It's not the same when he can't be with us. Waiting a few more hours until life gets fun again.

Thursday 13

1. A hummingbird is about 36 inches from my head, trying to eat from the inpatients. I didn't know they chirped.

2. Things are going relatively smooth, work wise. What's going on? I'm suspicious.

3. I wish I had a large, upright freezer I could fill with fresh from the farm veggies. Our little freezer is chock full of berries and tomatoes, not leaving any room for anything else. Too bad I'm not craving smoothies or tomato sauce.

4. Halloween & Fall decorations are slowly making their way out. I'm ready to let go of summer and enjoy autumn with all my heart.

5. Tomorrow could be the day they've been waiting for. The money is saved and counted.

6. The new Pearl Jam CD is staring at me, sending a telepathic message- "Listen to me! Listen to me!" Can I put aside my Blind Melon boys for awhile?

7. I'm declaring tomorrow "Stay Put Day." Its been too long and my books are feeling lonely.

8. I'll probably end up wasting my free time, cleaning stuff.

9. Its foggy season in Wisconsin. Every morning and every evening. I find it so romantic.

10. Wish they wouldn't have moved the Dr.Oz show to the afternoon. Now there's nothing to watch while I'm on the treadmill.

11. Received a postcard if we don't tag our Christmas tree next weekend, we won't get one. The farm is running low on trees after a spring flood, and they won't open for the season, but they are still allowing past customers to tag what's left. We may have to find a new farm.

12. The Funnel spider is making her way out. Too bad its not bugs, but flower petals knocked over by the humming bird.

13. I better call my Posse Moms and see what's up for today.

I actually had a moment this morning where I did not know what day it was. It took me a few minutes to figure it out! :) Life's been too good!

Blofeld Bars (Walnut bars)

Description:
Look what I got!!

DH's co-worker decide to share his walnut bar recipe with me and even made me a pan full of them as a thanks for the sewing I did a few weeks back.

I believe his version, the one pictured, skips the chocolate filling, but they are still so good! Now I have to be good, wrap them back up and freeze them away before I eat them all! They are so delicious!

Ingredients:
Walnut Bar dough:
1 C butter
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 C flour
2 1/2 C oatmeal
1 C roasted walnuts, divided

Chocolate filling:
1 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips
1 large can of sweetened condensed milk
2 t vanilla
2 T butter
1/2 t salt


Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, add eggs, vanilla, salt, soda. Stir in flour, oats and 1/2 of the walnuts. Press 3/4 of the dough into a 9 X13 bar pan.

Melt chocolate filling ingredients together in a double boiler. Pour chocolate filling over the dough in the pan. Top the chocolate with remaining dough, "making dough islands in the chocolate sea." Top with remaining walnuts.

Bake @350 for 30 minutes

Mandatory Kindergarten Law Passes In Wisconsin

I'm bummed out. They passed legislation requiring all 5 year old children to attend Kindergarten before entering into first grade. As if truancy officers weren't busy enough?

Seriously, I think this is to set the precedent for mandating Pre-K enrollment. Soon your 4 year old will be required to leave their home, being separated from the family at such a young age.

Because we are life long homeschoolers, this doesn't really effect my family, however, perhaps the new law will cause some newer homeschooling families to pause. You can't homeschool for kindergarten, and then expect to enroll your child in a public school the next year without approval from the school board. 

This new law is all about money. Its not about preparing children for a solid education. It will take more money to staff more teachers, build more classrooms, but hey, it also means free daycare! Now both parents can work! Better send all those daycare teachers back to school for their teacher licensing. (Tuition dollars feed the machine too.)

It has been proved that removing children from the home at an early age DOES NOT increase a person's capacity for learning. In fact, the opposite has been proved. Young children need the security of a loving home.

Its not like our public schools are the perfect place for a person to get an education either, so why are we insisting on sending young, not ready, children into an imperfect method? I know many 5 year olds that developed later and were not ready for Kindergarten at 5. Some do better beginning at age 6 or 7. I guess it just means more ADHD medicine sales.

I work with a young mom who has been telling me of her daughter's struggles adjusting to kindergarten this year. My heart breaks because its clear her teacher is failing to understand this little girl's heart.

I don't care how great a teacher could be, no one loves your children like you do. Its not only spiritual, but its also biological. There are wonderful teachers out there, but they can only do so much for each child when they have 10 or more to look after. (Many school ratios are higher than that.) Teachers would rather teach, than be disciplinarians. They can't share their passions and mentor children if they are being asked to raise them in the absence of parental influence.

Our society already suffers terribly from the breakdown of the family unit. Parents and children are pulled apart rather than unified.

I feel so blessed my boys have had the chance to bond together as siblings, because they've been learning and living together 24/7 in our family unit since the day DS10 was born. The reality is, they will spend more of their lives together than they can share with their parents. I will most likely, pass on while they still have many years left on this earth. I can leave knowing they have each others back. Blood is thicker than water.

I will continue to fight for my right to raise my children the best way I see fit, and being a law abiding citizen, I will continue to pay taxes, which most likely will be raised now. I can of course use my vote on election day, but the reality is, I'm a minority living in a dumbed down America.

Anybody have a recipe for walnut bars? DH brought me one his co-worker had made and now I'm craving another. The co-worker is being secretive and won't share his recipe. :(

The rainy day brought out these guests in our basement window wells

We had several of each species in each window. Boys are researching to determine what they are. After going so long without rain, this was a treat!

First a little work, then I'll be back for fun.

"A smile is a light in the window of the soul indicating that the heart is at home." - Anonymous I love this! Smile on!

Weekend Fun 9/21

I need one more day of weekend. It was too great to be confined to 48 hours.

Saturday Grandma arrived, bringing favorite K-town pizza! Now that we know we can take and bake from one of our favorite pizzerias, we'll have to make room in the freezer and bring a cooler next time we visit Grandma! 

To work off that za, we took a stroll through town, admiring the changing leaves and ending up at our little Lake Leota. We saw schools of minnows being chased by a huge snapping turtle. Our lake restoration project has a long way to go, but just seeing the turtle brought us hope.

Sunday our plans changed. DH & I decided to save the money and not go to the concert in Milwaukee. We still had "date afternoon." Grandma took the boys to see a movie, while DH & I hiked around at the UW Arboretum. Surrounded by trees and my wonderful husband, it couldn't get much better, but it did. We came across a flock of wild turkeys, and on a remote leg of the trail, a deer.

She came out of the forest, directly onto the path in front of us. She appeared to have a slight limp, but she continued on our path, walking directly in front of us. I told her to stay in the protected arboretum park and she'd hopefully be safe from hunters.

After our hike, which went by too quickly, we had lunch out and did a little birthday & Christmas shopping. We really must get a jump on this. We'll spend less money and be able to pay for it slowly, a few gifts each paycheck, rather than resort to using credit cards.

We've already made plans for next weekend, that have me so excited, I'm really hoping this week goes by quickly. Next weekend marks 8 years we've been in the Sleepyhouse and its the week before DS13 turns DS14! I can't believe it! Where does the time go?

After hearing that hacking kid, walking to the bus stop, I'm SO grateful my boys home school! I can't believe he is being sent to school like that. It was a brutal, wet, cough. At one point, the boy stopped, and bent over. I thought he was going to spew in my front yard!

I need this day to go slowly, so I can cram everything I want to do in it.

We should have went swimming. (Frustrated we stayed home waiting for someone who never showed!)

Thursdays Highs and Lows....

Yesterday we had so much fun with our home school posse. We played Spud while practicing Latin numbers. I felt like a kid again, on the playground. It's motivation to keep moving. I don't want the day to come when I can't move around. I want to be the kind of person who heads into the twilight years of life, still up and running.

It was wonderful to see our friend, who recently lost his mother to cancer. He seemed to be in good spirits, and it reminded me of what a wonderful mother he had. It broke my heart when she lost her battle a few weeks ago. It seems unfair children have to lose their parents, and when its a home schooling parent, this seems amplified.

On the other hand, the closeness home schooling families share brings strength. I'm sure my friend was grateful she had spent so much time at home with her children. They were there to love and support each other through all the good and bad times. Her legacy shows in how healthy and well adjusted her children are, even after suffering such a devastating loss.

After our great posse visit, I unfortunately had to head to work. Usually, I enjoy going to work, but this day it was difficult to leave the fun of friends.

I'm discovering errors here and there, as my co-workers navigate their way through our scheduling software. These are simple errors that are happening because they are trying to go too fast. I got frustrated because to me, these errors are being made because staff is working too quickly, not taking the time to read careful. They tell me though, "Its the program."

In truth, there are some changes the programmers could make, but on the other hand, its not that difficult to read "Jellyfish Saturday 10:30am October 17 through December 19th" and realize that class is not meeting this Saturday, September 19th. I don't know how I can help staff other than point out, its ok to take the time to read what's in front of you more carefully.

I have a few ideas I could implement, but over all, I think somehow, I have got to help staff realize learning something new doesn't have to be so challenging if they take down their anxiety wall brick by brick.

I'm sorry for being cynical with a flavor of superiority, but why do so many expect to be able to work on autopilot or give up before even trying? Is it fear or lack of confidence? Is it laziness?

I'll get off the soapbox. I'm sure I've offended co-workers!

Last night we watched the first new episode of Survivor. I don't want to watch the rest, but I will have to because my family will. There is a guy, Russell, who has to be the most evil player I've ever witnessed on the series. He dumped his own tribe's water supply to cause turmoil and burned a tribe member's socks. He set up fake alliances with every woman, referring to them all as stupid. He LIED about being in a house, filling up with water during hurricane Katrina, in which he watched his dog die.

When he crossed that line, I knew he'd be the most hated man in America. To lie about climbing onto a roof, axe in hand, during hurricane Katrina is a slap in the face to the thousands who really lost so much! This man is so damaged. I have to wonder what happened to him to make him choose such an evil path.

Before tucking my boys in bed, I told them, "Please don't grow up to be Russells!" I know I really don't have to worry about that. The love, respect and support we share together in our family, ensures we won't end up sorry human beings who choose evil over doing what is right.

Wednesday Thoughts

My parents headed back to Minnesota this morning. Why did they leave those evil cookies?!

I'm sure I'll want a nap later, but getting up early really does help you get a jump on the day. I struggled last night at work to complete a project, but there were too many interruptions. What I couldn't accomplish in 5 hours, I completed in 1 just because I was left alone. Working at home can be much more productive.

The boys are very close to reaching their financial goal in order to make their secret purchase. They've been working extra chores. Next step, deciding whether to keep this purchase a secret or reveal it. I think they feel misunderstood and judged. Or it could be they don't want to hurt someone's feelings.

Date night is only a few days away! DH is taking me to see Alice In Chains. I'm not a huge fan, but its a concert, and I'll have the chance to let my hair down. Plus its time spent with DH!

I was thinking of painting our front door. It really needs it. I thought about choosing a color other than white, but on the other hand, if I paint the door dark, it will absorb heat in the summer and make the living room hot. I will probably end up just painting it white again.

DS10 has decided he doesn't have to be a hamburger for Halloween. I told him the foam was on the expensive side, and I wasn't sure how I could sew and stuff a costume to resemble the burger costumes he sees in the Burger King commercials.

His latest idea is to be a doughnut. I'm trying to wrap my head around how I can design that costume. I'm wondering if I could sew a slip cover of sorts for an inflatable inner tube? I'll have to sketch it out. I do like the cop/doughnut idea, like the photo I found at an online costume shop.

I better get moving. DS10 is up and eyeballing the computer. I've been sitting here too long!

Visitors and Gardening notes

We're recovering from the rhino rather nicely. DS10 is most definitely over it and DS13, hardest hit, has turned the corner. I'm hoping he continues to recover and doesn't fall back like he did last week.

Grandpa P and Cheryl stayed over for a quick visit. Grandpa P treated us to supper out at Old Country Buffet. He sure doesn't show it, but he loves to eat. I wish I had half of his metabolism. We hope to some day be able to travel down and visit them in Florida. Maybe Grandpa will even give us a ride on his Harley!

We're getting ready to put the garden to bed. We harvested a third bucket of Roma tomatoes, but I think they will start to thin out now. We did end up with blight at the end of the growing season. We had heard it was in our area, but since we had started our plants from seed, we hoped we'd be spared. Apparently blight is an airborne disease for tomatoes. Now I'm not sure how we should clean up the bed. I've heard you do not want to compost plants affected with blight. You are suppose to bag them up and throw them away. I just wonder if the soil needs to be treated?

We didn't get as many butternuts as I had hoped. Next year we will position the plants better and ditch the vertical frame idea. Although we did end up with nice fruit, we had a few too many cool nights and the vines growing on the vertical frame got too chilly. The vines on the ground fared better. 

Our watermelons and cantaloupes don't look ready. I'm afraid we didn't have a hot enough summer to bring them to maturity. We'll wait a little while longer and see if any ripen up.

Over all the Square Foot Garden method is a great idea for beginning gardeners, but next season I think we'll experiment with something different. We want to grow bigger and better!

I'm starting to complain, there's no rain.

It just feels like I have nothing interesting to report....

I'm falling behind on logging in our days. It feels like there is nothing good to write about, which is pretty sad, but the truth is, the Rhino virus is in the Sleepyhouse.

We missed our home school posse on Thursday. I decide it would be best if we didn't share our cold germs. Turned out we weren't the only ones to cancel. Hopefully we'll all be better by next Thursday, and we can practice our Latin.

My parents arrived and we shared our day with them, taking them to Costco and Culvers for lunch. They left us for the quilt show and to visit other relatives and friends. We'll see them again when they head back through on Tuesday.

Thursday night our cable, internet and phone went out. We played basketball and Uno. We ended our day watching a Harry Potter DVD.

On Friday we noticed a cable guy lurking around our neighbors' back yard. I asked him if he was working on the outage, and he told me they thought it was because our neighbor cut through a line. Our neighbor is putting up a fence, one hole at a time. The cable guy had to call in two others and 20 hours later, we were connected again.

Having all that down time, I did manage on Friday to catch up on cleaning. Along with the usual chores, I even took down curtains and washed them. Amazing what one can accomplish when the distraction of Facebook & Multiply isn't there! LOL!

After playing Cinderella, I found myself wiped out. The past few days its been like this, but if I stop, drink some fluids and rest, I've been able to keep the rhino from taking a hold of me. Unfortunately, it hasn't be the same story for the boys.

DS13 started first several weeks ago. He seemed to be getting better, but turned south again. Tonight he decided he needed to go to bed at 8:00pm. I really hope that helps and tomorrow he feels better.

DS10 seems to be moving his rhino through more quickly. He was second to suffer, but he seems to be first to recover.

There seems to be so much illness going around, not just Swine flu. I swear my food choices, supplements and walking have been helping me. I've also took up dry brushing, which could be helping as well.

Tomorrow we have more visitors arriving, my father in law & his wife. I can't remember the last time we saw them. I just hope the boys are feeling well enough to visit. The house isn't perfect, and I have no idea what to cook, but I'm not going to stress over it. It would give the rhino another chance to get me!

I better go check on my sick one and brew a cup of insurance. Hope you're having a great weekend! 

Found dye free Children's Tylenol cold medicine! Yeah! Stocked up on tissues, disinfectant spray, and vitamins. Bring in on!

Can't figure this one out. DS13 has had a sore throat for almost 2 weeks. Thought it was allergies but Claritan doesn't seem to be making any difference. This morning he woke up with stomach pain, but it quickly went away and he's been eating normal all day. Tonight DS10 says his throat is sore, but more so his ears are bothering him. Maybe we do have a virus in the Sleepyhouse? Do I pay the $70 insurance co-pay only to have the doctor confirm this or could it be something treatable? Doesn't it seem unfair doctors charge you even when there is nothing they can do for you?