A Week with the Presidents

We’re studying the presidents this week. We quickly learned reports about these men at that time were false. Bad reporting was going on even then.

What a week! It's a little disturbing to realize it is already the 5th day of April, time seems to be slipping by rather quickly for me.  Thankfully, it is Friday because our Friday's are more laid back and we spend the day finishing up on lessons that may not be 100% completed and we do more reading .

We began studying the Presidents in AAH two weeks ago and this week we’ve been studying  John Quincy Adams through James Polk. It’s quite interesting to read about the early lives of these men.  During our study of William Henry Harrison, we found it rather interesting how the Whig party portrayed him to be a simple frontier Indian fighter drinking cider and living in a cabin, when in reality he was born into Virginia aristocracy.  Funny how “not telling the whole truth” in American politics has been around for many, many years.

In our science, we have been studying Geology this week.  I've been using a lot of videos and photos I came across from HERE to help me in learning to like science and hopefully create a love for it in Jamie. Marty has some amazing stuff listed for upper Apologia sciences and her Youtube channel is wonderful!

This time next week, Jamie will be in bullriding school. This is something that we've been wanting to do for a couple of years, and now have the chance. My husband and I are really excited about this opportunity because he will be learning from one of the best, former World Champion Cody Custer. As a Christian mom, I'm excited about this because of the Christian testimony Cody has and I'm not going to have to worry about dirty words slipping from his mouth when he talks with and around my son.

We've been enjoying spring like weather for almost two weeks. The temperature has been close to 70 until yesterday when it cooled off some. Today there is a chance of rain with temperatures in the 60's. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the rain.  :)

We've been enjoying some new recipes over the last week. I shared the Barbequed Beans and Sausage yesterday and I have several more to write up and share. Hopefully, I'll be able to get them up within the next few days.

Tomorrow's the day... my grocery shopping trip to Miles City. Hopefully, I'll be able to swing by the thrift store, since they were closed the last Saturday we were in town.

Sharing a verse today that I have to remind myself of some mornings.

A Little Excitement and a Blessing

When plans don’t go according to plan… make new plans.


I can't believe I let Friday get away from me without posting about our week.

We have had a wonderful week. We've been busily, studying trying to stay ahead since Jamie has Bullriding school in April. We will be having take off a Friday, so we can make the trip to Oklahoma. I was excited when we got the notice about the deposit we sent. I'm not sure who is more excited me or Jamie. I'm just excited about the thought of being within 40 miles from Chick-fil-A. :)

We've are on Module 3 in Science, we experimented with water density earlier in the week. Quite a bit of fun with that experiment.

For History we have finished up the Revolutionary battles in the Northeast. Being a southern family and living within driving distance for day trips, we always visited places of history. Jamie mentioned to me, he thought the war was in Georgia also. I giggled, and told him it was and reminded him of the Kettle Creek Battlefield we visited several years ago. Our book divided the battles up in sections, so this caught him off guard a bit.

I've been anxiously awaiting my seed catalogs. Several have arrived the last few days and I've been dreaming of a garden. Although, we really don't have any room here for a garden, we are planning on container gardening this year. Since we are in a new growing zone, the waiting to plant is going to drive me nutty.

From what I can see, the original owner of this house did not plant anything except for a few irises beside the garage and used containers for a couple of annuals. With the catalogs coming in the mail, I've been using the National Gardening Association's website for plants to use in the front yard. I need flowers and plants! A house just isn't a house without beautiful plants and flowers.

On Friday, we were suppose to go to Miles City for a fellowship with the church where we have been visiting. But things didn't work out as we had planned, so we went bowling in town. We had quite a bit of fun just hanging out and doing something we all like to do.  Sadly, it's been a while since we've been bowling. We all did pretty well considering it's been several years since we've been. I loved watching Jamie and his shy self after he threw his ball. He would puts his hands in his pockets and not look around at other people.  He is very much like me and can't stand the thought of other people watching him. My sweet husband bowled like he always has ~ by beating us in both games. My little Canon camera I've had for 5 years is on its last leg. You can tell it in all the pictures from last night. These are the best three that we got.

I'm thankful our plans did not work out as we expected, because God blessed us with a needed item. Our landlord called and asked me if we would like it, and I quickly said yes. That item was delivered yesterday afternoon. I love how the Lord always provides!

A Day Out

This has been a fabulous week! Monday was like any other Monday... slow starting. No one here likes Monday! Tuesday was pretty good. I spent the day putting together my grocery list and menus for the next two weeks. Wednesday was a our Miles City trip due to me having to transfer my license. For all my Georgia family and friends who can walk in a wait and wait and wait in line... There are certain cities in Montana that the DMV is open certain days and you have to have an appointment. Well, the two closest offices fall into this category. I had my appointment for several months. I guess it's a good thing my Georgia license were not ready to expire since I had to wait.

We made a whole day of being out of the house on Wednesday. While we were in Miles City, we stopped at a small Made in Montana store. What neat items they carried! They had everything from pottery to jewelry and drinks, ice cream and frozen meat. Everything was made right here in Montana.

Of course, we stopped in the St. Vincent de Paul's thrift store. I just love that place! It's small and they don't really have a  lot, but they always have something that catches my eye. I found  two antique lamps, two wool sweaters, and a cute little basket. My husband even stumbled across a turkey stool.

I'm thinking about painting the brass bottoms on the lamps silver. For the sweaters, I'll be felting them and using them in a couple of projects. I'm waiting for the perfect place to hang the tiny basket. You may have to click on the picture to see the base of the lamps better.

I knew when I went into Walmart and Albertson's I was going to be spending a lot of money this time around. We had ran completely out of some things that needed to be replenished so I was not shocked at the total cost of groceries. I was a little shocked over the price hike in some of the items we normally buy. Since Christmas, the Wheat Montana brand bread went up a little. On Wednesday, it had gone up a whole dollar a loaf since our last trip. Needless to say, I didn't buy any of that brand. My husband loves sausage, and in the past we had to settle with brands that add MSG until I found a mid-western brand that did not. Even the price on sausage went up two dollars a package. People around here say it's from the oil, but I'm really not sure it's all oil. I honestly believe a lot of it has to do the the government.

In our school this week, we finished up Duel in the Wilderness that we started last week. I will add here, that there are a couple of bad words in the book, but if you are using it as a read aloud, then, they're easy to skip over. We came home with several armloads of books from the library on Wednesday. We started  a read aloud about Kit Carson. It's funny how this book has been on the list for several months, but Jamie just didn't seem interested in it at all. Wednesday, he decided on getting it, I'm glad he did because I'm really enjoying it.  Jamie took his first Science test today and he made a 100. I don't think he realized what a huge difference seventh grade level Science is from all the other Apologia books in the past. It's an eye opener for him!

I'm working on the details of a History project, Jamie will be putting together. There is so much history about the battles of the Revolutionary War, and the areas where they took place and Jamie is quite curious about them. Since our curriculum offers the idea of a Battle Notebook, we're going to spin from what it mentioned in the book and go from there. Hopefully, this will all work out.

I finally caught a picture of Jamie studying. He is so much like me and had rather have his finger nails pulled out one at a time than have his picture taken. I had to sneak this one by him.

I finally finished knitting the sweater I started a week or so ago. All I have to do is add the other two buttons and try and figure out a different loop, since a three stitch I-cord is too big for this. I also need to block it again so all the "stiffness" around the hem and sleeves soften up some. I found the pattern HERE and I used the Simply Soft in Persimmon and Dark Sage. I love, love, love this yarn! It is super soft and easy to handle.

In the kitchen this week, SAUSAGE is the new thing right now. I cooked up some pork and chicken to add to our Brunswick Stew that will be put in the crock pot on Sunday morning. I have no clue as to what I am going to cook for supper tonight. I know, I planned a menu, but I don't plan according to day, I plan according to meal. There may be a night I had rather have something quicker to prepare than something that is more detailed. I usually let Jamie pick a meal for Friday and Saturday since it's the weekend. Hopefully, he'll let me know what he is in the mood to eat.

It looks like our spring weather will be coming to an end this weekend. Yesterday and today, the windows have been opened and the singing from all my little birds have filled the house.  I love sitting at the kitchen table working and hearing the voices of those tiny creatures the Lord made.

Have a good weekend.

A Little Science and Frigid Temps

It is hard to believe today is already February 1st. Seriously, time needs to slow down a little. I realized this morning watching a commercial on life insurance that I will be in the age bracket that is advertised in a few short years. Talk about discouraging! :)



In our school this week, we started our Science course. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. Why is she waiting until the end of January to start Science? Well, this year I wanted to try working on  a modified block system for Science and History. With a new to me United States History curriculum, I wanted to be able to spend more time learning about the history of our country during the fall and winter and then use spring to really study Science. There is so much going on in our country, most people do not even realize what the colonies went through to obtain their freedom. Sadly, a good portion of our history is not known by many of the people in Washington. I won't even get started on the leaders of our country, because they are all a HUGE disappointment. If I have to teach Science, a subject that I really do not care about, then I'm going to teach it in the spring, so we will be able to enjoy the outdoors while studying it.

Talking about Science, I did not go with my original curriculum choice. I caved, I went with Apologia's General Science, only because I don't want Jamie to be lacking in the field of Science when he heads off to college. I really dislike hearing about college students who were home educated and are having to take remedial courses on subjects that should have been taught. Also, with the General Science, I found THIS awesome blog that has free lesson plans for several of the Apologia books along with other curriculum. If you're like me and like free, then you may want to run right over and check it out.

We started the book Duel in the Wilderness by Karin Clafford Farley this week. I'm about two weeks late on reading this one, but it is amazing! The emotion that is written into the book is so life like.

Around the house this week, well nothing out of the ordinary except for -20 degree temperatures yesterday morning. The windchill here was -45, I remember hearing about these kinds of temperatures when we lived in western Montana. We just couldn't wrap our heads around that since we lived in the warmest part of the state ~ the Bitterroot Valley. When my husband left the house yesterday at 6:30 I was in a pair of capris and the skin on my legs burnt just standing at the door. From what I can see the people around here don't let this stop them from being out and about. Not me! I stay in the house where it's warm.

I started knitting a new sweater, again. I bought the yarn and started on it last year, but for some reason I could not get it to work out. I put it away and have been looking at the yarn ever since. So, I started working on it again this week and I'm flabbergasted to see the part I was having so much trouble with is working out. Hopefully, I'll have it ready to stitch together tomorrow night.  Here's a little sneak peak ~

Here are two washcloths I knitted for a new baby in our family. I have no clue what I did for the edges to not be straight. When I knit for my personal use, the cloths are always straight now that I knitted for someone else, they are not. Oh well! These are the cloths I made from Down Cloverlaine,  I mentioned last week. Aren't they cute!

For supper tonight I'm trying a new recipe, Baked Chicken Fajitas. We love fajitas and when I found the recipe, I decided to give it a try. The way the kitchen smells, it has to be good. I'll be writing about it later on next week, if not before.

This weekend is a stay at home kind of weekend for us. I have some things that I'm working on and hopefully will be able to complete them since we are not going out. A girl can hope, right?

The Heat Wave

What a week! I really could get used to doing school work only four days a week. We took off Monday only because my husband was home. With him being home, I really dislike dealing with school work; so a holiday it was.




My week has pretty much been a normal week. I've been reading a Every Perfect Gift for a review and can't seem to put it down. Of course, I love The Hickory Ridge Romance series and hate to see the ending of a series, but I'm sure Dorothy Love has more exciting reading planned for me.

Jamie and I finally made it through the "steps" to the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. I learned that John Hancock was possibly quite the smuggler of needed items during a time when the British had control over the ports. It's the little things most people don't know about the great men in our country's history. We are still plugging away in everything else and doing well.

We've had beautiful weather this week.  Today was a heat wave, I tell ya. We hit a sweltering 40 degrees. :) There is still a good amount of snow on the ground and it is slowly melting off. But there is more snow in the forecast for next week.

Every morning and evening when I look out and see the sunrise and the sunset, I'm still amazed at how God put us here. The way everything worked out from the pre-employment drug screening to the phone call about this house while we were driving through Missouri.  Sunday afternoon, my husband drove by the place where I had called about renting a small "cabin" near the lake in town. The Lord worked a miracle in keeping us out of there. Those "cabins" are not much bigger than a 10x10 storage building. The cost to rent one of those things is HIGHWAY ROBBERY!  We would have been pulling each other's hair out by now. Yep, we all three would be sporting the KOJAK look.

I've been busily working on some knitting.  I finally finished up the bear hat and little booties for a cousin. I found the patterns through Ravelry. The hat took me a couple of days, but those booties only took about two hours and they are just too cute!  The yarn I used is Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Barley.

I also found  Down Cloverlaine. She has some amazingly cute baby washcloths. I made THIS adorable duck cloth.  This wash cloth knits up in about 2 hours, I watched a movie and knitted it from start to finish. Easy, and Quick! ~ I like that.  I'll take a picture of mine later this weekend and show you. I love it!

YAY! It's Friday and it's the "second week" which means, tomorrow is grocery shopping day. Yeah, I'm really not looking forward to that. We've watched the prices around here go up over the last three or four weeks. We are excited about finding that we can shop online with Dollar General. This where we use to buy all our coffee, tea, and some cleaning supplies. They are cheaper than our Walmart and we'll be able to save on shipping. It also means tomorrow I'll be stopping off at the thrift store. That is the only thing that I look forward to on shopping day; I always come out with something.

Have a good weekend.

I'm linking up with ~

Here One Minute Gone the Next

Where has the week gone? Really, I mean yesterday was just Monday;  I can't believe how the time has flown.  It's a little hard to believe that we are already on the 18th day of 2013.  I think life could slow down just a bit.

I've been busily working on a baby gift. My second cousin has a new baby boy and the sweater I was working on just didn't come together as I had planned, so I knitted the cutest hat and I'm working on a pair of booties. Hopefully, they will be finished this evening, so I can take a quick picture and then pack them up and mail them off.

Living in Montana, you learn rather quickly the weather here is not like it is back home. It can make a sudden change right before your eyes, literally. At the first of the week it was below zero and snow blowing like there was no tomorrow. On Tuesday, it looked like a blizzard blowing outside the window one minute and the next, the sun was out and the temperature began to rise.Wednesday the sun  came out and the temperature began rising just above freezing. This happened on Thursday also with the thermometer dancing right about 35 degrees. With warmer temperatures during the day and with little cloud cover at night, the temperatures have stayed kind of warm~ what we would call warm.  Well, today is quite the rebel when it comes to winter weather! It is absolutely beautiful! The thermometer quickly rose above the forecasted 41 and it's reading 60 degrees at the moment. Just a little taste of spring.

This is our first week studying the American Revolutionary War. We touched on six things that led up to the War for Independence; the Proclamation of 1763, the Navigation Acts, the Sugar Act, the Quartering Act, the Stamp Act and the Towshend Acts. I can't help but wonder what the men and women who bravely fought for the freedom of our country would think, if they could see it now.  Yes, I did say women. The  men who bravely put their lives on the line had women standing behind them, supporting the cause.

I've been trying new recipes this week. Two were very yummy but not pretty to look at, one was a childhood favorite. Today, I'm cooking a favorite ~ Taco Soup.

Since my husband has off on Monday, we are making plans on something fun. But, with the weather, our plans are for tomorrow. With the previous snow and all I'm keeping it a secret until I know for a fact that we are going to able to visit. If not, we have a couple of  backup plans.

We have some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets here in southeastern Montana.  We may not have the Rocky Mountains, but our sunsets blow the mountain views out of the water. I took these pictures on Tuesday night.

A Snowy French and Indian War and My Wallet Is the Winner

It’s snowing today and I’m talking a little about local news and the French and Indian War.





I'm sitting here watching the snow falling and it's beautiful. All week the  local weather has talked about us getting between 6 and 12 inches of snow.  Because we have satellite TV, our "local" channels come out of Bismarck, North Dakota. The one channel that we watch gives the weather for our area. They are pretty good at the guessing game of weather. The market here is not like it is at home where they have all the latest radars and things; they are about 20 years behind with the instruments they use. When it comes to weather, I really miss Ken Cook from Atlanta.

I really didn't think anything about local channels except for the weather and some of the shows we watch like NCIS, Hawaii 5-0 and Shark Tank. Yeah, I know!  Of course, being an hour behind  Bismarck, the news is on at odd times. Those of you on the east coast and have wondered about the timing of TV shows... we watch them at the same time you do, only it's 2 hours earlier here. If I don't want miss a minute of NCIS, I have to make sure supper is cooked and everything cleaned up before 6:00, so I can watch it.
This was our second week back to school since the Christmas holiday. The school week seemed to fly by while the daily life week seemed to drag at a snail's pace. These two weeks we have been studying the French and Indian War. All I can say is "WOW", there is so much regarding this period in our country's history that I did not learn when I was in school. When I look back on my years in school and teaching school, I feel like I was deprived along with my students. The big Christian curriculum I grew up with and taught leaves so much out.  If your wondering what curriculum I am using, we are using All American History volume 1. I have my likes and dislikes about this curriculum and I plan on writing a review about it in the future.

I'm really proud of Jamie! We started Spelling Power in the fall and while I like it, he loathes it. The idea of  pulling out a spelling worksheet if he misses a word just crawls all over him. Well, this week he has not misspelled any of his group words. Last week we started something different; I'm allowing him to spell the word orally before he writes the word. If he spells it correctly, we move on. If not, he writes it out on notebook paper. Those words will then be written five times.  He likes this better; I guess because he hasn't missed any words yet.

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time then you know, I am working to be self reliant when it comes to certain things. Over the past several years, I have started making my own laundry soap, vanilla,  and brown sugar.  Yesterday, I found myself with several hours of free time on my hands and I worked on three more items that I can make myself without having to spend extra money. You'll have to come back and visit to find out what those are, or better yet follow my blog.

Since I started out talking about the snow, here are a few pictures from Christmas Day.You should be able to click on it for a bigger view.

I'm a little surprised at how little snow we have so far. From the way people talk, we should already have at least three feet on the ground. If anyone out there is praying we don't get any major snow... just remember you are praying my husband doesn't get to work over time. We both would love over time!