It's Back to School Time around here!

Yep, we started back yesterday. And, so far, so good! Franklin seems enthused and Patch is... well, Patch. He drew pictures of bombs on the front of his notebook...

(Please excuse the lack of paint on the front door, we're still deciding what color we want to make it.)

Franklin added a meteor to his - I think he's looking forward to a space study unit this year...

(The boys took these pics and were practicing the 'worm's eye view they learned about during a Photography camp they took online this summer.)

Patch happy, Patch sad, Patch goofy :)...

Franklin - cool...

The two of them acting like they like each other...

I've been practicing getting a serious picture and a silly picture with the boys either by themselves or getting whole groups to do it. I usually like the silly picture better. :)

Anyhow... along with the basics this year, reading, 'riting, 'rithmatic, we're using unit studies and starting out learning about Ancient Greece this year. (Space comes later this year, Franklin!)

Chicken Stock...

I've been a crazy woman making chicken stock recently. I'm hoping that one of these days I can start buying organic chicken and making organic stock! I've been buying whole chickens lately and I'm getting pretty good at cutting them into parts even if I do say so myself. ;-) I cut off the wings to make chicken wings sometime - my new favorite is parmesan garlic wings so I want to find a recipe for that soon. I cut off the thighs and legs and we're going to grill a bunch of legs tomorrow. The thighs, I've been deboning and cutting up to use in our tacos - since Patch doesn't like the refried beans/chorizo that the rest of us like, we've been making the chicken w/ seasoning for him. Then I cut off the boneless, skinless breasts so we can use them for pretty much everything else! I cook up the gizzards, etc. for Hermione and the rest goes into a bag in the freezer to make stock.   I use the parts from two chickens to make the stock...

I boil then simmer the chicken, celery, carrots, onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic and about six cups of water for about  two hours. After it cools, I strain it though paper towels and get this...

I let that sit in the fridge over night and skim off all the fat, warm it back up so it pours easily and put it into one cup containers that I freeze over night...

After it's frozen, I pop the stock out of containers and put them all (usually 7 or 8 cups of stock) in a gallon ziplock bag and it's ready to use!

I know I use to use the stock in a box from the store fairly often. I don't think I've made one recipe since making this stock that's called for stock! :( So, I've given 8 cups away already and STILL have 30 cups in the freezer! I think I'm throwing the other 6 bags of chicken parts out because I'm thinking I'd be the crazy chicken stock lady if I had 40+ MORE cups of stock in my freezer. ;-) 

I started to buy (okay bought half of it) the meat the recipes call for to make beef stock - I am NOT cutting up a cow to get those cow parts! But, can't find the other cut they use. I'd like to make beef and vegetable stock sometime though. 

So, yes, I'm getting more homemade in the kitchen. I love making desserts - the problem there is that I (and sometimes, Franklin) am the only one that eats most of it! I'm making the vanilla - and I'll share pics, etc. when I get it bottled. I made chocolate pudding and I'm planning banana pudding for Father's Day tomorrow. I'm not sure what will come next but the boys will be getting more involved. :) 

About socialized OUT

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated you about us but we've been insane!, I mean busy!

The more I read on FB, the less I want to post so about all you've been seeing from me is links to funny things or things I find interesting... I love keeping up with my friends there but I see so many other people posting stuff and I'm thinking - do you really want the world to see that or why are you always begging for stuff? And it just turns me off so now you get what you get from me. I'm really liking Google + and mostly I just follow strangers on there - I've 'circled' some other people's circles and strangers have some really interesting things to share - mostly beautiful pictures or interesting articles - probably what's turned me off the  beggars and weirdos on FB ;-)

<--The type of post I make on FB now ;-) 

Anyhow... we have the rental back and are trying to get that fixed up to rent out again. These people were really good renters but their cleaning skills leave a lot to be desired. Every time we get the rental back, it's a learning experience, things that need added to the contract (like not cleaning the place well will forfeit your deposit!), and how to fix different things. Todd is learning a lot of new skills and we've talked about him starting 'shop' classes with the boys - just teaching them how to change the oil on a car or build a bookshelf type of stuff. He says that he just learned by watching but I know that I'm more of a hands on person and told him that I'm sure he'd like to be more hands on with the boys learning process than what he went through. My dad was very handy and you know I've bragged more than once about Todd's handy skills :) I think the boys should know how to be handy too. Anyhow... the rental should be up on the market soon. There are still a couple projects that need to be done but hopefully, they'll get done while we're showing the place.














We're wrapping up school this week and thanks to my friend, Courtney, and a book she's been writing, I'm inspired to creating more of my own curriculum for the coming year. Thanks, Courtney! (I'm still working on reading your book and hope to get it done this evening!) The boys are finishing up 4th & 7th grade technically - like most homeschoolers, they vary in grades of work they're doing for each subject. Patch will be still working on 4th grade math next year but Franklin will be starting algebra next year (9th grade math.) You should see the progress Patch has made in speech! I just had the parent/teacher conference and where the marks were all over the page in sounds he couldn't/wouldn't make, there were 3 marks on the page this year. I'm sort of hoping that we don't have to go all of next year. I think Tangie just wants to keep him in class because he's so much more well behaved than the other kids who have been stuck in chairs the rest of the day and are looking for an outlet in speech class ;-)

I'm still loving my job. I'm in the middle of moving positions - from what is called the kayako mod - where I take care of problems from the customers, the other mods and the experts who JustAnswer the questions (why they send me reports that say 'There is no question here' or 'I don't know what they're asking' is beyond me - but usually some other expert has jumped in in the meantime asking what they want and usually gets the money for answering them! LOL) - to what is called a category mod and it will be in the legal categories. It's a slow move so far and I'm really anxious to get there and find out what all I need to do. So far I see mostly immigration questions - what forms do I and my soon-to-be spouse and kids need to fill out? Will my status of this effect my wife's status of that? I'll probably learn more about immigration than I need to know but we cover all types of law so it will be interesting to say the least!

In my spare time, (Ha!) I've been making chicken stock and I'm finding I need to start using some. I have a batch on the stove now and already have 20ish cups in the freezer. But, I still have six bags of chicken parts in the freezer to make stock. I've been buying whole chickens and cutting them up. I think they're so much more tender than the store bought previously or still frozen parts I had been buying. I know I need to start buying organic chicken to eat a little healthier.  That organic stuff is just usually priced out of our budget :( I also tried my hand at chocolate pudding the other day. Patch doesn't like pudding, Todd thought it was too chocolaty and I had to fight Franklin to get a taste ;-) (Okay, I didn't actually fight him but if I wanted more, I might have had to!)

<-- Chicken stock in 1 C sizes, ready to use.

 And, we can't forget the homemade vanilla extract that will be ready in a couple weeks!

Todd will be finishing up college in about 14 months :) Franklin turned 13 a month ago and Patch will be 10 in a couple weeks (less than! EEkk!) and I just keep trudging on. Today is my one day off each week and so far, I have finished up one batch of chicken stock, started another, done some painting at the rental house, swung by the library for drop off and pick up. I need to work on painting a closet door here and finish up the laundry started. Figure out how to make ground pork in my food processor and maybe make meatloaf for dinner.

Anyhow, if you don't see me posting much of FB for a while, you know why ;-) I am just socialized OUT!

Blogging about blogs or at least blog posts

I'm not sure I even have a right to post this one and I know it will infuriate some of my military blog friends but someone should teach this woman a bit more about the military life. Even I know more than this lady does!

http://airbornewife814.blogspot.com/2012/02/stirring-pot.html

Maybe her intent was just to stir the pot but at least get your facts straight before you go insulting people! I don't care which branch of the military you're in the person serving and their spouse and children deserve a lot more credit and respect than you are giving them. Even if they aren't 'Army Wives,' which I believe they are, if they want to refer to themselves as Army Wives, who are you to correct them? I honestly don't know enough about the rest to comment much but, are those your hubs camos you're wearing in the pregnancy pic? Is that any better to post than another woman posting a sexy pic while wearing her hubs camos? I hope she gets a grip on how to treat others soon. That's her blog and she can say what she likes there, this is mine and I'm saying what I like.


Franklin and I watched this video a little while ago - warning (and he'll warn you again) lots of vulgar language in the letter he reads written by his 15yo daughter. I don't know that I could go to the lengths he did - maybe reformat the hard drive and sell it to make up the $130 she now owes him...

http://www.litefm.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=421220&article=9738000

What do you think? Did he go to far? I know Franklin and Patch have both talked about getting jobs but how much is out there for a 15yo (or younger) to do?

And, last but not least, one of my favorite blogs to read. I might have to buy her book ;-) I use to think it was just her that was nuts but then I read the second link post and realized, they're both a little crazy.

http://thebloggess.com/

http://thebloggess.com/2012/02/robot-tigers-or-robobcats-im-leaning-toward-the-latter-simply-because-theyd-be-easier-to-put-in-your-carry-on-luggage/

You might browse the site before letting little eyes see it, I don't think Franklin or Patch has seen any of her posts but I'm not sure that they couldn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure they'd love the robot tigers post because they really want to try to build a bot of some kind.

Is it just me?

Or do your expenses really fill out to cover your income whether you want it to or not?

After Todd getting laid off and then me getting 'restructured' (I never really want to know what that means since they replaced me and the other girl they restructured immediately) we've been better at watching our pennies and working to pay off some debt. We're not back where we were before all this happened but things were looking brighter but why, oh why, do appliances have to start breaking down? We just had the a/c at the rental house fixed earlier this month but it seems to be broken again. And our poor dishwasher might become to young boys doing everything by hand.

I know, things could always be worse and Todd and I could not have any jobs in this economy and we're lucky that we both have jobs we like :) It would just be nice to be ahead of the game for a while.

Not much new around here...

I hope you all are having a great 2012 so far. I did start my organizing and there's so much more to do:

It's sort of amazing how much you can get done in just a few minutes. I just keep looking at the pantry thinking it's more than I can handle and PLEASE, don't make me look at the cupboard under my bathroom sink! I try so hard to throw stuff away when I clean that one and it just keeps getting worse. :(

We went to visit our friends, Pat & Jan the other week and enjoyed a huge bonfire! The boys and Hermione had a great time.

 Patch had a ball taking some pictures of it. He has quite the eye when he wants to.

We had another fun class with Ranger Jay - that I got lost on the way to it and ran into a scary neighborhood where a woman was sitting in the middle of the street in her scooter. I should have gotten her picture ;-)

This was the most wildlife we got to see that day but I'm about to give up hope on ever seeing anything more in a crowd.

 The trees that look rather ghostly are sycamores, the bark falls off as the tree grows and the bottom of the tree has patchy (or camouflage looking) bark - therefore looking sick (Now I'll always be able to recognize a sycamore tree!)

Once I get my hands on some pinking shears, I plan on trying to make a quilt out of these t-shirts. Wish me luck on that one!

Work is still going really well. Patch keeps improving his speech and both boys still dislike school work ;-)

OH! I almost forgot! Franklin is toying with the idea of starting a foodie type of blog and has come up with the name - Wild Teen Foodie. Todd and I lean towards something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Foodie. Being that he's not all that 'wild' but likes some pretty wild things as a youngster, I think he needs help with an idea so if you have any thoughts, please share them!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's 2012 already? The boys decided not to believe that the world was ending on 12.12.12 when I cheered that I wouldn't have to be doing any Christmas shopping next year. ;-) They did get a kick out of this cartoon though:

2011 was an okay year. We kept thinking that things are going to get better just around the corner, next month, we will be all caught up and organized. Then in August, I got notified that I was being restructured and had to start searching for a new job. I took a little bit of time to consider alternatives, garage saling/reselling on ebay, making soaps to sell on etsy, throwing the kids to the wolves in PS and getting an out of the house job but in the meantime, I applied for job after job after job online. I am soooo thankful that a guy I could barely understand (heavy French accent) called and interviewed me. It turned out that I didn't off him my firstborn (Yes, he was that hard to understand) but offered me an excellent job with excellent people!  So, Todd and I are both employed this year and most of the bills have come down for one reason or another (except that stupid, stupid cable company!) and we really should be back on our feet soon - it seems like things keep changing and we're not quite sure what's going on in all corners yet. But, it's looking up!

2012 is the first year in many, many years that I have made some resolutions but they're not fixed goals, just general goals. I resolve to make myself a happier person this year. You should hear me laughing more. And, I'm going to be making lists and keeping myself more organized. That's it, nothing huge but being more organized should make me happier. 

Look how much my vanilla extract has changed in just two weeks. Think a resolution should take a little longer? Me too!

I am getting more training at my new job today and I am so excited to keep getting new hours and learning more about the company!