~ Chicken Noodle Soup, Monday, September 27, 2010 ~

A cool, rainy day...the first in a very long time! How blessed I am to be at home taking care of myself and mine. Luckily, I went to Earth Fare last night, so we are all stocked up on good things to eat. No errands to run, no commitments outside of the home to fulfill. I started my Chicken Noodle Soup in the crock pot early, so the ingredients can get nice and happy together by dinner time. I am trying to imitate the Chicken Noodle Soup at the Earth Fare deli,with only the ingredients, no exact measurements. I am going to have to play with it. This is what I used: 2 lbs chicken breast, 2 Earth Fare organic chicken broth, carrots, peas, white onion & 3 garlic cloves pureed, celery, 1 pkg. Bionaturae Traditional Egg Pasta, 4 bay leaves, 1 tsp ground cloves, sea salt & mixed up salt to taste. The boys and I loved it. Mike loved it, but called the clove taste "distracting." He is not accustomed to real herbs in home-made soup. His style before me was canned soup. I was able to freeze 3 portions this time, so next time I will double the recipe so that I can freeze a greater quantity for the cold days ahead. I named my blog post Chicken Noodle Soup, because A) if I lose my recipe, I can pull it up on my blog, and B) it's my blog, so I can name it what I want!



I forced the husband to take a shot of Master Tonic when he came home for lunch. The noises he makes when and after he takes it are hilarious...UGH! UGH! Ugh. UGH!....etc...It's like...he's having sex with a pig or something? Such a wimp. He refuses to admit that it is helping him. I think, because, his Mother is a nurse and he has been brain-washed to depend on pharmaceuticals, and because he is a man and doesn't WANT to be well, he wants to embrace his sick time and whine and be fussed over. He did enjoy his Soothing Throat hot tea with raw honey, between Master Tonic burps. If he truly wanted to be well, he would stop smoking. (I love you bunches, honey.)



The boys and I read Chapter 2 of Corn Raid. Both boys were wiggling around and appeared to be distracted and uninterested, which really pissed me off, but when I finished the Chapter and asked them questions, they were able to tell me everything that happened in detail. SO, the problem was just my ego. We started to take a nap, but then Cassidy called from school. Everyone was rushed to the halls, because a tornado touched down in York County. Josiah was fired up then, so a nap was not going to happen.


I have been working bit by bit on getting the carpet cleaned, since the husband has made little effort to make the all-wood floors happen. (Love you bunches, honey!) Cats, dogs, kids, and people not taking their shoes off have wreaked havoc. It looks a lot better now, but carpet is still nasty, IMO, and it is beyond me why anyone would choose to have it. I had a dream about us moving into a new house the other night, perhaps this is a hint that something is on the market now that would suit us? When I would have time to resume the search is beyond me, with soccer, scouts, home schooling, cooking, cleaning, socializing, Mike's band endeavors, 3 kiddos, 17 pets, 1 husband, and the list goes on.





I am enjoying Moll Flanders, but it just chaps my ass the way men have been such pigs forever and it is acceptable, but women are held to different standards. Also the role money plays in how one is respected or not. Some things have changed, but these things remain the same today, in my opinion. It's interesting that as the boys and I are reading Corn Raid, I am reading Moll Flanders, both around the 1600's, both full of the same abuse. Of course, Corn Raid is for kiddos, so I'm sure it's not going to mention it, but I'm sure that Laydon is raping the girl servant, Susan. We should all be so lucky to be alive in this day and time.




One of the pups took a nap under the grill.....Look at his ears hanging down!!!

 Josiah made a clay model of the City of Nashville...it was pretty darn cute. The Tye-Died, because they mix all the colors as soon as they open the packs, but still very cute and creative! The thingys that look like bowels are the roads, he says.

Sam got the red paint and wounded some of the Civil War soldiers. He made a display of the battle, and pulled all of the Civil War books, "..so when Shaimeek comes over, I will teach him all about the Civil War...." Is this Unschooling History, or an 8 year old doing PG-13? ;)

I tried Fresh Yerba Mate Organic Mocha Mint hot tea today...Mmmmm....

~ Saturday, September 25, 2010 ~

Several weeks ago, the ex-MIL asked if the weekend of September 25th would be the boy's visitation with Dad. Apparently this is where my ex-husband got his scheduling skills. I check my calendar and tell her no, it will not. She says her company is having their family picnic that Saturday, and she was going to take the boys if it was visitation weekend. I tell her that we don't have anything on the calendar the day, and that I would be happy to let her take them. Fast forward to FRIDAY the 24th and I have not one confirmation or logistics detail from her. So *I* call her. I finally work out time & details Saturday morning. Are you bringing them to the house? Um, no, the house is 1.5 hours away from my house, the location of the picnic is .5 hours from me. Are you picking them up at the house? Um, no. Again, 1.5 > .5. Soo...I meet her at the park and her car is full, so I'm wondering how in the hell she intended to safely and legally transport my children if I brought them "to the house" and picked them up "from the house." The echoes were so loud on my way to take Cassidy dinner at work, that I went into a full-blown panic attack. Sooo, if we did it YOUR way, I would sacrifice 4 hours traveling, half a tank of gas on me, all so you can endanger my children's lives on the highway. I had just enough time to take Cassidy her food and go in one store, pick up a shoe and look at it, and ex-MIL calls that they are done at the picnic. Shortest shopping trip ever, Mike should be pleased. I know they love the boys, but they have no idea how to interact and connect, just like the ex-husband. They also have no concern with things such as car seats and seat belts and precious cargo, ALSO just like the ex-husband. (Sigh) The boys seemed to have had a great time, so it's all good.




I took the boys to watch Mike's band play their first set. Sam accidentally bopped into one of the flimsy plastic patio tables and spilled one of the drunk granny's beer all over her. He said I'm sorry maam and we bought her another beer, but I think it was the Universe telling Granny she might want to slow down, it's just 830pm. I was so happy to see Dee & Carson, but also relieved to be able to leave before 9pm, sober, and with the great excuse of having my kiddos. They are playing this particular bar one more time I think. I will be happy to move on, as there is a bad energy there that I can't quite put my finger on.




The boys and I headed to Scarowinds. Josiah insisted ALL DAY LONG that he wanted to go and that he was NOT afraid. He did great! We went through Cornstalkers and the Dead Inn. We got to see Cassidy and take a pic with her and her monster!

We watched the theater show, Fangs, and it was AWESOME! A little racy, with adult humor! If you go to Scarowinds...GO SEE IT! I am not going to talk about the incident that occurred with Captain Redneck before we went into the theater, because I am ready to forget about it. It really makes me worry about kiddos, especially teens, being out in the world alone. It makes me sad that some people get all the way to adulthood and still don't get it. A great family day, though, despite the brief drama!

~ Friday, September 24, 2010 ~

The boys and I had Starbucks for "brunch." Sam was doing his Math in the back seat, so he had to let the lady working the drive-thru window know that he is a home schooler and that he is doing Multiplication. As it turns out, she was home schooled and so were her siblings. She was finished with high school at 16 and in dual enrollment. She is about to graduate with her Bachelor's from Winthrop this year. I really do hate that Cassidy chose to waste her time in public school :(



We headed to Discovery Place. Surprise! It was nearly deserted! Yay! There IS something good about schools after all! We had a really great time. They have two live Western Hog-Nosed Snakes now! 


 We did Life Cycles, which we are already fans of, but Discovery Place has some sets that we don't have, such as the Praying Mantis, Beetle, and the Ant.

We enjoyed a demonstration about Phosphor, What's Glowing On, which included Van Gogh's Starry Night in Phosporus Paint and an Emperor Scorpion. Guess what? Our TEETH contain phosphorus, which make them glow when exposed to flourescent light! Of course, both of my "unsocialized" unschoolers were jumping at the bit to be a volunteer. Sam did the teeth, Josiah did the glow swabs. 

We learned about the Roll, Pitch, Yaw of airplanes. I researched it to see if we could dig deeper into the subject, but I'm not sure we are ready for Trigonometry just yet. I may introduce some basic Trig just to gauge interest, as there is little rhyme & reason for order of curriculum in traditional schooling. Maybe build something that has an angle and show how you could calculate the length of a side of it, etc. 






The boys and I spotted a Puffer Fish that had gotten "stuck" in some of the coral reef in the tank, so we notified an employee and stayed by to witness the rescue. I'm not sure if the fish will make it, because it was very much in shock once released. There is no telling how long it had been there. There were people that viewed the tank as we stood there and didn't even notice that the fish was stuck. Why? Because it's rush, rush, rush.

Cassidy and Mike worked all night, so the boys and I had dinner at Wing King Cafe. We were on our way home and spotted Shaimeek walking down the main road. We stopped and he said he had just come from our house. I told him to hop in. No one noticed me picking up a kid off the side of the road. Anyway, I lay on a towel in the front yard reading my book while the boys played on the skate ramps. After Shaimeek went home, the boys and I turned in early.

~ Thursday, September 23, 2010 ~

Sam got out the Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: Build Implements of Spitball Warfare book out last night and made a Clothespin Catapult. He couldn't find any glue sticks to put in the glue gun, so he used Elmer's. I'm not sure it's going to hold up, but I love that he took the initiative. I didn't even know he was doing it until he brought me the finished catapult.

Josiah had Home School Hair all day today....







Today we were a bit stagnant today, so I started the Jamestown's American Portraits series. The Corn Raid: A Story of the Jamestown Settlement. We cuddled on my bed (A Mom sandwich. Mom in the middle, one boy on each side.) and I read aloud (Sam could absolutely read this book, no problem, but I read with fantastic inflection, so I thought it best for me to read, especially for Josiah to be able to get into the story.) We finished the first chapter, and it was a big hit. The boys were shocked and appalled that in the 1600's, young, poor boys were brought over to America from England to be servants, and were whipped by their masters. We had to stop and look at the map in our "classroom" to get an idea of the location of the Jamestown settlement and of England. Wow! The servant boy came a long way across the ocean. Their eyes got big and they moved as close to me as they could get in excited anticipation as the confrontation between the twelve year old servant and the Indian boy who stole his hoe escalated.







We read from Read Aloud Spooky Stories, Little Orphant Annie, as well as The Canterville Ghost, then took a long nap. We are SO ready for Halloween!

Cassidy bought me flowers with her OWN money, and as she handed them to me, she said, "Thank you for being my Mommy!"








Sam and Mike went to soccer practice while Josiah and I stayed home and made baked spaghetti. Fresh mozzarella, grass-fed beef, my special sauce...dark green salads....Udi's garlic toast....YUM, YUM!

 A wonderful surprise: I got a text from friends from high school to meet for drinks in Gastonia. One friend was here from Missouri, and I have not seen her in twenty years! It was such a great time! We had so many laughs. I got home at 4AM!!! (Thank God for that two hour nap earlier;)






I am sooo into the Sue Grafton books now. "S" is for Silence is awesome!

~ Tuesday, September 21, 2010 ~

We did Car schooling today (Math & Language Arts Workbooks) on our way to meet friends for Slime in the Park (Science):

"Now for the SCIENCE part.... This POLYMER is unique because it has qualities of both a solid and a liquid. It can take the shape of its containers like a liquid does, yet you can hold it in your hand and pick it up like a solid. As you might know, solid molecules are tight together, liquid molecules spread out and break apart (drops) POLYMER molecules CHAIN themselves together (they can stretch and bend like chains) and that makes them special. Jell-O, rubber bands, plastic soda bottles, sneaker soles, even gum are all forms of polymers. The polymer you made should be kept in a sealed plastic bag when you aren't playing with it. Also, be sure to keep it away from young kids or pets who might think it's food. Have fun!" http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/polymer.php

Sam and his friend also started an impressive acorn collection. Nice, big acorns, not the teeny ones. Being an Unschooling Mom, I will be finding out what type of tree those nice, big acorns grow on.




We had scouts.
Scout leader ~ "Who has a pet?"
(hands go up)
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 1 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 2 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 3 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 4 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"

SAM ~ "Let's see...", (Puts up both hands to count on fingers), " FIVE dogs, TWO cats, ONE turtle, SEVEN fish, TWO hermit crabs, and ONE guinea pig....." 

~ Town Creek Indian Mound Historical Site, June 2010 ~

We took a field trip to Town Creek Indian Mound Historical Site located  in Mt. Gilead, NC. This was probably Cassidy's last Summer "free" to hang out with the family, so I dragged her along with us everywhere before the imminent age of sixteen swept her away to driving, a job commitment, etc. She wasn't exactly thrilled about most of it, but ended up having a good time anyway. She didn't "get it", how it is a sad time for a Mom, but she played the "Last Summer" game for me.

We LOVE Maps! Every place we visit, we must collect & study maps!

Mound

Midget Doors!

My boys LOVE these boys!

Pee-Dee River

The things we were most fascinated by about the Pee-Dee Indians would be the mysteries surrounding their disappearance, the many human burials on the property, and their burial rituals. The boys watched the Mortuary Exhibit over and over. The Indians are burying a three year old child in the exhibit. It is very haunting. I would urge anyone to visit the site and read the history of these people.

~ Duralia Saint Patrick's Day Feast, Wednesday, March 17, 2010 ~

I love to celebrate cultures, and I had this idea for Saint Patrick's Day brewing for a while, but waited until the last minute to purchase the Corned Beef Brisket, and Earth Fare was all sold out. I settled for Bangers & Mash instead. I scored some cute hats and other Irish decor at Target. It was irritating that not one book about Saint Patrick's could be found anywhere locally on Saint Patrick's Day. Not the library, not Books-A-Million, nowhere! No luck with finding shamrock plants as well! Since, we have found two nice books to add to our Irish Culture collection, so next Saint Patties Day, we will not be in the same pickle! We had our Irish feast, laughed, and talked about the history of Saint Patrick's Day and Irish culture. The boys were most fascinated by the legend of the "snakes":


"Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island^[47] , though all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes;^[48] one suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in Gaul (see Carnutes), or that it could have referred to beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolised as “serpents”.^{[citation needed][when?]} Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of 'three divine persons in the one God' (as opposed to the Arian belief that was popular in Patrick's time).<sup>[when?]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick




We have most definitely started a family tradition!</sup>