Being Thankful

How do you teach your kids to be thankful? Latley I have been finding that I am thankful for very simple things, things that I have taken for granted for far too long. Now how do I show my children this. Well I could be dramatic and go over this ad nauseum but for now how about I do what another friend does occasionally that I find ever so delightful to read, she shares on occasion what she is thankful for.

~Having my grandparents still around to make the holiday feast and wonderful memories for my children and I to remember for years to come.

~Getting a very special call yesterday that brought me to tears at the generosity of others, thank you so much Susie

~Having a friend that truly understands so very much about what I am going through and being able to talk with her

~Having made my own pajama's (although the drawstring still needs to be redone) and soon to follow a purse

~Being blessed to enjoy my children by having them home with me

There are so many more but this is good and I love the simplicity of it. I used to be thankful for the biggies that well most are but I am learning alot of little things can be such a blessing in your life. I hope your holidays are wonderful .

Vanessa

Does it count?

For a few days we took our non carved pumpkins and baked them, cut off the flesh, ran them through my kitchen aid(I love this machine) grinder and then put them in thin towles to squeeze the juice out. then we weighed 16 oz portions and froze them. I had wanted to can them but only have the pressure canner, which I have yet to use. I don't have the water bath one but boy it sure would have been nice to not take up all that room in my freezer with the upcoming holidays and turkeys and what not. The boys all helped although Austin very grudginlly. Conner was my biggest helper he loved the grinder and happily volunteered for this job. It's funny because generally anything that involves work makes conner run for the hills or throw a three year old tantrum. As a matter of fact my niece has sensory integration disfunction and my sister always tells me I should get conner tested because he tends to fall into many of the same categories. Anyway that is a whole nother story. We started with 4 pumpkins and I got 11 16oz containers in the freezer. I still have one pumpkin to go. Can I count this for school? and what is it considered other than cooking which is an elective?
Pumpkin puree is very messy affair

My work space

The finished product before freezing. I even saved the seeds to roast.

I hosted game day for our hs group and decided it was too messy of a job and took too long so I didn't finish it that day but I intend to this weekend, as matter of fact I should probably be doing that now. At game day we played this strange game called Quelf. Have you heard of it? It's not our game so I hadn't and it was so strange there didn't seem to be ryme or reason to it. There is no strategy so really no way you can cheat. I would explain it to you but that would be hard so I will give you a couple of examples. For one card you will need to choose from two categories say candy bars or movies that won an academy award and everyone goes around and names one until you get to a person that can't name another one. On another card you will need to hold your lip and say the card in a random way. Another card may make you act something out in alternative dance. Let's just say it was a strange game but we really enjoyed it and the kids are asking if we can get it. Hmm mabey Christmas?

I made my favorite Tiramasu cake for game day. Once upon a time I used to get recipe cards in the mail and they made several binders. I never did get them all but I have quite a bit and this is one of their recipes that I made once and I was hooked. I promised I would share the reicpe so here it is.

For the cake:

1 package (18 1/4 oz) white cake mix with pudding

1 tsp instant coffee

1 cup strong brewed coffee

1 TBlsp coffee liqueur or espresso


For the filling:

1 container(8 oz)mascrapone cheese

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

2 TBsp coffee liqueur or espresso


For the frosting:

2 cups whipping cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

2 TBsp coffee liqueur or espresso


For the garnish:

cocoa powder

Chocolate curls


Making the cake

Preheat ove to 350. Grease three 9 inch round cake pans. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Divide two thirds of batter between 2 pans. Stir instant coffee into remaining batter, pour into rmaining pan. In measuring cup, combine brewed coffee and coffee liqueur;set aside.


Making the filling

In a small bowl, using a n electric mixer set on low speed, combine mascrapone, confectioners' sugar and liqueur. Beat just until smooth, Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.


Making the frosting:

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat cream, confectioners' sugar and liqueur until stiff. Fold 1/2 cup of crem mixture into filling mixture.


Assemling the cake:

Place one plain cake layer on a serving plate. Using a thin skewer, poke holes in cake about 1 inch apart. Pour one thrid of reserve coffee mixture over cake, then spread with half of the filling. Top with coffee-flavored cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour another third of coffee mixture over the second layer and spread with the remaining filling. Top with remaining cake layer; Poke holes in cake. Pour remaining coffee mixture on top. Spread sides and top of cake with frosting. Place cocoa in a sieve and lightly dust top of cake. Garnish with chocolate curls. Refrigerate at least 30 min. before serving.

Note: You can substitute mascrapone with ricotto but you must make very smooth and it doesn't taste quite the same in my opinion although it is still a heavenly cake. I also substituted chocolate morsels as I don't have a huge chunk of chocolate to make curls from.

Mmmmm. It even looks pretty

See I need to work on getting the sides smoother and the morsels should be chocolate curls.

All the layers of the cake.

a little slice of heaven. MMMMMM





Vanessa

Austin takes the day off

Curtesy of the Dentist and Orthodontist Austin has been given the day off. He had to have two teeth pulled. He said it didn't hurt but it hurt when I had one pulled. Poor guy. I felt so bad for him because his teeth were perfectly fine but because he has crowding in his mouth the Orthodontist needed to make room for his teeth. That way when Austin gets braces he will have the room for them to get uncrowded. On the 3rd of December he is supposed to get his braces put on. the Orthodontist assures me it will not hurt. I never had braces so I don't know but if Austin looks bad he may get that day off as well. Besides which appointments like this always seem to ruin the rest of the day. Don't you think? It's like if it isn't first thing in the morning or after about 1ish I don't get any other hsing done. The boys did do their math and are working on some english now. Im not sure we will get anything else done though.

Look at the root. I don't know why the camera is acting up. growl

Poor baby two teeth.

Vanessa

Back in the saddle? sort of

Having been very distracted lately with other happenings in my life I have noticed that our hs is not at it's best and things have sort of slid. Being aware that is what is happening has led me to renew my commitment to my boys hs. I am re-planing their Indian study, no they have not finished it and yes it has been about a month or month and a half. I went to a great teacher store in the Springs and got a unit study on Indians. I am reading it now and preparing myself for what we will do out of it. I also am thinking about doing a thanksgiving unit. It's right around the corner and it ties in with the Indians.

Some things I am looking at for this unit are a strawberry drink, beef jerky, blue marbles(something to eat), zuni poetry, possibly coiled pottery, green Chile, Navajo weaving, sand painting,fry bread, pictograph, sunflower cakes, making paper and round Mayan calendar. Looking at the list now I think I may have to give some of these up no matter how fun they sound. Sometimes I get to caught up in how fun something sounds and keep adding to a unit making it incredibly long. Then the kids don't have fun, they don't learn and we are all miserable. I am slowly figuring this out. There will also be reading involved and research on the kids parts
to find answers to

1. Where they live
2. What was their culture like
3. Foods they ate(list at least 3)
4. Belief system

I am also thinking about a time line. While picking up the book at the teacher store they had one for Indians. It's pretty detailed but I'm sure I can figure out a smaller version to put in their notebooks. Conner still likes the lapbook idea but Colin really wants to move forward and do a notebook. I haven't done this before but that is okay, I will learn along the way.

Saturday is generally my planning day but I seem to have forgotten that in the past couple of months so lots to catch up on and getting back in the swing of things. There is also house cleaning to do, yeah(Not). I am finding more and more how nice it is after working hard to clean my house I feel so satisfied at the knowledge of it being clean. I am also not stressed by the endless things that need to be done. This has fallen off my track as well. Not that I am a neat freak or anything but I wouldn't mind having things orderly, kwim. I am going to attempt to organize my home. I have things here and there that need it and I have things here and there that are already done but need to be tweaked a bit or redone again as they have fallen out of the order.

In other news we went with our church to rake up the yards of the elderly. I really enjoyed helping out and I think my boys did too. Austin didn't make it as he went with the youth group up to Denver to a group gathering up there. So it was just Colin, Conner and I and they seemed to enjoy doing this. A couple of the folks gave us yummy goodies to thank us for the hard work we did. The gratefulness I saw in their eyes made me an emotional ball. What a simple thing to do and yet it made a difference in the lives of others. Something I and perhaps you would take for granted , raking up the leaves in your yard, is something some people can't do and they truly appreciate it.

I know I have a tendency to read into these things and make them relevant to me and how I view the world . What can I learn from this ? How can I teach or show my young impressionable boys this? I love to reflect, its sort of an obsession but I feel that I am trying to improve myself as a person and pass that on to my children. I like to think that I am a good person but I am human and I still make mistakes but I would like to say that I try to learn from them. I hope that my boys see this and that they too will strive to continually make themselves better people. So often we can get stagnant and then we do the inevitable and make a mistake. It is human nature, I just want my boys to know that yeah you will make mistakes but try to learn from them. So now that I have gone of another tangent back to our raking story.

I spent alot of time thinking about the people we helped and their gratitude. I thought of all the things that I do take for granted. I thought of all the rights my children seem to think they have. For example they get to spend an hour on the computer every day. They do ask to go on the computer but more than once have they asked "can I have my computer time now?". Do you see the implication in such a simple statement? My computer time? umm it's a privilege not a right. These are the things that were juggling through my head yesterday. Alot of people are scaling down on Christmas this yr, we are one of them. Most people do this out of necessity but some(those fortunate souls) are doing it as a choice as it seems to have been blown out of proportion. It seems as if you don't spend at least a hundred bucks on each child you are somehow a Scrooge? really? Seriously? (eye roll). When I see people so appreciative of something so small and so taken for granted it really makes me want to reevaluate my ethics and stand on many things such as Christmas or other holidays or birthdays. They all have gotten so out of proportion. It doesn't even seem to be about the holiday or what its original purpose was but more about the gifts and how much you spent. I am guilty as charged on this account as many of you are. I envy those who can make it so simple and beautiful. Ok maybe they really got to me or maybe I am already an emotional ball because of other happenings in my life. But to be so grateful for people just raking your yard? Wow. I am beyond impressed.

Ok now if you will just drop a note letting me know just how nutty you think I am to be this wrought over raking up yards I would much appreciate it. *sly grin*
Have a great day.

Vanessa

A Quick Note

It has come to my attention that I didn't let you guys know that I did make a blog in regards to my dealings with my husbands health issues and the ramification surrounding that. I had spent enough time on telling you guy's about it so I didn't want to bother you with the details plus the blog is more a therapy for me and a possible help for others in a similar situation as opposed to finding a ton of readers. I actually have noticed I let alot of myself into that blog so it seems incredibly personal. Anyway I put the blog link into a widget that is at the bottom of my blog roll. Its all in black on the sidebar, really you can't miss it. So for those who cheered me on thank you so very much it was just the thing I needed to get back a bit of sanity in my life by letting some steam off. I can not express my gratitude in words here as there are so few to choose from so just know I thank you very much and I will forever be grateful for the kind words you guys have given me.
Enough said Now back to hs stuff.

Vanessa

Chef extrodinaire

My boys have been trying to have a "cookoff" for some time now. I have invited anyone who would like to participate to do so. I did want to videotape these sesssions to give it a sort of "cooking show" feel. Well I forgot to do this last night but I did manage a couple of pictures of what Colin did before we at it all.

Colin wanted to make eggs benedict. I knew that the egg was poached and there was some type of sauce on top but that was the extent of my knowledge of eggs benedict. Colin said
Mom we learned three things today.
What's that son?
We learned how to poach an egg, how to make hollindaise sauce and how to make eggs benedict.
Why yes we did Colin(I look at dh with a very proud grin of how astute my son is)
The things we decided was that the english muffin would be better toasted. The egg should cooked a few minutes longer. Colin now has a new favorite breakfast and he didn't think it was all that hard. Dh said he would just fry the egg because it was easier. I pointed out that it was healthier this way.
It is amazing at how long i have gone without poaching an egg. I have never done this and here my 11 yr old son has that belt already under him. I am really proud of him for trying out a new recipe. He truly is in his element in the kitchen. Austin is supposed to make dinner for us tonight. I think it is breakfast burritos in the microwave. Yes I said microwave and yes I think that is wierd but hey it's all good. Oh yeah the pictures, here they are. And to anyone wanting to "cook off" with us just have your child cook a breakfast item of their choice, you may help out I did. Then put your link into the comments. I would do mister linky but I don't exactly know how yet. I hope to be able to do this next time. Sure hope you guys join us.

Hollandaise sauce. I made it because there seemed to be alot going on in the kitchen and I didn't want Colin to get frustrated. I wanted it to be fun. Besides now I know how to make it. Is it just me or does it look like pudding?
Eggs benedict by Chef Colin.

Vanessa

2 great new products you will just have to have

I am sooo excited. I have found two great new products that you will fall in love with . They are versatile, easy to use and just soooo adorable.

The first product is this fantastic new bookmark I found. I have seen bookmarks and have had many throughout my life, haven't' you? While the old bookmark it was still a bit hard to find your place if it was very skinny and smaller than your book. Then I saw some that were thicker and came out of your book which I thought was ingenious and found very helpful. The problem is that inevitably I would loose the bookmark. Then I had spent all this money on a great bookmark that actually made finding my page easier and I would misplace it somewhere. Seriously? This new and improved bookmark does the same thing as far as great ease of finding your spot in your book and I'm pretty sure I will not misplace it. Here is a great picture of my new improved bookmark.

Our second product is just fantastic and I have never seen anything like it on the market. Too bad I think I will have it patented and make millions on dollars. Yeah. So this is in that infomercial voice.

Do you love puzzles? A lady appears shaking her head very excitedly yes I do.

But hate the tedious work of sorting through all those pieces for the ones you are looking for?

A scene shows with the same lady this time over her box of puzzle pieces. Her hair is frayed and she has a scowl on her face. She looks for a puzzle piece in the box and blows air out and puts the puzzle away as she got too frustrated. All around is kaos. The lady hears the wonderful infomercial guide and looks hopeful and shakes her head yes.

With our new Automatic puzzle sorter(APS) you will never again be looking for that elusive puzzle piece. Just place the APS in your puzzle box full of pieces and it goes to work for you diligently sorting pieces for the ones you are looking for.

The scene goes back to the lady with her puzzle. She now has lovely hair and of course her house is miraculously clean all of a sudden. She has a big smile on her face as she finishes the other half the puzzle thanks to the great new invention of the APS her life is wonderful with smiling children and cute animals by her side. (snicker)

So you want your own too? Well for the low price of not $49.99, no not even $39.99 and unbelievably not even $29.99 no you can get this great new product for the incredible price of $19.99. In a very low voice they ramble a bunch of stuff about tax and shipping not included very fast and a number flashes before your eyes. You reach for the phone and order up your own APS so you can finally finish that puzzle that you have been working on for over a year now.

oh yeah I should show a picture of my own APS delivered to me about 2 months ago. I have been extraordinarily pleased with this product and it's versatility. Honestly people this is very handy. You must get one.

My new APS hard at work. Here he has found the piece I am looking for. Sigh, it is so amazing how much easier putting puzzles together is now thanks to my APS.

Occasionally your APS ,may need to 'test' the puzzle pieces to see if it is the one you need. Do not be alarmed as this is all part of the puzzle sorting process.

this is at the beginning of the puzzle sorting process after your APS has gotten his instructions as to the pieces to look for.

Vanessa

A roller coaster of a ride

Friday Co-op during science activities class we did a really fun project that lasted the entire class time. Kathy had the kids make a roller coaster out of foam tubing cut lenghtwise in half. They taped these together and were able to use chairs, boxes, cans or whatever they found to create hills and valleys and loop de loops. The kids were divided into four teams and each team made their own roller coaster. Then they competed to see which coaster was the fastest. They used marbles to speed down their coasters. Each team got their marble under about 2 seconds. Out of the four teams we saw some really cool things that went on. The team with mostly girls used styrafoam cups in various ways like you would see a watermill work, it was incredibly creative. Another team , conner was in it, had the only loop. One team went the speed route and taped their coaster way up on the wall to see if they could make it go faster than the other teams, Austin was on this team. Colin's team made valleys and such . They all had such great minds all forming their own cool versions of a roller coaster. It was so much fun. After all four teams competed we then combined them to make two teams and an even bigger coaster. It was crazy and you saw teams using the ingenuity of other teams work on both coasters.



The atmosphere was insane. They were soooooo loud. I had to get mean and raise my voice and let me tell you my voice already carries quite well and I tend to be louder than I think most times. I have no problem getting my kids attention. All around the room you saw excitment and fun and creativity and best of all learning. We kept asking the kids what type of energy the marble had at any given point. The kids were enthused and pretty competetive. It was great.
Kathy puts on one mean class. : > ) I hope to get pictures from her, she had a helper go around and take some. She also has lesson plans that coordinate this fun exciting class if you want to try it .

Vanessa

100th Post

I am so excited. I can't believe this is my 100th post. I am not quite to my 1 yr anniversary for blogging and here I am at my 100th post. I really wanted to change the look of my blog for this post and perhaps it will happen later but for now it will need to stay like this because I am not html inclined, kwim. I really wanted to add another column to share some other neat things like great links with you guys and I wanted to change the background to be more solid or at least not "bleed" through my posts. Oh and I really wanted to add a pretty signature at the end of all my posts as well. I looked and looked online for ways to show me how this is done but that only got me so far. I really need someone there to ask questions and such. Perhaps one day.

I have had such a good time doing this blog. Gina introduced me to blogging not quite a yr ago. Can you believe I had never heard of it?Crazy I know. There are so many wonderful blogs that share such great things on such an array of subjects that I have spent an enormous amount of time just reading these. Some have become blogs I go back to again and again like Mrs. Darling , Kathy and others. I started this blog with the intention of sharing with our family and friends our going's ons and such. I have made great new friends and wonderful new discoveries.

I hope the next yr brings even better stuff to share with all of you guys. I love sharing information and if nothing else this is what I love about blogging. I love reading about everything from the every day life of another hs'er or mom to scrapbooking or self sufficiency. There are so many wonderful blogs about all sorts of things great and I appreciate all those that take the time out to put them out there. These blogs inspire me to do the same and share with you our everyday lives and great links or websites I find along the way.

What has been going on at my house? Well we have been getting a bit off track in hsing due to my husbands illness and my inability to cope well with it. I am getting there and well that is a whole nother Blog I want to create in the near future. We have done our math and grammar and our science since we go to co-op and do three hours of science, thank god. We had started our Native American studies but veered off and I look forward to getting the boys back on track. Yesterday they watched a film about the Aztec's. They seemed to enjoy it and we will have a discussion on it today. They continue to go to Karate which I count as P.E., Social studies, and perhaps a bit of history when sensai throws it in there. We are trucking along and I hope to get back to normal.

Vanessa