The weekend

A pretty good weekend even though I still feel terrible. A trip to our local Alpaca farm, a Fall craft in progress, buffalo cauliflower , a posing horse, another Treehouse book, yay for PJs from last winter that still fit, boo that we need them and a visitor to our garden - a Northern Flicker I think.  Not pictured - me coughing a lot, T2 having 3 play opportunities with her best friend M, our very messy house, me taking a rather long nap.

Pity Party

Having a bit of a pity party over here. Yesterday all of a sudden my throat felt like it was lined with glass shards and my lungs seemed to shrink to the size of raisins. Today I feel the same only I've added sleep deprivation to my list of woes because my sore throat kept me awake much of last night. I figured I was coming down with a cold until I noticed the calendar. I get sick the last few days of September every year (since I turned 33) and the culprit is ragweed grrr. Hopefully I'll avoid the full blown asthma deal of previous years - the one that sends me back and forth to emergency when puffers no longer work and they drug me up so much I shake and my heart feels like it will beat itself right out of my chest. Hopefully I'll avoid that this year. Strangely my symptoms were worse when we lived in a large town than now we are in the country.

Not a lot got done around here today except some independent science for T1 and some self directed art for T2. This means over the weekend we'll have a few things to catch up on to avoid adding more to next week. I had everything planned but a quick errand this morning finished me off and I was pretty useless the rest of the day.

I made pizza rolls tonight - they might not look pretty but they were really good. I just made a batch of pizza dough, rolled it into a rectangle, spread with some sauce from my freezer stash and spread over that some sautéed veg - no cheese because I was going to eat some. Then I just rolled it like a jelly roll, sliced it and baked the roll slices until they looked ready. I drizzled a little warmed sauce over the top of  each piece. Yum.

T2 and I took a brief break from the Treehouse books and I read her a book I enjoyed as a child.

It was fun to read it with her. I had to explain quite a few things because it is very old fashioned and British and she has no idea what a tuck box is for and that tea can mean a meal as well as a drink. I have to say that I never said the word 'shan't' as many times in my life as in one chapter of the book! I have the next naughtiest girl book ordered from a used book store (I try not to buy new books whenever possible - preferring to give a home to a previously loved copy). Yesterday we were back to the Treehouse once more with a trip to Baghdad

Tonight if my throat can handle it we will read the next one. When we read these books with  T1 this next books was the most up to date in the series but I think 8-10 more have been added since then so we have lots to look forward to over the next week or two.

T1 and I are continuing with our WW1 reading with 

We also watched a DVD this afternoon which had some surprisingly clear film footage from 1914-1918. Seeing real faces at war makes it so much more real - knowing those faces were of sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, uncles, cousins of people waiting at home wondering if they were ok. We have read plenty about the conditions of the trenches but to see how narrow they were, how unprotected the soldiers were from enemy attack as well as the water and filth they had to stand in with inadequate clothing and foot wear was terrible. WE have 2 more DVDs in the series to watch over the weekend.

Dinner tonight

We are having this  and it smells so good right now

Update - it was delicious. Will definitely make this again.

World War 1 continued

Current read aloud with T1 is another from the Dear Canada series

Book club this afternoon - T2 and I are excited.

Tuesday

Getting back into routine and schooling like crazy, busy week of activities this week too. So far so good!

I tried a new recipe today and it was so good. Vegan loaf from this recipe 

Cute read

T2 has enjoyed Fancy Nancy since the books by Jane O'connor first appeared in book stores. I have been waiting for the library to have the newish Fancy Nancy chapter book and finally last week they did. We both enjoyed it.

 Yesterday we read the book for T2's upcoming book club meeting.

The book was ok. T2 was quite bothered by a fire that occurred in the story which for us didn't make it a good bedtime read. At the book club each child is assigned a role. At the first meeting T2 will be the 'Character Shrink'. Each meeting the roles are rotated. There are six girls in the group.

The Character Shrink:

-tries to get into a character's brain, to understand why they think and act the way they do and presents their ideas to the group.

Some things to discuss may be:

a) The type of personality the character has

b) How the character acts and why

c) The big decision or dilemma that the character was faced with

d) How the character changed from the beginning to the end of the story

e) If that character learned anything.

Soup season is here

I'm not sure if I'm ready for it yet but the temp has dropped, the evenings are getting darker and there's a definite feeling of Fall. My friend shared with me a soup recipe that I have been waiting to try.I don't know where the recipe came from but it is good

2lbs carrots
1 large orange pepper
2 apples
2 medium potatoes
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
Ginger
Thyme
Salt/Pepper
8c chicken stock (I used vegetable)

Peel and cut into chunks carrots, apples, potatoes
Cut onions and orange pepper into chunks.
Peel garlic - leave cloves whole.

Toss with olive oil and spread in single layer on baking sheet.
Roast at 375 for 30-40 minutes, tossing a couple of times, until tender and carrots begin to caramelize.
Simmer stock for about 10 minutes with a 2" piece of peeled, sliced ginger and several springs of fresh thyme.
Add veg to stock and simmer for 15 minutes.
Blend in batches or use an immersion blender until smooth consistency.

I had a bowl this evening and it was perfect.

Something different for crafty girl

T2 loves to craft and always has numerous projects on the go. She draws all the time - currently her pictures involve lots of horses hanging out, jumping over fences or just smiling. When my Mum was here she scribbled a picture of a horse head  and T2 had to have it - she cut it out, stuck it on paper and completed the picture to her liking...

While I was culling old magazines today - I cut out a few pictures for her to use in the same manner - she would choose a magazine cutting and complete the picture. I had another idea in mind but most of the magazines were food/home related and didn't have what I needed but I hope to do that another time.

Here's what she came up with. It challenged her but she loved it.