Pinterest Sarcasm

I have seen some blogs out there in blog land that are totally devoted to showing the awful results of people's attempts at re-creating pins from Pinterest. I have no desire to make someone feel bad, even if they can't follow instructions or whatever the problem it. And I have no desire to devote an entire blog to ridiculing my beloved Pinterest. But.....I will use some Pinterest Sarcasm from time to time for actual pins I have found. So maybe I'm making fun of the person's idea or the photographer's idea or something. But not Pinterest. No way. I love Pinterest too much. Pinterest, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Oh, but I digress.

So here's a picture I saw on Pinterest.



It originally came from Better Homes and Gardens




It is supposed to be for Small-Space Dining Rooms. When you first glance at this picture it is attractive. I love the color scheme and the red flowers on the table are so cute. But...who is going to sit on that bench? I mean look at it!  With a shelf right above it you will have to have a built-in groove somewhere in the back of your head to fit over the shelf. Or you will have to bend your neck forward. Maybe the bench was meant for something else? But benches are for sitting. And they've even put pillows on it to make it more comfy. And if the bench is not for sitting, why take up space in a small-to-start-with dining area? Tell me! Can anyone tell me?

Dication for Spelling

I have decided I despise (is that too strong of a word, eh, I don't think so) traditional spelling books. Rote memorization of 20 words or more that don't necessarily follow a set of rules. What I mean by rules is this: cat, sat, mat, hat, that, etc. My oldest child has done okay with traditional spelling. My second child has not done well at all. So, guess what I discovered this past month? After using All About Spelling Levels 1 and 2.

Dictation! Yes, this is what I discovered. Samples can be found here. These are from a book called Spelling Wisdom. I am using the built-in dictation that was found--lo, and behold,--in the back of my curriculum. I started on level 1 with my second child and it is wonderful! My youngest child, age 8, is almost finished with her spelling book and is begging to do the dictation as well.

The last dictation my son did this week was this:

Snow keeps the roots warm.
Nell does not like the snow.
boots

Now, the idea behind this is to be able to write this perfectly without looking! The bold words are for the student to be aware of. They could be new or difficult or tricky. My son looked at this passage while I read it aloud. I then gave him a minute or so to look at it further. We then removed the passage from his sight and I dictated--get it? hence the name--the passage to him one line at a time. I then gave him a short short time to double check everything. Then I gave the passage back to him and he had to check it thoroughly. Capital letters matter. Periods matter. And, obviously, spelling matters. He did miss the word "Nell". He spelled it "Nel" and he also put a capital "B" on "boots".  I think these were just careless mistakes but sorry! The step now was he had to circle the mistakes on the original passage in my book. The next day, I gave him the passage to look over as I read just as the first day. This time he paid special attention to the things he missed because they were circled. Then we followed the steps just as before. Guess what? This time he didn't miss anything! If he would have missed something, he would have circled it and we would have repeated the SAME passage the next day. If everything is correct, we can move to the next passage.

What I like about it is the grammar instruction that is happening also. And the listening skills. And he is correcting everything which is a plus. The passages increase in skill level slowly and gently until they are eventually writing passages that are quite long.

Have you ever used dictation? I'd love to hear about it!

Pinterest Clean Up

Pinterest is wonderful and fantastic. I love it! But...I have over 4,000 pins. Yes, you read that right! Over 4,000. And 95 boards (plus my 3 secret boards which I will NOT tell you about!!!) But I realized that in the "newness" of Pinterest several months ago I wildly pinned almost anything and everything, thus the 4,000 plus pins.

So, I decided to clean up. Major! So far I have cleaned 4 out of my 95 (plus 3 secret)boards. I am deleting anything that just isn't me. I have to love it, or at least REALLY like it for it to remain on my boards. I am also deleting things I pinned more than once. What, you mean you never do that? I mean out of the millions of pins out there, surely I could realize I've already pinned something. Pinterest, are you listening? Please create a feature that would alert the pinner if they've already pinned the board. Pretty please? Thank you for considering this request from a pin-deranged mama!

I want to share the four boards I have cleaned up, and as I clean up more I will share those as well. But meanwhile, feel free to check out all of my boards! Just remember, they're cluttered right now.

1. Board #1 Beautiful Places I Want to See. This board features places I would love to see, as long as time and money weren't an issue. LOL. I also deleted places I know I will never see unless you hog-tie me or drug me first. That would be any place I have to cross the ocean to get to. I have a fear of flying across large bodies of water. So you won't find pins of European countries or exotic faraway islands on this board. You *will* find pins of our beautiful United States of America, yes ma'am.

2. Board #2 Homeschool. This board has neat ideas I have found concerning homeschooling. Some are teaching methods, some are scheduling methods, planners, and other creative ideas. I really don't pin a ton on here because I have pretty much found our groove and I'm not in the market for lots of new things.

3. Board #3 Tiny Thoughts with Huge Meaning. This is one of my favorite boards that I have. I feel this board really reflects who I am. The way I think. The things I've been through. The things I believe. If it's on this board, you better believe I believe it. Believe that?

4. Board #4 Decorating My Home. This board is a work in progress. In more ways than one. I'm constantly changing my ideas about decorating so this board is/could be always changing. And the actual decorating is a work in progress. Enjoy!

Feel free to follow any or all of my boards that you're interested in. Except my 3 secret boards of course. Those are mine. Don't touch!

Homeschool Musings

I love, love, LOVE to homeschool! Did I mention I love it? Well, I do! I am in the latter part of my 11th year of homeschooling. Homeschooling is all that my 3 children (almost 16, 11, and 8) know. They have never experienced bullying, teachers yelling, yucky cafeteria food, and (GASP!) a ride on the imfamous yellow school bus. Yay!

What they have experienced is learning together as a family, a teacher who will meet them where they are academically, becoming best friends with each other, three home-cooked (mostly) meals a day, and whichever and whatever field trips we plan all traveled to in our blue mini van.

I love it! But I don't just love that. I love the process of homeschooling. I love to teach. I think if I never would have married, I would have been a teacher. I actually finished 2 years of college towards that end. But then love happened and I never looked back. And God saw fit to let me be a wife, mommy, AND a teacher--of my own kiddos! Without having to finish my degree. LOL!

I also love to see the new curriculum catalogs come to my mailbox. I immediately take out the old, outdated catalog and replace it with the new. However, I have learned to fight off the "Grass-Is-Always-Greener" syndrome. I know what works for us and what doesn't work for us and why.

For example, I love the Sonlight catalog. Well, I used to love it more when it showed each and every book and had a short "blurb" about the book. It was a great reference. But I know it won't work for us. I don't agree with a lot of their book choices and we are not a lit-based learning family.

I love most of all seeing that my children are "getting" it. Not just another worksheet done or another lesson plan marked off for the year. But actually learning! That is so rewarding.

Feel free to share your thoughts about what you love about homeschooling. More homeschooling posts will be coming shortsly.

French Soup

....or is it? My paternal grandmother was French. Her maiden name was LaMarche if that tells you anything.  She made a soup called Bibette soup. We pronounce this bib-ut.  It looks French, but sure doesn't sound French. I never ate the soup she made, but she taught my mother (her daughter-in-law) how to make it. My family loves it! When my brothers are here visiting, this always shows up on the menu for "old times sake".  The soup only takes 3 ingredients plus water and isn't what I would call "healthy". But it does fill the belly.

The bread is not an ingredient. It just happened to be in the photo. The ingredients are: 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce, and 1 packet of Lipton Soup Secrets Noodle Soup.  Fill pan with 6-8 cups of water. Enough to boil the macaroni. Once it is boiling, add the macaroni and soup packet. Boil for 10 minutes or as directed on macaroni package.

 

This is what the soup looks like at this point as it is boiling. After the ten minutes are up, add the can of tomato sauce and turn the burner to low.

 

This is how the color changes after adding the sauce. Stir well! I think what really make this meal for us is the sides we serve it with.

 

 

Sharp cheddar is a must. Bibette Soup is not the same without it! Now, I'm not sure my grandmother served it with our accompaniments, or if somehow over time it kind of "evolved".

 

 

 This particular time, I had a loaf of Everything French Bread from Wal-Mart. I typicaly make homemade bread to go with it, but this worked in a pinch.

Ah! Bibette Soup with sharp cheddar and French Bread. Maybe the only thing really French about this is the bread, oui? 

Has anyone ever heard of this meal? I would love to hear from you!

Posts Following a Schedule

I've noticed as I read other blogs, that some people follow a specific schedule for their blog posts. What I mean is they might post a recipe every Monday, a money-saving tip on Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday is common, maybe a homeschool post on Thursday, etc.

I almost feel this would stifle me to have to stick to a certain routine, but as this blog is new, I'm open to suggestions. Is there a reason to follow a schedule? Or a reason not to?

Tell me!

Comfort Food

Beans and Cornbread

I don't know about you, but I love beans and cornbread! Now, I wouldn't want it everyday but there is something so wonderful about beans simmering on the stove. We went to a mountain man reenactment for a homeschool field trip and a lady there was cooking beans in a cast iron pot. Over a real fire. It smelled so good so she graciously offered to show us and tell us how she did them. She had added chopped onions, bell peppers, celery and jalapenos to hers. I still have a dream of cooking beans like that in my back yard. The problem is, I don't have a cast iron pot. I have asked Hubby for one for my birthday. We'll see.....

This recipe/method of cooking beans is nowhere as rustic as that lady's. I will share the way I learned from my mom and how I still do beans now.

On this particular day, I used a 1 lb. bag of dry pinto beans. I really like to do 2 lb. so I can have plenty of leftovers to freeze for chili, taco salad, or any other foods that have pinto beans in them. I typically soak the beans overnight, but I didn't realize until Wednesday morning that I was going to make beans. I picked them over and rinsed them, then I put them in a pan to soak that morning.

After soaking for about 4 hours, it was time to start cooking them. Now, I have read that you're supposed to pour the soak water off and start with fresh water but I never do that. I'm not sure the reason for doing that.

I buy a lot of my spices in these containers at Sam's. I would typically put one whole chopped onion in the pan, but I was out of onions. I shook out maybe 3-4 tablespoons of dried minced onion into the pan instead. I also shook in some garlic powder.

I also put 2 chicken bullion cubes into the pan.

This is how the pot of beans looked after I added the seasonings. Make sure the beans always have plenty of water; they will cook down.

 

Simmer the beans for 2-3 hours. Not a boil, but definitely a good simmer. These are the finished product below.

 

 

Now for my gourmet, hard to make cornbread. Ready????????

 

 

I do have a homemade cornbread recipe I love to use, but this isn't it. Maybe I'll post about it another time. It's so inexpensive and all you do is follow the instructions.

 

Mix it all up. There's a reason why it's called Jiffy!

 

 

I don't have a picture of the finished product, but it's yummy good. By the way, I don't bake it in muffins either. I use an 8x8 cake pan. I love to put a big hunk 'o cornbread in a bowl, and then ladle the beans and plenty of juice right over the top. Mm---mmmm....

 

I did have some left so I put them in the freezer, but it's not enough for an entire meal for any reason.

 

No Sugar!

Sugar-Free?!? 

So, I have been almost completely sugar-free since March 1st. I have been a heavy, heavy sweet-tea drinker--anyone else out there relate to that? In fact, I drank so much tea that I NEVER drank water anymore. I kind of justified it by thinking tea is made from water, right? I decided to get off the sweet tea and most other sugar. And no sugar substitutes--they are poison in my mind! But then again, isn't sugar?

I was smart enough not to get off "cold-turkey" because I knew I would have caffeine withdrawal headaches. I gradually started diluting my tea more and more with water until it was ALL water. I really really miss it in some ways but I feel so good about it in other ways.

I used to also drink Dr. Pepper at restaurants and I've been able to skip that too. Yay for me!

I have had pancakes with syrup twice. What do you substitute for syrup? Does real maple syrup count as "sugar"? (I'd love to hear from you!)

Has anyone else ditched the sugar? Leave me a comment about how it went for you.

Bear With Me......

New Blog!

I'm starting a new blog, which I have wanted to do for sometime. I had another blog but it was through another server and they decided to change everything just as I was getting it figured out. So I gave up! I checked it out and my last post was over 3 years ago. Wow! Time flies!

I live in a rural "small-town" in mid-America and love it. We used to live in a large city and moved for reasons I may post about in a separate post.

I have 3 children and have been married to the same man, my best friend, for over 18 years. I am close to the end of my 11th year of homeschooling.

I love to cook (but not to bake) and I'm learning to garden. I do some cross-stitching when I think about it. LOL!

I have 3 cats, the oldest of which gives us a new litter of kittens twice a year. Thus the two extra cats. Kittens we never could get rid of!

I play the piano, alto saxophone, and clarinet and sing. I love to READ!!!! My favorite hobby ever.