Is it Summer?

At 5pm here it is actually 27 degrees, and there has not been any snow falling today. In fact, I actually see the sun shining!

I think it may be summer already. Such luxurious weather!

Doing Laundy and Wondered ...

Why are men's and women's buttons on opposite sides? What is the point of that? Does our anatomy make us unable to button the other way as the opposite sex? (I'd say no, since I wear so many men's shirts with no problem.) What is the whole point of this??

Just wondering about this strange phenomenon. And, is it the same in other countries too?

I have 6 posts, Daisies, and more

OK, I am taking a quick break from my daisy newsletter and meeting planning to post here. I just made a brief draft for the family blog and it turns out I have 6 posts to write up still. I have been so very busy lately that I have not had time to do these. I have been using my free time to do projects with the kids, well and to prepare for the projects some too. And to clean, laundry, help in the classroom, watch Ikey, plan girl scout events, and well, a myriad of things!

I need to return to my Daisy planning-we are going to earn our Honest & Fair petal Thursday, and we are also working on a poster/display for our ice cream social and World Thinking Day activity. We are learning about India. ugg - too much for me to do in one week. Oh well. I'll survive and even if the projects turn out icky, it will be a fun experience for the girls. And ice cream to eat for everyone! YUM.

OK, off to be productive. not fun

Too Much On My Mind

I have so much I want to do, and so little time! I really love Groundhog day, and each year I say that I am going to delve deeper into the origins of this crazy holiday and share it with the girls, but alas, another year is going to flash by without me doing so. This year I do not think we can go watch our local Ground Hog Day celebration since Groundhog Day falls on a Monday and I watch little Ikey; spending the morning in the cold with a little little dude may not be the best of plans. Bummer, because the kids really enjoy this event each year.

I also have all these Girl Scout plans running thru my head. I have some fun activities, but there are a few girls that just do not want to sit still and do the activities, or even run around and do the activities. They just want to play with their peers. Understandable, really it is. Especially after a whole day of being in school. But, some of the girls actually are interested in the project, so come on, cooperate for me! I'm not really enjoying being a leader so much. big surprise there - HAR

Well, my brain is going a million miles an hour, my fingers are frozen and I must hope in the shower so I can go off to a meeting. I am still trying to figure exactly what to do for the Ball theme of our weekly unplugged project.

whatever. too much stuff on my mind.

Celtic Tree Months and Full Moons

I recently stumbled upon the old concept of Celtic Tree Months. And while this appears to be closely linked to a lot of Pagan religious stuff nowadays (something that is actually interesting me in an off-hand way ... celebrating the passing of seasons, not necessarily believing in a supreme entity, moral behavior is determined by self and not another entity/person, revering mother nature and preserving the environment ... what's not good about that??) I love the idea of a different tree for each "moon."


So I am contemplating a way to incorporate this concept into our lives. January 17 - Feb. 21 is the Rowan tree ... or the Mountain Ash I guess it is also called. Although, the new moon for our location in MI is Jan 26th, according to the Farmer's Almanac, and I believe them. So I think I shall begin celebrating the moons and lunar trees too.

This month's Moon is the Wolf Moon. I think (not sure though) I mentioned this in an earlier post. With Annika's obsession with the moon and planets I was talking to her about some of this last week when it was a full moon.

I Have A Plan

I can see Firned falling over as she reads this: "What?! An actual Plan??!!"

I have a plan for fitting in the majority of the things I want to do accomplish with the girls. And you know what? I am actually glad that I did this! Eek, the non-planner is grateful for a plan? Will the world implode next?

So, Tuesday I sort of created a loose plan for each day. I have now tried it on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Tues fell apart sort of. It is just hard with dance class, and then Bill ran some errands so dinner was not in the process of cooking when we returned from dance. And it was still frozen too. (Food does not thaw too quickly in my 64 degree house. Bill might actually say it re-freezes! I tell it they call it "cold cash" for a reason!) But I did most of the items I wanted to do, we just ran later than I wanted. And bed time was more like 8:30, which is too late for Annika.

Wed. I was doing great! Except I forgot to put the chicken in the oven after the kids came home from school - we were busy playing outside until almost 5pm. Oops! We had a late dinner again. But we did an "unplugged" project and we did all our chores, and had freeplay time. The only thing I forgot was to do Lauren's homework. It is not much - she has to write her spelling words every day. But she had a Brownie field trip, so things were thrown off a bit.

Thursday went better. Sort of. I still did not follow the plan exactly, like I ever do that anyway(he he) but I felt better about the day and what we accomplished. It was just Lauren and Annika after school. (I like those days the best, and miss them a ton!) We took the theme from our unplugged project (which Lauren did not participate in yesterday due to Girl Scouts) and expanded it some to art, and did another project. It wasn't as captivating for them, but they enjoy looking at the projects we created.) Dinner was later than I planned, and the girls did not play outside ... they were TOO hungry to go outside and then it was suddenly dark ... but I feel as if I was able to fit in all the major things I wanted to accomplish. The kids are getting some outside time, free play, and doing some guided activity to help engage their brain in something useful too.

So, for now I have a plan. Lets see if it keeps working!!

Why Nature Study?

Why I want to do Nature Study with the kids:

• To help them feel connected to Nature and Mother Earth, and properly appreciate and value them.
• To help improve powers of observation (for all of us!)
• To make, improve, and strengthen our connection to the earth where we live.
• To get us outside of the house for fun on a regular basis. (Not that we need much help with that, but sometimes in the cooler weather we sure do!)
• To provide something else for inspiration and other learning opportunities.
• To help us realize and fully understand that we are only a small part of life on this planet, and we need to care for all of it, not just us or humans.

Boy, do I sound like a crunchy earth momma! Yea, I guess in many ways I am. I have always been an outdoor lover. I remember choosing Grand Valley (my college) because of its rural setting and small campus. (Ha, not any longer, well it might be rural-ish still, but small it is not!) Anyway, I have not missed the irony that this now probably lifetime city dweller (not by 100% choice, rather because my dear lovely husband is not a true country dwelling dude. Although I am sure some of that could be easily changed ....) has to *create* "organic" moments for my family in order to help them have some of the self-defining experiences that I had in my youth.

Talk about a statement full of contradictions! There is a literary term for that, but I can't remember it now - too much brain-fry from my nature study! (har!) Oh wait - paradox. Hey, I still have some brain left in me!!

Feeling Stressed About Time

So, this school year I have been feeling (hmm, I just had a typo and wrote reeling. Good one!) stressed out, feeling as if there just is no where near enough time for me to do what I feel like I should be doing with the kids. And I kept thinking why do I feel this way.

So today, actually having nothing pressing to do on my agenda (I am avoiding Mt Laundry and the beckons from fur balls and dust bunnies with no guilt today!) I sat down to create a loose agenda. And that is when it hit me; no wonder I feel stressed!

I started off by writing my list of daily things I'd like to do with the girls and things that must be done daily between school and bedtime:

1. Play Outside - 30 min
2. Free Play - 30 min
3. Some Planned/Guided Activity (Nature study, art history, Math games, etc) - 30 min
4. Chores - 15 min
5. Snack - 15 min
6. Dinner - 30 min
7. Homework - 15 min
8. Read Aloud - 30 min
9. Bath - 30 min
10. Get Ready For Bed - 15 min

If you add up the time, and I was actually being skimpy on the times I allotted, that is 4 hours. Hmmm, The girls get home around 4:15 and bed time is 8pm. Already we are at least 15mins short! And, if you add in Girl Scouts, Dance Lessons, Watching Other Kids, Cooking and Cleaning times ...... I am coming up short on time! I really do not think that this is an unrealistic idea of what I'd like to accomplish, do you? Ugggg.

Well, I am contemplating how to fit my agenda into the time allotment. I'll keep ya posted on the outcomes!

Organized My CDs!

When we moved back to MI from CA I threw away all the Jewel cases for our CDs because they were just too bulky to pack and move all of them. I bought two new CD cases and randomly threw in the CDs. That was four plus years ago, and finally today I got around to organizing them into some sort of semblance of order.

This was one of my 101 things, so whoo hoo! Another item checked off.

I know, this is really a tiny little thing, but hey! It took me over 4 years to do this. I was really dreading it. Turns out it wasn't that bad of a job, but still .....

Gardening Dreaming

An evil thing came in the mail last week - a seed catalogue! Now I am thinking and dreaming about gardening all the time. I keep looking at the heirloom varieties and lust over them. I fantasize of having a large garden in my back yard. There is room enough, but I'd have to give up yard space for the kids, and frankly I am not sure I want to do that!!!

So, this year I have a list of ideas I'd like to tackle, and produce I'd like to grow:

• Tomatoes for canning/spaghetti. sauce. We just used up the last jar of my 2007 stash.
• Beets
• chard
• Onion and garlic
• Potatoes
• I'm not sure about beans, but in theory I love beans.
• Squash
• pickling cucumbers
• I'd be interested in trying raspberries
• Basil
• Oregano
• Carrots
• Sugar Pumpkins
• Spinach
• Jalapenos

Things we grew last year I'd be OK if we did not have this year: Peppers, zucchini (I like, but no one else does really ... and they are prolific and available for most gardeners anyway!) eggplant, peas (we like them - me only so so, but it is so much hassle to pick and shell them. I'll save my efforts for something else!) Watermelon and cantaloupe - so much space for so few fruits, lettuces - it seemed to turn bitter so easy. I guess that is it. I'd add in the pumpkins and pickling cukes for something new and interesting.

So, I want to make more spaghetti. sauce and salsa. I'd love to try my hand at pickling beets, and canning pumpkin for use all year long. And I'd love to make some more varieties of jam.

So, do I sound domestic enough for you? Scary!! But I love the idea of growing my own food and having it available all year long. MY food, not someone else's food. ...and if only I could have chickens for eggs .....

Thistle Feeder and Goldfish

For some reason I have a problem saying goldFINCH - it keeps coming out as goldFISH. So when I put up my thistle feeder that I received for Christmas, I happily reported to Bill that a swarm of goldfish wasted no time finding the feeder.

He looked at me with this quizzical look - nothing too abnormal in this house unfortunately. "Gold fish?" He asked. We had, after all, just acquired 5 of the aquatic animals earlier in the day and the girls were all abuzz reporting each fish's activities.

"Yea," I replied, not hearing the fish part of that statement, and rather shocked at how fast 20 of the avairian animals found the thistle feeder. "Look out the window!"

"Oh yea," he said with a smirk. "I see them swimming away out there." And he walked away laughing at me.

It took me awhile to finally hear what he was laughing about. Like, the third or fourth time I called them goldfish by accident. dork!

But anyway - I now have another item crossed off my 101 list, and I am throughly enjoying watching the birds out my kitchen window. All of them - and there are a lot of different birds!