Simple Woman's Daybook - Sept 22nd

For today, September 22nd, 2008

Outside my Window...oh, my it's been a busy, busy day and I'm only now getting to my blog and it is DARK outside. The evening air is lovely and cool.

I am thinking... that I'm not going to oversleep tomorrow like I did today.

From the learning rooms... our co-op is talking about the Pilgrims, but I'm emphasizing the fact that Jamestown was first (my Virginia roots can't let that slide).

I am thankful for... a new sandbox that my kids are thrilled with!

From the kitchen... a Clafouti aux Poires (pear flan)

I am wearing... gray pants, white blouse, blue sweater vest

I am reading... just finished "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" - it was so good!! Now, I'm going to pick up a non-fiction: "The Family Cloister" and an autobiography "Life and Times of the Lightening Bolt Kid"

I am hoping... for a better day tomorrow for two of my kids

I am creating... a list of all the wonderful things I plan to make from my new cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

I am hearing... my middle son coming downstairs again because he's having trouble getting to sleep

Around the house... my daughter's room manages to be the MESSIEST room in the entire house. It is almost too much to take! I keep hoping for the day she can't take it anymore and starts keeping it neater.

One of my favorite things... my toes feeling so chilly last night I had to put on my fuzzies to keep them warm - yeah, fall is here!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...

• Boys have their first soccer clinic tomorrow
• A round-table discussion on homeschooling for an upcoming show on "Raising An Amazing Generation" (INSP channel)
• Family Reunion in South Carolina this weekend.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
My husband and son walking home from breakfast on my son's birthday. Hubby takes each child out to breakfast on their birthday. We have a great little local eatery just down the road from our neighborhood - easy walking distance. It's not a great photo, but it was a very happy occassion and I wanted to share that with you!


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Art Resource: American Art

Landscape of Slavery - August 23 - October 19

Creepies, Crawlies, and Critters, OH MY!

Oh, what a weekend we had...in fact I'm just getting back to normal, I think. (Yes, it is Wednesday!)

We discovered on Friday night, very late, that our son brought home lice from Sweden. Lovely Swedish lice! I went out and purchased the RID kit, but it was so late we decided to start the whole process in the morning. It was hard to send him to bed like that, but once you start the process, you gotta do the whole thing! I knew we'd have to treat the whole family since we've shared beds and pillows.

After one last outing to the farmer's market, I came home and began the de-lousing.

We stripped all the beds and recently worn clothes. (Lice can only live a day off the human body, so it really only had to be those things we'd worn recently.) Began washing all that - I think it's been 12 loads or more. (We are still washing! We put the "dirty" laundry in large plastic trash bags instead of laundry baskets to keep any live lice contained.)

We also had to gather up all the bed pillows, throw pillows and stuffed animals to store in sealed trash bags for 2 weeks to kill off any lice and eggs. (Which meant that new pillows had to be purchased for us to sleep on during that time.)

Finally, I began the shampooing and goopy comb-through stuff. It took me over 6 hours to get through the 3 kids' heads. Then hubby and I did each other's heads - we were up until 2AM!

Now, for the next couple of days I have to continue to check for nits. That takes about an hour per head...so you can see what a process this is. :)

Hubbie and I looked at each other at the end of Sunday and commented that it was a totally lost weekend. Luckily, Hubbie had this week off, as did the kids from CC, so we've made up for lost weekend time!!

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Colcannon

This traditional Irish dish is a perfect in fall and winter.

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 in. chunks
1 tsp salt, divided
1 1/2 c chopped green cabbage
1/3 c finely chopped green onion
2 c boiling water
2/3 c milk
2 T butter
1/8 tsp finely ground pepper

Place potatoes with cold water to cover by 2 inches and 1/ tsp salt in large saucepan. Bring to boil for 5 minutes. Add cabbage and boil for another 10 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, place green onion in sieve, pour boiling water over them and drain. Add drained onions to a medium saucepan with milk, butter and rest of salt and pepper, bring to a boil them remove from heat.

Drain cooked potatoes and cabbage and return to large sauce pan. Beat on low speeed with a hand held mixer until coarsely mashed. Increase speed to high and gradually add milk and onion mixture and continue to beat until potatoes are light and fluffy.

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Savory Squash Bread Pudding

I think this will end up being like corn pudding, which I LOVE, but with the slight sweetness of butternut squash.

3 C butternut squash (peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2 in. pieces)
1 C chopped onion
1 clove garlic
3 large eggs
2 large egg whites
2 C milk
1 C parmesan cheese (divided into 1/2 cups)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
9 cups day-old french bread, cubed

Arrange squash in single layer on greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Bake at 400F, 12 minutes, until tender. Set aside. Remove from oven; reduce temp to 350F.

In a frypan, saute onion in 1 tsp olive oil over medium-high heat until tender, 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

Whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk, 1/2 C parmesan, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir in squash, onions, garlic. Add in bread cubes and stir gently to combine. Let stand 10 minutes. Spoon into greased 2-qt baking dish. Sprinkle top with other 1/2 C of parmesan.

Bake in preheated oven at 350F until custard is set and top is lightly browned, 45 minutes.

This recipe is another from one of my FAVORITE seasonal cookbooks: Simply In Season (World Community Cookbook)


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Simple Woman's Daybook - Sept 15th

You can find out more about the Simple Woman's Daybook here.


For today, September 15th, 2008

Outside My Window... the sun is rising and the sky is perfectly clear.

I am thinking ... about what a crazy weekend we had even though we barely left the house.

I am thankful for... a good haircut.

From the kitchen ... making my Cinnamon-Raisin Bread, again, and some pesto. These recipes and my weekly menu can be found at To Every Meal There Is A Season (Roasted Chicken, Squash Bread Pudding, Crazy Colcannon, Chicken & Veg. Soup).

I am wearing ... it is still pretty early, so I'm still in PJs and my robe.

I am creating ... a special day for my son.

I am going ... to take the kids out to get my caramel apples, as requeted by my birthday boy.

I am reading ... "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See.

I am hoping ... that we are rid of the critters that invaded us. (You'll have to come back later today or tomorrow for that story).

I am hearing ... a jingling bell on my cat's collar as she gets herself all clean and pretty for the day. My birthday boy sniffling (I think a couple of us have fall allergies starting up).

Around the house... there are stacks and stacks of laundry to be washed, folded, and put away (each of those represents a seperate "stack" -or heap). This is also related to those invading critters.

One of my favorite things... my really wonderful down pillows which are now sealed up in a plastic bag waiting for two weeks to make sure any remaining critters are done for. Sigh...I miss my pillow.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

• Today is my middle boy's birthday! He's 9! His dad will take him out this morning for breakfast. While he's gone the other kids and I will got get his gifts, wrap them and have them ready when he returns. Then this evening, we'll have his favorite meal of tacos before we enjoy yummy caramel apples!


• We are having an "at home" vacation this week. We've decided to spend that week doing a little backyard fixing up. The kids have been asking for us to build a sand-box...and maybe a fort of some sort. So, that is what we are doing. Hubby and I are also hoping for time to get some bushes moved and new ones planted...maybe even a tree!


• On Saturday, we go for our fingerprint appointment for our adoption and then right after to our Supper Club. This is a group from church with whom we have become very close over the years we've been meeting for Supper Club.

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The Liturgical Year - a shared plan

This year I am setting up a plan of sorts for the way our family will celebrate the Church Year. I've put together a calendar of special feast days and collected some ideas for activities or other learning experiences to accompany our celebration of the Liturgical Year.

As with many things in my homeschool adventure - there is WAY more here than we'll accomplish, but having a plan helps me accomplish more than I would with nothing.

If you are interested in something like this for your family, I'd love to share it with you...and if you have any ideas to add, I'd love to hear them! Just keep in mind this is for my family and you may want to tweak it to meet your family's needs and traditions. You'll notice some days do not have specific activities, for these, we just read about the Saint's life.

My current plan only goes through the beginning of Epiphany, but I'll add more plans later this Fall to continue through the rest of the year. (If you subscribe to my RSS, you won't miss out when I post the rest!)

If you download this, would you leave me a comment letting me know? This just helps me know if my plan is useful to others (if it is I'll continue posting things like this). And if you have any other ideas to add, I'd love to have them!!

To go along with this plan, I highly recommend getting simple kids' book about the saints. The ones I'm using are from a Catholic perspective, which is not a problem for our family eventhough we are not Catholic, but be advised you may want to do some editing if you are Protestant and reading the following books:

• Saints for Young Readers for Every Day, Vol. 2: July-December - Vol 1 covers January- June, but is not available at Amazon. I've found it at Abebooks.com. This set of books has a saint for every day of the year. Even those saints not listed on my plan we read about from this book most days.
• Loyola Kids Book of Saints (Loyola Kids) This is a great little book, although not in chronological order. You'll have to sift through it to find the saint you are looking for. I'm considering making a chart to use with this book. I'll post it if I get it done!
• You can find other books I've recommended for various Liturgical Seasons. These are appropriate for Protestants.

(By the way, any books you buy via these links puts a little money in my Amazon account. I use the $$ to help fund our school books, which allows us more savings for our adoption. So, if you appreciate the plan I've put together and are considering purchasing books, please consider doing so through any of these links. You do not have to buy the books I recommend - any books purchased after following those links will count.)

Here is the link to a Google Documents page I've created with our family's plan. The first part is the calendar for the whole year, keep scrolling to get to the activity plan.

Liturgical Year - Family Activity Plan - 08-09

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More good news!

Yesterday, I mentioned that we might have to have some of our documenation reissued. My agency reviewed our document dates and said we are all good! So, no reissuances needed! That is wonderful as it cuts my work load in half.

We still have a number of documents to gather, notarize and send off for an apostille (authentication).

Homemade Croutons

Got some day-old bread? Why not make croutons? It is pretty darn easy...here's how I do it.


Start with about a 1lb loaf of day old bread (or the equivalent in bits of old bread you've saved up). This is a Rosemary-Sea Salt bread I got from a "day old bread" giveaway.







Slice and cube the bread into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl.










Drizzle oil by 1/4 cups full over the cubes, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Add 3/4 cup total - or enough to drench your bread cubes. Add seasonings of your choice (salt, pepper, herbs) and stir well.







Lay cubes on a a baking sheet in a single layer (use one with sides to make stirring during baking easier). Place in a 275 degree oven and bake for an hour or more depending on your desired crunchiness.

I like my croutons really crunchy, so I leave them in for close to two hours. But keep a close eye one them and stir them frequently!







Store in an airtight container or baggie. A one pound loaf will fill two of these large (Qt. size) mason jars, plus a little extra.

Enjoy in soup or on salads. Watch out, you'll be tempted to snitch them right from the jar, too.







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Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 16th wedding anniversary!

They've been 16 really good years

full of laughter and love.

And I love him even more today

than I did when I said, "I do"!