Home Cooking

Charlie and I have made some pretty lofty travel plans for the next couple of years. In order for those things to actually happen (and keep our no credit card rule) we have to save a lot of money.

The most logical way for us to do this is to stop eating out so much. I would be pretty embarrassed to tell you how much we eat out. Though if you looked at me, you might have an idea that it's pretty often. I figure the best way to make this work is for me to fall in love with cooking. I already love to eat so this should be a no-brainer. I'm going to be posting some of the recipes that I try on my blog. Let me know if you try them or if you have some you think I'd like.

Last week I made Pioneer Woman's Sherried Tomato Soup Oh my, this was so good and super fast. Even Benjamin and Bradley ate it! I didn't add the sherry. It took me about 5 minutes to even find the sherry at the grocery store (I'm not a drinker) and then I decided I didn't want to pay that much for an optional ingredient. Now that I know this recipe is a keeper for my family I may give the sherry a try. We don't eat many leftovers but we have finished this. So, so good!

On New Years Eve I was going to make Potato Skins at 10:00 p.m. but that never happened. I decided to make those along with the soup. These were a hit too. Aside from having to bake the potatoes it was a pretty fast fix too. Potato Skins would make a great after school snack. You could even lower the fat content by skipping the bacon and using lowfat sour cream and cheese. If you're in to that sort of thing. I'm not.

Last but certainly not least - Cinnamon Rolls. I love a recipe that makes a large quantity so I can stock my freezer. This recipe will give you 40-50 rolls that you can share with your friends or freeze. I found that letting the dough sit in the fridge over night makes rolling and forming the roll more manageable. I used a little less butter and sugar in the filling and they were plenty sweet. Do yourself a favor and make these tomorrow.

All of these recipes came from my Pioneer Woman Cookbook. She has tons of recipes on her website as well. Just today she posted a White Chili recipe that I think I'm going to try soon. Pretty useful - that Pioneer Woman!

(I have no idea why my fonts and text size changes in these posts. Or why that top paragraph is indented and centered. I can't figure out how to change it. *ugh*)

Chandy Makeover

The dining room in our house has a nice little chandelier that was circa early 1990's and gold. Yep, gold. Enough said, right? We finally got around to painting the room (applesauce cake) and it became even more evident that something had to be done about the chandy. Replacing it is not an option right now. Besides, it has good bones. I picked up a can a spray paint. Hung the light by a tree limb and started spraying. Here's how it turned out:

I LOVE it so much! I need to figure out what to do about the candle covers. They are pretty cheap to replace but I don't know what color to use. I've seen someone around blog land recently that covered theirs in scrapbook paper. I might try that. I'm also considering little shades. I decided leaving the jewelry off for now. Having the chandy cream kind of made the jewels blend in too much.

I'm glad I tried the spray paint instead of replacing the light. Spray paint really is your friend!

The Plan

I've got the general plan for the 2009-2010 school year. Blake is going into 7th grade at the Public School. Since we've moved he'll be one of the "new kids". He's made a few friends in the neighborhood though so it won't be that bad. He started football camp this week and boy is he CUTE in the uniform. Growing so fast!

Brooke is coming back home for the third grade. We'll be somewhat following a Classical approach to homeschooling. It seems to work well for us.

Math - We'll be using Singapore. This will be new to us but my husband (the mathematician- not really but he is in this family) helped me research several math programs. He was really impressed with the mental math approach. He always impresses me with his mental math abilities so we'll go with it.

Spelling - We're using SpellWell. Judging by the samples, she is going to love this. Spelling is one of her favorite subjects.

English and Writing - Rod and Staff English 3. Their English is top notch in my opinion. It's very thorough.

Science - Zoology 1 Exploring Creation Series - Just ordered the Experiment Supply kit from CreationSenesation today. Those experiments actually get done when I don't have to find obscure items or empty out my mayonnaise jar to get it done!

Penmanship - We'll finish up her Zaner-Bloser book that she didn't finish in public school last year. When she finishes that we'll order the next one in the series.

History - We're using Truth Quest American History Exploration-1800's. We'll read lots of great books and do some notebooking, narrating, map work and maybe some lapbooking too. We're using This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall as our spine.

Reading - We'll be reading lots of literature from the period of History that we're studying. Lots of discussion and narrating.

I'd like to add some Latin and Art to the mix later in the year. She'll be spending more time on her Figure Skating as well.

I will be working with Benjamin on Reading and Writing (Zaner-Bloser) and Math. For math we'll just use library math books. After Christmas I'll re-evaluate and see if he's ready for a more formal math program. Benjamin will kind of tag along with Brooke on Science and History but I think he'll end up playing monster truck with Bradley during that time!

We're going to follow the public school schedule (minus the snow days!). That puts us starting on August 26th. Just a few weeks left of summer!

14 years ago today

That's me on the right, my best friend Michelle on the left. We're still friends. I'm posting this picture because we graduated 14 years ago today. Go Warriors! Time flies when you're having fun. Amazingly, she still looks the same. I do not.

Here's What We've Been Up To...

Meet Christy, our new house.  Our FIRST house.  We began seriously looking right after Christmas.  We were with our realtor every.single.week through March when we finally found this one.  She has everything on our wishlist except a finished basement - which we can do when we save up the cash (read- never).  We'll use the basement for storage, winter play and of course, my main reason for wanting a basement, storm shelter.

Christy is 16 years old.  A little older than we had wanted but just a few cosmetic upgrades and she'll  be perfect.  So far, we painted the family room and the kitchen, had all new appliances delivered, removed wallpaper in the dining room, taped off the living room and foyer for paint, and met all the nieghbors. 

I can't wait to move.  We're waiting until school is out since it's a different district than the house we are renting.  We can't wait to get moved, find our church home and put down some roots here.  So much has changed this past year.  The Lord certainly answers prayers but sometimes in ways we never would have imagined or even chosen.  Good thing He knows what's best for us!

Speaking of change, I believe I will be homeschooling Brooke, Benjamin and Bradley next year.  I've missed it so much.  Brooke has enjoyed school and has done exceptionally well (which really calmed my homeschooling fears - nothing like success to feel validated) but she says she would rather be homeschooled.  Blake, on the other hand, really wants to stay in school.  He, too, is doing great.  I wish he would have the desire to come back home but I suppose 6 years at home with mom is enough.  I'm excited to get back to it with the younger ones though.  It gives me something to do during the day!

I guess that it's for an update.  I'll probably be posting a lot about the house and all the work we're doing to make it our own.  

Now, tell me - Do you name your house?