It’s been a foodie kinda day.

First I tried out a recipe that I found on . It just screamed FOOTBALL FOOD! It was really good. I thought that 1/2 cup of hot sauce was going to be too much, so I didn’t put much in it. I ended up added a lot more to it when I was about to eat it. OH MY GOSH! I just put it on Ritz crackers (a suggestion of my little foodie helper). Pretty good suggestion. Here’s the link for the recipe

Oh and make sure you have a good ole coke or sweet tea ready. I really needed it, not so much for the heat, but just one of those foods that really wants a coke with it. You know, kinda like a pizza. Hard to eat one without the other.

Then later, well, now actually, I am preparing to can tomato sauce for the first time. I am also going to roast some tomatoes. I’m excited. it’s fun. I actually have my laptop on the counter. ((yes, away from the water)). The cookie sheet of cut up tomatoes has just gone in the oven (175 degrees, supposed to be in there for 48 hrs!). I’ve boiled a bunch just long enough for the skins to split. Then I’ve put them in cold water. The skin just peels right off. I know I don’t have to peel them for spagetti sauce, but neither of us really like the peel.

New recipes!

It’s fun to try new stuff. I made salmon patties for the first time. I just used the recipe on the can of salmon, with some slight changes. onion powder instead of chopped onions and no chopped bell peppers cause they give me hearburn and I didn’t have any anyway.

They were pretty good, but I wanted a sauce to go with it. so I googled sauces, looked at several, then went into the kitchen. I combined several different recipes. mayo, a bit of milk, garlic, dill pickle relish, and cheyenne pepper. What a weird combination, but man was it good!

Intensive Care for Unschoolers

 

Wow! I’m so late, I’m almost on time for this week. That’s sad, but I guess better late than never.

This week we want to…”

We planned to go to our first science co-op with a few friends this afternoon. There are a couple of things in the way at the moment. A sinus infection (me) and a lot of rain. I’m actually feeling a little better and the mom who is hosting said we all could just come hang out in her house. So we might still get to do it.

Also want to get some canning done this week. Tomatoes first. This is new, but I’m feeling adventurous.

The kids are…”

He has really been stuck on Ben10 Alien Force cames on Cartoonnetwork.com. He’s not only playing them, but he can create them too. It’s really fun seeing him so excited. Last night dh asked, ‘so do you think he’s learning anything on there?” I said, “YEAH!” He may not be learning what someone in Academia would say he needs to learning, but he sure is learning. The other day we were getting ready to leave for a playdate and I told him we had to be there at 1:00. That meant we had to finish getting dressed, eat some lunch, and drive there in 30 minutes. He shot back at me (and I do mean SHOT, as in rapid fire machine gun fire),”that’s 15 and 15. that’s how many minutes it’s gonna take. That makes 30.” It took me a minute to decypher what he had just wizzed at me, then I responded, yeah, that’s right. The wheels turning like a wind turbine in Kansas, he then let go (in rapid fire) 19 and 11, 18 and 12, 17 and 13, 16 and 14, and 15 and 15 all make 30 minutes!” After I picked my jaw up off the floor, formed a smile, and agreed. He knocked me back on the floor with, “God told me all that last night while I couldn’t sleep” !!! Now this wasn’t the first time this happened. About a week ago another math fact, that now eludes my brain, came wizzing out of my child that I knew I didn’t teach him and he informed me that God told him that the night before ~ when he couldn’t sleep. again. Now philosophically, I totally agree with this. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is our teacher. Stands to reason He’s gonna teach my child what he needs to know.

“I am learning….”

How to can veggies(spagetti sauce first, since we use a lot of it), then maybe corn. It’s been 30 years since I’ve shucked a bushel of corn. I have mixed feelings about that endeavor. LOL I would of course enlist some help.

I’m also about to embark on what feels like a huge undertaking. Maybe someone who has been here can help me. I got a prophecy about 2-3 yrs ago that I was going to write a book from my journal entries. I thought that was cool. Thought about it every once in a while as I wrote, but nothing serious. Well, about 2 weeks ago I got another prophecy (both of these were from people that don’t know me very well) saying the same thing. So it’s been on my mind recently to start gathering some of those journal entries. I also wondered about getting a book to help me gather my thoughts and get a plan.

“I am struggling with…”

Getting of this sinus infection. It really kicked my butt. I was starting to think I had the flu. I’ve never been so drained from a stinking sinus infection. The steriod shot and antibotics have already started helping. Thank you God.

“This week is the first time….”

Well, last week was the first time I made no cook pickles. The turned out pretty good, and I learned some things.

“I am grateful…”

I’m grateful for being in such a good place, spiritually and emotionally lately. I’ve been having really good quiet time with the Lord. My latest financial endeavor has been going pretty well. I’m taking life a little more in stride, in general any way.

“When I was a child, I wanted to be ________ when I grew up

I wanted to be an architect, but my self esteem and confidence were so damaged from my early public school experiences, I thought there was absolutely no way I could do all the math. God has such a great sense of humor and of justice. It seems that I have been and will be designing our new house. BAHAHA! I love my God. HE ROCKS!

and since this is for this week and last week…

My favorite season is_____________because…

Fall. The coolness, the colors of the leaves, the football, Thanksgiving.

Shopping for DooLollies by Nicole

Here is my new business venture that I would like to share with you all.  I am so excited!  I would love for you to check it out and let me know what you think.

Some of you that are Facebook friends of mine, may know about this already.  Forgive me for the overlap.  Please spread the word.  I can adjust them to fit smaller or larger.  I will do my best to offer other teams, where available.  Well, maybe not Tennessee (just kidding).  I also made one that was spread out much further for my sister.  She wanted to try to use it in the operating room, but it wasn’t quite long enough.

Cyber-talk to you soon,

Nicole

Me ~ an introvert? GET OUT! I CU for Christian Unschoolers

“This week we want to…”get a little more proactive. Don’t unleash the hounds. I mean more intentional on strewing, etc.

“The kid is…”still pretty interested in Moshimonsters. He has also had a resurgence of interest in building with his dublo blocks. We don’t have many Legos, so this is the next best thing.

“I am learning….”that I might actually be introverted. That sounds so crazy to me. I am SUCH a people person! Always have been, but I’m reading How To Raise Your Spirited Child. It has been absolutely fasinating so far, as if there was any doubt that ds was and is ‘spirited’. One interesting this is that there is a distinction between being a social introvert (shy, etc ~ which I am definitely not) and a psychological introvert, which is defined as someone that gets recharged internally by getting alone. That is the opposite of psychological extrovert who THRIVES on and gets recharged by being around a lot of people. I’ve always thought of myself as an extrovert because I have never met a stranger, talk easliy, love to people watch, etc. However I am very much aware of my need to get away from people, noise, activity or I will explode, and it is never pretty. I usually need to apologize to someone or everyone in the house.

“I am struggling with…”At thi svery moment, I am struggling with being on the verge of an explosion. I just got home from work after a crazy busy day and ds was wizzing around the house like a top that had just been released. I couldn’t even think to figure out what I wanted to eat for dinner. LOL Ya know it’s bad when I’m too frazzled to eat. HAHA!

“This week is the first time….”we are going to see a friend’s new son. This makes her fourth boy! I can’t even imagine, but she seems to be able to keep it together. We are also planning on getting together with several moms Friday to discuss the posibility of meeting occasionally to do a science-y kind of co-op thing. I think it could be a cool thing. We’ll see what happens.

“I am grateful…”for headphones and Anthony Skinner already being on my laptop, so I don’t have to deal with my little Wild Thing. See. I am so freakin done. It is sad.

“I’m looking forward to…..”selling more of my DooLollies (headbands that can expand into a kerchief). I’ve already sold 6! I’m so exited!

What a nice day.

I got a huge dose of Volkswagen love today. We got to go to the annual VW show. Oh my goodness! I so wish I would have brought my camera. It was really cool sharing this love with my husband, and to a lesser degree my son. Joseph was much more interested in going to the water than looking at cars. It was very hot, so I don’t really blame him. Maybe we should have gone to the water first, but I was afraid that some of the cars would be gone by the time we got to the cars. I did get a great shot of the apparently elusive ‘car cooler’, aka swamp cooler. I have been trying to describe this thing to Dave and another friend of ours for a few weeks. We have considered buying an old bug and they both asked me what I would do in the middle of Alabama’s sweltering summers. That’s when I started trying to describe this thing. I googled everything I could think of to find it, but to no avail. I felt like I was losing my mind, or thought they thought so. I feel vindicated or validated or something, now that I’ve found one and photographed it. I’ve sent the picture to the friend and Dave was with me, so he saw it with his own eyes.

car cooler on VW bug

Better Late then Never

It has taken me two freakin days to get my password straight. sheeesh!

This week we want to… intentionally ‘strew’ more stuff around the house. I actually cleaned off my dining room table, well, then got my sewing kit and machine out. So I guess will have to put it somewhere else. I did reposition a little kids table in the dining room, so he passes it frequently

The kid is…still very excited about Moshi monsters. It really is fun to see him learning so much math-adding and place values. He has also adapted his new card game a little from my attempt to teach him how to play Rummy. His new card game is pretty cool in it’s original form. Seperate red cards from black, minus face cards. Each person picks up 3 cards. (here’s the cool part) You have to add the three cards and the person who has the highest number gets to discard those three and get three more. So he’s learning less than/greater than and adding. I quickly remembered that when we first started homeschooling, he wanted to add three numbers, and I thought it was strange, but interesting.

I am learning…how to make a headband. I really liked how my first one turned out and I’m planning on getting more fabric tomorrow so I can make and sell some. Football season is about to start and a friend of mine suggested last night that I make some with houndstooth fabric. For those of you that may not be into college football, ‘Bear’ Bryant was a legend of a coach for the University of Alabama. He always wore a houndstooth hat and now you can see houndstooth everywhere.

I am struggling with… self confidence. I have had some problems with how I feel people are perceiving me, whether they like me or not. I’ve felt awkward around women from my old cover school. It’s just been weird. This new cover school doesn’t have co-ops, so the opportunities for us to hang out with other families isn’t quite as easy as it was before.

This week is the first time… I met some new homeschoolers that are part of our cover school. We seemed to get along ok. Joseph showed out some, but she seems to be ok. That is actually part of the source for the above mentioned feelings.

So, there ya go. The week in a nutshell. Here is the link to the original ICU

http://christianunschooling.com/i-cu/

ICU ~ Intensive Care for the Christian Unschooler

It’s that time again.

This week we want to… meet some people from our new cover group – Everest Academy

The kid is…really excited about his new cardboard box creations and the slime we made Monday.

driving his Viking ship. note the 'shields' that he drew on the front and sides to make it Viking.

This was the first box project. He moved in rather quickly.

He has absolutely LOVED this stuff!

I am learning…how to be more engaging with him and looking for things for us to do.  I want to start intentionally strewing things to get his attention and interest.  I think it’s kinda like trolling while you’re fishing. LOL

I am struggling with…being edgier (I seriously doubt that’s how you spell that, but it’s as good as it gets. LOL) lately.  more on edge, maybe that’s better. I’m pretty sure it’s because my hormone levels have plummeted since I’ve been off a certain med.  I just got back on it after about 7-10 days.  I’m figuring it’s gonna take a week or so to level out again.

This week is the first time….we made slime.  It took two batches, but I think it’s good that Joseph sees that it doesn’t go perfectly the first time.

I am grateful…for the ability and opportunity to spend so much time with my son.  Sure there are moments when he drives me up a freakin wall, but that’s normal.  I mean it sure isn’t easy to sacrafice things, but I know that it is soooo worth it, on several levels.

One thing that I’ve changed in the last year is…I can really see a change in the amount of control I feel like I have to have, and that’s pretty huge.  I have always needed to be in control of everything.  I’m not sure I can really put my finger on why or how it has happened, but it is definitely better.  Thank you, Jesus!  He really does deserve the credit for it.

It is official!

We have registered for our new cover school.  It’s an exciting, yet a little nerve raking.  I love meeting new people, but to be completely honest, I’m a little afraid that they won’t like me.  I hate the fear of rejection – rejection of me, rejection of Joseph.  We had a couple of ‘situations’ at our last cover school, personality conflicts.  That’s not why we left at all, and I know that boys will be boys, but it made things rather uncomfortable at times.  I’m sure there are other that don’t always like how their kid (s) act.  I’m just hoping it won’t happen much this year.

I guess we will see what this year hold.  I am still more excited than nervous.  I think.

Photography

Some friends of mine got remarried last night.  It is such an amazing display of God’s mercy and grace; His restorative nature.  It was wonderful!  Another really cool thing about this was that I got to take photos for them.  I am so excited that I got to do something for them.  I was a little nervous, but I think I did ok.  I wonder if I will ever do another one.  I’ve always liked photography, but maybe I should consider digging into it deeper.