Monday Musings... Back in the Saddle...

Happy Monday to you!

I'm back at work today, and we're back to homeschooling. I've been honoring my New Year's resolutions so far (I know, I know... wow, a whole 5 days!), and am ready to get back in gear!

Outside My Window...
Still clear skies, for the most part, and very chilly. Our electric bill will definitely go up this month, since I can't really freeze the entire family just to save some money. The full moon last night was gorgeous, by the way! And I just took a quick walk, with lovely sunshine pouring down on me, so no complaints really. [Though some more rain would be welcome!]

Around the House...
I am starting the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge today. This week's focus is on kitchen counters, and the kitchen sink. I plan to start tackling this task later today, before taking M to work. Another goal this month is to finish removing the old carpeting from The Girl's room.

In the Kitchen...
I made the most delicious roasted carrot soup this last week! It was really simple, and I'll be sure to share the recipe tomorrow. I also made some really good BBQ chicken quesadillas yesterday. I need to remember to look at store ads this week in my menu planning efforts. And baked oatmeal continues to be a big breakfast hit around here! This time, I added fresh apple chunks, chopped and toasted pecans, and dried cranberries.

In Our Homeschooling...
I am really hoping The Girl's writing book gets here today. I paid for rush shipping, which according to my calculations should have had it here by Friday or Saturday... we'll see. The Boy is ready to go -- writing, math, and science are all in place. As we've been interested in birds lately, I've decided The Girl can choose between studying those and insects. The kids made some peanut-butter-&-birdseed treats this weekend to hang in the freshly pruned olive tree, which would make for good birdwatching!

UPDATE: She chose to study birds! I have All About Birds (vintage book, but fantastic) on hand, and access to The Life of Birds, so that was an easy study to start.

Reading...
We're back to silent reading time as of today, which means The Girl will finally be starting The Hunger Games. The Boy has decided to restart the Maze Runner series with the first book, so that he can read them back to back. And I'll be reading aloud from The Human Odyssey and The Hobbit today. Other books this week include The Complete Book of Marvels, The Number Devil, and maybe some tales from The Crimson Fairy Book.

Watching...
The Boy will be watching a Cosmos episode. The Girl will either be watching an episode from Life in the Undergrowth, or one from The Life of Birds. We'll probably watch an episode or two of Mankind: The Story of Us All. And maybe a Cook's Tour or No Reservations episode to compliment our geography reading. Our family movie this week was The Benchwarmers, which was pretty good, and definitely funny.

What We've Been Doing...
We finally made bird treats (see In Our Homeschooling above)! I've been knitting more again, and we worked on crafting more catnip toys. The Girl has a lot of sculpture stuff going on, and The Boy works daily on his car model. We rode bikes twice last week: once, on New Year's Eve along the local creekside trail (maybe 5 miles total); and then on New Year's Day, we rode (around 13 or 14 miles round trip) down a local paved trail. We went out to a musical last night - Crumbs, by the Imaginists. It was very, very good -- unique, with fantastic live music, most of which was performed by the actors. There was no real stage, so the whole thing was done in the middle of the room, with seating on all four sides, so it was very much up-close.

On the Agenda...
A return to fencing this week for The Boy. I start an online class next week, and on campus classes the week after that.  Let's see... park day on Friday of course, and there's work... not too much going on! Knitting, catnip toys, interest-led projects, and so forth will keep us busy enough.

Have a good week! Enjoy some pictures from our bike riding fun!