Menu Monday, 2/25/13

 Menu plan for upcoming week. Well, it's still cold out there. Everyone is clambering for stew again. Sunday I'm barely home, so dinner has to be easy. I'll make a plan and later I'll see if hubby supports it (as in "will cook it while I'm out").

Sunday:

Hot dogs (leftovers for the vegans), baked beans, cole slaw (just had on Friday) or green beans

Monday:

We teach an ESL class from 6:00-7:00, which really messes up our dinner hour. For this week I'll plan leftovers, because we've got bean soup and lasagne leftovers.

Tuesday:

Bowling afternoon, which means stew won't work for me today. I guess we'll have spaghetti and meat (or vegan) sauce, salad, and TX toast.

Wednesday:

JD and I have to leave for Awanas at 6:00, so I guess I'll make sloppy "not-Joes" for dinner. I'll serve them with cooked carrots.

Thursday:

 Finally I have enough time to make stew. I'll make beef stew, and vegan stew. I've started making half-batches of everything, with a vegan dish in one pot and a meat dish in a pot beside it. I'll serve salad and rolls with the stew.

Friday:

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup, salad, rolls

Saturday:

Lemon chicken fingers (faux chicken patties); broccoli, stuffing (brown rice)

Recipes for this week:

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup, vegan style:
 Adapted from Byerlys
Ingredients

• 1 C wild rice, uncooked
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 large carrots, sliced
• 1 1/2 ribs celery, sliced
• 8 oz. fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 C white whole wheat flour, generous
• 8 C hot vegetable stock
• 1 C almond milk
• 1 T dry cooking sherry {optional}
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions
Begin by preparing the wild rice.  To do so, measure out the rice in a dry measuring cup, you’ll need about 1 C.  Place the required water into a medium saucepan.  Then, add the rice. 

Cover and cook according to package directions – this usually involves bringing the rice to a boil and then reducing the heat to simmer for about 45 minutes.  

Heat your 8 C of vegetable broth/stock in a saucepan or microwave it until warmed; once warmed through, continue to leave over the heat so that it is hot when you are ready to add it to the soup.  

In the bottom of a large stockpot, saute the onion, celery, mushrooms and carrots in water or vegetable stock for about 3 minutes, or until veggies are starting to get soft.  

Sprinkle in the generous 1/2 C flour, stirring until the veggies are coated in the the flour.  Be careful not to burn the flour.   

Next, add in the vegetable stock, slowly, stirring as you add the hot stock. 

Continue stirring and adding the stock slowly, until the butter, flour veggie mixture is well blended.   

Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, until carrots are tender.

Then, add in the wild rice.  Season with salt and pepper and continue simmering for 10-15 minutes.   

Separate half of soup out into second pot so one can be vegan and one can have meat.

Add in 1-2 cups cooked, diced ham and cooked chicken.  Simmer for 10 more minutes.  

Finally, add in the 1 C almond milk (1/2 in each pot), along with the dry sherry, if desired. 
Heat the soup gently for an additional 10-15 minutes, but do not allow the soup to come to a boil.  

Menu Monday (on Friday!)

I'm late getting this posted, but I thought I'd post it anyway. I'm trying to menu plan the entire year so that I'll have the framework in future years. So here's what I planned and mostly stuck to for the week of 2/17/13 (carnivore plans followed by vegan plans in parentheses):

Sunday:
 Ledo's Pizza (Amy's vegetarian pizza - we actually ended up eating leftovers); salad

Monday:
 Beef Pitas (recipe below) (veggie crumble pitas); mixed vegetables

Tuesday:
Bean soup with ham bone stock (vegan bean soup); salad; rolls

Wednesday:
 Boneless chicken fried in olive oil (faux chicken patties baked); brown rice; Brussels sprouts

Thursday:
Lasagne (vegan lasagne); salad; TX toast

Friday:
Fish sticks (leftovers); fries; coleslaw (yams, leftover veggies)

Saturday:
Will be away; family will eat leftovers, I'll probably eat a veggie sub from Subway.

So, since I'm going to be out all day Saturday and am busy Sunday, I'm supposed to quickly have next week's menu plan done with grocery list for my hubby to shop Sunday. :sigh: I'll never make it. Off to try.
 

Daisy

On Friday, in my Friday Wrap-up, at the end of the entry I had posted a video asking for prayer for Daisy.

On Sunday I learned that Daisy died Saturday morning. She fought her cancer for four years. I think she was 7 when she died. My daughter and I are so sad, but are trying to remember that she doesn't have to fight any more and can now rest in the arms of her savior.

Please pray for her family. They are going to ache, and miss her terribly. Thank you.

Friday Wrap-Up

 
Here's a wrap-up for our week. My young adolescent is staying up late and sleeping late. It is cramping my plans. I have resorted to writing him a "To Do" list some days, and that has helped some.

Bible:
Reading: We did well, most days, but I entirely forgot on Monday. Yeah, I've strayed far from using my Daily Lesson Planner... And we're falling behind on our "Read through the Bible in a Year" plan, because we don't tend to work on the scheduled readings on weekends.
Memory: I'm working on my "100 Verses in 2013" and JD is working on Awanas verses; we've both been working.
Hymns: We've been working on This is My Father's World, but we only did it once this week.

Math:
Working on Horizons Pre-Algebra, lessons  66-70, and Test #7

Science: 
Working on Apologia Astronomy, Chapter 2.

Language Arts:
Grammar: Working on Essentials in Writing (Grade 6), Lessons 2 - 6. (Watched DVD for Lessons 1-5 last week, but couldn't start written work til Friday, last, when Lesson 1's written work was done, so this week written work for Lessons 2-6 and Video for Lesson 6.
Latin: Working through Latin 1 - First Form Latin by Memoria Press. This week: Lesson 2, finished, at beginning of week and Lesson 3 begun.
The Art of Poetry begun: Lesson 1, Imagery
Literature: Readings from Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass; Little Britches: Man of the Family; Lassie, Come Home; and Ever Hopeful, Hannah Lee.

Social Studies:
Working on post Civil War era, Reconstruction and Reform. Sadly, The History of Us: Reconstruction and Reform seems to have found some hiding place, so this subject has been neglected this week. Weekend plans: find the book!

Art:
Study of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French Impressionist (This term's composer: Debussy)

   1. La Grenouilliere, 1869, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
   2. Les Grands Boulevards, 1875, The Henry P. McIlhenny [travelling] Collection
   3. La Loge, 1874, Courtauld Institute Galleries, University of London
   4. Girl with a Watering Can, 1876, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
   5. The Two Sisters, On the Terrace, 1881, Art Institute of Chicago
   6. Girls at the Piano, 1892, Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Music:
Study of Johann Sebastian Bach
Listening selections for this term:
    Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
    St. Matthew Passion (for 4 weeks)
    Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 (consists of one toccata and one fugue; do-able in 2 weeks)
    Well-Tempered Clavier (Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Book I)
    Goldberg Variations

Health:
Discussion of ways to try to stay healthy during cold and flu season.

Physical Education:
Bowling, and general outdoor activities.

Other:
Working on Week 2 of College Common Sense
Scouts: JD got a few things checked off in his book at last night's meeting.
4-H: Tomorrow night is the annual Recognition Night: JD is getting one or two awards. 

Nature Study: Hopefully we'll be doing Backyard Bird Count this weekend. :)

Delighted mommy-moment of the week: My son working on his Latin, reciting to himself various congegations, turns to me and says, "Well, we wanted a language to study, and we found it. We found it. Latin. I like it!"  Wow! My son seldom says things like things like that!  It took me a long time to "learn" my son. I have finally learned that it really takes a month of insisting him to do something so that he can become comfortable with it. Then it is easier to make a valid decision of whether or not something is a good fit with him. 

Another mommy-moment: Reading from Exodus, he begins stopping me every time it tells of the length of curtains in cubits so that he can convert it to feet. Then he says, "I love Math!" Then he pauses, and continues, "I hate it, too, but I love it!"


Spreading the word: 
My daughter has been apprising me of Daisy's situation for years, praying for her. Just found this video; wanted to spread the word. Please pray for Daisy:


Linking up with other homeschool moms at iHomeschool Network.  Be sure to visit them!!

Efraim's Son

You are about to embark upon a very long family history, so if you are not interested, abandon ship now!

Many years ago my Gram Holien told me a family story of how her maiden name came to be. You see, her family was originally from Finland. There was a story behind our family name that would make your head spin. Well, it involved the entire family, so I guess this isn't just about Efraim's son... but here goes...

  

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My family records begin in Finland in 1788 when Johan Michaelis Palvalehto was born. He grew up and married Catharina Matthia "Carin" Pulckinen, They had one son together and named him Johan. Johan, Jr. was born in 1808, still in Norway.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johan, Jr. grew up and married Britta Henricksdatter. Together they had several children: Mathias (born 1821); Lisa (born 1823); and Abram (born 1825). Then Efraim was the next child, but the records seem to indicate that Britta may have died and Johan may have remarried. Efraim was born in 1830 (B 1830, died 1901), and then Maria (1833) and Caisa (1834).
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Efraim grew up and married Brita Kaisa Simonsson. They began their family. Margretta was born 1/8/1856 (died 1/3/1920). Then was born our relative, John Efraimson (November 1858, 100 years before me!)(Died 3/16/1938) (photo below):

Then came Mary (1860)(married name Hanson); Kate (1865)(married name Holappa) and Efraim (1870). Here is where the story really starts hopping!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
The family decided to move to America.  

My gram had told me a history of how their name got changed. I need to find my notes. The "History" below tells a different story, but this is they way I remember my Gram telling the story.

Apparently, when the family arrived at the port of entry in 1888 (probably Ellis Island), the record-keepers had a great deal of difficulty with the name Palvalehto.


Poppa Efraim and his wife Britta were asked, "What's your last name?" With his thick Finnish accent Efraim said "Palvalehto." The man said, "No one can pronounce that! What was your father's name?" So Efraim said, "Johan". Now, "Johan" is the Finnish equivalent of "John", so their name became Efraim and Britta Johnson. 

Then, as his children approached the agent, each to check in, it got really colorful. Probably the youngest son came first, under Efraim and Britta's wing. The agent said, "What is this child's name?" And Efraim said, "Efraim." So the agent deemed little Efraim "Efraim Johnson" as well. 

Then the other offspring were next, and they were all adults. So one by one they each went through: Margretta, Katie, John, and Mary, and they were each christened with the name "Efraimson", as in "Efraim's son". So that is the line we are descended from (John Efraimson). Later the women married. Margretta married "Matti Paso," and became "Gretta Paso" (possibly "Passo"); Katie became "Mrs. Henry Hollapa"; and Mary became "Mrs. Hans Hanson". (I love that last one - Hans Hanson is like our John Johnson -- at least that's what John's name would have been if he hadn't taken "Efraimson" as his last name...)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I found this amazing news clip that was originally published as part of the Hamlin County, South Dakota History:



Efraim and Brita were buried side by side. I thought their headstone unique -- it maintained their heritage while showing their "taken" name in their new land. The spelling of Palvalehto is different from what earlier records show.


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 So Efraim and Brita's children were:

Wednesday's Words

Today we began work on a new poetry unit. The materials we are working on cam from Classical Academic Press. We are working on Chapter 1 right now, and I wanted to share with you a poem, covered in Chapter 1, by Robert Lewis Stevenson.

Now my son was barely tracking with me through all of Chapter 1 leading up to this one, but I prefaced the poem with, "Now I am going to read a poem by the author of Treasure Island..." (which we just recently finished reading).

"WHAT!!???!!!" my son exclaimed.

"Robert Lewis Stevenson," I replied. (It is clear that he doesn't remember that poetry we covered in 1st Grade by Stevenson.) I said, "He was also a very prolific poet."

So my son was finally engaged, and we both enjoyed this poem.

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the aire so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

River and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown--

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

 

I then found the teacher's pages in the book for that chapter. ::sigh:: I'm a little slow on the uptake. Struggling though questions of, "What imagery do you see," as if I were the student, feeling like, "I think that's what it's asking for... Is it?"

I'll do better on Chapter 2 I think...

Tuesday Tidbits: Alice Through the Looking Glass

Oh, Lewis Carroll is so funny! I've posted it before, but I'll post it again -- my favorite poem, which I am working on memorizing:

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

        Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogroves,

        And the mome raths outgrabe."

And it is explained as well. This is the first time I was aware of this -- I guess I never read Through the Looking Glass as a child:

 "That's enough to begin with," Humpty Dumpty interrupted: "there are plenty of hard words there. 'Brillig' means four o'clock in the afternoon--the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."

"That'll do very well," said Alice: "and 'slithy'?"

Well, 'slithy' means lithe and slimy. 'Lithe' is the same as 'active.' You see, it's like a portmanteau--there are two meanings packed up into one word."

"I see it now," Alice remarked thoughtfully: "and what are 'toves'?"

"Well, 'toves' are something like badgers--they're something like lizards--and they're something like corkscrews."

"They must be very curious-looking creatures."

"They are that," said Humpty Dumpty, "also they make their nests under sun-dials--also they live on cheese."

"And what's to 'gyre' and to 'gimble'?"

"To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To 'gimble' is to make holes like a gimblet."

"And 'the wabe' is the grass-plot around a sun-dial, I suppose?" said Alice, surprised at her own ingenuity.

"Of course it is. It's called 'wabe', you know, because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it--"

"And a long way beyond it on each side," Alice added.

"Exactly so. Well then, 'mimsy' is flimsy 'and miserable' (there's another portmanteau for you). And a 'borogove' is a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round--something like a live mop."

"And then 'mome rathes'?" said Alice. "I'm afraid I'm giving you a great deal of trouble."

 "Well, a 'rath' is a sort of green pig: but 'mome' I'm not certain about.  I think it's short for 'from home' --meaning that they'd lost their way, you know."

"And what does 'outgrabe' mean?"

"Well, 'outgribing' is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle: however, you'll hear it done, maybe--down in the wood yonder--and when you've once heard it you'll be quite content. Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?"

"I read it in a book," said Alice. "But I had some poetry repeated to me, much easier than that, by--Tweedledee, I think it was."

I mean, what absolute nonsense! But what fun!

This might surprise you but...

Today I'm going to let you in on a little secret... But first, a little background.

I began my homeschooling journey in 1991. The year my oldest child turned 5 in September, I already knew that I wanted to home school. My husband, though, saw that I couldn't even dependably get dinner on the table or do the dishes (with two young children, I might point out), so how could he possibly entrust the education of these children to me.

 
As it turned out, I had a "grace" period. The magic date for starting kindergarten in our area fell one day before my daughter's birthday. In other words, some one's arbitrary decision had concluded that everything in my daughter's life would be delayed by an entire year because I went into labor on 9/16 instead of 9/16. How absurd. 

Anyway, we went into that fall with squishy intentions of home schooling preschool. I had had the opportunity buy a used Kindergarten curriculum (published by the Adventist church -- there was next to nothing for home schoolers back then). I also found out where the local home school support group met and began attending meetings. The true home schooling pioneers laughed at my intensity and my worry ("How do I know if I am covering enough material?" "What grade are you teaching?" "Kindergarten." "HAHAHAHAHA!!!")

Menu Monday, 2/11/13 (#7)

 

There is a chill in the air, and my out-of-town hubby is coming home. I need to get some meat on the table for him (and vegan compliments for the rest of us! :))

Sunday:

Chili, cornbread, salad (vegan chili) (see below)


Monday:
Oven baked chicken legs and thighs; rice; broccoli (vegan "chicken" patties)

Tuesday:
leftovers

Wednesday:
cheeseburgers/rolls, cooked carrots (veggie burgers)

Thursday:
baked pork chops, noodles, spinach

Friday:
Bean soup, green beans, rolls (mix my daughter gave me for Christmas)

Saturday: 
half-batch lasagne (half-batch vegan lasagne) (see below)
salad

Mom's Chili:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp. chli powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 can kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
6 oz. can tomato paste
1/2 of 15 ounce can tomato sauce (use other half for vegan chili, or use whole can)

Brown ground beef in bot with onion and green pepper. Add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 hours, stiffing occasionally.

Vegan version:
12 oz. pkg. veggie crumbles
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 Tbsp. vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (or reg.)
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can diced organic tomatoes
6 oz. can tomato paste
1/2 of 15 ounce can tomato sauce

Brown crumblies with onion and green pepper, then add all ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours.

Lasagne:
8 oz. lasagne noodles, cooked
8 oz. ground beef, browned, mixed with
16 oz. spaghetti sauce
1 egg
15 oz. ricotta cheese
12 oz. shredded mozzerella cheese, divided
1/4  cup parmesan cheese, divided

Cook noodles. Brown ground beef; then mix with spaghetti sauce. Spread a small amount of spaghetti sauce in bottom of 8"X8" baking dish. In a separate bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg, 8 oz. of mozzerella cheese, and 1/8 cup of parmesan cheese. Layer the pan with noodles; cheese mix; meat/sauce; repeat.  End with sauce, and sprinkle with rest of mozzerella cheese and top with parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.


Vegan Lasagne (1/2 batch):
8 oz. whole wheat or brown rice lasagne noodles, cooked
8 oz. vegan crumbles
1 jar 365 roasted red pepper pasta sauce (Whole Foods)
12 oz. chopped spinach, cooked
2 sweet potatoes, sliced thinly (1/4")  
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

Spread sauce in bottom of 8"X8" pan. Heat the rest of the sauce with the crumblies in a pan. Make one layer of noodles, in pan, top with a layer of sweet potatoes, a layer of chopped spinach, a layer of noodles; repeat, ending with a layer of noodles, a layer of sauce, and sprinkle the top with nutritional yeast.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

100 Verses in 2013, Week 6

 
It's that time again - time to start working on the next two verses.

I tell you humbly that I am not keeping up with this as well as I had hoped I would, but I'm getting out my index cards, once I get this posted, to get busy on it.
 

 

And here is a link to the entire schedule for the 100 verses in 2012:

Click on the image to download the PDF.

Building Blocks for Learning - GIVEAWAY

Do you have a child with a learning disability?  Today I am going to tell you the story of a child with a learning disability.

From a very early age, I could tell that Peanut was not quite walking on the same track that Tinkerbell had walked. Initially I just watched, knowing that each child develops at their own rate. Tinkerbell rolled, crawled, and scooted to get where she wanted to go until she was 15 months old. Peanut was rolling over at two weeks of age, and from day 1, physically was trying to keep up with her sister.

TOS Homeschool Crew

If you have been reading my blog a while, you probably know that I review products (chiefly) for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Schoolhouse Review Crew.  I mention it here because the new review year is about to get underway. I do not get to review all the products that are reviewed by the crew partly because I can only review products that are appropriate for my 7th Grade son's age, and partly because there are only so many hours in the day and I cannot possibly review everything!

That said, I wanted to let you know about reviews that will soon be available for you to see on the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog:

Nature Study: Birds

Birds are a delight in our home, and sighting a new bird is a particular thrill.

Last February I had the thrill to see for the first time, in the crab apple tree outside my kitchen window, a cedar waxwing. Sadly it took me a good ten minutes to realize that I was not looking at a female cardinal, and the six "female cardinal"s were long gone before I managed to find a source that helped me understand that I had been seeing a cedar waxwing. And no photographs taken.

So bear with me here for a few minutes. All winter this year I have been missing our seasonal birds. Now I still think of it as winter, but on February 2 Pauxatauney Phil said that spring will come early this year. Imagine my delight, yesterday, when I found my yard and tree swarming with robins and starlings!  I can see from my photos that I didn't photograph the swarms, preferring to photograph individual birds.   

         

I can even forgive them the mess they were making of my van! 
    
One handsome bird even came to pose right in front of me!
      
    
But imagine my joy when I detected that there was an additional bird among the swarms: my annual visit from the cedar waxwings!
   
   
I'm not sure how many there were, but this year I was able to get some very satisfying photographs, although not many. 
Now, unfortunately my son didn't get to see Mr. Cedar Waxwing. It was lunch break and he was playing Mine Craft. By the time he came to see, all the birds had "flown the coop".
Thanks for reading!

Poetry Study

<sup>Our current poetry study with Ambleside Online is Robert Frost. Selections are found at the Ambleside Online Poetry Page, Year 6.

Readings for the rest of February:</sup>

01 - The Pasture (from North of Boston, 1915)
I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha'n't be gone long.--You come too.
I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha'n't be gone long.--You come too.

02 - Going for Water (from A Boy's Will, 1915)
The well was dry beside the door,
    And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
    To seek the brook if still it ran;

February Hymn Study

The Ambleside Online suggested hymn for February, 2013 is "This is My Father's World" written by Maltbie Davenport.  From Wikipedia: The piece was published after his death in 1901 at age 42. The poem was set to music in 1915 by Franklin L. Sheppard, a close friend of Sheppard, who apparently did not want to call attention to himself and signed using his initials rearranged as "S.F.L." Most sources state that Sheppard adapted the music from a traditional English melody that he learned from his mother as a child.^[1]

Here is a Youtube version with the lyrics posted but not sung. I mention it here because of the amazing accompanying photography.

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Another rendering with beautiful accompanying photography:

(Slightly contemporary, but very nice.) Lyrics do not accompany the singing.
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Menu Monday #6

This is my carnivore/(vegan) Menu Plan for the week beginning 2/3/13:

Sunday:
Spaghetti, meatballs, sauce, salad, TX Toast (whole wheat spaghetti, sauce w/vegan crumblies)

Monday:
Fish Sticks, Fries, Coleslaw (leftover vegan stew)

Tuesday:
garlic-lime chicken, rice, broccoli (faux chicken patties, brown rice)

Wednesday:
Cheeseburgers, spinach, baked beans (veggie burgers on flats)

Beef Vegetable Soup Recipe

Beef and Vegetable Soup
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound lean beef stew meat
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper, seeded and de-ribbed
1/2 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
½ onion chopped
1 carrot sliced
1 cup water
Pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 can beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes, un-drained
1 (8-oz.) can no salt added tomato sauce

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; brown the beef, then pepper to taste. Add the water to the skillet and scrape up all of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add
remaining ingredients to pan. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 2hours, until veggies are tender.

SERVING SUGGESTION: A salad and rolls.

Serves 4

100 Verses in 2013

I am still behind, but trying.

Review (NASB):

Week 1:

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Week 2:

John 1:14 

And the Word became flesh, and ^[a]dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of ^[b]the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His ^[a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

^{Week 3}

Romans 3:23

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²³ for all ^[a]have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 ^~~~~~~~~~~~
For the 4th week in 2013:
 
 
These picture cards are beautiful, but not in my version that I am memorizing. I didn't care; posted them anyway! :)

Carrie Jickells Hall

Disclaimer to my readers: Please pardon the detail in today's entry. I have relatives who want the nitty gritty details to be passed on, and I am using this venue to help them get the photos and know who is who in the photos. Thanks.

My Great-Grandmother, Carrie Jickells (maiden name) was my paternal grandfather's mother (my father's father's mother.  Geneologically she seems to have come from no where.  I found record of her birth, April 1880, in Hull, Yorkshire, East Riding, in England, but no listing of her parents or siblings.

I found documentation that she married in Scullcoates, England in April, 1900 - She was older than her husband, my great-grandfather, Herbert (aged 19), who was a Bricklayer for Parker (employer). For the 1900 census, they were living in Hull, Yorkshire, East Riding, in England. , and she was 20 and he was 19. 

I cannot find a past for her beyond a certain point (an Ancestry.com). I have one photo of her that maybe is her, her mother, and my grandfather and his brother Bob (Robert William), but I don't know if I will ever know for sure, and I don't know if I will ever know the names of Carrie's parents.

The front, left, is my grandfather, Herbert Hall, Jr.; seated to his right is his younger brother, Robert (this is the only photo I have of Robert, who died young). Behind Herbert is Carrie, his mother, and to the right of Carrie is Carrie's mother. Above photo from about 1930.
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In 1901, the England Census shows that Carrie, aged 20, was already married to my great-grandfather, Herbert (aged 19), who was a Bricklayer for Parker (employer). They lived in York, Hull.

I located one document showing she entered Canada in 1921, was not with family members, may have been traveling with a Thomas Roger Hawkins. She had been in Canada before, in 1913, for 7 years. (Did this actually mean that she had originally arrived in Canada in 1913? It is unclear.)

I wish I could have someone to tell me about this photograph! But it is clear to me that the 3rd from the left is Carrie. Later, her daughter Carrie Hall looks just like her! The above photo looks like it was taken about 1905. In my imagination, the 2nd from the left is her mother, the far right is her father, and the rest are siblings. But it is just so hard to tell. Farthest to the right, or the one to his left, they both look older to me. ::sigh::

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I find that in 1924 my Great Grandma Carrie made a trip from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to the United States, enterring at Buffalo, NY. Carrie (Sr.) was 43 years old, and was accompanied by her daughter (designated "Carrie, Jr." on the manifest), aged 17 and her son Robert William, aged 15 years, 9 months. Their destination was Washington, DC., and their nearest closest relative in Hamilton, Ontario was Carrie (Sr.)'s oldest son, Herbert, who lived at 62 Straton Street, Hamilton, Ontario. (Why didn't she list her husband? Was he already in the United States? So many questions...) 

After their time in Hamilton, Carrie and Herbert moved south, emigrated to the United States, and settled in Greenbelt, MD, as did their adult son, Herbert Jr. and their adult daughter, Carrie, Jr. (who married Ray Tomlinson and had two children, June and John). The photo above was taken at the home of Herbert Jr., 28B Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD. I can practically see Carrie rolling her eyes as her husband shows off on the motorcycle. Her son, Herbert Jr., is seated in the middle, and Herbert Jr.'s middle son, Robert, is standing in the background.

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This photo is Carrie Hall (Sr.); left, Dora Elaine (Morris) Hall (wife of Herbert Hall, Jr.), middle; and Carrie Hall Tomlinson, right.  See the resemblance of Carrie Hall, Jr. to the above photo that I think is 1905? Maybe it actually IS Great-Aunt Carrie and not Great Grandmother Carrie, I just don't know. 

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Above photo: Back row (l to r): Robert Hall (son of Herbert Hall, Jr.); Herbert Hall, Jr.; Carrie Hall Tomlinson (Carrie Jickells Hall's daughter); Herbert William Hall (my father); John Tomlinson (Carrie Jickells Hall's grandson by her daughter Carrie, Jr.); seated my Great Grandmother Carrie, and my uncle Eddie (George Edward Hall).
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 Above photo: Herbert Hall, Sr., left, with his grandson, my dad, Herbert William Hall (In his U.S. Army Air Corps WWII Uniform); and Carrie Jickells Hall, wife of H. Hall, Sr.

A Day in the Life...

The clock ticks.

In a moment it will "BONG" out the chimes to tell me it is 8:30 a.m. I have been up since 6:30. When my alarm went off, I stumbled out of bed, took care of my morning ablutions, and stumbled to the living room.

Lights were blazing everywhere. And yet, I was alone. These are signs that my 13-year-old chose "Option 2" for school today, where he stayed up into the wee hours of the night doing his Math, his Latin, I'm not sure what else. I know, now, that he will want to sleep late today.

I let out the dogs,

   

brewed the coffee, unloaded the dishwasher, made my oatmeal. I checked to make sure hubby got up when he wanted to. Then I snuggle down in my recliner with my laptop, covered with a flannel quilt, and my coffee and oatmeal on the table beside me. I check my email.


8:30 strikes on the clock. I reluctantly leave the warm cocoon of my quilt and struggle back to my room to make my bed and take my shower. On the way to my room I peek in at my student.  

Oh, and, yes, he sleeps in his clothes. He resists bathing, but when we finally get him clean he either puts on jammies, and then tries to wear them all day when he gets up, or else he goes to bed in his clothes. I guess he just doesn't see any sense in having to change clothes again when getting up in the morning...

So I showered, dressed all the way to my shoes,

swished and swiped my bathroom, 

and made my bed.

[Lest you believe I "have it all together", I later read on my "FlyLady" email that my assignment today was my living room -- sit down and think, "If I were to change just one thing, what would it be?"

...Okay... um.... I can take that one of two ways... Either I can say to myself, "Oh, good, I only have to do one thing... I can handle that...", or else I can look at my living room and give up and say, "Doing one thing won't accomplish anything. So I won't do anything." ...Sadly I did the latter... After all, I need to do school now...]

So I peeked in on JD and suggested to him that it would be a good idea to get up now, as there was a lot of school to do today, and bowling this afternoon.

So he did his Math last night. We start out with the day's "Read through the BIble in a Year" selection. Then we read two chapters from Alice in Wonderland, followed by two chapters from All Creatures Great and Small. I still want two chapters from Treasure Island and a worksheet in Latin, but it is time to pack it in, eat lunch, and then skedaddle to the Bob's Bowler's bowling league for home schoolers.  Get there around 1:00, and JD runs in while I finish my healthy home made soup that I'm having for lunch (that is, having what of it did not spill on the way to the bowling alley.)

I run in, pay for bowling, and let the adults know I'll be back in about an hour -- have some errands. Off I run to Michael's to get JD some fusable (we call them "melty")  beads for the project he is working on.  Then I pop into Whole Foods, right next door, and grab some trail mix. On the way back to the bowling alley, I stop at a famous coffee shop and buy an expensive cup of coffee. Then on the way to the bowling alley I remember that I meant to sit at said coffee shop a few minutes to tackle some e-mail. ::sigh:: Arrive at bowling alley, and sit in car trying to tether my computer to my cell phone's signal; epic fail. Go inside til JD finishes bowling. Didn't even THINK to take a photograph of him bowling. Oh well! Have conversation with an adult about the "incident" that occurred while I was gone.

JD finishes and we go out into the BEAUTIFUL day! We decide it is too nice to go home and finish the school work. We turn right instead of turning left, and we go to the nearby state park! We play on the play ground, and we hike in the woods around the lake. I take lots of photos on my phone, but I'll use those photos another day for my Nature Study blog entry, so subscribe to my blog and read it in a couple of days.

Finally we've had our fill. We found lots of neat things on our hike, but still did not find mistletoe, that I have been trying to find to show JD all winter.  We head home. On the way home I stop at the in-grocery store bank so I can replenish my cash stash, and JD crawls around and with a ruler pulls dropped coins out from under the Coin Star machine. The teller comments that he is quite the entrepreneur, and I comment that I keep waiting for someone from the store to kick him out for doing that every time...

We head home. I don't have time now to help JD with his Latin, and both of us want to call it a day. He heads to his room to play Mine Craft for a while, and I head to the kitchen and make dinner -- oven baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli (fake chicken and brown rice and broccoli for the vegan, cause the mashed potatoes is those dried potato flakes with all those additives...)

Dinner eaten, hubby kindly gets up and does most of the dishes, leaving me to put away the leftovers and do the dishes and dirty baking sheet from the chicken (to clean) while he heads off to get cash for his own wallet, and to buy gas for his car with a cash discount.

JD is, again, playing Mine Craft. He will fight with us when it is time for his bath. He will take it anyway. He will have trouble going to sleep at a decent hour, and will probably do a lot of tomorrow's schoolwork tonight instead of going to sleep. (His computer locks automatically at 9:00 p.m.) He wants to do his school work tonight and be school-free tomorrow because it is supposed to get up to 66 degrees before it starts raining in the afternoon. Then a cold front will come in and it will be back down in the 30's for the rest of the week. He doesn't want to miss this little oasis in the middle of the frozen winter desert.

I will tackle part of the living room mess in above photo, and then I will crash in my bed at about 9:30 p.m. -- with a clean kitchen sink and a dish washer that is running. And tomorrow I will start again at 6:30. 

I blogged today, mostly, instead of dealing with email, so tomorrow I expect I will be really swamped.

So that is a day in the life. Thank you for joining us. Here is a lake photo of JD--he thought would be in silouette -- his idea!

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