4-H Wildlife

We had our first wildlife contest last Wednesday and so have been busy preparing for that. Junior didn't want to do the contest (and I don't blame him) but Daisy did. She scored well considering it was her first year (unless you count all that 3 years ago) and it is a hard contest.

So you can get an idea of what was involved, there are 4 parts of the contest: plant ID and preferences; habitat management; hunter safety; and techniques. In plant ID they have 59 or 60 plants to be able to recognize and tell if it is the prefered plant of waterfowl, deer, squirrel, dove, quail and turkey (some plants can have almost all of them and some have none of them). To give you an idea of how hard this is, here is the plant list:

• American Beautyberry
• Annual sunflower
• Ash
• Bahiagrass
• Beech
• Blackcherry
• Black-gum
• Blackjack oak
• Blueberry (Sparkleberry)
• Broomsedge bluestem
• Bullnettle
• Bumelia (chittimwood)
• Catclaw sensitive briar
• Cattail
• Cottonwood
• Croton
• Dewberry (blackberry)
• Dogwood
• Duckweed
• Elm
• Grapes
• Greenbriar
• Hackberry
• Hickory
• Holly
• Honeysuckle
• Jessamine
• Johnsongrass
• Juniper
• Lespedeza
• Live oak
• Longleaf uniola
• Magnolia
• Mistletoe
• Mulberry
• Partridge pea
• Pecan
• Persimmon
• Plum
• Post oak
• Prickly ash (Hurcules club)
• Prickly pear
• Rattan (Alabama Supplejack)
• Redbud
• Red oak
• Red maple
• Rescuegrass
• Rusty blackhaw
• Ryegrass
• Sassafras
• Smartweed
• Sumac – Flameleaf
• Switchgrass
• Vaseygrass
• Vetch
• Water oak
• Western ragweed
• White oak
• Wildrye
• Yaupon

As if that wasn't enough, the hunter safety part is the general hunter safety that would be part of the hunter safety course but also any new thing in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Annual.

 In the Habitat Management portion they are shown an area and given a story with this area and asked if the area is capable of supporting turkey or deer etc. They are also asked what should be done to make that area capable of supporting the chosen animal. The difficulty with this part is the "experts" giving the contest don't always agree so you have to hope that you think about it the same way as the one judging your answers.

And the techniques are quite possibly the worst part. They can put any animal that has lived in the wild in Texas and ask a question about it such as what type of skull is this, is this animal native to Texas, is this bird wing from a mature or juvenile bird. They also have to be able to age a deer by its jawbone.

She has another contest over this in a couple weeks so we have more studying to do.

Autism

Autism has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Did you know that the current statistics are 1 in 88 kids are on the autism spectrum? Boys are the hardest hit with it being 1 in 54 compared to 1 in 252 girls. This represents a 78% increase in autism over the previous 5 years and a 1000% increase over the last 40 years. And those are just the ones getting autism-related services.

 A study in South Korea by Autism Speaks found as many as 2/3 of the kids who had autism were not diagnosed or receiving autism-related services which leads to the statistic of 1 in 38.

So with all that, you have a good chance of knowing someone on the autism spectrum if you know very many children at all.

And Rainman is not typical of most people with autism. In fact, of the 4 people with autism that I know have autism, none are very much like Rainman. As far as that goes, those 4 all have very different stories and symptoms. You would not group them together; one is female the other 3 are male; one is 30+, another is 15, and the other 2 are in elementary school or preschool; one was normal and then regressed, 2 others either had it at birth or before they were old enough to regress (I am not sure about the 4th).

By the way, none of them are "dumb" or "slow" or whatever derogatory term you think of. Their brains are wired differently and so they don't receive signals the way that we (neuro-typicals) do. We have satellite TV, and with a storm it can be very difficult to get a good enough signal to watch a show. The dialogue may not come through, the picture can be very pixelated and it can be impossible to understand what is going on in the show. I suspect that living with autism could be somewhat comparable, except not only is the input messed up but also being able to express thoughts or what ever is as difficult (or more difficult) than understanding the input.

Anyway,

The earlier the parent (or someone else) notices the signs the better because early treatment is a huge deal. The earlier the treatment, the better the outcome will be.

According to autismspeaks.org the red flags for a child needing evaluation are:

• No big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter
• No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles or other facial expressions by nine months
• No babbling by 12 months
• No back-and-forth gestures such as pointing, showing, reaching or waving by 12 months
• No words by 16 months
• No meaningful, two-word phrases (not including imitating or repeating) by 24 months
• Any loss of speech, babbling or social skills at any age

Please, if you know a child who has these red flags go to http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/learn-signs to learn more.

Statistics come from http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/autism-prevalence-rises-1-88

4-H Egg Workshop

This year I agreed to be the leader of our club Food and Nutrition project with 4-H.
While we are supposed to supply the kids with learning experiences, it has been a learning experience for me.

Our first meeting we went over unusual kitchen tools and gadgets because I know some of the moms didn't know what some of the more unusual and handy (or not) kitchen tools are. Like a potato ricer which I love when I use it, although often I just grab the potato masher. Or a mezzaluna which I thought would be wonderful and I really prefer using a knife. Or my ginger grater that I display and like to use.

Our second meeting I let my husband handle. S worked in a restaurant for several years, starting as a dishwasher and working his way up to assistant manager. It was a smaller chain but kind of like an IHOP. Kind of. So when S mentioned the possibility of doing an egg workshop to teach the kids how to make several kinds of eggs, I thought it was a great idea.

Before the meeting we prepped omelet toppings: ham, sausage, tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions, sauteed bell pepper and some cheese. We got there early so the water could start boiling. And as the kids came in, they were each given a plastic freezer bag and a sharpie to write their name on the bag.

They each made a plastic (ziplock) bag omelet with their choice of add-ins. The adults were amazed at how well it worked and several loved the potential. All you do is write your name on a freezer ziplock type bag, put in your choice of omelet ingredients (onion, mushroom, cheese, etc) and then 2 or 3 well beaten eggs and drop the baggie in boiling water until it is done. He kept the water at a light boil and they took 5-10 minutes to cook. They aren't restaurant pretty omelets but for large groups, it is an excellent way to cook them.

He also taught them how to flip an egg in the pan. Well, the first step to learning how to do it. He had them flip toast in a pan because that way they could learn the motion needed to do it. He would coach them through it and some of them got pretty good at it. The benefit of doing it with toast is that toast is cheap and if it falls on the floor, it doesn't make much of a mess (some crumbs on the floor is all). When they get extremely good at it, they can try flipping eggs in the pan and start trying to toss dried beans in the pan. The dried beans will act like diced onions or sliced mushrooms but like the toast will be easy to clean up.


The workshop was a hit with the kids. After he had said what all he had to say, he became a short-order cook and made different types of eggs as people would ask for them. The mothers got beautiful omelets and the kids would request a type of eggs and he would cook it. One boy ate 14 eggs; another boy - who doesn't even like eggs - ate 3 omelets.

S cooked over 72 eggs! And after our club meeting he cooked eggs for he and I for supper. We had some beautiful omelet toppings left over.

Oops

Since it has been almost a year since I last posted, I am pretty sure that it will surprise you when this pops up in your feed.

All I can really say is "oops." Honestly, I haven't felt like blogging because . . . I don't know exactly why. Part of it is that the stuff that was most on my mind wasn't mine to share. Partly that I still had stuff to work through. And then there is the guilt.

 I felt guilty for not blogging and then there was the question of what to blog about. When it has been months and months, there is almost a feeling of "what I write should be important, major, significant etc." Since I don't really do significant, major, important etc, it is a little hard to live up to.

Since it has been so long, you get a bullet list to kind-of catch you up. (Lucky you!!!)

• Daisy turned 13 in July which I didn't quite need therapy for, although I thought about it.  Luckily I am blessed with a wonderful 13 year old who does things like cook dinner when her mama has a headache.


• Daisy decided to do 4-H Wildlife again after 2 years off. In case you are wondering, that is long enough to forget almost every thing we learned. And some of what we do remember is no longer on the contest. So far we are doing pretty good, I can ID about 40 of the 60 plants, trees, and grasses that they have to learn. Why do I have to know it? I'm not really sure other than so I can pop quiz them. I suspect Daisy knows more than she thinks she does because she was able to tell me some of the identifying characteristics (bark color and texture and some other things that I don't remember anymore) of a black cherry. The only way I could identify a black cherry would be if I were told "this is either a black cherry or a grass." I might could figure it out then. Maybe. 


• In a related note I have had chiggers for the first time since I was 15, and that was over 20 years ago. I also found a tick which would have had me calling a therapist but they typically don't accept new patients at midnight. Like a good homeschool mom/4-H mom, I googled it and found out that it was the Lone Star Tick and that they do not carry lyme disease. We now spray down with bug spray.


• Junior got his black belt in Tae Quon Do which was a great reward for his perseverance. We were incredibly proud of him. I was also thrilled to have Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings free.


• I no longer have Tuesday and Thursday evenings free. 


• Tuesday is known by my family as "nightmare day." Daisy has piano at 3 and Junior has guitar at 3. About 1 mile away from each other. Both of their lessons end at 3:30. Also one mile apart. Then we swing through Sonic because it is Happy Hour and get to Wildlife at 4 which lasts until 6pm. At 6 we go to Robotics and are done with that at 8pm. If we are lucky, I managed to put something in the crockpot so that we can eat dinner when we get home.


• We are still gluten-free so if I don't put dinner in the crockpot, there is only 2 fast food places to get food, Five Guys or Chic-Fil-A. 


• I love both Five Guys and Chic-Fil-A but I can get really tired of them quickly.


• We learned what Junior's reaction to gluten ingestion can be. He gets irritable. For about a week. It is kind-of like PMS irritable where you don't realize that you are making everyone walk on egg shells because you think that you are being completely rational. It was a long week. I think he still doesn't realize how cranky he was.


• I have some others but they are long enough to be posts on their own so . . . 

The End

A challenge, an attitude adjustment, a long day

After I complained and griped and stomped around about the 4-H Food Challenge, my husband finally said "either take her out of the contest or quit complaining. You are ruining all the fun for her."

Oh.

So I stopped. I made a conscious effort to only say cheerful things quit complaining out loud. I still think it is stupid less of a challenge to have all the teams making the same exact dish but the kids still did learn so very much. Even some of the parents learned something.

On Daisy's team each kid picked something to focus on, one learned to food pyramid and how to fit different things on the pyramid; Daisy learned about the vitamins, mineral, and other nutrition facts as well as substitutions that could be made; S focused on food safety and safety in the kitchen (cut away from yourself, wear closed toe shoes, etc); and B learned how to figure out cost per serving. Then they had to present the facts for the dish that they made to 3 judges - not knowing if they made the correct thing or not.

S had never competed before and was in tears before the challenge because she was positive she couldn't do it. The others had all competed in different contests before but not in this one so they were all nervous. Even Daisy, who looked as if she did this every day, admitted she was nervous.

We weren't allowed in the room where they were doing the competition. We weren't allowed near where the judging was happening. We sat in the hall. For 4 hours. The teams got a late start and then they have 40 minutes to fix the dish and figure out what to say. And then the judging starts. And the judging per team takes 8 minutes. So it took awhile.

When we went into the room where the awards were going to be given, Daisy kept saying she hoped they would win. I kept telling her that there were so many other teams competing that it wasn't likely, especially since this was their first time at this contest.

But I was hopeful, especially when I found out they were giving ribbons for 5th place. Then I found out their category had 11 other teams.

When they called 5th place and it was another county, I was a bit more discouraged but still hopeful. Then they called 4th and was less hopeful. Then they called 3rd and I gave up thought it really wasn't likely. Then they called 2nd place and it was Daisy's team.

They were so very excited!

And now we get to focus on Youth Fair where I have 2 kids that will be cooking and Daisy is also entering the in the Arts and Crafts division. Did I mention she made her Christmas gifts this year? She made a scarf for her great-grandmother, her grandmother, and me, she also put a blanket stitch on 4 blankets, plus made some hot cocoa mix. So she is going to enter a knitted scarf into the Youth Fair.

And now I am tired.

BELT LINE!!!

In Junior's Tae Kwon Do school they have a tradition of doing a belt line when a child has a birthday. They put the kids in two lines and have the birthday kid walk between the lines while the kids get to whack the birthday kid with their belt. There is a challenge for the kids, they can run it like a boy or walk it like a man. Most choose to run but Junior chose to walk.

Spring reading thing

You may or may not have noticed, I like to read. ok, I love to read. Given the choice of a book or tv, the book wins - no contest.

 

I love to dive into a book for the first time, meet the characters and get to know them. I also enjoy reading a new book in a series where I know the characters but get to know them better.

 

I also love to reread a book, it is like meeting up with an old friend. Anne of Green Gables is a bosom friend of mine. I wish to console Elizabeth Bennet over Mr Darcy’s treatment of her. The clicks of Madam Dafarge’s knitting needles still send chills up my spine.

 

So with my love of books, it makes sense I would join a reading thing and luckily for me Caddapillar Days is doing a Spring Reading Thing.

 

I just need to come up with a list of books that I plan to read. Unfortunately I don’t  do book lists well, I always have the best of intentions but I am easily distracted by a new/different book or author. I do usually finish a book before I get distracted and very rarely read more than one at a time.

 

That said, I will give a booklist a try

 

Fiction:

• Here Burns my Candle – Liz Curtis Higgs

• Deliver Us From Evil – Robin Caroll

• Witness - Edward Lewis

• Prophecy – Dawn Miller

• Finding Jeena -Miralee Ferrell

• Starlighter  - Bryan Davis

• Darlington Woods - Mike Dellosso

• Code Blue - Richard L. Mabry, MD

• Morning for Dove - Martha Rogers

• The Chosen Ones - Alister McGrath

• Songbird Under a German Moon – Tricia Goyer

• An Unwilling Warrior -  Andrea Boeshaar

• Deadly Disclosures - Julie Cave

• Glaen – Fred Lybrand

• Sing – Lisa Bergren

• A Flickering Light – Jane Kirkpatrick

 

Non-fiction & biography:

• Real World Parents – Mark Matlock

• Twilight Gospel – David Roberts

• Bonhoeffer – Eric Metaxas

 

To read with the kiddos:

• The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

• Caddie Woodlawn – Carol Brink

• Kingdom’s Dawn – Chuck Black

• Kingdom’s Hope – Chuck Black

• Kingdom’s Edge – Chuck Black

• Kingdom’s Call – Chuck Black

• Kingdom’s Quest – Chuck Black

• Kingdom’s Reign – Chuck Black

 

Plus any other random books I pick up.

 

I am also going to see how I can drag my reluctant reader into this.

 

So what are you going to read?

I wanna fly like an Eagle

One of our favorite places to eat is the county airport. I know that sounds sort of weird but it is where Junior wanted to go eat on Saturday after soccer.

We have a smallish county airport. I guess it is smallish, I wouldn't really know. I don't think anything commercial is flying there now, or at least not on a regular basis. It seems to be mostly prop planes but Hubby says there was a small jet there the other day. I dunno.

Anyway, we have a smallish county airport that has a little cafe, the kind with stools up at a bar and mismatched tables. They have a limited menu - mostly burgers, sandwiches, and chicken strips. No soda fountain so if you order coke, you get a cup with ice and a can. The food is good but not the absolute best.

But this is the view out the window where we sat:

That is with no zoom, I-could-hit-the-plane-with-a-french-fry close. If the glass wasn't in the way. And I could throw worth a cuss.

And just beyond those two rows of planes that you see is a runway that you can't really see in the picture. But somebody with a good throwing arm could throw a ball at a plane landing.

So while the food is good I think the whole reason the kids love eating there is the planes. On a Saturday there are plenty of landings and take-offs, quite a bit of goings on to watch. Junior found it fascinating that the propeller disappears when it starts spinning. We have had discussions on how the wind direction could be important during takeoff and landing.

So a meal and some learning. That's a good combo meal.

Since I find it hard to believe we have the only county airport like this, there may be another one near you.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

We had the opportunity to go to a star watching party on Saturday night. It was amazing.

We have had a telescope for awhile but neither Hubby or I can figure out how to use it.

Well, we know how to use it, but it is difficult to find what you are looking for when you aren't very good at it.

We got a star wheel and learned how to use it, directions to make an astrolabe and other tips. The two astronomers leading had brought 3 good telescopes and then would focus them on some amazing sights.

The moon with its craters is beautiful, it was like those pictures you have seen, but this was not a picture. Hubby and I had seen Saturn before in my Dad's telescope, but his doesn't give as close of a picture. Saurday, we saw the line of rings and one or two of the moons.

It gave us more ideas on how to get out there and watch what is going on in the sky. They are planning on doing it again in June and we are hoping to be there, as well as one in July.

There are more tips and tricks we learned and will hopefully be able to keep learning more. I will post these as I get time.

Cooking lessons

One of the things I like to do with the kids is that they get one meal a week. One meal to plan, making sure it is at least somewhat balanced, and then they prepare it with my help.

So I asked Daisy ans she wanted to make "noodles that look like a shell, with the white sauce on it."

Ok, pasta with alfredo sauce, that's fairly easy. What protein?

Her first idea was ranch style beans. Now I love ranch style beans, but I don't know about loving them with alfredo sauce. After some more thought, she decided on chicken.

And mushrooms.

And onions.

(I know there was also a vegetable but I have forgotten what it was.)

It turned out well, she enjoyed it except it took so long to cook. Possibly it took so long because she kept bumping the burners down to low.


Then for Junior's meal he chose spaghetti with meat sauce. And Broccoli as a veggie.

Before we started cooking, I sat down with him and asked if he liked how I made spaghetti sauce. Then "are you sure you like it? Do you want to make it just like Mommy always makes it?" He said yes, and then I told him I always cook it with onions. Always.

He burst into tears because he "hates onions." He did decide that if I always cook it with onion and he likes it, the onions can't be completely evil. Sometimes I also use bell pepper, but I thought that would be pushing too much.

So we got out the mandolin and he put in the onions that were then fried up with ground beef. The pasta was boiling in a separate pot and he asked if he could put in the sauce.

Yes, I confess we use jarred sauce. Specifically Ragu Super Chunky Mushrooms (don't tell Junior).

So I tell him sure he can pour in the sauce.

And he did. Right into the pasta water.

I stopped him before he got very much in there but . . . apparently he really needs the cooking lessons.

Then the broccoli was just frozen broccoli cooked in the microwave, then we sprinkled salt and real parmesan cheese (not that stuff in the green can, real parm yumm).

Both meals turned out beautiful, and so each was satisfied with their efforts.

Try letting your kids cook, they might enjoy it.

And maybe even learn onions aren't completely evil.

Dumber than I used to be

I am dumber than I used to be.

I used to easily read the classics like Jane Austin. At the time, I didn't find the writing style difficult and I read classics for fun.

Fun! I tell you. I read Tale of Two Cities for fun; Pride and Prejudice for fun; the Count of Monte Cristo for fun.

And this was in high school, to be honest, not an age known for its intelligence or depth.

This year I struggled through the first half of Persuasion.

I needed silence to be able to focus enough to understand it.

I will admit that by the time I was halfway through though, it was easier, I got back into the language and the cadence. But that it was that difficult really galls me.

I finally finished it and now I am reading Sense and Sensibility.

Now I get it enough to see an insult. I wanted to share something with you:

However dissimilar in temper and outward behaviour, they strongly resembled each other in that total want of talent and taste which confined their employments, unconnected with such as society produced, within a very narrow compass. Sir John was a sportsman, Lady Middleton a mother. He hunted and shot, and she humoured her children; and these were their only resources. Lady Middleton had the advantage of being able to spoil her children all the year round, while Sir John's independent employments were in existence only half the time. Continual engagements at home and abroad, however, supplied all the deficiencies of nature and education; supported the good spirits of Sir John, and gave exercise to the good breeding of his wife.

I really don't want to be like Lady Middleton. I prize being a mother, and a homeschool mom. I also see that as what God has called me to do.

But I also want to continue to grow as a person and in my walk with God.

I am not talking about dropping them off at the sitters so I can go shopping but taking time to do things that enrich me. Such as doing my morning devotions. And working out. And reading books that stretch me.

Obviously I haven't been doing that but I want to.

Never say quit

I am pretty sure that this February was the longest month ever in the history of the world. At least it sure seemed that way because of how packed it was. Some was good (wedding), some was bad (cancer and death), some was just busy (youth fair), some planned, some unexpected.

Which reminds me, I have posted the recipes for the baguette bread and pineapple bread pudding. They are over at my recipe blog. I don't yet have Junior's applesauce bread up, hopefully that will be up soon.

Anyway . . .

Our busyness continued until the very last day of February. Junior had a tae kwan do tournament down in Houston. We had to be there at 8:30 and it is a 2 hour drive (Hubby had to work the night before). So the kids and I got up at 5, Hubby got home at 5:30 and we were out the door by six.

But the tournament went well, it was a real confidence booster. For Junior's age group - tiny tigers, how cute is that - they all get first place for something. Junior got first place for "fastest kicks and punches" which is a polite way of saying he was hyper. So Junior came home with a medal. And Mr. Negativity actually told me it was fun. He said he was scared but it he had fun.

------------------------------------------------

Then today the other kid, the one who never rarely complains gave a huge sigh when I said she had shooting sports today. I asked what was wrong and her answer was "I don't like shooting sports."

She doesn't like the practicing, she doesn't like shooting in the prone position (the only one she is allowed to shoot in for her age), the gun is heavy and hurts her arm, the strap that helps hold the gun hurts . . . and so on.

So whats good about it? Getting to touch a gun.

Hubby and I discussed letting her drop out since she is usually game for any project and rarely complains. He wanted her to learn gun safety which she had, I wanted her to quit nagging about trying it. We agreed that she could drop out if she wanted.

So we called her in and gave her the choice.

She doesn't want to drop out.

I don't know why.

I am not sure she knows why.

But she is staying in shooting sports.

Even though she doesn't like it.

I dearly love booklists

As a confirmed bibliophile, I have to admit one of my favorite things is booklists. Children's booklists, adult booklists, Christian booklists, I love them all.

So when Ang over at Hanging Out The Wash posted a booklist of classic children's literature, I had to look it over. She got the list from Best Children's Literature.

I am going to italicize those that we have already read and bold those I have read. If it is bolded, I will probably read it to my kids, or have them read.

Classic children's literature - Kindergarten through Grade 6

* Recommended children's literature for K-3, either for reading by children or for reading to them.

• Adamson, Joy * Born Free



• Aesop * Fables*



• Alcott, Louisa May * Little Women



• Andersen, Hans Christian * Fairy tales



• Atwater, Richard and Florence * Mr. Popper's Penguins*



• Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin * Miss Hickory



• Barrie, J.M. * Peter Pan



• Baum, L. Frank * The Wonderful Wizard of Oz



• Bemelmans, Ludwig * Madeline series*



• Bond, Michael * A Bear Called Paddington



• Boston, L.M. * The Children of Green Knowe



• Brink, Carol Ryrie * Caddie Woodlawn



• Brown, Margaret Wise * Goodnight, Moon*



• Brunhoff, Jean de * The Story of Babar*



• Burnett, Frances Hodgson * The Secret Garden



• Burton, Virginia Lee * Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel*



• Butterworth, Oliver * The Enormous Egg



• Clark, Ann Nolan * Secret of the Andes



• Cleary, Beverly * Henry Huggins series



• Coatsworth, Elizabeth * The Cat Who Went to Heaven



• Dalgliesh, Alice * The Bears on Hemlock Mountain*
  * The Courage of Sarah Noble*
  
  
• De Angeli, Marguerite * The Door in the Wall



• De Jong, Meindert * The House of Sixty Fathers
  * The Wheel on the School
  
  
• Dodge, Mary Mapes * Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates



• Du Bois, William Pene * The Twenty-One Balloons



• Edmonds, Walter D. * The Matchlock Gun



• Estes, Eleanor * Ginger Pye
  * Moffats series



• Farley, Walter * The Black Stallion



• Field, Rachel * Hitty, Her First Hundred Years



• Fritz, Jean * The Cabin Faced West



• Gilbreth, Frank B. and Ernestine G. Carey * Cheaper By the Dozen



• Gipson, Fred * Old Yeller



• Godden, Rumer * The Mousewife*



• Grahame, Kenneth * The Reluctant Dragon*
  * The Wind in the Willows



• Gray, Elizabeth Janet * Adam of the Road



• Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm * Grimm's Fairy Tales



• Hawes, Charles * The Dark Frigate



• Haywood, Carolyn * Betsy series*



• Henry, Marguerite * King of the Wind
  * Misty of Chincoteague



• Keith, Harold * Rifles for Watie



• Kelly, Eric * The Trumpeter of Krakow



• Kipling, Rudyard * Captains Courageous
  * Just So Stories for Little Children*
  * The Jungle Books



• Kjelgaard, Jim * Big Red



• Knight, Eric * Lassie Come Home



• Krumgold, Joseph * ...and Now Miguel
  * Onion John



• LaFarge, Oliver * Laughing Boy



• Lamb, Charles and Mary * Tales from Shakespeare



• Latham, Jean Lee * Carry on, Mr. Bowditch



• Lawson, Robert * Ben & Me
  * Rabbit Hill



• Leaf, Munro * The Story of Ferdinand*



• Lear, Edward * Book of Nonsense*



• Lenski, Lois * Strawberry Girl



• Lewis, C.S. * Chronicles of Narnia series



• Lindgren, Astrid * Pippi Longstocking series



• Lofting, Hugh * Doctor Doolittle series (I remember reading one of these on a drive from Sydney to Melbourne, so it is hard for me to think of these without remembering the Aussie countryside)



• London, Jack * The Call of the Wild
  * White Fang



• MacDonald, Betty * Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle



• MacGregor, Ellen * Miss Pickerell series



• McCloskey, Robert * Blueberries for Sal* every year when we go pick blueberries
  
  * Homer Price
  * Make Way for Ducklings*



• McSwigan, Marie * Snow Treasure



• Meigs, Cornelia * Invincible Louisa



• Milne, A.A. * The House at Pooh Corner*
  
  * Now We Are Six*
  
  * When We Were Very Young*
  
  * Winnie-the-Pooh*



• Minarik, Else Holmelund * Little Bear



• Montgomery, L.M. * Anne of Green Gables



• Mukerji, Dhan Ghopal * Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon



• Norton, Mary * The Borrowers series



• O'Hara, Mary * My Friend Flicka



• Pearce, Philippa * Tom's Midnight Garden



• Perrault, Charles * Cinderella*



• Potter, Beatrix * The Tale of Peter Rabbit*



• Pyle, Howard * The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood



• Rey, H.A. * Curious George series*



• Richter, Conrad * The Light in the Forest



• Selden, George * The Cricket in Times Square*



• Seuss, Dr. * The Cat in the Hat*



• Sewell, Anna * Black Beauty



• Sorenson, Virginia * Miracles on Maple Hill



• Speare, Elizabeth George * The Witch of Blackbird Pond



• Sperry, Armstrong * Call It Courage



• Spyri, Johanna * Heidi



• Steinbeck, John * The Red Pony



• Stevenson, Robert Louis * A Child's Garden of Verses*
  * Kidnapped
  * Treasure Island



• Travers, Pamela L. * Mary Poppins series



• Van Loon, Hendrik * The Story of Mankind



• White, E.B. * Charlotte's Web
  * Stuart Little



• Wilder, Laura Ingalls * Little House series



• Williams, Margery * The Velveteen Rabbit*



• Wyss, Johann * Swiss Family Robinson



• Zion, Gene * Harry the Dirty Dog*

In case you are wondering, I am a bookworm

This is something I saw floating around Facebook so I thought I would look at it. Its official. I am a bookworm.

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. That's disturbing.
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read, italicize those you want to read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -- I've read parts but not all
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding I tried so hard to read this one, it is one of the few I hated
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tart
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Well, I have read 34 of them. According to the BBC figures, I have read almost as much as 6 people.

I may just add some of these to my 9/9/9 challenge. Any that you really loved that I haven't read yet?

how differences can work for us

After the first day of competition we went to a late breakfast at Ihop and Daisy wanted to try something new, so she got the cheese omelet. She really liked it, but was interested in trying one of the fancier omelets (specifically the spinach and mushroom with hollandaise sauce, yep my kids eat weird).

I told her that her dad makes awesome omelets. So while he was telling her how (cuz she asked), I started thinking about our drastically different cooking styles.

Hubby excels at stuff like omelets, chicken fried steak, one pot "throw togethers," hamburgers and stuff like that.

My omelets look like scrambled egg, I am doing better at the throw togethers but its not my comfort zone.

But I made my first loaf of yeast white bread at 13 (Mom was out of town and Dad had no idea what a mess it would make). Baking is still one of my favorite ways to cook.

Until recently a good portion of the meals I cooked used pasta in some way (hubby didn't really like pasta that much in the beginning).

I do stuff with the odd tools in the kitchen, I do canning, pressure cooking, and alot of stuff in the crock-pot.

I love experimenting with new recipes. Hubby will look up a few versions of a recipe and then go in the kitchen and make something up.

These drastically different cooking styles are great when looking at our kids. Hubby can teach them how to flip stuff in the pan (he says he can teach me too) and I can teach them how to bake, not just following the recipe but if it looks right.

I can teach them how to make an amazing homemade gravy (hubby uses a mix) but he can teach them how to do the chicken fried steak.

By the time we have taught our kids what we each know, they will be amazing in the kitchen and will hopefully be fearless.

And that is one way differences can work for us and not against us. What about you?

Lazy Sunday

I fell off the workout wagon.

I do have a good excuse though, some kind of stomach bug bit me.

So I didn't work out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or today. The first 3 days, I really wasn't up to it. Today I was lazy.

I will get back to working out on monday.

I really will.

--------------------------------------

On the plus side, I was able to work on my 9/9/9 challenge.

2 books down.

In the "Books I Already Own" category, I read Deborah Bedford's book Blessing.
It was a good book, not anything deep, but I also had a stomach bug. I didn't want to have to think.

And then I also read Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. I love that book. (I also love the movies, both of them but that's beside the point.) Not only do you get to step into another world, but also another century. I am a bit bugged though that it is a fictionalized account so I may have to read the memoirs of Anna Leonowens. Although some scholars are saying she might have not been completely truthful (who is?). So I guess this goes in the General Fiction category.

So 2 down, 79 to go.

I know I used to have a brain. . .

Because of this post by Jamie, I realized that apparently I read nothing last year other than twaddle, fluff and drivel. Or if I did read anything of importance, I forgot it.

Once upon a time, I did read good stuff. For fun. Like Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet and Jane Eyre (2 times for school and also again on my own). I even read Vanity Fair -- the longest book ever except for the Bible, at 1008 pages. And that was before the movie was made.

Most of them I read because I assumed that if I heard of them and they were old . . . they had to be good. Most of them were. The only book that I absolutely hated, loathed and despised was Lord of the Flies.

So then at Jamie's blog I read about the 9/9/9 challenge, which sounds great until you realize that it is 81 books. But I am going to try anyway.

It's got to be better than last year, where I don't remember anything I read.

Even if I only read 1/2 of them.

So anyway, the idea is to read 9 books in 9 different categories during 2009.

I don't have my list completely ironed out yet (because who knows what whims will strike between now and then) but here is what I am thinking:

General fiction


• to be honest, I am not going to try to guess anything that will go here. This one will be the easiest to fill though

Non-fiction


• Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv


• Bringing up Boys, Richard Dobson


• again, I don't know what all will go here

Classics I want to reread:


• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte -- I haven't read it in at least 15 years


• Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen


• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen


• Persuasion, Jane Austen


• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott


• A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens


• Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson


• The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne - one of the few American Lit that I liked


• The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

Classics I may have missed: I don't remember these, but I may have read them. I tend to read all the books of a particular author I like.


• Villette, Charlotte Bronte


• Shirley, Charlotte Bronte


• Mansfield Park, Jane Austen


• Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen


• Emma, Jane Austen


• The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas


• The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas


• Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson


• The Wizard of Oz, Frank L Baum

Classics I know I missed:


• Swiss Family Robinson, Johann Wyss


• The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper


• King Soloman's Mines, H. Rider Haggard


• The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo


• The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe


• The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane


• Ivanhoe, Walter, Sir Scott


• Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens


• David Copperfield, Charles Dickens --I started either this or Oliver T and never finished. Might as well add it to the list.

Books to read aloud to the kids:


• Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll


• Junglebook, Rudyard Kipling


• Kim, Rudyard Kipling


• some of the Marguerite Henry books like Sea Star, & Misty of Chincoteague


• Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan


• A Door in the Wall, Marguerite De Angeli


• Robin Hood, Howard Pyle


• The Moffats, Eleanor Estes


• The Burgess Animal Book for Children, Thornton Burgess

Biography


• The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom --I will be rereading it, but it's been over 15 years


• To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander, Georg von Trapp


• Maria, by Maria von Trapp (and maybe some of the others by her)


• Any suggestions?

Christian / Theology


• The Shack, Will Young


• Fox's Book of Martyrs, John Foxe


• Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis


• The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis


• Rumors of Another World, Philip Yancy

Books I own but haven't read yet:


• Poisonwood Bible


• Blessing, Deborah Bedford


• others in random places around, that I have been meaning to read

Anyone else up for the challange?

Classical Christmas music

Ok, I just have to brag for a moment.

I was listening to XM classical Christmas (through our satellite) and Nutcracker came on. Junior was excited and said "It's the Nutcracker!" I asked who wrote it and he said "Tstashtotkee"

(In fairness Tchakovsky is very hard for many adults to say)

Then he said "He wrote some really good songs before he died."

Yes he did, Junior.

I might should mention Junior is 5. Kind of cool that he likes Tchaikovsky at 5.

God's World of Extremes

I was looking for a way to enrich our geography lessons, make them more than just places on a map. The October Old Schoolhouse module is what I was looking for. God’s World of Extremes is full of amazing facts, such as the most rainfall happens in India with 500 inches! You will never guess what amount is the least average yearly rainfall.

God’s World of Extremes has learning opportunities such as maps of each continent; coloring pages for the younger ones; price comparisons for things like bread and gas; games kids play around the world; and a “which continent are we on” worksheet.

There are also loads of links:

• Easy foreign language
• More about countries such as Greece, Mexico, Chad and even the United States
• A penpal website
• An extensive resource list
• And more

In God’s World of Extremes my favorite is the copywork pages, one for each continent with a fast fact section that includes things like land size, largest river, and number of countries. These would be wonderful for lapbooking or notebooking.

My daughter can’t wait to start this one. This is a fabulous module that can be used with the Old Schoolhouse Planner; however, owning the planner is not necessary.

God’s World of Extremes will get your kids excited about geography.

disappointed

Ok, I can't lie and say I am happy because I am not really. I wasn't one of those chosen for a job offer.

On the other hand, I know I have so very, very much to learn. Some of the others already had prior experience in marketing. Others already were doing some work for TOS, like product reviews.

I was so richly blessed by this class. I have learned so very much, both about marketing and about myself. I tend to be shy and this class pushed me out of my comfort zone but in a good way. I have made some new wonderful friends, so that is wonderful.

My new friends and my new knowledge are very rich treasures indeed.