The Circle Maker

Our church is starting a new sermon series on Mark Batterson's book, The Circle Maker.  The book's title comes from the  legend of Honi :

In the first century B.C.  a devastating drought was plaguing the Promised Land .  The people asked Honi, a man known for a powerful prayer life to ask God for rain. Using his staff to draw in the dust, he created a large circle and walked inside it.   Then he dropped to his knees, raised his hands to heaven and cried out.

"Lord of the Universe, I swear before your great name that I will not move from this circle until you have shown mercy upon your children."

A light sprinkle began, and while everyone else was delighted, Honi wasn't satisfied.  "Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain that will fill cisterns, pits, and caverns."

In a case of be careful what you pray for, the gentle rain turned violent with drops as big as eggs that threatened to bring flash floods.  Honi prayed a third time.

"Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain of Thy favor, blessing, and graciousness." The storm subsided and a good soaking rain refreshed the land and every one's spirits.

The point of the series is that we need to come before God with bold prayers and claim his promises.  Not that God has become a catalog service where we place our orders and wait for them to be delivered, but that we need to stop asking wimpy, nonspecific prayers. 

I wanted to share a time when I claimed a promise from God and created a circle waiting for His healing:

Two years ago, I had just boarded a roller coaster with my son.  When they brought the lap bar down, I felt an intense pain in my abdomen--it was bad enough that I knew I needed to see a doctor to discover its cause.  The answer came two weeks later when an ultrasound revealed a tumor on my right ovary nearly six inches across.

After discovering my tumor and seeing the specialist I had to wait 3 ½ weeks before my hysterectomy.  That's a lot of time for soul searching. I’m not one to randomly open the Bible and put my finger down hoping for guidance (You know the joke about the guy who did that and ended up on “Judas went and hanged himself”?)

Schnickelfritz was having to memorize a lot of Bible verses for Royal Rangers and I was looking up the passages in The Message so he could understand what he was memorizing a little better. While flipping, the pages stopped on Micah 7:8-10 with a heading “Spreading Your Wings.”  The title made me curious enough to read the passage.

8 Don't, enemy, crow over me. I'm down, but I'm not out. I'm sitting in the dark right now, but God is my light. 9 I can take God's punishing rage. I deserve it - I sinned. But it's not forever. He's on my side and is going to get me out of this. He'll turn on the lights and show me his ways. I'll see the whole picture and how right he is. 10 And my enemy will see it, too, and be discredited - yes, disgraced! This enemy who kept taunting, "So where is this God of yours?" I'm going to see it with these, my own eyes - my enemy disgraced, trash in the gutter. 11 Oh, that will be a day! A day for rebuilding your city, a day for stretching your arms, spreading your wings!

I heard a voice in my head saying “Your enemy has a name—it’s cancer.”   I was sitting in the dark, waiting for a tumor that may be malignant  to be removed.  I could see how some would ask “where is God” or  “why did God let this happen to you?”  But when I read God is my light and someday that enemy would be trash in the gutter I took it as God’s promise that I would make it through.

For the next 3 weeks until surgery, anytime I felt myself feeling afraid I would read and reread that passage and pray.  After surgery, the doctor said the preliminary lab report said the tumor was borderline malignant.  We had to wait two more weeks for complete work to be done—much more reading and praying!

At the follow up appt. The Toolman  and I braced ourselves as everything coming out of the doctors mouth sounded negative, but she ended by saying “we got it!”  I didn’t need chemo or radiation.  I still go for follow up visits every four months but I read the Micah passage before I go and still claim my promise.

New Life for an Old Bench

I just have to show off what The Toolman did for his Saturday project.  This bench was left behind by the previous owners of my parents home.  They asked if my husband could use his pick-up to haul it off to the dump, but he had other plans.



Before

 Here it is after a day with a wire brush drill bit, a can of spray paint, and some new wood.



After

 True, this was not a freebie (check out Nice, New?...Not Necessarily  for those scores) --we had to buy the wood and bolts.  Still the sense of accomplishment is priceless.

Queen Anne's Lace

It may be classified as a "noxious weed," but the Queen Anne's Lace I pass on my daily walks makes me smile.   The road to town is decorated with it--with bright punches of blue Chicory and the yellows of Black-eyed Susans.  I'm certainly a distracted driver.  Still, it's the wild carrot that's the quaintest flower along the fence row.  My mother wrote this poem about it.

Lacy Weed

Country roads are edged

in regal grace

by an exquisite weed,

Queen Anne's Lace.

Uncultivated, untamed

it thrives, tall and free.

Such delicate strength

challenges me.

Hanukkah

A homeschooling mom in our county offered to teach a class on Hanukkah.  Schnickelfritz and I had a similar lesson at her house last year.  This year was so much better attended (I think it's because most of the HS moms had been attending her year-long course on Biblical feasts) that we had to move to a church fellowship hall.  I hadn't planned it this way, but God has perfect timing; Fritz and I had just finished Daniel chapter 11 in our Discover 4 Yourself Bible study and so he was very familiar with Antiochus IV Epiphanes--the cruel ruler that desecrated the temple.  It was during the cleansing and rededication of the temple that miracle of the oil took place.



Several types of Hanukiah

 After a brief lecture, the group was free to go to several craft stations, play the dreidel game, and sample donuts, baklava, and latkes (everything fried to remind us of the oil).

The boys drifted to the dreidel station (could it be because there was chocolate involved?)  According to the tradition, Jews would hide their Torahs and pull out these tops to play with when Greek soldiers would stop by to make sure no one was involved in illegal worship. 

The younger kids could decorate a paper menorah with stickers.

More ambitious or older kids could make their own menorah out of paper plates and foam.



While Hanukkah is not one of the Biblical feasts prescribed by God in the Old Testament, it is mentioned in the Bible, referred to as the Feast of Dedication.



The Tale of a Turkey

As I type, the delicious aroma of turkey is beginning to waft around the house (we are a cook and carve ahead family).  Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday, I love the gathering of the family, trying new recipes and preparing the old stand-bys.  When I was younger we kids used to sit around the Sears' Wishbook and pick out what we hoped to get for Christmas.  Now that stores are pushing Christmas shopping before Halloween I mostly try to avoid all that crass commercialism.  When I was fresh out of college I used to organize the Thanksgiving Orphans (those who weren't able to travel home for the day) and we'd end up with 30 or more, each bringing the dish without which  it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving. 

I don't remember the first time I prepared the turkey, I suppose it was after we moved away from Grandma's house.  Those of us in charge of the bird know that some years turn out better than others.  Butterball sometimes publicizes the foul/fowl ups that they here about on their Turkey hot line.  Someone forgets to remove the giblets from the neck cavity, someone thinks that the golden brown skin means it must be done without checking the internal temperature.  I have my own turkey disaster story that might top them all--unless you are one of the poor souls that burnt down the house or garage trying to fry the bird.  I can share it now and laugh.

It actually started a week before Thanksgiving.  I had discovered an organic farm that was offering free range turkeys.  They wanted folks to pick up their birds on Sunday, but I asked if I could get mine on Tuesday since that's when I normally passed by (it was about 40 miles from home).  Not a problem, they would save a bird for me--I just wouldn't have a selection to choose from.  I was fine with that and only needed a small bird for myself and my parents.  When I arrived on Tuesday there were two turkeys left in the freezer and I took the smaller of the two but it was still a whopping 26 pounds!!! 

Problem number one:  this bird filled and overflowed my roasting pan.  Wednesday afternoon I stopped by Walmart on the way home from work.  They had moved their aluminum baking pans to the front of the store right behind the cash registers (liek they knew I'd be coming).   I found a disposable one that was plenty big enough and had the words "HEAVY DUTY" splashed across the front.  We'd gotten out of work early that day and I decided to cook the turkey that afternoon instead of the next morning because I figured it would take much longer owing to its size.

In those days I was a baster (now I follow Good Eats brining method).  On about the third time pulling the pan forward to baste my Heavy Duty pan sprung a leak.  Turkey juice and fat began puoring into the bottom of my oven at an alarming rate.   As it collected under the electric coil it started to smoke.  I didn't know what to do but take the turkey out of the oven and set it on top of the stove.  I transfered the bird to my old roasting pan where it mostly just rested on top and poured the remaining juice into a saucepan.  Now when I basted, the juice just rolled down the side of the turkey and joined the gooey blackening mess at the bottom of the oven.  I had to open my patio door and put a fan on to pull the smoke out of the apartment but at least the smoke alarm wasn't going off. 

I stopped the basting and decided to use the liquid I had left to make the gravy so  I turned on the burner under the sauce pan.  Remember earlier that I had put the punctured roasting pan on the stove top--well some of that fatty juice had collected in the reflector.  Soon I had a grease fire on my hands.  I knew not to throw water on it.   I had gotten out my flour jar to make the gravy and began throwing handfuls of it at the fire. PLEASE NOTE : DON'T USE FLOUR OR BAKING SODA ON A GREASE FIRE!!!   The Lord was really watching over me because I could have had an explosion at that point.  

My mother called me at about 9:30 that night to see if the turkey was finally done.  I told her the turkey was finished but that I still had several hours of clean up work ahead of me.  T

School Budgets: What would Dave Say?

If confession is good for the soul then I'll feel better after I admit that for years I did not budget money for our homeschooling.   "What's the big deal?" some of you are thinking, "neither do I."  Well, I was an accountant by trade so I knew better.  When we were a two income family, I would purchase books and supplies years in advance so we'd have them when I stopped working to homeschool our son.  Schnickelfritz is in third grade now and we've pretty much gone through most of those materials now.   In the past I always assumed that we would have had costs associated with public school (we lived in Indiana and families have to pay hundreds of dollars to rent school books each year) and as long as I was doing it for less then we were ahead.  Then we moved to Missouri, I stopped working outside of the home, and our family income was cut by more than a third.  When I'd go to the homeschool fair I may have drooled over a lot of great products but I was VERY stingy about what I'd buy.  In the back of my mind I'd be thinking about how high the credit card balance already was and I didn't want to take it above what we could afford to pay in full each month. (Dave Ramsey, if you're reading this blog, this was before FPU.  I know how you feel about credit cards, even if they're paid off every month).

This fall my husband and I started Financial Peace University at our church.  Can I first say that FPU is not just for people in serious financial situations?  We actually had no consumer debt when we started the course.  While paying off debt is the topic of some of the classes, we also are learning how men and women view money differently and how to talk about money instead of squabble (or avoiding the talk all together).  Some nights we learn how to get the best bargain possible on purchases, what types of insurance are available and which we need, and we're looking forward to learning about sound investing.  I honestly don't think there is anyone who wouldn't benefit from FPU.  Wives, if you're worried your husband won't like being lectured to,  every man in our class that has found Dave Ramsey's humorous teaching style entertaining as well as informative.  On the Dave Ramsey's website you can type in your zip code and find classes in your area.

Now the point of this blog was homeschool budgets.  According to Dave, we need to have every dollar spent on paper before it every gets deposited in our bank account and we need to be in agreement on where it's spent.  When our FPU homework assignment was to create a family budget we purposefully included a line item for home school ($25 per month).  It's not a large amount, but when we have to pay an entrance fee to a museum or I need to pick up supplies for a science experiment I can pull cash out of the homeschool envelope and take care of it.  Of course, I don't spend all of the money.  Most of it will stay in the envelope until homeschool fair time.  Then I can purchase my ticket and peruse the curriculum hall without the nagging fear that I'm spreading our finances to thin.   Prior to the event, we may discuss adding more to the homeschooling envelope at our monthly cash flow meeting (budgets are meant to be flexible not written in stone) but it won't have to be as big a chunk since we've been saving for it year long.

Be sure to click on the Blog Cruise button to see what others have to say about budgeting for books and supplies.

Week 4 Wrap Up

It was another interesting week of trying to balance schoolwork with the work of getting Schnickelfritz's grandparents moved into their new house.  On Wednesday the moving van arrived.  I mentioned last week about Fritz want to help, but only on his terms.  Well, this week he was all excited about moving boxes and investigating the truck.  Thank you so much to moving men Josh and Earl for saving the light loads for an eager eight-year-old boy thrilled to help.  After dropping a load in the house he would race them back to the truck and Earl graciously lost every time.  

The flimsy blinds were broken in several places and most likely covered with cat hair so we tossed them out.  Until we located the box with new sheers and hardware we improvised with packing paper held up with blue painter's tape for the bedroom and bathroom windows.   Once, when Fritz had been too absent and quiet for too long I found him studying my taping job in the bedroom.  "You know if you tilt your head to the side this piece of tape looks like the state of Ohio?" he said to me.  "And here's one that could be Georgia."  In my head I thought that only a homeschooled kid would be making a geography lesson out of randomly torn pieces of tape.

On to our regular school work:  We completed Lesson 13 of Math U See Delta so we've learned all the division facts and how to find the area of a trapezoid.  We have been studying the Family Canidae in science but over the weekend we discovered spider webs covered in dew all over our lawn.  They've probably been there a long time but the dry weather prevented us from noticing them.  Each sheet of webbing had a funnel leading down to the lair of a waiting grass spider.  We had to fast forward in our science text to learn about arachnids.  Fortunately, I also had a publication by the Missouri Dept. of Conservation on common spiders of the state.  Two lessons here: never pass up a teachable moment and take advantage of the free materials offered by your state.  We've moved on to lesson three in Excellence in Writing and now have two dress-ups for our sentences--the who/which clause and -ly words.  In Missouri history we've reached  Marquette and Joliet's  journey down the Mississippi river.  We'll be pausing here for a while so we can read the Landmark book  The Exploration of Pere Marquette.  Fritz is always asking for more geography so we'll be mapping their progress as we read. 

Our extra-curricular activities are also swinging into high gear.  Fritz managed to earn his Matthew Bible merit and his Ropecraft merit in Royal Rangers.  These along with a prior Joel Bible Merit earned Fritz his White Falcon advancement patch.  Sometime this month he'll have an award ceremony for his Gold Trail Award from Ranger Kids.   We also enrolled Fritz in 4-H where he hopes to participate in the woodworking and bicycle programs.

The Toolman and I are back to school in a way.  We started attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at our church.   We learned some amazing and alarming statistics about how many families are living paycheck to paycheck, that the United States has a negative savings rate,  and how much consumer debt has increased over the last two decades.   The first video contained a lot of humor to keep our interest, but there was clearly a lot of truth being spoken about the need to take control of our personal finances.

Week 3 Wrap up

We started our school year early for weeks just like this one.  Schnickelfritz's grandparents are moving to town and the house needed a lot of work.  The previous owners had a cat and a very different taste in decor so we were scrubbing down walls, scraping off wallpaper, vacuuming and re-vacuuming and more.  We managed to cover the essentials--Bible, reading, writing and math, but the rest of the time was used to develop Fritz's servant heart.  He was enthusiastic enough about wanting to help but he wanted the "glamor" jobs if you can call them that--painting and scraping wallpaper.  When he was assigned to picking up the glue-backed wallpaper scraps he balked at the job.   It was hard to know where to draw the line between forcing him to do the assigned task (and listening to his whining and complaining) or just letting him go off and play so at least we had some peace while we stripped wallpaper.  He did take to the vacuum cleaner, granted it is easier with no furniture in your way.  I'll have to remember that at our own house.

We complete Lesson 12 in Math U See Delta.  Fritz has no problems with dividing by 7 or 8.  We're up to Millard Fillmore on our Royal Rangers project on American Presidents.  I found a Scholastic poster of official presidential portraits that we've cut up and rather than writing their home states we've cut the shapes out using the 50 States cartridge on the Cricut.  I made a customized worksheet using Graphic Toolbox and StartWrite lined paper so Fritz can record terms of office, vice presidents, political parties, and two significant facts or events from each president's administration.

I'm collaborating with another homeschool mom in our town to set up our Land Animals of the Sixth Day science experiements.  I hosted the first one, to test the effect of camoflauge in being able to elude preditors.  Our three kids played the part of Skittles preditors.  We scrunched up yellow, orange and green construction paper and tossed them in a box with 42 Skittles of each color.  The kids had 2 minutes to seek and seize the Skittles but they were doing such a good job I cut the time to 90 seconds.  At the end we were suppose to count the Skittles found and with luck prove that it was easier to find the red and purple skittles because they weren't camoflaged to match their surroundings.  Unfortunately, one Skittle predator was a tad too enthusiastic in her role and began loading her mouth with Skittles as fast as she found them.  Once we caught her in the act we tried to establish the color and quantity that had been devoured.  At the end of our experiment we had found all but 4 purple candies but the color with the most still hidden was red.   I was trying to think on my feet and ended up saying that in real life experiments are done over and over to make sure results are consistent.  We also discussed other ways animals can avoid being eaten--like being very fast or hiding underground.

  

Disney on the Cheap

Even as I wrote that title it seemed like an oxymoron.   A one-day ticket with the park hopper option costs more than a barrel of oil (and you know everyone thinks that's too high).  We've saved up, made reservations, and booked our flights and now I'm going to share some of the little ways we've saved.

First--get a Disney Visa and start accumulating points.  We've had ours for five years now and use it for all our purchases and reoccurring bills (phones, insurance, cable, etc) .   They are all things we'd have to buy anyway.  Now we just write one monthly check to Chase Visa instead of multiple checks to all the utilities.  Because we  pay off the credit card balance every month we accumulate points for FREE.  If you're not in a situation to pay your bill in full each month or you aren't in control of your credit card use this is probably not the option for you.  You'll be paying for these points through the interest you're charged (and if you don't pay the minimum balance due you can't accumulate points at all).   Bottom Line: we're getting our 6 night stay at Port Orleans FREE and there's still plenty of points left to cover our food and souvenirs in the parks.   (There are a few other perks to the Disney Visa like a special character greet and access to resort discounts before the general public).

Second--You know how they say the value of an automobile drops the second you drive it off the lot?  Well that's doubly true for park souvenirs.  I've been hitting the garage sales and thrift stores for items we may have purchased in the parks.  Like the Duggars say "Buy used and save the difference."  

The scrapbook was $5 at a consignment store.  The stickers that should have been included were gone, but I can buy a LOT of stickers with the $30+ I saved by not buying it at the resort gift shop.    I think Schnickelfritz has outgrown the Mouse Ears we bought him on the last trip (maturity-wise, not size wise).  Will pack them just in case I'm wrong.  In the meantime I found him this nice denim ball cap for 50 cent at a garage sale.  I had to doctor Mickey's eyes with a Sharpie marker. 

I've also been able to get a lot of Disney themed shirts--Cars are the easiest to find right now but I didn't manage to snag a Phineas and Ferb.  Again, why pay full price at the park when you can get them for less than a dollar at a garage sale.  I would much rather get cheap souvinirs and save our money for memorable experiences like a back stage tour of the Magic Kingdom's Train shed.

Here's an item from our last trip to Disney World.  The toy store in Downtown Disney has a themed Mr. Potatohead.  For a set price you can fill a box with Mouse ears, Goofy hats, and other items for a Potatohead doll.  Now most people will buy to potato body and try to fill it with parts to get more in the box.  I found a body (and generic arms, eyes, and feet) at a garage sale so I could fill my box with exclusive Disney items.



One of the big things to do at the park is Pin Trading.  Each pin cost $5 or more at the park.  I'm looking into buying a lot of pins on ebay.  It won't matter what they are because we can trade them for pins we like with cast members at the parks.  BUYER BEWARE:  I have read that a lot of sellers on ebay are in fact selling knock-offs that you may not be able to trade so do some homework.

Coming Next: Cheap Dining

A Tribute to the Tightwad Gazette

Years ago (dare I say decades? I know it was before the internet) my mother had a subscription to a monthly newsletter called The Tightwad Gazette. The articles were filled with tips for frugal living. Later these newsletters were compiled and published in book format --and you would do well to see if your local library carries them. I still have my three volumes and every time gas nudges upward I'm motivated to peruse the pages in search of another money-saving tip. Some of the ideas are now quaint reminders of the way things used to be--gone is the need to set a timer for long distance calls. Others have stood the test of time. Just a few weeks ago I was helping a homeschooling friend set up a grocery price book to track sales and bargains. My favorite articles were the ones involving math calculations to show how much could be saved by making items from scratch (that was the future accountant in me I suppose). There have been a lot of comercials on TV lately touting the "bargains" by various pizza chains. Dominoes has been selling 1-topping medium pizzas for $5.99. The latest Papa Johns' commercials tout the pizzas they sell are "worth twice" theie sale price of $11. Now pizza is a weekly staple in our family but how do these "bargains" stack up to homemade. Well here are my tightwad calulations.  Normally I try to add some freshly ground wheat into my dough but for ease of math I'm using the recipe as it comes from my bread machine manual.

• 3/4 Cup Water
  
• 1 Tbl oil
  
• 1 Tbl  sugar
  
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 2 1/4 Cups bread flour
  
• 1 tsp active dry yeast

For toppings we add (approx):

• 2/3 cup pizza sauce
  
• 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
  
• 38 slices pepperoni (yes I counted them)

I recently stocked up on pizza making ingredients from Sam's Club so I'm using current prices                         

 

Ingredient	Price	Size	Calculations	Cost	Per Unit	Recipe Uses	Final Cost
Bread Flour	$7.86	25 lbs	3.57 C per lb	$0.09	C	2 1/4 C	$0.20
Sugar	$6.43	10 lbs	37 T per lb	$0.02	T	1 T	$0.02
Yeast	$4.68	32 oz	2.25 t= 1/4 oz	$0.04	t	1 t	$0.04
Salt	$1.38	26 oz	5.1 t per oz	$0.01	t	1 1/2 t	$0.02
Pizza Sauce	$3.88	12 C		$0.32	C	2/3 C	$0.17
Mozzarella	$10.98	5 lbs	4 C = 1 lb	$0.55	C	3/4 C	$0.41
Pepperoni	$8.38	816 slices		$0.01	slice	38 slices	$0.38
Water	$0.00		free from well		C	3/4 C	$0.00
Oil	$2.26	96 T		$0.02	T	1 T	$0.02
							$1.27

 

 

 

I found all the ratios for volume per weight on various baking sites on the internet.  The number of pepperoni slices was taken by multiplying the number of slices per serving by the number of servings listed on the  packaging.  I will say that when it comes to toppings I've never been one to cover every square inch of surface.  A taste a pepperoni every bite or two is sufficient.  My pizza already looks like a bargain at $1.27 compared to $5.99 or $11, but let's keep digging.

My pizza measures 12" X 17" (I use the same silpat mat every time) or 204 square inches

Dominoes medium pizzas are 12" in diameter or 113.04 square inches

Papa Johns large pizzas are 16 " in diameter of 200.96 square inches

The volume of the Papa John's pizza is about the same as mine but at 8.6 times the price.  I'd have to buy two Dominoes mediums to get the same volume and it would cost 9.6 times as much.   Since we eat pizza every week, I'm saving over $500 per year by making mine from scratch.  That more than pays for the bread machine I use to make my dough.

(This post is part of The Christian Home blog magazine Issue 24)

Schnickelfritz conquers the slides

I have to brag that for a small rural town, we have a wonderful pool.  There are spashing features in the shallow side for the the little ones.  The gentle slope of the walk-in area provides a place for moms to sunbath and still enjoy the cool water.  There are two 2-story, squiggly slides affectionately named ketchup and mustard by the local kids (each brightly painted to match their name-sake condiment).    But looming in the 8 ft section where the afternoon sun doesn't shine are two short slides.   After sliding down the enclosed tubed, the swimmer faces a two foot drop into the deep water.  The blue one is straight and the yellow one has a 90 degree turn at the top.  These two slides kept my son from having an enjoyable day at the pool ALL last summer. 

He so desperately wanted to go down them, especially when his younger friends did so without fear.    Sometimes he would get in line  but always give way to those behind him and eventually step out of line all together.  He almost breathed a sigh of relief when the lifeguards would block off the steps to the slides--apparently the glare of the setting sun would make it hard to see in the water, creating a safety hazard.  I wavered between offering bribes if he was successful to feigning indifference to try and relieve the burden he was placing on his shoulders.   He would spend precious swim time studying the slides from every possible angle of the concrete pool deck.  He would watch the happy sliders and interview them as them climbed the ladders out of the water.  He did everything just shy of asking the pool manager for the scematics.   If knowledge was all that was necessary to overcome fear this ordeal would have been over a long time ago.  The stumbling blocks were always the same: the water was too deep, the drop was too high, he wasn't allowed to wear his goggles.

Today was our first trip to the pool this season.  As we left the car my Schnickelfritz informed me that today was the day, he would go down the slides before the friends we were meeting arrived (I suppose he wanted to avoid the pressure as this was the younger friend who was already a slide veteren).   I prayed that this was not the beginning of another long summer.   We went over the facts together: he'd already been in deeper water, he had left his goggles off before.   He marched straight to the slide as I went in search of lounge chairs in the shade.  The next thing I knew HE HAD DONE IT!  My mother's ears picked up his voice shouting to the lifeguard what he'd just done.  I got a hearty thumbs up as he got in line for the other slide.  And then it was as if he had to make up for last years lost summer as he went down both slides over and over and over.

Now how do I tell him that the Church camp he's going to next week has one of those airbags that launches them into the lake like on Wipeout?

How I spent my summer vacation

It's July 1st which means technically we've started a new school year here in Missouri.  We're not starting our "official" lessons yet but any hours I log now (swimming lessons and field trips) will count towards the 2011-2012 year.  So how did I spend my June vacation?   You can read about my adventures picking black raspberries--HOT and HUMID.  I would have like to done some bulk cooking and freezing of meals but the thought of spending the day in a hot kitchen was NOT appealing.  I may feel like doing that when the weather turns--say October.

I did spend some time planning our lessons.  Schnickelfritz will be finishing MUS Epsilon and moving on to the next level around mid-year.  We're going to finish the Institute for Excellence in Writing Level A that we got to review for last year's Homeschool Crew.  Another review item we continue to use is All About Spelling although we've moved on to Level 3.  A first for me will be collaborating with another homeschool mom using Apologia's Land Animals of the Sixth Day (we've skipped the Swimming Creatures in order to do this, but I think having other kids for the experiments will be so beneficial).   I'm also creating my own Missouri history course using an out of print book, Where Rivers Meet.   This is a real treasure I found at a used book sale covering history in our area before the arrival of European explorers up to the St. Louis World's Fair.   Finally I'm still trying to decide what to use to teach cursive writing.  This has been a real struggle for me as I gave up using cursive as soon as the teachers would let me.  In reality, we'll be learning cursive together.  I'm also starting my third year on the Homeschool Crew so we'll have other products to try through out the year and usually they turn out to be a blessing we never knew we needed.  I purchased a used binding machine on ebay so that I can be more organized this year.  I'll post more about it soon but for now I've made a school planner, a Missouri history timeline, and printed and bound several e-books.

It hasn't been all work and no play.  We're planning a Disney World vacation this September (reason #997 to love homeschooling--you can go to the parks when everyone else is in school).  I've been playing with my Cricut to make some Disney themed t shirts, autograph books, water bottles, etc.  I've also been taking a food preservation course through our local extension office--well I've got to do something with all those raspberries.  We've covered  water bath and pressure canning, freezing foods, making jams and jellies, salsas and pickling.  The classes have been very full  and the best part is we raffle off what we've preserved at the end of class.  I've gotten sliced apples and a 4-berry freezer jam so far.  

Some of the topics I hope to cover this year include doing Disney on a budget,  our homemade Missouri history course,  and of course the products we review for the Homeschool Crew.

Black Raspberries

Tell me if this sounds strange.  I've been dreaming about raspberries--lifting lopped over canes and moving aside leaves in search of the perfect black raspberry.  It's no wonder they've invaded my dreams, I've been picking them every morning for the last eight days.   Way to the side of our wooded property, with plenty of sun from the open field next door lies our lovely little patch of berries.  We discovered it our first spring here.   Last year I was recovering from surgery and unable to bend over so the patch was left undisturbed and boy did it grow!    I know that you're supposed to prune back the canes that bear fruit in a cultivated patch, but I've found the best producers are the really old, purple canes.

Instead, I've been pruning back some of the newer growth so I can still access the old stuff.  I've also been cutting out all sorts of other thorny plants--apparently things that can stick you like to stick together.  The thorns are a real deterrent to my little harvesting helper.  One time I turned his displeasure into an object lesson.  "You know Schnickelfritz, we wouldn't have to deal with all these thorns if Adam and Eve hadn't disobeyed God."  I explained that as punishment for the original sin God allowed thorns and thistles to grow.  The lesson really stuck and often when we're walking in our woods my son will warn me to watch out for the "sin bush" in our path.

I've also gotten up close and personal with some of the critters in our raspberry patch.  One day I saw a chipmunk skedaddle into the underbruch as I approached, another time there was a brown toad trying to blend in with the dead leaves.  The least favorite encounters are the ticks.  I spray down with Deep Woods replellant but have still managed to collect four in this year's tick tally.  The most memorable encounter began with the sound of leaves crunching around my feet.   I have to step over canes and try to get a foothold wherever I can and so my feet aren't always visible to me.  The sound rustling was not quick and intermittant like a squirrel or chipmunk might make.  This was slow and deliberate.  My mind was drawn back to last weekend when my husband, The Toolman,  pointed out a four foot black snake he'd almost hit with the mower.  He'd casually tossed it out of his way and TOWARDS MY RASPBERRIES!   He said the snake wouldn't hurt me but that didn't mean I wanted him crawling over my toes while I was picking.  Now I was afraid of just such an encounter.  That thought quickly went from bad to worse as the word "copperhead" flashed through my mind.  From where I stood I could see the place my husband had killed a nest of them  our first year. 

Now it just so happened that I'd been listening to a Summit Ministries lecture the day before.  Usually a lecture about World views wouldn't pop into my mind when I'm worried about snakebites, but this particular lecturer had just returned from a trip to the Australian Outback--home to the world's deadliest snakes.   He had been advised to hold still and let the snake crawl over his foot.   I didn't know if I could do that but I also couldn't see the snake and if I tried to move I might actually step on it.  "Dear God,"  I prayed, " help me to keep my wits and hold still."   Well God not only protected me but he gave me a humorous lesson in giving in to fear and worry.  Within a minute, the reptile that crawl over my foot and into view was a box turtle!

Post Script--I'm in need of some good raspberry recipes.  Please post some in the somments.

Power Restored

Just got our power back after the storms went through yesterday.  We had been at Homeschool Field days--nearly 90 families gathered at the local park for races and contests and some serious picnicking.  I had been working in the makeshift nursery in the large pavilion when someone got a phone call about a storm headed our way.   A lumberyard next door offered to let us take shelter in one of their large pole barns.  I have to say even for a homeschool group, I was extremely impressed by how well the kids obeyed instructions and stayed calm.   The older kids helped to gather play equipment while the younger ones stayed in their teams in the pavillion and waited for their parents to get them.  Schnickelfritz and I decided to skedaddle back home ahead of the storm.  Those that chose to stay at Field day wisely chose to seek shelter in the pool's showerhouse.  Trees snapped in the park and part of the lumberyard's roof was peeled off.

And what did we do with no power?  Fortunately we believe in non-electronic entertainment.  We have a cabinet full of board games and more books than ought to be allowed.  We read an entire Hank the Cowdog book--I'd read one chapter and the Fritz would take a turn.  Of course he'd get to laughing so hard he couldn't continue so I had the pick up the slack.   We finished as there was just barely enough light to read the page.  The worst of it was not having water--no electricity means no well pump.  Schnickelfritz was a little worried about sleeping in a totally dark house but I said we needed to see it as an adventure and a remind

A bargain may be yours for the asking

My Schnickelfritz and the Toolman were both running the soundboards for both church services yesterday--at Children's Promiseland and the main sanctuary respectively.  This left me free to stop at a local estate auction.  The yard had been filled with years of collected books, tools, furniture, etc.  I was sticking around in hopes of picking up an atlas and a copy of Ken Burns' Civil War for our school when I heard the mention of camping gear over the loud speaker.  Schnickelfritz will be able to go camping with Royal Rangers next year and I've been thinking about overnight trips to other parts of our state as we cover Missouri history.  I hadn't inspected it, but I spotted a gray, nylon tent that looked promising.  Rainclouds were looming overhead and things were being sold in large lots to try and move quickly before everything got soaked.  The tent got lumped in with another and a musty sleeping bag but it still looked like I was going to get a bargain at $3.  Then another bidder asked if the neighboring hammock was part of this lot.  The auctioneer said "Sure, why not."  Suddenly a bidding war erupted as everyone wanted the Mexican blanket hammock.  Auction fever carried the price much higher than I was willing or able to pay with the cash in my purse. 

 The bidding crowd lumbered away to a collection of frog lawn ornaments and the winner bidder picked up her prize hammock, rolled it carefully and put it in the back of her truck.  I was quick to notice that she left everything else out in the drizzle and mud.   I caught up to her as she returned to the crowd.  "So you were mostly interested in the hammock?" I asked.  I got a nod.  "Would you be willing to part with that gray tent?"  The lady look at me and then back to the pile of camping gear.  I was preparing to offer to ofset some of her cost.

"Sure, go ahead and take it," she said.    Not only did I save the cost of the tent I'd bid on, but now I didn't have to deal with disposing of the junk that would have come with it.    When we set it up at home it turned out to be a 3-room, 8 X 12 tent that doesn't even look used!  Fritz wants to sleep in it tonight but I think I'll postpone buying the necessary tent stakes until the overnight temps go back up to the sixties.  The moral of the story is Don't Be Afraid To Ask.

Spice Rack Makeover

I can't tell you how long I've owned these spices jars but they were certainly showing their age.  For cooking convenience I store them right next to the stove and years of grease splatters and other food spills have not only discolored the labels but some lost their adhesive and just slipped off.  I could have gone the easy route and just purchased a new spice rack but the frugal German in me  decided to scrounge around the house and see what I could come up with.  In the end this worked out better because I could customize the labels and fill them with the spices I use, not necessarily the ones that come in the set (as I worked on the jars I discovered some were still sealed and never been used in at least a decade--a waste of valuable counter space).

 My first thought was the Graphics Toolbox program we reviewed for the Homeschool Crew last year.  I still use it all the time for editing pictures, making lapbook components, etc.   I checked the clip art files on my computer and found a vibrant picture of some chili pepper; cute but a little too vibrant, especially when you want to add the name of the spice over the top.  GT lets you copy an image while adjusting its transparancy so I was able to make a more muted background.   I played around with text color as well--trying all of the colors from the original clip art.  In the end I decided to go with basic black since it just popped out so nicely.  I made hollow circles in the proper size to fit the lids and put them around each picture.  I printed everything on a sheet of photo paper but before cutting out each label I ran the sheet through my Scotch Laminator (to hopefully protect the new labels from grease splatter).  I chose hot lamination over my Xyron because I've learned the hardway that cold lamination doesn't hold adhesive well at all.  

 After cutting out the labels, I ran the circles through my xyron with the permanant adhesive cartridge.  And below you can see my finished results.

A boy without a name

I will confess as I see gas prices soaring and my dollar not buying as much at the grocery store that I start having little pity parties for myself.   I compare my family to my neighbor's or my fellow homeschoolers and this mental list of "Don't Haves" starts accumulating.  I don't have a pool, a new car, season tickets to Silver Dollar City...it could go on and on.  Last night I heard the testimony of a man named Peter and I will never allow myself to start a "Don't Have" list again.  He had me beat--as a child, he didn't even have a name.

Our church is taking part in a pilot program of Compassion International to pair up churches with means in North America with churches without means in improverished areas of the world.  Our sister church is in Peru.  No one really knows how this program will work yet.  We've just agreed to a two year commitment and during that time our church must sponsor 50 kids in the area of our sister church through Compassion International.  We doing so now as part of our annual Easter project.  Our family picked an 8 year old boy named Jose--perhaps he'll grow to be a penpal with my Schnickelfritz.

What does this have to do with the boy with no name?  He came to our church last night as a representative of Compassion International.  He had a sponsored child himself in his home country of Rwanda.  The death rate for babies and young children there is so high that his mother refused to name him for fear she would grow attached and then lose him to starvation and malnutrition.  He ate one meal every other day.   After running away from an abusive father, he became a boy of the streets--doing odd jobs for scraps of food.  It wasn't until he became a sponsored child receiving food, education, and medical care that he dared to hope for reaching another birthday.

I DO have  a warm bed, air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter, food in the fridge and pantry, a loving family and a loving God.  From now on I will be writing out a Do Have list and remembering to thank the Heavenly Father who has bless me with so much.

Karate Tournament

Every since Upwards basketball ended I've been looking for a sport where Schnickelfritz can get exercise, meet other kids, and just have fun.  Being the little competitor that he is, winning awards isn't a bad thing either.  As the weather turns warmer we'll start orienteering again, but until the end of the school year (the public school where the class is offered) he'll be taking Tae Kwon Do.

Today was his first tournament.  I hesitated to sign him up because I didn't think he would be ready.  He insisted because without participating in a tournament his next belt color would carry a white stripe.  He really applied himself over the last two weeks, practicing his forms and how he would approach the judges every day.  Granny came out and she, the Toolman and I formed his little cheering section.

 

Here he is prepared for sparring.  Although punches to the face are illegal, I chose headgear with a face mask so he could concentrate on what he was doing and not worry that a misplaced punch might know out one of his two loose teeth.

Here he is in front of the judges and his hard work pays off.  In a large gym with several rings going at once the other competitors couldn't be heard over the din.  Fritz makes a good first impression and the judges know his name style and form.  Another boy's instructor apparently forgot to cover what's expected at a tournament and he stood there and said "What now?"  When he couldn't answer any question but his name the judges politely suggested he just bow and take his seat.

Here's the big finish.  Fritz got first place for his forms.  Not only will he not bear the burden of a white-striped belt, but his instructor promised all first place winners would automatically move up to the next belt color.

Parental Rights Amendment

If you follow any national news these days you are aware that people are literally dying in the streets fighting to have a voice against oppressive governments.  That thought was not lost on me as I peacefully drove two miles to attend a "town hall" meeting organized by our local Tea Party.  In attendance were three state representatives and one state senator.  They each gave brief introductions covering where their districts were and on which committees they sit.  The majority of the time was spent listening to their constituents and answering their questions.

The people raised several concerns--not accepting the dangling carrot of federal dollars (and the jumping through hoops that follow), a proposed bill requiring a prescription to obtain the pills used to make meth, unemployment, and so on.  Since I had recently seen the documentary "The Child,"  I was interested in Parental Rights.  No one on the panel was aware of the proposed Parental Rights Amendment.  I briefly explained the dangers of the United States ratifying the Treaty on the Rights of the Child and asked if anyone would sponsor a resolution in favor of the PRA.   The senator and one representative was extremely interested.  I followed up with an email linking them to ParentalRights.org.

I was surprised how good it felt knowing I was heard by those elected to represent me.  I saw them writing notes as I spoke.  I received an email from my state senator this morning thanking me for my attendance and follow up message.  We'll see where this leads.  I'm just glad I overcame my fear of public speaking and let my voice be heard.

Where are you when we need you Amy Dacyczyn?

Gas prices have gone up 50 cents per gallon in a month, Walmart has raised the price on apple juice by the same amount, and last week I saw a head of lettuce the size of a softball selling for $2 at my local grocery.  I knew it was time to whip out my copies of the Tightwad Gazette.  It's funny to see how many articles are obsolete these days--no one worries about writing a letter vs making a long distance call anymore.  Now we have email or free long distance calling plans on cell phones.  I am putting more effort into creating a price book, that is keeping track of sales prices and frequencies of items I tend to purchase.  I'm using an excel spreadsheet I found free online.  I can type in items straight from the register tape or the sales flyer and then sort by item and price to see who has the best deal on juice for example.  Since meat is probably the most expensive category, I'm focusing on that now, but adding pantry staples as I have the chance to browse aisles.  No one has ever stopped me to ask what I'm doing with pen and paper in hand, I guess they assume I'm crossing off a grocery list.  I'll be adding prices from the farmer's markets as they start up this spring.

A second area I chose to focus on from The Tightwad Gazette was learning new money-saving skills.  Last Sunday my husband, The Toolman, had a hankerin' for some KFC.  Since we had been running errands in the town where that was located, we stopped through the drive-thru for an 8 piece meal deal.  Up till now, I've always considerred this a reasonable deal because our family of three can make it last for at least two meals.  This time as I looked at the $21 receipt, I thought about what made up the price.  Looking in my price book I know I could buy:

2 Cans of green beans --- $1.18

10 pounds Potatoes ---  $2.99  (the 2 or 3 potatoes to equal what I received were probably worth 40 cents)

1 Roasting Chicken ---$7.99 

That's $9.57 for an equivelnt amount of food.   That means I'm paying someone else  over 10 dollars for their knowledge of how to fry chicken.  And I keep repaying them every time we stop there.  True,  they use a pressure fryer which I don't have but I think I can make up for that by not having my food sit under a heat lamp until it's sold.  So my first goal is to learn how to make a good fried chicken.  Anyone with a good recipe?  Please leave a comment.