not your typical morning

we had a young classmate pop over for carpool this morning a little earlier than usual, so in honor of his presence we actually made breakfast on a weekday. that never happens around here.

my man made chocolate chip pancakes from scratch (you know pancakes from scratch are really not more involved than from the box, but somehow it sounds better)... and we sat down to eat breakfast.  actually, they sat down and i finished up the pancakes because my man had to rush so they wouldn't be late for school.  but still... in the business of it... it was still a moment that i wanted to capture. 
breakfast on a cold, rainy, friday morning. in the warmth of your home. with family. what else is there?

now they're all gone and somehow the place feels a little colder.

a twist on the old book club

my man came to me with a suggestion last month - how about we pick each others' book for the month? hum.... know what my first reaction was? ummmm, no!  but then i started to concede... but here were my stipulations:
1. no sci fi
2. no tolken
3. no chronicles of narnia
4. i have right of refusal at all times....
5. and i can apply my rule of thumb for book reading. [rule of thumb - the book has to grab me on the first page]

he reluctantly agreed but the last one got slashed. he said i had to give a book more than a page....

source: amazon.com

i started the book he picked for me last month: "paul revere's ride".  it's a historical account of paul revere.  his premise is that the accounts of paul revere as they actually happened are lost in a puddle of folklore and legends.  so he goes to try and tell it as it really was.  i found this to be true as i had always heard of paul revere's ride as "his midnight ride as he's bravely racing down the road yelling the "british are coming! the british are coming!" but the truth is that he would never have said the british are coming because the countrymen living in america considered themselves british at that time.  they were not their own country at that time. so paul revere probably said the "regulars are coming".  i'm actually surprised that i'm getting into the book. history doesn't normally grab me. but this book so far has been enjoyable and enlightening.

the book i picked out for my man... actually i let him choose but they were all books on education so he said since they're all the same, just grab one for me.  and the one i grabbed is actually a book i've been meaning to read for years. it's been sitting on my bookshelf still in it's crisp clean packaging. 

source: amazon.com

it's actually a 6 volume series written by charlotte mason and thus the foundation for all those private charlotte mason schools you see. 

you know, come to think of it... this book club idea was a great one! now he can read the books i never got around to and just tell me the main points :)

a conversation between appa and our jewel

it's bedtime and if you got a peek into the conversation in the purple bedroom of two hearts intertwining, you would have heard this:

my man: what's your favorite book of the Bible?
our jewel: 1 John!
my man: why?
our jewel: because it has my favorite verse!
my man: which is what?
our jewel: come on! you know... [pointing to her head] think! think! think!
my man: hum! i don't know....
our jewel: oh, come on! you know... think about it! you KNOW this!
my man: hummmmmmmm
our jewel:  iiiiiiiii...... ammmmmmm.....  i don't know!  i'm just making things up.... hee hee hee.

how to gain time

"giving thanks slows life down because it makes us attentive to this moment"
- ann voskamp

the power of the mind

i was joking w/ my man that over the last week and 1/2 i'd often have these "daydream" type images where in my head, i was determined to just get up and do 2 jumping jacks. i figured i was just going to will myself to do it. then i'd gingerly push myself off the bed and collapse on the floor in sheer back pain.  reality just slams me in the face. and i can't help but just laugh at the sheer craziness of my thoughts.

v day

my man brought home some chocolate covered strawberries for val day.

here was the conversation during dessert time:

our jewel: daddy are you going to eat that [pointing to the strawberry]?
my man: no, maybe later
our jewel: do you want me to eat it??? [said w/ the most innocent face]

lemon poppy seed muffin recipe

happy valentine's day!

in honor of the day, our jewel wanted to make something for her dad. so she made lemon poppy seed muffins (basically the only recipe i could find that called for stuff we had). unfortunately a lot of the baked goods that we wanted to make called for milk.. but fortunately, this one calls for yogurt.  

the only things we tweaked are 1) we used a combo of raw honey and coconut sugar (same ratio)  in place of the sugar in the muffin (although it was nullified by the confectionery sugar we used for the glaze). and 2) for the butter we used: 1/4C butter and 1/4C coconut oil.  i wanted some of the butter flavor but the coconut oil is so much better for you.

heres's the recipe taken from annie's eats blog

yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

½ tsp. salt

1 ¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Zest of one lemon

1 cup vanilla yogurt (do not use non-fat)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For glaze:

½ cup powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray. Set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest, yogurt and vanilla and beat until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture until just moistened. Do not over mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan and glazing.

Glaze: If glazing, while muffins are baking stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. The mixture should be runny. Once the muffins are removed from the oven, wait five minutes and then drizzle the glaze over the muffins with a spoon.

in case you haven't notice, our camera seems to be on the fritz so there are been no bad photos to accompany the post :(

"one thousand gifts" review

there's a blog that i enjoy reading by one Ann Voskamp called: a holy experience.  she recently wrote a book called: one thousand gifts. the premise of the book is this: God extends grace to us, we respond w/ thanksgiving, and the outflow is joy.  she embarks on a journey to write a list of 1000 things that she thanks God for.

i was encouraged. convicted.  b/c see, i'm generally a pessimistic person.  i always think out worst case scenario first and once i come to terms w/ that, then i'm ready to embrace come what may.  there's a problem in thinking that way (other than the obvious that it's not biblical) - it doesn't lead to thanksgiving. instead it leads to wishful thinking, bracing self for the unknown, clinging to things that aren't really ours to cling to.

and so much of our lives is spent doing doing doing. going through the motions of live, but not really living life. today. throughout my day, there are things, many things, i can thank God for, in response to His grace to me. but if i just move about the events of the day and go from one task to another, i miss so much. i miss out on grace. i miss out on blessings to be thankful for, and as a result i miss out on joy.

i've been spending much time on my back these days. i sense a grumbling spirit in my soul.  complaining to God about my back, the pain, the slow moving days and the even slower moving nights.  the whining, the complaining.  there is no joy.  but God has not changed. He is still God sovereign.  He still says that all things work for His glory.  'Every good and perfect gift is from above'.  Bedrest - it's a gift.  He gives me the gift of rest today because my soul was not resting.  i was doing, but not living.  His grace that He extends to me.  i was not receiving.  Thanksgiving that He deserves, I was not responding.  so the days dragged on. joyless. 

today.  God calls me - today - to thank Him.  so i grab a journal and so begins our journey to write down 1000 gifts that we, as a family will thank God for.  i will leave it on the table and everyone, as they feel led, will write down gifts for which we thank God.

may joy abound.

back part 2

it's friday and i'm still laid up in bed. i managed to make it to the kitchen this morning and microwave a pancake for breakfast.  i'm thinking that with all the "grabbing onto things" i'm doing to try and get around that it's gotta do something for my triceps at least, right?   unfortunately my arms really aren't that strong and after trying to support my body weight to the kitchen, grab a plate, put the pancake in the microwave, my arms started to buckle on me before the 20 sec. were up, so it was a hot/ cold pancake. you know when you microwave something and it's really steaming hot in some areas and cold in others? 
i managed to make it out to the living area but had to collapse on the floor cause i couldn't make it to the chair. funny when you body has a conversation with your head? . in my head i'm thinking... come on just a few more steps to the chair, and my back yelling back , nope! you're done. HERE! NOW!  sometimes mind over matter thing doesn't work so well. 

quote of the week:
our jewel: mama, you should get a cane.
me:: why? when i have you?
our jewel: you're right! i'm strong. 

note: i've been leaning on our jewel's shoulder to get around and she's been a real trooper. she says, "i'll still let you do it, even though it hurts me." apparently, it's a lot of work to have a child carry twice her weight on her shoulders. 

"the Lost tools of learning" by dorothy sayers

when you spend all week in bed, there's time for reading.

this is an article that i'm revisiting; i thought would be a good one to ear-mark.

oh my back!

i can't tell if i have a back sprain or a back strain.  i just know that i can't walk. it's been painful. i haven't left my bed in 2 days. i finally got a shower this morning with the help of my man. that was an experience!

it's definitely made me more appreciative of my back muscles. the back muscles are used for everything. not just walking and standing, but coughing, sneezing,... it seems everything is hindered because of my back. 

oh back, please get well soon.

Chicken and rice porridge

this seems to be the perfect dish for these cold winter days.
i used this post as the basis of my dish. 

my version:

boiled whole chicken and garlic (1 1/2C of garlic. yes! you read that correctly)  in a big pot for 1 hour with enough water to cover the chicken.

took chicken out and put the rice (1 1/4C) in for 30 minutes. shredded about 1 1/2 C of chicken and set aside.

15 minutes in, i added diced vegetables: 1 carrot and 1 zucchini.  the last 5 minutes of the rice cooking, i added the chicken, diced 2 scallions, and some salt (about 1/2 TBL).

so good! warms you from the inside out. 

Note: that was my last farm chicken. yikes! gonna have to hold out a month until my next order!

homeschooling revisited

i've spent the morning doing curriculum research for homeschooling and i'm getting a headache. there's so much out there! which is great but i'm not always the best when there is too much information or too many options out there. then of course there's the $. why does everything have to cost money? can't we just pay people in smiles? ha ha ha.  or a barter system. i'll make you a cake and a really healthy, yummy one at that if you'll give me that math book?

you'd think that since i've done this before it would be easier this time around... well, i guess it is, i just forgot how it was last time. ha!

what i do like is that some of the books have a "peek inside" option that you can use on amazon. i don't recall this option being around several years ago when i started this whole process, so that makes it a lot nicer.  we haven't made a final decision yet, but i like to plan ahead as you can tell... so i figured i'd get started on seeing what's out there in case we decide to go back to homeschooling next year.

the good thing about this time around is that i have a better understanding of the curriculum. you can read all you want about it, but until you actually use it, it's a different story. mainly b/c you don't really know your teaching style or your child's learning style until you actually start teaching on a regular basis.  and sometimes what works one year, doesn't work the next.  that been true of the math. while she liked the math we used for K she hasn't really taken to the book when we moved up to grade 1. so i'm trying to figure out if i should go in a different direction or if i should stick w/ the same company but supplement it with other resources.   there's a big pull to stay w/ the current company b/c it's what her past two schools used. it's what the schools will be using if we decide to go back to school, and it's consistent, convenient, and i already know the flow.  having said that, it is still grade 2 math, i mean i may not be a genius but i think i can figure out how to teach grade 2 math from a different source, heh?  
so we'll see.