I may not leave the house at all on Friday

We spent the weekend out of town for a soccer tournament, and we were gone for most of the day today for various kid activities. I am worn out, and I have no desire to make dinner tonight. Alas, we don’t have enough cereal to call that dinner, so the ground beef is currently browning for tonight’s tacos.

We have a lot on the schedule every day this week, and there isn’t going to be a chance for an Introversion Break until Friday. I’m going to be channeling Kit Ramsey a lot this week.

KIT

Monday: Tacos
The tacos are already nearly done, for what it’s worth.
Tuesday: McAlisters
It’s my week to drive to soccer. We’ll be hitting McAlisters for kids-eat-free night on the way home.

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner
I know a few weeks ago I said I was going to dedicate Wednesdays to making stuff from Pinterest, but I think I’ve only done it once since then. This week I have a co-op council meeting, and Rockford would rather make pancakes than something from Pinterest.

Thursday: Festival of Frozens
It’s a busy day, and there’s nothing like a frozen dinner to cap off a busy day.

Friday: Pizza

Still hungry? Check out OrgJunkie for more menu plans.

This week in homeschooling: We embark upon a lengthy project

Our regular learning activities haven’t varied all that much from the norm over the last few weeks. We’re reading “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,” and Pete is reading a Tom Swift book. Poppy is working on exponents in math, and Pete has joined a math club that meets once a month. We talked about crystals in science, and all of our experiments failed. (That part wasn’t very exciting.)

We did, however, add a few new things to our repertoire this week.

There are a ton of opportunities for hiking and exploring nature in our area. Because of some anxiety issues on my part — no bathrooms! bears! tickborne diseases! no bathrooms! — I haven’t done a terrific job taking advantage of that. I’m going to make an effort to change that, though, by planning a (maybe) weekly hike into our schedule.

This week the kids and I went for a short hike on some nearby national forest land. I couldn’t find the trail I’d intended for us to hike, and judging by the ruggedness of the path and the number of people on mountain bikes we saw (10) as compared to other people on foot (2), I’m pretty sure the one we ended up on was primarily a mountain-biking trail. But we crossed a small creek via a very small fallen tree, we stumbled upon a lake, and I was pretty much OK save for a small moment of panic.

Midway through our hike, Pete said: “You know, I’m actually enjoying this.” I actually did too, pal.

I'm thinking about adding a weekly hike to our #homeschool curriculum.

A photo posted by Nichole (@nicholebutterscotch) on

On Tuesday my friend Robin shared on instagram that she was going to participate in Elle Luna’s 100-day project. Robin is an artist, so it makes sense that she would sign on to create some sort of art every day for 100 days. I am not an artist, but I do have a couple of kids who love to do art projects. And so I decided that the for the next 100 days, the kids and I would do an art project.

Perhaps it wasn’t wise to decide on a whim to do something for 100 days in a row, but so far Poppy, Pete and I have had fun with our projects. Here’s what we’ve done thus far:

We used tissue paper and water to create today's #100artsydayswiththebutterscotchsundaekids works. #the100dayproject

A photo posted by Nichole (@nicholebutterscotch) on

Looking for more homeschooling stories? Check out the weekly wrap-up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

The time I spent the day at the Mother Earth News Fair

At the Mother Earth News FairSaturday was a frigid, blustery day, and I spent most of it outside at the Mother Earth News Fair. My mom had wanted to go, so I bought passes for us a few months ago. But Saturday morning rolled around and she wasn’t feeling well, so I recruited my friend Carrie to go with me instead. She’s a good sport.

I went in to the day thinking that the Mother Earth News Fair was pretty much a hippie festival. It turns out it’s more about homesteading and farming, both of which I believe hippies are into. So I guess I was partially correct.

prepperBut the fair was about other things, too. Like mead, wood-fired ovens, and “prepping.”

Lots and lots of prepping.

I have mixed feelings about the prepping movement. On one hand, I would like to be prepared for a natural disaster or something that would knock power out for awhile, etc. On the other hand, I’ve read a lot of dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction, and I’m not keen on living in a society where I’d have to get into a knife fight over a piece of beef jerky or a shoelace. So it might be best for me if I stay unprepared for that sort of scenario, so I meet my demise swiftly after the doomsday event.

Anywho.

I only went to a few of the presentations, and I wasn’t overly impressed with them. There were a lot to choose from, though, so maybe I just picked a few duds. The expo area was pretty fun to explore, though, and I tried a number of new things there. Such as:
– I patted a tiny goat.
– I tasted five varieties of hickory syrup, which until Saturday I didn’t know existed.
– I tried several flavors of hemp soda and didn’t care for any of them.

I did not pat the bunny.
The goat was very soft. I did not pat the bunny.

I bought a jar of sweet and spicy pickles from GR Picklers. They are delicious and so spicy that I can only eat one little pickle chip at a time. Speaking of spicy, I also bought a jar of Fire Cider. It’s apple cider vinegar with a touch of habanero and horseradish, among other things. It tastes terrible. I bought it for Rockford’s dad, who takes apple cider vinegar every day and loves horrifically spicy things. I haven’t gotten a report back from him on his opinion of it yet.

Other cool things I saw at the fair:

This wreath was made from succulents, and it was lovely and oddly soothing to gaze upon. It was also $70, which is why I did not bring it home with me.

Hand-forged garden tools from Homestead Iron.

The hand-forged garden tools from Homestead Iron in Missouri were so beautiful that I don’t know if I’d be able to put them in the dirt. They looked very sturdy, and they come with a lifetime guarantee. I was very, very tempted to buy one, but I didn’t because I was low on funds and I don’t do much gardening. Carrie bought a trowel, though. I look forward to finding out how much she loves it and then buying one of my own from their website.

The King Arthur Flour truck

I don’t normally make a practice of accepting free cookies from people in trucks, but I made an exception for the King Arthur Flour people. The King Arthur Flour truck is ridiculously cute, with a big red spatula on the top and a rolling pin bumper on the front. They were matching donations made to the local food bank, so I left some money and took two cookies and a recipe for their chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Other than the Arctic winds, it was a nice way to spend a Saturday. I’m not sure I’d buy a pass for the full weekend again — we didn’t go back on Sunday — but I’d like to go again next year just for the expo.