I shouldn't have even looked!

Has it really been since May since I posted last?  I'm sorry!  But here is something blog-worthy to break the long dry spell.  Its typical for me.

I drink day old coffee.  Yes, yes, some will say its so gauche, or gross or what have you, but I don't mind ~ I usually mix it with new coffee to heat it back up so I can drink it right away. 

Ever have that niggling feeling that, "I should...." but then ignore it? 
Don't ignore it.

Last night I poured the last of yesterday's coffee into a coffee cup and left it on the stove, refilled the stove top percolator and set it on the burner and went to bed.

This morning I turned on the burner, perked the coffee and, when it was finished, topped it off with the fresh coffee.

I just finished drinking it and, reaching the bottom, felt something against my lip.

It wasn't coffee grounds.

It was an EARWIG!!

GROSS, GROSS, GROSS!! 

Someone I know who reads this will be ESPECIALLY GROSSED out. 

Don't remember what an earwig looks like?

GIA

A quick testimony of how God is at work in my life:

Homeschool moms can relate to the stress related to choosing a curriculum that will suit their children, their schedule, their teaching style.  It might only be a minor stressor, but the decision is an  important one.  My friend Kay, after providing a recommendation for a curriculum she enjoys with her children, admonished me to "first, pray and allow God to show you His plan."  What great advice! 
Sometimes, regarding school curriculums or any other decision, large or small, I forget to "pray first and seek God's will."  I don't think I'm being willfull or rebellious, but rather not thinking or not allowing the habit to develop in my life.
I took Kay's advice, and prayed over curriculum choices.  I thought I had the answers on most of them, but Math was a sticky wicket (a timely phrase!).  I want to change from our present curriculum series to another, more rigorous one.  I'd made a decision, but since math is not my strong suit and I want Hannah to have the best possible foundation in the subject, I was a little unsure.
Week before last we went saleing.  YARD sale-ing, that is.  I found a "Hooked on Math" box for $1 over on Douthat Road.  I was excited only because of the name.  I figured it was a sister program to "Hooked on Phonics."  Not that I know anything about the program, but it was marketing, baby, pure marketing, that sold me.
When we got home, I saw that it was missing much of the contents.  Oh, well, for a dollar, what did I expect?  I put it aside.
I revisited a couple math curriculum websites and tentatively made a switch.  I gave Hannah a pretest in the program and saw where she should begin.  Even though she passed the pretest, however, she wasn't strong in the basic skills.  I would put her where she would be according to her testing level, but I was a little unsure because the program stresses that the student be strong and proficient in each previous level before advancing.  This is the key to success in this particular program, as it is designed slightly differently than other approaches.
Cleaning off our homeschool bookcase, I opened the Hooked on Math box to see if I could toss the bulky box and keep the insides.  Upon closer inspection.....
(and this is the whole point of the post, GIA - GOD IN ACTION)
I saw that what was included in this program -
what was not discarded by the previous owner -
was the BASIC reviews of the first level of the new math program I'd tentatively selected for next trimester!!
In other words, it is the review, the preparation, the foundation for Hannah's math program that she'll begin in the fall!
Now, is that a "GOD THING" (I dislike that phrase, but it fits!), or WHAT?!
It is exactly what we need to prep her for this new curriculum.  The flash cards, the prompts, the games, etc., ALL of it is what I need to develop her confidence for our next roud of math!
And I'm giving God the Praise for it!

Blooming where you're planted

How can God use me, a stay-at-home-mom with a limited social circle and interaction with strangers?  In the grocery store, in lines at the pharmacy and over a couple racks of heirloom tomatoes at the local market:
After a conversation of how good that first summer tomato sandwich will taste, how Jackson River Road used to be called Cedar Creek and on why he chooses yellow 'maters over red, and "would you guess that I'll be 80 years old next month?" I asked him bluntly - 'where will you go when you die?'
Yup.  I threw it out there and didn't even flush.  I said it like the "how to witness" books tell you to, how the Sunday School lessons suggest, how I've heard of others doing it.
"In the ground, I guess."
'No, you know what I'm talking about, after y- - - '
"I don't believe in any of that mess.  Now, look, I can go through that Bible and show you where its wrong and there's nothing in it ~ for starters (holding up a bony finger), how can ONE being, ONE thing create all of this (waving his hand over the tomato patch and at the mountain behind us) in six days?  What about the fish in the ocean?  And the universe, too?  There's just no way that ~ why, we've even PROVED it that dinosaurs was here for millions of years and the Bible expects us to believe the earth is only 7,000 years old?  And people coming back from the dead after all that ~ they's just no way they was dead in the first place...now, I was baptized way back in the, the, I was born in '31, ya know; I was baptized and I used to believe all that but then I got to thinkin' how there was just no way the Bible could be true, what they tell you young people, its all wrong...."
"You've obviously given this a lot of thought, but see hear those two kids squallin in the car over there?  They're mine, and I'll have to get them home.  I'd been wondering if I'd be seeing you in eternity."
"There's no such thing.  When I go in the ground I'm staying there.  Now, I can see I"m making you mad with all this, but you just have got to know that you're wrong about all this.  There's no such thing as all that, you'll find that out for yourself one day ~ that Bible is, well, its just all wrong you know..."
"I'm not mad at all, in fact I am feeling pretty good right now, but my girls are getting louder, can't you hear them?"
"I know I made you mad, I make a lotta folks mad about this, but I know I'm right about it, you're mad..."
"No sir, I just have to get my girls home.  I don't get mad!  If anything I feel sorry for you because I know what I believe and I wish you the best yourself, have a nice day!"
"Waaal, I knowed I made you mad..."

I wasn't mad.  I was praying!

Recipe: Rice and Beans with Andouille Sausage

This was such a great put-together recipe that I wanted to share it with you.  Its another one of those recipes for which the ingredients are pretty standard pantry fare, except for the sausage ~ but if you find it on sale, you'll have a healthy and delicious supper in no time.  My girls loved it, although Hannah didn't eat the sausage, and Abigail didn't eat the beans.  Go figure.  The flavors all blend together very nicely.  You could also substitute chicken for the sausage, but the little bit of 'kick' provided by the spicy anduille sausage would be lost.  In that case, add a 1/2 a cup of salsa OR some adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chiles.

Beans & Sausage

2 links of andouille sausage (or chorizo... the andouille links were about as long as my hand)
1 cup frozen (or 1 can) corn
1-2 cups rehydrated black beans (or 1 can, rinsed well)
1 small can (8 oz) tomato sauce
(optional: 1 small onion)

(If onion is used, saute in canola oil first unitl soft, remove from pan and proceed. )  Cut sausage into 'coins' then into quarters.  Cook in skillet over medium heat until cooked through and it begins to brown or crisp on the sides.  Add corn, beans and tomato sauce.  Fill tomato sauce can with water and add it to the mixture.  Cook rice separately and serve under beans and sausage mixture. 

Let me know if you make it and how it went over with your family!

Spring Beauties

Happy Easter! 



AAAAAAAAlleluia!



DaddyO and little ladies on the church lawn

 A birthday present for another spring beauty....

Sundress with matching hair clips

And....
Oh, wait...how'd that get in there?!
(Abigail in costume for live crucifixion scene at church)

I can't stop sewing!

(This post is for Carol Ann and Loretta :)

I've been sewing lately and have really been enjoying it!  Mostly I sit at my machine in the evenings after the girls go to bed ~ its great for insomnia, because the concentration needed makes me tired after a shorter while than would just laying in bed lamenting my lack of sleep. 

My style of sewing (and life?) is pattern-less.  Last night I worked for 2 hours on a pattern for an Easter dress for Hannah, and fully half of that time was spent ripping out seams where I'd sewed them incorrectly.  I finally gave up when I got to the point where she'd have to try it on so I could make some adjustments.  When I slipped the bodice over her head in the morning, she could hardly breathe it was so tight across her chest.  I'm going to pitch it. 

Below are examples of the "patternless" sewing I enjoy.  The easiest is the skirt-to-t-shirt sewing technique that is described in a couple places on the Internet: http://www.kids-sewing-projects.com/shirt-into-a-dress.html and  http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/patriotic-apparel.asp (good crafts, modest dressing, theology - notsomuch). 

The other is the peasant-dress, which is also found on the Internet: http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/11/long-sleeve-peasant-dress-tutorial.html

I made this one to use the last of some 'ballerina' fabric I had that Abbo liked, and I trimmed it out with purple polkadots.

This dress is also super-easy and fun to make.  I added a ruffle on the bottom with a cool new sewing tool I bought - paid for with "survey money" that I earned from doing surveys online! - it attaches to where my presser foot would go on my machine and gathers in one of three styles as I sew. 

Here is a dress I made for Abbo last year - I 'invented' it myself.  Its basically an elastic skirt pattern but instead of putting the elastic at the top of the 'waist tube,' I sewed a tube lower for the elastic to go in, giving it a ruffle along the top edge.  I also used a wide elastic.

I crisscrossed the straps to avoid them falling down.  To make the straps, I just eyeballed the length and placement. 

Miss Sassypants walking away from her modeling session - I made this dress last year so its getting a little short.  I'll make another one later. 

And, inspired by Loretta (!), I also made a potholder out of some scraps of calico and an old pair of blue jeans I had in my fabric stash!

Now, its off to work -again- on those Easter dresses.  More pictures to come!

Garden Party

A garden party where NO ONE is invited.  In fact, stay completely away from the area!

Why?  Because of the VIPs....or is it - VIMs.....


Well, hello there!  Always nice to have you!

And its ever-so-nice to see you, too!  I've waited an entire YEAR for your visit!

Why, yes!  Do, DO come and stay for awhile!

Yes, the morels are back.  And they paid us a visit in our own back yard!  So I carefully arranged the chairs and table to protect them from any stray children - and, hopefully it will work - deer/turkeys/bear...

The rest of the guests? 

Um...well...well, they're enjoying the entertainment that accompanies a heavy rainfall.