Boredom, Blahs and Our Schoolroom

What a combination huh?

I am finding myself in that slump again. I think it's those dreaded winter blah's and all this snow.

It's not like I'm bored. I have many things to do.

If you remember I am working on a quilt, an afghan and a stitchery as well as being in the middle of a good book that I've been reading~ and those are just my hobbies.

Don't forget the everyday things like homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, laundry and all those other lovely chores that we have.

So what is my problem?

I think my problem is that I am so ready for spring.

I've got that itch to start my spring cleaning which I don't really have the time for till school is over with but I've got that urge to rip everything out of closets and off of shelves, clean and reorganize it all. I would love, love, love to get outside and go for a walk everyday or even take a bike ride. However, as you can see from the photo above that spring is no where near us yet.

Boo-hoo, boo-hoo!

Oh well, I have no control over the weather so I might as well suck it up and get back to the things that I can do. I intend to work more on my quilt this weekend and I'll try to remember to take a picture so that I can show you how it's coming along.

Now, here is how the schoolroom fits into this post.

I stopped by The Country Blossom this morning to see what Katy and the kids were up to and she had posted about her schoolroom.

She homeschools her children as well and had recently reorganized her classroom. (She must have a little SpRiNg FeVeR too.) Anyways, she asked to see what other homeschooler's classrooms look like so I snapped a few picture of ours to show and share with everyone!

I must say though, that we do not really use just one room for our classroom. One day we may find ourselves downstairs at the school desk and the next we may be at the kitchen table or even outside. We also have those days that one child works in one area and the other works elsewhere. I find that if I mix it up a little bit the kids enjoy it more and seem to be more open-minded and IN to whatever lesson they are learning. Especially if it is not a favorite subject of theirs.

Now for the tour.

This first one is a partial of our downstairs. It's kind of like two big open rooms that are connected yet seperated if that makes any sense. This is where most of our schooling takes place.

The kids have this old school desk. The top flip opens to a place where they can store their textbooks.

Our computers are also located downstairs so here I am working at my desk.

These bookshelves once held all my country accents and knick-knacks but now they are used to hold a good many of our schoolbooks. It's a little messy at the moment! (Remember that Spring Fever cleaning thing I talked about.)

Now if you will come on upstairs with me to the kitchen I will show you where the rest of school takes place.

Right here at the kitchen table! This is where the kids do many of their craft projects. Gage is working on tissue paper art in this photo.

The other subject that we do upstairs at the kitchen table is Math. We have a large chalkboard hanging on the wall behind the table that makes a great place to teach math problems. The kids love it when I ask them to go to the board to do a problem. Again, it's all in the approach. I find that the more interesting and fun I can make a topic the more they learn from the lesson.

Well that's all for our mini-tour. I'm off to put next weeks school lessons together so that I can relax and enjoy my weekend. My snowy weekend full of stitching, I hope!

Hope you all enjoy yours!

A Sour Start with a Picky Eater

I have been on a mission lately.

A mission to get my youngest son to try more foods.

You see, I believe he may just be the world's pickiest eater!

He has it in his head before he even tastes anything that he's not going to like it. So he just simply sticks to his old standby's and rarely ever samples anything different. This is sooooo frustrating for me. I don't like every food that I may try but I will at least try it.

Wait! I take that back. I do NOT like seafood and WILL NOT eat it! (I've never had shrimp and I don't ever intend too!)

Ok, now that I have said that I feel bad. I blame my son's picky eating behaviors on my husband, who by the way is known as the world's 2nd most picky eater.

However, here I am saying that I will NOT try seafood. (Shame on me!)

I guess now I need to take a little blame, however seafood is about the only thing that I can think of that I am not willing to try.

Anyways , back to my story....

My mission started out with teaching him to read food labels. We had already studied this in Health class but obviously he needed a refresher course. I didn't make the fat and calories be the big issue though. Instead I tried to show him how healthy an item was by looking at how much fiber, iron and vitamins it was going to supply his body with.

We started by looking at breakfast foods. He loves the sugary cereals but he also loves Coco Wheats. So I showed him how much more "good stuff" he was getting by eating the CoCo Wheats instead of the stuff in the sugar boxes. We continued comparing throughout the day with each meal and then the next day we went to the store where he searched the shelves and read the labels. We ended up leaving with a few "new" items for him to try.

The oddest thing that he picked out was grapefruit!

Who would have guessed?

I like grapefruit but I would have never imagined him picking it out as a new favorite.

He tried it first cold with a little salt sprinkled on it and then I told him how my Mom & Dad used to broil grapefruit and that I thought it was pretty good that way too!

Needless to say we are on our second bag of grapefruit and he now prefers it broiled with just a bit of brown sugar sprinkled on top.

Not what I expected but it's a step in the right direction.

I just hope he continues with a more open-minded approach to eating new things.

Anyone else out there have a picky eater?

If so, do you have any tips or tricks up your sleeves?

Bisquick Pudding

Have you ever heard of Bisquick Pudding????

I had never heard of it before meeting my husband but it is a childhood favorite of his.

As I was going through some of my recipes the other day I happened to run across his mother's recipe. Now I say it's his mother's but I'm sure that it is an old recipe from Bisquick. I tried to search the Bisquick website to see if I could find it but the site was down this morning.

I made a batch of it yesterday to have something chocolatey on hand for after dinner.

*My husband thinks he NEEDS chocolate after dinner each night!*

Before he even took I bite I explained to him that I of course knew it would never taste as good as his mother's did because NOTHING ever tastes as good as his mother's! :0)

I think it has something to do with all the salt and real butter that she insisted on using in every recipe.

Anyways, it was a big hit with everyone. My kids had never eaten it before so they were a little hesitant when they saw the Bisquick box sitting there with a big bowl of pudding right next to it.

As usual I told them, "Don't knock it till you try it!"

They tried it and were glad that they did.

I quadrupled the recipe which gave me 2 bowls like the one pictured above. Enough for us to enjoy for one more night.

Bisquick Pudding

1/2 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup cocoa

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cup milk

Place dry ingredients in a pan.

Whisk together well till all lumps are gone.

Add liquid.

You can add tapioca if you wish. ( I didn't)

Cook and stir till thickened.

Pour into a bowl and let cool a bit.

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of pudding and place bowl in refrigerator.

ENJOY!

**There is no cooking time on my mother-in-law's recipe and I forgot to keep track of time yesterday but my guesstimate is that the total cook time was about 15-20 minutes on medium heat. This will get thick as it cooks, just keep stirring it until you get the desired consistency.**

Easy Crockpot Potato Soup

Everyone is back to school this week on a normal schedule..YEAH!!!!

But now we are trying to catch up on missed school work so we are busy, busy busy.

So I thought I'd just post a real quick recipe today and also let you all know that I'm gearing up for a giveaway soon. My birthday is quickly approaching so I thought about doing a birthday giveaway in celebration of it. I'm trying to get the last item made up for it and then I'll post it. Till then I'll keep you all in suspense. *wink wink*

So here's the soup recipe. It's a quick and easy one to throw together on a busy day.

Crockpot Hashbrown Potato Soup

1 1/2 lbs. frozen shredded hash browns

32 oz. can of chicken broth

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. dried parsley

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups milk

Spray crockpot well with cooking spray.

Place chicken broth, potatoes, salt, pepper & parsley in crockpot.

Cover & cook on high 4 hours or until potatoes are soft.

Add milk & cheese to soup. Blend well.

Cover & cook on high until cheese melts and soup is hot.

Enjoy!

You could also add other veggies to this like carrots and celery!

Long Winter Evenings

Since these winter evenings don't seem to be getting any shorter I have found myself spending more time in front of the TV. I have been heading to the couch or to bed in the evenings with a stitchery or crochet project in my lap. While working away I have been watching and re-watching some of my favorite movies.
I am a definite hopeless romantic when it comes to books and movies and I love, love, love historicals set back in time.
My all-time favorite movie is the "Love Comes Softly" series from the Hallmark Channel which will be airing all day on Saturday the 27th.

These movies are based on the "Love Comes Softly" novels written by Janette Oke.
They are set back in time and tell a story of the trials and tribulations of a family as they venture westward and how their faith in God guides them through the good and bad that each day brings. If you love historical romances then chances are you will love these.

Over the years my husband has bought me the series on DVD and I watch them over and over again.

Other favorite movies of mine include:

Northern Lights (Based on the Nora Roberts Book)
Hope Floats, Catch & Release, Horse Whisperer, Songcatcher, Flicka and The Notebook.
I love to read historical romances as well and my favorite authors include Carolyn Davidson and Cheryl St. John.

Now if you gals don't mind me asking,

How have you been spending your winter evening and if it's with a book or TV then what are some of your favorites when it comes to titles and authors?

Only 350 More to Go...

before I can sit down and start sewing them all together to make my quilt.

I have all the colored blocks cut and ready to go but I had to find some more fabric to fill in the background or white spots on my pattern.

After getting so frustrated with the last pattern I decided to just sew simple squares.

I didn't want to just sew them in any random order because I have already done that many times before. I looked through patterns and didn't see anything that sparked me so I decided to just draw my own.

I laid in bed one evening before drifting off to sleep and sketched this pattern on graph paper. Once I had the correct size I began coloring in the squares. I can't wait to get started on it. I'm still undecided as to whether to hand-stitch the whole thing or use the sewing machine.

The sewing machine would be much quicker but with homeschooling I don't really have the free time through the day to work on it and I never get my machine out during the evening. That time is usually spent downstairs with the rest of the family.

So we will just have to see which comes first....opportunity to work through the day or a boring evening with time to sit and stitch.

Schools are finally open today for the first time since Feb. 4th.( on a 2 hr. delay though) I'm sure it will be more of a wasted day since it's a short day plus it's a Friday. I guess it's a day though that they can say that they WERE there even if they don't learn much. :(

Maybe they will finish up old lessons and tests from several weeks ago, although my guess is that the kids will be a bit rusty after all this time off.

They are calling for more snow on Monday so I'll be curious to see if they have school or we start this whole SNOW day thing all over again. I hope not!

This has been such a different winter for us with all this continuous snow and cold temperatures.

Good news though, yesterday some of the ice and snow on the rooftops began to melt which is wonderful because so many people are having trouble with leaks stemming from all of this ice build-up.

Well we're off to the Library for a bit.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend and I''ll be back later to catch up with all of you!

Starting Over & a Stitchery Pattern Link

Remember a week or so ago I posted about beginning a new quilt.

Well I began!

I cut out the pieces for 1 block . (Each block is made up of 4 smaller blocks.)

I sewed the small blocks together by hand and then layed them out to stitch together to make 1 big block.

But wait...

The pattern doesn't look like it should. I had two colors that were backwards. The red and beige needed reversed. (Yet I followed the directions and the pattern.)

I ripped the stitches out and then sewed them together again.

Looks good but when I lay it down and look at the original pattern it is still not right.

Do you ever get so excited about doing a project only to be frustrated by mistakes?

Well that is where I was at after ripping the stitches out not once, but twice and it still didn't match.

So to make myself feel better I simply threw the blocks in the garbage.

Ahhh....that felt better.

Now I still have 6 yards of fabric that I really wanted to make something with so I decided to draw up my own quilt pattern. Just a plain and simple square pattern that I should be able to sew with no problems. I'll take a picture and share it with you tomorrow.

Now on to the stitchery link!

I found this new site (or shall I say it's new to ME!) over the weekend while I was sorting through my patterns. It's called The Noble Wife and she has several cute freebie patterns as well as patterns you can purchase for wool pins, quilts and more. Be sure to check her out.

Snow Woes

It is STILL snowing here!

The kids are STILL home from school.

The last day that our county had school was on February 4th.

All together (including weekends) they have been home for 13 days straight and they are loving every minute of it.

Now, it's not like we aren't used to winter weather. We have snow every winter but this year has been different. We usually have snowfall followed by a brief warm-up that melts all the snow away. This year we have had snow, snow and more snow and I couldn't tell you when the last day was that we had temperatures above freezing. Not to mention the fact that I am beginning to forget what sunshine even looks like.

On the ground, the snowpiles are mounding up and everyone is starting to wonder where we are going to put the next round of snowfall.

This is just our little snow pile in front of our house from where we have been shoveling the sidewalks. It's miniature compared to some of the snowpiles on the city streets and parking lots.

If you look up all you will see are icicles dangling from the gutters.

All the gutters and downspouts are full to the brim and frozen so any melting snow from the rooftops just spill over the gutter edges and down the sides of the houses.

Or in our case, that water finds any ol' open crack or crevice to enter through and then leaks down our wall. :(

We have lived here for nine years and have never had a problem with the roof.

I don't really think we would have this problem now if it wasn't for all the ice build-up.

Till it all thaws out though, there isn't really much that we can do other than to try to keep the snow shoveled off of that part of the roof.

I'm just glad it's not in one of the rooms that we have already remodeled. This room (our laundry) is still on our to-do list so we'll fix it up down the road.

The next weather woe will be when all this melts. If we get a fast warm-up and/or rain then all of the local creeks as well as the Ohio River will surely rise. The best we can hope for would be a gradual warm-up and a slow snow melt. I guess we will just have to wait and see and keep our fingers crossed.

Organization and a Little Credit

I spent much of the weekend sorting through all of my stitchery patterns in an attempt to get them all organized. There are many free patterns available for the taking right here on the internet. The problem is that many of these patterns don't have the artist's signature on them. So when I go to show you all a finished item that I have made I have no idea of who to give credit to for the pattern.

This is a problem that I should have taken care of as soon as I saved them to my computer but just never thought of it. I just clicked to save! I should have renamed it right there and then so that I would have known whose it was.

Problem solved!

I began with my lil' notebook of favorites that I keep near the computer. It's kinda like an address book only it contains web addresses instead of street addresses. :0)

I searched each website till I found the proper owner of each pattern. I printed copies of my favorite patterns and wrote the website down that it came from. I now have a copy on disk as well as a 3 ring binder full of wonderful freebie patterns that I can leaf through till I find that one pattern that pops out at me. I can remove it and trace it on to my fabric and then place the pattern back in the binder for future use and I now know who each pattern came from which is important because every artist that creates and shares with us deserves the credit!

My Valentine

I received this thoughtful and loving card from my husband this morning as well as a box of chocolates. I immediately found humor in it because it is just perfect. It speaks volumes of truth.

How many of you gals out there can identify?

Funny???

Well that would depend on my mood at the time.

However, the kind and sweet words that he wrote on the inside made up for it all.

All in all it was a nice Valentine's Day.

A box of chocolates and out for dinner.

Couldn't ask for any better gift than the gift of not having to cook and do dishes.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

He's growing up too quick!

Fourteen years ago....

On a cold and snowy morning much like today.

I was up bright and early packing a lunch for my husband who was at the time working on a drilling rig about two hours away from our home.

About 10 minutes after he left I began to feel the first signs of labor.

I quickly called my girlfriend who happened to be the wife of my husband's boss.

I knew that she too would be up since both of our husband's traveled together to get to the rig.

I told her how I was feeling and that I just wasn't sure ~ I didn't want to go to the hospital until I was sure it was the real thing. I also didn't want to call my husband home from work for a false alarm.

But by the end of our conversation we had decided that she would get hold of her husband and have him send Mark back.

Good thing he did!

We headed to the hospital in Elkins, WV.

The roads were snow covered and icy and I was never so glad to be at a hospital.

Not because I was in pain, but because we were off of the icy roads~ safe and sound.

(I had visions of being stranded on the side of a snowy road while in labor.)

About seven hours later we had a healthy baby boy in our arms.

He was the smallest of our three children but oh how things have changed.

He now towers over me at 5' 7". ( I'm only 5' 2" .)

He has gone from the wee one in my arms to a strong boy (with a very big heart) who will be a man before I know it. *Time flies by so quickly!*

I know that driver's license, girlfriends, first jobs and much more are on the horizon.

I just hope that those years don't pass by as quickly as these first fourteen have.

Happy 14th Birthday Logan!

Love, Mom

Blueberry Muffins Without All the Sugar

I still have several bags of fresh berries that I had froze this past summer so the other morning I thought I would mix up some muffins for breakfast. I chose blueberries~my all time favorite for muffins.

I didn't use any sugar in the batter but I did top them with a bit of brown sugar. I got mixed reactions from the kids. Some liked them and some thought that they needed more sugar.

I ate mine with some good ol' butter spread over them and thought they were tasty. They weren't as sweet as store-bought but definitely healthier.

Blueberry Muffins Without All the Sugar

3 cups white flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 tbsp. milled flax seed

4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup oil

2 cups berries

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix flour, wheat germ, flax seed, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk & oil.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients.

Fold in berries.

Spoon batter into muffin tins.

Combine brown sugar & cinnamon and sprinkle on muffin tops.

Bake 20 minutes at 400°.

Enjoy!

SNOW DAY #4

Today is the fourth day of schools being cancelled due to weather and the kids are loving it.

These pictures were all taken yesterday afternoon during a pretty big burst of snow. It put down a couple more inches in a very short time then seemed to slow down. We got just a dusting overnight here in town but who knows how much the hilltops received. Our schools seem to be canceled often for just small amounts of snow but we are a little town along the Ohio River that is surrounded by hills. There are times that we have little snow here in town but the surrounding hilltop roads are treacherous so they end up canceling for that reason.

The kids have spent a good bit of time outdoors building snow forts and having snowball battles.

When they get so cold that they begin to turn into icicles then they all head indoors to shed their coveralls and get warmed up with some hot chocolate.

They just came back inside from round one today so I'm heading to the kitchen to make lunch then I think I'll relax on the couch and sew on my quilt pieces. I'm also going to dig out some fabric for Katie and try teaching her how to sew. She's 6 so I think she should be able to sew a simple little pillow if I can keep her interest in it. We shall see.

Stay warm and I'll catch up with you all later!

Honey Glazed Carrots

Just a quick recipe to share today and then I'm off to work on my quilt for the day. Schools have been cancelled again due to the forecast of another 5-10" of the white stuff. So for me, it's a day off from teaching and I hope to make the most of it.

Honey Glazed Carrots

12 carrots

1/4 cup butter

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. honey

2 tbsp. water

parsley

Clean carrots and cut into 3 inch pieces.

Cook carrots in water till tender.

Drain and place in a bowl.

In a saucepan, melt butter, brown sugar, honey and water.

Stir until well combined.

Add carrots & let simmer on low.

Turn carrots so that glaze coats all sides.

Remove from pan and sprinkle with parsley.

Our Winter Wonderland

Brrr...It's cold and snowy out there!

We only got about 5 inches here in town but the surrounding hilltops got anywhere from a foot to a foot and a half of snow and it is so pretty to look at.

Saturday morning we got up and began shoveling and plowing. It was a HEAVY wet snow with almost an inch of a wet slush/ice combo on the bottom. Once we got everything cleared off we headed inside where I have pretty much stayed since.

Did I mention that it's really cold out there?

I did venture out to the store and to get my hair permed but that was about it. My hopes of enjoying the weekend while sewing did not happen. I did change my blog around a bit. You'll notice that my header is HUGE. I have tried all weekend to make it smaller but have failed each time so I have given up. The way it is will have to do for now or until I find something else that I like better. My husband thinks I'm nuts for putting spring up so early but I told him I need some sunshine and brightness.

I may have no control of the weather outside but I do have control of my blog weather and it's gonna be sunny and warm for quite some time. :0)

Schools were cancelled today so I'm planning on using the day to work on cutting out my quilt pieces.

It's also my Dad's 57th birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!) today so I will be cooking a dinner for us all to have as we gather for a birthday party later this evening.

I better get off here. If I don't then my day will be gone with nothing accomplished.

Stay toasty & warm!

Ready for the Snow!

More snow is on the way...so they say!

They are calling for 4-8 inches of the white stuff to fall here in our neck of the woods this weekend. We've missed the last few rounds of storms as they track just below or just above where we live. Our local forcasters seem pretty certain that this one is going to hit us though. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

The kids are all geared up thinking of the sled rides and snow forts in the near future but I on the other hand am steering towards a little quiet time with needle and thread in my hands.

I headed over to Joanns Fabric last night to purchase some new fabrics & more Warm & Natural. I couldn't believe how much they had reduced their inventory. It's been a good while since my last trip but this time they had lots less fabrics, scrapbook supplies and flowers to choose from. Panic sets in when I think of the possibility of that store ever closing. It is the only *big* fabric store around here. We do have a few smaller shops nearby that I love to go in and occasionally buy from but I can't afford fabrics very often at $9.00 a yard. I sure wish I could because they are lovely but my wallet and conscience just won't allow it.

I did finish up my Valentine stitchery but I'm still undecided on how to finish it out. At first I was thinking a picture of some sort or maybe a little pillow but now I'm thinking of doing my own BOM quilt using a favorite pattern that ties into each month. Jan.- snowmen, Feb.- Valentine, etc.

As for the new fabrics that I purchased last night, well here is what I would like to do with them.

I found this free pattern over at The Quilter's Cache. They have tons to choose from. I had three that I really liked but this one won me over. I've got all my fabrics in the wash now and as soon as they are done I can get started. I'm thinking of doing this one all by hand. I have made quilts both ways~ by machine and by hand and I think there is no comparison. The ones that I have stitched by hand have held up so much better than the ones machine stitched plus they just have more meaning.

Handmade spells LOVE to me!

Well I better get a moving. I still have lots to do today. I'm trying to get all my chores done so I can just sit back & relax over the weekend and watch the snow fall as I sew.