The End is Near!!

No, I'm not predicting the End of the World (I'll leave that for the 89 year old crazy dudes).  But, for us, the end of the school year is close!  The last day for students is May 27th.  It's so close, Nathan can smell it.  He lives for this day every year.  I have to go back on the 31st to finish cleaning up my room.  Most of it will be done before then, because I have 20 little eager helpers next week who will need to be kept busy.  (Don't worry, I have academic things planned too!)  Plus, the beginning of summer means that this pregnancy is winding down.  It's hard to believe that in about 2 months there will be another baby in this house.  We'll have to spend some time getting ready.  Right  now, I just have "stuff" shoved into the closet.  Once I'm home, and we've got some time to figure out where everyone's going to go, we'll be able to start organizing.

The boys will be busy the month of June.  Matthew leaves for camp on June 2nd.  He'll get back on the 5th, and then he (and maybe Nathan) will go to an evening sports camp at a church near us.  Nathan goes to day camp the week of the 13th, and they both have Backyard Bible the week of the 20th.  By then, it will be the end of June, and their summer will almost half over.  Plus, I'm getting our pool passes soon, so there will be lots of afternoons at the pool!  (I can't wait!)

And, the fun all starts in just one week!!

Sorry for starting every post with. . .

. . .It's been so long since I posted.  Really, it's not that I don't mean to neglect it, life just has a bad habit of getting in the way.  With baseball for Matthew, Cub Scouts for Nathan, potty training for Andrew, plus KidzLIfe at church, grad school coming down to the wire, and the school year winding down, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.  Oh, and did I mention we're having a baby?  So, I have only about a quarter of the energy that I need.  (By the way, if you haven't heard, we have a new species arriving at our house.  Baby #4 will be a GIRL.  Not quite sure what we're going to do with one of those.)

I do keep telling myself that once the next 5 weeks are over, I'll have a lot more time.  And I will.  At least I won't be getting up everyday at 6 am and getting home at 4 pm (or 4:30).  Plus, there won't be another 2 or 3 hours of work ahead of me every evening.  (Like the two papers that are calling my name right now as I blog.)  And, I'll have more time to READ!!  Not books about Action Research, but books I actually want to read.  I'm trying to squeeze that in now, but it's hard.  I did take some time last night to read Diane Ravitch's new book The Death and Life of the Great American School System.  I haven't gotten too far, but I'm enjoying it.  For those of you who have never heard of her, here's an interview that she gave Jon Stewart.

(OK, I tried for five minuted to embed the video, and I just couldn't get it to work, so here's the link instead.  Enjoy! http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-3-2011/diane-ravitch)

Once I finish the book, I'll definitely post my thoughts.  I agree with her in a lot of things, but there are a couple of questions I have about some of her ideas.

Anyway, I better go and cut hair.  Easter is coming up soon, and we all need to look nice!

No, We Haven't Fallen Off the Face of the Earth!

We've just been incredibly busy!  Our first big news, if you haven't heard yet, is that our family is expanding by one!  Yes, we will be having a new baby in late July or early August.  (Late July if I have my way, early August if the doctor has his.)  And, yes, we are hoping for a girl.  At least, I know, Matthew is.  He told me the other day that he and Nathan have been praying for a girl.  I think they've had their fill of brothers!  Of course, once they live with a temperamental, emotional girl, they may change their mind!  We'll find out on March 29th, so stay tuned!

School has also kept me hopping.  I'm in my last term of grad school (YIPPEEE!), but it's been hard keeping up with that and my teaching.  Plus, we had a week off in January because of snow, so we've had NO breaks since Martin Luther King day.  It's been a long haul.  I'm so looking forward to Spring Break.

The boys are keeping us busy.  Matthew played basketball this winter, and now he's got baseball starting.  I don't mind baseball so much, since we can be at the park, and Nathan and Andrew can play.  Basketball was hard because it's a little difficult to convince a three year old that he can't run out onto the court and play with the basketball.  Nathan's in Cub Scouts.  Right now, he's working on his Pinewood Derby car.  It's green with yellow dots (don't ask).  It may not be the best looking car in the Derby, but he likes it!  Andrew still loves going to school and seeing all of his "briends".  So between the three of them and work, you can see why I haven't posted much.  I will be better!  I promise hope!

I Succeeded. . .

in living off of the food in my pantry for a week!  Yes, I know it doesn't sound like a huge accomplishment, but it is for me.  I'm the kind of person who can't just look in my pantry and freezer and be able to figure out a meal.  I need a plan.  Usually, I plan out my meals (or e-mealz does it for me), and then I know what I'm having every day.  Unfortunately, last Friday I left all of my coupons, my e-mealz plan, and my grocery list from Publix on the printer at school.  I went out and bought a few things for the weekend, thinking that I would go out either Monday or Tuesday night.  But this week was conference week, and Monday, Nathan had Cub Scouts and Matthew had basketball, so no time to shop.  So here's what we ended up with for the week:

• Monday - Cheese Jambalaya with Chicken
• Tuesday - Smothered steak with roasted potatoes (Yukon Gold potatoes are the BEST!)
• Wednesday - KidzLife
• Thursday - Spaghetti - My CSA share had the tiniest carrots you've ever seen in it, so I chopped a couple of them up and threw them in the spaghetti sauce.
• Friday - Smoked Sausage and Mac and Cheese
• Tonight - Pizza (I did have to go get some mozarella cheese.)

Not bad if I do say so myself!  But, I did make sure that I brought all of my stuff home this weekend, so I can shop.  I doubt we could go another week!

Holy Cow It's Been A While

(with apologies to Harry Carey)

So, nothing like having THREE months between posts.  Anyway, here's a quick update on all of us.

• Matthew is in third grade now, and enjoying it.  (Sometimes too much, if you get my drift.)  He is definitely my social butterfly and can often be gone for a whole afternoon playing with the other kids in the neighborhood.  He has had some problems remembering to come home at meal times or when it gets dark, but usually a couple of days stuck inside the house helps remind him.  He took a martial arts class offered by the school at the beginning of the year, and now he's about to start basketball.
• Nathan's in second grade and has the most wonderful teacher.  She has been incredibly patient and understanding with him and his various issues (fire drills, wind, rainstorms, thunder, and the computer program that he has to do every week that he hates).  He also took martial arts, and he joined Cub Scouts!  That's right, we now have a Wolf Scout in our house.  I was a little nervous, but it has proven to be wonderful so far.  His den is fairly small, and he's learning some valuable social skills.
• Andrew's in school too!  He goes to preschool two days a week at a church near our house, and he loves it.  He even goes to chapel once a week.  His speech is now up to the level it should be at which thankfully means he won't have yet another specialist.  (YAY!)  He doesn't see the neurosurgeon until next summer, and I'm fairly confident that we'll be released from the doctor's care then. (Double YAY!)
• We are enjoying the new house (except for the septic issues we had earlier this week), and the boys are loving their new school.  Everyday, I am more and more thankful that we made the move both to the house and the school.  
• I'm halfway done with grad school!!!!  I just have this term and next, and I want to be done by the end of June.  Hopefully, I'll be able to survive my capstone project.  :-)
• Jeremy's hours were cut at the radio station in the middle of August.  Right now, he's only working weekends.  While it's been nice because he gets to stay home with Andrew, he's hoping to find something that gives him more hours (and more pay).  He's got a couple of leads, so we're hoping something pans out.  

Here's hoping it won't be another three months until my next update!  :-)

My Homemade Life

As I was making chocolate chip cookies today with my crock-pot of milk on the counter beside me and the pizza crust mixing in the bread machine, I realized just how much homemade stuff I make.  I talked about the granola bars earlier (which I'm still making almost every week), but I make so much more.  I've started making my own yogurt in the crockpot.  (Here's the recipe I've found.)  It makes the best yogurt, and you can add anything you want.  The boys scarfed it down with maple syrup and vanilla the other day.  I've put honey and diced peaches in mine.  YUM.  It's unbelievable cheap, plus there is not a single additive in it.  (And I can vary the amount of sugar.)

Not only do I make homemade varities of yogurt, cookies, and granola bar, but I'm also making all of my own cleaners.  I make my own all-purpose cleaner, floor cleaner, window cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, and fabric softener.  Plus, I just started making my own shampoo and conditioner!  When I go to the store, the only cleaners I'm buying are baking soda, vinegar, washing soda, and borax.  I've also bought a couple of varities of castile soap (BEST STUFF EVER!!) and essential oils.  It takes almost no time to make any of these things.  The floor cleaner, window cleaner, and fabric softener is just plain vinegar.  I add tea tree oil to the vinegar when I mop the floor because tea tree oil an anti-bacterial.  I also add either orange oil or lavendar oil to the fabric softener.  The toilet bowl cleaner is simply borax that I sprinkle in, swish around, let sit for 30 minutes or so, and then flush.

Here's the recipes for the rest:
All Purpose Cleaner
1 tsp washing soda
1 tsp castile soap
32 oz hot water
(I also add a few drops of tea tree oil)

Laundry Detergent
1 bar castile soap (grated)
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda
Use one tablespoon - it will not suds up alot, but it cleans really well! 

Dishwashing Detergent
Mix equal parts borax and washing soda.  Use one tablespoon per load.  I also use vinegar as my rinse aid.

I just started making my own shampoo, and I LOVE it.  It will take a few days for your hair to adjust.  I started using this over the summer, and just wore my hair in a ponytail for a week until my hair started looking decent.

Shampoo
6 oz.  strong herbal tea (I used fresh rosemary and mint and let it steep for 30 minutes)
2 oz. castile soap
I put it in a spray bottle because it will be very thin.

Conditioner
Equal parts herbal tea and apple cider vinegar.  (Do not use white vinegar.  I've heard that really bad things happen!)
Once your hair dries, it won't smell like vinegar.  I promise!

Why did I start making all of this stuff?  Well, one reason was to save money.  I hate spending $3.00 on the stuff I spray on the pee around the toilet.  Plus, as long as I stay stocked up on borax and washing soda, I can pretty much clean everything, so there's none of the "We're out of laundry detergent!" attacks in our house.  But I also started reading about all of the chemicals that are in all of these cleaners, detergents, and shampoos, and I decided that if I could make some replacements for as cheap (or cheaper) that worked as well, then I wanted to do that.  And, they're safer.  All of my cleaning products (except for the borax) are non-toxic.  Andrew could ingest them, and while he wouldn't feel great, I wouldn't have to call poison control either.  Definitely a good plan in our house.  :-)

The least of these

I've been a little fired up lately, so fair warning.  :-)

It's election season here in Georgia.  There's campaign signs on every corner.  And I'm paying more attention this year than I ever had, because the people who are elected will directly affect some of the dearest people to me.  My kids.

No, I'm not talking about the ones I've given birth to (though they will be affected somewhat).  I'm talking about the group that will be coming to me in August.  I'm talking about the 20+ children whose lives will intersect with mine for the next 10 months.  And I'm talking about the kids who will come to school hoping to escape the chaos that they live with everyday.

But, you see, lots of people at the State Capitol don't seem to understand that.  They seem to think that we can perform miracles.  I don't know how many times I've heard one of the legislators say "Our schools need to do more with less."  Really?  See, the problem is the fact that these guys are middle class.  They've come from middle class homes, and they send their kids either to middle class schools or to private schools.  They don't seem to understand that too many times, the schools are the only refuge many of these kids have.   I don't worry about the "brain drain" my students will suffer.  I worry that some of them won't eat very much during summer.  Let me tell you a story to illustrate this.  The teacher next to me last year had a student who I'll call A.  One day, A comes to school about 2 hours late, and when she walked in, she looked awful.  Her teacher asked her what happened, and A tells her that she walked to school because she missed the bus.  (She lives about 5 miles from school.)  Why didn't her mom take her?  Well, her mom wasn't home.  The day before had been her mom's birthday, so she hadn't come home.  A was left with her older sister who sent her off to school with a "nice lady walking by."  What would have happened if the person walking by A's house hadn't been so "nice"?  I wonder about A during the summer.  Is she getting fed?  Is she spending more nights alone?  Is someone making sure her clothes are washed and her room is clean?  Does anyone tell her that they love her, that she is a valuable person, that she can be anything she wants to be?

Where am I going with this?  Well, my conservative friends may not like this too much, but I'm going to be honest.  The Religious Right is the cause of so much of this.  They've listened to too many radio shows telling them that people can lift themselves up by their bootstraps, that helping the poor is enabling them, and that small government is more important than making sure that kids are fed.  They don't care about the kids like A.  Oh sure, they say they do, but whenever it's time to make the hard decisions about making a state budget, they want to cut taxes, cut services, and cut public education.  Who's reaching out to the least of these among us?  Who cares about the kids like A who have no where else to go?  Sure, we can talk about the failure of society, about too many parents having kids out of wedlock, and about parents not taking responsibility for their children, but it seems that all that does is point fingers.  It seems like all conservatives want to do is assign blame, while the kids like A, and others like who walk into our schools everyday need someone to care, they need someone to reach out and love them.  Teachers try.  We give everything we can, but next year, I could have 25-some kids in my room.  While I know that I can teach them all, I worry that I'm going to miss the lost ones.  Am I going to have to time to see when a child is hurting and reach out to them?  Am I going to see the ones that need that extra hug, that extra minute, that extra encouragement?  Is it really worth the extra $20 a year you may save in property taxes?