I've never been an apron wearer, but it seems that in my old age I'm becoming a very messy cook. Just yesterday I went to put on my favorite eggplant t-shirt from Athleta, and it's got a big grease stain right in front.

It was my go to shirt. You know the one - if it's clean you put it on. It made me very sad.

There are a few other shirts in similar shape.

So I've decided I need to start wearing an apron.

Some of you have put pictures of darling aprons on your blogs, and I'm looking for your recommendations.

I'm looking for a an apron with a bib, because I need all the coverage I can get. But I need something that is sassy, because I don't want Bud to see me in it and be thinking "mother." I want him to see me in it and think, "How you doin'?"

He's from New Jersey and can totally pull that off.

So please, hit me with your best apron suggestions. Thanks!

Labels: Bud, Cooking

Once we started remodeling the kitchen, we lived in a construction zone for a couple of months, and then - like magic - we had a kitchen that functioned! All the appliances in place and operational. Plumbing that runs but doesn't leak. Countertops. Storage.

After all that time eating Sonic salads from the local market's healthy salad bar, I was thrilled to get into the kitchen and start cooking again.

In fact, I hardly notice all the things that aren't complete anymore. Like no toe-kicks. I found a sprouting potato under there the other day.

Also, two of the cabinets need sidepanels, but I've got to find someone with a planer wide enough to plane them from 5/8" down to 3/8" or they won't fit.

Then there is the back-ordered backsplash.

And these:





They are my pantries. No, pantRies you goof. The first is in the heart of the kitchen and holds the food. The second is in the breakfast area and houses all our school stuff and my cookbooks. They're great aren't they? I've become so accustomed to the rustic construction zone look that I hardly notice that there are no doors or trim.

Besides, the doors are in the garage, waiting for me to finish painting them.

And it's like 18 gajillion degrees below zero right now.

But I have a deadline. Finish painting the doors and install them in pockets this weekend or bust... A gut? A seam? A move? I don't know what that means but I'm getting them done this weekend.

And I'll show you pictures on Monday.

Which reminds me of this fun little thing I used to do before I stopped doing it. Weekend Warriors! Remember that? It was all the rage for about 3 seconds.

I think I'm going to revive it, and we'll start NEXT weekend. So you're off the hook for this week, but get ready because you've got work to do next weekend. And I'm a slave driver!

So with all this home improvement talk, tell me, what's your favorite project around the house? Gardening? Painting? Digging out sprouted potatoes from under your kitchen cabinets? Do tell!

---

The GRP

Romy and the floor had a bit of an altercation today. The floor won.

Labels: Decorating, Kitchen remodel, My Troubled Children, The GRP, Weekend Warriors

Update:

Rhonda pointed out in the comments that this system is recommended over at Simply Charlotte Mason. Click over there because they do a better job of explaining it than I do, PLUS they've got a lot of other great info. Thanks Rhonda!

Over the years in homeschool, church and Community Bible Study, the kids have had a lot of memory work to do. Lots of Bible verses, of course, mixed in with poetry and other literature readings.

What I found, though, was that they would memorize the passage, move on to the next one, and promptly forget the one they just learned!

It's enough that they forget to do their chores and trim their nails, but forgetting all that memory work that we spent hours on was driving me a leetle beet crazy.

So last school year I devised a system, that I'm sure some much wiser homeschooler told me about, but I promptly forgot who it was. No, the irony is not lost on me.

Here it is:



Now some of you crafty folks will be able to make this much cuter and fun than I did. But I used what I had on hand so it was FREE. Ha.

This is how it works:

When we learn a new passage, or group of latin vocabulary words, or poem or whatever, it goes into the "daily" file. We work on it every day at breakfast. Once it is mastered it moves into the "odd" or "even" file, and whatever was there gets bumped to a Monday through Friday slot, and the item bumped from there gets put into a dated slot.

So everything we memorize gets practiced until it is firmly in our brains, and from then on it comes around at least once a month.

I'm pleased to tell you that it works. We've been using this system for about a year, and we all seem to remember things as they come back around.

I'm off to put a toenail clipper in the Friday slot.

Labels: Bible study, Homeschooling

I haven't shared a Works for me Wednesday tip in a while, but this one is so fantastic and I just discovered it last night, so I wanted to share with you.



Sweet Romy has been sick for several days with an icky cold. You know the drill...cranky, nasty nose, junky cough, up at nights needing the nose vacuumed out. One of those colds. Well yesterday afternoon, Romy awoke from her nap in a horrible tantrum. It lasted for a long time and had us worried that her ear had joined the party. I wasn't sure because a) my otoscope is broken so I couldn't just look and see, and b) the girl knows how to throw a good tantrum.

She's gifted that way.

So it's 6 p.m., of course, and Romy needs to be seen because I did not want to be up all night. the poor dear was possibly in pain.

Our doctor is gone for the day, and DFW is braced for a major ice storm. "STAY OFF THE ROADS!" was being screamed from every radio station.

So I had only a short time to get her seen and get home before we'd be sliding off into a ditch somewhere.

Enter Minute Clinic at our CVS. Now don't get me started on why there is a bank and a pharmacy on every single corner, but last night I was glad to have a CVS right here in the cul de sac. I'm exaggerating, mostly. It was a 5 minute drive.

Walked in, saw a nurse practitioner. No ear infection. She faxed the record of the visit to our doctor and recommended some nasal saline.

Now here is the best part. Because they didn't do anything for us (her words, not mine) there was NO CHARGE! I thought they did a ton for a us and would have paid A LOT for the service they provided at that particular moment, but it cost me nothing.

Fifteen minutes later, I was back home with my suddenly sweet baby, safe from the ice storm that has shut the area down. Romy slept all night and is a new baby today.


CVS Minute Clinic. It definitely works for me!

Labels: Baby Talk, The GRP, Works for me Wednesday

I just made that up. I really don't know a lot about cooking. I mostly figure things out as I go along. However, for several years, this one



has declared she wants to be a baker when she grows up. I was sad that she gave up the idea of being a playground designer, because it sounds so fun with less potential of major weight issues. But, I think she'll be a good baker and she has a very cute business plan, but I've been sworn to secrecy so you'll have to wait 20 years to find out.

Anyhow, I've designed a baking curriculum for Peyton to follow and learn some of the basics of baking. She received the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book for Christmas, and we're using it as our textbook. What a great book!

We're on Week 3 - Leavening this week, and so far it's been fun and a success. So I thought I'd share our curriculum with you in case you would like to try it or, more importantly, point out the glaring deficiencies. I would really appreciate that, btw!

Do you have a favorite cookbook that you use for your baking recipes?

I'd love to hear about it.

So here you go:

Peyton's baking curriculum

Week 1 All About Flour
types of flour
storing flour
measuring flour
sifting flour
Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

Week 2 All About Flour continued
review
Recipe: Basic Pizza Dough

Week 3 All About Leaveners
yeast and yeast substitutes
baking soda and baking powder
cream of tartar
Recipe: Fluffy dinner rolls

Week 4 Sugar
types
measuring
Recipe: Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies

Week 5 Sugar continued
restoring sugar
Recipe: Carrot Sheet Cake

Week 6 Butter I really can't wait for this week!
buying
butter temperatures
creaming
Recipe: Banana Bread

Week 7 Eggs
sizes and weights
breaking and separating
storing
temperature
whipping
Recipe: Skillet Strata

Week 8 Dairy
types
substitutions
Recipe: Simple Cream Scones

Week 9 Chocolate
types
storing
chopping
melting
Recipe: Lunchbox Brownies
Recipe: Chocolate Croissants
Yes, there are supposed to be two recipes this week. Lots of critically important skills to learn in chocolate week.

Week 10 The Pantry
cornmeal
oats
gelatine
tapioca
cornstarch
Recipe: Corn Muffins

Week 11 The Pantry
Karo syrup
molasses
honey
maple syrup
wheat bran
shortening
Recipe: Honey Bran Sandwich Bread with Sunflower Seeds

Week 12 Final Test
Surprise recipe - I am helping Peyton as much as she needs during the 12 weeks, but this one she will have to do all on her own without my help.

What unusual subjects do you teach your children?

Labels: Cooking, Homeschooling, My Troubled Children

During all this time I haven't been blogging, I have been keeping myself busy. The kitchen is almost done (waiting on a backsplash - 10 week backorder). The cooking, it is happening a lot. The laundry is caught up. My children are being educated. I'm involved at church and two Bible studies. I'm the "greeter" for my homeschool support group. The seeds for my spring garden just arrived. And I'm reading a Hannah Coulter.

However, my children really need a toenail and fingernail trim. It's disgusting.

Ew.

I really don't have a lot of blogging time since getting my ducks in a row, but I don't want to quit blogging, because I sometimes have very important things to say and I don't want you to miss out on that. That would be so sad. For me.

So today, in an attempt to make this blog useful, I thought I'd share my menu plan for this week. I love to read menu plans because they always give me new ideas, and I have occasionally gotten into a slump with my cooking. Okay, if picking up a rotisserie chicken and steaming some broccoli several nights a week is a slump, then it's more than occasionally.

My meal plan starts on Saturday. I find that if I try to make it begin on Monday, it's too much preparation going on on Sunday evenings between that and school. So I plan my menus on Friday afternoons when we've wrapped up for the week, and try to shop that afternoon, too.

Also, I always make a big salad for dinner. I try to put a lot of stuff on it - variety of lettuces, carrots, tomatoes, nuts, peppers, citrus fruit, etc. And if the main course doesn't have a veggie or two built in, I put a side of veggies on the table. Usually something steamed with lemon, salt and pepper.

For breakfast and lunch, if I don't have fruit planned, we just grab fruit out of the fruit bowl and have that as a side. I don't mention these things on the meal plan because I don't plan very precisely for them.

I know, words, words, words.

Here it is:

THIS WEEK'S MEAL PLAN
Saturday
Breakfast - Coffee cake made by Peyton (recipe from America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book)
Lunch - out at Dickey's barbecue
Dinner - leftovers from Friday night (it was chicken soup)

Sunday
Breakfast - Coffee Cake again
Lunch and Dinner - Garlic Potato Soup and homemade parmesan flatbread. (Cooks Illustrated is a subscription website, so if you don't have a subscription and want the recipe, let me know. ;)

Monday
Breakfast - pancakes, bacon and blueberries
Lunch - buttered noodles with green peas
Dinner - pot roast - it's pot roast, I don't really use a recipe. But if you want one, The Pioneer Woman has one here.

Tuesday
Breakfast - cinnamon toast and fried apples
Lunch Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (I like Pacific brand soup - it comes in a box like broth)
Dinner - pot roast pasta - shred up the roast and serve it with alot of its juice over penne pasta. The pieces of meat will get caught up in the penne, so it's a good noodle for the dish. If you want a thicker sauce, put it in a sauce pan and cooke with some flour to thicken it. That's what I do.

Wednesday
Breakfast - cold cereal - some days I'm mean like that
Lunch - leftover pasta
Dinner - Jambalaya pasta- Bud's request - this is my first time to make this recipe so I'll let you know how it goes.

Thursday -
Breakfast - biscuits and sausage, berries
Lunch - leftover jambalaya
Dinner - pan pizza This recipe has a bit much olive oil taste for me, so I use half olive oil and half butter in the pan. This method makes a really wonderful crust!

Friday -
Breakfast - cereal - mean again
Lunch - leftover pizza
Dinner - And finally, enchiladas for both our neighbor who just had a sweeeet baby boy and for us. And we'll probably invite someone to eat with us.

So there ya go. What are you eating this week?

Labels: Cooking, Linkorama