Cheesy Attractions, part 1

This past we we vacationed in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia. It was beautiful, and we'll post more on that later, but first I thought we would start out with one of the cheesier attractions we visited.






Yes, there is a full scale replica of Stonehenge, made of styrofoam blocks, in Virginia. It is in a state of some disrepair at the moment, but was fun enough to visit. Hey, it was free. And its not like we actually went out of our way to visit it... well, we did have to backtrack a little... and we couldn't leave town without going to see it.

18 inches - short or long?

So, is 18 inches short to you, or long? "It depends..." is what I imagine your answer to be. If measuring the daily commute it may be a very short distance. If measuring a fish it may be long. If measuring a pizza, it is Jumbo, and you should expect to pay a lot.
For me it is long, at least today. I got 18 inches of hair cut off this afternoon. And I still have hair!
Here's how I started the day:








And here's the end result:











No Victorian hair jewelry planned here, it is going to be sent off to Locks of Love.

Weekend Bounty

The yard sale season has begun. Our favorite church sale and community sale were scheduled for this past Saturday, and we found quite a few nice items. Jamie is thrilled to own a Toucan Sam figurine (think Froot Loops) and a toy "power grinder." Dot is happy with her new books and t-shirts. Kids can find something at any sale, it seems.
Here is the bargain of the weekend, at just twenty-five cents for the set. (We do wonder why the penguin's feet are pink.)

The worst buy, it would seem? A recorder for fifty cents. The noise from the untrained musicians in this house... well, you can imagine.

is it spring yet?

It is most definitely spring here in Baltimore. Our trees are green and spreading pollen, and the flowering plants are gorgeous spots of color throughout the area. The gardens are beginning to grow, and the lawns have been mown.

The latest yard work for me was to make a small bricked area for the hose caddy. For the past few years we have dealt with weeds and mud under the hose. We had just enough old bricks to complete this project, but I needed to buy some sand. As the sandbox needed to be refilled, I bought three bags of playsand and let Jamie have anything leftover. He's happy, I'm happy, we're all happy.



The azalea bushes are blooming, and the rose is climbing up the new trellis. I'm hoping that corner flowerbed does well this year. It is hard to find good plants for that, as the soil is still "recovering" from the large bush that used to be there. It is also very sunny, so it tends to be quite dry during the summer.


My vegetable garden is growing! This is a mesclun lettuce mix. Soon we will be able to pick leaves for our salads! The peas have been planted, and I just put up the "tepee" for them to climb.

Finally, here's what the kids do while I work. (Actually, they did try to help, but they aren't very good at leveling sand.) This is their favorite place to eat now. Every day is picnic day!

Forensic History field trip

Alright, so the name sounds almost imposing, doesn't it? Is forensic history appropriate for a 9 year old girl? Actually, Dot enjoyed it, along with quite a few other upper elementary homeschoolers.
Historic Londontown, a recreated colonial site just south of Annapolis, hosted the day. SERC brought along the science. The kids started the day with a talk about the scientific method, forensics, and Palynology (the study of pollen). During a walk through the gardens they learned about flower parts and plant pollination, ending with a talk on bees near the hives. They walked back to the lab, where they used microscopes to look at artifacts, flowers and bees. (One boy's bee was not quite as dead as they thought!) After a short talk on archeology they headed out to the recreated settlement to do some hands on cooking. Bean cakes were not as tasty as expected, but trackball (sp?) was fun to try.
Overall it was a fun day, and they did a pretty good job of tying history and science together.

a well composed argument

Turn on your speakers for this video!

... it's a boy.

Ah, well, it's not that I'm unhappy that the baby is not a girl. I'm glad they have a new baby boy, and I am sort of prepared. Sort of. I have been working on a blue quilt since I saw how girly that other one turned out. This is the quilt top, and I have the backing, but I need to buy the batting before I can do any more work. Now, if I can find time to get to the store...

I hope it's a girl...

I had bought the materials for this baby quilt intending it to be gender neutral... however, once I got the backing material home and next to the quilt top, I realized that the pink was dominant. Very dominant. Yeah, it's a girly quilt.
The baby it is intended for is due this week. I hope it's a girl...

Coastal Colonial Life

This Wednesday was Homeschool Day at Historic St. Mary's City. It was a well set up field trip, well worth the fee and the drive. We all enjoyed the different settlements that have been re-built and stocked. The interpreters were engaging and informed. Thankfully the weather was good, too, although we should have used sunscreen... See more photos at my web album.
After the field trip we stopped by the Ensmingers' for dinner. The kids played together well, and wanted to stay forever. We enjoyed talking with Dan and Beth, and also enjoyed a good dinner. We left after the kids' bedtime, and arrived home way too late.
Yesterday, as we wearily left the house to go grocery shopping, Jamie asked if we could go back to play again! Perhaps another day...

Hooray!

Isn't it lovely? I have finally upgraded from the inexpensive food processor I received as a gift quite a few years ago. I have been using it often, and it seemed to be getting louder each time - and it wasn't quiet to begin with! I had researched food processors, and two names came up over and over - Kitchenaid and Cusinart. I love my Kitchenaid mixer, but Cusinart was on sale at Macy's this weekend. (I might not have noticed this sale except for the huge ads in the newspaper.) Not only did I replace my aging and noisy food processor, but I also replaced my old, dulling knife set. Hey, maybe Henkels Everedge set isn't top of the line, but they do the job I ask of them. I'm happy with what I purchased, and I look forward to using them as I cook!

A cold Easter morning

Here we are in all our Easter finery, just after the sun came up. I made Dorothy's dress and my dress. Jamie had to make do with what he had. There aren't many patterns out there for boys, especially not for dressy clothes. He'll have some summery shorts later, but it was too cold for them just yet.

New spring shoes

Spring is arriving here, and with next Sunday being Easter, it is time for new shoes. The kids had specific ideas of what they wanted, and for the most part they are happy with their choices. Dot has a nice pair of pale pink ballet flats (that she has worn just about everywhere). Jamie has "church" sandals - which he is wearing with socks today - but is somewhat disappointed by his casual shoes. Jamie has desired yellow crocs for quite some time. Last year he settled for blue ones, as they didn't have any yellow ones in his size. This year he was determined to get yellow ones! However, we couldn't find any. At all. So, we compromised. Hey, character themed shoes have been popular for a long time...

and yet...

a weather comparison

Well, this winter has severely disappointed the kids. We got a little snow way back in November, but not much since then.


In our area, birds are returning, and bulbs are growing. Spring is coming!











our tulips









our daffodils









our bleeding hearts










our lilies









our climbing rose

hit hard

Last Friday Jim came down with the flu (stuffy head, coughing, aches, fatigue). He seemed to weather it alright - he spent a good portion of each day in front of the computer. Along with that, though, he had the knowledge of an impending root canal.
On Sunday we found that the car had a flat tire - another thing to take care of this week. We went to church, where I gradually felt the onset of the flu. By the end of the morning service, I was tired and coughing. I managed to make lunch for us - leftovers - but went to bed immediately after. I haven't left my bed much since then. The flu hit me hard, and came with the added symptom of nausea.
Jim stayed home on Monday, as the kids had a field trip to attend. They all enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables play, and the pizza afterward. On Tuesday, Jim had his root canal first thing in the morning. Thankfully, the doctor did a great job numbing him, and the prescriptions do a great job of keeping him pain free. He stayed home again, though, as I was still in bed, and the kids were running wild.
Today, Jim is back to work, and I am out of bed. I'm still not fully recovered, but I'm getting better. I suppose it's a good thing that we are so far ahead in our schoolwork - we'll probably be taking off the whole week. I hope the kids stay healthy.

Jamie's quilt top: done!

Other than straightening up the edges, this quilt top is done! Now comes the grunt work - layering the backing and batting, basting it all together, and quilting it.
In times past, women would gather for a day, sitting around a large quilt, hand stitching the layers together. Some women would have a large quilt stretched out somewhere in their house, ready for them to sit down whenever they had time to hand stitch. Some women still do that... but I don't have room, nor the inclination to hand stitch this huge quilt!
Nowadays you can send your quilt off to be machine quilted for you, which can save you quite bit of work. However, it will not save you money - the prices make ready made quilts look economical! A simple quilting can cost $250 or more. That's just the quilting - after you've bought the material, done the patchwork, layered everything and basted it together. And after they quilt it you still have to sew on your binding.
So, this quilt will be wrested through my regular old sewing machine. I will fight it and hate it. I will breathe a sigh of relief when it is finally done. And then I will give it to my four-and-a-half year old to drag around the house.

who's the real idot here?

This morning I came across this line in the book I was reading:

And the idiot Carter? "Tis a sentence worse than death merely to be associated with the Carter name, " Andre muttered.

Hmm... into what sort of family did I marry? Take comfort, the book was not written about Jim's family, or any other specific carter family. It is fiction, after all.

However, here is a chance for redemption. While connected with the idiocy, the Carter name is not the source of it:









Yes, the company sent a life insurance offer to a man who has been dead for 10 years. That's some "second chance" they're offering!

Homeschool fashion

We're eclectic to say the least...

word play

At one time we thought we had a nice, quiet second child; a child who would give us a bit of a break form the seemingly never-ending chatter of our first. Lately, though, we've found out that we have two talkative children. It's hard to find a moment's peace in our house! However, all this chatter does lead to some humorous situations at times.
In the car we talked of kosher food rules, which led to the history of food production, and we found out that some farms may use an item known as a incubulator... square eggs, anyone?
While going over our flower flashcards in homeschool, we repeatedly find that the carnation is now the "all creation", and the chickory plant had become "chick and eggs."
In the kitchen, I often have company as I cook. One day Jamie was playing with some office supplies on the counter. After telling him that, yes, that box was full of tacks, I heard this short story take place:
"Aaah! A Tack!"
"Attack!"

Woohoo!

A box from Amazon arrived in the mail today, and I had trouble keeping Jamie from opening it. As soon as Jim got home from work, the kids ran to "help" him open the box. Jim and I were puzzled, as neither one of us was expecting an order from Amazon.
Turns out it was a gift! Thanks, Linda! Enough milky tea to last for a few months! Woohoo! (And blue was the right color!)

more accomplishments

The thrift store and Craigslist strikes again... On Craigslist I found bookshelves this time, and a furniture sale. There's this company called Corporate Rental that every so often clears out the warehouse with a really good sale. While most of the furniture is too modern for my taste, we needed a table for the sewing room, and it didn't really matter what it looked like. We ended up getting a nice-looking, good-quality table and four (need to be reupholstered) chairs for only $60. What a good deal!









At the thrift store we found Playmobil! And not just any playmobil, a pirate ship and two castles! For only $20! The kids are thrilled with them, and can't wait for me to sew so they can play some more.









Hey, at least they didn't get into trouble while I finished the baby quilt.









Last, but not least, today I will be very happy to finish my dinner with a slice of banana cream pie - one that doesn't contain any milk! Jim will be happy to finish his dinner with some of the leftover chocolate chess pie (it's like eating brownie batter!).








Are you drooling yet?

some work completed

We've been busy lately, and not just with homeschooling. Of course, normal chores fill up our time, along with parenting and church volunteering, but we also are accomplishing things around the house! Woohoo!
This past weekend we revamped a lot of the storage areas in the basement. For too long they had been overrun due to their poor use of space, or general lack of storage. With a little elbow grease and a trip to Lowe's, we now have more useful storage space in the basement, not to mention more room to walk around. Here is the pantry/Jim's closet/ toy storage area:









And here is the sewing room storage:









Have you seen that much material outside of a sewing store? Other sewers call this a stash, and some are embarrassed by it. Personally, I adore mine!
I don't get to use the sewing room as much as I would like to - there's this job I have, you know, watching the kids, that prevents me from doing so. However, here is one halfway completed project (it needs to be quilted yet):











All of the materials for that quilt top came off those shelves. Most were leftover from previous projects. And I have made some progress on Jamie's yellow and green quilt:









Yeah, it's crazy, and there is a lot of work left to do on it!
We have work to do yet in the basement as well. We have pegboard to put to use! And more stuff to sort! And a few loads of stuff to take to the thrift store and dump! Clean and organize, that's our motto for the year. What have you completed this year?

These can be ingredients?

I have not tried this recipe. I don't think it would be very well received by Jim... what with pineapple and circus peanuts in it and all. Not to mention the appalling lack of chocolate in any form.




Circus Peanut Gelatin

44 circus peanuts, divided 1 cup boiling water, divided
2 (3 oz.) pkgs. orange jello
2 (8 oz.) cans crushed pineapple (undrained)
1 (8 oz.) carton frozen whipped topping, thawed

Cut 32 candies into small pieces; place in a microwave-safe bowl. Add 1/4 cup of boiling water. Cover and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir; microwave 1 minute longer. Stir until smooth.
In a large bowl, dissolve jello in remaining boiling water. Stir in candy mixture and pineapple. Refrigerate until partially set. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares; top each witha circus peanut.

Do you have fun with your food?

It's not often that I actually go to all the work of being super creative with my food. After all, if it tastes good and is healthy, does it matter much if it is "cute" or not? Plus, being creative usually makes bigger messes. (Especially once the kids find out, and want to join in.) Nevertheless, I like fun food ideas. Here are two really cute ones:
from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, the Flying Spaghetti Monster









And from Cake Journal, some Mupcakes

PBS wishlist

Oooh, the Masterpiece Theatre series of Jane Austen's books started off great last night! Persuasion was enjoyable, and I can't wait to watch the other 5 episodes. Someday I hope to own all 6 dvds.
With that thought in mind, I wandered over to the PBS shop online, sure that I would be greatly disappointed in the prices. However, I was happy to find that the prices are quite average. Perhaps I can slowly but surely purchase the set.
Another PBS series we enjoy is Secrets of the Dead. One of the best - Catastrophe. The theory is that the dark ages were caused by an immense volcanic eruption. Quite interesting, worth the time to watch. Other good episodes? Salem witch trials and the flu epidemic. Perhaps your library carries them...

Useful resource?

We are in desperate need of more shelving - we have too many books for the ones we have now. And yet we continue to buy more books! Things will continue this way, as I have found a new-to-us used bookstore up in Towson (about 15-20 minutes from our house), and this site. For those in Ohio, click here. In Minnesota, here. Never miss another great library sale!

The holidays

Now that we've gotten over our colds (and they were awful!), I have taken the time to upload our photos. Check them out here. We enjoyed spending time with our family and friends, but we are also glad to be back home. Now all we need to do is find places for all the gifts we brought home...

Happy 2008!

Jim was the only person at our house who was awake for the arrival of 2008. The rest of us were sensible, asleep in our beds. I missed it by only half an hour, as I had somehow stayed awake for the PBS show on Carol Burnett. It was funny...

Today we "celebrated" by having lunch at Panda Express. "Chinese for lunch, Chinese for lunch!" was Jamie's song as we left Lowe's parking lot. He happily ate up my Mandarin chicken, after he decided that he really does not like orange chicken after all. We are all stuffed. Mmmm.

The fortune cookies seemed to be written with New Year's day in mind. (Perhaps they always sound that way? "Somewhere in your future lies...") Here they are:
Jim:

Many pleasurable and memorable adventures are in store for you.

Laura:

There will be plenty of time to work hard; enjoy yourself!

Dot:

Every person is the architect of his own fortune.

Jamie:

An exciting opportunity lies ahead if you are not timid.

(By the way, the lucky numbers for Jim and me were the same!)

Tubas for Christmas

Once again we made the trip to the Inner Harbor for Merry Tuba Christmas. Once again the kids were greeted by many odd Santas, given too much candy, and got too tired of standing for us to stay for the entire concert. It was cold, even though we were well bundled, even though we had bought two lovely hot chocolates to share. The music was lovely, though.
Here is Jim's best shot of the tubas here in Baltimore:








And here is Jamie with "gas-mask Santa" (sorry it is blurry, it's hard to take photos with gloves on):

This Santa asked if our kids had been bad or good, and almost immediately Jamie head-butted Jim in the stomach. Dot received a piece of candy, and Jamie received a yo-yo for his bad act... but his happiness was short lived - Santa took the yo-yo back, telling us it was broken, and poor Jamie had to be content with a piece of candy.

"Christmas Facts and Fancies"

From the book 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred C. Hottes:

In Silesia a baby born on Christmas will become either a lawyer or thief.

In Spain everyone is admonished to treat cows very kindly because it is believed that cattle breathed upon the Christ Child to keep Him warm.

A dog which howls on Christmas Eve will go mad within the year.

Take an onion on Christmas Eve and cut it through to form twelve cups. Put salt on each and place in a row, giving each the name of a month. The months in which the salt is found wet on the following morning will be wet, and the contrary.

Eat a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning and you will be able to carry heavy weights.

Some say that he whose appetite gives out first st Christmas dies first.

In Scandinavia some families place all their shoes together, as this will cause them to live in harmony thoughout the year.

Never launder a Christmas present before presenting it, as this take out the good luck.

The perfect present for Jim

Not that it would get done anytime soon...

Find it at Etsy, but expect to pay a lot of money!

homeschool gym class in winter

One good thing about homeschool is that you can be very flexible with the curriculum, especially in gym class. It doesn't matter much what you are doing, as long as the kids are getting exercise on a normal basis. Yeah, playing in the snow counts. Wonderful, isn't it?
You'll find a few more snow photos here.

Too busy for words...

Well, not really - but almost! The holiday season has picked up speed quickly, and is threatening to leave me behind in the dust. How's it treating you?

My new word for this season, which I picked up at Dress A Day, has nothing to do with dresses. The author of that blog has a rather different job - she is also the author of Dictionary Evangelist, which more closely relates to her occupation as a lexicographer. (Yeah, just look it up already.) Anyway, here it is:

Santagnostic

On another note, we treated ourselves this year to a new tv. Our old one (older than our marriage, which is now approaching 12 years) was slowly giving up the ghost. We found a good deal on a LCD model, and we are thoroughly enjoying it. The kids love that there are more PBS stations now, one of which is broadcast in Spanish all day long. You can see the tv (and how clear the picture is!) behind Jamie, who decided that he was not too big for his Snoopy sweater after all.