Fun Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We had a great Thanksgiving here -- my brother & sister and their families, and my mother, all came up to our place for lunch. We ate ourselves silly (or sleepy, as the case may be), watched some football and the Cake Boss marathon, and then ate again for dinner. I love a lazy afternoon with my family!

On Friday, our family did a little bit of shopping (but not at dawn!) and then we headed to Virginia to pick out our Christmas tree.

The tree farm we went to this year was just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Meadows of Dan, Virginia. What a gorgeous afternoon it was for a drive on the parkway!

When we got there, we spent quite a bit of time looking for the perfect tree, and I took lots of photos (for a change :-) BTW, you can click on any of these photos to make them larger.







My Girl was always drawn to the short, fat trees.



Here are more miscellaneous family shots...










Here's the tree we picked out:



After we picked out the tree, they cut it down for us, loaded it on our truck,



then took us on a hayride through the woods to their log cabin.







There they gave us hot chocolate and graciously allowed us inside to warm up by the woodstove.

What a beautiful spot they have. I have to admit, I was making plans in my head to sell my waterside retreat ASAP so I could find myself a mountain top somewhere. It was truly a gorgeous setting.



Let the Christmas season begin!

Year 2, Unit 1 Celebration

Last Friday night our Tapestry of Grace co-op had its Unit Celebration for Year 2, Unit 1. We had a blast!

We have 18 families in our co-op, with groups for Lower Grammar (K-3), Upper Grammar (4-6), Dialectic (6-9) and Rhetoric (9-12). Just guessing, there were probably 75 folks there. The time period we had studied was from around 500 AD to around 1300 AD.

Lots of the kids (and even some of the moms) came dressed in medieval costumes -- we had princesses, knights, heralds, and even a dragon! The Lower Grammar class led us in a song (the Wassail song -- it was a little funny to watch 1st graders singing about their ale! :) and the Upper Grammar class treated us to a funny skit based on St. George and the Dragon (hence the costumed dragon who attended our feast!) The high school kids recited to us the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, both in Middle English and Modern English.

Several kids read to us reports they had written during the year, including My Girl, who took on the persona of a Viking housewife and told us about a typical day in her life. Lots of kids had made really cool crafts throughout the unit and brought those and showed them to us as well. We had "stained glass", catapults, dioramas, models of castles, coats of arms, and displays of the "Four Alls". There were also some really well-done TOG lapbooks on display.

While the kids were doing their presentations, we were all enjoying our Medieval Feast. We had so much good food! There were pork roasts, beef stew in trenchers, swine, spiced pears and apples, spinach tarts, bread and cheese, and almond cake. My Girl, lover of all things Japanese, took advantage of the week we studied Japan to learn to make rice balls, so she made those for the UC. They were yummy, too!

It was a fun night, but of course I didn't take any photos. This is me we're talking about, remember? I never remember to take my camera anywhere! I'll try to do better next time...

Today's Daybook

FOR TODAY (November 2, 2009)...

Outside my window... It's just beginning to lighten up out there, but I can see that there is a breeze wafting through the fronds of my hanging fern. I'll need to take those down soon, as the cooler weather has made them look a little worse for wear.

I am thinking... how happy I am to have a reprieve from crisis mode. In the last 2 months, we've had flu (2), pnemonia (2), broken wrist (1, but 2 bones), and bladder stone surgery (1 dog). My stress eating has been through the roof!

I am thankful for... a Panthers win last night! It's about time! And I'm happy for Jake Delhomme, our good-guy qb who has had such a tough season this year.

From the learning rooms... We're officially beginning our 2nd term today. Got all records keyed in over the weekend, report cards done, and all handouts for the upcoming term are printed out. I think I'm in good shape!

From the kitchen... Coffee's brewing! Right after I finish this post I need to make lunches for today's co-op, cook some chicken for my rice salad for today's lunch, and put a chicken in the crock pot.

I am wearing... pj's right now. My plan for today is a thin white sweater, black nylon "warm up" pants, and a gold-colored scarf. Black vest.

I am creating... a second pair of socks. I love the new sock technique I learned last month (called Crazy Toes and Heels socks), and have started a new pair with some yummy green sock yarn from Knit Picks that my sister gave me last year for Christmas.

I am going... just the usual this week (I think.) Co-op today, piano tomorrow, church youth group on Wednesday night, Speech & Debate on Thursday, and TOG Unit 1 Celebration on Friday.

I am reading... Austen's Northanger Abbey. It's slow reading for me these days, as I just keep a book in my purse/bag for those snippets of time I might find to read a page or two.

I am hearing... The coffee gurgling in the pot, and a plane flying overhead. An occasional ring from the wind chimes.

Around the house... the cactus' (cacti?) are in bloom. Most people know them as "Christmas cactus", but over here, they consistently bloom every Halloween. At least they aren't orange!

One of my favorite things... the sound of wind chimes. I finally got some new ones this summer and have been enjoying them ever since.

A few plans for the rest of the week... I guess I listed them above in the "I am going" section. I'm firmly entrenched in the chauffering season of life.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Here's My Boy being cool and showing off his cast. He got a pink stripe in honor of Breast Cancer awareness month (His Grandma Ruth died from breast cancer 5 years ago.)




If you'd like to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook, visit this link.

Dock Repairs

Our dock has gotten into pretty sad shape.

I remember when my dad built it nearly 30 years ago. He was a high school drafting teacher, and another drafting teacher friend of his ran a dock-building side business, so the 2 of them got together and built ours. I was in college, and my male college buddies made good grunt workers. Some of the work had to be done in the water; it was early spring, the water was cold, and my dad and his friend were certainly not going to get in the lake! So those young guys were naturally picked for that job. I had some good friends back then :-)

The dock was a fairly simple, U-shaped dock/boat slip, with a pitched-roof covered in tin, and it served us well for many years.

A few years ago, though, I became wary of that roof. Every time the wind or boat traffic stirred up waves and rocked the dock, that roof would sway back and forth more and more. I just knew it would fall one day, and I didn't want someone to be under it when it did! So My Man dismantled the roof and hauled away all that old wood and tin. Fun.

With the roof gone, the wood dock was now more vulnerable to sun damage, and the U shaped slip became unstable and wobbly to stand on. We knew we needed a renovation, but dock work is expensive!

Finally, this fall was the time. We couldn't afford a brand new dock, and the general structure of the old one was fine (thank you Dad!). So we hired some guys to come and upgrade the dock we had.

First they needed to replace the floatation on one of the fingers of the U. (My Man and my dad had already done this on one of the fingers a few years ago.) The dock guys brought in a barge with equipment to lift the dock high enough to slide out the old, white styrofoam and slide in the new, black floats.










Then, they replaced some of the old decking. Some of the old deck boards were in good enough shape that they could just be flipped over and reattached. The sun does the most damage to the treated lumber, so the underside still looked pretty good. The wood that was too damaged was replaced with new wood.

Next, they installed an underwater stabilizer to keep the fingers of the U from wobbling and twisting.

And finally, they replaced the bumper trim all the way around.



It is amazing how much better it is now. You can walk on it barefooted without getting splinters, and you can jump around and it won't wobble. It is so stable now you feel like it must be sitting on ground instead of floating. The multi-colored deck boards look a little funny, but a few months in the sun should even that out some. And for the money we saved, I don't really care how it looks ;-)



I can finally feel comfortable inviting folks over, and not worry about their safety on the dock!

Monday's Daybook

FOR TODAY (October 5, 2009)...

Outside my window... It's still very dark out, but I woke this morning to the sound of rain. The forecast is calling for cool temp's today -- high of 62, good chance of rain all day. Wish I could stay home and enjoy a cozy day!

I am thinking... hmm... surely I'm thinking of something? I don't know if it's because I've been "out of the loop" from being sick, but there's really not much on my mind right now. Gee, that sounds horrible :-o

I am thankful for... a reprieve from sickness around here. My Boy had viral pneumonia a couple of weeks ago, and I had it all last week. My Girl ran a low fever on Friday and Saturday, but thankfully she seemed to be fine yesterday. Hopefully we're done with it!

From the learning rooms... My Boy is trying hard to catch up with his work. He learned a valuable lesson at the beginning of this year when he missed a week of good school time for driver's ed, followed by a week of being sick. He learned that as we get older, the world goes on and we have to do whatever we can to keep up or else we get left behind! His 3 toughest classes, chemistry, geometry and TOG, all run on a schedule determined by someone other than mom ;-) so he's got no recourse.

From the kitchen... Coffee's brewing! Tonight's a crock pot night since we're gone all day to co-op. I have beef tips, and I'm trying to decide between making a pot of vegetable beef soup or beef tips with mashed potatoes. The rain might be calling for soup...

I am wearing... plaid pj bottoms and a soft green t-shirt from Naples, FL.

I am creating... a new pair of socks. I'm learning a new technique of how to knit both socks at once on one long pair of circular needles. One of the reasons I've been so slow to finish socks in the past is that I HATE the second sock. You work so hard to get one complete, but when you bind off that first sock you just have to start all over on the second one. So discouraging! Now, when I'm done I'm done! I can't wait to see the finished pair. Hopefully, knowing how to do both socks at once will kick me in gear to use up the beautiful sock yarn I got for Christmas last year.

I am going... no where this week. Wow -- no plans to be anywhere but the usual running around. What a rare treat!

I am reading... mostly these days it's teacher's notes for TOG lit class. I wish I could say I'm being good and actually reading the books the kids are, but no, I just read my notes. The TOG kids are finishing Dante's Comedy this week, and will begin Canterbury Tales tomorrow.

I am hearing... the coffee pot gurgle. Time for a cup!

Around the house... we're in serious need of a pickup. We're doing a terrible job with our school books this year. In the past, we've kept everything downstairs in our basement and done all our schooling down there so the upstairs stayed relatively neat and visitor-friendly. For some reason, we've begun migrating upstairs to do our work and have been leaving our books scattered. There's no real "home" for our books up here, so I guess I need to create a spot (or, enforce the rules and make the kids take the books back downstairs!)

One of my favorite things... is the fall season. Octobers are so lovely here! The sky is crisp and blue, the weather is usually mild, and the falling leaves are beautiful. My neighbor has a nut-tree of some sort that stands next to his metal-roofed shed. Every October I'm reminded of the season by the steady sound of POP! when a nut falls to that roof. It's a familiar, comfortable sound for me and it never fails to bring me a smile.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Nothing much -- a trip to the doctor for My Girl (just a well-check) and the usual piano lesson and speech/debate class.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... This is my most recent pair of socks, made from gorgeous hand-painted yarn. I finished these a couple of weeks ago, and they are possibly my last pair of one-at-a-time socks!



If you'd like to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook, visit this link.

Birthday Heroes

My Boy turned 15 a few weeks ago, and it wasn't hard for him to decide how to celebrate.

Heroscape!



He and his group of friends have become Heroscape enthusiasts over the last 2 years. Once a month, one of the boys hosts a war strategy game party at his home, and they all gather. Some months they play Axis & Allies, some months it's Kingmaker, but most of the time, it's Heroscape.



Haven't heard of Heroscape? If you don't have a teen or pre-teen boy, I'm not surprised. Heroscape is a game of war between all the heroes of history. There are vikings, revolutionary soldiers, gladiators, dragons, monsters, and even Marvel comic book characters. Players purchase figure sets at WalMart, Target, or online, at prices from $9.99 to $30. The sets come with figures of varying "strengths", and assorted pieces of terrain.



When you play, you set up the terrain however you want, and then you move your heroes all around the terrain using the playing cards that came with them as a guide for how they move and how they fight. You'll have a landscape with vikings fighting the Hulk, Greek soldiers fighting dragons, and the Silver Surfer attacking barbarians. Or something like that.



That's about the extent of my knowledge on how the game works.



I do know that you can collect as many sets as you want, because that's all My Boy wanted for his birthday. And all the boys who came to my house brought big boxes of heroscape stuff with them. My Man and I couldn't believe we were in the toy department of WarMart looking for birthday presents. We thought we'd done our last toy run a couple of years ago!



The boys had the downstairs rooms at their disposal. We rearranged the furniture, and borrowed a table from the church to give them more playing surfaces.



This is what it looks like when 8 teenaged boys invade your home with heroes and monsters.



The boys all love it -- it gives them a reason to get together for pizza once a month. And who wouldn't love that?

Sewing

About 20 years ago, my sister gave me a sewing machine. It was a Singer machine, in a cabinet and everything. She had bought it new for herself, and then after awhile she decided sewing wasn't something she really wanted to spend her time on.

I've still got it. Since then, we've moved 4 times, and that sewing machine is one of the trickiest pieces of furniture we have. Its weight is lopsided, being really heavy on one end and really light on the other. And it has long skinny legs that I'm always afraid are going to snap off, so you can't push it or slide it across the floor (or moving van, as the case may be). You have to carry it. And it takes 2 people.

During the times we move, we always say, "do we really want this sewing machine??"

But there are so many times I'm glad we have it. I've used it make curtains, duvet covers, porch cushions, halloween costumes (a purple princess dress comes to mind...), maternity clothes, and lots of mending. It's been a good, dependable little machine.

A few weeks ago, My Girl decided she wanted to give sewing a try. She's grown up a lot this summer in terms of taste, and has become very interested in fashion. So she wanted to try making something that was really "hers".

We found a cute pattern for a dress, and finally found a fabric store that sells clothing fabric (as opposed to home decor fabrics).

Here's her dress:



Doesn't she look great? We had fun working on it together, and she had fun choosing the fabrics. It was a nice mom & daughter project, and this was one of those times where I'm *really* glad we kept the machine!