Sarcasm, again.

The bacon is cooking. Ben called from the store and asked me to put water on for corn on the cob. No, it's not local, but it is the kids' favorite. Liam says it is the best food in the world.

Molly eats a muffin. She looks at me and says, "Watch my muffin," and opens her mouth to show me a mouthful of muffin.

"Lovely," I reply.

"I know what you're being," she says. "Hygienic."

I laugh.

She says, "What is it? What are you being?"

"Sarcastic," I say.

"You're being SARCASTIC."

Catch-up Week

This week, I am not teaching: no emails to check, no papers to grade. So, my hope has been to get our house in order before the new term begins on Monday. We were off to a slow start as we spent a long weekend in St. Joe for Katey's baby shower. We had a nice, quick visit with everyone.

We didn't get home until about 6:00 pm Monday. Ben was in Traverse City from Sunday until Tuesday afternoon, so it was just the kids and me. We picked up Jody's (a restaurant about two blocks from our house,LOL) and ate and watched TV. Everyone piled into bed with me, and we all fell asleep kind of late. Then we slept in abnormally late too. Molly actually slept until 9:00! She's usually up by 7:30 at the latest!

Tuesday was pretty slow too. We started a unit on Frogs and Crayfish. Ben came home in the early afternoon and helped the kids clean up the livingroom. I got several loads of laundry done, wiped down the downstairs bath, and emptied and loaded the dishwasher. I started pumpkin muffins and crackers (so the flour could soak overnight).

Today, I ran the dishwasher (meant to do that last night). I made pumpkin muffins for breakfast. I cleaned the laundry room, did more laundry, wiped down the upstairs bath, got Reagan to sleep for about 15 minutes in bed, then she woke up and spent the afternoon nursing....Then I got the living room picked up and vacuumed. I even had time for a quick dust and scrubbed a 12X18 crayon masterpiece off the wall...

Ben called while I was doing laundry. He is picking up bread, tomatoes, and lettuce for BLT's. I'm off to cook bacon and try to make some progress in the kitchen! I also need to make those crackers I started last night.

Sarcasm

Molly keeps confusing the words "sarcastic" and "hygienic."  I don't know where she even heard the word hygienic.  She's done it on multiple occasions.  The other night, she was twisting my hair until it coiled up against my head.  She said, "Mom, your hair looks like dog poop."  

I said, "Well, that's a nice thing to say."

She said," Mom, you're being hygienic, right?"

Makes me laugh, every time.

Shrinking Ice Cream

Reagan now has actually cried when her dose of medicine was gone because she wanted more...Crazy....

On another  note, last night Ben ran to D&W for ice cream.  Bryer's was on sale for 3 for $10.  We ate some yummy ice cream last night.  This morning, when getting ice for my smoothie, I noticed that the packaging looked a little different.  Then I noticed that the three "half gallons" (I know, they haven't actually been half a gallon for awhile), are now 1.5 quarts.  I guess that just gives me a little more reason to perfect my ice cream recipe since we have a steady supply of cream with our cow share.  

Everyday Magic

Maybe I hail from a simpler time, or maybe I'm just a little simple, but there are a number of pedestrian things that I find to be quite magical.  Many of them have to do with modern conveniences: my crockpot, bread maker, dishwasher, washing machine, all magic-workers.  Anything with a timer--waking up to freshly baked bread, freshly washed laundry, wandering into the house late in the afternoon to the smell of food cooking in the crockpot long after I have forgotten about putting something into it earlier in the day--these are certainly magical.  However, many have to do with basic stuff.  The more basic, the more magical it all becomes.  And, I will venture to say, perhaps this is part of what is wrong with us as a culture today; we have lost that everyday magic.  Nearly no one sees bread rise, or yogurt gel, or seeds sprout, or plants grow, bloom, and form fruit.  Very few whip cream into butter or even whipped cream, let alone care for the animal from whence the milk comes.  Not many know how to craft clothing from a spool of thread and a pile of fabric or a skein of yarn.  Fewer still know how to take fiber and create yarn, thread, or fabric.  I find this process absolutely magical.  Few craft wood into objects or even homes (even those that craft wood into homes these days often only do certain parts, roofers, drywallers, electricians, plumbers).  Few craft pottery from mud (I know, not actually mud) or glass from sand.  And, how amazing to take these simple items and craft them into food, clothing, shelter, and art! 

This translates to an even greater loss, the loss of faith in the magic and ability of our own bodies.  Probably if we paid attention to the processes of producing food, there would be a lot fewer things we would let pass our lips. We would be healthier, I think. We might also regain faith that like other animals, if our bodies are capable of the magic of producing another human being, we are also capable, without medical intervention in almost every case, of birthing and nursing our young.  

Perhaps the "looming recession"  will lead us back to a little more of this magic as people have to go back to simpler processes to survive.  Or, maybe we'll just keep on consuming without thought.  I dunno.  I'm grateful that I was raised in a way that has enabled me to see this everyday magic.

Adventures in Homeschooling

I am thinking that I will begin using this as a place to record our homeschooling adventures.  One reason is I am hoping if the kids know I will be writing about what we do, perhaps it will motivate them a bit. ;)  I will start where we're at right now.  I'm going to include book lists and hopefully lots of pictures and links.  The booklists will be on my blog page, so I don't know if you'll see them if you are getting this via email.

Earth Day Activities

Well, I don't suppose we're saving the earth, but we are doing a couple of fun things in honor of Earth Day.  On Thursday, we made suncatchers with colored glue.  This is the Western Hemisphere, if you don't recognize it immediately ;).  The boys are also labeling a map with the hemispheres, poles, and equator. We got this idea and a few other Earth Day worksheets from Enchanted Learning. We've also been watching some Earth Day clips on BrainPop.  

I will add pictures to this later....

Reagan's Ear Update

Yep, definitely an ear infection.  The doctor said it had likely resolved itself by perforating slightly, and it didn't look "terrible," but we will do a course of antibiotics and check up in a month to make sure all is healed.  

Amazingly, she came to me when I got her medicine out this morning and took without a peep.  Well, she did say, "Uh-uh," once when I said, "Come take your medicine."  

Reagan's Ear

We need to find a new pediatrician.  Ours is good, but he is on the other side of GR.  Right now, I am trying to get through to him.  First the phone was busy.  Now I am holding.  Now I am being transferred to the front desk to leave a message...grrr.  OK.  We have an appointment for 4:30 pm.  That's a crappy time to have to drive through GR, but, oh, well....The appt. is actually with our doctor's wife, who is also in the practice, but I have never seen or met her.  She only works part time, or at least has only worked part time over the past few years so she can stay home with her kids.

Reagan woke up on Tuesday night, crying.  She didn't want to nurse.  She was kind of grabbing at her ear, so I presumed it was her ear.  I gave her a couple of doses of chamomile and Ben and I sat up with her and walked her a bit, and she eventually went back to sleep.  Yesterday, she seemed fine.  This morning, she seems fine, too, but her ear is all crusty.  

I'm really a little concerned about her ears.  Is it possible for a child to have an ongoing ear infection and not really show symptoms?  When she was probably six months old, the doctor said she had redness in her ears, but not an acute infection, and it would likely go away on its own.  At that time, she really didn't show any symptoms, she had a cold and she occasionally tugged at her ear.  In February, she got sick again.  It came on really fast, and her eyes were nasty goopy. We were at Kate's wedding.  Ami saw her, and called in eye drops.  She said she really needed to look in her ears, but she didn't have her otoscope (IMAGINE, not bringing your otoscope to a wedding, tsk, tsk, LOL).  We assured her that we would follow up with our doctor.  I did.  The nurse told me stuff was going around and unless she got worse, just to keep doing what we were doing.  So, they didn't want to see her.  She got better.  

She has had a rash on her body since about December.  I have wondered whether it could be caused by a systemic infection.  I don't even know why that has occurred to me.  But my fear is now that she has had an ongoing ear infection.  She doesn't speak as clearly as her sibs did at this age.  What if it has damaged her hearing?  

Sorry, going off the deep end, here.  She's only 15 months old.  Her speech is not out of the range of normal, by any means.

In other news, Reagan is crazy about her daddy.  This morning, she was very distraught when he went into the bathroom to get ready for work.  And, even moreso when he left for the day.  

Onion Breath

Molly wanted a snack of "pizza"  cheese and ketchup (she eats it with a spoon).  She would have preferred pizza sauce, but the only sauce I had was frozen, so she had ketchup, which was OK by her.  She also gave Reagan a little bit of cheese.  Reagan promptly ate a little and started choking.  She was crying, and I was getting a drink of water for her.  I didn't think she'd be choking on grated cheese, but we've all got this cold, so I thought maybe she was gagging a bit on meeewwwwwcous.   While I'm trying to get her some water, she throws up a bit.  On the floor, a little bit of blueberry juice (from blueberries recently eaten), a little bit of cheese, and, oh, looky there, a Shrek Operation piece.  Onion breath, to be exact.  I'm coming to the conclusion that being the baby of the family may not be all it's cracked up to be.  Poor kid.

As far as I know, things are still touch-and-go with Marlene's dad.  Keep on praying.

I am feeling slightly better today. Hoping my energy stays up so I can get us back on track here.  

I'm sick.  I have a nasty cold.  Homepathy works enough for me to get brief periods of sleep before I need to take it again.  Thankfully, I got most of the house clean before I got sick...Well, actually, as I got sick, but, anyway.  

I also made my treasure map.  Maybe I can add a picture of it later.  It looks pretty good, but I still want to add a few things to it.  

Marlene's dad is very ill.  I am praying for him and his family and my dear brother.  They are all such good people.  I wish I lived closer so we could at least take them some food or stop by and do some laundry for them or something since they are all spending a great deal of time at the hospital.   

My favorite things

I have sometimes thought it indulgent, but there are definitely some things I really like, you know, beyond the more ethereal, my children's laughter, a cool breeze on a warm day, the sound of the garage door opening (meaning Ben is home). Just plain stuff that makes me smile(in no particular order):
fluffy towels
flannel sheets
a well-made bed
Lush aromacreme deodorant
Lavaggio Prima Shampoo treatment
cash
toenail polish
photographs
candles
campfires
roasted marshmallows
ice cream
hot tea
iced tea
flowers (especially if they are growing in my yard)
fresh fruit
the farmer's market
handmade soap
lipgloss
cotton pajamas for the kids
well-made clothing
a good stock of tp
sharp wooden pencils
really nice socks
well-made shoes
stacks of books from the library
Yoga
our big screen hd tv
my LG steam washer

Ze laundry, she never ends......

Even with a state-of-the-art washing machine.... 

Asparagus.

The boys just finished dinner.  Molly is refusing to come inside.  She is not wearing a coat, as anytime it is above, say, 40 degrees, she tells me she "can feel the warmth," and does not need a coat.  

Liam discovered an asparagus head and declared that it looked like Elvis; then he dubbed it, Elvaragus.  I suppose I should have taken pictures and posted it on E-bay.

Bread, continued.

Ben said, and I kid you not, "UGH, that's awful."  His response was not to the bread itself, but the serious sourdough twang.  It is downright SOUR.  But, I think it's yummy.  Especially with butter and honey. ;)  Liam didn't seem to mind (minus the crust) either.  Sadly, the food processor bread did not rise.  I think our kitchen has been too cold.  Or I need new yeast, though it was bubbly.  I will try it again when the weather is warmer, maybe.

Treasure Maps

Apparently, if you are into astrological mumbo-jumbo (and, I don't know that I am, but I always figure it can't hurt, YK?), we are entering the Aries Moon, the beginning of the astrological year. This is an auspicious time to create a "treasure map," or, I believe it was called board of intentions or something like in The Secret. If you don't know what that is, it is basically a collage of pictures of things that represent your hopes, dreams, and wishes for the coming year. It can also include words. It is supposedly good (and I don't know why) to write intentions on orange paper.

This "map" should be displayed in a place where you see it every day, where you can imagine (visualize) yourself living with the things(ideas,feelings,etc./not just "things") on your map.

The most "powerful" time, astrologically speaking, is to create this map in the first three days of the new Aries moon (that my friends, is April 5-9); it is still effective if you take the full time of the new moon(which, I think, is April 17). Now, you cannot do it early. It has to be during the Aries moon, and, again, those first days pack the most punch.

So...I plan to make a treasure map. I've been planning to do one anyway. It is highly recommended by law of attraction gurus.

Bread!

Today I'm baking bread.  Two kinds.  The first is whole wheat sourdough.  I'm following this method: 

Lest you take a peek at other stuff in this blog, rest assured; I am not teaching my kids to "debunk evolution," nor much else in there, I'm just there for the bread recipe, LOL.  Anyway, it just came out of the oven.  I screwed it up.  I didn't punch it down the first night, but waited until morning.  Then I let it rise all day, but by evening,  it still had not risen much. Our kitchen is cold.  So, I let it rise again, and it looked perfect this morning.  The loaves are lovely.  We'll see how they taste.  They are the rustic, rock-hard kind of bread that Ben hates.  

But, last night, I put together some buttermilk pancake mix, and, while I was at it, I saw another bread recipe in Nourishing Traditions.  This is a yeasted buttermilk bread recipe, and it calls for a bit of white flour, which will likely make everyone (especially Ben) happier.  ;)  And, as I was already grinding flour and had buttermilk in hand, it really took no time to get it started (the whole wheat flour needed to soak in the buttermilk overnight).

Best of all, it's done almost entirely in the food processor, so very little kneading.  I know that's what people are supposed to love about bread-baking, but I really do not take great joy in kneading bread.  Seeing the magic of bread rising, smelling the bread baking, eating fresh bread with butter melting on it, all those are good things.  The kneading, not so much.

Whaaa.

I think my cycles must be trying to kick in again.  More than anyone needed to know.  I am beyond agitated.  At night, when I am trying to go to sleep, I feel a bit crampy.  Not looking forward to this.

But, at the same time, I wish my body would get on with it, so then maybe I can have one (pffft) good week a month instead of this non-stop PMS.