A New Year...

I am hoping you all have a 

My New Year's Resolutions...

Organization

This includes finances, our home, homeschooling, meal planning, etc. I wrote about this topic in a whole post of its own!

Health

Pay more attention to my body (I'm reading Intuitive Eating for some guidelines on this)

Remember to take my supplements

Move every day. I love hiking, biking, swimming, roller skating, etc., and I want to have fun while getting healthier. I figure if I move every day, I am on the right path!

Personal

Start meditating more -- just a few minutes a day is better than none!

Work toward my personal and professional goals in 2015. Chances are strong that I will be laid off in June again, so this time I am going in prepared.

Start learning Spanish.

Expand my knitting repertoire.

Monday Musings... Done & To Do...

Outside My Window...
The rains have stopped for now, though they were record setting! Instead, it is now quite chilly, especially at night. The trees are mostly bare, but everywhere I look I see fresh green, thanks to the rain. Almost time to start dormant pruning (apple, cherry, olive)!

In Our Home and Kitchen...
We're working on creative leftover use a lot lately. Right now, we're slowly eating our way through the large ham that M baked up on Christmas Day. We've had ham in our scrambled eggs, a ham-and-potato hash, etc. Time to freeze the rest, I think! This week's soup is The Girl's favorite - potato leek.

I am prepping the house for the New Year. Some more decluttering, some good cleaning, all to get ready for the 52 Weeks To An Organized Home challenge!

What We've Been Up To...

Rainy day walks with some flooding

Solstice celebration with our park day friends (missing a few here)

Puppy petting volunteer work

A tour of the Christmas street... tons of lights, figures, music, and more!

And a Boxing Day hike on a nearby mountain

In Our Homeschooling...
I am slowly getting ready to start back up next week (Sunday actually). I have The Boy's math and writing stuff in place (simplifying once more!), and am putting together The Girl's materials. Her math is ready to go, but I need to order the writing book I decided to try with her (done!).

Reading...
We're ready to start The Hobbit at last! I decided, as we seem to have a harder time this year doing our read alouds, that we would drop all the extra ones and just focus on the books the kids actually requested, which specifically would be The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If we can work in the extra books -- ones that inspired Tolkien, etc. -- then those will be a bonus. The Boy is still reading Scorch Trials, and The Girl is set to start The Hunger Games. I am reading Intuitive Eating and The Total Money Makeover. I may start His Dark Materials soon, as I have had that trilogy for some time, and have never read it!

Doing...
I am finishing up my scarf at last - yay! The Girl got 3.75 pounds of Sculpey clay for Christmas, so she has been very busy creating. The Boy is working on a new model car, and both kids are absorbed in the Wii Lego world of Harry Potter.

On the Agenda...
No fencing until next week, and no derby until late January. I'm still on vacation, so just my side jobs -- craft sewing and typing -- this week, in addition to cleaning, getting the budget done, etc. I'd still like to go see The Hobbit, and the kids and I are going to a musical over the next weekend!

Season's Greetings...

I will preface this by saying simply saying we have had a very difficult week or so, hence my lack of recent posts. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now, but still have a way to go.

Anyhow... we are

Christmas this year is very much on the simpler side. We are not hosting it at our house for the first time in years, and I am a bit glad for the break! Instead, we will be visiting my mother-in-law, and that side of the family, at her home, on Tuesday. Christmas Eve will be at my mother's home, complete with a fabulous dinner, and Christmas Day will, as always, be at home, just for the four of us. The kids cut back on Christmas gift lists this year, quite a lot and of their own accord. And we are very glad that M is working neither Christmas Eve, nor Christmas Day. A little more traveling, but not much, and everyone seems satisfied with the plans.

What other plans do we have, and what have we been up to? Well, I had a lovely birthday yesterday. The rain stopped for a while, and we took advantage of it to head out to the coast with a picnic, and thermoses of hot tea, to watch the surf....

We ended a calm and pleasant day with Chinese food and Lord of the Rings Monopoly!

We've been reading a lot -- Kringle is very good so far -- playing a lot of card games, watching a few Christmas movies... the kids decorated the Christmas tree, and during a brief dry spell, The Boy climbed on the roof to hang up lights. I finished another semester of college, and signed up for spring classes. We haven't been homeschooling really, but The Boy has been practicing his German, and reading his physics book.

I have the next two weeks off from work. We plan to visit the cul-de-sac that is completely lit up, with music to match the light shows; maybe go see the final installment of The Hobbit; and The Boy would love to see The Maze Runner at the discount theater. The Girl and I are going to do actual volunteer work with three-week-old puppies for the first time tomorrow. I want to finish getting my home clean before the New Year. Today we are off to a Solstice celebration with our park day friends -- thankfully there is a large gazebo at the park in case of rain.

Please have a safe and happy holiday season!

Tools for Organization...

My keyword for 2015 is organization. My horoscope for the year says to continue with self improvement work I have been doing, that keeping a tight rein on finances will be beneficial, and that things will be improving over the year. After a difficult 2014, I hope even half of this is true!


So I've been looking around for tools to help me make some changes organizationally. I had tried FlyLady years ago, but the incessant emails were too much. It drove me batty (no offense meant).

Anyhow, so I've been casting about for organization tools (home, finances, menu planning, personal growth), and have found the following:

52 Weeks To An Organized Home: I like the idea of adding/doing one little thing each week (okay, so some of them are not so little). I like the idea of building those habits in over time.

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps: Again, little and some not so little) steps that will make a big difference in the end, focusing on building a maintainable lifestyle and getting out of debt. I'm also looking at budget planning tools, such as BudgetSimple, or BudgetTracker, though I am certainly not opposed to using a printed/written version either.

For menu planning, I need to start actually looking at sales each week, make a list of staple foods to keep stocked (and then actually keep them stocked), and go from there. This article has some good tips, and then there are plenty of other menu planning resources out there.

As far as personal growth, I came across this book -- Life Makeovers: 52 Practical & Inspiring Ways to Improve Your Life One Week at a Time  -- at the library bookstore for fifty cents. Worth a try, I think!

And there you have it, my current list of tools for the new year, though I'll gladly take recommendations too!

A Collection of Nativity Scenes...

On Sunday, we went on a self-guided tour of a collection of Nativity scenes, hosted by the LDS Church (a Creche Festival). I was amazed at the variety, while the kids had fun with the scavenger hunt. I loved most the ones that were simple, but had emotion, much preferring them to ornate, but rather sterile versions...

Monday Musings...Much Thinking Going On...

We're taking a bit of a break right now from the rigors of homeschooling, to focus on getting our lives more organized. Part of that is thinking over, and rethinking over, what is working in our lives and what is not.

First, an easier one: menu planning. I found a lot of inspiration in this post from Kim over at Our Enchanted Place. With many evenings dedicated to practices (fencing, roller derby), hectic work schedules, and my college class(es), planning ahead is key. We've slowly settled into a rotation that works well for us:

Saturdays: this is one of the days I really have time to cook. Sometimes I'll roast a chicken, if we want the leftovers, or we tend to do a lot of our ethnic cooking on this day, such as curries, African stews, and more. In the summer, if M is home from work, this also tends to be a grilling outdoors kind of day.

Sundays: The Girl has derby until 6:30 pm most of the year. This is a great night for pasta during the colder months, and salads (containing pasta or not) in the warmer months.

Mondays: Soup during the colder months, sandwiches or salads during the warm ones, due to a busy Monday schedule and The Boy's fencing class. We use the crockpot a lot on Monday soup nights!

Tuesdays: Another day I actually get to spend time cooking, and often, The Girl helps. I am thinking of making this our learn to cook night--I'll take turns with the kids, letting them choose what to cook, making grocery lists, budgeting, and then doing the cooking.

Wednesdays: More fencing, so this is generally a quick-cooking sort of evening. We often have things like quesadillas, or tacos on Wednesdays. Sometimes, when M is home, he'll take over cooking this evening, and then we'll have omelets or a stir-fry.

Thursdays: A cook-ahead day, so things like casseroles or crockpot dishes beyond soup, as The Girl has a later derby practice most of the year.

Fridays: Sometimes the kids will spend Friday night at their Nonna's house, and then M and I have whatever we feel like (within reason of course..no Maine lobster and caviar!). On other Fridays, we have pizza night! I make a big batch of dough for crusts and freeze some, so pizza night is never too challenging. Toppings range from regular ones like pepperoni, to leftover chicken, roasted veggies, etc., depending on what flavor we want.

Then, homeschooling. I am coming up with new goals fro January through May, so I think I'll dedicate w post to that later in the week!

Thirdly, budgeting. I have good intentions in this area, I really do. But, somehow it never gets done -- writing and sticking to the budget that is, although I can't say we're spending in excess either. I'm reading Total Money Makeover at the moment, and M and I have been discussing how we are going to put it into practice. That is one of our major goals for 2015... to implement the tools used in the book. We want to model fiscal responsibility for our children, we want to tackle debt (which we have far too much of in my mind), and we want to start getting ready for the future, since we are both in our 40s.

Do you, my loyal reader(s), budget?

Other projects: I am working on a housecleaning rotation, and having the kids take more responsibility for helping with housework. Part of this is part of their education -- housekeeping, budgeting, cooking, etc., are all like skills in which I feel they should be well versed. M and I are listing household projects that need to be done, and then ranking them in order of importance (i.e. roof work = very important, rebuilding the chicken hutch = not as important).

Hope you all have a good week!

Monday Musings...

Ahh, December is here! One more month, and we get to start a whole new year....

Outside My Window...
We are at last getting good rain. It is supposed to rain every day this week! We cleaned out all the gutters last Friday, so we should be good to go -- we've got one that clogs up easily due to a messy ash tree overhanging it, and then water runs down the side of the house! The Boy braved the heights to get it emptied of leaves and twigs for now.

Our neighbor took out an old, creaky, dying oak tree this week, which until now had shaded one side of the back yard. There is so much light now! We're talking about putting raised beds over there next spring, and leaving our previous vegetable garden area as a gathering/grilling/eating/relaxing spot.

In Our Home...
We have started our holiday cleaning, which is a deeper cleaning than the regular one. We started early this year, with the goal of doing a little each day. We plan to get lights up soon, put a wreath on the door, and all that. The tree we'll get in a couple of weeks.

In Our Kitchen...
It is official since the weather is chilly at night - Mondays are soup nights! Oh, I love this time of year. This week's soup is split pea, one of our family favorites, and I made plenty, so we can enjoy some leftovers for a couple of lunches during the week. The Girl and I have also been baking a lot more lately -- we made Irish soda bread (with rosemary, not currants), and cranberry-orange bread, both of which turned out extremely well. I was given two pounds of gorgeous, fresh, organic cranberries, so we are trying to use them up. Cranberry muffins are next on the baking agenda!

In Our Homeschooling...
Nothing new and exciting here, though we are going back to some previous tools/books! I am pondering some changes for January, such as having The Boy maybe use this writing guide, or, more likely, this program for the remainder of the year. I am looking at writing programs for The Girl as well... maybe something like this one? As for what we've gone back to, we are reading from K12's Human Odyssey again, currently about the early Middle Ages, and we want to use Mapping the World With Art for Sunday geography lessons/activities, instead of geography as we were doing it.

Reading, Watching, and Making...
We're trying to finish up The Marvellous Land of the Snergs! And I am trying to decide between The Story of Siegfried, The Hobbit, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as our next read aloud. And then there is Kringle, which would make a great pre-Christmas read aloud! Hmm, maybe Kringle first, and then I can choose one of the others.

We started watching Stargate Universe together. And we have a Cirque du Soliel video to watch (Varekai). M and I are looking forward to season 3 of American Horror Story on Netflix this month. And we (the kids and I) will probably re-watch the last season of Downton Abbey so we're ready for season 5 in January.

I finished, at long last, The Girl's scarf, so now I can concentrate on finishing mine.

On the Agenda...
I have my second to last class in adolescent development, and my final class in the lecture series I've been attending. I have tutoring to do, an interview for a 4-hour-a-week data entry/bookkeeping job, and catnip tots to deliver. There is fencing, a possible hike with the family (if the weather cooperates), and maybe a park day, again if the weather cooperates.

And a few Random Pictures...
From a recent family hiking expedition...

Have a good week!

Thanksgiving Week Already!

Another year simply zipping by far too quickly.

On the Agenda...
Well, Thanksgiving, of course! The kids and I will be at my mom's for dinner, M will be at work. Usually I bring desserts -- pumpkin pie, an apple-cranberry tart, and a apple-quince-mince pie, plus whipping cream.

The kids and I have started making a little money on the side through sewing catnip toys for a local cat-grass/toy provider. The Boy cuts, I sew and pink, and The Girl stuffs the toys! Since they have a rush order needed for Christmas, we're planning a few blocks of sewing mania this week.

Of course there is fencing on the agenda. The Boy participated in a team tournament on Saturday, and while he had a lot of fun, his team lost badly. At least they all enjoyed themselves!

I work two days this week, and have one class to go to, as well as one tutoring session to provide. I'll be glad tomorrow afternoon when I am officially off the rest of the week!

In Our Homeschooling...
Yes, we are homeschooling for Thanksgiving week, as we did not get a lot done, book-wise, last week. There will be math, geography, writing, and reading, as well as some science. The Boy did build several virtual roller coasters yesterday as part of science, using what he had learned in Conceptual Physics as far as velocity, acceleration, etc. The Girl will work on geometry this week, while The Boy continues in algebra, learning and reviewing division with variables.

What We're Reading...
The Boy is reading The Scorch Trials, book two in the Maze Runner series, while The Girl is still working on Black Beauty. I wrote last Monday that I'm having trouble keeping her reading, so now we all have a half hour or so a day when we sip tea while reading quietly. I love it, since it gives me a chance to read my own books (currently Gentian Hill, having just re-read a bunch of Maeve Binchy books, and in the mood for something different)! I'll also read aloud from The Marvellous Land of the Snergs, and maybe some more of Edward Lear's poetry. We'll tackle another chapter or two of Poop Happened, start reading about Europe, and try to get to the other books in our Afternoon Basket.

What We're Watching...
We did watch The Golden Compass last night, and we still really wish they had made movies for the other books in the trilogy. We've also watched half of Amadeus so far, and plan to finish it this week. So far, the kids see Antonio Salieri as both a victim and villain (and yes, they are aware that much of this movie is supposition). We're also watching, as a family, The 100, though we haven't gotten very far. The Boy plans to watch another episode of Cosmos, and The Girl will be about halfway through Life in the Undergrowth this week. I am starting to think ahead to Christmas movies -- what are some of your favorites?

Crafting...
I finally started knitting regularly again! I still have a gift certificate from my birthday last year to a lovely little yarn store, so I am trying to finish up the scarves I had started for The Girl and myself before treating myself to a little "spending spree". The kids made and decorated beeswax candles at the library last week, and they smell wonderful.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving week!

A Week of Service...

This wasn't a week of math, science, and writing/reading. Instead, it ended up being a week of work and service, which I think was an ideal thing to happen the week before we give thanks for everything we are lucky enough to have.

On Tuesday, the kids helped my mom at the food bank, setting up Thanksgiving food bags for those who need them. The Boy said it was a lot of hard work, but both kids assured me it was worthwhile. They helped cart around flats of cans, boxes of dried goods, bags of fresh produce, and so on, getting everything set up so that the volunteers could all fill bags easily for Sunday's donation slot.

And yesterday, they assisted my sister's class with ice skating. You see, my sister is a teacher for a small class of severely disabled kids (medically fragile), and as part of her approach to teaching, she loves to take them out to enjoy various activities, one of them being ice skating. We are fortunate that the local ice skating rink is willing to set aside some special time for them to enjoy this activity. This time, my kids went, and helped push some of the students around on the ice, getting a free skating session in return...

As you see, many of the students are in wheelchairs, so classroom assistants (and my kids) pushed them around the rink! The students love it. The Boy and The Girl loved it too. They said they genuinely liked hanging out with all these (older) kids, and they'd love to help my sister again. Plus, a student's mom bought everyone lunch from In-n-Out Burger, and my kids almost never get fast food, so that was a bit of a treat for them!

And this morning, my kids are back at the food bank, finishing sorting/moving produce for the Thanksgiving bags. Then, this afternoon, The Girl has her orientation for puppy petting!

While we may have gotten very little book work done this week, I think what my kids have accomplished is just as good and important. And we did get a little schooling done -- we read Andrew Lang's version of the story of Sigurd and Brynhild, as well as East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon for our cultural/geography studies. We read about the Renaissance period and Revolutionary times in Poop Happened, and got through another good chunk of The Marvellous Land of the Snergs. The Boy [re]watched the first episode of Cosmos, and The Girl watched another episode of Life in the Undergrowth. We did math one day (yes, one).

And this weekend, The Girl will help me make Swedish meatballs, a cucumber salad, and an almond cake, to enjoy while we watch The Golden Compass (okay, I know it is not truly a "Scandinavian" film, but it has many aspects of Scandinavian fairy tales and folk lore). The Girl at least, if not all of us, will watch Families of Sweden too. And the kids are ready to settle down to a few days of book work in the upcoming week!

Good Geography Find!

I found this book at the library, when I was searching for a general overview of Europe...

And I have to say I am very pleased with it! (You can see a bit of the book here.) I wish we had known about this series when we were studying Africa. It is clearly written, not so long that we don't have room for anything additional, fairly well up to date, etc. Anyhow, I then discovered that there were more in the series, so I plan to use the following titles as well...

Then, I found out that in addition to Wild China, Wild Africa, and Wild South America, there are a number of other titles that will fit in with our studies! Wild India - Land of the Tiger (unfortunately not available at the moment), Wild Caribbean, and Wild Pacific/South Pacific are among the titles I'd love to add to our watchlist. Maybe through interlibrary loan?

What's Up in Our World...

As always, there are good things, and not so good.

On the good front...

Both kids are doing well with math. The Girl is going to start a Math Mammoth unit on measuring this week. I think after all the multiplication work, she needs some good hands-on math, though we will continue reviewing multiplication, and division right alongside it. I was going to have her try out some geometry, but then reviewed the recommended sequence for the Blue Series, and chose measuring. The Boy will continue working through chapter one of Jacobs Elementary Algebra over the next several weeks.

The Boy has been doing a lot of independent work in his German studies. He's been taking the end of lesson tests, and then reviewing before retaking them. I love his dedication and independence with this subject! He's also been working hard on U.S. geography, mapping out the ultimate road trip for a future day, with his best friend. This involves looking up all the capitols and points of interest, so they can be added to the trip, and calculating mileage. He's finishing up The Maze Runner in the next couple of days, so that he can start The Scorch Trials.

The Girl has, at long last, the orientation for the puppy petting program this Friday! She's been waiting for about a year or so. This is a program designed to help puppies designated to become service animals get used to people. The two hour orientation is a requirement before she can do the volunteer work, and since a litter of pups is expected at the end of the month, she's totally willing to get through the training!

We got a jump start on the holiday season and roasted up a smallish turkey last week. We've enjoyed it so far as roast turkey, and turkey sandwiches, and will enjoy it again tonight with turkey posole -- I have the stock going right now in the crock pot, which, by the way, as a heavenly aroma to wake up to this morning!

The kids signed up for a beeswax candle-making workshop at the library this week, along with several of their friends. These might make good gifts at Christmas time for relatives!


And on the not so good front...

The Girl and reading. She was very enthusiastic about it at first. And she still enjoys it when she does it. Now though, she's just not "getting around to it", AND, she doesn't want me to require it, as that makes it more like work. I think this week I am laying down the law. Half an hour a day, we will all have a quiet reading time.

Science hasn't been at the forefront of our studies lately either. The Boy did finish chapter 5 in Conceptual Physics last week, but he hasn't done the project I assigned (designing a virtual roller coaster to explore motion, velocity, etc.), and he hasn't been watching Cosmos. We will try again to accomplish these things this week. The Girl has been doing a little better -- she did watch an episode of Life in the Undergrowth last week, and we did read about worms, so I am just hoping to keep that momentum going!

And I'd really love to be reading to them daily from The Marvellous Land of the Snergs, so I need to make that a priority. After that, I hope to get through either The Princess and the Goblin, then The Hobbit, before Christmas, OR The Story of Siegfried and The Hobbit. A tall order, I know, and not too likely to happen.

More writing needs to happen too. I am at a crossroads with The Girl on this one. She does write short stories, but I am wondering if I need something a little more structured for her? Maybe something vintage? And The Boy needs to get cracking on a new essay, as that is our focus for the year.


Also in homeschooling this week...

History: another chapter or two of Poop Happened  , and a chapter from Human Odyssey (I think...).

Geography: We have finished with Africa for now, and are moving on to Europe! We'll start in the cold northern lands, and move our way down to the UK, followed by western Europe, then the Mediterranean, and finally eastern Europe. I have this book on hold, as well as this documentary series, to see if they are useful. Our library also has a fair number of Rick Steves' videos. And we'll read from The Complete Book of Marvels for fun.

Other reading: Math reading with The Man Who Counted, science reading with the Lives of Scientists. Maybe some more of Edward Lear's poetry.

Hopefully this will be a good week. I do have a NINETEENTH wedding anniversary coming up on Wednesday! 19 years already....

Another Friday!

I can't believe November is about half over already! I guess I should be making Thanksgiving plans, but honestly, we don't know what to expect, as M may very well be working. If he is at work, the kids and I might head over to my mom's house, and I can bring pies.

We've been lucky enough to get a little rain this week, followed by this morning's gorgeous heavy fog. I keep hoping for more rain! But then at the same time, I do need a few more good dry days so we can patch a spot in our family room roof, and re-clean the gutters... such fun!

Anyhow, this has been an okay week in the world of homeschooling, though life kept getting in the way. We did read about the Renaissance times in Poop Happened: A History of the World From the Bottom Up, and learned that Louis XIV, upon his autopsy, was discovered to have a stomach twice the size of an average man, and intestines twice as long. Very peculiar tidbit, but it explains why records show him eating constantly, and often greeting company from the comfort of his closestool.

We also started re-reading The Man Who Counted, which is just lovely to read aloud. The Boy has almost finished Maze Runner, and The Girl is making decent, if somewhat slow, progress with Black Beauty. I finished up The Paris Wife, which was very good, and am now rereading a few Maeve Binchy books.

The Boy loves Jacobs Elementary Algebra! I am searching for a reasonably priced copy, and in the meantime we are using one on inter-library loan. The Boy also finished off another chapter in Conceptual Physics. And on a sad note, we have misplaced his almost complete essay on Ford Mustangs. I am 99% sure we put it somewhere "safe", and I just hope we can find it soon! He was doing such good work on it.

I think The Girl and I are going to switch gears in math, and focus on geometry for a while, still with Math Mammoth. She's done really well with multiplication and division, so I want to keep things fresh and interesting. She learned about worms this week in science, and started watching Life in the Undergrowth as we move into a study of insect life for zoology. I added to her Prentice Hall Science Explorers: Animals a couple of chapters from Life in a Bucket of Soil, and so she's hoping to do some hands-on work with worms next week.

We've been on a bit of a movie kick recently. Last Friday, I had dinner with the kids at my mom's, and we watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, which was filmed quite locally. The kids got a kick out of seeing familiar landmarks in a relatively older film! And for the record, they found it more funny than scary. Then on Saturday, we watched The Matrix, which The Boy especially enjoyed. Finally, on Tuesday, The Boy and M watched Cube, while The Girl and I watched Sense and Sensibility. So now I am thinking something a little lighter for this weekend -- any suggestions? Maybe a comedy or other fun family film?

A couple of goals for next week... I think we might add back in K12's Human Odyssey, starting just after the fall of the Roman Empire (so Middle Ages). And I would like to get The Girl writing more. If we absolutely cannot find The Boy's essay, he is willing to start a new one. And more reading from The Marvellous Land of the Snergs would be great!

Hope you all had a good week!