The Sinister Scribe

Last night was a good practice. After the kids, Sensei worked with the adults. Which was me… aaaand 3 black belts.

I need to work on the low stances in fukyugata ichi and my turns into them. Also need to look a little more intense during presentation. I’m coming up neutral. That’s not bad, but intense is better. Intense “sells” you to the judges. I feel funny doing it that way but will do it.

Did quite a bit of sparring. Amazing what a workout that is! I don’t realize I’m even breathing a little hard until I hear “break!” I’m “boxing the ring” well and hitting targets consistently. Yay me! Wish I was more conscious of it. But in this context “just doing” is better than thinking, no?

When sparring with Sensei I feel like I”m waiting for that other-shoe-to-drop. ‘Cuz I know eventually he’s going to ramp it up and really make me work. I gotta figure out how to block and counter his hook kick! Something besides punching his backside.

Felt more comfortable in the ring. Even weathered my first “injury”… a fat lip. (no mouthpiece yet) Sam got to watch and according to him I look quite fierce even though I swear I was smiling… not fiercely… just an I’m-having-fun sort of smile. Maybe that will work to my advantage in two weeks if I can manage it there.

So, I’ve got things to work on and I’m looking forward to them.

I finally picked up a copy of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrara and it has shed some revealing light…

I’m not doing an effective job teaching Latin. :\ Or not thoroughly according to Sam’s worksheet answers. But if you have him translate the chapter in the book, he can do a pretty good job of getting the jist of it. He can certainly memorize the vocab easily enough.

So, as I type this, I am thinking it is perhaps a case of not enough practice exercises utilizing the chapter’s focus points…? There is something I can do to be more effective anyway…

Loosing my focus now. Barb, of Harmony Fine Arts fame,  had some good information on creating rubrics in her recent blog post. Mebbe that will help.

Enough of that for now. Off to make pancakes! Did you know it is Pancake day?

freewrite style…

Worked on hip rotation tonight. I don’t have it quite right. Must practice more! Sensei says it is because women hate to make their butt jiggle. LOL! I don’t think I have a problem with that because at 42… EVERYTHING JIGGLES. Seems to me that it is more my lack of balance at full power. If I really put everything into it I end up off balance. (shrug)

Sparred for the first time. Weird. Fun. But weird. Didn’t do as bad as I thought I would. Managed to land a few and not hurt my sparring partner in the process. Go me!

Feeling pretty good with Fyukugata Ichi. Did the full presentation tonight. When asked what I thought I did right, I said I remembered all the moves but Sensei had a look that seemed like he was saying I forgot something. Speaking of forgetting, I forgot to ask what that look meant. LOL! Other than that he was very complimentary. I’m so bad at taking compliments! Makes me feel like I have to do more afterward to really deserve them. Hmmm… not explaining that right. Oh well. Moving on.

Sunday is Panther Practice. Will be a two hour thing… first hour for the kids… second hour for the adults. Man! I can’t believe I’m going to do this tourney NEXT MONTH.

Feeling much better now. Karate kicked my funk all away. And with that I am going to bed so that I can get up and prepare lessons for the day. I’m hoping that if I leave them until morning I will get my lazy butt outta bed on time.

I recently came across this system on Ravelry’s Homeschooling Yarnies Forum. If you google “workbox system” you’ll find lots of links. It looks good but I’m thinking to myself, it all boils down to organization. Ugh. If I just get my ducks in a row before the day they are needed. Things will go smoother. Duh.

Previously, I’ve had most of it in HST+, the rest in my head and the supplies all over the house. Not so good when I find out that we’re out of something or something has disappeared. Also recently realized that if I’m sick, it would enable Bob to pick things up and keep going for them.

So, to that end, Jessie and Sam now have a shelf where all their work is ready and waiting for them. Sam was pretty easy since I already have most everything set up in HST+. I collected all his books, went over the assignments and printed out an assignment list. Jessie is another matter (on soooo many levels ;)). But I need to start getting her into the habits Sam has already mastered. So I’ve got a few things on her shelf to do.

Today was the first day of this revamped organization. Went really well with Sam. Not so well with Jessie. I think we were just both grumpy today. But in the end everything was done. Jessie even tried to spell her complete first name “Jessucu” was her phoenetic equivalent of Jessica. LOL! I congratulated her and figured we’ll work on the correct spelling another time.

Tomorrow is all ready to go for them both. Sam has more independent work tomorrow so maybe I can focus more on Jessie.

I think, what it all boils down to is Mom has become rather lazy. So, time to get off my duff and really dedicate myself to my work!

Wow! That went fast!

Dinner prep went great and lunches were all delicious leftovers.

Thinking of coming up with a rating system. One point/star for each of the following

1. Everyone likes it
2. minimal prep/cook time
3. Leftover/Freezer friendly
4. Cost effective
5. Will make again

I’m only going to rate the new recipes…

1. Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork roast : 5 stars…  Very yummy and easy to prepare. Made dinner and several lunches!

2. Japanese Beef bowl & rice: 5 stars … Easy peasy! I can see adding a veg to it… carrots or broccoli maybe. But oh so good! Should get an extra star for being a one bowl meal too.

3. Sesame Chicken Pasta : One star… for cost. I could see this as a good summer pot luck dish. The recipe made a HUGE amount!

4. Seoul-ful Chicken with Minted Cucumbers & Rice: 3 stars… (make again, cost, freezer) It is really only partially freezer friendly. The cucumbers wouldn’t freeze, but the chicken will.

5. Pot stickers definite 5 star! Have made several batches already. I liked the dough best when I ran it through my kitchenaid mixer but even when I didn’t it was nice. I’ve tried freezing a few before cooking to see how well they cook after thawing. We used leftover char siu pork and beef bowl meets so all I did for the filling was chop them into smaller pieces. Dough could be made ahead too.

This week has only a few mediterranean recipes and we’ve already tried one.. keftedes! Yumm!

Something new for the new year is happening at the Martin house! We ALL sat down and decided on the menu for the week ahead. OMG! I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to have that help. It was either Bob or Sam who had the idea of a weekly “theme” making it easier to look for recipes. Not every meal HAS to follow the theme though! We’ve got a couple nights of average fare for those hectic nights where we need something quick and simple.

This week’s theme is Asian cooking. All the linked recipes are new. I can’t wait to try them!

So here it is:

1. Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork roast with stir fry vegetables and rice

2. Japanese Beef bowl & rice

3. Vegetable Soup & biscuits (yes I know but not every meal HAS to follow the theme)

4. Sesame Chicken Pasta

5. Baked Potatoes & Salad

6. Seoul-ful Chicken with Minted Cucumbers & Rice

7. Pot stickers & Fried Rice

BEWARE!

 We are eagerly awaiting news on Bob Martin’s performance in the Club
Nationals Tri this morning! I spun up an ounce of alpaca while kids
had electronics time. Now trying to motivate the three of us through
morning routines while it is still morning. LOL! Maybe we’ll do some
fishing this afternoon. It rained a bit last night so maybe bite will
be on. Need to wash me and my one set of running clothes so I can get
them sweaty again today. :\ My “long” run of 4 whole miles awaits.
Oooh! I think there’s one more cup of coffee in the pot…

Posted via email from The Sinister Scribe

“They made such a cacophony, Mom. You should have heard it.” ~ Sam

Wow! Smooth sailing today. We had lunch with DH at Chipotle’s and I even got some sewing done while the kids did their Sketch Tuesday assignments and listened to Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare. Talk about multitasking!

The one thing we didn’t get to was copywork. I want to get that back into our day soon! It sure helped Sam’s handwriting legibility.

Now on to Latin followed by play time and dinner prep. Woohoo!

Pinnacles hike

Finally found the Pinnacles youth camp area to hike around. Had to come back early but it all worked out well. Sam and I played a bit of tennis. Rather we chased the ball for an hour. I am sore and he is now snoring. LOL!

Made another loaf of WF bread today. The recipe is from Gluten Free Baking. I substituted 1/2 cup of soy flour for the same amount of brown rice flour. The bread is moist but not as firm as I want. I’m hoping for somthing as firm as the Bob’s Red Mill “Wonderful” bread mix. Still, it did not collapse completely.

I am now off to plan next week’s lessons and study Latin for a bit. Will get pictures up as soon as I can from our hike today. We will be going back there!

Oh! All 3 of our monarch caterpillars are in their beautiful chrysalis stage now. They look almost too pretty to be real. Will get pictures of those too. Next year I want to plant milkweed to see if we can attract some here too!