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Friday, 07 November 2008

A Morning of Good Reading

We started a good book this morning. It was a read aloud time for us.

Thursday, 06 November 2008

Money

Today we started our chapter in Weaver on the subject of money. The Bible has alot to say about money. Much of the scripture we read came out of Proverbs. I love that book. So much wisdom packed in. We also had some library books that we began to read on the history of money. Did you know that in Africa, giraffe tails are still used as money. Also went over our family budget and discussed savings, tithing, and other places our money goes. We had done a family workshop during the month of March this year where we had already shared the budget and other family matters with the kids, so we just refreshed it all. Rejoiced over the fact that we haven't had a car payment in 10 years. But I think that may change soon. We are going on 222 K on Big Blue.
I went to get my hair cut today. I love it. I am hoping it will be easier to keep. With this head full of curls, it is always high maintenance. Ended the day with a movie from Netflix. I am David. The kids liked it and we ended up with Chinese for supper. My Mom stopped by and topped the night off by sticking some yummy chocolate chip cookies in the oven.
On the agenda for tomorrow: We have someone coming by to look at the house. I'm handing it over to you, God. Then we have a Thanksgiving gathering at Dinosaur Adventure land from 1:30 till 5. This is a homeschool event that is a structured educational time that will focus on the real meaning of Thanksgiving. After that a good game of Co-ed softball should be the highlight. Until then.

Wednesday, 05 November 2008

Politics

I will respond to someone initiating a conversation about politics, but I am from the old school and would rather not. One reason being that I don't believe 99% of what is put out through emails, the media, or people. So I can't waste my time and thoughts repeating it or discussing. I was very confident in the way I voted this year and now I am ready to move on. Interesting enough, only registered voters are summoned for Jury duty and I received a summons today in the mail. The last time I was summoned was when I was 9 months pregnant with my daughter. Had to decline the summons that time. And that will be ALL I will say about it.
Today we spent a good part of the morning talking with the kids about the voting process, in general. We discussed electoral votes and how many our state has and past voting ballots and processes. We read a book on our right to vote and people that we know that are not able to vote for the various reasons. We also discussed who (American Indians, Womens, African American, and people who did not own land (the poor)) was not able to vote and how wrong it was.
We also had a day of laundry soap making. We do this about every 3-4 months. It ends up being .17 a gallon to make. My neice and nephew joined us and we were able to make more than 16 gallons today. The house smelled very frangrant, and my pots ended up really clean and shiney from using the borax. I will share the recipe.
Fels Naptha Laundry Soap

1/3 bar     Fels Naptha grated
1/2 cup    washing soda
1/2 cup     borax powder
Put the grated Fels Naptha in a large pan with 3 pints of water - heat - stir to dissolve. When dissolved stir in the 1/2 cup of washing soda - then the 1/2 cup of Borax [remember 20 mule team borax - upper shelf on laundry isle in grocery stores] This will all thicken and look like honey - remove from heat. In a two gallon bucket put 1 quart of hot water. Next and your honey looking soap. stir! Then fill the bucket with cold water. Stir till well blended. Pour into old laundry soap containers. It will gel up in about 24 hours, so don't wait too long to pour into your containers or you will have to scoop it out of the bucket : ) Use 1/2 cup for each load.
Note: For those with sensitive skin, a mild soap like Ivory brand can be substituted for the Fels Naptha without losing much of the cleaning ability----really dirty laundry would benefit from a little extra Borax and Washing soda added to that load
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We were sopposed to go to the Wildlife Rescue Center today, but the kids decided they didn't want to pitch in after lunch time (voluntarily). I guess this child training is a continual process, because we immediately went into training time with my 10,11, & 15 year old. Maybe we'll try it again another day.
We have hair cuts at 2:30 and art at 3:30 so it's gonna be a busy day. The boys are doing self portraits in Art. They are hoping to get them finished in the next week or so. I'll be sure to post photos.
B10n had a chance to cut open a pumpkin and we roasted the seeds. Butter an a little garlic. Yummy!

Monday, 03 November 2008

Kaleidescope Garden

With a move in the near future, I thought of yet another thing I was able to use up to lighten the packing. Although these wouldn't have taken up much space. The kids and I decided to take all of our left over seeds from the past 11 years and plant them sort of randomly in the vacant chicken yard that is now richly fertilized from the manure. We emptied all the seed packets into one bowl, then gave everyone their own plot of earth. They enjoyed putting the seeds in. Sh15by planted hers in neat rows and covered them. Bl11k planted his with the help of Ab2 in small patches and used markers to identify. B10n just scattered his then raked the dirt over. Then I took the left overs and threw then in the edges of the dirt and also in the rich area under the fig tree. Since the fig tree has lost most of it's leaves the sunlight will be able to come through the branches and germinate (hopefully) some of the seeds. When we studied plants last chapter, we learned that some seeds are good to plant for years and were kept by Indians and Egyptians for many years. And then some seeds (most) need to be planted with in a year. I guess you could say we are experimenting. A little earth science study. In the mix was flowers, herbs, fruits, veggies, and gourds. I can remember in years past, the kids didn't have a big interest in gardening like I do, but this time they seemed to actually enjoy it and can't wait to see the first sprouts.
We will be starting a new chapter in Weaver tomorrow. I still need to plan, plan, plan. The last 2 chapters were material that I knew pretty well, but I think this one will be learning for all of us. This is good.

Friday, 31 October 2008

Fun filled day

Today was the best. The weather was awesomely beautiful. The kids were somewhat cooperative and best of all, we took the day off of formal (book) schooling and enjoyed the Old Farmhouse Sale. The kids went on a hayride through the pasture. They saw triplet pigmy baby goats, a Jerusalem donkey, and several cows and a bull. We then sat for mullet dinner in the old chicken house converted to dining area. The cow coming towards us is named after Sh15y. It was born a few years ago.

We ended up at the Hubby's sister's house for the evening passing out candy to cute kids in costumes. The family played tunes till 9ish and then we headed to our neighborhood to do a neighborhood hay ride. My husband was the driver and we had my dad's trailer loaded down with hay.
Sh15y said the performance was a success, in terms of their abilities, but not much of a crowd, because of it being Halloween. I can't wait to see it tomorrow. She topped of the evening at Swing. Swing dancing is her favorite pastime on Fri. nights. Thankfully she gets a ride home since she stays till 11:30.
We are supposed to have a yard sale tomorrow so I'd better call it a night.