Monday the high was 10 (with the wind chill it was below 0). Today on the other hand, it was 62 out! No wonder I always get so sick every winter. With these wacky weather temps, my body is all messed up. Not to mention it is goingto be in the 30's tomorrow.

So, I have a few minutes to post before I have to cook dinner and head off to work. It is so crazy at work right now (I work at Christian Book Distributors) and after a full day of homeschooling then 6 hours at CBD, I am beat.

I have been in a rut with homeschooling this past month. Lots to do at home and no time to do it it seems. So, if I manage to get at least math done, I am happy. Today we did nothing but read. I just wanted a lazy day to cuddle up with my boy and read.

Well, it is almost 4pm and I haveto leave for work in 45 minutes. I think I am going to go cook something fast for dinner. Like canned soup. I make a great soup, but canned was on sale and I had coupons, so I bought a bunch of it for when I don't have time (or feel like) cooking. This may be one ofthose times. LOL.

Every year at work (Christian Book Distributors), a fellow workmate of mine asks for help to stuff stockings that she will then donate to the American Red Cross. I have never done this before (this is my second holiday season with the company, but looking to stay permanently). Anyway, I asked for two stockings so that matt could stuff them for a community service project. Need to prove to our new Superintendent in town that we actually do things outside the house.

We hit our local dollar store and the dollar section at Target to getthe stuffing stuff. Matt had a blast picking out the stuff for the boys stocking, while I picked out the stuff for the girls stocking. He had no clue (or interest) in getting the stuff for the girls.

The stockings

The stuff for inside

Stuffing the boys stocking

Stuffing the girls stocking

Posing with the stockings. (don't mind the mess of paint cans and canning jars. LOL)

Every year, we try to think of some way to count down the days to Christmas. We have done paper chains, marking on a calender, to even getting these cardboard countdowns that have a piece of chocolate behind the 24 doors.

Well, this year I planned on trying something different. Originally it was going to be a wreath (and it still may be one later on) but I haven't had the time (or the nerve) to hit the craft store. So, we are putting these on our Christmas (Yule) tree instead.

I took Christmas themed card board photo matting and an ornament shape and created  "ornaments".

There are 24 ornaments total, one for each day for the Holiday countdown. On the back of each orament, is an activity to do. Some are as simple as watching a holiday movie, but others require more work such as making a gingerbread house. Here is our activit list:

1, Decorate the house and listen to holiday music

2. Take a holiday picture in front of the tree (we do this every year and put this photo in our Christmas cards)

3. Read a holiday story

4. Make gingerbread men cutout ornaments (made from craft foam)

5. Learn and sing holiday songs

6. Watch a holiday movie

7. Make out cards and mail them

8. Make a gingerbread house or tree

9. Make wooden snowflake ornaments

10. Read a holiday story

11. Build a snowman

12. Bake cookies

13. Make a gift for Papa

14. Watch a holiday movie

15. Make toys for Gracie (our cat)

16. Make a gift for Grumma (my mom)

17. Make salt dough ornaments

18. Make Hot Cocoa Mix

19. Make popcorn garland (first day of our Yule celebrations)

20. Read about the Winter Solstice

21. Make suet forthe birds

22. Watch a holiday movie

23. Bake cookies

24. Drive around and look at lights. Come home open one gift (always jammies for that night) and listen to "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

We have duplicated some activities ebcause we enjoy those. I always love adding a holiday movie to our growing collection every year.  Some other activities you could do would be donating used winter coats to a charity, donating toys to Toys for Tots (I haven't seen any of these bins around at all yet this year). Matt helped the workers at our local Build-A-Bear stuff animals to give to Toys for Tots. He was actually happy to not bring them home. So nice seeing as we have like 20 already. LOL.

So what kinds of things are you doing to make this month more meaning full instead of material?

Muddie Buddies (or Puppy Chow)

9 cups Rice, corn or Honey Nut Chex (I use store brand)

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Into a large bowl, measure cereal and set aside.

2. In a microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter uncovered on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla.

3. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. (I mix it with two spoons, one in each hands, like I am tossing a salad)

4. Pour into a 2 gallon bag. (or into two 1 gallon bags as I havenever seen a 2 gallon bag) Add Powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake untilwell coated. Spread onto waxed paper until cooled.

5. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

This is actually a Chicken Potpie recipe I got from Allrecipes.com, but I just changed it to turkey. It makes 12 servings, which wil make two pies for our family of 3. One to eat right away, the other to freeze until later on. My changes (other than the meat, are inbold type)

Turkey Potpie

2 cups diced peeled potatoes

1 ¾ cups sliced carrots

2/3 cup chopped onion

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 ¾ tsp salt

1 tsp dried thyme 3.4 tsp pepper

3 cups chicken broth

1 ½ cups milk

4 cups cubed (or shredded) turkey

1 cup of frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

1 pastry for 9 inch double crust pie

1. Place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until crisp tender. Drain and set aside. In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme, and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in brother and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the turkey, peas, corn, potatoes and carrots; remove from the heat.

2. Line two 9 in. pie plates with bottom pastry; trim even with the edge of plate. Fill pastry shells with turkey mixture. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pies. Cut slits or decorative cutouts in pastry. Place over filling; trim, seal and flute edges. I didn’t put the pastry shell in the bottom (gets soggy that way and we like it crisp). We put the mixture in the pie plates and put the pastry shell on top. Also this way, all we need is one box of pastry shells to make two pies. For the second pie that I freeze, I just pour the cooled mixture into a container to freeze without the pastry shell.

3. Bake one potpie at 425°F for 35-40 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

It has been awhile since I blog last. I have been super busy between homeschooling, house selling and work.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. We had my dad down here. I cooked up a 25 lb turkey for the four of us (tons of left overs let me tell you!). I also made up some Muddy Buddies (or puppy chow as my boss calls it) to bring up to my sisters for desert. Dad, Matt and I went up to my sisters for desert. For once, I didn't go all out with baking. Actually I didn't do any at all, my sister did instead. Although I was (and still am) craving a cheesecake. I may have to make myself one this week LOL. It was nice to see my daughter again (she is living with my sister) and she is doing great in school up there. Almost straight A's this term. She got a B in Algerbra because she dropped from the highest level class to the next highest and loss a grade level because of it. She technically failed the top level class.

I also started to put up our Christmas tree (or Yule tree as we call it). Normally it goes up the first Saturday of December, but with my dads cancer back again, we may not know how many Holidays he has left with us. He has been battleing cancer for like 7 years or so it seems. I wanted him to be part of the "experience". Well, Matt dwecidedthat video games were more fun and he disapeared into his room. My hubby was in the school room messing around on the comptuer. So it was me fighting with the stupid tree (it is fake btw) while my dad watched. His cancer is eating the muscles in his right arm (he actually has two broken muscles), so he couldn't help much. Just watch me get dizzy with stinging the lights on the tree. LOL. I ended up finishing the tree when we got back from my sisters.

I'll be posting the recipes I made for Thanksgiving, as well as the ones I am using for all our left overs. You should see how much turkey stock I was able to make with this huge carcass. (enough for 3 large soups and some extras for adding into recipes).

I am also going to be posting about this cool idea I have for a count down to Christmas. We celebrate both Yule and Christmas here so our normal Yule activities are included in this count down. More on it later.

I know I am a bit late posting this. Between homeschooling, working, fixing up the house and having tendonitis (which hurts big time) in my right elbow, I haven't had time to get on and do anything. I have to save my arm for work.

So anyway, here is my Halloween (Samhain as we call it) post.

This year I made Matt's costume. Mostly because I was short on cash and didn't feel like spending a ton of something that will be worn once. Matt wanted to be an "Army Man" so I bought some camo polar fleece and using a pajama pattern I already had, I made him his costume. He actually wore it all week long and to bed last night. Did I mention that it was nice and warm out so Matt was starting to sweat a little.

Note the camo socks. He said he had to be all camo. Like anyone would see those under his work boots. hehe

He stretched the neck out a little to much it seems. I borrowed the hat from a friend as I couldn't find an army hat anywhere. I did find one last night however. LOL

As tradition, we carve pumpkins every year. Normally we have them already done by this time, but I have been super busy, so we didn't get any until last night. Steve grabbed this huge one for Matt to carve (with his help of course) but as soon as they pulled the top off, they saw it was all rotted and nasty inside. So much for roasted pumpkin seeds this year. So Matt drew a face on it instead.

Love those "angry eyes" hehe

So, I head off to work as I "thought" I couldn't get it off. I fight traffic all the way there (did I mention I live near Salem, MA and that this is the one night a year the city shuts down and traffic is horrid it makes mall traffic during Christmas time look like a Sunday drive?)

So anyway, I get into work with 10 min to spare and I am walking over to my desk while my super is giving me this odd look. I look at her and go "what's up?". She was like "I thought you had tonight off?". I was like "No, I requested it off, but I was put on a waiting list.". She goes "I could have swore you had tonight off". She looks up my schedule (which is on a pain in the ass to access computer program) and said "Yup you have it off. You used blah blah for your time off." (I forget the acronym but it is for these special hours that everyone was allowed to use to take some time off because the company has so many people right now). So I was like "oh cool." She goes "Do you want to work tonight?" and I go "Not really." So she goes "Get out of here then with a chuckle." I love my super hehe.

So, getting home was easier as I was driving away from Salem traffic and I get home (after stopping at McDonalds first) with about 15 minutes to spare before the sun fully set. Steve was involved in some battle against skellys on his Puzzle Pirates game, so I started trick or treating without him. Matt and  I did most of the route before Steve finished his fight (or 15 fights as it took forever for the people to beat these 50 skellys).

Around 8pm or so, Matt was getting tired. He said his foot hurt (it probably did) but when he said "This is the last house" when we were three streets away from our house, I knew he was tired. So we get home, and like always, I sorft through his candy, with his help, to find any opened or homemade (which I haven't seen in years) or any recalled candy. There was only one piece that needed to be thrown out.

So while I finished watching "Ghost Hunters Live", Matt went into bed and watched the "Goosebumps" marathon that was on Cartoon Network. He loved them and said they were kind of scary (nothing scares this kid I swear).

Earlier in the day, Matt and I set up our "Remberance Table". Nothing like your 8 year old telling his friends we have an altar set up in the house. I didn't put anything on it except candles and the photos of our lost loved ones. As Halloween (Or Samhain) is all about remembering and honoring those we have lost, we looked through old photo albums and watched my passed inlaws on dvd. As we remembered each one, we lite a candle that would stay lite until midnight (although we did blow them out when Steve came out trick or treating. Don't need to burn the house down while we aren't there.

If you wish to learn the truth behind this sacred holiday, please check out this website: The History of Halloween. It was written by a pastor who actually took the time and did his research and found out what this holiday is all about and where it originated.

It is not about devil worship, we do not sacrifice animals or virgins, there is no "Dread Lord Samhain". Samhain comes from Celtic meaning summer's end. That is all Halloween is. It is the last harvest festival of the year. It is the end (or death) of one year. It is also known as the Witch's New Year for that very reason. It is also said that the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest. It is at this time when we are able to contact our loved ones.

Americain Apple Pie

Pastry for double crust 9 inch pie

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

6 cups cored, peeled, and thinly sliced apples

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp butter

1.) Preheat oven to 425 F. Line pie plate with half the pastry.

2.) In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add apples and toss to coat evenly. Spoon apple mixture into pastry lined pie plates. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with butter.

3.) Top with remaining pastry. Trim and flute edges. Cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.

4.) To prevent over browning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown.

*Note* While I am peeling and cutting up the apples, I place them in cold water with some lemon juice added to prevent the apples from browning.

Hot Mulled Cider

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 quarts cider

1 tsp whole all spice

1 1/2 tsp whole cloves

2-3 sticks of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

Combine sugar, nutmeg and cider in crock pot. Tie the whole spicestogether in cheese cloth. Add to crock pot. Cover, cook on low 2-8 hours. Serve from crock pot with ladle.

I love fall time a  ton. Of course my favorite thing to do is go to our local fair. It opened up Friday night, but we didn't go until Sunday. We got there just after it opened (10am), so we missed the traffic. We do know all the backroads to get to the fair grounds, so traffic wouldn't have been a big problem anyway. It's called the Topsfield Fair and has been around for 190 years! It is America's oldest agricultural fair.

So, we get there and park and head into the grounds. The first thing we go into is the sportsman building. Hubby see's a buddy of his and starts chatting while Matt and I check out the Curious Creatures booth. Matt and I got to pet a skunk (stinker removed of course), frog, and a scorpion. Well, the kid wouldn't let us pet the scorpion. Of course Matt goes to me "It looks like Scorponok". (Transformers) As I was telling Matt that this one won't transform, is when the kid was down near us and chuckled a little. They also had this huge iguana that just didn't wantto stay put and ended up climbing above the camo netting that was attached to the rafters and tried to make a run for it outside. The kid did manage to get the escape artist and stuck him in the Water Dragons tank. In time out as I called it.

From there we headed to check out the flowers and garden displays. Stupid me, I forgot I had my camera on me, so I didn't get any pictures of the pretty gardens.

Next was the climbing pole. I always loved watching kids and adults try to climb this very tall metal pole. It starts out thick and then gets very thin as it goes up. It is also very slippery. One kid (probably about 10) made it up. Of course he had already done it 3 times that day, but Matt didn't see those times, so this one really impressed him. Now he wants to head to the park to practice on the firemans pole there. LOL

Produce building was next. Apparently the local homeschool group I belong to hada ton of pumpkins entered in this section, but I didn't find out until later on when I was home. Of course they had the HUGE pumpkin winner there. This years weights in at 1,464 lbs.

If you want to buy the seeds from this pumpkin, it was like $5.00 per 3 seeds or something nuts like that.

We visited all the animal buildings. I love chickens and was showing my hubby which ones I would like to have once we move. They also had huge turkeys there. I was showing Matt the difference between a male and female turkey by just looking at their heads. I had my finger pointed, no where near the cage, when the female turkey lunged out and bit my finger I was pointing with. That darn bird hurt a ton. Apparently she did it againto someone not 3 minutes after she bit me. Here I was telling Matt not to stick his fingers in the cage (another mom even moved Matt's hand away from one cage) and I get bit by this stupid (obviously hungry) bird.

After seeing all the cows, sheep, pigs, and birds, Matt and I headed to the Rabbit and Cavie building. This is Matt's favorite building. He loves how HUGE some of these rabbits are. Our rabbit is an oversized (aka fat) dwarf, and looks like the size of some of these rabbits heads. Anyway, the building was practically closed as all the 4-Hers were showing their rabbits. This of course ment we could not check any of them out. One thing that bumed me out about all the animals is that I did not see one GOAT! I love goats and kept going (like a little kid would) "Where are the goats?".

Food was next. Of course Matt and I had some fried dough. You can't not go to a fair and not get some fried dough. We also had Chinese from a placethat is right near our house (don't ask LOL), German Fries (yum), and apple crisp. Well, I ate that myself. LOL.

Steve had to run to find an ATM and was also running out sweatshirts to the car. When the sun came out, it warmed up enough to just be in our long sleeve shirts. So while he was doing that, Matt was playing around on these tractors and mules.

Right next to all these tractors, we an National Guard hummer. Of course I had to take a picture per matt's request. It was a pretty cool hummer and had 7 tv screens and a sweet sound system in it. Of course a moive was playing, Ironman.

Next we hit all the rides. Bumper cars was the big hit. Steve and Matt went on together first, then Matt went on alone.

Next year he will be the perfect size for all the adult rides. He is just tall enough for them now, but only by 1 or 2 inches. Matt also had to go on his favorite truck ride. he always manages to get the same orange truck. As you can tell from the picture, this is Matt's last year on this ride. It took him a bit to get out of it after the ride was over.

Next up for rides was the fun houses and the glass house. Then we hit the "scary" stuff. Matt loves horror stuff almost as much as I do (I grew up with Freddie and Jason after all). Matt went on the Haunted Mansion ride with Steve before heading over to thehaunted house. Both of which Matt said were not scary at all.

By the time all the rides were done, it was nearly 3pm. We were exhausted and decided to head home. As we were leaving, the crossing guard said to us that soem of the people stuck in the traffic to get to the fair, had been stuck for 1 1/2 hours! I am so glad we got there early as we did. We drove past about 5 miles of traffic of people trying to get to the fair.

The other day I posted about a odd bug I had seen in my yard and have gotten lots of replies and help identiflying it. I am very greatful because of that.

However, today I recieved an anonymous comment saying "How can you teach your children if you don't know that?".  

Just because I educate my children does not mean I know everything there is out there. Hell, even public and private school teachers don't know everything. I honestly had never seen this bug before so that is why I posted about it here to get some help from someone who might.

I know I shouldn't let a stupid little comment left to me rile me up so much, but I have had it. I get comments left to me alot here (homeschoolblogger) and over at Cafemom about my choice in education and faith. I am tired of letting this stuff roll off my back and say oh well. It bothers me and I am sick of it. I usually just delete the comment, but this one is staying.

To that person who left that comment to me, why are you anonymous? Afraid that a homeschool educator might be a better teacher than you? Scared that I actually might know something more than you? Or is it that your jealous of the fact that I am able to stay home and give my child a better education than his peers?

Sorry about the vent/rant post, but I really just needed to get it off my chest.

I have been a Netflix subscriber for a little bit now. As a former Blockbuster subsciber, I love Netflix so much more. More educational movies to rent, although the site does lack some organization, over all, I have been very happy with them.

In the mail yesterday, I recieved 4 cards each for a free month of rentals for my friends. My friends already belong, or don't care to, so I am passing it on to you.

So the first 4 people who send me a message with you email address, I will send you the activation code and website to go to. Please do not leave a comment because I will need your email addresses and I hate for people to leave them in a comment.

I'll update this message once all 4 are gone.

As you can tell, I am not a bug person. I hate them. I honestly don't mind them when they are outside (like the cicada) but inside, in the shower with you, well that just freaks me out.

A few months ago this little bugger was doing just that. I have no clue what it is. I posted it on my homeschool blog, but got no answers as to what it is, so I am hoping someone here knows.

I found another in my sink today, that is what reminded me to ask about it here. It's rather pretty, but it still "bugs" me out. hehe

Today it is in the low 60's here in MA. Even though fall doesn't start until Sunday, I just had to add some fall touches to my blog. I am always changing my homeschool blog to reflect the season and even holiday changes, so I will probably do the same thing here. hehe

The trees have yet to start changing here and I can not wait until they do. I love the colors and smells of fall. It is my favorite season. It might have something to do with me being born in the fall, but probably not. hehe.

The local fairs start up in a coupl of weeks. We normally go to the Topsfield Fair, but are skipping it to try out the Deerfield Fair. Topsfield is like 20 minutes from our house where as Deerfield is in another state. LOL.

Apple picking has started up, so we may hit our favorite place this weekend. Applecrest in Hampton Falls, NH. I have been going there since I was a little girl. Every year we would go and once I met my hubby, I told him we were continuing the tradition.

Time to go to a Nature Club meeting. Chat with you ladies later.

Anyone have any idea what kind of bug this is? It is a rather large bug that my neighbor found while we were chatting not to long ago.

~UPDATE~ I got a comment over at my homeschool blog and we found out it is a Cicada. Cool bug!

I have no idea what is with the wind today, but it is super crazy windy out. Not only was stuff blowing around outside (today is trash day too, so that was going everywhere), but all our stuff was blowing around inside.

Matt's school desk is in front of a window and we had to hold his school work down with a book (or my camera). It took us a little bit longer because if we moved the book or our hands, the papers went flying. I did try moving back to the kitchen, but it was just as bad in there. Eventually we got our lessons done before I had to head out to the store for some half & half for dinner tonight.

I am making corn chowder tonight. Normally I make this when it is cold out or for the Autum Equinox (which is this coming Sunday!), but I had roasted a chicken last night and used the carcas to make some stock that I am using for the chowder.

My kitchen smells yummy right now. Normally I wouldn't cook it this early, but I have to leave the house at 4:30 to meet my hubby and hand Matt over to him so I can get to work on time. I work at 5:30 and usually my hubby is home by 3:30 or 4, but he started at 9am today, so he won't get out until 5 and home until 5:30. Stinks with him not having a set schedule. Ahh such is the life of a truck driver.

Did you know there are only THREE shopping weeks after Thanksgiving until Christmas?!? My family celebrates Yule however, but we also gather with my hubby's family on Christmas.

For the past few years, my sister and I have been making our gifts for each other and our parents. This year, due to lack of money on both our ends, we are taking it one step farther and making our gifts for our hubbies and kids as well. My sister crochets and knits. I can quilt, sew, and cross stitch.

I know what I am getting from my sister (a beautiful shawl) and my mom (arm length fingerless gloves, for those long nights of playing computer games LOL). They asked what I wanted and showed me patterns. My sister had already thought of a shawl for me, so she is happy that I asked for one.

For my sister, I am making her some cross-stitch ornaments for her tree and some cloth pads. She loves the ones I made for myself, so she asked for some. She just wants me to make them with removable liners so if she needs more or less, she can adjust it. I am also making her some cookies and snacks.

For my brother-in-law, I am making him some salsa in mild and medium flavors.

For my sister's kids, I am getting the youngest a cement truck, just like my hubby drives, the middle one some Spider-Man finds from the dollar section of Target, and the oldest I have no idea just yet. Something princess-ish and girly.

For my brother and his new wife, I am making them some cross-stich ornaments as well. They just got married, so they have like nothing.

For my brothers kid (they had a baby a year before they got married), I am getting him a Little People tractor.

I honestly have no clue what to get for my hubby as of yet. Probably some hunting gear or something. I know he will get me some cookbooks on how to cook game, a pressure canner, and a dutch oven as I have been driving him nuts about wanting them. LOL.

For my daughter, she asked for a Nintendo DS and some cloth pads (she over herd me talking to my sister about them and asked for some). I will probably also get her a game to go with the DS as well.

For my son, I am working on a pirate blanket (I have put his orange quilt on the back burner for now) and already have some Transformers and cars from the Cars movie (the tiny ones as he has all of the other ones)

My son gets spoiled by my hubby's family as he is the only nephew and gradnson (when my inlaws were alivethat is), so we don't get him much gifts.

I have been working on the ornaments between calls while at work. It seems to be the only time I have to do them as I am so busy during the weekends with my family and with selling our house. Now that would be a great gift for my family. If someone would buy our house. hehe