Resolution Update

1. Go for a walk or ride my exercise bike or do home Tai Chi or go to the gym 5 times a week.  I joined a gym and I actually go.  Yoga, Zumba, Weights -- I'm there! One week I got to EIGHT classes.  This week, probably only 4, but I do do something 5-6 days a week.

On a side note, I am down 6 pounds.  I've been mindful of what I am eating, but not really dieting per se.  Just moving more.
  
2. Get to church at least 3 Sundays a month. Two Sundays a month, but we did have the flu, so that kept us home.

3. Visit my folks more. Never enough.

4. Have people over for dinner more often.  Yes! Have had company over for dinner twice this year.

5. Get the kids up at 7:00 on schooldays in order to get the mandatory work done before we leave the house.  Somehow we got involved in lots of midday activities and none of us are any good in the classroom after 3:00. Fail, as we don't get up at 7.  We have been faithful at getting up at 7:30.

6. Work on my manuscript!  Haven't touched it.  Need more uninterrupted time.

New Year's Resolutions

My New Year's Resolutions
1. Go for a walk or ride my exercise bike or do home Tai Chi or go to the gym 5 times a week.
2. Get to church at least 3 Sundays a month.
3. Visit my folks more.
4. Have people over for dinner more often.
5. Get the kids up at 7:00 on schooldays in order to get the mandatory work done before we leave the house.  Somehow we got involved in lots of midday activities and none of us are any good in the classroom after 3:00.
6. Work on my manuscript!

resolution update

This year's resolutions:
FAIL 1. Be a kinder, more patient, more fun Mom.  Pray for me on this one please.
FAIL 2. Get the kids up at 7:00 on schooldays in order to get the mandatory work done before we leave the house.  Somehow we got involved in lots of midday activities and none of us are any good in the classroom after 3:00.
FAIL 3. Go for a walk or ride my exercise bike 4 times a week. 
FAIL 4. Go the gym twice week.
FAIL 5. Grow and preserve more food.
FAIL 6. Learn to trim Nutmeg's nails, keep the mats out, and do all the other grooming tasks.

what to do now?

It's raining (naturally, being June in Washington) and I have completed my obligations for Spring Quarter.  We have some home-schooling curriculum to finish up, but there is room in my life for some projects.  The nominees are:

• paint all the interior trim on the addition
• work on my manuscript
• clean out the basement
• purge the kitchen & laundry room
• make jam from last year's frozen jam berries
• clean out the barn
• prep a Pilot course for a private English class I am teaching next fall, pending sufficient enrollment
• prep a fall Eng 101 class I am teaching, pending sufficient enrollment

New Year's Resolution

Congratulations to me on keeping my toughest resolution ever.  On this day in 1993 I smoked my last cigarette.  Yeah me! 

Last year's resolutions were:
1. Stay out of the hospital. -- Mostly successful.  I did enter the building, but only as a worried daughter, not as a patient.
2. Wear fragrance and nail polish more often. -- Yup.  I've been sparkly and scented all year long. 
3. Make and adhere to weekly menu plans. -- Yup.  I use Google's calendar to keep organized.
4. Go for more walks. -- FAIL.
5. Go to the gym 1-2 times a week. -- FAIL.
6. De-clutter the house, basement, and barn. -- FAIL.
7. Buy myself a miniature Australian Labradoodle. -- Resounding Success.  Oh my goodness, what a good decision that was.  Expensive, yes, but much cheaper than therapy and way more effective and fun.

This year's resolutions:
1. Be a kinder, more patient, more fun Mom.  Pray for me on this one please.
2. Get the kids up at 7:00 on schooldays in order to get the mandatory work done before we leave the house.  Somehow we got involved in lots of midday activities and none of us are any good in the classroom after 3:00.
3. Go for a walk or ride my exercise bike 4 times a week. 
4. Go the gym twice week.
5. Grow and preserve more food.
6. Learn to trim Nutmeg's nails, keep the mats out, and do all the other grooming tasks.

2011-2012 Curriculum for Home Education (aka Home-schooling)

Here is what we are doing this year.


Math: We will continue with Math-U-See because it works so well for us.  The nice man gives the lesson on DVD, the children do the practice exercises. It's great.  We've found that when the Epsilon text pairs nicely with the Fractions text from the very charming Life of Fred series.

Bible:  Bible Study Fellowship's Study of Acts, AOP's Monarch curriculum.

Language Arts: We will continue with the homey Amish curriculum Pathways Readers and Workbook.  We will also finish up -- but won't re-purchase -- last year's Monarch curriculum from Alpha-Omega Press.

Writing: I am looking into the Institute for Excellence in Writing products, particularly the one that pairs with the Beautiful Feet Books' Geography Through Literature packet.

Latin: We have left-over from last year both Prima Latina and  English From the Roots Up material, though I think we are joining a group this year to hire a teacher and have an actual Latin class.

Geography:   Geography Through Literature packet from Beautiful Feet Books; Maps, Graphs and Globes from Steck-Vaughn; finish up -- but don't re-purchase -- last year's Monarch curriculum.

History: We are just now starting Beautiful Feet Books' Gilgamesh packet.  When we finish this, we'll move onto Beautiful Feet Books' Ancient History packet, which we'll augment with the Story of the World material.  After the new year, we will need to listen to Washington - Our Home Audio Book as Washington State History is required of us this year, as Andy is entering -- on paper at least -- sixth grade.

Science:  Beautiful Feet Books makes a great Learning Guided titled History of Science.  It walks us through the great scientists via engaging biographies.  We will augment each topic with hands-on Science in a Nutshell experiment kits -- that is, when we are studying Thomas Edison's life, we'll also be doing experiments with electricity.  We will also finish up -- but won't re-purchase -- last year's Monarch curriculum from Alpha-Omega Press.




Music:  Piano Lessons

Cursive: Handwriting without Tears

Hillsdale Academy, affiliated with Hillsdale College -- where I should have gone to college if I hadn't been so young and foolish -- makes available online their complete curriculum.  I found several useful resources here, and was pleased to note that that many of the set reading lists are echoed in the Beautiful Feet lists -- though that is hardly surprising, as one of the Beautiful Feet curriculum writers was a graduate of Hillsdale College.

How about you?  What are you using this year?

Cookery

I started the blog as a diary that I couldn't lose under the couch.  And then I got readers.  And then I started writing for my reader's benefit.  That became too much pressure.  So I stopped blogging. I'm guessing that all my readers have lost interest and drifted away.

So here, just for my own record-keeping, here are some summerish dishes/menus to help me make yummy but no-too-fussy dinners this summer.

Sides

• rosemary polenta Barefoot Contessa: Family Style p 130
• scalloped potatoes: Andy can make.
• loaded salads
• pesto
• roast sweet potatoes
• white beans with rosemary and olive oil
• roasted leeks
• roasted corn salad Pioneer Woman Cooks p 26
• Corn Fritters
• Lentil Salad Recipes from a Greek Island p74
• Pea and Almond Salad Alice Bay p 81
• Potatoes Romanoff Alice Bay p 95
• Glazed Carrots
• Cucumber Yogurt Soup
• Summer Beet Soup Turtleback Farm Inn Cookbook p 60
• Panzanella (use up dry old bread) A Flavor of Tuscany  p 20

 Breads

• Tortillas -- use up the mix that you have.
• Biscuits

 Mains

• Piperade 50 Ways With Vegetables p 70
• Potato and Zucchini Roast 50 Ways With Vegetables p 72

• zucchini ratatouille
• gazpacho Linda McCartney's Home Cooking p 55
• fritattas
• meat pie
• grilled chicken Caesar salad
• supper onion pie How to be a Domestic Goddess p 85
• zucchini and chickpea filo pie   How to be a Domestic Goddess p 93
• mustard pork chops Nigella Express p 11
• real mac and cheese
• rib-eye steak with whiskey (or red wine) cream sauce Pioneer Woman Cooks p 166
• chicken clove enchilada (Christy's recipe, my recipe book)
• Penne with Prawns Pioneer Woman Cooks p 166
• Eggplant with Bechamel -- Mollie Katzen?  look up
• Quiche Alice Bay p 110
• Stuffed Vegies Recipes from a Greek Island p 68
• Stuffed Cabbage Recipes from a Greek Island p 68
• Chicken Bake
• Shrimp and Scallop Fettuccine Alice Bay p 107
• Halibut baked in Mayo and Tomato

Desserts

• key lime pie: recipe book
• trifle
• bread pudding
• semolina cake Recipes from a Greek Island p 68

on my mind

a broody hen: one of our Wyandottes has gone broody. She sits and coos and purrs at the other hens as they crawl in with her and lay their eggs. I've marked the four I'll let her hatch, and I go in and retrieve the rest each day.
a new puppy: Nutmeg has joined our family at last. She is so funny, and cute! She is turbo-cute. Here, see for yourself:

kitty surgery: our beloved Parsley has a rare injury that requires fancy and expensive surgery and then a month or two of a splint and confinement. She is so sad. I am so sad.
class prep: classes open (for online viewing) on Thursday, and I am expected to have everything ready for the students and to be available for questions, though I don't start getting paid until a full week later. What's up with this. I've taught the classes before, but summer quarter is only eight weeks long, so I'm laboring to smush ten-weeks of material into eight weeks of class.
day camp: each of the next two weeks has one of my children off to day camp. The absent child is having a wonderful time. The at-home child, not so much.
gardens: the vegie beds are full and weeded and I am pleased. The flower gardens, not so much.
jam: we are out! I have to add jam-making to my list of to-dos.

Resolutions and Goals Report

Here are my New's Years Resolutions.  

1. Stay out of the hospital. So far, so good.
2. Wear fragrance and nail polish more often.  Success!  Thank you to Givency Extravagance and to Zoya.  That polish is amazing.  I put it on on Monday and it still looks great on Thursday.
3. Make and adhere to weekly menu plans. Epic fail.
4. Go for more walks. Epic fail.
5. Go to the gym 1-2 times a week. Success!
6. De-clutter the house, basement, and barn. In progress.
7. Buy myself a miniature Australian Labradoodle.  Started the process.

For Lent, I gave up all my electronic games (painful).  And for Spring Quarter I am one class short, so we are implementing Domestic Austerity Measures.

Today I went to Pilates class, worked out with weights, went shopping and bought nothing that was not on my list, served a thrifty and nutritious home-cooked meal, and my kitchen sink is shiny. 
This represents multiple goals: physical strength, financial stabilization, nutrition for kids, and the on-going FlyLadying of my home.  Who's FlyLady you ask?  She's this nice lady that tells me what to do and when to do it.  My way wasn't working so well (get overwhelmed and play electronic games as an avoidance mechanism), so we'll try it her way.

I'm not sure I can afford to follow through on my puppy though.  She's not very compatible with the domestic austerity measures.

New Year's Resolutions

1. Stay out of the hospital.
2. Wear fragrance and nail polish more often.
3. Make and adhere to weekly menu plans.
4. Go for more walks.
5. Go to the gym 1-2 times a week.
6. De-clutter the house, basement, and barn.
7. Buy myself a miniature Australian Labradoodle.

the summer that wasn't

The weather has turned here.  It is misty and cold in the morning and then the mist burns off by afternoon.  It feels like fall.  I was still hoping to have summer.  Here are random notes from the summer that wasn't.

• 'twas a terrible year for gardening.  Either blazing hot or really chilly.  Most everything languished during the chilly episodes and bolted during the hot ones.  We did well with potatoes and it looks as if there will be zucchinis.
• I am slowly healing from the nasty whatever-it-was that put me in the hospital earlier this month.  I am able to eat without much pain -- which is nice -- and I am getting my energy back.
• I'm reading The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and I am confused.  For some reason I thought it would be a good read, but it is really just a romance novel. I think the cover fooled me.  Doesn't it look respectable?  But truth be told, it should have a woman with a revealing bodice swooning in the arms of a hurky man.   Why am I even admitting to be reading it?  To warn you away. 
• I taught only one class this summer.
• Yet another summer has passed and I am more aware of all the fun things we didn't do, and not really full of fun memories of things we did do, because we really didn't do much.  I missed blueberry season somehow.  We never went to the ocean (and we live on the coast!).  We didn't go clamming.  I didn't eat a single bite of Copper River Salmon.  I really failed as a PNW mom this year.
• We did a few fun things though -- we visited our charming relations in Nebraska.  We helped host a fun graduation/bon voyage party for some other charming relations (we are blessed with many relations, most of them charming). We swam at the lake.  We raised five pullets. We star-gazed.
• And we are planning two vacations in the near future.  The children and I will spend some time up on Vancouver Island, and then later all four of us will go camping on Orcas Island (the largest of the San Juans). 

iPad: what is really inside

a spring to-do list

This is just today's list. I need to come up with my big huge list for the season.

• take chickies out
• groom south flower garden
• transplant peonies
• meet darling husband for picnic and pre-practice practice
• go to Dandy's baseball practice (sit in sun)
• buy groceries
• bring chickies in
• grade second section of World Lit
  

fashion

I doesn't matter who is wearing it, and if you don't know, I won't say, but this is ugly. Doesn't this woman have a mirror? or a best friend?

25 random things

As promised, the 25 random things:


1. I am an INTJ. I am married to an ISFP.
2. I really dislike scrapbooking; this is a problem as I am supposed to make LifeBooks for my kids and they are sure to be maladjusted adults if I don't get going on this.
3. I've flown all the way around the world - west-bound.
4. People think I am more competent and confident than I really am. I just don't put myself forward unless I know what I am doing.
5. I hate TV. Blech.
6. I have a manuscript-in-progress.
7. Now that we have a wii, I may get to work on my manuscript.
8. I was blessed with really good people for parents. I love to spend time with them.
9. I like to cook and bake.
10. I have significant arthritis in my hands which is interfering with #9 more than my family realizes.
11. I've never been pregnant.
12. I have two kids.
13. I don't gamble or smoke.
14. I drink wine or dark beer and very rarely, a martini.
15. I really like technological wonderments: iRobot, iTouch, etc.
16. I'm a dusty house-keeper. This drives my husband nuts.
17. I teach community college English classes online and often in my PJs.
18. We bought our wedding rings at a gold mine in Wales.
19. I own 2 power drills of my own and know how to use them, but I don't sew. In fact, I am rather sewaphobic.
20. I call my husband My Gift from a Generous God.
21. We have six house-pets.
22. I really enjoy learning new software.
23. I do most of my shopping on-line, except for groceries.
24. I keep a blog: :: Adventures In Daily Living ::
25. I'm a homebody. It would take weeks at home for me to get cabin fever.

works for me: keeping my iTouch organized

If you don't have an iTouch or iPhone and are annoyed by people who do, just skip this post.

I want to share a trick with you for keeping your iTouch apps organized.

Move all but one of your apps off of your front page. Then, as you use them, move them one-by-one back to the front. This keeps the front page restricted to your most-used apps, the ones you click on every day, usually multiple times.

When the first page is starting to get full, do the same process on the second page or use pages 2-6 for categories of apps.

Here are my lean essentials-only first page and my second holding the the second-stringer apps: things I use a couple times a week.

Page 3 is for my toys and page 4 is for kid toys home-schooling applications.

Pages 5 & 6 are the third stringer apps -- things I want to have, but don't use very often.

Remember, you don't have to fill a page. A half-full page is much easier to scan. Was that helpful? or am I really pathetic?



My other Works for Me posts.
works+for+me

twit this

Do you twitter? Do you read blogs?

If the blog you are reading has a TWIT installed, you can tweet your blog recommendations straight out to to twitter.

(My Dad is thinking that I am babbling by now.)

Try it. Click on the Twit This birdie down below and then all your tweetie friends will read this post and install twits on their blogs and so on . . .

and so on . . .

and so on . .

happy things

We're having a great week:

1. I'm planning my fall vacation with my best girl-friend.
2. I opened my Winter contract and found out that I got a raise! More than enough to cover my much-coveted iTouch -- which I probably won't go buy, but I could if I wanted to.
3. Thanks to Uncle Greg, we have found a Shop class for Dandy. A nice old duffer will be teaching Dandy wood-crafting skills on Friday afternoons.
4. I got a Golden Comment on a post. Honestly, I take a lot of flak for being a tough teacher; encouragement like this just puts me on cloud 9.
5. We are refinancing at 4.125%. This reduces both our monthly payment and the length of our loan. Gotta love that.
   

a day late

Apparently yesterday was National De-Lurking Day and I MISSED IT! It was my big chance to find out who y'all are (especially the mysterious South Dakota reader) and I forgot all about it.

Maybe

just maybe

if you are feeling really nice

and want to make me all happy and glowy inside

you'll de-lurk today.

Just tell me who and where you are and why you read.

Or tell me about your favorite pet.

Or anything at all.

Pretty please?