Monday, December 31, 2012

Year in Review

Year in Review...
Here's what you do!

(Oh the cleverness of me.)

Post the first sentence of each blog post for each month of the past year.

And/Or...

Post the first Facebook status update for each month of the past year.

Play along! Make your own list!

Blog Posts:

January: Every year, I promise myself I WILL NOT make any New Year's Resolutions.

February: Confession time--this is actually from a few weeks ago.

March: Mmmmmmm.....Chili.

April: Toa of Boy has claimed (again) the space behind the corner chair in the living room as his fort.

May: Mmmmmm.....Roasted Veggies

June: This post is progressing without much input from the birthday boy.

July: Even though I am *not* an organized person...there are few things I love more at the start of a new school year than putting together a lovely color coded schedule.

August:  In keeping with her own goal of becoming a professional writer, this year Sweetling made an in-depth exploration of the genre of script and screen writing.

September: There are no pictures.

October: The downside to being a certified Kansas City Barbeque Society judge is that the last time I made what used to be a favorite "bbq pulled pork" in the crock pot, I was completely disgusted at how soggy, mushy, and bland the whole thing turned out.

November: I had all the photos taken to include in a post about how much we like our new math curriculum.

December: Let me start today off with the BEST BROWNIE RECIPE EVER.

Facebook:

January:
ok, I don't often post about football, but that was clearly a pass interference. If you pull the guy's shirt half off, it's pretty blatant. where are the refs now?

February: 
yesterday's quotes:
Geometry--"A 'square rooty guy'? Really, Mommy?"
Toa--"No! Don't clip my toenails! I want to be a vampire-bear!"
Tae Kwon Do--"Wait! I need my leg!"


March--
(no updates--gave up Facebook for Lent)

April--
I'm breaking my Facebook fast with a request for help. I just got a phone call asking for clothes for a little girl, size 6, who's family lost most of their possessions during an eviction process. If you should have any girl clothes size 6 that you could pass on, could you please be in touch with me? I'll hop back on Facebook to check PMs and replies to this message. Thank you!

May--
 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?
  
June--
Pre-seven this morning found me outside in the pouring rain, huddled under a gulf umbrella, scooping water out of the frog tank because both their large rocks were completely submerged and I didn't want them to drown!

July--
 I love technology! I can stalk my daughter across the country!

August--
Ok the two day fast from Facebook was totally worth it to watch the US women take gold!!!!

September--
 Life in a nerd home:
3 day holiday weekend is spent watching Lord of the Rings, playing a tabletop rpg, and buying and playing Zombie Flux.


October--
 Saturday night's Dr Who did not record. Much sadness.

November--
I come home with bruises from king of the ring. Sadly, they are not the marks of victory.

December--
Quote from today's Dr. Who game: "Last one there doesn't get the porridge!" 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Quotes from a Boy Play Date

This was some of the equipment brought into my house for a boy playdate:
1 two-foot T-Rex; 1 two-foot dragon, and two huge transformers.


All three of us females are spending the day hiding in our rooms. Within minutes of boys arrival, I hear the cry, "Get the troll!" Woe unto you, O troll. Your doom is at hand.


I'm just jotting down some of the things I've heard through the day. Of course, at good half of the, um, dialogue, involves war cries, sound effects, and battle noises. Those don't translate into the written word well.

"Oh! My weiner!"

"I got hit where no one should ever get hit."

"We were trapped in a pretzel because the boy on top had part of him trapped on the bottom."

"Was that you who licked my feet?"

"We need some protein."

"We had silly putty and it got stuck on our couch for a long time, but then our dog finally got it off."

"Peace, love, and zombies." 

"Remember Burp Friday?"

"I'm protecting you! I'm protecting you!"

"Where's his head?"

"Here's the leader."

"No, the dinosaurs can't attack yet."

"But he has no head." 

"Dude, I know how to make cannons out of Lincoln Logs."

"This could be the town's protector."

"Don't destroy the town 'till your mom gets a picture of it."

"Ah! He's undefeated!"

"I'm alive! I'm alive! No! I'm a ghost!"

"Next comes the spinning wheel of death."

"Fight like a man!"

"Whoever loses, the winner gets to give him a wedgie."

"C'mon! Just one of you guys say 'uncle'."

"This is a dungeon....a level one dungeon."



Monday, December 17, 2012

Twelve Somethings of Co-Op

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....A Party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Six weeks of vacation,
FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Seven forgotten jackets,
six weeks of vacation,
FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Eight days till Christmas,
seven forgotten jackets,
six weeks of vacation,
FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Nine plates of cookies,
eight days till Christmas,
seven forgotten jackets,
six weeks of vacation,
FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!

O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Ten teacher presents,
nine plates of cookies,
eight days till Christmas,
seven forgotten jackets,
six weeks of vacation,
FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!


O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Eleven billion raindrops,
ten teacher presents,
nine plates of cookies,
eight days till Christmas,
seven forgotten jackets,
six weeks of vacation,
FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!



O We're halfway through co-op and t'day there's gonna be....

.....Twelve Praise Team dancers,
eleven billion raindrops,
ten teacher presents,
nine plates of cookies,
eight days till Christmas,
seven forgotten jackets,
six weeks of vacation,
FIVE TRIPS TO TARGET!!!!
four caroling classes,
three great soups,
two awesome leaders,
and a  party at the Learning Tree!




Friday, December 14, 2012

Friday Fast Five

Five quick thoughts...

1

We're on our way to see The Hobbit at 10:25 this morning. We've had the Lord of the Rings sound track playing during breakfast.

2

Facebook won't work on my kitchen laptop all of a sudden. It will let me view Facebook, but not post an update, comment on someone else's update, or even like a status. Let me tell you how far down the Jedi's priority list this issue is. Let me tell you how s.o.l. that leaves me.

3

There is currently a lego platypus and a lego starfighter and a lego undead creature sitting under my Christmas tree. This year is Toa of Boy's year to dictate the decorations for the tree. Our tree is exclusively covered in white lights and family-constructed lego ornaments. Pics to follow.

4

Last night I traced, cut out, and glued 90 foam numbers to 90 small plastic plates. Today I have 30 more numbers to do and then 270 little round stickers to put on plates. Then I can assemble my preschool activity bags.

5

Homemade Cincinnati style chili for dinner tonight.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: Unicorn Logic

Last spring, at the Midwest Homeschool Convention, Sweetling decided she wanted to learn formal logic. We checked out this awesome series from Memoria Press.

I came home and told the Jedi we were planning on including logic is Sweetling's curriculum for the upcoming school year.

The Jedi, wisely, asked, "Who's going to teach logic?"

I replied that we had found this great curriculum. We were going to order the books, and then read and work through them together.

The Jedi, even more wisely, said, "Ah."

The books came. They are well written and each chapter is followed by lesson plans for which sections to read on which day as well as review and comprehension questions for each section.

We dug in.

Sweetling is doing great. She understands the material readily and is able to answer all the questions with no trouble.

Mommy is struggling. Mommy reads a section and gets confused. Mommy tries using hand gestures to make sense of the sections.

Each day, Sweetling asks me if I understand what I'm reading. I answer by singing a happy song. This is Sweetling's cue that the lesson is quickly going south. Sweetling then re-explains the section using examples often involving unicorns.

I understand unicorns. Unicorns are my friends.

On days that are particularly challenging, Sweelting brings me my Webkinz unicorn and pegasus so that I can cling to my tangible representatives of my fantasy world while I wrestle my way through formal logic.

On days when I grasp the material the first time round, she brings me a large stuffed blue bunny to hold as a reward. I call that the Blue Bunny Award for Effort. I like receiving the blue bunny award.

Often the section review exercises prompt the learner to write their own examples of various types of statements. This is both Sweetling and my favorite part of the logic lessons.

Here are our samples by section. (Because I love them and want to be able to re-read them later.)

Statements (propositions....whatever the proper term is. I don't remember, Sweetling isn't here to ask, and I don't have the book with me.)

Sweetling:
Mommy is funny.
Milk is delicious.
The TARDIS is bigger on the inside.

Mommy:
I am a fairy princess.
Squirrels are good minions.
Ducky Mo-Mo is oblivious to his surroundings.

Not propositions:

Sweetling:
Hey, where's Perry?
Don't blink!
Nang nang nang nang....
Curse you, Perry the Platypus!

Mommy:
Avengers, assemble!
That's it? That's your tragic backstory?
Fish sticks and custard.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?

Affirmative propositions:

Sweetling:
Ferb is British.
Some days are Saturdays.
Phineas's head is a triangle.
Everything's better with Perry.
Some birds are penguins.

Mommy:
Some pens are green.
All chocolate is Mommy's.
Some unicorns are on Saturn.
All bunnies are adorable.
Some squirrels are casing Mrs. Angie's house. (I play fast and loose with my copluas.)
All Pastor Andy's game nights are crazy.

Negative propositions:

Sweetling:
Perry is a not a cuperberra.
Sweetling is not food.
What we're doing isn't cooking at all.
I'm not exactly surprised.

Mommy:
Some leaves are not an autumn color.
Some schoolwork is not interesting.
No daleks are nice.
The statue of liberty is not a weeping angel.
No chores are exciting.
Some forest spirits are not small.

Universal propositions:

Sweetling:
All DVDs are discs.
No unicorns are living on Saturn.
All eagles are birds.
All oookas are tasty.
No kisses are zerburts.

Mommy:
All toes are piggies.
No chipmunks are evil.
All unicorns are real.
No rainbows are ugly.
All penguins like fish. (fast and loose copula)

Particular propositions:

Sweetling:
Some kisses are for Eswin.
Some hats are fedoras.
Some animals are platypuses.
Some blankets are not penguin blankets.
Some hugs are Mommy hugs.

Mommy:
Some toes are wiggly.
Some chipmunks are not in favor of hats.
Some unicorns like pepperoni pizza. (another fast and loose copula)
Some rainbows are not in the sky.
Some penguins are secret agents.

Contradictory propositions:

Sweetling:
No pairs of pigtails are connected. Some pairs of pigtails are connected.
All platypi are secret agents. Some platypi are not secret agents.
No whales are space whales. Some whales are space whales.
All lumas are Rebecca Schmorange. Some lumas are not Rebecca Schmorange.
No earthbenders are metalbenders. Some earthbenders are metalbenders.

Mommy:
All unicorns are loved by Mommy. Some unicorns are not loved by Mommy.
All fairy houses are built by children. Some fairy houses are not built by children.
All gnomes are garden gnomes. Some gnomes are not garden gnomes.
All chipmunks are awesome. Some chipmunks are not awesome.
All penguins should be snuggled. Some penguins should not be snuggled.
No Mommy's should be made to do logic. Some Mommy's should be made to do logic.

Contrary propositions:

Sweetling:
All oookas are for tickling. No oookas are for tickling.
All self-destruct buttons are necessary. No self-destruct buttons are necessary.
All Mommies are fairies. No Mommies are fairies.
All backstories are tragic. No backstories are tragic.
All random hand gestures are helpful. No random hand gestures are helpful.

Mommy:
All slipppers are fuzzy. No slippers are fuzzy.
Mommy is awesome. Mommy is not awesome.
No fairies are good at logic. All fairies are good at logic.
All hot chocolate is delicious. No hot chocolate is delicious.
Everything is fixed by kisses. Nothing is fixed by kisses.

Subcontrary propositions:

Sweetling:
Some vegetables are leeks. Some vegetables are not leeks.
Some otamatones are jumbo otamatones. Some otamatones are not jumbo otamatones.
Some Mokanas are black Mokanas. Some Mokanas are not black Mokanas.
Some towns are fun towns. Some towns are not fun towns.

Mommy:
Some otomatones are pink. Some otomatones are not pink.
Some Mikos are astrotroopers. Some Mikos are not astrotroopers.
Some bananas are for cereal. Some bananas are not for cereal.
Some music is from Zelda. Some music in not from Zelda.
Some oookas are pokemon trainers. Some oookas are not pokemon trainers.

Subalternate propositions:

Sweetling:
All troopers are astro troopers. Some troopers are astro troopers.
All pigtails are teal pigtails. Some pigtails are teal pigtails.
No platypi are platypi that do much. Some platypi are not platypi that do much.
All pigtails are connected. Some pigtails are connected.
No rides from outspace are "street legal." Some rides from outer space are not "street legal".

Mommy:
All your base are belong to us. Some bases are belong to us.
No Sweetlings like pink. Some Sweetlings like pink.
All timelords have two hearts. Some timelords have two hearts. (Sweetling complained again about my copula not being a form of '"to be". Sweetling doesn't get that Mommy is a rebel.)
All statues are weeping angels. Some statues are weeping angels.
No cosplay is bizarre. Some cosplay is not bizarre.


Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Two for Tuesday...mmmmm....brownies

Let me start today off with the BEST BROWNIE RECIPE EVER.

Do I have your attention?

Good.

'Cause these are the BEST BROWNIES EVER.

Best Brownies Ever


Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup cocoa
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
Heavenly Fudge Top Layer: (You must make this. Must.)
  • 3 tablespoons SOFTENED butter 
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
 Optional:
  • cute seasonal sprinkles, or, in the fall, reeces pieces candy. (I say in the fall cause the orange and yellow of the reeces pieces just says 'fall' to me.)
Directions:
  1. Put 3 tablespoons of butter out to soften. You'll use this for the fudge top layer. (Don't be a dork and try to soften it in the microwave. You know you're just going to melt it and that won't work. Be patient and let the butter soften for real.) 
  2. Preheat your oven to 350. 
  3. Grease and flour an 8 inch brownie pan. (By all that's holy, I can't keep typing. I want to go back and double everything in the recipe and tell you to grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan. That's what I've done every time I've made them. None of this self restraint crap of a dainty little brownie pan. OK, if you are taking these anywhere, go for broke and double the recipe. People will gobble them up and an 8x8 pan is just a tease. However, if you are just making this for the family and you yourself want to continue to fit in your jeans, leave the recipe as is. There will be NO RESISTING these brownies, so don't make a big pan and then come crying back to me when the whole pan is gone and you were the only one in the house.)
  4. Melt the 1/2 cup of butter in a large saucepan. 
  5. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. 
  6. Thoroughly mix in the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.
  7. Pour/spoon batter into your prepared pan, of whatever size you chose. I won't judge you.
  8. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. If the chocolate spirits smile on you, the brownies will not be overbaked or underbaked. 
  9. Combine the heavenly fudge frosting ingredients. (Butter, cocoa, honey, vanilla, powdered sugar). Spread over the brownies while they are still warm. (The fudge topping will be thick...as in unspreadably thick. Use your fingers if you need to mush it on like playdough. The warm brownies will make it pliable and it will smooth out. Promise.)
  10. If you're feeling especially festive, immediately sprinkle some candy or cake sprinkles or such over the top of the fudge layer.
  11. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting into them. Seriously. Otherwise they are goop. These are too good to be made into goop. Don't make me come after you for cutting into your brownies too soon.
And yes, this is just one recipe. But its SO GOOD I don't even need to put a second recipe up for today.