Date night tonight! We're going to see The Joy Formidable. "There’s something panoramic about The Joy Formidable’s music - their mountainous, fuzzed out riffs and ferocious, earthy rhythms shrouded in ethereal haze."

My Life At The Moment - 3/15/12

I don't need an alarm clock. Osama Bin Robin is not only once again attacking our car windows, he's banging on the kitchen window as well. The boys asked if they could line the crazy bird up in their sites of their airsoft rifles. Very tempting, but I'm still holding my ground on never shoot the living. We'll see how many mornings I can take it though.

I'm so tempted to plant something in the garden. We've been having temps in the 70's which is very odd for southern Wisconsin this time of the year. Will it last? We've had such a mild winter, maybe it will? Usually I wait for Mother's Day to plant directly outside. I think I will throw some spinach in and chance it.

The boys are going to help me build a rain barrel. We've picked up all of the supplies for around $20. I showed them ready to purchase rain barrels for over $100 and we all agree, this should be a project we can pull off.

I want to kidnap my husband away from his work. He's sick and shouldn't be working with a fever. The man has a work ethic that won't stop, and to some degree, that is dangerous. He needs to find balance.

I'm having too much fun on Pinterest. I'm not renewing magazine subscriptions knowing that almost anything I can find online, I can now organize visually on Pinterest.

I've been having fun learning new things at work. I'm taking baby steps learning html coding and practicing updating our website. I'm also setting up more social network marketing and looking forward to attending classes on the subject the next two weeks. There is so much to learn, its exciting!

I was hoping to buy a new camera with some tax refund money, but it's looking like new tires are going to take that dream away. I can't believe how crazy expensive tires are! Its a must have though to keep our car safely drivable.

I'm also kissing goodbye for now, hope to see you later, to my dreams of new furniture. My sister & I found this amazing Amish furniture store on a Amish farm, not a separate furniture reseller, where you buy directly from the Amish family making the furniture. It blew me away the quality of the pieces. Its like nothing you can find in any commercial furniture store. I think they were saving their best work for their own business.  I have my heart set on a glider, swivel chair that would outlast my lifetime and be passed down through the generations, but it cost $750. I'm going to start putting away a little out of every paycheck and maybe next year, for my birthday, I'll see if I can ask the Amish to make me a chair.

Both boys are up now, so I guess I should be going. Hope everything in your world is going great! I'll try to be better at keeping up.

Happy Leap Day! 2012

I'm trying to get in the spirit of Leap Day, but honestly, because today is one of the days we have to spend most of our day apart from each other, I don't feel like celebrating.

Last Leap Day we decided to make it a family tradition to put together a time capsule. I wanted to open this together, but I'm sneaking my peak now, the menfolk can peak at it together later. I don't know if we'll have a chance to put together a new one together today. We may have to pretend tomorrow is Leap Day because we'll have time together to work on it then.

From last Leap Day's time capsule, I'm wishing we would have added photos. This year we will, along with hopefully some video. We did write surveys and those are interesting to reflect on. I also included a piece of mail. Hilary for president, that didn't work out for her did it.

DH's prediction about what he'd be doing 4 years later came true. He no longer works at Inspire Design. My prediction sadly has not. I wanted my own home based business. DS16 is not driving a new car, and DS13 did not finish Super Smash Brother's Brawl. We may have to work at our next Leap Day's predictions.

4 years ago we had a pet, who sadly is no longer with us. RIP Chihiro.

The weather was partly sunny, high of 35, low 13.

We ate supper at Chilis. DH had a bacon cheddar burger, I had a Carribean Salad, DS16 had the grilled chicken platter and DS13 had a plain burger. Our waitress was anti-social and the bill with tip came to $38.52.

The last movie we saw as of Feb 29, 2008 was Michael Clayton. I have no recollection of seeing this movie. The boys' last movie Twilight Zone.

My message to myself, 4 years later was, "Don't worry so much that you are 4 years older. Your family loves you." I'm not upset at all about being 4 years older. Funny I thought I would feel that way.

Here is my multiply blog from 4 years ago, when we began this time capsule.

WPA homeschooling conference

Start:	May 4, '12
End:	May 5, '12
Location:	Oshkosh,WI

Wisconsin Parents Association homeschooling conference

UWG 2013

Start:	Feb 3, '13
End:	Feb 8, '13
Location:	Sandusky,OH

The Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering at the Kalahari.

Winter Sowing

I have finally gotten around to winter sowing. Thankfully winter is not over yet. A few more weeks and I wouldn't officially be winter sowing.

I've never done this before and I have no idea what to expect, but it seemed too simple not to give it a try. Using recycled milk jugs, I've planted seeds and set the jugs outside. The jugs will act like mini-greenhouses and Mother Nature will take care of when the seeds will sprout. My hope is to have plants to transplant in the spring.

The jugs are cut in half horizontally, leaving a small hinge uncut, and closed back up with tape or pipe cleaners. You can open the jugs on warmer days and to water plants, and then close them back up at night.

I don't have space for seed starting indoors, nor do I have southern windows or light tables. Winter sowing seemed to be the perfect answer. We'll see what grows and thrives. I'm gardening in zone 5.

I received over 2 dozen different herb seed packets for Christmas. Many of the herbs I've never heard of before. So far I've winter sown Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Echinacea, Milk Thistle, Peppermint, Feverfew, Burdock, Yarrow, St. John's Wort, and Astragalus. Some of these plants could grow quite large. I'm realizing we're going to have to build a large herb bed in the garden.

Eventually I hope to winter sow veggies as well. I'm not sure how well some of the veggies will transplant, but I have enough seed I can try both methods, winter sowing and direct sowing. I'll keep you posted on how it all works out.

For more information on winter sowing, check out, http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2010/12/winter-sowing-101/

or wintersown.org

About Me

I picked this up from my friend Renee. Thanks Renee!!

~What is your favorite season, and why?

Autumn - I love the fall colors and putting on a cozy jacket. Fall means apple picking and pumpkin patches. Fall is when the public school kids go back to school and we unschoolers have the rest of the world to ourselves! LOL! It never lasts long enough.

~ If you could live in any other time period, when?
I'm staying put. I can't live without the internet! Plus I like knowing I have access to modern medicine. If you force me into the Delorian, I'm setting it for the future.
 

~ Do you love a particular planet or constellation?
I love planet Earth and my favorite constellation is Cassiopeia.

~ If you believe in heaven, what does it look like?
 Heaven for me, will be a garden. I see heaven as the perfect place to be an autodidact with full access to all of life's answers.

~ You are burying a personal time capsule to be opened in 100 years. What goes in?
Seeds, chocolate, music, books, Birkenstocks, Badger balms, honey oatmeal soap, photographs, artwork, recipes
 

~ If you could come back as an animal, what would you want to be and why?
I love big and small cats, but the carnivore only diet doesn't appeal to me. I'd probably be a bird. I like having a nest, yet it would be fun to migrate.
 

~ The fantasy dinner party – you get 12 guests, dead or alive, famous or not. Who are they?
They'll all not born yet. 12 of my future descendants (grandchildren, great grandchildren) 

~ What do you want to be doing when you die?
Smiling

Random Thoughts - Valentine's 2012

DS13's teeth are starting to feel less sore. He may try to chew today.

I'm hoping to celebrate Valentines and take my boys out for lunch. We're planning on going to Famous Daves. It feels strange eating out without Dad, but he has to work first shift and I work second.

I did make DH a peanut butter sandwich with love today. I also baked him banana bread for breakfast and we'll have brownies when we finally have a chance to see each other late tonight.

DH & I have been doing our best to try and not catch the cold the boys have had. So far so good. I believe in the power of veg!

I have to get my winter sowing done. My husband is so wonderful to put up with me storing empty milk jugs all over the kitchen floor.

Discovered yesterday I have way more herb seeds than I realized. I must build a bigger herb bed this spring.

They also must drink more milk so I can winter sow more seeds! (I don't drink it.)

We bought two new chairs for the game cave - inexpensive recliners we found at Menards, but so much nicer than the beaten to death couch we threw out a few weeks ago. Perfect for man style gaming all night.

Now I need to plan a Mom Cave. DH suggested we pick up another inexpensive recliner, but I passed. I want something more fitting for a Queen of the castle, not the King and his Princes. Unless its patio furniture, I don't want something purchased at a home improvement store.

We saw Chronicle last weekend. I wasn't sure I wanted to see it, but my family insisted. It turned out to be entertaining, and I was glad I went.

Battery is about to go on the laptop. I better wrap this up and plug back in.

Have a Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has a chance to feel loved today and to share that love with others.

Braces

DS13 doesn't want us to take any photos of him with his braces, so I'm using this model photo. He choose black elastics. I actually think they look pretty cool, although next time I suggested he go with rainbow, or do they have glow in the dark?

He's in a lot of discomfort, because not only are his teeth really sore, he has a head cold, poor dude. Last night's supper was vanilla milkshake and yogurt.

Its been a long time since I've purchased a milkshake from McDonalds. Even though the shake wasn't for me, I was disappointed. It was served in a clear plastic frappe style cup, and I thought vanilla usually meant white, not tan. Maybe that was due to vanilla extract being added, but I couldn't help but think this was going to taste like coffee. DS13 assured me it tasted good, but next time, I'll plan on making him a vanilla shake at home.

I was trying to reconcile the expense this will cost us, even with some insurance kicking in. I'm grateful we are in a financial position to make this happen for our son, but the price sticker on this project is still coming in around $4,000 after insurance. Its wire, metal, elastics and practiced people choosing to make the correct pressure points. Yes, it will take almost 2 years to complete, but material wise, I can see this expense is boiling down to labor costs. Although I will share, the waiting room/office at the ortho is pretty posh. The bathroom too has a designer glass sink bowl and faucet.

Of course there isn't anything we wouldn't do for the comfort and safety of our children. I knew he had an overbite, but when I actually saw the 3D molded cast of his "before" teeth, I had no idea how uncomfortable my son must be. His bottom teeth were really biting into the roof of his mouth.

My heart still aches for the pain he will have to endure for the next two years. I wore braces myself at his age. I wish I could do this for him, but he'll get through this. Maybe he will even learn to enjoy different soft foods?

He loves biting into hard, crunchy apples and loves popcorn. I'm sorry he will have to miss this.

So far his list of soft foods is very short; yogurt, scrambled eggs, spaghetti, ice cream. He's never been into soups, but I hope that will change.

He's not suppose to drink soda pop, but he's never liked carbonation, so that's not a sacrifice. He's never really been into candy either.

I was actually surprised when the receptionist told me to have him chew gum, not bubble gum. She said it will help with the soreness. I don't know if he'll be willing to give this a try.

He has more of a salt tooth than sweet tooth. He's been told to be careful with chips. This surprised me. I don't see taco chips as being too hard. Maybe a cheetoe, but a taco chip? We'll have to figure this out.

I Love Tooth Soap!!

I went this past weekend to a wellness fair with my sister and with my new interest in soap making, I naturally gravitated over to a vendor selling homemade soaps. They also offered tooth soap, which is something I had never heard of before. It's made up of a mixture of coconut, olive, peppermint oils and stevia. You place a few drops on a wet toothbrush and brush away as usual. To my surprise, it works wonderfully!! I won't be going back to regular toothpaste.

I could never use tartar control toothpaste. It would chemically burn my gums and even hours after brushing, I would have gum tissue peeling off. Yuck!

I was using regular, no frills paste, but until brushing with the tooth soap, I had no idea how uncomfortable the regular paste was. The gentleman at the soap booth told me people who complain about sensitive teeth often don't realize its the tooth paste that is causing it. I guess I had become accustomed to the discomfort, being used to the pain.

After brushing with the tooth soap, my teeth and gums feel really clean and smooth, without any discomfort. I was surprised how the oil lathered up similar to tooth paste too. With the peppermint oil and stevia, it tastes pleasant as well. I've noticed that even upon waking up in the morning, after brushing with tooth soap the night before, my mouth is cleaner compared to using tooth paste.

*I want to add I have NOT been paid to endorse Soap For Teeth. In fact I paid $15 for the product, but given you only use a few drops each time, I think 4 ounces is going to last me a very long time. If anyone is interested, I do believe you can order online, from Nature Made Heaven Scent Soap.

Sandusky UWG January 2012

Our UWG/Birthday celebration trip January 22- January 26th

Winter Road Trip To The UWG Sandusky

We're back from our winter road trip! I'm so thankful the weather cooperated. We drove out and back in somewhat foggy, wet conditions, but the temperature held and things didn't freeze up.

We arrived at the Kalahari last Sunday for the Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering. We reserved a suite so we had room to stretch out and use of a full kitchen. My favorite park of the room, the gas fireplace! I also realized how much I miss having a dish washer.

The first official night of the unschooling conference, they had a cake meet and greet. We made a pizza cake. The cheese is really shaved white chocolate, the pepperoni, fruit rollup.

Other than attending a few Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, we didn't participate much in the official UWG "funshops" because DS13 preferred water park fun. We all came home with sore bodies and feet from spending most of our time going down water slides and swimming in the wave pool. My son recorded video of me being flushed down the twister. I'll have to post that later.

My favorite part of the park is the outdoor hot tubs. It must be my Scandinavian blood, but I love that feeling of breathing cold, fresh air, yet still staying toasty warm.

Yes, DS12 is now officially DS13!! We had a great time celebrating his birthday while at the Kalahari. He chose to eat out at "the Lob", our traditional birthday lunch spot, and did consume mass quantities of cheddar biscuits.

DS16 taped short clips of himself dancing all during our trip and has created a hilarious video. I helped him tape some of it, and it was too funny watching people wonder why this kid was dancing around without music. I think this is my favorite souvenir of our trip.

Of course we ate lots of goodies, including enjoying ice cream at Toft's Dairy. I never made it to the fitness center, but with the swimming and stair climbing required to ride the slides, I hope I burned off some of it. G-Ma also used her pedometer and found out the distance from our room to the water park was 1/2 a mile. When you consider we made two round trips a day to the water park, I feel I did get at least 2 miles a day of walking in. Its crazy how big the Kalahari resort is.

Our 5 days away went by so quickly. I didn't do everything I had planned to do while on vacation, but our days were very full. We miss the Kalahari but it feels good to be back home too.

Yesterday I sweated out 3 miles on the dreadmill. Today's exercise was chasing dust bunnies. I can honestly say I prefer the dreadmill.

Tomorrow may bring 7 inches of snow. Today I'm going for an extra long walk outside since it may be awhile before I'll get another chance to do so.

50+ degrees, sunny... I keep looking at the calendar and a map wondering where am I.

Cinnamon Bread

Description:
My husband loves cinnamon bread, but without the raisins. Its not always easy to find good cinnamon bread without raisins in stores and bakeries, so this weekend I decided to make him one from scratch. It came out very yummy!

Ingredients:
1 packet of yeast (I used Bob's Red Mill brand) or 2 t dry yeast
3 1/2 to 4 C of flour
1 C milk
1/4 C butter
1/4 C sugar (white)
1 t salt
1 egg

1/4 C brown sugar
2 t cinnamon

Directions:
Mix the yeast with 1 1/2 C of flour in a large mixing bowl

Place the milk, butter, sugar and salt into a small stove top pan and warm gently, stirring to melt the butter. Heat this mixture to 115-120 degrees.

Mix together the warm milk mixture with the flour/yeast mixture and add in the egg. Allow the mixture to sit and rest for 15 minutes.

Next add in the rest of the flour and knead to make a soft dough, adding flour as needed, just to make the dough not sticky. When I use my kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook, I add flour until I see the dough pull away from the sides of the bowl and ball up around the dough hook. Knead for about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Move the dough to a lightly greased bowl and loosely cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for one hour or until doubled.

Punch down the down and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Press out the dough to 15 X 7 inch rectangle. Brush the dough lightly with water. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the dough.

Roll up the dough, jelly roll style and pinch the end seam closed. Place the dough into a greased loaf pan and allow to rise for 35-45 minutes in a warm place, loosely covered.

Preheat oven to 375

Sprinkle the top of the bread with more cinnamon sugar if you like and bake for 35-40 minutes, covering the top of the bread with foil the last 15 minutes of baking.

If you like, ice the bread after it cools a bit. Mix together 1/2 C powdered sugar with 1/4 t vanilla, 2 T milk. Drizzle over the warm bread.

Eggies

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Other

I normally don't fall prey to "as seen on TV" items, but I had a Walmart gift card, and I do hate peeling eggs. I thought I give these a try.

My husband likes hard boiled eggs and rarely has time for breakfast. I thought a supply of ready to go hard boiled eggs would be a good option for him, but I hate peeling. The egg always comes off with the shell. I've tried the different tricks, using salt water, cracking and running under cold water after they are cooked, etc. but I always end up with sticky shells.

As you can see, Eggies did hard boil the egg successfully without me having to peel any shell off. I'm happy about that, but here are my cons.

1. There are several pieces. Each Eggie has at least 4 parts that have to be assembled together, not including the tiny rubber gasket.

2. You have to oil lightly each Eggie or your egg will stick. You can't spray non-stick spray directly into the Eggie. I used a paper towel dipped in olive oil and oiled up each one.

3. Its not a quick process. You are trading the time you would have spent peeling, assembling your Eggies and greasing them up. For hard boiled large eggs you have to boil them for 15-18 minutes.

Lastly, this isn't really a con, but your egg does not come out egg shaped due to gravity. It ends up looking more like half an egg. So visually, you feel like you are not getting an entire hard boiled egg.

Overall, I like this product. I would rather assemble and oil up the Eggies than peel shells. Plus if I'm careful, I can make a small hole in the shell, pour the egg into the Eggies and keep the mostly intact shell for an Easter craft project.

I think a better product would be to make these out of silicon so you wouldn't have to grease up the cups.

I Can't Label This

Next time someone asks, I'm very tempted to say we "out" school. Most people don't understand what unschooling really means because the "un" leads them to believe its negative. They probably haven't read anything by John Holt either.

Our educational pursuits often take us away from home so "home" schooling isn't entirely accurate.

I could tell people we are autodidacts, but you'd be surprised how many people have no idea what that means. "What is an autodidact?" I enjoy suggesting they look it up on their own, knowing they become one executing that task.

I've heard the term "Life Learner", thrown around in unschooling circles, but that sounds too obvious to me. Isn't everyone always learning from their life experiences?

"Interest based" -again, so obvious to me.

"Free learning" - It has a hippie vibe I could love, but at the same time it alienates anyone outside our lifestyle.

The more I ponder this, I don't like using the word "school" at all, but that word is the bridge between my world and theirs. Anyone educated traditionally equates "school" to education.

So what about "Alternative schooling"? - I could warm up to this label, but that's probably because it reminds me of "alternative music". (Am I letting my Generation X show?) Plus I admit, I'd like a little more oomph.

I'm inspired by other "Outs"; Outside, Out And About, Out Of The Closet, Out Of The Box, Out Sourced, Out Wit - Out Play - Out Last, (Thank you Survivor). Out Schooling creates a message we are educating ourselves away from the mainstream, but does it have an air of superiority?

Its my intent to express we're more about being unconfined. (There's "un" sneaking in there again.) We want to express we feel its important and more meaningful to us if we choose our own paths.

Choosing a label to allow for a good first impression is very difficult. Can't I just invite you to hang out with us and maybe then you'll understand?

Hey, did you catch that? How about Hang Out Schooling? Hmmm... no, that sounds like we're doing nothing important.

Maybe I should simply find it entertaining watching jaws drop when I say, "My children don't attend school."

Out is not In. Out feels better to me than In because I'm not looking for inclusion, but rather the chance to go anywhere we want to. I'm not trying to get In because there is so much more to go Out and play with! In may feel safe, but its really not.

The people who truly want to understand, will seek a more clear definition. The people who only want to judge won't. I've reached the point where I know our lifestyle works very well for us and is exactly how we were meant to live.

How will I decide to define it after all of this contemplation? I think it will depend on how I'm asked. 



 

My Multiply home page appears to be messed up but not the other pages. Hmmm...???