Ramblings

I am such the slacker!  I have been trying to keep up with my blog.  I've set a goal (and failed) to post once a week.  I even have a couple posts started in the holding file.  I just need to add pictures and some captions and they would be good to go.

I had a goal to review one book per month.  I started off great with a couple books in each January and February.  I've read the next book but have not gotten around to blogging about it yet.

Now it is May!  Our neighborhood yard sale is this Saturday and I need to clean out the house to prep for it.  School continues for now.  Our last day will be May 18!  Karate classes are still going on as my oldest little M gets ready to earn his Black Belt in June (that is a post in and of itself).  Baseball has started and both little Ms are on different teams.

I'm not complaining (really!!). I'm just stating life is busy right now.  I'm am enjoying it, but some things are falling behind.  Laundry is stacking up, dust bunnies have become dust rhinos, and dinner has become whatever you can grab before we run out the door.

That being said, I do realize:
 1. my family is healthy.  The boys are able to play ball and participate in karate.
 2. My marriage is strong. I can rely on my wonderful hubby to take on many tasks that I am slipping on with out complaint.  We are a team.
 3. The boys are happy and growing into good young men.

God has blessed me.  This I know.

Waffles!

While traveling down south last month for the Homeschool Convention, we (my older sister and I),

My older sister

stayed at my younger sister's house.  She was a wonderful hostess.  She even stocked her pantry with the food we would enjoy.  She even gave us items to take home and stock our own pantries with.

This wonderful mix was the focal point of supper this evening in the Three Ms and Me Household.  When all votes were counted, it was  the waffle recipe we chose instead of the pancake one from the side of the box.  It was really simple.

Heat your waffle iron.

In a large bowl, add two cups of mix

One cup of milk

Two egg whites

3 Tablespoons of oil

And stir with a whisk until smooth.

I would like to show you a picture of how they look after you scoop 4 tablespoons of batter onto the waffle iron and cook for four minutes, but...

we ate them all before I thought to take a picture.  All my guys loved them and we will be having them again soon.  I recommend serving them with turkey sausage (found in a red Jimmy Dean box in the grocery store) and fried eggs.

Homeschool Mania!

I had waited months for this week.  Back in November, November 18th to be exact, I thought this week would NEVER get here.  But finally, it arrived.  I taught my students on Monday and Tuesday, had meals planned, lesson plans ready, and the substitute prepared.  I was going on a road trip without my three M's.  On Wednesday I jumped in the car and headed to West Virginia to meet up with my older sister and her two oldest kids, and we headed down to South Carolina for the Great Homeschool Convention in Greenville.  

The seminars are chock full of information and the speakers are so friendly and kind.  Whether or not you buy their products, they will answer any and all questions.  They will even point you towards the correct vendor if they cannot help you themselves.  There are about 350 vendor booths for curriculum, books, paper, healthy living, and many other things homeschoolers and even "normal" people would like, want and use.

The time has been productive.  I have purchased my material for next year, adding a new method for spelling, and a new subject (typing).  I am loading my brain with new ideas for teaching that aid the teacher and the student.  I am being refreshed by the time I am spending with both of my sisters.  

I am having a grand time.  We are planning to attend a comedy concert tonight and nice dinner tomorrow night. I haven't had to cook a single meal in five days!

With my wonderful husband running the show smoothly at home and me soaking in all the convention has to offer, who needs life to return to normal?

I do.  I really miss my guys.  It takes a break like this to make you realize how grand your "normal" really is.  

I'll be home late Sunday and will get back to work first thing Monday morning.  See you soon my men!

Baking

We have done a good bit of baking lately.  My helper and I.

I found a recipe for Vanilla Crumb Pie that I wanted to try for my mom's group.

So we pulled up the recipe on the computer and away we went.

Matt measured and used the pastry blender and added a lot of fun to the multi-step process.

 These are the pies before the crumb topping was added.

 This is after the crumb topping but before being baked.

The final product!   

Unfortunately, these pies were not for family eating, so we packed them up to go.

My helper did get to sample the pie after the meeting was over.

His findings: "It was okay. but it might be better warm."

This morning I wanted bagels.  This morning I did not want to leave the house to get a bagel.  I have always wanted to make bagels.  So...

I found a recipe on-line for bread machine bagels!!

Right up my alley. It is really easy.

 Once the bread machine finished the dough, I formed the bagels.

Then my trusty assistant

came along to help me boil them.  He is using a skewer to keep the bagels from touching.  We didn't want them to stick together.

After a short rest on the towel (very clean, I assure you), the bagels were placed on the baking sheet (or stone in this case).

Then they are covered in melted butter and baked for 25 minutes at 375*.

Voila!

Bagels so delicious my assistant gave me a hug and asked if we could make some more, right now.

And we will make some more, just not right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Homeschooling Humor

I informed my boys that this week was the last week of our study of Daniel Boone.

"Alright!" was the excited reply.

"We are going to study Lewis and Clark next."

"Mom, my friend says he is related to Mary mother." my oldest told me.

"What?"

"You know, Mary mother Lewis, the one who explored with Clark."

"Oh, I think you mean Meriwether Lewis."

"You mean a girl explored with Clark!"

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

1 bar Fels-Naptha soap
Water
Washing Soda (be careful with this.  It will irritate skin.  Once it is mixed with the water and stuff, it is fine to get on your skin.  Just not plain!)
Borax
cheese grater
5-gallon bucket
large wooden spoon or five gallon paint stirrer from Lowes or Home Depot 

Grate Fels-Naptha into a fine powder using cheese grater.  I used a box grater.  If you unwrap the soap and let it set in a dry place for a couple of weeks grating is easier, but this is not necessary.

Combine grated soap and 6 cups of water in a large pan over medium heat.  Stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until soap is dissolved.

Add 1 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax.  Stir until dissolved, then bring to a boil and heat for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Add 1 quart of hot water to 5 gallon bucket and then add detergent mixture. Fill bucket 1/2 the way full with  hot water.  Stir until combined.  

Place bucket where you will be using it and fill to two inches of the top with hot water.  Stir again.

The soap will thicken over the next 24 hours.  Just keep stirring before you use it the first three or four times.

Use 1/2 cup per load (the caps from the liquid tide happen to be 1/2 cup!)



I have been using this and I think it works great!  You can use some essential oils to add a scent if you want.

This soap costs about a penny per load vs. tide at about $0.20 per load.

My hair is now bun ready and my denim skirt is ironed.  I even have two (2) denim jumpers!

Book Review - Beyond Molasses Creek

Okay folks, I am beginning my year with posts of a couple of my favorite subjects:  books and karate. I will post a cooking item soon, that should wrap up the big three in my favorites category.

My first February book review is for the book "Beyond Molasses Creek" by Nicole Seitz.  I have to say that I enjoy reviewing books for Booksneeze because it is a branch of Thomas Nelson publishing.  Most of these books have a Christian message, some subtle, some not so subtle.  This book left it out entirely.  The setup was there.  The opportunity to show a need and a trust in GOD was ready to be taken.  It was ripe, almost falling from the tree.  Yet it was ignored.

That aside, it was a very unique storyline.  Ally Green comes home because her father has died and she must take care of his, now her, house.  Vesey Washington,  Ally's across the creek neighbor and best childhood friend, appears just when she needs him.  Their friendship has withstood racial tensions, years of absence, and forbidden love.

A woman half a world away, Sunila, also ties into the story.  She is different from all those around her and she is an artist in a gravel pit.  She must find out why she is different and where the "book" came from that she cannot read, but she knows holds all the answers.

Nicole Seitz does a wonderful job weaving the three stands of the characters together.  It is not often you find a story told from three different points of view.  Two of the characters share a common background.  Two search for their past and their future.  Once character is sure of his life and his choices, while one had no choice and the last felt her choices may not have been right at all.

Each is looking for something to guide them, a reason to go on, a purpose to fulfill.  With the void in their lives, they feel aimless, yet driven to find and reach their goal.  Their stories come slowly together revealing just enough at a time to keep you turning pages, but not so much that you get lost in the overload of information.

Beyond Molasses Creek invites you to travel through time to a place where characters are shaped and choices are made.  And the work it takes to live with the consequences.