Monday Musings... Almost Too Much Going On...

It looks like it shall be a very busy week, especially for M, who has two cooking finals today; (unpaid) work as a Teacher's Assistant for a cooking class starting tomorrow afternoon; and then the Baking & Pastry class he's taking Wednesday-Friday! On a positive note, he got an A in the class he'll be assisting with for the next eight weeks!

Outside My Window...
Clear, sunny, and a lot cooler these days! It is weather friendly to soups and stews; hot buttered toast; and big mugs of tea. I see leaves beginning to change to brilliant yellows and oranges.

In My Garden...
The olives are ripening on the olive tree we planted out front a few years back. It was barely a stick when we put it in, but now it will need some heavy pruning after we pick the olives! I think we'll stick with a wet brine for them this year, as I didn't care too much for the dry brine last year.

In My Home...
We're averaging a bag or two of donation clothes each week! I also want to order the annual free dumpster so we can get rid of the rest of the carpeting... when we have time!

In My Kitchen...
I am finally getting back to actual meal planning. I try to rotate main ideas through the week, such as Fridays being crockpot soup night. When I bother to plan, and shop accordingly, this goes very well. Flying by the seat of my pants... well, not so much! This week such yummy things as Butter Chicken, turkey taco salads, and butternut squash soup are on the menu.

In Our Homeschooling...
I am reworking a few things. While we've been having a good time lately, and I intend to keep math and language arts as they are, along with history, I'm not quite satisfied with science, so I think we'll try having a Dr. Art science day each week. This week, we'll be working in Life of Fred for math, alongside some geometry, and I promised The Girl we would try out Totally Tut at long last. In language arts, The Boy is working on building really good paragraphs and some free writing, and The Girl will keep reading aloud, doing copywork, and some free writing. For history, we'll be reading from both The Early Human World and Builders of the Old World OR we might switch gears and do some American history for a while! I do have the Concise History of US, Vol. A on hand, and there are so many awesome American history documentaries out there (Ken Burns, etc.). That's a decision I will make later today with the help of the kids. Other topics I really want to work in: Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery (philosophy); Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels (geography); and of course some sort of art project.

Books and Movies/TV...
We'll be finishing up the second Harry Potter book at bedtime tonight. I am trying to decide between the third HP book, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Hobbit for our next bedtime read aloud. The Boy finished up Over Sea, Under Stone, and will be moving on to the second book. The Girl and I are going to start reading through the Little House series... we read Little House in the Big Woods a few years back, but never got past that one, and it is something she's really interested in pursuing. Documentaries are still reigning supreme, but Destroy, Build, Destroy is quickly rising up the list. The kids loved Catch Me If You Can for movie night last week, so now what to watch this week?

Crafting And Bits & Pieces...
I ordered a bunch of yarn, and some new knitting needles. The Girl wants me to teach her to knit, and I think that would be a great project to approach during The Boy's fencing classes. I plan to start her on a scarf, while I work on a scarf for M, and then one for The Boy. I'm really looking forward to crafting a bit again! I'm also planning out some homemade Christmas gifts for everyone.

No real updates in the world of work. Supposedly, there was a reversal of position last week by the one that started all the fiasco, but I don't know how much water that report holds. M has decided that as soon as he finishes this semester, in eight weeks, he'll put completing his certificate on hold, and will seek full time employment. He says I've been carrying the burden of providing the bulk of our meager income for too long, and he's willing to finish school a little later. He's really hoping to get a cooking job, more than anything else, so in 8 weeks time, start crossing your fingers for him!

Hope you all have a good week!