Happy Fourteenth

My baby girl turned fourteen today.

We stayed up till midnight together last night to welcome in her 14th birthday. As we sat at the kitchen table, we took a few minutes to talk about all the things she's done this year. I wish I would have written them down as we thought of them last night, but at least I can try to remember a few of the things we remembered, and make a note of them here and now.

She kicked off last summer with her first Cosplay...

For which she made, with minimal assistance, her own Haruhi Susamiya costume...

She also went to her first anime convention. She assembled her costume, learning to sew from a pattern for the first time, and she ordered a wig from the internet.

She got her own cell phone.

She practiced drawing her own style of manga art, both in her sketchbook and using a Manga Art Studio software. She won an award for her safety poster.

She enrolled in Spanish 2, at the instructor's invitation, and did quite well, despite not having taken Spanish 1.

She radically expanded the types of foods she was willing to sample and eat and became quite the chef herself...making everything from homemade, hand kneaded bread to delicious fish tacos to key lime pie.

She enrolled in Mr. N's study skills class and became quite the fan of his "Chumley" quizes.

She made her own Ferb costume and her own Ferb wig for Halloween.

She followed that feat up by making her own plush Ferb doll a month or so later. (To keep him company, she received a plush Phineas and a Perry doll at Christmas.)

She had significant parts in THREE musicals over the school year...the church Christmas musical, the co-op Christmas musical, and the co-op spring musical. For the church Christmas musical, she also helped design and sew the costumes for the four Christmas 'stars'.

She participated in several fund raisers through the year to raise money for a youth trip to Denver, Colorado this coming summer. She got her first taste in waitressing and bussing tables at a Skyline fundraiser. And every Thursday, she taught all of her brother's school lessons for the day so that I could babysit and put that money towards her trip.

She and I attended the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention together, where she selected her own workshops and browsed the vendors hall to help select some of her high school curriculum for next year.

She tested for her black belt...

....and passed the test to receive her black belt!

I hope the video works. She really worked hard this year and accomplished a LOT. But I think I'm proudest of her for her black belt test. A lot of the components of Tae Kwon Do don't come easily to her, and she really has to practice and train hard to accomplish what she does. To prepare for her black belt test, she went to the dojo 4 days a week for several weeks. She practiced every day at home with additional conditioning exercises. She worked with the Jedi regularly outside of class on her board breaking, because that was something that she has struggled with in the past. On the day of her test, she was the only student in the group of junior black belts who broke every single board on the first try.

This year--
I'm proud of her for her perseverence.
I'm proud of her for her determination.
I'm proud of her for her independent learning.
I'm proud of her for her interest in new experiences.
I'm proud of her for her patience.
I'm proud of what a amazing young lady she is becoming.

Happy Birthday, Sweetling.

Work in Progress

You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet;

And you have to, um, well....rip a few papers, pop a few balloons, cut up a couple cereal boxes, and make a mess all over the table (and floor) to make a pinata (or two). 

Facebook Friday

If you're just tuning in, one of the functions of my blog is to serve as a way to document my life and my family. I'm trying to remember to grab a few of my facebook updates and collect them into one post once a week. "Trying" is, of course, the key word in that sentence.

Here we go, Here we go, to Camp Wallaballa.....

ok, I'm sewing this beautiful elven dress. (I'm using view A, the dress itself is cream crushed panne, the sleeves are a glimmering spring green netting). Here are my options, I can cut the sleeves out WITH the grain of the fabric and cut two pieces, front and back. This then leaves a seam running down the shoulder and top of sleeves. OR I can cut the sleeves out in ONE piece running AGAINST the grain of the fabric. This means no seam, but the sleeves don't drape as nicely. (The fabric isn't wide enough to cut the sleeve in one piece running with the grain.) Thoughts?

1. i think i hate sewing.
2. I cut *against* the grain, despite everyone who knew better telling me not too.
3. I am dreadfully, and for the first time ever in any sewing project, worried that this entire dress is going to be way too small when it's finished.

it's five till ten and i'm redesigning a dress pattern

most of my dress requires the use of cream colored thread, but parts require the use of a leaf green thread. over the past 24 hours, i have changed the thread in my machine more times than I can spit.

zippers are the spawn of satan. no wonder the amish shun them.

my bleepin zipper is bleepin backwards.

i ws going to leave it, but it looked terrible....it's an invisible zipper, so the invisible part wound up on the inside, and the outside was a bunch of ugly zipper. Look like I was turning into the abomination.

I just found a Ghiradelli "Intense Dark: Midnight Reverie" bar in my fridge. Got dark chocolate and a seam ripper. My evening is looking up.

you know, elmers glue-all fries clear, and i am good at paper mache. surely theres some sewing application in there....

Zipper attempt number three. The only thing holding my sanity together (by a thread--ha ha), is that my mom used the seam ripper and carefully removed the zipper for me both times.

Ok---I'm hemming!!!

You all know I'm time challenged. Let's pretend I just put dough in the bread machine to make cinnamon rolls for tomorrow, and then realized that the dough will be ready to come out of the bread machine just as we need to leave for the Avenger's movie. Can I put the dough in the fridge? Should I just let it sit on the counter? I won't be able to roll it out and bake it till we get home.

Dress picture...as promised! After all that worry about it being too small, it wound up being a bit too big, but I didn't have time to take it in to get a perfect fit :(

it's 10:15. I'm too tired to do anything productive, but am waiting on bedtime till Susan and Ed are finished picking out their convention schedule. all i've sat here and done is click "like" on several status updates. i feel old. I should go play a game of solitaire next.

I'm too tired to do much of anything....except apparently look over the curriculum we'll be using next school year in eager anticipation! Here's a question, some of the curriculum we will be using is designed for a five day school week. We have a four day week at home, because Monday is a co-op day. I don't want to cut out a day of lessons every week, and I don't want to have one day of double-long lessons, AND I don't want to do just make up those co-op days earlier or later in the school year....because that drags our school year out WAY too much. Essentially, I want to have my cake and eat it too! How can I make that happen?

printed and am filling in the summer schedule. I've been told, in no uncertain terms, that our summer break has only 65 days....not the requisite 104 days of summer vacation!

What I learned tonight at Tae Kwon Do:
"Duck and cower" does not count as a trained combat reflex.

I have just unleashed a boy with a butterfly net upon the innocent and unsuspecting nature in the back yard. Forgive me, nature.

Tonight at Tae Kwon Do, I kicked the polish right off my toes!

Things Mothers of Boys Say....

It's funny, because it's true....

Random collection of the things I have found myself saying over the past few weeks.

• "Come get this head out from underneath the kitchen table."

• "The tree branch is not coming in the house." 

• "What did my couch ever do to you?"

• "I want all the body parts in the hallway picked up and taken back to your room."

• "Look out for the mud! Loo--- Take your shoes off before you get back in the van."

• "Will you please rescue the skeleton trapped underneath the kitchen sink?"

• "Tell me that the hamster made it back into the cage safely."

• "Drop and give me twenty."

• "Watch your fingers! Watch your fingers! Watchyourfingersfingersfingers----- Do you want me to get  some ice for your fingers?"

• "Do NOT put that down your sister's shirt."

• "Can the ice pirate come out of the freezer now?"

• "Do I need to call your father?"

• "Go SCRUB your hands...with SOAP!!!"

• "So help me, if you ask me what's for dinner one more time..."

• "Yes, you can sleep in your fort."

• "You made that? By yourself? That's incredible!"

• "You did an amazing job!"

• "Way to stick with it!"

• "You are so creative."

• "You are so thoughtful."

• "I'm so proud of what a gentleman you are becoming."

• "Thank you for sticking up for your friend. His mother told me that it really meant a lot to him."

• "You did the right thing and I'm proud of you."

Teacher Appreciation Day!

The Jedi left instructions for the children to complete a secret project today. Here is what I was just presented with:

Mommy: 

Thank you for being such a good teacher! I really like working with you. You make me smile, even if I try to pretend that you don’t. Even when you sing to me, it makes me laugh. I couldn’t imagine having a better teacher than you.

I also like you being my Mommy. You take good care of me, and always know how to make me feel happy. You feed me every day and snuggle me a lot. 

 You are an amazing teacher and an amazing Mommy and I love you very much. 

And---

TERRIFIC 

EATS CHOCOLATE 

AWESOME 

CARING 

HELPFUL 

EATS LITTLE BOYS 

RANDOM

I love my family so much!!! This has made my day!

Summer Bucket List 2012

It's that time again. Time to go out and GRAB US SOME SUMMER!!

At the beginning of each summer, the kids and I sit down and brainstorm a summer bucket list.  

The rules for the brainstorming sessions usually are that we take turns, each of us writing down an idea of something to do, to see, to visit, to make over the summer. No one is allowed to nay-say, whine, grumble, or otherwise complain about anyone else's idea. Plus, anything goes when we are making the list. One year we had "visit China" on the list. (We went to a Chinese restaurant, did a Chinese art project, and, completely unplanned and unexpected, one of the Jedi's co-workers gave us a souvenir from China.)

Now, we usually aren't able to do everything on the list, but it's there, and we try to do at least one thing each week.

This summer, we broke our own rules a little bit. We made the list in the car on the way home from an outing with Tia Smurf. Tia Smurf was writing things down, and I was driving, and we failed to take turns like we usually do. The result is a list that's pretty art heavy, cause Smurf and I were sitting in the front seat. But, we had the list hanging on the fridge for at least a couple of weeks, and items were added on as kids thought of them, so I'm hopeful that everyone still got their share of wishes on the bucket list.

• Wednesdays on the Green @ CCAC---Free concerts and other fun activities. The kickoff is June 6th at 7pm featuring the Comet Bluegrass Allstars. My children need to hear Bluegrass :)

• Choir Game Pigs---That's right, baby! The pigs are back! We're totally going to take a day to go see them!

•  World Choir Games--Maybe as volunteers, maybe as buying tickets. But this is awesome and epic, and we need to see some of it!

• Art for All-- To celebrate it's 80th anniversary, the Taft Museum is displaying its works in 80 locations across Cincinnati. That's like a giant art scavenger hunt

• Artworks Murals--There's a huge list of Artworks Murals, a huge list! We aren't going to have the stamina to see them all, but I'd like to take camera and sketchbook and go see some of them. And maybe then paint our own on the back of the garage!

• Cincinnati Roller Girls Game--I've never seen a roller derby game, but I'm super impressed and in awe of the women and girls who compete in this sport. I think Sweetling and Toa will be as well!

•  Cincinnati Zoo-- This one is always a winner! The trick is to hit the zoo when they aren't too crowded and it isn't too hot! I wish I could say I have a perfect solution to that connundrum, but I don't. I think we'll try for a week day on the second week of June and just cross our fingers and hope for the best. On the other hand, if we go the last week of May, we'll be in time for Zoo Babies!

• Frisbee Golf-- ok, ok, technically the sport is not officially called 'frisbee golf'. But whatever you call it, there are several great courses around Cincinnati.

• Human Hamster Balls @ Newport on the Levee--  This is a bucket list item from last summer that never quite got realized (I'm blaming the busted ATM machine on the levee and a ridiculous cash only attraction. Really, who carries cash?) At any rate, it's a must-do item for this year.

• Rubber Duck Regatta -- In September, Cincinnati hosts the biggest rubber duck race ever. Check out these quick facts about the race. Toa of Boy really wants to sponsor a duck in the race!

Ok, click here and pretend these words are actually a very cool embedded video of last year's duck race.

• Cardboard Boat Regatta -- Because why confine ourselves to ducks only? Of course, we'll probably just spectate the race in the park....and then build and launch our own boats in some other location. Oh yes, yes we will!

• Sebastian's -- My children do not know what a gyro is. This must be rectified.

• Tour of Hamilton County Parks -- We hit the ones near us over and over and over again through the year. This summer, I want to visit one NEW park each week. We'll post about what we find.

• Miniature Golf-- It's not just golf in miniature. It's miniature golf. (Though, I'm not sure if Toa of Boy wanted to go play miniature golf somewhere or make his own miniature golf course. I shall have to seek clarification.)

• Red Bag Sale at the Main Library-- $10 for a big red bag stuffed full of books? Oh yeah, we're there. (And if you'd like to be there too...this year's Red Bag Sale is on Friday, June 8th from 9am to 5pm. We park in the two hour spots on Court Street.)

• Nature Art-- I told you this year's list was art heavy. But check out this beautiful gallery of nature inspired art. We are totally going out and making some of our own designs.  

Two for Tuesday: Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

I first heard of this at the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention where I attended a workshop by The Money Saving Mom. She mentioned these as a great breakfast food (not everyday, of course!) and had a recipe on her site for these. She promised they were easy and delicious and she was right on both counts!

I followed her recipe almost exactly, with a few key changes. The following ingredients and directions reflect my changes. I tell you why I deviated, but you don't need to double anything. The recipe is already doubled for you, because I'm nice that way.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

Dough Ingredients:

•  3 Tbs oil (The original recipe calls for canola. I used vegetable cause it's what I had.)
• 1 cup  plus 2 Tbs warm milk
• 2 eggs (The original calls for 1 egg plus 2 egg whites. Like that was going to happen.)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp bread machine yeast

Filling Ingredients:

•  4 Tbs melted butter
• 1 and 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Icing Ingredients:

• 4 Tbs softened butter
• 2 tsp milk
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1.  Put all ingredients in bread machine in order listed. 
2. Run the bread machine on its 'dough' setting.
3. Three options are now open to you. I won't tell you which path I took.
• PATH A: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and proceed to step 4.
• PATH B: Turn the dough out into a bowl with a lid and put in the fridge until you can roll it out.
• PATH C: Be so excited about going to see the new Avengers movie that you totally forget about the dough in the dough machine so that it sits and has a nice extended rise time in the pan while you are watching some of the world's greatest superheros save the planet from Loki and his army.
4. Preheat your oven to 325. 
5. Roll your dough into a large rectangle. If, perchance, your dough sat in the machine longer than it should have, you might have to divide the dough and roll out one rectangle at a time. Just saying.
6. Brush your dough with melted butter. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of butter.
7. Roll the dough up and cut into sections about an inch to an inch and a half wide.
8. Place rolls in  two greased 9" cake pans. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes until browned. (Alternatively, you can place your rolls in the cake pans, cover and refrigerate overnight, and then bake them in the morning.)
9. While rolls are baking, mix the icing ingredients. Ice rolls while still very warm, but not while piping hot from the oven. 

I made these rolls as part of a breakfast buffet for out of town company, and they were a huge success! 

(The other dishes on the table were a bowl of cut cantaloupe and a double sized recipe of this breakfast casserole. I had made the bacon in the oven the night before. )

Wordless Wednesday

Two for Tuesday: Roasted Vegetables and Marinated Steaks

Mmmmmm.....Roasted Veggies

My dear friend Christopher Robin made these for me for lunch on Thursday. In gratitude, I dragged her to the mall to look at jewelry to accessorize an outfit. (Well, not dragged, per se, since she towers over me, but mall shopping and accessorizing isn't her favorite thing.) See what I good friend I am?

Ingredients 

• 1 small butternut squash, cubed
• 1/2 red and 1/2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 3 red potatoes, cubed
 • 1/2 red onion, quartered
• 1 package of mushrooms, quartered
• 3 heads of broccoli, cut into spears
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

 Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F

 2. In a large bowl, combine the squash, sweet potato, and red potatoes. Separate the red onion quarters into pieces, and add half of them to the mixture.

3. In another bowl, combine the peppers, mushrooms, broccoli and the rest of the onion.

4. In a small bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. split in half and Toss with each bowl of vegetables until they are coated.

5. cover a large roasting pan with foil and spray it with pam. Pull of a piece of foil that could cover half the pan. 6. take the potato mix and spread evenly on half of the pan then, put the foil on top.

7. Roast for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes.

8. Add the other vegetables and move the foil to cover them. Roast for about another 20 min, stirring every 10. 

They were so good, I could not stop eating them!

Luckily, Christopher Robin didn't hold the shopping excursion against me and sent me home with the leftover veggies. I saved them and ate them as a side dish on the Jedi's birthday when I made...

Ta Da!

Marinated Rib-Eye Steaks

I found several recipes for a marinade, but I didn't have all the ingredients for any of them. So, I substituted without any rhyme or reason. Here's the recipe I started from. Here is what, I think, I made:

 Ingredients

•  1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbs low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbs bbq sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• some crushed dried basil (yeah, I was crushing from whole dried basil leaves so I didn't measure
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 3 or 4 steaks (6 oz says the original recipe.)

Directions

1.  Put everything, except the steaks, in a bowl and stir.
2. Place the steaks in a non-reactive dish. (The original recipe says to pierce them on both sides first. I forgot that step. I leave you to decide whether or not to pierce your steaks.)
3. Pour the marinade over the steaks, flip and coat both sides.
4. Allow to marinade in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours. (Again, the original says to flip them halfway through. Do you think my steaks got flipped? They did not. I wasn't even home.)
5. Now, I don't have a grill. I have a smoker. Its a totally different piece of equipment. I cooked mine under a gas flame broiler. I used the drip pan (one with an upper pan with holes in it and a lower drip tray) and set the pan at the medium height. I broiled them for maybe 8 to 10 minutes on one side, flipped them, and broiled them for maybe 5 to 8 minutes on the other side. I didn't set a timer, so those are big maybes. 

They were delicious. This alleged thing called a grocery budget not withstanding, I think I need to have steak once a month. 

(In case you were wondering, I made baked potatoes and corn as a side dish for those unenlightened in my family who won't go for the roasted veggies. And I had homemade wheat bread on hand. I marinated three of our 6 steaks, in case my marinade was crap. I used a store bought steak rub on the other three. All of them turned out beautifully.)


And having had so much baking success recently (this is sarcasm, by the way), I'm tempted to try making my own English muffins. Still looking for an easy recipe. So far, this might be the best I've found. I'm going to follow the variation described in the second comment.