Fresh drivel

Deep thoughts: Whether a Mom works outside the home (or not), homeschools(or not), it seems we find ways of getting ourselves in up to our eyeballs in responsibility, toil, chores, children, errands, life. Am I wrong? Can I get an Amen? I know y'all are kicking it up a notch now that September is here. Thanks for coming up for air for a second to post. That's what I'm doing now, too...with my corndog. my quarter of a leftover burger, and my fatigue, at 1:50 AM.

Today was a very productive homeschool day, although I did have to take a wee crying/praying break, and there was some yelling. This is not extremely untypical. (Your eyebrows are up, and my hair is down--what there is of it). But it was still productive. We're trying to get into a groove, take on all of our subjects gradually. We congregate in the living room with the gas fireplace. We spread our papers and books out and often only get as far as stacking them when done. (As opposed to bringing them back downstairs into the file cabinet). Someone usually sits in front of the fireplace with it on if they're cold. And it certainly is getting darker earlier and cooler. All of a sudden. The extra stress has been congregating in my neck, back, and shoulders, but a piping hot bath last night really cut the discomfort in half.

Dinner tonight was:

Brown pork chops in oil. When mostly done, remove from pan, and add chopped shallots or onion, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes. Add 1 cup of stock (I made beef bouillion from the powder) and a tablespoon tomato paste or a few cut up Roma tomatoes. It will foam up. Turn down and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add some green beans to this and cook till 3/4 done. ( I thawed the frozen ones). Return chops onto the top of beans and cover till beans are done. I served it with Costco instant mashed potatoes, but what I really wanted was corn bread stuffing. Fragrant, simple, tasty. The sauce reduces with the 10 minutes of cooking, and if you bring the skillet to the table as is, it is an attractive presentation. I got this from a book by an Italian immigrant who was an enthusiastic gardener and very interesting man.

Nums from my kitchen to yours

Eek!!! Zach is now 5' 7 1/2" tall!!!!! Only an inch and a half to go till he catches up with me. So, by tomorrow, I'm guessing.

A basic, but tasty and economical meal you can make in the crockpot or stovetop:

Chuckwagon Beef

1 lb ground beef
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
cooked riced--1 1/2 cups or more (1/2 cup or more RAW if using crockpot)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp basil
dash pepper
Crockpot--Place all ingredients in crockpot; stir thoroughly. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. (Usually I end up starting these things late and have to do them on high for less time) If on stovetop, brown ground beef and onion. Don't drain. :) Meanwhile, cook rice. When beef is just about done, add pepper, tomatoes, and spices. When rice is done, add to mixture, stir, and let simmer for awhile, maybe 15 minutes or so, so flavors can meld, but you're not overcooking the pepper.

People are occasionally using the volleyball net, after all. Even I did, and I was impressed at how magnanimous I was (hey, I should be impressed. I am naturally quite stingy, selfish, antisocial and more!) to welcome all ages and abilities. Remember inwardly groaning when you wanted a great game, but very small children wanted to partake?
The Sasquatch photo is a recent siting. Actually, on Labor Day, the fam and the Mother-in-law all traveled over the bridge to the Port Orchard property to get another gander. It is covered in vegetation and hard to really see. So Chris, Zach, and even moi hacked a path with a very dull machete down to the "roaring" creek. It was very audible, and was our eager goal. After an hour of hacking, sweating, swatting bugs, the small creek was visible. Later that night, I was alarmed to find a large bruise on my wrist. I hadn't injured it, nor did it even hurt. I felt a little nauseous, and was sure I had been bitten or stung by a nasty bug. I was scouring the internet, feeling worried. The fam prayed for me. The "bruise" faded fast, and I have not felt anything else untoward. Thank God!!
After the property, we stopped by the shore, where William is ambling. Zach found a tiny lizard which he had never seen before. It was very fast and nobody else would have ever noticed it, but of course he caught it. I picked a quart of blackberries and made crisp a few hours later. I love free fruit!!
The dark photo is Zach and Jessie on their first day of school. They decided to get crazy about drawing and art this week, which was unexpected and very cool. I had purchased this instructional book several years ago called Drawing With Children which we dragged out and started delving into again. This first week has gone pretty well. I am feeling my way along, praying a lot, doing a lot of research, being as organized and planning and flexible and disciplined and realistic and guilt-free as possible. I ordered some Math-U-See for Jessie. She has struggled with math for a long time, and I had to start her with math years below her grade level. (I bought what the placement pretest indicated)This bothers me, but it can't be helped. We aim to catch up eventually. After hours of looking, I found this really cool early American crafts kit from HandsandHearts.com. It has about a dozen things to do, like dip candles, make a quill pen, drink brick tea (not sure what that is). We are continuing the New Adventures in Learning unit study from last year. He is at the Revolutionary years stage, so that is where we are for history/social studies. I started The Light and the Glory for Kids as a review. I need to order grammar, but that will have to wait. In the meantime, I am burning up my printer with free worksheets!!!