Merry Christmas to Me!

Just wanted to show off what my Sexy Man got me for Christmas this year. He had other family members pitch in to help as well, and I'm very grateful for their contribution.

First off, this is what I've been cooking with:

It was a great pan when it was new, but as you can tell, the non-stick surface is finished doing it's job. Since this is the second set of non-stick cookware I've gone through in our 8 years of marriage (maybe I'm really hard on my pans??), I asked for my next set to be Stainless, since I figured it could take more of a beating.

Woo! Look how shiny that is! Isn't it beautiful! It's a 10 piece set that includes this saute pan, an omelet pan, 2 sauce pans, and a dutch oven plus all the lids.

PLUS! My Sexy Man crafted this awesome pot hanger to keep them on from one of our old windows.

Awesome. Just Awesome.

On Learning

On my Facebook feed, I saw a link to a short video that talks about curiosity and science. Curiosity feeds scientific exploration, yet the way science (as a subject) is sometimes taught tends to kill that vital element.

Here it is, short and sweet:

 

It reminds me of a classic TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson. He talks about creativity rather than curiosity, but he makes the same assertion that the educational system has the capability to kill it as well.

Whether or not I decide to homeschool or to take advantage of the public school system, curiosity and creativity are vital qualities in my children that I want nurtured. I do not want them to lose these capabilities because I believe that any meaningful and long-term learning will come through curiosity and interest in the subject. I also believe that the problems of the future will require more creativity than memorization.

I believe keeping this alive in my children may be more difficult (but not impossible) in the public school system, and that if that is the decision we make, it will take more effort and involvement to prevent the loss of these important abilities.

Christmas Breakfast

Okay, It's slightly early for Christmas, but we had various family members passing though who weren't actually going to be here for the big day. It was bit of a spontaneous (read "poorly planned") idea, and so it was quite a ride trying to get everybody here before they scattered off to their various destinations.

I decided to try my hand at Belgian Waffles, and after putting out a desperate plea on Facebook, I was able to find a neighbor kind enough to let me bother her at bedtime to come borrow the waffle iron.

I whipped up a batch last night after the kids were in bed so I could be sure I wasn't setting myself up for a massive failure. Luckily the recipe was not only incredibly delicious, but easy enough that I didn't screw it up, even under the spontaneous circumstances I put myself under.

Because it was snowy this morning, I woke up later than usual (because I'm too lazy for an alarm clock, even when I have morning plans) and skid into Walmart with my peacock wild bedhead for some last minute ingredients.

I served them alongside bacon and cubed hash browns (which I had sliced and boiled the night before) and topped off with strawberries, whipped cream (from a can, because it's more fun that way!), and syrup. We also had juice and a hot chocolate bar.

It was a big hit, and I'm glad to say everyone went back for seconds and/or a plate for the road.

My sexy man was an amazing help in getting everything ready this morning, and I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without him. Plus, I think he might let me pick up my very own Belgian Waffle iron now.

Relationship Bank Withdrawls

The last 24 hours was one of those unfortunate times where I managed to make about a billion withdrawls from my various relationship bank accounts (and practically no deposits). Family, friends, employer....you name it. I've screwed up a lot in a short amount of time.

Most of them felt out of my control, but I have to be honest and say that if I were more "together" I probably could have prevented most of them.

Just another motivation to work away from the Grumpy Frumpy version of myself. If only it was as simple as ordering a new me for under the Christmas tree!

Frumpy Bread

I like to bake bread about twice a week. Originally, I would've liked to have done a tutorial on cooking with natural yeast.

But then, my bread turned out like this...

Yowza! That's ugly. 

I'm usually pretty good at getting smooth rounded tops on my bread, and this is one of the most wrinkly cracked tops I had. 

To be fair though, I know why I ruined the shape of my bread. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the 2 hour coma I fell into mid-day when I should've been shaping the loaves and letting them go through the second rise. Instead my bread got over proofed. 

It's still good though, and totally salvageable with a little butter and jelly.

Even frumpy homemade bread is still homemade bread after all.

Kitchen Fun

So I tried a couple new things with dinner tonight. The first was some balsamic pan-fried potatoes inspired by The Frugal Gourmet. They were so fabulous that I could eat them all day.

I used red potatoes, which were cubed and then marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and rosemary. I then added in some bacon grease for the pan-frying process. Easy and delicious, I will definitely be making these again. 

Plus, look at that beautiful browning enhanced by the balsamic vinegar. They turned out gorgeous!

Next, I attempted an orange ginger glaze for some salmon. I don't have much experience with glazes, and to be perfectly honest, I let it boil over, which is a quick, but super inefficient, way to reduce it. Not to mention the mess I get to clean off my stove....but hey, discovery requires experimentation. 

Also, we're not exactly talking those beautiful red salmon steaks from the ocean. These are pale little lake fish fillets which look like tilapia, but are actually salmon.

It turned out fine, but I have some work to do on the dish. Also, I'd like to try it on a much more attractive sockeye salmon fillet. It was more difficult to make attractive, so naturally I reused the rosemary sprig.

And last, but not least, a feta spinach salad with a homemade vinaigrette.

Or...at least that's what I would have liked it to be. In reality, it was actually a can of green beans.

Yup. There they are. Not even french cut. Told you I was frumpy!

Still, all in all, an enjoyable evening in the kitchen.

Immune System

5yoS had questions about vaccines today. After a very rudimentary explanation about how little bugs called germs get into our body and our body fights them and remembers them for next time, I decided to let YouTube do the talking.

We watched 6 videos.  I'm not sure how much he picked up on, but he enjoyed watching them in any case, and was able to tell me a little bit about the videos when they were finished.

For the record, here's what we watched:

How Your Immune System Works
Immune System
Why You Are Still Alive - The Immune System Explained
Learn Human Body - Immune System
How the Immune System Works
Immune System - Human Organ Systems for Kids

It's interesting that they all had a somewhat different emphasis on how the immune system works. Why You Are Still Alive wasn't as kid centric, but I thoroughly enjoyed that it showed how complex the immune system actually is. 

He's continuing to ask what the names of the germs are (virus, bacteria, fungus, and parasite) and what the fighters are called (leukocytes) etc. So if nothing else, he's at least getting exposed to some new terms that will be useful later on.

Mum School

So, my 5yoS is a Fall Baby, and missed the deadline for Kindergarten this year. I'm sort of okay with that though. I'm not exactly a mainstream person, and I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to go the public school route, or give homeschooling a try.

This year is a nice buffer year where I can play like I'm homeschooling, without actually having to stress about formal lessons yet. If it doesn't work out, I can send him to Kindergarten next Fall, no worse for wear.

He's a bright kid, and he enjoys learning. So yesterday I decided to pick up a copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons because he's been showing more interest in reading. I figured we'd give it a try.

First though, we made a reading chart to put stickers on when he completes his lessons. I made the grid and told him I wanted him to fill it out, starting with numbers 1-10. When he came back with the first line, I asked him what came next, and we listed off numbers 11-20. We went through the cycle until it was filled out. By the time he hit the 30s, he started recognizing the pattern and felt more confidant about being able to write his numbers through 100.

This is the finished product.

Now, I know his penmanship could use a little help (particularly with 6s and 9s), but considering I've never formally done any handwriting practice with him, I'm pretty impressed. He's also never attended pre-school, so everything you see here is more or less intrinsically motivated. He wanted to know how to write his numbers, and I showed him. He wanted to know how to count, and we've practiced out loud whenever he's brought it up.

Anyway, he was pretty excited to figure out that the columns all had the same last number and the rows all had the same first number. It was a cool discovery for the day.

I had him write "Reading Chart" at the top, and we hung it in our living room so we can be reminded to work on it every day. We even did Lesson 1 today, and he's begging to do Lesson 2.

All in all, an exciting day academically. I hope we can be consistent and make some real progress over the next 99 lessons!

Oh, Hello....

I'm going to let you in on something right away. I'm a mess.

My house is a mess. My wardrobe is a mess. My mental and emotional state is usually a mess.

I'm disorganized, lazy, and (more often than not) in a bad mood.

Don't get me wrong, I'm totally working on it. I have ambitions of being a "together" person, and I plan on getting there eventually. It's just taken me a long time to realize that it is going to be a slow process, formed habit by habit, rather than by one huge overhaul.

You see, I tend to be a perfectionist, and I want to do things perfectly or not at all. So, more often than not, it ends up not happening at all. In fact, it took a real act of will power and letting go to decide to start my blog on December 17th, rather than January 1st. I did it anyway because I'm trying to get in the habit of being consistent and finishing, rather than giving up when perfectionism fails.

So, here lies the beginning of my journal to a better me.

Since the perfectionist part of me wants to make it a beautiful, flowing narration on one inspirational topic, I'm going to force myself to put together whatever hodge-podge of interests, struggles, projects, and thoughts I'm having, when I'm having them, even if there are no pictures, or poorly taken ones anyway.

It's gonna be ugly. Here we go!