Booking It

Crazy, crazy week. It started out so sane, but 10 minutes in my hands and poof! You get a daybook post, because it's what my brain can handle.

• Outside my window: It is starting to be a beautiful day. It's supposed to get cloudy and rainy in a  couple of days, so I will take the sunshine while I can.
• Around the house: I could say what a sty the house is, but it really isn't that bad. Hubby and I have been focusing on projects. Our last was the chicken coop. We need to make some adjustments to it, but that's for tonight. Next on our list is expanding the garden. We need about 6 more raised beds for what we want. Hubby says he turned me into a redneck. I still wear shoes so I can't be a redneck. I'm a farmer. After we get the garden done, it's time to clean out the pool. The kids are actually going to do that, so we might have dual projects going on. It would be awesome to finish the garden and jump in the pool. There's an idea.
• From the schoolroom: That's where things started to get screwy this week. Today is a catch up day for us. I got new dry erase pens! They click so you don't have to worry about the cap. Yeah, it's the little things. We have about three weeks left, and I really want to get everything done we need to get done. The boy is working on a research paper. It's the first one he's done. That was suposed to get started this week. It hasn't started yet, but that's why today is catch up. The big girl finished her language arts. We still had 4 weeks to go when she did that. We got a jump start on next year and she's started her literature. It's part of a larger curriculum that is huge. I was looking at the rest of it the other day and I'm wondering how anyone could possibly fit it all into a schoolday. I am so glad we aren't using the rest of the curriculum. The baby has a friend that already writes in cursive. She decided that she wants to learn cursive. There was a handwriting book in her school drawer. She drug it out and started teaching herself. Crazy thing has beautiful cursive handwriting after a week.  
• From the garden: All of our plants have fruited. We have tomatoes and peppers and eggplant and cucumbers and zucchini and strawberries. The berries are just a couple a day, and we're waiting for the rest to ripen up. I have a feeling that when all the romas are ready to pick, I'll have more than enough to make tomato sauce. That will tie in nicely with our next topic. We're hoping to be able to have a nice stock on hand of homemade tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce that we didn't have to buy and we know what's in it. 
• I am researching: Canning. I don't know why they call it canning when you put stuff in jars, but whatever. We're hoping to be able to preserve alot of our harvest. We want to know what we can preserve and what we can't. I also need to research vacuum sealing. If I have baked goods and seal them well, how long will they last? I don't want to freeze them if I don't have to. That really alters the taste. We'll see what I come up with.
• I am reading: I have a stack of books again! I'm not sure how that happens, but there it is. I'm trying to read a book for book club next week, but haven't had the time to sit down and read. Hopefully, after we get caught up today, I'll have 10 or 15 minutes to read. The big girl has been borrowing DADs from the library. Those are Digital Audio Devices. It looks like a little MP3 player. You need a AAA battery and your own headphones. It's like a plug and play game only it's book. We are loving those. And our book on CD is Bud, Not Buddy. James Avery, the dad from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is the reader. He is really making the story come alive. The kids have started checking out more books on CD and listening to them in their rooms. At least there are books being read in our home. Hubby's feeling a little left out, though. The CD player in his truck doesn't work and he doesn't have a CD player in his work truck. We'll figure something out for him.

I guess that's about it. I think I cleared off my list quite nicely. Now, on to catch up day. I'd rather go back to bed, but that ain't happening. I guess while I'm on the computer, I'll get to researching.

Have a great day.  

Sweet Cakes

This is one of the hardest Lenten seasons we've ever been through. Normally I give up soda and chocolate. That isn't as bad as it seems. There are lots of alternatives and we don't drink much soda anyway. This year, we gave up two things. We gave up sugar and going out to dinner. Aaaaahhhhhh! Fine...Do you know how many things they put sugar in that don't need it? We were, but until we gave it up, it didn't really hit home. We had to find new lunch meat, chicken nuggets, ketchup, mayonnaise, and a ton more stuff. We did stick with natural sweetners like honey. It's a good thing we like honey and it has so many health benefits. It also makes a great cake.

One thing we did miss was dessert. We aren't big dessert eaters, but when you can't have it, it sorta becomes important. I had plans to make all kinds of great things with healthy ingredients, but time just got away from me. I didn't start making sweet things until a couple of weeks ago. I made brownies. They were so good. We all went a little bug nuts crazy. The panful was gone in less than 24 hours. My kids scour the racks at the grocery store for cereal that doesn't have sugar or it's evil twin cane juice. That had us suckered for a little while, too. But last night, I made the best thing ever. I made a sweet potato chocolate cake. Oh my giddy aunt, I could have eaten the whole pan by myself. Hubby says no I wouldn't 'cause he would have eaten half. Let the games begin, my man.

My mom is the best mom ever. I mentioned that I had a free subscription to Better Homes and Gardens and how much I love that magazine. So she bought me a subscription. I get all giddy when I see it in the mailbox. I have a stack by my bed. I look at them over and over. I drool over the recipes and dream that one day my house will look that magnificent. It is time for the stack to disappear. I have been scouring them for recipes to put in my collection. This cake is one that immediately got added to the cook now stack.

It's actually a cupcake recipe. The recipe calls for chocolate kisses and we can't have those. We can have cocoa powder, though. Want to know what's in it? Cocoa. Thank you, God, for cocoa powder. So I changed the recipe. And it was awesome. Next co-op, I'm getting extra sweet potatoes just to make this cake again. I'm going to add my changes to the recipe and omit the kisses and cupcakes. It seemed like alot when I looked at the recipe, but if you organize your ingredients, it's not that bad. It is worth the effort!!

Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder*
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 lb. sweet potatoes, roasted, peeled, mashed
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With mixer on low, add eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each. Add sweet potato, milk, and vanilla. Add flour mixture to egg mixture until combined. Fill oiled cake pan.* Bake 20-25 minutes or until the middle is springy to the touch*. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack.  *My changes.

Ok, from the top. That is alot of cocoa powder, but it's what I used. You can change that to your liking. I loved it. I also didn't have pumpkin pie spice, so I used cinnamon and ginger. I thought I had nutmeg, but no. I added about 1 tsp of each, then a little heavier on the cinnamon. I didn't use sugar. I used honey. I used a cup, but not quite 1 1/2 cups. It blended very well with the butter. Considering my butter wasn't quite soft enough when it was time to make cake, I thought it did a great job. I didn't realize until I was typing out this recipe that I only used 2 eggs. The consistency of the batter with two eggs is almost frosting like. It's very thick. When it cooks, it's almost fudgy brownie. The top stays a little soft and gets gooey on your fingers. Oh, yeah!! I roasted my sweet potatoes the day before. I cooked them at 400 degrees for about an hour, hour and a 1/2. I let them cool, then skinned 'em. I just left them in the fridge until it was time.

We absolutely loved it the way it was. It was thick and chocolatey and gooey and so good warm dunked in a cold glass of milk. I might not make it with three eggs. Or I might for a change of pace. I know I'm making it again and that's the important part.

Have a great day.

Down on the Farm, In Pics

Lots of hard work going on here. Lots of fruits of our labor, too. The garden is beautiful. The chickens will be here soon. Here's what we've been up to.

This handy dandy container blew into our yard one day. There was a tree farm behind our house that went out of business. This was one of the planters they used. We put our sweet potatoes in it. See how cute they are? We didn't know at the time that sweet potatoes are vining. Normally we do our research first. Yeah, not this time. Hubby also planted onions in there. So far, they are living amicably.

We bought kits for the raised bed gardens. Hubby was working alot and just did not have the time. We bought two. I didn't take a pic of the first one before we filled it with dirt and plants, so this is the second one.

This is the first one we did. There's a tree in my way so I had to stand funny to get the pic. This is the first one we planted. There are tomatoes along the back and peppers down one row and the middle two sections of the front row. We planted onions in the empty spots later.

This is the view from the tomato side.Now they're at the bottom of the pic. We didn't even have them all planted yet.

 This was about two or three weeks ago. They have grown so well. All the tomatoes and onions are planted by this time. So happy to see the growth and so quickly.

These were the plants about three days ago. They are even bigger now. I have tomatoes on almost all of the plants. I have Romas, Beefsteaks, Cherokee Purples, Lemon Boys, and Chocolate Cherrys. No Mr. Stripey's yet, but soon.  

It isn't a great pic, but this is a cluster of Romas. We are so ready for them to get bigger and ripen up. We have plans for those babies.

Our second raised bed garden, we planted cucumber, zucchini, and eggplant. I didn't get a before pic except when it was empty. This was taken the same time as the previous pic. Hubby and I were looking at the plants today and we have veggies on all of them except a couple of cucumber plants and the eggplant. The eggplant is being shadowed by the zukes so we rearranged some foliage.

This is the sweet potatoes that are starting to cover the onion. Oh, well. We're gonna let this play out and see what happens. Hubby said we have another planter. We are thinking red potatoes. We're going to use our compost and see how well the potatoes do. We think they'll be great. Go, sweet potatoes, go!!

You would think I would have gotten a pic of the tower right after we put the plants in, but I didn't. These are the strawberries. We get about two or three strawberries a day right now. We're hoping that the plants fill out and start producing more. After the coop is up and running, hubby is going to build a screen to keep the birds off the berries. It hasn't been too bad lately and we've actually managed to eat what's been on there before the birds get them. There's cabbage in there as well.

We are loving gardening. With the raised bed gardens and the tower there is little weeding and little maintenance, but lots of checking for bugs and making sure plants are growing well. It has been a joy and we are excited about the results so far. And you know as soon as we harvest you know you'll get to see it. For now, we focus on finishing the coop. Chickens will be here in about 10 days. Whoo hoo!!

Have a great day.

Good Morning!!

This is really more of an update blog. I've been making notes about blog topics, and marking them out as I write about them. Some of them just keep popping up. Some of this is kinda new. Some of it is for the other blog. Yes, Big Sis, I'll get to it as soon as I can. Ready for bullet points? I am!!

• You should see out garden! We are so happy! Our tomatoes are flowering like crazy. Our pepper plants have tiny, tiny peppers on them. The onions are getting huge. Sweet potatoes are vining. The eggplant and cucumber plants are crazy big. I took pics from the beginning and I'll try to get new ones today or tomorow so you can see for yourself. I do not have a green thumb, so all of this is new to me. We planted several different types of tomatoes. My favorites are the Cherokee Purple and the Lemon Boy, but we also have Roma and Mortgage Breakers and Mr. Stripeys and a cherry variety called Chocolate Cherry. I have always liked the odd balls.We would like to make salsa and tomato sauce and have some to can and put away. My grandmother used to make the best tomato juice. Gosh that stuff was awesome. I had a friend say that maybe we should have a fajita party when the tomatoes and peppers and onions come in. I like a party, so you never know with me. Now to build a netting frame to keep the stinking birds off my strawberries.
• There is a bible curriculum called Grapevine Studies that a couple of friends reviewed for a homeschooling magazine. It's learning the bible using stick figures. I have a few samples and mini lessons that I downloaded for free. We love them. I've used them at home and for Sunday school. They are just fun. Anyway, I was looking for something to use for Easter. You would think with all my freebies that I could find something I liked. Yeah, no. I did come across the teacher's guide for their Easter study that I had gotten as a freebie. I broke down and bought the student book. It wasn't expensive and we enjoy them. Oh my giddy aunt, you should see our stick figures! We are having the best time!! It's keeping our attention and we're laughing and we're learning. It fits right in with our cartooning as well. Too fun!!
• Speaking of our art study, my big girl is quite the artist. She has always been very artistic, but this has been awesome for her. She would take hours to get her drawings right if I let her. We are down to just one day a week for art. I may go back to two days since the kids like it so much. And they have a cartoon to draw and we only have six more weeks of school. Guess we better get a move on. 
• I printed objective sheets for school for next year. I will have a high schooler, middle schooler, and elementary schooler. I need some help. No. I really need some focus. The older I get, the more scatter brained I become. I think it's because I fly by the seat of my pants. When I printed the sheets, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to accomplish next year. I printed a sheet for each subject and one for general objectives. I had to drag out all the curriculum for next year and group it by subject. I sat and read through the teacher guides and part of each text book. Then I formed a plan, by subject. It felt good to put some goals down on paper. I feel more accountable that way. And with a high schooler, I really need to make sure I am on top of things. I want her dual enrolled when she gets to the last couple of years in high school. And as I go back and read this bullet point, I realize that I am a big freak. Like I didn't already know that.   
• The chickens have been ordered. The chicken wire has been layed out and measured. The fencing we are using has been ordered and shipped. We are getting closer and closer to the big day. The pretty ladies will be here by mid April and we need to be ready. The closer it gets, the more nervous and excited I get. We picked a nice shady part of the yard that isn't too far from the house. We should still be able to see them from the house. My concern is picking them up from the post office. As long as all ten chickens aren't in one huge box, we'll be ok. We did order started pullets. We didn't want to take a chance with chicks yet. The ladies ship when they are about 17 weeks old. They should start laying eggs a couple of weeks after they arrive. Once we get the pen up, we build the nesters and the coop. So much to do still, but at least things are progressing.
• We spent yesterday at Disney for the baby's special day. Loving these passes! We fast passed the Winnie the Pooh ride and got surprise fast passes to Philharmagic, too! The line for that is always long. It was a great surprise for us. And the baby got to ride her first roller coaster. She got to ride Splash Mountain. Hubby rode with her and taught her the death grip on the handle. She loved it! He said she was a little scared, but it was her first "big" ride. Hubby wants to take her on Space Mountain. I'm just not ready. She's just not big enough, the poor petite thing. And for the first time, I was all by myself while everyone was on a ride. That was odd. Leave me alone too long and I'll go shopping. Good thing we fast pass almost everything. 

I guess that's about all for now. I need to get my achy, tired kids out of bed. Yeah, I'm mean that way. One day, they'll appreciate it. Like, when they're parents and can do that to their own kids.

Have a great day. 

This Close...

We are headed down the home stretch of another school year. Whoo hoo!! As much as I love homeschooling my kids, I also love our summer break. Come on, summer break!! I like to be done before recital week. That is a crazy week with lots of time in the van and it's just easier to not worry about school. I feel bad for our public schooled, dance friends. Normally, recital is after school is out, but the last couple of years the venue has been booked and we've had to have it earlier. The year before last it was during finals week.

I want to be SuperWoman, but I'm That's-All-I-Can-Do Woman. We've even had to make new rules abut school work being completed and electronics. You don't get it done, you don't get your iPods or phones or DSs or whatever. They all have to be turned in by 9 every evening and they may or may not be returned the next day. We've had to make new rules about chores and bed times and all kinds of stuff. For the first week of the new rules, I was the meanest mama ever. Yup, wanna see how mean I get? I didn't think so. Of course, that means that I have to change how I do things as well. Dinner has to be on the table before 8 o'clock. Because of dance a couple of years ago, we became late eaters. We just have a hard time breaking the habit. I have to make time during my day to get my own chores done. Have you seen my stove? You don't want to. That's on my agenda for tomorrow. It doesn't help that if I get my nose in a good book, I lose all track of time. Or get in the middle of a big project.

Lately, big project has been getting the garden ready and planted. We have two 4'x4' square foot gardens. We have tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant and sweet potatoes. It took a little more work than we thought to get it ready. We also used all organic soil for them. Go figure, right? For the sweet potatoes, we did use the compost out of our pile. They are vining like crazy. We are very excited about that. We thought that sweet potatoes were cold weather veggies. Nope, they like it warm. Warm is certainly what they're getting right now. We got strawberry plants in the tower. They look so good. We are trying to wait patiently. They've already started producing berries. Oh, yummy. And we also put in purple and green cabbage. I wanted bok choy as well, but we filled most of the spaces with the strawberries. The ones that are empty now are going to be lettuce and kale. Now on to major project number 2.

We are cleaning up for chickens. We plotted out the run and where we want the coop. So very excited. We already have chicken wire and fencing that we're going to bury for predator defense. Then it's a matter of getting the supplies to build the coop. We order chickens on Thursday, so we better get our butts in gear. When the chickens get here, they need a place to live and it's not my living room. We might possibly go in with a friend on meat chickens. Just need to talk some things over first. OMGA, I've become a country girl!! I need a trip to the mall, STAT!!

I made a chocolate cake today. It is so stinkin' good. Except for fresh fruit and a little honey here and there, we haven't had anything sweet since Lent started. It hasn't been that bad. I do miss sugar when I have coffee in the morning. I like my coffee sweet. I did find a brand of lunch meat and turkey bacon that doesn't have added sugar, nitrites, or nitrates. And it's good. Finding ketchup took some doing. There is added sugar in so many things. Try finding cereal. I did and it's expensive, but the kids are happy. Crackers have sugar. Why do you need sugar in a cracker? To make it taste good. I'm going to try my hand at making crackers, hopefully this weekend. It's been harder on hubby and the kids than it has been on me. At one point, shortly after we started, I told them not to complain one more time. I just could not listen to it anymore. They stopped at the threat of mutiny on my part. They have it easy and they know it.  

I've been doing a little planning for next school year. The curriculum I was given can be quite the heavy work load. As I was plotting and planning, just to see where we stood, I started to have a little panic attack. I just kept wondering how we were going to get everything done. Oh, yeah, I don't have to. The boy will be working on a book study. It could take 4-5 weeks just to complete all the work for each chapter. It would take him a whole school year to complete one book. The big girl will be doing literature. Just looking at the amount of reading involved with that was enough to make me shiver a little. Then I took a breath. I feel much better knowing that I don't have to do it all. I don't have to be SuperWoman. I can, but I don't have to.

The baby got two boxes of clothes. Big Sis sent a huge box of pretty, froufrou dresses. You should have seen the baby when I started pulling dresses out of the box. She wanted to dive in and just swim in pretty dresses. She had the best time trying them on. She even had a great time playing in the box after we got them all sorted out. She asked if she could text Big Sis and tell her thank you. She already has them planned out in what order she's wearing them to church. She gets her crazy from hubby. Then at the park, a friend had a box of clothes that her daughter had outgrown. It was like Christmas for the baby girl. You should see the sparkly high top tennis shoes. The baby canNOT wait to grow into those. I like them, too. I thought about trying them on, but if they fit, the baby would never get them back. Talk about a city girl...

Alright, I guess I've rehashed all I can for now. I feel the need for a little Just Dance 3. It's time to get my dance on.

Have a great day.

Field Trips, In Pics

We have taken a couple of field trips this year. We count any activity that takes us out of the house and books and away from our studies as a field trip. Because we can.

For instance, hubby had a day off and I had a coupon. So we went bowling. Gosh, coupons rule! This one included food, drink, bowling for 2 hours and shoes for about $30. We can't bowl or eat without a coupon for that price.

The shoes the big girl and I got had the shoe strings tied together. Nobody else's were like that. We shuffled around and were actually going to try to bowl that way (because we're crazy), but they came untied. We thought about tying them back together, but we were discouraged by hubby. Probably the smart thing to do. I still don't like being told no even when I would probably end up on my face. Grrrrr...

The boy wanted me to get a picture of the bowling ball coming back to us. Ok. It took me a couple of times to get one I liked. It is a phone after all and not a camera. I thought this one looked cool.

Just a shot down the lane. We were done and I had been so busy having fun that I forgot to get pics of us actually bowling. Oh, well, at least I got the bowling ball pic!

We also went to the annual Pow Wow that comes to our area. We missed it the last couple of years, but I was bound and determined to go this year. It just so happened to fall right at the end of our Native American study. It wasn't as elaborate as it has been in years past and I think the kids were a little disappointed. I was. They normally have a grand entrance of all the tribes represented. They parade in their finery and it is pretty awesome to see.

This is the boy and the baby with some of their friends hanging out circle side. The boy wanted to get closer to the action and the baby was having trouble seeing so up they went. If they had gotten any closer, they would have been in the circle.

This is one of the dancers preparing for exhibition. He is 11 and is in training for competition. He made me tired just watching him. He was really good. We wish him well.

There is an eagle rescue group that is always there. This is one of their eagles. Beautiful!

We had a great time. Again. We had friends there and that always makes it better. I would like to take the kids to a huge pow wow. There are some awesome ones in New Mexico and Arizona. One day, one day...

A fellow homeschooler set up a field trip to a place called Sky Zone. It is all trampolines. You can bounce off the walls if you want. They had a place for little kids, big kids, and a dodge ball court. Dodge ball on trampolines. I know you want to play. Hubby took a day off to go with us. You know it was a good time.

Yeah, the baby was the one that got hurt. Hubby was trying to teach her how to do a flip. She didn't quite make it all the way around this time. Oops...

Hubby ain't right. I could kick him. Yeah, just keep doing back flips. And double back flips. Whatever...So jealous, can you tell?

It didn't take the baby long to recover. She just needed a mama hug. Then it was off again. She gets that from her father.
 

Even the big girl jumped. And jumped. And jumped. This is her with her friend S. I'm just glad I got her in mid-air. Now I have proof.

We love field trips. We are about to be super busy (duh), but now it's at home. We've been working on our square foot garden and need to get the strawberry plants in the tower. We had strawberry plants that we bought in a kit, but they were DEAD when we went to plant them. We are very unhappy about that. We put them in the tower anyway, hoping, but nothing. They come out today and our living plants go in. We are also adding cabbage, and then lettuce in a week. I'll post pics when it's all done. We also have to work on cleaning up the area designated as our chicken coop. It's time!! Then it's time to build the coop and the nesters!! Whoo hoo. Like we need something else to do.

Have a great day.

Chicken Class, In Pics

Just a couple, because they were funny. I'm not sure the baby knew what she was getting into. Her look after the pics was "Someone come get this thing!" Hehehehe.

Funny!!

Have a great day.