Archive for January, 2008

Birthday Lamby

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008


Just a quickie note on an FO for Jessie’s upcoming birthday. I still have the bunny to finish and a bag to make to hold them. Crunch time!

I’m pretty pleased with the way this on turned out. The arm and leg placement is better this time. Though I’m still not completely happy with the ear placement.

The pattern can be found here and it is FREE! The designer also makes a sweater pattern for it. LOL! Almost bought it for this birthday, but it will have to wait.

The white yarn is Baby Bee Pitter Patter and so far one ball has made 3 bunnies and 2 lambies with enough left over for probably another bunny or two. Perhaps I’ll make those up and just keep them on hand. ;) The darker yarn is Regia stretch color and though it is a bit small for the needles I used, I like the size in relation to the pitter patter. Makes the white fluff look like it falls on top of the darker “skin.”

Second Quarter Notes

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Hmmm… I never blogged about our second quarter did I? Meant to. ‘Course I “meant” to do a lot of things in December. Well, I DID a lot of things but there were a lot more I didn’t. *sigh*

Where was I? Oh yeah. Second quarter.

I did more paper testing this time than last. He did well… or my tests weren’t hard enough. LOL! No, he did well. If I were keeping letter grades, he’d be all A’s and B’s.

Math is… well, still a sore subject but he does enjoy applying it so I am still hopeful.

Latin… doing well here. I think we’re going to be looking more closely at latin derivatives during the remainder of this year. We’ll definitely finish Minimus 1. If money allows, we’ll do Sugundus also.

Grammar… pretty automatic. If he reads the directions well, he does… well. ;))

History… tried to get him and his friend A to do a Greek tragedy during December. They’ve lost all interest and I don’t think I’ll push it. So we’ll go back to reading our spine as usual.

Spellling… kinda let this one go a bit but will be getting back to it. I read something from “Connect the Thoughts” about having the child pick unfamiliar words from their required reading books. So we’re doing that with our evening read aloud… LoTR. Then using “The ABCs and all their tricks” to look up spelling rules that apply. Just studying the rules seemed to be missing the mark.

Art… Sam found some of my old sketch books and excitedly asked me to teach him to draw. So, since money is freakishly tight, I’m checking it out from the library and we’ve begun using the suggested lessons in that. So far he likes it. I’m doing them with him.

Writing… towards the end of the year we did mostly dictation and now that we’ve got that dialed in, it is going very well. I am constantly amazed with his progress. He’s not enamored with Writing Strands but I think we’ll stick with it for now.

Looking forward…

We’re going to be doing a little Spanish at the end of this month with a couple of homeschooling families. I’m teaching it. Yikes!

Sam still wants to become fluent in Japanese. Perhaps we’ll take a brake after the first Minimus book to focus on Japanese for a year or so.

As I mentioned above, Sam is jonesing for art lessons so we’ve started using “Drawing with Children” this year instead of next. I’ve even applied the “warm-up” idea to our math sessions by starting him off with a simple warmup page before moving on to our usual work.

For science we’ve started our human body lapbook. I hope that goes well and that he wants to do more. I’m printing out copies for Jessie also. She mostly colors on them but she and I have also been reading books about the body.

I’ve been writing on this post for several weeks now. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but I’m going to go ahead and hit the publish button and get the kids into bed.

Sunday Fun & Weird Weather

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Wow! You’d have thought today was spring. Nearly seventy degree temps, thunder storms, tornado watches.

We hit the park before lunch and had a great time. Sam had a gaggle of kiddos chasing him. I unfortunately forgot my camera or I would have some really funny shots to show you.  Met two new homeschooling moms and their kids. Even saw Peanut and her (now bigger) family. She has a 3 week old baby sister.

Between the extended park time and the tornado watch, not much schooling was done today. Was kind of bummed that we didn’t get to the first of our new art lessons from Drawing with Children. We’re both looking forward to those.

I did make my first loaves of classic sourdough. Mmmmmmm! I’ll post a pic later but it is really good and sour. It sponged overnight and then proofed most of the day. There’s a mixture of flours in it… bread, plain white and gram. LOL! Using what I had on hand. Didn’t do the big monthly grocery shopping this month so my grocery brain is off kilter. Guess I should make a weekly “just basics” list for times like this.

Not feeling to perky tonight. Bob took the kids this evening so I could rest. I laid down after dinner and suddenly it was bath time. LOL! Down side is I’ve got english muffins to finish before bed. Upside is I’m still tired enough to sleep.

Later! Oh wait! Sunday had a bunch of folks over from the local knitting/fiber group. It as a post holiday get together. We had great munchies and the shortest white elephant exchange I think every. No one wanted to give up what they got. LOL! So we had a second round and I was the only one who “stole.” So now I have a skein of (gasp!) lace weight wool yarn. That means… I’ve got to knit something in lace. Oy!

I did not get pictures of the contents of the “fibery bag of goodness” though. :( But it was completely stuffed with a bunch of novelty eyelash type yarns. I’ve discovered I just don’t like to knit with them!

Is it me?

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Knit Until Death Tattoo

I sometimes (ok… rarely) wonder IF I had a tattoo, what would it look like?

Hat tip to Tove for finding this!

Maybe a monotone nalbinding inspired motif…?

Pannkakor (Swedish Pancakes)

Sunday, January 6th, 2008


We’ve incorporated some new (to us) recipes into our meals lately and I keep meaning to share them.

This one, from Grethen’s Cookbook, is quite yummy. Great with fruit in some form or other. ;) These shown were frozen (rolled up) and then thawed in the microwave. They tasted great still! So two thumbs up for freeze-ability. :cool:

Mystery Bag of Fibery Goodness

Saturday, January 5th, 2008


Just sewed up this bag for tomorrow’s knitting group get together. You can see the side view here. The top and bottom seams are ninety degrees apart. Kinda neat!

We’re having a ‘white elephant’ type of exchange. This bag is stuffed with fibery goodness. I have to admit I’m having separation anxiety already. LOL! It was quite hard to choose which of my fiber-babies should go.  Can’t show ya the contents yet though. ;) Just in case. You never know who’s looking. :shock:

The instructions for a similar bag can be found here. This one isn’t quilted, but it is lined. It is a fun and quick bag to make. I was thinking I could make little ones to stuff with goodies as favors for Jessie’s party… maybe. Maybe not. Don’t have enough zippers. Maybe just for her gifts. Which I realized today that I’m out of fiberfill. :( I’m knitting another bunny and lamby. She asked for them specifically :grin:

I’m off too bed now. Gotta get up early and get ready. The gathering of fibery-ones is here!

Yeasted Sourdough

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008


Meet Herman!

One day in December, Bob brought home Herman. Yes, I named my sourdough starter. I figure if I’m gonna feed it and clean its “cage,” I need to name it. I am considering knitting him a frankenstein-looking cover. LOL!

Step 1: In mixer bowl combine; then mix well on the “2″ setting.

  • 1C sourdough starter
  • 1 1/2C warm water (distilled)
  • 1T honey
  • 1C bread flour
  • 2t SAF yeast

Step 2: let “sponge” for 15 - 20 minutes

Step 3: Add to mixer bowl; incorporate flour a little at a time until dough is only a bit tacky

  • 1T dough enhancer
  • 1T olive oil
  • 2t salt
  • 4 - 5 1/2C bread flour (no more!)

Step 4: Kneed on speed 2 for 6 - 8 minutes using a little more oil as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Shape into loaves or what ever you’d like and let rise for one hour or until double.

Step 5: Bake on 425 until it passes the “thump” test.

Notes:

  • Bread flour makes a huuuuuge difference!
  • Dough enhancer really does help.
  • This is not a strong sourdough taste.
  • It does not have that crunchy sourdough crust.
  • It is like a regular loaf of bread with a little bit of sourdough flavor.
  • It does not bother my skin as much as 100% commercial yeast bread.
  • It makes AWESOME pizza dough

2007 Recap

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

Following HarmonyArtMom’s lead, here’s my 2007 blog recap using the first sentence of the first post for each month of 2007:

Happy New Year

Wow! 2007 is here. Although I haven’t had much time to sit and ponder it.

Long Range Planning

All this talk about going to Estrella has got me really wanting to go.

Merrily I Scroll-Along

OK, maybe not merrily, but I’m feeling punchy.

Happy to be Home

I love going and doing things BUT when it comes time for bed, I want to be home.

Bugs and Butterflies

So, I’m up late… trying to find some neat science experiments with insects and butterflies for Sam next year and I ran across a really cool link, Dennis Kunkel Microscopy.

Not Going to Whine

Nope. Not going to dwell on a bad day today.

Company is here

My mom drove up from Oklahoma yesterday and is staying with us for the week.

Today’s Quote

“Hey mom, this math is FUN!” — Sam No, really… he said that!

Japanese Festival

The Japanese Festival in STL yesterday was so much fun.

Fall Art Kit

I purchased one of them from Hearts and Trees and we started using it today.

I’m back

Had to make an emergency run to Okieville for my sis and ended up staying for Halloween and my mum’s quickie heart surgery.

It was a Merry Christmas

Seeing my two beautiful children bubbling with Christmas cheer this morning did much to get me out of my ho-hum-glums.