Heart Home and School

Fraterday

Today is the day that the kids and I call Fraterday.  It normally doesn't start until the afternoon, when school is mostly over.  It is the official start to our weekend.  We walk around the house singing that "it's fraterday, fraterday" like lunatics.  We had a lot of fun today too.  My middle son 9, is studying Copernicus, and we made a 3d solar system based on the one Copernicus discovered.  We got different size styrofoam balls and painted them to look like the sun, moon and the first 6 planets.  Younger son 6 and daughter 4 helped with this.  Then we took a piece of black poster board and made the orbits with glitter glue going around a spot we made in the middle for the sun.  We also made an extra orbit around the spot where the earth will be.  Next we unfolded a paper clip slightly, poked one side into a planet and strung the other side with fishing line. This we stuck through the poster board along the orbit that related to the planet on the other end of the line and strung it through a button that will hold it to the back of the poster board. We are going to use some ceiling hooks and hang the universe over my sons bed. 

After we worked on the project I took dd4 and we went major grocery shopping.  I can't believe how exausting it is to shop.  Then you get to look forward to putting everything away, which also takes forever.  At least I didn't have to worry about dinner.  Friday nights my husband lets me order out or pick up.  I won't order out on any other day for lunch or dinner.  We made this deal years ago and it actually saves us money, and makes my fraterday that much better.  I know that I don't have to stress about what we are going to eat, cook anything, but the major plus is that the kitchen stays clean from morning until the next morning.

I have checked out just about every book on homesteading that the libraries have in my area, and have been reading voraciously.  One of them I realized that I have already read at some point, years ago.  I am using everything that I can in my house in the suburbs.  But I do still dream about chickens.  I am sure they would pay for themselves, just in the about of eggs we go through.  It is easily 18 if not 24 a week with all of the baking that I do.  I LOVE to bake, I love to eat what I bake, however I don't love how I LOOK when I eat what I bake.  So I am very good at giving things to neighbors, or making cookies and stuff when my kids have friends over.  Everyone goes home with something.  Well, I think I will go read some more.  Have a great weekend.

Nicki

Pot Pie recipe

In answer to 2gramsroses question here is my pot pie recipe.  My entire family loves it and we never have any leftovers.

The crust is a simple one, just combine 1 C flour, 1/2 C shortening, 1/4 C water and a dash of salt.  Divide in half and roll.  Sometimes I use the pillsbury premade dough.

For the filling you saute 1 small chopped onion in 1/4 C butter.  Once soft sprinkle in 1/4 C flour and whisk until bubbly.  Add 1 C milk whisking until smooth then add 2 C chicken broth, whisk this until smooth and thickened.  It doesn't take long.  Now, season with salt, pepper and some poultry seasoning to taste.  Add 2 C cooked chicken diced, 1-2 cooked potatoes diced and 1 cooked carrot diced.  Lastly throw in a couple handfuls of frozen peas.

I normally have leftover chicken from a roast which I use.  And I chop up the potato and carrot and boil them while the sauce is coming together.  They will be ready when you need them.

To put the pie together I roll out 1/2 if the dough and line a big, deep oven safe bowl with it.  I have cut the dough and used individual bowls, and also a 13x9 pan.  Pour in the filling and cover with the other dough rolled out.  Pinch sides together and cut vents in top.  I brush the top with a little milk and put it in a 425 degree oven for 40 min.  Let it rest for 10 min. 

To go with it I usually have a big green salad and some rolls.

That is how I normally make it,  yesterday I decided to try something new.  I made the filling the same except I cut the liquid to 3/4 C milk and 1 C broth so it would be thicker.  Then I rolled my dough and cut it into triangle shaped wedges.  I got 8 total.  Then I filled one half with a heaping tablespoon of filling, moistened the edges with water, folded the other side of the dough over and sealed the edges with a fork.  Then I put these in my freezer on a sheetpan.  I haven't cooked them yet, but I am hoping they will be a little bit like hot pockets.  But much much better.  I will let you know how they turn out.

Nicki

Back to work

Well, the vacation is over.  I am actually glad, I was itching to get back to work.  And although I love having my husband around all day, he tends to want my undivided attention.  Which is fun while it lasts, but I get less work done.  We are on a 5 week count down until the end of school.  I have been homeschooling for 4 years now and I tend to still lean toward the school-at-home format.  I am not a very organized person and get a little too worried about academics.  But in my heart I know that a more laid back, in depth approach would work better.  I have been slowly persuading my husband to that idea, along with the homesteading and letting God bless us with as many children as he wants.  He is slowly coming around to all of those things to different degrees.  On his vacation we actually went driving around the more rural areas, looking at the houses and land that we felt we could afford.  And he brought up the subject of chickens to his mom, which has been one of my dreams.  So hopefully I am doing the right thing.  All of these things have a strong pull on my heart.  And I feel that God is leading me to them. 

Anyway, here is what I have accomplished so far today:

~ School finished with all of the kids, including Faith's preschool.

~ Home made chicken pot pie pasties made, and frozen for future use.

~ All laundry washed

~ Dinner started

~ Brownies cooking

~ 3 mile run

~ Seeds organized for planting tomorrow

And here are the things that I want to finish before bed:

~ The rest of the laundry folded And put away

~ Bathrooms cleaned

~ Pick up a few things at the store

~ Grade 2 math tests

~ Baths for Andrew and Ben

That should get me through the rest of the night, hopefully I will have time to finish the puzzle I've been working on and read a few chapters in my book, Praise Her in the Gates.  Until Later,

Nicki

Lazy Days

My husband has been off work all of this week, and we have taken a break from school.  The beginning of the week was pretty hectic, with doctor, dentist and eye appointments for everyone.  We also worked outside while the weather was warm.  Most of my garden has been turned over and is just waiting for my pea, lettuce,broccoli and carrot seeds.  The only problem is that the weather has dropped about 30 degrees and it is really windy out.  My poor middle son had a broken finger for almost two weeks before we realized it.  We knew that he hurt it, but he wasn't complaining very much about it.  My husband felt terrible because I had been saying we should bring him in and he disagreed.  Hopefully he heals quickly and doesn't miss too much of his baseball season. 

Now that the weather has turned we have really slowed down.  It is so much fun spending time with the hubby.  We really enjoy eachother's company.  The kids are getting a great dose of dad too.  Everytime it gets cold out I want to bake.  So, I have been going through a few of my new cook books and day dreaming.  I think tomorrow will be the day.  We are going to my inlaws for dinner and a bible study, which I am so looking forward to, so I can bring whatever I bake.  That gets it out from under my nose, so I don't eat like crazy.

Tonight I think I will get the house straightened up.  It really needs it, my vacuum is kind of on the fritz so I haven't been able to use it as often as I would like to.  The kids have been playing outside a lot, which I love, however I'm not to happy about all of the mud and dirt they bring in.  So the goal for tonight is floors, and possibly a bathroom or two.  Well, back to work

Here comes the rain

Last day before Spring break

Talk about burn out.  I am so looking forward to school being completed today.  Next week officially starts springbreak for us.  And boy, do we need it.  This year has been a very hard working year for our little school at home.  But we are actually on track to finish up the third week in May.  Last year my oldest son didn't finish until July 6.  I promised myself that I wouldn't let that happen this year.  I also wasn't able to get my garden in until sometime in June, which really is to late for all of the spring crops.  So, this year my husband has taken the entire week off of work and we are going to put in the garden and do fixing up outside the house all of next week.  I can't wait.  I haven't been able to sleep for the last few night because I keep thinking of all the things that I want to get done.  I am hoping to be able to put some vegetables away this year for the winter.  We tend to eat great during the harvest season, but for the rest of the year it is store bought vegetables.  Canning vegetables will be another new thing to try this summer.  The only canning I've ever done is when I make my homemade strawberry jam.  And with this I kind of cheat by using wax so I don't have to worry about boiling them.  Then I keep them in the fridge anyway because I am afriad they are going to go bad.  Hopefully I will have to many things canned to be able to store them in the fridge.  I love walking around my yard everyday and seeing all of my flowers starting to burst out of the ground.  It is like welcoming back old friends that I haven't seen in a while.  They always bring a smile to my face.  Well, back to work.  Just writing my thoughts down seems to lift a weight off my shoulders.

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