23 Undeniable Truths of Adulthood

I found this on facebook this week.  I felt it was funny and accurate enough to be worth sharing.  Have a great weekend!

1. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and stillnot know what time it is.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was
younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty
sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the
person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at
work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything
productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I
don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks
me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that
I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not
to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just
nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they
said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team
up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong,
brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get
dirty, and you can wear them forever.

22. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car
keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on
the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button
from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every
time.

23. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874
and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100
years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Homeschooling -- why this time?

Over the summer, I had promised my kids that if I didn't get a teaching job that I would keep them home and home school them.  Mostly because if I freelanced, my work schedule would begin at 3:00 in the afternoon and potentially go late into the evening.

With the economy being what it is, and music being cut in our schools, I didn't even land a phone call from the multitude of counties I applied for.  I was actually pretty shocked.  I'm pretty qualified, and by federal standards, I'm highly qualified to do what I applied for.  Such is life, it wasn't meant to be.  With the connections I had made in Colorado, I landed on my feet.  I found a steady source of private violin and viola students.  I even made a new website for my new growing business.   It flourished.  I'm booked up, and I'm relieved.

With my recent illness however, I decided that even though my work schedule wouldn't be ideal it would be better for the kids to attend school instead of stay home with a broken mom who needed to focus on getting healthy.  I sent them, and I regretted it.  Within weeks, I realized I missed them so much.  There were days I wouldn't see them for over 12 hours.  I'd drop them off at school at 8:15, leave so painfully close to when they'd be home at 3:15 to get to my 4:00 lesson, and teach until 7:30, drive home, and get home about 8:15 again.  Grab them from the neighbors house just to tuck them in bed so they'd have enough sleep to go to school the next day.  It was miserable.  They missed me, and I missed them.

So, I had to think of a quick solution.  In Colorado, they offer many virtual online schools.  Still considered to be public schools I thought this would be an easy option.  I checked out two. The Colorado Calvert Academy and The Colroado Connections Academy. I ended up going with the Connections Academy, and so far like I've seen other people mention it's intense. It's many assignments every day. We're getting the hang of things, and I've made a mental decision to not stress over their deadlines.

Next year, I will be pulling them out of the public school system entirely and homeschooling them myself. So this year, we'll be pulling through this curriculum, while checking out something else for next year. Lots of time to plan.

Menu Plan Monday

I haven't done a Menu Plan is so very long.  I love getting back into the swing of blogging.

Anyway, here's my week:

Monday:
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Breakfast

Tuesday:
Lunch: Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan Crips (from Anni Daulter's new book, the Organic Family Cookbook).
Dinner: Spaghetti and Italian Sausage with Salads.

Wednesday:
Lunch: Super Crunch Apple Cranberry Tuna Wrap
Dinner: Slow Cooked Curried Chicken with Cauliflower

Thursday:
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Sandwiches, and leftovers

Friday:
Lunch: Ham n Cheese Panini with fresh grapes (Another Anni Daulter recipe!)
Dinner: Homemade Pizza

Saturday:
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Chicken legs and corn on the cob

Sunday:
Lunch: Chicken Sandwiches (from yesterdays leftovers)
Dinner: Roasted Chicken

For more menu plans check out Organizing Junkie!

Why we don't acknowledge Columbus Day...

I'm feeling argumentative today.  It's been more then 10 years ago, sitting in an Africana Studies class at West Virginia University, and Columbus day came and went with out a pause in class.  Some of my classmates were irritated that we didn't get to laze around in our college apartments.  What I always found to be so interesting about this class was it's quest for truth, and my professors ability to point out our "miseducation."  I loved it.  I thrived in this class.  I took no notes, and had over 100% at the end of the semester because I was pulled in to the truth.  Finally a history class that was inspiring.  That Columbus Day was no different.

Much of what we know about Columbus is true.  He sailed to what he hoped would be Asia hoping to discover a safer trade route.  No one knew there was a continent in the way.  And yes, thanks to him the world was forever changed.  This man was not all good though.  When they landed, they were welcomed with hospitality by the indigenous people here.  He said they were so kind and good, that they must be "en Dios" or "of God" and that they would make fantastic slaves.  Anyone who knows the history of chattel slavery in the US knows that Portugal was the leader in this industry at the start.  It was these people they tried to enslave first, but they knew the area too well and escaped easily.  Lusting for slaves, they imported their own slaves from West Africa.  Bringing foreign people, to a foreign land who had no hopes of escaping because they were unfamiliar territory.

It's hard for me to acknowledge this man for his discovery when his legacy is tainted with an entirely new kind of slavery that lasted for hundreds of years.  It's a dark mark on history, and if this man is to be noted for discovery he made, his mistakes should not be covered up.  How else do we learn to be better people?

Growing Garlic

I could dwell on the problems in my life, and sometimes it's incredibly hard not to.  So, my zen is usually out in the garden.  It's the simple moments like this though that bring me joy and help me put everything aside.  I stole a moment the other day when a shipment of garlic arrived.

There's so much garlic that I think if I planted it all I wouldn't have room for anything else, so I'm giving some to some gardener friends to see how they do with it as well.  This is the first time I've grown garlic in Colorado, and I've done little bits in Virginia when I lived there.  This is the biggest haul I've tried, so hopefully it will winter well, and I'll have garlic coming out of my ears next summer.

On a sunny Friday afternoon, I grabbed my girl, and we went planting.  She loves getting out there in the dirt, she always has.  I refreshed my memory on how to grow garlic on some links that I will provide.  I'm no expert at all, just a hobby gardener.

I still have some summer clearing out to do to make more room for garlic.  The garlic will stay in the garden until next July, so I have to choose my space carefully.  The bed we were working in wasn't very successful with anything I planted this year, so I feel like anything is an improvement.  Anyway, here are some links to some bloggers who know more about growing garlic than I do.

1. http://www.dharmarose.com/garden/growing_garlic.html

2. http://peakgardening.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/growing-garlic/ (Colorado specific!)

3. http://www.9news.com/life/garden/story.aspx?storyid=100955&catid=222

A slow return

It's been a busy summer, and early fall. I'm missing blogging, and I plan on making a slow return. So much has happened over the last few months that I've wanted to share, but I haven't had the time or energy to put into it.

My condition is slowly improving. I have not been given the o.k. to fly yet, so Thanksgiving this year will definitely be done at my home, most likely with out my brother and parents.

I have been canning like mad, and cleaning out my garden for fall preparation.  I'll have to go into the garlic that I"m planting this weekend.  I've also pulled my kids out of school, and will home school them for the rest of the school year.  I'm continuing parenting mostly on my own. My husband is still living in California, while I"m in Colorado.  We don't know when that will end, there is no solution that either one of us can live with right now.

So that's the brief summary of what's been going on.  I call this a slow return, because I"ll have to get back into the habit of posting as often as I can.  Sharing recipes, crafts, canning and green homesteading tidbits.