Two House Notes and a New Experience

House Note #1

Here's a pic of the granite slab we picked for our countertops:

It's not the clearest picture of the slab but you get the general idea.  One less decision to make!

House Note #2

The siding is going up.  Another not great picture, but the sun was in the wrong position.  The color is a dark, grayish green.

New Experience:

My husband is out of town tonight so dinner was on my own. I usually head home and have leftovers, or open a can of soup, or something like that.  Once in awhile, I'll grab a sandwich at the local sub shop to take hope.  Tonight however, I was in the mood for Chinese, especially the wonton soup our local Chinese restaurant serves.  Normally, I'd do takeout.  However, I really wanted the soup, and they don't do take out soup.  So . . . .I actually went in and got a table for one.  I ordered the soup and one of the dinner combos, and I sat there in the restaurant ALL BY MYSELF!  I enjoyed my dinner,  chatted with the server and one of the owners, and watched one of the home improvement shows on one of the TVs.  My husband wasn't impressed; he does this frequently when he's out of town on business.  But I have NEVER done this.  Maybe going to the movies alone is the next step???

Some Disappointment

The good news is that the kitchen cabinets will be in this week!

This isn't the actual cabinet, but it's the same wood and same stain.  It's red birch with "espresso" stain.

The bad news is that the vessel sink for the guest bath that my husband absolutely fell in love with and had his heart set on is not available.  I have never seen him so heartbroken!  We spent some time this morning with our fabulous designer at the home center trying to find something else he liked.  I have to admit that his first choice was gorgeous, but it wasn't what I would have picked.  We ended up choosing this one ---- it is lovely, but again, it's not what I would have picked.  (I have to let him have final say on a few things!)

We had re-think all our choices for the bathroom vanity and countertop, and obviouslymy original paint color  color choice will have to change.

I also started looking at paint colors for the great room and the bedroom.  In our bedroom, I think I'm going to use Benjamin Moore's Antique Glass.

The great room I think will have the color, Misted Fern by Benjamin Moore, as the base color.

I still need to look for coordinating colors for the great room.  I'm thinking the green as the base wall, what you see when you first come in, and along the kitchen cabinet wall.  Then as you turn into the dining area, I think I want a lighter shade of the color, and then around the TV/fireplace wall, a neutral.  I might carry the neutral color down the hallway towards the bedrooms.  Decisions, decisions!  But at least paint color is easily changed!  (Relatively speaking.)

More White Stuff

It's snowing again, and we have ANOTHER snow day.  So far we've gotten about 10 inches since midnight, and more is coming down. I am really tired of it! And at this rate it will be July before we're out.  I think this is snow day #5, but I could be wrong.

We were teased last week with a short spell of spring-like weather, and a lot of melting happened.  I actually started to see some bare ground around the foundation of the house and was hoping to be rewarded by some daffodil or crocus stems peeping up.  No such luck.

All's Well that Ends Well, But It Was a Long Time Coming

This was a very long, difficult, frustrating week, at least until today.  All week long, my kids were off-task, unfocused, and general nudges.  I'm sure the time change had something to do with it.  My partner and I share 41 kids, and our group is top-heavy with boys (about 2/3 of the group.)  In that group, there are 5 with severe ADHD, 2 with anger issues, 2 are totally unmotivated, and the rest are normal, energetic, and very young 11 and 12 year olds. And EVERYBODY is chatty. So our classes are anything but dull. We hit some new lows this week for focus and behavior.   Both my partner and I had "come to Jesus" talks with our classes about expectations,  and then in my last class  I actually resorted to bribery!
I had had it up the wazoo with one group in my last class of the day, and I semi-jokingly bet one boy that he could stay quiet for the rest of class.  He took me up on the challenge, and the rest of the boys wanted in.  So, I told them that if we could get through the remaining 40 minutes of class without disruptions, interruptions, calling out, or other disturbances, I'd bring them in a treat.  (Of course, I added, the girls had already earned a treat).  So they became little angels and we actually finished up our class with 5 minutes to spare!  So I treated them all today to a piece of candy. The icing on the cake today came when I took the class down to the computer lab.  We have a school expectation that classes move silently and in single file while in the hallway, but trying to keep them silent is often an exercise in futility.  Today as I walked them to the lab, I kept checking behind me to see if there were actually students behind me.  They were perfect!  When we got the lab I asked them if they'd all been abducted by aliens and replaced overnight.  One of the most frequent offenders told me, "We took your talk with us to heart yesterday!"  And indeed, for one day at least, everybody did!

And to end the week on an especially high note, I had a good review with my principal.  He told me he was impressed with my adaptability, my willingness to try new things, and my ability to integrate my "years of experience" with the new technologies of today.   This was especially gratifying because when he arrived at our building 4 years ago, he assumed I was a dinosaur stuck in the past. He's young enough to be my son (and is the same age as our oldest!).

Kind of the Blahs

I haven't had a lot to say or much time to think about blogging.  My Feb. vacation was busy with taxes and bookkeeping, and the weather has been wintry --- if it's not snowing, it's gray and chilly.  We seemed to go through a spell without seeing the sun for what seemed like weeks.  We had another storm Thursday night that left us with another 9-10 inches and a snow day.  And despite all the new snow, at least the sun is finally shining! The forecast is for temperatures in the 40°s all week, so I'm hoping a lot of the stuff melts.  It's good sugaring weather now, though, and the sugar houses are all busy boiling the sap.

The house is coming along --- most of the sheet rocking is done, and they're starting on the "mudding."  The siding has been delivered, but there's too much snow to start putting it up!  The heating system is in, now too.

I have been knitting what I'm calling the "Never-Ending Scarf."  It's a pattern and yarn I bought at the NH Sheep and Wool show a few years ago, and I pulled it out last fall to start it, thinking it would be a snap.  Boy, I was wrong.  Despite the "simple" lace pattern, there are some rows I frogged and re-knitted 4 or 5 times.  Thank goodness I use life lines!  It's also cobweb weight yarn.  I still have at least another 10 inches to go, so I don't think it will be done for this cold weather season!  I am also a knitting monogamist so until this blasted scarf is done, I won't be working on anything else.  I told my husband the other day, that as soon as it's done, I'm gifting it because I'm sick of looking at it!

Quick Pic!

The fireplace has been installed!

It's a gas fireplace and it will have a black frame around it.  The flat screen TV will go above it.  The walls are all insulated and the sheetrocking will be finished this week.

Catching Up

It's been a very busy February so far!

We "enjoyed" a big snowstorm last weekend, receiving approximately 30 inches of snow.  Aside from canceling a day of school, we were relatively unaffected.  

On Monday we enjoyed warmer weather and rain, so now things aren't quite as pretty.

I had a "professional day" on Tuesday.  Our district performs two "walk-thrus" a month.  One is done by administrators only - they visit 5-6 classrooms within the school for 5-8 minutes each to observe kids, teachers, and what's being taught.  The second walk-thru includes 4-5 teachers as part of the observing team.  I was selected to "walk-thru" my building and the high school.  Our directive was to observe student engagement, and evidence of the Common Core being taught.  We visited 2 classrooms at my grade level, an 8th grade classroom, 2 7th grade classrooms, and a music class at my school, and a number of classrooms at the high school.  By the end of the day I was totally wrung out!  I saw a lot of really good things, but I also observed some less encouraging things.  In some classrooms, especially in the high school, I didn't see the rigor I expected.  I know that a short visit doesn't tell the whole story -- you come in to a classroom in the middle of something so you don't know where the lesson started or where it will end up--- but I was really shocked to see a college prep classroom where the sophomores were doing an activity identical to something I do with my 6th graders.    I will say I was very impressed by most of the classrooms I visited.

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly normal-paced days, and then Friday was a workshop day for the district teachers.  That was another exhausting day.  We were given the day in our building to "play" with technology.  We've been given a lot of tools and software over the past 6 months, and we've been given some formal training, but we haven't been given a lot of time to explore possibilities or to test ideas out.  So yesterday was the day for this.   The nice thing was it was a day of colleagues helping each other and collaborating with each other.  Those of us who are experienced bloggers helped newbies set up their classroom blogs, and those of us who use Edmodo got others started. I actually spent most of the day teaching others and didn't get much of a chance to work on a few things I wanted to do, but that was okay.
If anyone is interested, my classroom blog is here.

House construction updates:
The kitchen cabinets have FINALLY been ordered.  I don't have pictures yet but they are being made by Candlelight Cabinetry in upstate New York.  We chose the Madison style in red birch with the espresso stain.  We also finally ordered the kitchen appliances, the bathroom vanities and counters, all the plumbing fixtures, and my husband picked out a gorgeous vessel sink for the guest bathroom.  The picture has too much reflection in it, but it's tempered glass and has a coral reef scene within it.  It's truly beautiful!

We also finalized the tiles for our bathroom.  We're going with a black and white canvas, which I can punch up with color with accessories.

So things are moving along!  And I really have to start think about physically making the move over the summer.  Most of the time I can't wait, but we have lived in this house for 30 years, and I still do love it. It's just too big for us now.  I do keep thinking of all the things that will be better in the new place ---- the 5 minutes I save in my commute, the more logical room flow, the lower maintenance and utility expenses . . . .It will be odd to think of another family living here.

Our February vacation is coming up-one more week of classes. We don't have any vacation plans other than heading up to the quarry to pick our granite for the kitchen and picking out light fixtures.  I look forward to not getting up at 4:45am!

Sick Day

I took a sick day today.  I have been fighting some sort of sinusy problem for almost 2 weeks, and with the super cold weather we had last week, my rheumatoid arthritis started to flare a bit.  I made it through to my RA doctor's appt yesterday afternoon, and after my visit, decided I needed to give in to my body and get some extra rest.  I'm glad I did.  I spent about 80% of the daylight hours sleeping.  I had a brief spell of energy which allowed me to finally get some decisions made, and I put an easy dinner together.  Now the urge to sleep is getting strong again, so I will give in to it shortly.

The decisions that I  made?  I ordered my kitchen cabinets and I ordered my appliances.  I've know what I wanted for a couple of weeks, but we still had a few niggling questions and decisions.  The biggest decision was to find a microwave that would work with all the rest of the appliances I wanted.  The one that I wanted was more than I wanted to spend, especially if I wanted the trim kit.  After spending the last 2 weeks looking at every possible microwave, I gave in and got the matching microwave.  I found most of the money by choosing a less expensive baseboard trim.  It feels terrific to get those decisions out of the way.

Now I have to find vanities/sinks for the bathrooms, and have to seriously start considering the color scheme for the house.  The contractor wants to know soon what style baseboards/trim I want and whether I want the trim painted or stained.  I'll probably go with painted, since it's easier to change up in the future, and it's a less expensive option.

My husband ordered the siding today too, and we've picked out the flooring last week.  We decided on a subcontractor for the tiling, and have picked tiles for the mudroom and one bathroom.  We found tiles we liked for our bath, but they are pricey so we're going to look some more.

The house is on target for completion in May.  We have to host an open house for the community since it's being built by the school's building trades program.

Exciting times around these parts.

Not Exactly a Lazy Saturday But . . .

I've been pretty silent here.  I haven't had much free time lately.  This is the first Saturday in almost a month that I didn't have to be up and out the door running errands all day long.  I told my husband last night that I was "sleeping in" today.  I did too ...until all of 5:37 am.  For the life of me I couldn't go back to sleep. I tried, until 6 am, to fall back asleep, but once I'm awake, that's it.  I compromised, and didn't get my breakfast until 8:30, and I didn't take my shower until almost 10 am.  I spent the morning on FB, playing Words with Friends, Bubble Safari Ocean, Solitaire Blitz, and reading my favorite blogs, and a ton of emails.  I did manage to throw in a load of laundry.

It's afternoon, now, and I have accomplished a few goals, all from the comfort of my kitchen!   My neighbor, a hairdresser by trade, stopped by and cut my hair.  What a relief!! It should have been cut 2 weeks ago, but our schedules didn't mesh.  While I sometimes have to wait a bit longer than I like to for a trim, I can't beat the convenience of having the hairdresser come to me!  I also (drumroll here!!!) ordered the appliances for my new kitchen.  After what feels like eons of research - Consumer Reports, websites, talking to repairmen, etc. --- and visiting a few appliance stores, I made my decisions, and got in touch with the salesperson with whom I've been working.  With the exception of my washer and dryer, we ended up choosing Bosch appliances.  We worked with a locally and family-owned store that provides delivery, installation, and service.   We received a volume discount, and we are eligible for a huge rebate from Bosch.  And since all our appliances are Energy-Star rated, we will be able to apply for some further rebates from our state!  I ended up choosing a Maytag washer and dryer over a similar Whirlpool model.  Whirlpool owns the Maytag brand, and the prices were almost identical.  I picked the Maytag because it's rated (by Consumer Reports) as gentler on clothes, it has a hand wash cycle as well as delicate cycle (like my current model), and I've never not used a Maytag. My mother only had Maytag washer, and I've owned 2 in my householding career, both of which lasted 15+ years.

The big appliance changes are that we will be using a gas cooktop and an electric wall oven, instead of an electric range. I'm looking forward to "cooking with gas" -- my mom used to say "Now you're cooking with gas" when she wanted to tell us we were finally on the right track.

So now I have to get the kitchen cabinets ordered.  I am waiting on some specs from the gas installer so that we can double check the cooktop cabinet dimensions.  Hopefully that will happen in the next couple of days.

We're still waiting for tile estimates --- we've pretty much picked out the tile, but we're waiting for the labor estimate on one more installer.  And I have to finalize the sinks/faucets/shower fixtures.  And then . . .. paint colors for the interior have to be decided by midMarch!

Since the house is being built mostly by the building trades program at school, they're hoping to have it done by mid May so that an open house can be scheduled before the end of the school year.  The clock is starting to tick!

Now I just have to spend a little more time pondering the children's sermon for tomorrow.  The pastor is away tomorrow, so another lay leader and I are leading worship.  We've designed a prayer service for our church.  We're about to start a visioning project (we've hired a consultant, and everything!), and we felt that a time of concentrated intentional prayer around our hopes and dreams for the future would be in order.  We've designed a service of scripture and silent prayer, and I want to talk about different ways of praying with the Sunday school kids.  And quite frankly, I want to prepare the adults in the congregation for praying differently from the way we usually pray.  There's very little silence in our usual service, and some of us have been missing the time for silent meditation.  We've focused the service on reflective prayer:  We will read a scripture passage, pose a "challenge" question, and ask the congregation to reflect/pray silently for a few minutes.  After the 3rd scripture passage, we will invite the congregation to come forward with their prayer, and light a votive candle on the altar as a way of offering up their prayer.  I know that some people will be uncomfortable with the silences, but we're doing it anyway!

That reminds me. I need to gather some candles and a tray!

My Reading Goals for 2013

Somebody asked me yesterday how many books I was going to try to read this year, and I replied, "No idea."  I decided not to set a goal for myself; I don't need the pressure.  Last year I set a goal of 125 books, and I did achieve it.  However, as 2012 approached the end, I found my self in a panic that I wasn't going to make my goal.  And because I'm someone who hates not meeting a goal, I found myself stressing over the attempt.  Not a good thing.  So this year, I decided  not to set a goal.  I am going to read because I love to read, not because I have to keep pace with some sort of target.  So what?  Who cares how many books someone reads?

My goals for 2013:

• Read for pleasure, escape, and relaxation
• Learn some new things or gain new insights by reading nonfiction occasionally
• Find some new authors to follow

So far this month I've made progress on the last goal.  My son recommended a science fiction/fantasy series that starts with Ilium, by Dan Simmons.  I reviewed it on Goodreads.  I found the book interesting and challenging, and I will look for the next one Olympos later this year.  

I really appreciate suggestions that some of you have made.  I am usually not disappointed, and that's mostly how I find new authors nowadays.  I sometimes feel guilty that I don't get into my wonderful public library often anymore.  It's a function of the disjoint between their hours and my schedule. That's where I traditionally found ideas.  So since I can't get into the library often, I really do depend on digital recommendations.   Keep the suggestions coming!

Looking Like Home

As the interior walls go up and the plumbing/electric decisions are being made, the new house is looking more and more like my future home!

The front door has been installed!

And so has the bathtub in the guest bathroom.

I also stepped out on the deck off the dining/kitchen area.

I was blindsided (as usual!) with the fact that the plumbers were starting to install fixtures.  I haven't even picked them out.   When I expressed dismay to my DH, he had a hard time understanding why I wanted a say in picking them out!!   I received a phone call yesterday afternoon while I was on my planning period at school. The conversation went this way:

"You have to go over to the house and let the plumbers know how high you want the shower."

"When?"

"Right after school.  They're there until 4 pm."

"But I have a staff meeting, and then I have a meeting at the SAU. I won't be home til around 5."

"Yeah but they're at the house, and they're going to install fixtures."

"Wait, a sec!  I didn't know the plumbers were installing fixtures.  I thought they were doing the rough work."

"They are, but while they're here, they are going to starting putting in the fixtures. The bathtub is in."

"What?? We haven't picked anything out."

"What's to pick out?  A tub is a tub.They're going to work on the master shower next."

"But we haven't even finalized what the shower's going to look like!  We're still waiting for the 2nd quote from the other tile guy.  We don't even know which wall the shower head will be on."

"But there are 3 plumbers here all day.  They have to get to work."

And so forth.  So, last evening instead of getting some schoolwork done, I spent 3 hours going through the Kohler and other websites, trying to figure out what type of showerhead, faucets, and toilets I wanted.
My eyes started going buggy.  I chose a couple of items, but I really wish I had time to go to a showroom or even Home Depot!

My biggest complaint about this construction project is the double speak I get.  "You don't need to make this decision right now, you've got plenty of time" on Monday, and on Tuesday, 'We're here to install X"  A bit of exaggeration, but you get the idea.

The universe is taking pity on me.  We have a totally unexpected snow day today!! So, once more into the breach.  At least I can review the choices I made last night and continue the search for faucets.  I didn't realize that your sink choices (which I haven't made yet) can impact your faucet choices! And I certainly haven't escaped the "champagne taste, beer budget" conundrum that most people face!

What Keeps Me on the Run!

It was an exhausting and busy week and I'm still recuperating.  Wish the exhaustion was the result of all the fun I've been having!  It was a pretty full school week - 5 days that included 3 parent meetings during my planning time, plus an association meeting, and a meeting with a teacher about a potential grievance issue.  We also had a workshop on Tuesday in lieu of our staff meeting.  On Wed. I was out late at church, moderating our annual meeting.   I stayed at school until 5 pm on Friday, getting all my grading done, planning this upcoming week, and copying all the resources the kids will need.

On the home front, we finally got the upstairs toilet (which broke New Year's Eve day) replaced.  The water tank fell off the back of the toilet and couldn't be fixed.  It took almost a week to get that taken care of which meant a long trip down the stairs in the middle of the night for that 2 am trek!  And then on Friday, we discovered that the fridge was malfunctioning.  We pulled everything out and thoroughly cleaned it, and unplugged it overnight because apparently ice had built up at the bottom, preventing cold air from circulating. It's still not 100% but it is working better.  I'll have to call the repairman tomorrow to take a look.  I certainly hope that it can be fixed because I do not want to purchase a new fridge for this house.

Yesterday we spent most of the day meeting with various contractors.  We spent an hour with the electrician figuring out where we want outlets, appliance hookups, and lighting.  Decisions, decisions, decisions!  We met with the insulation person (who happened to be a former student of mine!) and decided on the type of insulation to use.  Then we headed to a tile store to meet with the tile contractor, and to look at possible tile for the mudroom entry, and the guest bath floor, and the master shower and floor. I had wanted to tile the bathroom walls up halfway, but the budget won't support that right now.  Then we headed to some appliance stores to get some research done in person instead of just online.  Wow!  Are appliances expensive nowadays!!

Today was mostly bookkeeping and laundry.  I had hoped to get to church but it didn't happen.  I still have a few chores to get done, and then I hope I can get some down time.  Another busy week looms!

                                                          Looking into the master bedroom.

Happy New Year?

We were out at friends until just after midnight, so I didn't crawl out of bed until almost 8 am.  I had a lot to accomplish today since Elder Son announced that he and some friends were going to go skiing Wed and Thursday at a mountain about an hour north of us.  He wanted to bring his friends home Wed. night to sleep so they didn't have to spend money on hotel rooms.  Being an accommodating mom, I said of course they could come.  I then realized that meant I had to change the sheets in the bedrooms since Elder Son hadn't stripped his bed when he left after Christmas.  And of course, the upstairs bathroom needed a good cleaning and I needed to get some vacuuming done.  So I started in on my chores about 9 am after a couple of cups of coffee.  Stripped the beds, got 2 loads of laundry done, and got the living room dusted and vacuumed.  My husband went out to do a few errands and chores, and I headed up to the bathroom.  That's when the day started going downhill!  As I was scrubbing the toilet bowl, I heard something drop, and next thing I knew the water tank leaned forward and water started leaking out of both sides of the tank!  I grabbed the wastebasket to try to catch the water, and realized I needed at least 2 more pairs of hands.  The tank was threatening to fall, water was pouring out of the tank, and I couldn't reach the valve shut off.  To make a long story short, the water tank eventually drained, I managed to contain about 1/3 of the water into a wastebasket, and the rest of the water . . .. leaked through the ceiling into the family room below, soaking a chair.  However, it narrowly missed a bag of yarn, so I took some joy in that!    So now we have a broken toilet in the upstairs bathroom.  That means that until the plumber can fix our problem, I'll be trekking downstairs at 2 am for my usual bathroom sleep interruption!  And of course, tomorrow is the first day back to school!    I emailed my son to let him know that he and his guests will be sharing the downstairs bathroom with us.

But wait!  That's not all.  I had decided to wash my shower curtain, and I carefully double checked the washing instructions.  When I took the curtain out of the washer, the fabric backing had shredded!  I can still use it; because it's a fabric curtain, I do have a vinyl lining under it, but it doesn't hang right.  I'm really annoyed with that because it took me a long time to find a curtain that worked with my color scheme and my taste.   I will have to buy another curtain, but since we'll be moving later this year, I really don't need the expense! Our new bathrooms will not need shower curtains!  Oh well.

I'm not a good housekeeper.  I hate cleaning, and my standards are not high.  But occasionally, (like when there will be guests), I do get motivated.  And I WAS motivated today.  But somehow I feel I got the message that I should have left well enough alone!

I Did It!

I managed to complete my goal of reading 125 books this year.  I just finished the last one of 2013, an early Jodi Picoult, Picture Perfect.   I have to admit I didn't much care for it.

Looking at what I've read this year, I can count 12 nonfiction titles.  I read 2 books about American military nurses during 20th century combat,  a fascinating but devastating account of life during the Dust Bowl, a challenging book about genetic research, a book about where creativity comes from, an anthology of true-live survival stories, a humorous look at our Puritan heritage, and a couple of theological/spiritual books.

I did  most of my reading (62 books) on either my Kindle or my Ipad!  While I do miss the physicality of a book, I really appreciate the convenience and ease of ebooks. And it's done wonders for keeping my counters and kitchen table clear of book piles.  I have fallen in love with my state library's ebook collection too.  I miss going to my public library, but their open hours aren't always convenient which is a problem now that the book collection bin outside the library is gone.  I have had too many overdue books this year because the library isn't open when I go past it in the morning or in the evening after work!

I read series, mostly police procedurals.  I started began to read Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles series, started re-reading Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series, continued with Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series and Charles Todd's Inspector Rutledge series,  and read some of C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series. I also read Ann Perry (Thomas Pitt) and Jacqueline Winspear (Maisie Dobbs).   I tried some new authors: Karen MacInerny, Elin Hilderbrand, Leslie Meier, and Peter Lovesey to name a few.  I enjoyed some Mark Schweitzer  and Alexander McCall Smith.

What am I looking forward to reading in 2013?  I would love to discover a new series from a prolific, interesting writer!

Some books that are on hold at the state library are:
A Discovery of Witches   Deborah Harkness
This Body of Death  Elizabeth George
Berried to the Hilt Karen MacInerney
Perfect Hope Nora Roberts

Others I want to read:

Dana Stabenow's new Kate Shugak novel Bad Blood due out in February
Maeve Binchy's A Week in Winter due out in Feb.
Jacqueline Winspear's Leaving Everything Most Loved due out in March

And I am still working away at the The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History.  I got a bit bogged down in the Balkans(!) and have to have some time to get myself clear about where everything is.  ONe of the drawbacks I've discovered with an ebook is that it's hard to use the maps which are referred to often!


I haven't decided if I'm going to set a reading goal this year.  I don't want reading to be a chore!  I do like keeping track though of what I've read.  It IS a lot!  And I don't keep track of magazines, blogs, and journals I also read either!  (Time, Real Simple, Cooking Light, Education Week, the Huffington Post, Money, Sojourners, etc.)

I wish good reading to all in 2013!

Merry Christmas 2012 - Food Tidings to You!

Our traditional Christmas Eve meal - Swedish meatballs over egg noodles with green beans.  The one year I branched out and did something different (because the boys complained that they didn't like the meatballs), I almost traumatized them.  So when either or both are home on Christmas Eve, these are on the menu.

Dessert is almost always an assortment of cookies and maybe ice cream.

Cranberry-Citrus Coconut Bundt Cake at Breakfast

Definitely good, and different, but when I figure in the effort, not sure I'll be making it again soon.  My usual "Farm Journal Best Buttermilk Pound Cake" gives more bang for the buck!  (Effort wise AND cost wise!)  Our traditional Christmas breakfast is the cake, bacon, and orange juice.  And of course coffee!  Simple and quick to prepare, this evolved out of the kids' impatience to get to the present opening.  No presents until after everyone is up, dressed, and fed!

No pics from our dinner, unfortunately, but it was a continuation of tradition.  We usually splurge and get something like a standing rib roast.  This year we splurged on a spoon roast instead because it was "only" $4.89/lb instead of the $7.99/lb for the rib roast.  I worried a bit that it might not be as good, but frankly, it was one of the best roasts I've made.  It was a huge roast (over 9 lbs!) but a lot of it went home with others. It took about 3 1/2 hours at 325° F.  I seasoned it with garlic, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, and black pepper rubbed into the meat which I had lightly misted with olive oil.  I then sliced some onion thinly and laid the onion over the meat surface.  I poured in about 1/2 can of beef broth, and then tented it with foil.  After it finished cooking, I made a beefy onion gravy from the pan drippings and a little more broth, thickened with some corn starch.  This was served with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and steamed carrots, and homemade horseradish sauce.  For dessert (yes, another splurge!) we had this Raspberry Walnut Tart from Simply Recipes.  (their photo, not mine.)

This is all that was left!

This recipe is DEFINITELY a keeper!

As I told my family, I'm done cooking for the rest of the year.  We have tons of leftovers, and when they're done, we're going out to eat.  I feel like I've spent the past 4 days in the kitchen. Not that I have to, it's because I want to.  But it's still exhausting!!

Merry Christmas to All!

Relatively Relaxed

Most of the preparations are done.   The presents are wrapped and with the exception of tonight's meal, and the actual cooking of tomorrow's feast, the cooking/baking is done too.  I only made one batch of cookies this year - our usual Cranberry Almond Biscotti ---

-- and my son made our traditional Ginger Crinkles.  A friend gave us a huge platter of cookies too, so I decided not to make the rest of our usual cookies.  I did try a new recipe for tomorrow.  For years I've made a buttermilk pound cake (one of the best recipes I've ever baked) but I'd made it recently for a party and wanted to try something new.  So this year we will have a Cranberry-Orange and Coconut cake with our Christmas morning breakfast.  I hope that it's as tasty as it smells because it involved both the food processor and the mixer, as well as a spilled bowl of orange glaze!

Now I just have to start the Swedish meatballs which I'd hoped to skip this year.  Unfortunately for me, the family insisted!  I would have been happy with takeout Chinese!

I was pretty minimal with the decorating this year too.  The tree has only a few ornaments on it.  It looks prettier in real life than the photo above shows. I have about 50 small red teardrop shaped crystals on it as well as 100 silver twists.  A few choice ornaments:

This Santa belonged to my mother.  It was originally part of a light set, I think.

This one we bought for Eldest Son's first Christmas!

I truthfully don't know from whence the crystal bird came, but I really like it!

This cheerful bird was a gift from some friends a Christmas or two ago.

 

And Christmas isn't Christmas without at least one pointsettia!

So I will get the meatballs made while listening to a variety of Christmas music, and then settle down for a bit of knitting.

Merry Christmas!

The Holidays Can Begin!

I did something yesterday I RARELY do.  I left school precisely at 2:42 pm which is the official, contracted end of our  teaching day.  (It's usually between 4-4:30 that I leave.)  I was home by 3 pm!  Very weird. We had a good week considering how hyped up the kids were.  We ended the week with our annual observance of the winter solstice.  We start with a grade level breakfast, followed by the grade-level geography bee.  After that is usually about 40 minutes of a science lesson on the seasons and the solstice.  This year we tried something new.  After an inservice on Flipped Classrooms, our team created a short video explaining the winter solstice.  The kids were assigned the task of viewing the video for homework and taking notes on it.  After the geo bee, kids were asked to use their notes, and demonstrate their understanding of what they'd learned from the video.  We asked the kids to define a couple of vocab words presented in the video and to make a model of the earth and sun showing their respective positions at the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere.  My partner and I got a huge chuckle at an almost universal misunderstanding.  One of the words we asked kids to define was "ellipse".  The definition given in the video was "an elongated circle or curve."  The definition was written in the video, but as we know, why would a 6th grader read something when she can listen to it.  Almost every student wrote that an ellipse was a "long dated circle."  One student wrote - "It's an long, gated curb."  Definitely will be a teachable moment after the break!!

On the way home I got to see the progress on our house.  For the past couple of weeks, the only time I've passed the house has been in the dark!  

As usual, I was up at 4:30 am this morning - a morning I could have slept --and now the holidays can begin!

How Can It Be?

That it's already mid-December!


I have been really busy as you might have guessed from the lack of publication!  Between school, the holidays, dentist appts, a  routine medical screening, and life in general, I haven't managed to keep up.

November was a long month of choppy weeks.  The school calendar is such that the only full week of school in November was the very last week of the month.  We had Election day off, Veterans' Day off, and the kids had a whole week off at Thanksgiving.  We teachers had 2 days of workshops that week.  So that last week seemed endless as the only 5 day week in the whole month.  Since then however, we've managed  complete weeks, and we're keeping our fingers crossed for this week.  The weather is threatening to interfere with school tomorrow, so we'll see.  I've got a Breakfast with Books planned for my ELA classes tomorrow so I spent yesterday baking banana bread as part of the offerings.  My 6th graders present short book talks about books they've recently finished, and then we munch on breakfast goodies.  They enjoy it as do I!
Then on Friday, the 6th grade celebrates the Winter Solstice.  We start with a breakfast, then hold the 6th grade geography bee, and then do a hands-on science activity based on the solstice and how the seasons occur.  We end the day with a video loosely connected with social studies or science curriculum.

On the home front, I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done, and the tree is up and semi-decorated. I haven't done any of the holiday baking yet however, and I need to clean!  I am trying to look seriously at what I can start finding new homes for as the reality of moving within the next year starts to set in.   Here's the latest photo of progress.  I haven't had a lot of pics lately because it's dark when I pass the house at 6:30 am and it's dark when I go past 12 hours later!  I snapped this with my phone on the way home from church - the aforementioned weather interference has begun!

The roofing is almost finished, and the windows and doors arrive this week.

And the Roof Has Been Raised!

The final roof trusses were placed yesterday.   I wish I'd had my camera so that I could have taken a wider lens shot.  Complete with the traditional tree on the last rafter.

Scenes from the Feast

The star of the show:

A 17.24 lb bird roasted for 30 minutes at 400°F and 3.5 hours at 350°F.  Perfect!

Some of the supporting cast:

Stuffing baked outside the bird, mashed turnip, and mashed butternut and acorn squash.

Younger son's mashed potatoes!

The cranberry sauce is homemade from cranberries I picked out on the new property!

Pumpkin Pie!

Apple Pie!

Mince Pie!

Pecan Pie!

I didn't take picture of the apple cider sangria, but boy was that tasty!!