The Best Laid Plans!

I had every intention of putting up a nice post about my informal home school with my little 'un but as always my best intentions were put aside. Family just up and showed up in the middle of the week and will be here until this weekend. Then one of our tribesmen had a personal crisis and needed my counsel. All in all life just plain got int the way with my plans to post on my blog for awhile. However, whining aside, here is what I planned to post a week ago:

My Home Schooling:

1 hour a day of reading and looking at books (I break this up into 15-30 minute periods of time throughout the day)

1 Hour of mommy and me playtime

1 hour of independent play (at least thats what I am working up to)

10 minutes of chores each day

30 minutes of music

30 minutes of working with numbers

1-2 fun time activities

Now what do I mean by fun time activities? Well this is things that little 'un likes to do either by himself or with me. Coloring, playing with clay, running around outside, going to the library looking at books on his own, dancing/listening to some extra music (tapes or the radio), having a play date, going to story time, visiting family ect. This is what gives him a well rounded finish to his day. This ensures that he has a lot of things to keep him busy during the day and his attention will not waver.

That being said onto the next topic! My garden is right now overflowing with good stuff to eat! I did everything wrong and it still came out alright, in fact it is better than alright! I am very exited and cannot wait until next year when I will have more time to devote to the care and keeping of my garden. It might even get weeded more than once! Now that I know what does well in my soil and what doesn't I expect next year to be an even more bountiful harvest. Plans are in the works for a list of things to grow next year which if my best intentions are not thwarted again should be showing up on this blog in the not too distant future!

Long time no see!

Well I have been busy yet bored all this week. I am working on a post about my informal homeschooling schedule which should be posted by tomorrow! Nothing fancy but keep an eye out for it!

A Giveaway!

Yay! It's a wacky and wonderful giveaway from Mrs. B over at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom! This time around it is a lovely art tile of a flying kitchen witch by Brigid Ashwood. Very pretty and it almost makes me want to get a Twitter account just so I can get some extra entries. I really want to win this one. Hubby and I are renovating the kitchen in a few weeks and I would love to add this to our plans! I would say that anyone reading this should go check it out but then I would have more competition and well... I WANNA WIN IT!

Bits and Pieces

Well we celebrated Lughnasadh over the weekend with a few friends, grilling playing games and just generally enjoying the first harvest from my garden. I harvested enough basil to dry for winter and also made some herbal oils for cooking and ritual workings. Plus lots of very hot peppers and cucumber. I will wait until fall to pick some for pickling right now we are just going to enjoy them as they are. Little 'un and I were outside and running around before the flowers woke up that morning and we listened to the wind chimes and picked flowers (Queen Anne's lace one of my favorites!) and visited our fairy tree. The tree was nice enough to part with a leaf so that I could press and dry it and when fall comes and the leaves start to change color I can show little 'un how the seasons change. Then later that night after everyone else had gone to bed I did my normal solitary ritual in my little grove of elder trees. Very productive I thought and very soothing.

Little 'un still has a nasty cough leftover from his cold and can't seem to get over it. I'm giving him lots of extra baths still but he's back to his over active self. Though he isn't above an "I Love You" shouting match now and then. My poor kitten Bast has done something nasty to her eye and won't open it anymore, I will have to take her to the vets sometime soon.

And I would also like to leave you with some new things I have learned:

1. Despite my frustration with life sometimes I am really grateful for a lot of things in my life here is the list in no real order:

Crickets

Thunderstorms

Rain

Sun

Moon

Health

Family and friends

Stars

Trees

Grass

Flowers

Animals of all shapes and sizes

Books

Music

Food

2. Apparently waffles make me fat, I removed them from my diet and lost weight. I however did not exercise and ate more fast food than I care to admit to all while enjoying a reasonable amount of soda. So eating healthier isn't really necessary I just have to cut out carbs as much as possible.

3. Heres the thing, that is almost impossible for me I love bread, and muffins and cookies and potatoes and pasta. At least I can have whole wheat crackers and pasta but not potatoes and waffles and I have to start making that awful tasting honey whole wheat bread instead of my favorite Italian. This makes me a little sad.

Ohh the Excitement!

Well we had quite the excitement today when a local bank was robbed and an armed and dangerous man was running around. As a matter of fact he is still at this time on the lose although they do have some idea where he is and they now know who he is, thanks to his accomplice ratting him out and all. A police officer was shot in the leg, but is expected to make a full recovery. I am thankful that we have a dedicated and well trained police force to protect us! We are still on lock down and this is just a reminder that we need to replace our doors soon so that we can lock our doors while not making it a completely inconvenient thing to do. Our keys somehow do not work on our doors so we cannot lock them without someone being in the house to let us in again.

In other less exciting news little 'un has had a nasty cold most of the week and my house cleaning has fallen on the wayside to take care of him. I am glad he likes baths because I have been giving him one everyday and locking us in the bathroom with the humidifier to clear out his awful congestion. Poor thing his chest hurts so much from coughing that he cries every time he needs to cough, totally ruins his day. Lots of cuddles and extra story time on mommy's lap for comforting. I am hoping that he will be well enough tomorrow so that we can keep our weekly play date, he looks forward to it all week and so do I! The heat has been so bad lately that we have become quite reclusive.

On another note a friend of the family is giving us some of her canning supplies so that the produce that had taken over our garden will not go to waste. She also teaches a canning class up at the Cooperative Extension and I am planning on going asap so I can learn how to properly use the stuff she is giving me. We'll be putting our root cellar to good use!

Yes I am still Alive!

Had another ruckus weekend with friends all while trying to juggle family responsibilities! Friday we had relatives from out of State come by to see the house because they hadn't seen it yet. So I was in a frenzy to clean the entire house and make it look nice. Had an almost relaxed Saturday, because of the frenzy on Friday there wasn't anything to do around the house, but we did run a few errands in the morning before it got too hot.

Sunday we went up to the Renaissance Fair in Sterling with a dozen of our friends or so. This has been a tradition for the last five years or so, we go in costume like the total geeks we are! This year I really tried and wanted to get there for the opening because I had never seen it and since I had seen everything else there a million times I wanted to see that too! Well to make a long story short we were all too unorganized to actually get out the door in time so we ended up missing it again. Ahh well we might be going back this year and if not there is always next year. I did finally get something I have wanted for the last 8 years or so....A Boudran which for anyone who doesn't know what that is it is a drum of Irish origin. Being a Kitchen Witch and all I am now able to properly drum in circle to raise energy, which is what I did last night to celebrate the full moon! I was also able to discuss with the maker of the drums and got a free lesson on how to play from her. Awesome!

Here is the website that she and her husband run:

www.fireomearth.com

To-Do List!

I forgot about it yesterday so here it is today's to-do list!

Get me and little 'un dressed

Feed cat and give them fresh water

Clean glass on china cabinet, French doors, front, and back doors, and all mirrors.

2 loads of laundry

15 minute project; today I emptied a box that has been a catch all for my junk.

Dust

Wipe down table and counter tops

Give little 'un a bath

Go grocery shopping

Make Dinner and do the dishes

Help little 'un pick up all his books and toys before bed

Not that much today, Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be my take it easy days so that I am ready for the craziness of the rest of the week! This is stuff that isn't necessarily things that I do on a daily basis like read to little 'un or feed him or work on potty training.