Coffee Break!

Lately I have been really been thinking on how I can organize the many facets of our life. I want it to run like a well oiled machine. Up to this point our homeschool journey and our life in general has run on the "by the seat of my pants"methods and while never dull, it has become exhausting.
Now I am the first to admit, I tend to make grand sweeping changes and plans only to fall off the wagon at a later date. This time I trying to really consider what it is that I want to see happen and how to achieve that end. I am implementing tiny changes at a time, like our new bed time and wake up routine, which is working well.

Today, instead of doing my work for the homeschool conference this weekend, I have been all over the net looking at Home Management Notebooks. I think the fly lady calls it a Control Journal. Lots of good information out there. One of the sites I visited today had things broken down by day and Monday was baking day. SO I took that and ran with it.

I made the super delicious ginger cookies in the photo above. I made a batch of blueberry muffins and another loaf of that amazing oatmeal bread I posted about a while back. This worked very nicely so I here by declare monday as baking day.

homeschooling at its finest !

Where else can you lie on the floor face down and naked to work on your penguin counting book???

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

-Confucius


saw this in someone's email signature and loved it

The animal underground railroad

I guess I have done it again. We were in the park last night, walking home from the post office, when a woman with a dog approached and asked if we could help. Sure, what do you need, says I. I can hear greg groaning silently at this moment!

-Well you see, some mean awful person just dumped a white rabbit in the other end of the park and I am asking everyone I see if they can go and rescue the poor little guy.

-m'am, I says , we will go and check it out!

so off I go, woman on a mission from the universe! Searching for the rabbit with my trusty sidekick desi buzzing around my heels! where is he mom...do you think he is ok mom? Dad, mom is going to rescue us a rabbit!!!!! Truly a scene right out of the cartoons. So we walk along at a brisk pace checking each white ball of trash for signs of bunny life, i.e. ears or tail...maybe a twitchy nose? No luck, no luck , no luck.....and as I come around one of the last trees in the park, there is bun bun waiting quietly for me to come and get him.

I calmly walked over, talking the whole way in the sooth the crazy horse voice. He let me walk right up, pet him a few times, he sniffed my hand. Then I picked him up and tucked him safely in my shirt. He rode quietly the whole way home from the park. Once home we found him a box and took a good look at him.

Who does this to animals!!!!!!! He is a bag of bones, no exagerating. If he was the only thing that stood between us and starvation, we would starve even if we did eat him ( I have no intentions of eating any of my animals now, or in the future!).His ears have no fur on them at all. They are super red and hot. Obviously an infection of some kind right, so I look inside. Oh My God! Who lets this stuff happen! His ears are filled with a nasty smelling crusty gunk ( this morning his ears are bleeding as well). Poor Bunny. Other than that he seems like he is happy to be here. He is eating well, although I am not sure if his front teeth are in good shape. It seems like at bit of a struggle for him to bit off some of the food. Either that or it has just been to long and he is not sure what to do with it.

So off I go on another crazy mission of animal rescue. How do they all find me???? I swear my animals are running an underground railroad or something.

sorry for the lack of photos, Mr. bun bun has asked us to refrain until he looks better.

old to you

new to me. Last night the family watched a really lovely movie called The Worlds Fastest Indian. Yes, it is about motorcycles but even if you hate the blasted machines, it is a really inspirational movie. It tells the story of one crazy old man following his dreams, no matter what. He really let nothing stop him, not age, not money, not heartache. Things that have stopped many of us dead in our tracks. Even my children were glued to this film causing both of them to be up way past their bedtime!

Do whatever you have to do but watch this film. It is worth it!

Did I mention that it is a true story???

Color me inspired!

winter warmth.....

so far from our minds right now as we swelter our way through summer. And really the hottest months are yet to come! Ack! So why in the world am I thinking ahead to winter warmth here in sunny California? Well, you can chalk it up to our current economy and how scary the price of everything is becoming. All of us are now having to consider how we spend our hard earned dollars a whole more carefully. The price of everything has gone through the roof. Many of us have re-invented the victory garden not only for economies sake but for our food safety. We are returning to our Little House On The Prairie roots. If you can learn how to do it for yourself. This has always been my mantra. As we learn how to take care of ourselves again, it is also time to look around and see who is getting left behind. Who needs a helping hand. Along this vein, I found the Nest project in Soulemama's post today. Nest has started a knitting ring to connect knitters with people in need in Maine. Coldest of the cold here in the contiguous 48, many people in maine are going to have a hard time affording their heating oil this winter. This is not a luxury for them and many may not be able to eat and stay warm. So do what you can, knit something warm for a complete stranger. The details are listed on the nest blog (follow the link) but the big one is the deadline is september 1st. Please help in whatever way you can. Not feeling up to knitting, donate some yarn out of your stash to someone who can.

I will leave you with this thought...

whatever you put out into the universe will return to you threefold.

Laundry Day

or at least it should be. How do I disturb this sleeping beauty? Can't do laundry with out the basket I suppose....I will just sit back down on the couch with my knitting. No one really needs clothes anyways right....it is summer after all.

mmmmnnnnnn! bread

I baked this bread the other day off the back of the King Arthur Bread Flour bag. It is called oatmeal bread and OH MY GOODNESSS is it good. I seem to have lost all of my loaf pans so I just did it free form kinda like a ciabata or something. It really was the best bread I have ever made and I have made a lot of bread.

Speaking of which, I am waiting for a new book to arrive. The Tassajara Bread book is on its way to join my lovely cook book library. Am I the only one who reads them like they are novels? Any way this book is supposed to be like the end all bible of bread. I can't wait.

happy 4th!

Hope yours was a day of fun and friends and an evening of sparklely magic!