Jupiter!

Wow! We went out to look at Jupiter tonight, and it is amazing. We could see 3, maybe 4 moons with only binoculars. I want to find a telescope to see more - like the famous red spot, or other moons. I learned that Jupiter has at least 63 moons, some of which may simply be asteroids that got too close to the gravitational pull of Jupiter. We read by flash light our school book with our famliy friends after taking turns gazing through the binoculars. I still can't believe we could see so many moons. We hope to see it through a large telescope soon, maybe at a nearby college, or science center.

Word of the Day: yelly

This is a term that my darling daughters have invented. I suppose you might need a definition.

yelly /yel' ee/ adj : to express one's self in a manner that is unfriendly, and/or loud, usually in frustration or anger

I am accused of being yelly more often than I would like. Most of the time I can keep my cool, but if I haven't eaten when I should, I seem to loose control of my voice inflection, tone, and volume. Or, if several unpleasant things have happened to build me up to a point where a straw can break this camel's back, ooh, Mom is about to get yelly.

I hear my precious little ones accuse one another of being yelly sometimes, too. Just this morning I heard one daughter use a quiet but angry voice, and the other said, "You don't have to get yelly about it." Here, our word of the day was able to quickly diffuse the situation.

How to avoid being yelly? Well, I am working on this one... lots of prayer, taking deep breaths and short breaks from the situation. Also for me, since low blood sugar is often involved, making sure I have eaten. But when I realize I have waited too long to eat, I try to stay away from others until I have a snack or simply let my kids know I am hungry. They know what it means.

And when I screw up, I apologise. This happens too often, indicating my imperfection, but it helps me to recognise and correct my mistakes. No one likes to admit their wrong, so telling my kids I am sorry for over reacting is a powerful stimulator for my personal improvement. It is also helping them to know that I respect them, and that I feel they deserve to be treated well.

There are more great ideas over at Natural Mom's Talk Radio. At her blog, Carrie talks about the other feelings that might be behind our anger, and our yellyness. Identifying those feelings can help us to act more effectively instead of just blowing up.

Overall, though, getting a little yelly doesn't mean we are failures. It simply means we are humans with faults who will be forever seeking to refine ourselves. No matter how much better we are, there is always room for improvement. But we must remember to acknowledge our progress so that we will have the confidence to continue in our task of self help.

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Groovy Pizza Cutter

I found this pizza cutter in the clearance bin at my local Kroger. My old one took a lot of elbow grease just to get through a soft crust. Our new one doesn't have a typical handle. It is sharp, and relatively safe and easy to use. We use it to cut everything but steak! It is easier, and quicker than the old fashioned knife and fork for waffles, pancakes, fried eggs, and whatever else my 7 year old needs to cut. Because of the design and the way you hold it, it's quite safe for her to use, liberating her and me at the same time! It also comes apart for easy cleaning. Thank you to Margie and Tammy and Kitchen Tip Tuesday for inspiring this post!

Fall Camping and Fishing

Fresh cool air, leaves changing colors, Fall; my favorite time to be outdoors. Our family recently returned from a weekend camping trip. We tried a new kind of roughing it. Normally we are with our regular camping buddies in the Appalachian Mountains or foothills near a trout stream with plenty of layers to keep warm on the cool nights. The sky is mostly obscured by tall trees filled with birds. Watching the creek, catching bugs and lizards, getting dirty, cooking and reading are the typical entertainment for the kids and me. I love it!

As I mentioned, this trip was different. Our camping companions were friends we never camped with before. They led us to some property on a lake that belonged to their family. It was plenty warmer, not so many trees, and the night sky was delightful. As for entertainment, there was some Boggle, and just hanging out. But by far fishing was the focus. The lake was new, and well stocked with young, stupid, easy to catch fish. Hubby said it was too easy to be fun after just a few minutes of casting and catching. I suppose a large part of the fun of fishing is the sitting still and waiting. My daughters, 7 and 9, were having the time of their lives. They kept their Daddy busy at first with baiting their hooks and releasing fish but he soon empowered them with an education and a barbless hook, and they were free.

They would catch crickets, use artificial baits, our hot dogs, even soften the dogs' food to put on a hook. Those fish seemed to bite anything. When she grew tired of this seemingly endless bait search, my youngest simply cast out an empty hook. (Now I am not a tall fish tale teller, so you can know this is true) She caught a fish on that hook! After that, she was not so fond of bait. She caught several fish on a sharp, shiny, looks nothing like fish food hook. I finally told her if we were going to pull the poor things from the lake, the least we could do was feed them something. I do enjoy fishing for dumb fish, but this took the bait! We will hopefully hit that fishing hole again next year when the precious little ignorant fish are even bigger and more fun to catch.

Now to plan a nice relaxing trip to the mountains...

Broccoli Salad

This made a nice addition to a recent birthday party meal. A friend of mine adds bacon bits to hers, I will be trying that in the future and the recipe reflects it, too!

Broccoli Salad
Serves 6

1 head fresh broccoli (about 1lb)
1/3 cup mayo
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 1/2 tsp milk or yogurt
1/2 cup raisins

Optional:
1/4 c walnuts
1/4 cup onion
shredded carrot
chopped apples
bacon bits

Wash broccoli, cut into florets. Dice or shred the stems. Place in serving bowl.
In a small bowl, combine low fat mayo, sugar, vinegar and milk or yogurt. Mix well. Add to Broccoli.
Stir in raisins, walnuts and other options you choose.
Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Self Driven Learning v/s Curriculum Schedules

Just wondering: do curriculum goals stifle spontaneous learning? Feeling the pressure of the end of the book looming at us, but man are the bugs so cool right now or what? We need to get our math done, but would rather play Yahtzee, or cards. My inner voice (and the hubby on the outside) says that's not enough. How hard it is to break free from how we were schooled. Contrary to public school belief, we are capable of learning things without it being forced upon us.

But still I am constantly torn between self driven learning and curriculum based learning. Even curriculum that uses living books can get dull when we are following someone else's schedule. So long as we learn everything we need to know, who cares what order its in? Am I trying to convince myself or someone else? As I would say to my daughters, "Yes."

Too Smart for Their Own Good

Yup, my kids are brilliant! Of course every mom thinks so, but I want to share a story about by intelligent youngsters. I have a code programmed into the TV so that the kids must ask before watching. Only I or my hubby know the code to allow access to one show at a time.

Well, a couple of months ago, the kids figured out how to set the TV to unlock all the restrictions so that they could watch for as long as they wanted without having to ask us to keep unlocking the TV. They would get permission to watch, and before I got to the TV to unlock it, they would set it to unlock all. Bam! Unrestricted boob tube until I figured it out. Brilliant my dear sisters! Until the youngest one, who cannot keep a secret, tells me what they are up to.

Fast forward to last weekend. I am doing my thing in the kitchen when little Blabber-mouth (name calling is in loving jest) approaches me with information. "Mom, we reset the password on the TV." Thoughts flashing through my mind: Wow, that took a lot of thought and planning!--how did they figure that out?--Dang! I need to discipline for this!?...
My little conspirator continues, "The new code is 1234." I laugh out loud as I hear her sister in the next room yell, " You weren't supposed to give her the code!"

Fortunately for me and unfortunately for the girls, Daddy was not too impressed by their creativity and ingenuity to implement a discipline. Apparently he had tried to watch something that was blocked and thought I had changed the code without telling him. He had gotten mad at me but hadn't yet remembered to fuss at me. He doled out an entire week of no TV except during the evening family time.

The moral? Intelligence is a gift that is best used for good, honest purposes.