Mountain Mama was HOME ALONE this week! White Pine ventured off to Gettysburg and Washington DC with his Boy Scout troop, and Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir visited Grandpa and Nannie Lobster on the island. It took me all of 3 hours to start missing them. :sigh: But I made plans, stayed busy and enjoyed my extended "downtime".
I also spent time outside with the flock, letting them peck at the newly green grass and dig holes under the treehouse. But the "quackers" WOULD NOT stay put! I had to keep chasing them back into our yard. THE KICKER? They would watch me walk back to our driveway, chatter to each other, then high-tail it back to the brook on the other side of the road! Anyway, here's a photo of our newest hen, Ava, who lays little white eggs. I believe she is a Wheaten Ameraucana mix. She's a bit disheveled looking as she was a favorite of a roo. :wink:
I'm Cooking
Knowing there wouldn't be much cookin' in the kitchen this week, I created some pretty layered Salads-in-a-Jar for dinners. Have you seen these are Pinterest? Each Bell jar was filled with 2T Annie's Goddess dressing, 1/3 c sliced carrots, 1/3 c sweet peas, 2 oz prepackaged roasted chicken, 1/4 c dried cranberries, 1/4 c coarsely chopped natural almonds, 1 large diced hard-boiled egg, 1/3 c sliced and peeled cucumber, and 1 cup of shredded Romaine. According to My Fitness Pal recipe counter, these were a filling 500 calories with 44g carbs, 25g fat, 27g protein, 15g iron, and 895g sodium. Next time I'm roasting boneless skinless chicken to decrease the sodium, but I'm happy with the other numbers.
In Our Homeschool This Week
I spent time catching up on the saplings portfolios, organizing papers and projects, and planned for our final 7 weeks of Year #9. White Pine will research and write his very first 10 page+ paper, continuing on with Algebra, Biology and World and US History. Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir will continue to work on Math and Story of the World with independent unit studies on Alaska and gardening.
I put together a couple of cute little gardening journals and printed out some state study lapbook mini books from Homeschool Helper Online (free), Currclick (fee) and Primary Graffiti (free). These books will help us to learn about and record our independent studies along with a pile of books from the library and movies from Netflix.
Helpful Homeschooling Tip
And I printed out FREE mazes from KrazyDad for Balsam Fir. (Jessica Lynette shared the link on her wrap-up last week.) Mazes are a WONDERFUL way for kids with visual tracking issues to exercise their eyes. I slipped the pages into a page protector and he'll solve them with wet-erase markers so they can be solved over and over. You should check out the Super Tough Mazes. WHOA!
But otherwise I watched a lot of "chick flicks" borrowed from the library, "Switched at Birth" (season 2) on Netflix, read HUNDREDS of pages of Debbie Macomber swaying in the hammock, and hardly cooked a thing. I went out to breakfast and shopped with a friend. I don't think I've done that in 10 years? SERIOUSLY! And continued on with my major household declutter which, after 2 months, is pretty much complete. Phew!
A Photo, Link, Video, or Quote to Share
As always, linking up to these WONDERFUL blog hops!
I completely know what you are talking about. My kids were away for two weeks and I was missing them. I just get lonely I guess. My routine is so filled with them that when they are gone, I don't know what to do.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great week for you to recharge! I saw those salads on Pinterest and wondered if it was too good to be true. lol What did you think of them?
ReplyDeleteAwesome to make ahead and eat throughout the week for quick, healthy lunches or dinners! (Especially when you're home alone and not up for cooking much. LOL) The Annie's dressing was new and I didn't care for it so I would choose something different next time...and prepared chicken needs to be replaced with a lower sodium version...but otherwise - good! And they can be prepared differently each time!
DeleteSo glad you had some time to recharge by yourself! We ALL need those times, even though we miss the kids while they are gone. Dawson had a visual tracking deficiency when he was young, too. He did HUNDREDS of dot-to-dots.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand ;) When my kiddo goes away for the week to spend with grandparents it is hard... I miss him ;) So glad you got some recharging time and know you can't wait till the kiddos are back. Those mazes are tough looking!!!
ReplyDeleteAt first, I will admit time alone to catch up and get organized is something I can only dream about - however on the flip side..would miss them after a few hours..lol... I get it! Love that you got so much done and those salads - HUZZAH! They look awesome! Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Homeschool Helper Online resource! I'd never seen that one before and just went and browsed. Lots of great resources!
ReplyDeletehttp://fearfultofearlessblog.com/
Your salads look amazing! I can't remember the last time I had time alone, but I LOVE the reading in the hammock idea.
ReplyDeleteGood to know ~ Walk yourself out of a bad mood. The salads in a jar look so good! What a perfect picnic idea. I am glad you had a week to yourself. YOu made great use of your time. I hope you feel more filled up and blessed by your rest.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, dawn
I bet it was different to be home by yourself! Looks like you were able to fit in some work and play, so sounds like it was a productive week :)
ReplyDeleteAva is a cutie!
Thanks for sharing your mazes links I'm going to check them out for sure.
ReplyDeleteHome Alone!! What on earth did you do with yourself? Did you wander around like a lost puppy wondering why there was no one behind you yelling " mom, mom, mom, mom,!" I bet it as so quite.
I love those salads in a jar from pinterest I have been eating them a lot lately.
I am going to show my wife the salad in a jar idea. I certainly have enough of those jars around. I want to do more salads this summer. My daughter has discovered that green leafy things are edible. Now the only one is my youngest. I still have the problem of toppings. My wife won't eat nuts, No cheese on my daughters... Easily solved by putting it all in bowls and letting them assemble. I thing spinach salad with teriaki chicken on top needs to go on the menu soon.
ReplyDeleteWow. I am totally jealous. Lucky you! I would say this was a well-deserved break.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to look up these Salad-in-a-Jar things. Yum!!!
Thanks for linking!
A week alone, I'd love it and be lonely at the same time too. I love my Saturday mornings when my husband takes Amber to her classes, but sometimes even that seems a bit longer than I'd like. But time to catch up on my DVR and other movies just waiting for me would be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThe salad-in-a-jar looks great, but how does the lettuce do over time? Just curious because I'm picky about my lettuce.
Have a good weekend!
My youngest son is TOTALLY into salads and thinks my jarred ones are really cool...so he opened one of the remaining ones last night for dinner after almost a week in the fridge. It was fine! (He didn't care for my choice of dressing either so didn't eat that part.)
DeleteI'd probably make to enjoying the first 6 hours, but then I'd be missing my kids. I like that salad idea; might work well for my husband taking salads to work.
ReplyDeleteThe salad in a jar is SUCH a neat idea! I know I would enjoy a salad more if it were prepared ahead of time--I'm not a fan of chopping things just before I eat, LOL!
ReplyDeleteI did see those on Pinterest. Let me know how long they last. I'm a canner, so I have tons of jars.
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing this week was for you! So fun and meaningful to get organized and do "for you".
Thanks for the links. This mom-teacher loves a great learning link.
Blessings,
Emily