Monthly Archives: September 2012

menu plan Monday, Music, On the Road

Because I still love rock and roll

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What does Wilco have to do with my meal plan? Stick with me. We’ll get there.

I never thought I’d be the kind of girl who’d cash in all of her husband’s frequent flier miles to go half way across country for a musician. Turns out I was wrong about that.

Rockford and I were both psyched (yes: psyched) when we saw that my very favorite group, Wilco, was going to be playing an outdoor show in Columbia, Missouri, this year. We lived in Columbia for five years, and we made a lot of great memories there. Not the least of which were the four Wilco shows we saw there. So we bought tickets, booked flights and on Sunday we got up before 6am and were in CoMo by lunchtime. Which was lovely timing, because it meant we got to have lunch at Shakespeare’s Pizza with our friends B and Rachel. After lunch we went back to our hotel — also paid for with loyalty points! — for a nap before going downtown to wander.

I’d decided that as a responsible grown-up, I would be just fine if we weren’t directly in front of the state at this show. The front of the stage is for hip youngsters, not stodgy homeschooling moms. I would be fine near the back, where it’s less crowded and your ears don’t ring quiet as much after the show. And then we got downtown, and Wilco was doing their soundcheck, and we watched it from directly in front of the stage, and it washed away all of that responsible-grown-up business. As soon as the soundcheck ended I joined the other 10-or-so people who lined up at the gate to get a shot at the front row.

This was our 15th Wilco concert, and I’d rank it in my Top Five Favorite Concerts. It was worth the flight, all the points and sitting on the sidewalk for an hour.

However: All that jetsetting does not put dinner on the table. Nor does it plan dinner, which is why Tuesday morning found me still puzzling over just what we’d be eating this week. I’m afraid nothing on our menu this week is even a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, though.

Tuesday: Homemade Crunchwraps

We’ve tried this recipe once before, and it’s really tasty. I’m going to add some black beans.

Wednesday: Spaghetti & meatballs

This meal always raises the question: Will I actually make the meatballs? So suspenseful.

Thursday: Jambalaya

Zatarain’s was on sale for $1 a box this week.

Friday: Pizza

I’m still dreaming of the day I get a grill that’s up to the task of cooking a pizza. I stopped making my own pizzas because I got tired of setting off the smoke alarm every Friday night.
Homeschool

Our legion is known for its terrifying rainbow eagle

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Our Roman signum, complete with fierce beasts.

Between two minor league baseball games and a trip to the fair, we had three late nights this week. Three late nights turned into three leisurely mornings, which made me feel like we were running behind all week even though we really weren’t.

I’m hoping to get everyone to bed on time every day next week. Here’s a little of what we did this week, once we finally got out of our PJs and got to work.

History

We broke out “Story of the World Volume Two: The Middle Ages” this week. I was a little disappointed to find that we were still talking about the Romans, but the kids didn’t mind. Yesterday we read about the Roman signum, about which our “Story of the World” activity book says:

Each legion in the Roman Army had its own signum, or standard, that it carried into battle. … During the later part of the Roman Empire, most signa were decorated with ribbons, gold or silver eagles mounted at the top, and round metal disks. Each metal disk was carved with a picture of a fierce animal or a portrait of the emperor.

Poppy and Pete love doing crafts & activities, and I didn’t do many of the crafty things from the first volume. I’m going to make a greater effort to do more of the activities from this time around, and so yesterday we made our own signum out of an old wrapping paper tube, some cardboard, a little aluminum foil, some ribbon and a lot of glue. Poppy drew a bear shouting “Ya!” on her metal disk; Pete drew a sad monster with hair; and I drew a lion of which I’m rather proud.

Reading

Poppy has been enjoying the “Magic Tree House” series lately, and she was very disappointed last week to find that the fifth volume — “Night of the Ninjas” — was temporarily out of circulation at the library. It was back when Pete and I went during Poppy’s ballet class, though, so we snagged it and the next four books in the series for her. She finished “Ninjas” yesterday afternoon and then devoured “Afternoon on the Amazon” and “Sunset of the Sabertooth” last night.

We’ve been reading “Anne of Green Gables” at bedtime, which means we haven’t read as much of it this week as usual. We skip the bedtime reading when bedtime doesn’t happen until after 10pm. (The children don’t like this rule.)

Pete really wants to move on to the next Bob book, but he’s still having trouble with “Dot and the Dog.” He’s getting his Bs and Ds mixed up, and then he gets frustrated and wants to quit. I welcome any and all suggestions on how to deal with the B/D thing!

Math

Most of Pete’s math lessons have included some practice writing his numbers. That’s by far his least favorite part of math, so imagine my surprise when he wrote numbers 1 to 23 on some drawing paper the other day and presented it to me. I’d planned to scan it and post it here, so of course he decided to scribble all over it once he’d finished. I guess he doesn’t want proof that he’s learning to fall into the wrong hands.

Pete’s math lessons this week also included a board game called Number Raceway, which was a big hit. I played one round with Poppy and Pete, and they played for another 20 minutes after I left to do laundry.

In PoppyMath news, she did a lot of work with counting coins this week. I’d like to get some play money to use, but for now I’m just dumping out the piggy bank when she needs some coins.

Extra credit

  • Our co-op started back up this week. Poppy is taking “Story of the World”-based class on the Middle Ages and a performing arts class, and Pete is taking a Dinosaurs class and a Clay Exploration class. I’m assisting in the clay and Middle Ages classes.
  • Poppy actually practiced on the keyboard this week and did the homework her piano teacher had assigned. I think this is the first time that’s happened.
  • In addition to her regular ballet class, Poppy started a second class to rehearse for “The Nutcracker.” It’s the same day as her regular class, so I was thinking she’d be completely exhausted by the end of the day. Not so. Children are made of energy.
  • Poppy had her first soccer game of the season last Saturday, and Pete’s first-ever game is tomorrow. I’m very much looking forward to seeing him play.
Social Media

On house and homes and health

Things that caught my eye and/or heart this week

The Little White House Up on the Hill from The Redneck Mommy. It’s a bittersweet story, and Tanis tells it so nicely. And that photo at the end is just so sad and lovely.

At the top of the shag-covered stairs, there was a stray bullet hole from a rogue hunter’s rifle. Every time I passed by it I was tempted to trace the circular outline with my fingertips and I’d shudder with the weight of my own mortality.

Bugged from An Entirely Other Day. A real-life interaction with our health-care system.

The PPACA is important. It’s vital. When a bug can bring down your family, when there are people who are willing to take away the shield that could prevent that, when we as a country have become so small and stingy and mean that we cheer the idea of ripping medical care away from fellow citizens, offering nothing in its place but sanctimony and self-righteousness… What are we? We’re not a country. We’re not a community. Oh, no.

We’re a zero-sum game. We’re the state of nature. We’re animals, gobbling down as much as we can, as fast as we can, swatting away the weak.

Simplicity and Our Home at the End of the Street from Moosh in Indy. This one reminds me of one of my favorite poems, “The Yellow Bowl” by Rachel Contreni Flynn.

In my home my arms are never empty, there is always a warm body to hold, some of them bigger than others, a couple of them way more furry than the rest. I am never truly alone here.

PMS from Hogan Here. Yep.

Regular reads

I forgot until late last night to pull together a few links from my Google Reader to share with you, so we’re going with the least-textual of them.

The Big Picture is the Boston Globe’s photo blog, and they do a marvelous job highlighting interesting and moving photos that illustrate current events. I love their large-image format, and it functions for me as a jumping-off point for a lot of news stories.

Moment Junkie is a collection of wedding pictures submitted by photographers. I was not kidding when I told you that I love weddings. Some of their photos are just light-hearted, silly candid shots (see: “The Highest of Fives” and “The Armpits“) while others capture such gorgeous raw emotion and intensely private moments (see: “The Weeping” and “The Moving Father-Daughter Dance“).