To Music: "This is My Father's World".

I went to the homeschool expo this past weekend in St. Louis. Last year at the expo I discovered Dianne Craft and our lives have changed drastically for the better. Not that we weren't okay--but Michael REALLY was having a hard time with anything to do with school--especially reading. I could totally make this post be about nutrition, essential fatty acids, and my obsession relationship with real food (as opposed to "frankenfood")--which is, by the way, my absolute favorite term to describe processed fake food.

Tangent.

Michael is a joy to homeschool now. Not because he loves it or even has a desire to do it, but because he gets it. I no longer feel I have to jump through hoops for him to get it--he just does. It is like a switch was flipped after I removed all the junk from his system and started giving him real food and essential fatty acid supplements. He's in 1st grade. When I began homeschooling him this past August he was barely reading anything--he couldn't stay focused, was easily distracted. He would be distracted by the ticking of my wristwatch. Not so today. Over the course of a few months, he blasted through Hooked on Phonics K and 1st grade. I gave him 1st grade readers from Sonlight. He said they were too easy. I gave him 2nd grade readers from Sonlight. He said those were too easy. I tossed aside the first half of them and went straight to the last ones in the schedule. He doesn't say they are too easy, but I never have to help him with a word. I gave him a reader from our curriculum for this next school year that we'll be starting in August (which is a 3rd grade reader) and he read it just fine.

This is a miracle and I don't say that lightly. I really mean it.

So, back to my title and my thoughts about the expo. I went with a few of my buddies--Alisha, Lynelle, and Elise. Elise and I were separated at birth and we say this because we think alike and do LOTS of things exactly alike and are interested in the same things. But there is one big difference: Elise reads poetry to her children, plays classical music for them, exposes them to art. Me? Not so much.

I'm into stuff like this:

So, when I tagged along to a "My Father's World" workshop with the rest of the girls, I was done. I feel like I spent the rest of the weekend at their display booth. I have abandoned my Sonlight and my eclectic mix of classical and Charlotte Mason that I pull out of thin air. I could almost say I am in love.....

I cannot wait to get started. I'm not sure I will wait. I was able to purchase what I needed and take it home that day, so I've ripped into all of it and read through it, basically played with all of it. It's like Christmas. My struggles with art, poetry, and music are solved. The only problem is that my husband will not stop singing.....this is My Father's world.

A White Square Day

A few months ago I had a lot of these days--white square, meaning a big beautiful white square on the calendar with nothing filled in--a "nothing to do day". Maybe I had preschool drop-off/pick-up, but otherwise I was free to homeschool Michael and then do whatever we decided to do. I found that I pretty much could stay on top of errands and chores and occasionally squeeze in homemade cookies or an impromptu trip to the park. I loved it. I will admit that I am a homebody. I don't say this to make you think I just want to stay home all the time, but I do not do well spending my entire day in the car, driving from one activity to the next. Some people thrive on this and love to be extremely busy and out and about, but not me.

Then something changed and I still don't know what happened, but all of the sudden, instead of having one day where I was kinda busy, I had 4 days that were crazy busy. I was miserable by the end of the day and started drowning in chores, errands, homeschooling, and nothing was being done 100%. I kept saying to myself that I needed to stop saying yes or stop trying to fit too many things in, but I kept doing it.

But no more.

This morning at 5:30 am, Michael came into my room and said he needed to throw up. He made it to the bathroom and was sick off and on for several hours. Once I knew he really had a little bug, this relief came over me because I realized that I now had been given a white square day. No preschool drop-off, no Rx pickup, no homeschool group, no 3 mile treadmill run at the Y, no haircuts. As I went to bed last night, my mind was already calculating how I was going to accomplish all the things in my day today. Now, some of these things are fun (homeschool group), some are things I choose to do (like go to the Y to run), but when I start feeling relief about not having to do the things I normally would choose to do, then I know I am doing the right thing.

I don't even really know why I felt like I wanted to write about this today. I guess it's nice to have those lightbulb moments and I wanted to share. This is turning out to be a perfect day--my boys are happy, playing and content to be home. I have homemade bread dough in the bread machine and I'll be making pigs in a blanket with it later today and we won't be in a hurry, so the boys will get to help me. I've changed all the sheets and washed almost all the clothes. We haven't spent any money or burned up any of our precious overpriced gasoline. The weather is beautiful, so I have the backdoor open. But, in a bit, my husband will be home and I'll get to go to the hair salon (even if it is just to have my bangs trimmed) and run one other errand and that all sounds just right to me.

I had to put my white square back in b/c I wanted to say that I used a picture of a white square plate for a reason. I want some of these! Oh, Ikea, why can't you be close to me?

So, back to my "no more crazy busy days": I really mean it. I am a stay-at-home mom. I homeschool my kids. I cook from scratch. Days like today should not be as rare as the animals in McGrew Zoo, they should be the norm. So, starting today, they will.

And in case you don't know about the animals in McGrew's Zoo, you should--it is my all time favorite Dr. Seuss book. I will stop what I am doing 99% of the time when one of the boys brings it to me to read.

Vinegar fumes

I hate to admit this, but I had a huge cooking flop tonight. But the story ends well. I saved it. I cook from scratch and do it often, but if you know me, you know I've been on a cruise and away from home and have not cooked a meal in 2 weeks. I guess this was just the way it was going to be tonight.

I could blame it on many things: the dog acting crazy, Cal kicking a basketball in the house, my neighbor stopping by to pick up something, but I won't. I think the excuse I will settle with is that my body and brain are off-kilter because I went from 85 degree temps to 45 degree temps in a matter of hours. I won't recover. My Southern blood got a taste of high temps and there is no going back. I'm not normally a tanning bed sort of gal, but I might have to sneak in there once a week just to be functional on my normal levels :)

So, want to know what I was making? Lemon Thyme Chicken with Roasted Asparagus and Zucchini with Couscous. Delicious.

I was at the crucial point where I had to add garlic, thyme, lemon, and white wine all in rapid succession. I managed to add the first three, then poured in a huge heaping helping (2/3 cup) of white wine VINEGAR. Did I mention that my husband loves this meal and did I mention that my husband HATES VINEGAR?

I texted him to say I had ruined the chicken, but then I got a little mad and decided I was not going to be beaten by my chicken disaster. Here's what I did:

I pulled the chicken out of the steaming vinegar sauce and put it on a plate. I poured the offensive liquid down the drain, washed the pan, then washed the chicken. Yes, I washed my dredged in flour, already cooked, beautiful golden brown chicken in water. Then I remade the sauce, submerged them for a dip, and served it up. Every bite was eaten.

So, Chris asked me why I said I ruined the chicken and after he finished his last bite I told him about my vinegar mistake. Not that he couldn't smell the vinegar fumes.....