...Better Than Monday...
'Cuz that's my Fun-day...
It's just another Snowy Sunday!
Jan 31, 2010
This Week's Menu (2/15-21)
Monday
Chuck's (Chet's ;-D? ) Favorite Mac n Cheese , broccoli
Tuesday (Soup)
Albondigas (Meatball) Soup
Wednesday (Crock Pot)
Beef Stroganoff
Thursday
Hoisin Honey Chicken Wings , rice, snap peas (frozen)
Friday
BBQ Chicken Pizza Use that leftover jerk chicken. Leave some w/o for MeiWei
Saturday
Bill's Choice
Sunday (AZ!!)
Tai's choice or Leftovers
Chuck's (Chet's ;-D? ) Favorite Mac n Cheese , broccoli
Tuesday (Soup)
Albondigas (Meatball) Soup
Wednesday (Crock Pot)
Beef Stroganoff
Thursday
Hoisin Honey Chicken Wings , rice, snap peas (frozen)
Friday
BBQ Chicken Pizza Use that leftover jerk chicken. Leave some w/o for MeiWei
Saturday
Bill's Choice
Sunday (AZ!!)
Tai's choice or Leftovers
This Week's Menu (2/1-2/7)
Well, I'm back to getting my menu planned and enjoying the stress relief it brings. The holidays are fun but always disrupt routines like homeschooling and this.
So getting off on the right foot with February, it'll be:
Monday (Ground Hog's Day
Eve when I traditionally celebrate Bill's German heritage :-). My Bill, not Bill Murray's. )
Pork Chops "mit der noodles" (that means with egg noodles for those who don't speak Germlish), gravy, and steamed carrots. Maybe some biscuits (not very German but who cares).
Tuesday Soup Night (Pioneer Girls; DadR Late)
Italian Stew , WW rolls
Wednesday CrockPot Night (Skating)
So getting off on the right foot with February, it'll be:
Monday (Ground Hog's Day
Eve when I traditionally celebrate Bill's German heritage :-). My Bill, not Bill Murray's. )Pork Chops "mit der noodles" (that means with egg noodles for those who don't speak Germlish), gravy, and steamed carrots. Maybe some biscuits (not very German but who cares).
Tuesday Soup Night (Pioneer Girls; DadR Late)
Italian Stew , WW rolls
Wednesday CrockPot Night (Skating)
Slow Cooker Orange Chicken,from A Year of Slow Cooking
(yes, I'm going to give it another try. This time not so unattended.)
rice, broccoli
(yes, I'm going to give it another try. This time not so unattended.)rice, broccoli
Thursday
Beef Fajitas with black beans, yellow rice
Friday
Lasagne, crusty bread, salad
Beef Fajitas with black beans, yellow rice
Friday
Lasagne, crusty bread, salad
Saturday
Bill's choice to cook
Sunday (Super Bowl
and Granna's Bday)
Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork Barbeque, rolls, coleslaw, applesauce from Crab Shanty, cake
Bill's choice to cook
Sunday (Super Bowl
and Granna's Bday)Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork Barbeque, rolls, coleslaw, applesauce from Crab Shanty, cake
AND Finally, Something to Bake:
Creamy Banana Bread or if that doesn't happen, muffins from a box
;-)
Creamy Banana Bread or if that doesn't happen, muffins from a box
;-)
Jan 29, 2010
Science: Slime!
This is what you get when you combine Borax, Elmer's glue, a little paint for color, and water. Yucky fun! See recipe below. (from Last-Minute Science Fair Projects (Scholastic): When Your Bunsen's Not Burning but the Clock's Really Ticking
)
)
Combine 1/2 cup water, with 1/2 teaspoon Borax (available in laundry aisle).
Dissolve completely. In a separate bowl combine 3 tablespoons water with 6 tablespoons Elmer's glue and a tablespoon or so of tempera or acrylic paint. Mix well.
Dissolve completely. In a separate bowl combine 3 tablespoons water with 6 tablespoons Elmer's glue and a tablespoon or so of tempera or acrylic paint. Mix well.
Now combine the two mixtures. Watch what happens! EEEwwww!!
I'm Dreaming of a White Super Saturday
"Out of Order"
"Lunch on the deck?"
Our "Super Saturday Blizzard" fell on Dec 19, 2009. A record 20+ inches of snow fell in the Balt./Wash. area, the most ever in a 24-hour period. I had a ball taking pictures of the progress of the snowfall's ever- higher climb up windows and atop deck furniture.
"Lunch on the deck?"
We hope everyone in the sunnier sections of the country patriotically overspent to make up for the one third of the population who could not shop on this fiscally most-important of days.
God Bless America and Merry Christmas.
(Dont' miss the slide show below for more views.)
"Red, VERY White, and Blue"
How to Cure a Headache
It's nice to have a blog to work on when you're supposed to be giving your head a rest. In a lot of ways I did anything but. But it gave me the excuse I needed to spend two days fiddling and tweaking and finally until I finally got everything the way I imagined it to be.
I had so wanted 3 columns. At Three Column Blogger , I met the man of my dreams who easily, step-by-step, took me through the process of converting a typically boring Blogger template. He even can tell you how to adjust the width of the columns.
Now that I had my 3 columns, I needed a background to fit. But I still had to have a bird theme. And feminine, but not too cutsie. Some searching and I found my fairy godmother (after finding Prince Three-column) at The Background Fairy Today's entry was the Vintage Bird which I retinted in my Photosuite editing program. Et voila.
What do you think?
I had so wanted 3 columns. At Three Column Blogger , I met the man of my dreams who easily, step-by-step, took me through the process of converting a typically boring Blogger template. He even can tell you how to adjust the width of the columns.
Now that I had my 3 columns, I needed a background to fit. But I still had to have a bird theme. And feminine, but not too cutsie. Some searching and I found my fairy godmother (after finding Prince Three-column) at The Background Fairy Today's entry was the Vintage Bird which I retinted in my Photosuite editing program. Et voila.
What do you think?
Jan 28, 2010
Fall from Grace
After the cattail study, Mei and I and friend Keri headed to the local rink for homeschool ice skating time.
Halfway through, I tripped, fell backwards and am now posting this with a concussion.
I'm very surprised at how much damage can be done by this. I saw stars, almost passed out (saved myself by getting my head between my knees), felt nauseous and then just limp as a noodle. Had a brief episode of vertigo at the ER, and uncontrollable shivering for hours. Just managed to hold still long enough for the CAT scan, which thankfully was normal.
The lesson here is "Don't think you can easily copy little girls of 10 who are competitive skaters." They were my inspiration for trying to do stuff I clearly wasn't capable of doing.
MeiWei started taking lessons recently and we were there for practice time. I had been encouraging Mei and even have been learning along with her by paying close attention at her classes. I've been skating all my life, but never learned any "moves". This day I was watching the advanced girls and I had just proudly shown MW how I was beginning to understand how to do a little spin when I lost my balance and tipped completely backward onto my head. Really. No other part of my body even has a bruise. Strangely my JAW locked up on both sides and I could hardly talk. That hurt worse than my head. So the EMT's came, strapped me to an ice-cold board while I was pinned on the floor between a bench and a wall of the hockey player penalty box (where I collapsed after coming off the ice) and was wheeled off like an injured football player. I could only roll my eyes to say good-bye to MeiWei from a distance. That was very hard.
It was so fortunate (thank you, God ) that we had just befriended two or three other homeschool moms. They took over Mei and Keri until Keri's mom could come get them. The staff was wonderful too.
So I'm still swimmy headed but Keri's mom has taken Mei for the PM, so it's quiet. Tai will be home at dinner and can take over then. FatherRobin is working late at a very big presentation. Because of that I'm just thankful it didn't happen tonight.
So what were MW's first words after my being away in the ER for five hours?
"Is there school tomorrow?"
Halfway through, I tripped, fell backwards and am now posting this with a concussion.
I'm very surprised at how much damage can be done by this. I saw stars, almost passed out (saved myself by getting my head between my knees), felt nauseous and then just limp as a noodle. Had a brief episode of vertigo at the ER, and uncontrollable shivering for hours. Just managed to hold still long enough for the CAT scan, which thankfully was normal.
The lesson here is "Don't think you can easily copy little girls of 10 who are competitive skaters." They were my inspiration for trying to do stuff I clearly wasn't capable of doing.
MeiWei started taking lessons recently and we were there for practice time. I had been encouraging Mei and even have been learning along with her by paying close attention at her classes. I've been skating all my life, but never learned any "moves". This day I was watching the advanced girls and I had just proudly shown MW how I was beginning to understand how to do a little spin when I lost my balance and tipped completely backward onto my head. Really. No other part of my body even has a bruise. Strangely my JAW locked up on both sides and I could hardly talk. That hurt worse than my head. So the EMT's came, strapped me to an ice-cold board while I was pinned on the floor between a bench and a wall of the hockey player penalty box (where I collapsed after coming off the ice) and was wheeled off like an injured football player. I could only roll my eyes to say good-bye to MeiWei from a distance. That was very hard.
It was so fortunate (thank you, God ) that we had just befriended two or three other homeschool moms. They took over Mei and Keri until Keri's mom could come get them. The staff was wonderful too.
So I'm still swimmy headed but Keri's mom has taken Mei for the PM, so it's quiet. Tai will be home at dinner and can take over then. FatherRobin is working late at a very big presentation. Because of that I'm just thankful it didn't happen tonight.
So what were MW's first words after my being away in the ER for five hours?
"Is there school tomorrow?"
Cattail Study
Yesterday, before my "fall from grace,"(see post )we began our cattail study from the Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook . MeiWei and I and Mr. Bingley, the dog, walked down to the little pond on the neighbor's property, which
I suspect might have been the irrigation pond that provided water for the horses who once were raised here.
It is a picturesque setting. Edged on three sides by lawns that roll down to it, bordered behind by woods, and watched over by the original farmhouse, it attracts geese year-round and is our source for spring peeper choruses to herald the season on warm nights .
It also hosts a small stand of cattails.
We didn't have much time because of our date to go skating, so Mei shot these pics for referencing later. Then she made a quick sketch of the flower end of the plant and filled in a couple of notes on the jounaling page from the study's ebook. Tomorrow I'll have her finish the page, now that the photos are on the computer. But for now, I will recuperate and enjoy her great shots.
Jan 27, 2010
Outdoor Hour Challenge: "Old Man Winter" Tree
Inspired by Barb at "Handbook of Nature Study's Outdoor Hour Challenge" blog, and needing a real-live breath of fresh air after spending hours purging A's room (the Indoor Hour Challenge?), we grabbed the dog for our daily walk.
But instead of just walking and maybe commenting about the scenery, I "took a page" from the Barb's "Winter Tree Challenge #2" and brought our attention to three trees on the hill. In an old book I own called "Trees Every Child Should Know"
(read online ), the author points out that winter is an excellent time to study trees, allowing us to really see the structure--bones if you will--of a tree. But it also says that the tree is best observed isolated from others, allowing its full shape to be appreciated."
So we compared the neighbor's large specimen red maple tree to the giant oak that stands sentry on a hilltop in the pasture, a magnificent tree that must be one hundred years old.
It was very easy to see what the book talked about. First the proportions were so evidently different. The oak was wider than it was tall, and the maple the opposite. We used our thumbs, held at arms' length artist-style, to measure. Then we observed the general shapes. The maple was rounded, like most of us expect a tree to be shaped. But the oak was rectangular-ish. I didn't have my camera that day, but will try to get pics soon to share.
Later I will ask what direction the branches of each will follow and we will study the bark and twigs. Who needs leaves?
I'm enjoying discovering trees in winter more than I expected!
But instead of just walking and maybe commenting about the scenery, I "took a page" from the Barb's "Winter Tree Challenge #2" and brought our attention to three trees on the hill. In an old book I own called "Trees Every Child Should Know"
(read online ), the author points out that winter is an excellent time to study trees, allowing us to really see the structure--bones if you will--of a tree. But it also says that the tree is best observed isolated from others, allowing its full shape to be appreciated." So we compared the neighbor's large specimen red maple tree to the giant oak that stands sentry on a hilltop in the pasture, a magnificent tree that must be one hundred years old.
It was very easy to see what the book talked about. First the proportions were so evidently different. The oak was wider than it was tall, and the maple the opposite. We used our thumbs, held at arms' length artist-style, to measure. Then we observed the general shapes. The maple was rounded, like most of us expect a tree to be shaped. But the oak was rectangular-ish. I didn't have my camera that day, but will try to get pics soon to share.
Later I will ask what direction the branches of each will follow and we will study the bark and twigs. Who needs leaves?
I'm enjoying discovering trees in winter more than I expected!
Jan 25, 2010
New Nature Study
Got my eBook, "Winter Nature Study" by Barb McCoy at Harmony Art's Outdoor Hour Challenge blog. It covers nature study, art and music appreciation all around the topic of the season. Looks like a great resource that will give our schooling a little jolt during the drab days of winter.
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