd grade. Now schools are teaching reading in Kindergarten. I panicked when Becca finished Kindergarten without knowing how to read. Then I read study after study that shows the ideal age for learning to read is age 7. That is not to say that a child of four, five, or six can't or shouldn't learn to read, but rather that a child will learn at their own pace and at the right time when given that opportunity.

Albert Einstein was 4 before he spoke and 7 before he learned to read, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped. Thomas Edison was told by teachers in his early years that he was "too stupid to learn anything." Winston Churchill failed 6th grade. Monet was rejected and mocked by The Paris Salon. Beethoven's teachers thought he was hopeless in composing and would never learn to play the violin. Michael Jordan was cut from his High School basketball team.

These are some examples where a person did not follow a set of rules and was deemed stupid or worthless because of it. Children are now labeled because of their nature. I am not saying that there isn't such thing as ADD or ADHD but I do feel that there are many children misdiagnosed. For example, if my Joe were in school he would be labeled ADD for sure, but he just has a lot of energy and I am able to get him to sit still for worksheets, yet he does his best learning while being active. Jacob may be in a Special Ed program because of his speech issues, and yet he is such an intelligent little guy that something like that could hurt his ego greatly. He knows he can't speak well, but he also knows that he learns just like any other child.

The most common anti-homeschooling comments I hear are about socialization, the next complaint is often "A child needs to learn to follow rules, they need to learn that the world won't cater to them when they are adults." I think a child can learn rules just from living in society, not from being told to color within the lines. We learn to respect adults by being around adults, we learn to stand in line when at a store, we learn how to do a job by actually doing the job. These are life lessons but have nothing to do with the style of learning we each learn by.

I'm not saying public/private schools are bad, I'm saying that they aren't the only way to learn.

11 years out of high school and I'm still learning...learning not to live within one set of rules, learning more and more that the world is my classroom, learning that the ones who color outside of the lines are the ones who get noticed.

Off the Hook

What I've been busy learning recently, with the help of a book from the library and tutorials from YouTube...

Up next, learning to follow a pattern.

Support a Cause

When Susan G. Komen announced last week that they were no longer supporting Planned Parenthood, the news went wild. They retracted that statement a few days later.

Planned Parenthood had a huge increase in donations due to this news. Planned Parenthood may do some good, such as health screenings, but they don't do anything that most clinics and doctor's offices also do for reduced costs or free (my own doctor office works with a fund which provides free pap smears and mammograms to low income families), and they don't offer mammograms...just make referrals. The bad they do outweighs the good. Unfortunately, all these donations that Planned Parenthood received aren't just going to the health screenings, but will also be used to support abortions. If we want to support women's health, there are much better charities to donate to.

Which is why I made a donation this week to National Right to Life and urge any of you who are pro-life to do the same. I'm hoping that this month the National Right to Life Committee also sees an increase in donations. Or donate to a charity which offers low cost/free health screenings for women in your own area, which does not supply abortions. There are plenty of clinics and organizations that do a world of good in women's health which do not get the national attention they deserve.

Squishy Squashy

Even with the spring-like days we've had recently, there is only so much time that can be spent outdoors when the yard and toys are still covered in a heavy, wet, slowly melting snow. Which means that the children still have boundless energy.

I saw on a friend's Facebook page that she made homemade playdough. She used food coloring and essential oils, both things which I do not have on hand. I decided to google a recipe that is similar to the one my mom used to use when we were kids and found one with ingredients that were already in my cupboard!

The kids sat quietly playing while I prepared lunch and are still playing with each other at the table after finishing their lunch.

1 c. flour

1/2 c. salt

3 t. cream of tartar

1 pkg. Kool-Aid

1 c. water

1 T. cooking oil

Add dry ingredients in a saucepan. Mix water and oil and pour into dry ingredients. Turn stove top to medium heat and stir ingredients until it thickens into a ball. Let ball cool on counter, then knead a few times. Now it's ready to use!
Store in a covered container (I used a glass canning jar but even a ziplock bag would work) in the refrigerator; it should keep for several weeks.