Ooops!

Rick just broke an entire (new) bottle of Colavita EVOO on my kitchen tile.  He did help me clean it up though.  Just had to get that off my chest!

Have a great weekend.

Homeschool Milestone!

One way to help your dyslexic child is to perform oral tests rather than written.  Sydney has progressed with her reading where she can answer grade apppropriate questions such as bubble testing or writing a sentance to answer. In this case it is third grade vocabulary!  I am so proud of her for working so hard even through the hard times.  I am also proud of me for being patient.  I'm so thankful that God has allowed us this opportunity!

Voila! We have a new door.

We have lived in a house that was built in 1965 and pretty much never updated.  The time has come my friends...this is my year!  We are changing mostly everything about our little house.  At first we were overwhelmed at just changing all of the gross paint colors, then I got pregnant at 40 and got busy being a working mom.  We are NOT handy people.  I don't mind painting but that's about the extent of it.  The last two and a half years we have done nothing to our house because of all my surgeries.  Long story short we are beginning a messy dusty journey that will last a year anyway.  Our contractor has a day job, 3 boys and his wife is my best friend Jill. So he works on our house when he can.  I don't mind waiting becaue he does excellent work and is very trustworthy blah, blah, blah. Here is the run down of  our plans.

First, I will give you a run down of the latest project.  A door to close off our formal living room.  Rick is in sales so he needs to work from home quite often.  This was never an issue when I was working or when Sydney was going to school outside of the home. However, now that we homeschool and we are here all of the time, Rick needs some privacy, not to mention  peace and quiet when he is talking to clients.  His office has always been in this living room so it seemed logical to put a door going from our entry into the living room/office.

Before

Jason, hard at work.

Door!

How easy was that!  Of course this door won't be painted for a while although Rick painted it with Kilz since this picture was taken.  The rest of the house will also be updated...here is a rundown:

Kitchen - everything but the cabinets

Both Baths - everything must go

Living, den and entry and hall- hardwoods

New carpet in bedrooms

Entry and den...remove paneling

As you can see from this list, my house will be a dusty mess for the forseable future but I'm okay with that. 

Here is a peek at an upcoming project...you will see why everything must go.

Homeschool Group Valentine Party and Field Trip

Monday our homeschool group hosted our belated Valentines Party.  It was lots of fun.  We had it in a place called "The Rock" in Weatherford.  It is a gymnastics and dance facility and it's huge.  They have all kinds of activities for the kids...think "Little Gym" but huge!  It was great fun and good to run around and act like crazy after all of the cold weather.  We all brought a dozen treats and enough valentines for our child's age group. The kids all brought decorated boxes to put valentines in.  I think there were 65 kids total.  The kids had a great time and now Sydney wants classes there! 

Thursday we had a field trip to the Weatherford Democrat newspaper...it is a real small town paper but the kids had fun.  I'm not sure why it is called Democrat because I know and have met tons of folks from Weatherford and NONE of them are Democrats! The tour guide at the paper was a bit surprised at how big our group was...her words were "I thought when you said homeschool group there would only be a few"!  After the paper we finished our day off with a trip to the Dairy Queen across the street.

My Valentine

The Third Grade Girls

Girl Talk

Third Grade Girls

My friend Robin and daughter Shelby

Robin's son Preston...he always greets me with a hug and a big smile!

 No pics of sister Brooke this time, they were too blurry!

Most creative valentine box!

9 year old quote of the day!

"I am never...NEVER in a million years going to stop playing with my dolls...unless I'm 22"!

Belated Valentine's Party****Updated with recipe!

Today our homeschool group is having our Valentine's Day party.  It was scheduled for Friday but with 9-12 inches of snow on the ground we moved it.  That may not be much to my friends from up north but you have to consider that there are no snow plows in Texas...as a rule we never need them.  The last time there was anywhere near this much snow was in 1964!

Each family has to bring a dozen treats for the party. That sounds like a lot but most of the families have many more than 1 child.  I baked these beauties yesterday with help from my daughter.  I have had the recipe from a friend since the late eighties and they are in a word amazing.  I didn't double the recipe because I forgot that you really need to.  It only makes about 15 cookies but they are the best you will ever have. Even Sydney and my mom can only eat one.  Sydney ate one yesterday and told me she was still full today from the cookie!

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing!

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 1/2 flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

mix sugar, butter, egg vanilla, almond extract. Mix in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. cover and ref. bake at 375 8 to 10 min. I just watch them after 8 min.

Then you frost with cream cheese icing (the kind in the can).

Enjoy!

Snow Day and a Recipe

Today we woke up to tons of snow!  It is supposed to snow all day. Luckily we have no other plans to worry about.  There will not be dance tonight and I made taco soup (recipe below)  yesterday just in case we did get snow.  We are all set. My friend Fran is a mail carrier so say a little prayer for her.

Carolina Jasmine

Front of my house

My street

My bundled up daughter

By the way, I am planning to paint my front door red (it's currently hunter green) so if you know of any really pretty reds let me know what they are.  I don't want lipstick red...something darker but I don't want anything too maroon either. Maybe kind of barn red or brick red.  Let me know what you think!

I have made this soup every week since the beginning of January.  It's really good and low-fat...unless you put tons of cheese, avacado etc. Enjoy!

Taco Soup

1 lb ground meat

1/2 med onion, chopped

brown together, drain if necessary.

add:

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 pkg ranch dressing mix

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can Rotel tomato (or stewed tomatoes if Rotel too spicy)
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can cream corn
1 can golden hominy (or extra can of corn, if you don't like hominy)

Do not drain cans, use liquid from veggies and beans. May add beef broth if too thick. (I have to drain the beans that liquid is yuck...I just add the broth)

Serve with grated cheese and avocado.

Makes a lot but freezes really well.

Daddy Daughter Dance 2010

Saturday our homeschool group had their Daddy/Daughter banquet and they had the best time. Their was dinner, dancing, fancy clothes and of course special memories with daddy. There was a pledge from the fathers to protect their daughters and a pledge from the daughters to honor dad's authority so sweet.  There was a photographer to take pictures but we won't have those for a few weeks.  We will have to make due with the photos taken by dad with his work camera.

Sydney and Chrissa, her American Girl doll with matching dresses.

Sydney and Angel dancing..they are a funny couple.  Angel is nearly a year younger than Sydney but off the charts tall and Sydney is off the charts short!  Too cute.  It has been an honor to watch these two grow and mature from where they were when we started homeschooling.

High 5!!!

The scales have finally moved...down a total of 6 lbs in 3 weeks!  Also I have not had anything from Taco Bueno in over a week...do you think there could be a connection?  Sydney and I are meeting my friend Tracy and her daughter for dinner tomorrow at Olive Garden.  The breadsticks are killer and I have discovered that the salad isn't so healthy either.  I'm not really a dessert person so I have that going for me.  Oh and I can't stand the mints they give you so I'm good!

I need to brag on my sweet Sydney today too.  Yesterday she did 2 days worth of school so we could have the day off.  She went to her Nana's and I stayed home and rested, cleaned up the aftermath of being sick for a week.  So thanks Mom and Sydney for the break!  Love you both. 

No Weight Change!

Maybe I boasted a little too much about the five pounds I lost last week but for some reason the scale has been flat.  I know I haven't tracked my points like I should have and we had a really busy week which always messes me up.  There was a death in our extended family, we had 3 doctor appointments and am taking medicine for strep throat and a sinus infection plus a suspected respiratory virus. Yeah, I'm in good shape.  Today I am feeling better but I had cinnamon toast for breakfast but only a half piece.  I know that being on medicine plus a hectic schedule kicks my appetite into high gear.  Add to that a funeral feast and I'm amazed I didn't gain a pound or two.  It was nice to get on the scales at the doctor's office and not cringe...well, I still cringe but with a smile because my weight was less than before.  The last time that I had a check up my doctor and I talked about exercise and how after 3 surgeries in a 16 months I was being very careful what I lifted.  His response was "I see you didn't have any trouble lifing your fork".  That would have made some folks angry or cry but it did make me laugh because he was so right.  After my first surgery I lost 20 lbs due to a liquid diet, then a soft diet and just being afraid of eating (which I overcame). That 20 lbs was a real eye opener because my blood pressure was back to normal without meds.  I am also at risk for adult onset diabetes because I had gestational diabetes. This is a health issue and not a vanity issue for me.  All that to say this is a new week and I am feeling better and I am working on better planning. I was planning to add the treadmill in last week but that will probably not happen until next week.  I also need some really good stomach exercises because after 3 abdominal surgeries and a c-section my abs are super shot.