To Do

Trying to get back into a full school schedule this week after visiting with extended family for a couple of weeks so that means lots of catch up work in addition to everything else.  I have a couple of children who are almost finished with math books and we are in the final stages of our American history studies.  Jackson is doing well with his phonics instruction and met a big goal last week, so tomorrow we get to go to Barnes and Noble for a treat and to pick out a new book!  Exciting for both of us.

We also have one child with an orthodontist appointment this week after our usual piano lessons.  A overnight visit from one of my sisters tonight, dentist appointments for five of us on Thursday and an appointment with a hog and a butcher that morning.  Needless to say, we have lots going on this week.

I thought I would make things a little more challenging for myself by adding in the following extra kitchen work:

-make and can applesauce (taking advantage of some fabulous prices on apples)
-dehydrating apples
-dehydrating figs
-making granola
-making up 2-3 pans of dressing  Devin decided to make the dressing!
-making up 2-3 pans of squash casserole
-making up 2-3 pans of cranberry/apple casserole    My mother-in-law is making this dish!
-making sauerkraut
- harvest basil seeds
-apple cakes
-sweet potato pies
-chocolate chess pies

Yes, I overplan!!  Wonder how much we'll actually accomplish?  Stay tuned this week to find out!

homesteadrevival.blogspot.com

Our Weekend and a Preview of the Week

Friday night I made chicken fajita nachos and a delicious corn/avocado dip for dinner. Yummy! I have made this dip twice and added some of the last of our home-grown tomatoes from the garden to the recipe. Basically, you open and drain a can of white corn, chop up a large avocado or two small ones, add 1/2 diced purple onion, chopped tomato, a little salt and pepper and the juice of one lime. The original recipe came from The Pioneer Woman. Most of her recipes are terrific and this one was as well. I hope there is still some for my lunch tomorrow. If not, I will have to make up a quick batch.

After dinner, we had a quick visit from Lauren, James and the babies. A time of talking and playing with the little ones and then they were back in the van for the drive home. Saturday, Lauren drove back up with Eli and two of her friends to meet Devin for some girl time. At home, I cooked a little for the freezer--several flavors of chicken strips, shredded chicken for quick fajitas, and chili. Did a ton of laundry, went through all the clothes in my closet and eliminated many...I am getting ruthless about clothing...If I haven't worn it in one season out it goes (unless I was pregnant, that is!). Now my closet is only half full and I do need to shop for a few new outfits. I love shopping for bargains, but have found that bargains don't necessarily mean that I have a nice wardrobe. I may have to spend more that a couple of bucks for a new top. Looking online yesterday, I found very little that I liked and what I liked was way out of my spending range. And have you noticed that the rugby shirts from the 70s and the ruffles from the early 80s are back? I have read that if you wore a style once, you shouldn't wear it when it comes back again. I don't think you'll see me in rugby, ruffles or flannel plaids or any combination of the three!!

Saturday was also our wedding anniversary.... 26 years!! Jeff could write a book on marriage to a difficult woman!! He is a very patient husband and I am so very thankful that God puts us together and has been the glue that has KEPT us together all these years. I look forward to the next 26 years. A couple of years ago, Jeff started planning a trip to New England for our 25th anniversary, but instead I was within 2-3 weeks of delivering our surprise baby, Caedmon!! What a great 25th anniversary gift he was!! Last night we enjoyed a great dinner at The Olive Garden (with Caedmon). We have eaten there several times and have never regretted our choice. I had the shrimp and chicken carbonara after filling up on breadsticks, salad, stuffed mushrooms and fried ravioli. I took a couple of bites of my carbonara and then had it boxed up to bring home. When we got home the children were watching the Netflix movie that had come in...Jimmy Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner. This is the movie that You've Got Mail was based on and it was good. Jeff and I watched the end with the children and then, after they were in the bed, watched the beginning.

Today we went to church, had lunch and came home to a nice, quiet rainy afternoon. I even got a short nap while some of the older children watched Caedmon. I caved in to Aaron's request for chili cheese tator tots for a Sunday night dinner. However, he was in the bed with a migraine due to something he ate at lunch and didn't feel up to eating!! Not sure that I will do this dinner again. He can just get some as a special treat from Sonic! Soggy tator tots are just not that appealing to me, but then crispy ones aren't either!! After dinner cleanup and baths, Kaelan and I played a game of Scrabble Apple then it was time for devotions and bed for the children.

This week we will continue with our Bible study, catechism, English from the Roots Up and math schedule, but we will be catching up on our reading of Carry On, Mr, Bowditch, The World of Columbus and Sons, and Martin Rattler. We also need to start a biography of Jim Elliott and catch up on our history , geography and individual reading and writing. We have a trip to town Tuesday afternoon, church Wednesday evening and our homeschool support group's fall cookout Friday night. I have been gathering door prizes for this event and have some great gifts. I can't wait to see who receives them. It's been almost as much fun as Christmas!!

Hope you all have a blessed week!

Our Weekend and a Preview of the Week

Friday evening Jeff and I took some of the children with us to the monthly flea market here in town. We generally go to the flea market about one time a year and I am sure that there have been some years that we haven't gone at all, but we were really in the mood for a funnel cake! As we were walking around it occurred to me that there are really some "different" kinds of people in the world, aren't there? In the first building we found a booth selling homemade goats' milk soap and lotion and bought several bars and a bottle of lotion. The family who runs this business is a Christian homeschool family who live about an hour from us. I am hoping the soap will help clear up some of our eczema. Alas, we found no funnel cakes so we went home with our supply of soap.

Saturday found us climbing in the attic to bring down our fall decorations. Last year at this time I was 8 1/2 months pregnant and REFUSED to decorate the house for fall as I didn't want to climb around hanging garland leaves and displaying all of our turkey platters, etc. only to take it down and decorate for Christmas with a very young baby. The family was not happy about my decision and told me several times that it didn't seem like fall or Thanksgiving last year without our decorations. Many who know me IRL know that I love fall and have decorated our home for many years beginning in September. Well, I am NOT pregnant this year and I am proud to say that fall has come to Chambleeville. I even discovered new garlands that I had purchased after Thanksgiving two years ago to replace the older ones. Jeff and I then ran some errands with Caedmon in tow. First stop was Big Lots where I told Jeff I wanted to go to pick up a housewarming gift for some new friends. I knew they would have a great selection of fall decorations and I was SO right!! Got the housewarming gift, but also added a couple of new items for our decorating. In fact, I am going to go back tomorrow as I see a couple of bare spots that "need" to be filled with some of the items I saw at Big Lots. After Big Lots we were on to Hobby Lobby where we gazed at more fall decorations (but left them there) and purchased soap making supplies that I will use tonight at our Keepers of the Home meeting. Sam's was our last stop for the day where Jeff particularly enjoyed the samples. I was hurrying to get through Sam's as usual as we had already had a "when are you coming home" call from home. Every time I turned around Jeff was stopped at a sample display. So funny! I prepared a pasta dinner Saturday night and made up a recipe for spinach alfredo that was delicious!!

Sunday found most of the Chamblees in church. Devin had been sick for most of the week, so we thought she should stay at home. She and I tag team keeping Caedmon during the services, so Caedmon and I stayed home as well as I would have missed the services any way. I was able to spend some time in prayer and enjoyed working and praying through the day as things were mainly quiet. I have recently begun cleaning our floors with a bucket of sudsy water and a rag on my hands and knees. Since I am already there it's a good time to spend in prayer!! And I noticed it's much easier to clean the baseboards this way as well. I also got our school week planned to the "t". Jeff asked last night if I left room for life to happen and my response was "no". Just praying that "life", other that what I already know is going on this week, will be uneventful. I did check some school work of Jordan's last night that I had not taken care of yet. Jordan made a 100 on his Algebra 2 test which made me EXTREMELY thrilled. A good way to start out the week.

Today I do have some good plans for our school as we continue to study the explorers. Kaelan and I also have our monthly Keepers of the Home meeting where I will be leading in Bible study and in making soap. Tomorrow we have a library trip, dentists appointments for four of us, another stop at Big Lots and dinner with friends. Things should be quiet for Wednesday and Thursday. We will go bowling with our homeschool support group on Friday IF the children have been diligent in their work. Busy hands, busy minds and a busy week. Life is good again!!

This Week's Preview

This weekend was somewhat busy and I didn't get the pictures from our co-op and pancake dinner posted. Becky posted some....check out her blog at
beckys-scribblesnbits.blogspot.com to see some of our activity.


This week I will not be posting a menu as we are leaving Wednesday morning for Kentucky. We will be going to Mammoth Cave on Thursday and on to the Creation Museum on Friday. Jeff will be interviewing Ken Ham, the president of Answers in Genesis and founder of the Creation Museum (creationmuseum.org) ....Jeff has a really neat job if you like meeting people. And we sometimes get to tag along. I hope to have some really neat pictures to share when we return.