Thoughtful Friday

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Life can be crazy

What a wild week! Painting, working, learning and an emergency room visit!
Seriously, I don't think I could possibly fit anymore into this past crazy week! I am so sorry that I haven't posted. I've got all these ideas for posts bouncing around inside my head, but first I have to get this week off my chest!
We had been painting AH's new room most of last week and into this week. I close my eyes and see black and blue! But we are finished and here is his new room...

On Saturday I attended a workshop on the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching reading and spelling. It was fantastic. The instructor, Kathy Fears, described my son to a "T" and she has never met him. I teared up because for the first time, I met someone who knows what AH and I are going through. She is a homeschooler for the same reason I am. She pulled her daughter out of public school because they just couldn't help her daughter and she became more and more frustrated with school. Even with the one on one that homeschooling provides, she couldn't get through to her daughter until she found this method. Her daughter is now a college graduate and is self-employed. I am hoping this method will also help AH. He knows his phonics, but needs some help putting them together and I think we have found a way. Wish us luck!
Right after the workshop I worked an 8 hour shift at my part-time job at Starbucks, went home, slept and worked another 8 hour shift on Sunday. I hadn't been home more than 45 minutes when the phone rang. My father was in an ambulance on his way to the emergency room at his local hospital! I couldn't make this stuff up! The poor guy was putting out his garbage when his knee gave way and he landed head-first on the concrete driveway. He ended up in the operating room where they cleaned up and repaired his wound. I think I spent about 5 hours with him and my mom at the hospital. He is recuperating at home now, but he has a couple of serious black eyes and a large scar.
This week we have been putting the finishing touches on AH's room, such as painting his closet doors with dry-erase paint as shown here (Who knew there was such a thing!):

Painting magnetic paint on the back of the door to his room in preparation for the chalkboard paint!
And a new bookshelf needed filling:

Well, things will be slowing down here in the next few weeks as we close our Starbucks coffee shop and I no longer work outside the home. It will feel good to concentrate on my family and home once again.

Thoughtful Friday

All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it!
-Bob Newhart

Changes in our home

AN, our daughter, graduated from college earlier this year. She has her own apartment in the city along with a new car and a new job. I'm finally coming to grips with the fact that she is on her own and most likely won't be living with us anytime soon. I've managed to avoid thinking about this until recently. AH is moving into her old room. As long as her room was set up the way she left it, I guess a part of her was still here. There was possibility. Don't get me wrong, I know my job as a parent is to prepare my children for life on their own. But change is hard. Our family dynamics have changed. This change is hard on all of us, but, especially so for AH, our youngest. When we have dinner together (which, unfortunately, isn't every day because of work and football schedules) I have commented how nice it is to sit down with the whole family for dinner. AH corrected me and told me the whole family was NOT together. AN wasn't here.
All this introspection really has to do with the fact that we are painting AH's new room. He picked out the colors, the design, and helped me to figure out how much paint we needed for the room. (hands on math!!!) I thought I would share some pictures. Our goal is to be finished painting by Friday afternoon (before the varsity football game!) Hopefully we can start moving furniture into the room this weekend. AH's old room will become a learning/project room. I'm looking forward to a place we can leave projects while we are working on them (we need that dining room table for dinners!!!). Also a place for all the books and supplies will be nice! Here is a picture of the room today (we've got quite a lot of work to do before tomorrow evening!) Wish us luck!

Crafting

I must confess that I am crazy about crafting with my kids. Of course the only one left to craft with is 10 year old AH. Lucky for me, he also enjoys crafting. We like to take walks in our local parks, so when I saw this idea for walking sticks, or as they call them, wilding sticks, at Full Circle, I knew AH would have a blast creating one for himself. AH had a great stick ready in our back yard (he collects them, I guess!!) Here he is beginning his project.

Here he is with his fantastic finished wilding stick!

Acorn Squash Recipe

The squash is ready! Even though it was rather warm today, I couldn't resist making a roasted free range chicken and acorn squash. My mother-in-law, Mary, gave this squash recipe to us about 20 years ago (how time flies!). Our kids have learned to love squash thanks, in part, to this recipe. I believe she got it from a microwave cookbook. Here is that recipe with some of our tweaks. Enjoy!

Acorn Squash with Cranberries

2 medium-sized acorn squash

Filling:
2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup pecans, chopped fine
1/3 cup butter or margarine
3 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Whole cranberry sauce

Pierce each squash several times. Microwave 10 minutes. Cut squash crosswise, remove seeds. Microwave the squash 10 to 12 minutes more, or until done. Remove stems and cut ends so the squash doesn't tip.

Mix all filling ingredients. Fill each squash half with filling (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup for each, but we prefer a little less). Microwave on high until filling is hot, 3 to 5 minutes. Top with cranberries. Serves four.
Enjoy!

Fall Means Football

At our house, fall means football. Not just once a week football, but we eat, breathe, and live football! Monday and Friday nights mean watching AD play high school football. Saturday is Big Ten Football and on Sunday we watch the Vikings. As if that isn't enough, each boy has a fantasy football team he manages. Over the course of a week the conversations between the two boys usually center on who they'll be playing the next weekend. I decided a long time ago that it would be far better to learn to love the game than not join in on the fun. So, you'll find me reading the sports page every day just so I can keep up with and participate in the conversations around this house. Plus, sitting in the stands on a cool fall evening with a GrandePumpkin Spice Chai Latte is heavenly!