WOW!  I guess it's been awhile since I have blogged.  I have been reading blogs & other websites but haven't posted anything on my own.

I have been working on modifying our school curriculum.  I have been using the Weaver for a few years now but the only thing that I don't like about it is when you use the Day by Day.  It has a schedule to use for each day of the week and at the top of each page you are to put the date of that specific day.  That makes it hard because we have already missed 2 days of the scheduled days.  One day Katie was sick and then the second day we went to the fair.  So that leaves you all mess up and behind.  So I have decided to make up my own curriculum using various resources.  What works for us!  I read Laine's advice about how she runs her homeschooling.  She said that she started off with a curriculum but after homeschooling for a few years she now makes up her own using books that she knows will interest her children.  She said that homeschooling is like using a recipe.  At first you need that recipe to make sure that you are doing it properly but after you've made the recipe a bunch of times you don't need it as much because you've had practice.  So that's how I'm doing it now.  Everything that I done from taking her advice has worked out beautifully so why wouldn't her homeschooling advice?

Last week our town had our annual fair.  After doing a few subjects in school, we went up to the 4-H grounds to see all the animals.  We were up there for about 1 1/2 hours.  We came home and ate some lunch and then we went the "big city" to the mall.  UGH!  I haven't been to "THE MALL" in about 10 years.  I really try to stay away from there.  Just going in there makes one discontented with their own things!  But...my youngest needed some shoes ( she didn't like any at Walmart!) and I needed to find a globe for school so to the mall we went.  First we went to Payless Shoes.  I really shouldn't go to a shoe store!  We found one pair of shoes for my youngest DD and then....I found 3 pair that I liked!  EEK!!  Yes, I did buy them!  I just couldn't help myself!  I really needed them!  ::giggle::  After that we went to a few other shoe stores but DD#2 didn't find any that she liked.  The girls insisted that they take me up to Bath & Body Works because there is this awesome hand scrub that I needed to try!  I had a headache by the time we were done in there from all the different smells!  Now to find a globe!  We went to Barnes & Noble and found a globe there.  YAHOO!!  Then off to Sears to find tennis shoes for DD#2.  FINALLY we found some that she liked!  Everyone in the mall wants to put lotion on you!!!  We were walking around and this guy starts talking to my girls so of course I step in front of them because I don't know what he is doing.  He asks me what I know about the Dead Sea.  I say it's salty.  YEP!  That was the magic answer!  Guess what I won!  UH HUH a 30 minute speech on why I should buy this hand scrub & lotion for $80!  He must not have seen the FRUGAL sign on my forehead!

After finally convincing him that that was WAY too much money to spend on my dry hands we went home.  I WAS BEAT!  I am convinced that I am too old to be walking around the mall!  The mall is meant for young people.  If I'm going to be walking that much it better be for a good reason!  ~Smile~

Last Thursday I decided to declutter my closet.  OH MY!!!  I got rid of alot of stuff.  Old crafting supplies, clothes, shoes (not the new ones!) & purses!  I have about half the amount of shoes now then when I started.  I had 34 pairs of shoes now I only have about 16.  ~Smile~

Friday I spent the day scrubbing my kitchen & bathroom floors...on my knees!!!  That is some hard work!  I was sore for 2 days!

Sunday my oldest DD was baptized.  After church we had a get together here at our house with family.  About 17 people in all.  We ordered a Subway Party Platter & I bought some chips, pop, & fruit for a mixed fruit bowl.  I also made her a cake.  It turned out pretty well.

Today I cut the girls hair.  I looked up how to put layers in it on the internet.  So now they both have layers in.  I also had DD#1 cut about 2" off of mine and then I put layers in it by myself.  It turned out pretty nice.  After she cut it straight across the back I brushed it all up into a ponytail right above my bangs.  Then I cut it.  Took it down and moved the ponytail up towards the middle of my head (right on top) and made another cut.  Then I brushed it all into another pony on the side of my head on both sides and made another cut.  Now I have layers!  I did all of our hair that way. 

I have also been working on printed off all of Laine's letters over at www.lainesletters.com.  She is such an inspiration to me.  I consider her a mentor so I would love to have her writings in a book to refer back to for many years to come.  Maybe one day my girls would like to read her advice as well.

Here are some pics from the baptism:

Confessing that Jesus is her Lord & Savior

I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit.

Ashley posing with her cake.

The cake!

Blessings!.· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Miki
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*


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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Aprons

Posted in Just Sharing

 

www.allposters.com

 

 Aprons 

 I don't think kids today know what an apron is. 
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the
 dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a
 potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. 
 
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on
 occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears . 
 
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying
 eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be
 finished in the warming oven 
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places
 for shy kids. 
And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around
 her arms. 
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in
 that apron. 
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After
 the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. 
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples or
 pecans that had fallen from the trees. 
When unexpected company drove up th e road, it was
 surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a
 matter of seconds. 
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch,
 waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in
 from the fields to dinner. 
It will be a long time before someone invents something
 that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served
 so many purposes. 

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window
sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window
sill to thaw. 

 Today's generation would go crazy now trying to figure
 out how many germs were on that apron, but I never heard
 about anyone catching anything from an apron. 
   
 
Send this to those who would know, and love the story about
 Grandma's 
aprons.

Blessings!.· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Miki
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*


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Sunday, September 14, 2008
This Past Week

Posted in In Our Home

 

I've been busy so I haven't had time to blog but here are some pictures from this week.

 

This is what I did on Monday:

DH shot 2 more deer on Sat. morning (9/6).  On Sunday we went to the house of a family from church where we had lunch & then the men folk grounded all the deer into burger.  We got 38 1/2 lbs. of deer burger sitting in our freezer for the winter.

That same family from church sent us home with 4 boxes of tomatoes.  So Tuesday-Friday I did some canning.  I got 27 pints of salsa made & 24 quarts of tomatoes.  Enough to last us for awhile.

Saturday evening we had an auction at our church.  The proceeds go towards our building fund.  We built on a new gymnasium, a kitchen, & some classrooms so now we need to pay for it!

Here are some pictures of the auction:

(That's the new gym!)

And I will leave you with a new recipe. 

Zucchini Pie

• 3 c. sliced zucchini
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 c. canola oil
• 1 c. Bisquick
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3 T. dried parsley
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together until everything is coated.  Pour into a greased 9 or 10 inch pie pan. 
2. Bake at 350* for about 30-40 minutes, until golden brown and done.

This recipe came from a lady at our church.  She is known to be a really good cook.  She brought this to our sewing earlier this month.  She said it came from her town's newspaper and she thought she would give it a try.  It was delicious!  So I had to get it from her.  I made this for breakfast on Saturday along with some sausage links.

I don't buy Bisquick so I had to search the web for a recipe to make the zucchini pie. 

Here is that recipe:

Homemade Bisquick Mix

• 6 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 T. baking powder
• 1 T. salt
• 1 c. vegetable shortening (I used oil. It worked well!)

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times into a large bowl.  *I skipped the sifting!
2. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 months.
4. Use whenever your recipe calls for "Bisquick mix".

Makes 7 cups.

Okay, that's it for last week.  We will be starting school tomorrow.  Well...I will be starting school with my youngest tomorrow.  My oldest started last Monday.  I was going to start school with my youngest last Monday but the deer & tomatoes needed to be done first. 

 

Blessings!.· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Miki
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*


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Friday, September 5, 2008
Photo Album Friday

Posted in Our Family

 

Here are some random pictures from our photo albums!

 

Me & my BF Niki.  I was 9 months pregnant with my oldest, Ashley.  See the baby bump?

Don't ask me why we look so cheezy because I don't know.

1993

 

Me pregnant with my youngest, Katie. 

1996

 

Me, Ashley & Katie

1998

 

Ashley

I don't know why she liked to rub food on her feet!

1994

 

Ashley

 

Ashley

1999

 

Katie

She was sooo sick here.  I wanted her to pose with the cake I made her so we took a really quick picture before she threw up again.

2001

 

Katie & Suzy the cat.

 

Katie with hair extensions.  LOL!

I wanted to see what she would look like once she finally grew some hair!

 

Katie

1997

 

Katie with her Pooh cake that I made her.

2000

 

Katie

1999

 

 

Ashley & Katie

This was Ashley's first day of kindergarten.

1999

 

 

Katie as Baby Bop & Ashley as the pumpkin.

1999

 

 

Ashley & Katie playing Barbies.

2000

 

 

Ashley & Katie

2000

 

 

Katie & Ashley sharing a rocking chair.

2000

 

 

Blessings!.· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Miki
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*


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Thursday, September 4, 2008
Thrifty Thursday

 

Do you use a  lot of tomato juice?  How much do you pay for a 46oz . can? 

Is it $1.00?  $2.00?

At Walmart, I pay $.78 for a 58 oz . can of tomato juice.

How?

I take a 29 oz . can of tomato sauce, dump it into whatever I am cooking & then add another 29 oz . can of water.  Now I have 58 oz . of tomato juice for $.78!

You can also do this with smaller cans of tomato sauce if you need less.

 

Blessings!.· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Miki
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*


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