Powder – Definitely Easier

I gave you a recipe for Liquid Laundry Detergent, about a year ago, but over the last 6 months or so, I have been making this powdered version thanks to various friends (Ladonna & Catherine!)who convinced me it was easier. They were right!  So much easier!

Easy Vs Chemicals In Our Bodies

And please, give me anything to get drudgery work done quickly, but not at the expense of one more chemical IN or ON my body. You know? It is a balancing act, that I think much about.

Heavy Lifting

Honestly though, I do not like lugging those huge heavy jugs of detergent home from the store. I would prefer to buy bars of soap and boxes of borax at various times when I run out. This really is a more pleasant experience all the way around.

The Directions – Just Do It – It Will Make You Happy :)

Here is the soap I use. Kirk’s Castile. I’ve heard that people also use Fels Naptha, Ivory and Zote.  I think I may try Zote next.  It’s quite a bit less expensive.

2 bars soap

4 cups borax

4 cups washing soda

And here are the only other two ingredients. Washing Soda (NOT baking soda) and Borax.

See, here they are on the store shelf. Usually together and easy to pick up.

For the recipe I use, you will grate 2 bars of soap. I always get one of my children to do it.

Sometimes we take turns grating while other things are going on in the kitchen. Hey, I will grate if one of the girls wants to load the dishwasher instead!

And here I have 4 cups of borax and 4 cups of washing soda together.

I like this plastic container on the left to keep the detergent in. It sits on top of the dryer.

So here is the soap, grated in the container it will live in.

Pour in the borax and washing soda.

Stir it up and you are done.

I keep this 1/8 cup measuring spoon in the container. You can literally use 1 Tablespoon on a light load.  I usually use the full 2 T scoop and sometimes 2.

Why All These Pictures?

Why in the world do I use all of these pictures for these posts. I will tell you. I learn visually. I mean, I probably learn 500% better if I see the pictures or a chart, than if someone just tells me something. I think that is why I am terrible at remembering names. Thank goodness my husband is not.

When My Eyes Glaze Over

Sometimes my husband will start telling me about somebody’s aunt’s sister’s husband related to the 2nd cousin’s daughter. Argh! Stop! I can’t take it! The only way I can even begin to comprehend what you are saying is if you will make me a chart, a family tree or something. But, alas, that usually takes too long, so “just give me the gist of the story, hon.” Anyway, that’s why.  And I’m guessing there are a lot of you out there like me.

Again, thanks for your time.   I know it is precious.

God Bless You all!

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You might like one of these posts too.

• Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent – Yes, I’m Serious.
• Curried Chicken & Rice (leftovers)
• Chicken Pie – Meal #3 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Chicken Noodle Soup – Meal #2 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Sherried Tomato Soup

I am now attempting to see how fast I can put a post together with this new software I found called Blogo. So we are off and running!

This dish is another great leftover dish to use that remaining chicken you have from the wonderful Roast Chicken you made the other night :)

Start With The Rice

While it is cooking, oh about 20 minutes for white rice (I like basmati,) and maybe 45-50 minutes for brown rice, which is what we have here, you will make the Curried Chicken.

Brown rice is my definite favorite. It makes me feel like I’m doing something good and healthy.  And I need as much of that as absolutely possible, because you can bet I love my Dark Chocolate with Mint 3 Musketeers bar!  Yes, I do. I admit it.

Cooked Brown Rice

If you don’t own a rice cooker, I semi-implore you to go get one. You can live without one. That is for sure. And if you are doing serious budget work, then don’t get it, but if you can fit it in, this is another of my favorite kitchen tools.

Why I Like Rice Cookers

I can put all the ingredients in several hours ahead of time. Rice, water, olive oil, salt. Then just let it sit there, all afternoon if necessary, and when I’m ready, all I have to do is flip that little switch and perfect rice is on the way.  All by itself. Amazing. I think I got this at StuffMart.

Groan.  Fuzzy photo.

Now on with the Curry. Saute some onions and celery. I think this was 1 onion and maybe 4-5 stalks of celery sauteed in butter or coconut oil.

Get your milk out.

And just splash some in there. Maybe a cup or so.

And now for the curry. I like a lot, so make sure you have more than just a teaspoon on hand.

Gosh, I think I probably put at least 3 tablespoons in. After a bit you can taste and add more curry or more milk depending on your tolerance for spice.

Now stir it up and add some salt and pepper to taste.  Mmmm.  That is starting to look good!

And now, I know you saved that good chicken broth from the bottom of your pan when you made that Roast Chicken. And put it in a jar. Right? Ok, next time. Just use some bouillon or canned broth if you don’t have this. I sure don’t mean to make you feel bad. Just joking around :)

So after you have skimmed that fat off the top and thrown it away, take a few tablespoons of this gelled up broth and stir it in.

Add your leftover chicken.

Add some chopped vegies of any sort. I have broccoli and cauliflower because it was going to go bad if I didn’t use it, but usually I use frozen vegetables.

This dish definitely needs more color and I just happened to have the cooked carrots from the Roast Chicken, so we will add those too.

They were stored in the fridge with the chicken.  Ok.  They are not gross or anything :)

And there you have it. You really want it a little soupy so you can pour the curry sauce over the rice.

Enjoy ladies. Another very easy dish. I have reheated this in my cast iron pan twice this week for lunch.

Let’s see.  That took 1 hour and 7 minutes.  Probably a record.  But that doesn’t mean much.  This was one of the easier topics.

And by the way, I have been on a recipe rampage lately.  Promise I will get to some other topics soon, but you know how it is.  Gotta just go with the flow.

Love you guys for reading these ramblings!

Godspeed!

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You might like one of these posts too.

• Powder Laundry Detergent – Yes, Homemade :)
• Chicken Pie – Meal #3 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Chicken Noodle Soup – Meal #2 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Sherried Tomato Soup
• Homemade Vanilla

And finally, the 3rd installment, in “3 Meals with 1 Chicken.”  Here is my recipe for Chicken Pie.  Of all 3 dishes, this may be my favorite  because it is such comfort food.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup
• Butter
• Flour
• Milk
• Oil (I like to use coconut oil)
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Any frozen vegies you happen to have.

I had quite a bit of leftover soup and I was making this recipe for 11 children on a Saturday evening and for 5 adults and 4 children for the next day’s Sunday lunch.

I made 2 large pyrex pans. I am going to give you the approximate amounts for what I made.  If I were to cut this in half, I would simply cut the dough recipe in half, but leave the rest about the same.  You really cannot mess this up.

Chicken Pie Filling

Start by melting a stick of butter in a stock pot.

After it is completely melted, stir in about 3/4-1 cup of flour.

It may get pasty pretty fast, so be ready to add the milk.  1-1 1/2 cups.  Or just add a little at a time.

Now just add a little flour or a little milk as needed.  Your goal is to have it end up looking like this. Not too liquidy.  More on the pasty side.  This is going to thicken your chicken soup.

Stir in your chicken soup mixture.

It helps to have a Professional Stirrer.  This is my best friend Jennifer.  7 of her 8 children (Abigail is too young) and my 4 children will be eating this Chicken Pie tonight.  Check out her website. My hubby is cooking up some kind of surprise for the adults.  Mmmm.

Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Now just pull out whatever frozen vegies you happen to have and throw them in.  I’m glad I had peas and corn because I really like those in Chicken Pie.  A little ice on the peas.  Hey, no big deal.

Stir some more.

And taste.  Jen is also the Professional Taster for the evening.

If you feel your mixture is not thick enough, like in this photo below,

pour it back in your pot (like we did) and add some cornstarch (we added about a cup) and let it cook on about medium.  As it cooks, it will thicken.  If you don’t have cornstarch, mix up some flour and water or milk into a paste and stir that in.  If you don’t mix the flour and milk into a paste, you will have clumps.  And, heaven forbid,  we cannot have clumps.

Let that just sit and simmer on low for a bit while you make your dough for the top.

Dough

This dough recipe comes from one of my two absolute favorite cookbooks.  The MOMYS cookbook.  That stands for Mothers Of Many Young Siblings.  I’m using the recipe on page 479 for Quick Biscuits by Jackie King.

• 6-8 cups flour
• 3 T baking powder
• 1 T salt
• 3/4 cup oil (we use coconut)
• 3 cups milk

Get out your mixer and your dough hook.

Start with 6 cups flour and 3 T of baking powder.  I say 6-8 cups in the ingredient list because it depends on how course your flour is.  I’m grinding our flour before I use it and fresh ground flour tends to be finer, so I tend to need more flour.   But read on.  You will just adjust to how it looks.

Add 1 T salt.

This is melted coconut oil.

Below you can see it hardened.  Looks a bit like crisco from a distance, but it is the opposite in terms of health benefits.

Hopefully I remember to set the jar of coconut oil on this cup warmer ($1 at the thrift store) before I start cooking and it is all nice and melted when I’m ready to use it.  I can’t remember where I got this idea, but thank you whoever you are!

I love it because I keep this jar of hardened oil handy for other things, like frying an egg, but then I can just pop it on the warmer if I need a larger amount for a recipe.

Mix 3 cups of milk and 3/4 cup of liquified oil into a measuring cup or bowl.

Pour it into your flour mixture and start mixing.  My Kitchen Aid mixer says never mix dough on a higher speed than 2.  It will damage your mixer.  I stuck a note on it to remind me of that.

This still needs a little more flour.  As you mix your dough, you may need to add more flour.  A little at a time.  You do not want this like bread dough that totally cleans the sides of the pan when it is correctly mixed up.  This is biscuit dough.  Biscuit dough remains a little wetter.  A little stickier.  Just a bit.

While your dough is mixing, pour your chicken filling into the pans.  Yum.  It’s looking good already.

Spread out some flour on your counter.  You are about to roll out the dough.

This is about the consistency of dough that you want.  Still has a little stickiness in it.  Think about how commercial biscuit dough is a little sticky.

Roll it out, oh maybe to about 1/3 inch thick.

For 15 years I carried around a beautiful stone rolling pin that I NEVER used.  Just wasn’t into cooking at that time.  In a decluttering fit, I got rid of it.  That is one of the few things I wish I hadn’t gotten rid of.

I use a pint size mason jar with the small opening to cut out the dough circles.  But anything will work.

Now gather this leftover dough into a ball again, roll it out, and make more circles.

Use leftover dough pieces to fill in around the circles.  Each serving will get a circle, plus some of the extra small dough pieces.  Now put it in the oven and bake at 425 degrees for 10-20 minutes.

All done!  Let’s eat!

Ahhh.  Food, friends and family.  Life doesn’t get much better.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

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You might like one of these posts too.

• Chicken Noodle Soup – Meal #2 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Roast Chicken – Meal #1 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Powder Laundry Detergent – Yes, Homemade :)
• Curried Chicken & Rice (leftovers)
• Sherried Tomato Soup

Ok.  We are ready to make the second meal in the Trilogy Of The Chicken.

Here is all you need:

• Chicken
• Chicken Stock
• Butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped or minced
• 4-5 carrots, chopped
• 4-5 stalks of celery, chopped
• Frozen Egg Noodles
• Salt and Pepper (Lots!)  Just buy that healthy Himalayan Salt and you won’t feel bad about salting your food.

If you look closely you can see that my chicken stock is labeled “Whey.”  Nice.

After you get this going on the stove, please make this Soda Bread to go with it.  It is sooooo easy and good with this dish.

This first step (butter and onion) is a secret my friend Jen gave me.  Ever since she let me in on it, I have done it.  It’s simple, but really adds to the flavor.

Melt one stick of butter in your large stock pot.

We are about to saute our onion, but I want to show you how to peel it easily.  I just saw this on the Food Network last time we were watching TV in a hotel.  Cut both ends off.

Then slice into one side just about as far as I did in the picture below. About an inch.

Oh darn.  Look at that fingernail polish on my thumb.  Meg, 8, gave me a manicure and I keep forgetting to take that off.

Then just peel that outer layer off.  So simple.

Ok, so saute your onion.  Chopped, minced.  Whatever works.

Then get your jar of broth that was leftover in the bottom of the pan after you took your roast chicken out.  Go back to the Roast Chicken post to see how we got all of our broth for this dish.

I had about a pint.  It has gelled up by now and has a layer of fat on top.

I like to scoop off the fat with a spoon and not use it.  It makes it a bit too greasy for me.  Especially with the butter at the beginning of the dish.

Now you just have the good stuff.

Dump this into your pan and watch it melt in.

After it is liquified, add the chicken.

Add the carrots and celery.

Add  Salt and Pepper to taste.  I like a lot for this dish.

Remember the other broth that you made from the chicken bones. (Again, check out that post on the Roast Chicken to see how to do that.)  I added both of these quart jars to my pot plus about another 4 cups of water.  It seemed thick so I wanted to stretch it a little farther.

Of course you can also use just regular chicken bouillon in water according to the directions or canned chicken broth instead of this.

Now just let that cook/simmer for a while.  Maybe on medium low.  Maybe 30 minutes or an hour.

And lastly, add 2 bags of frozen egg noodles that you will find in the frozen food section usually near the frozen vegies at the store.  (Mine were 16 ounces – just add whatever amount you think looks good.)

Let that cook maybe another 15 minutes or so and you are ready to serve.

Yum!!!  Add that bread and you have a great meal!

PS.  If you don’t want to do the Roast Chicken before this meal.  Just take your frozen chicken.  Dump it in a stock pot for a couple of hours covered with water.  Maybe on medium.  And let it cook.  Then take it out and debone it.  You might need to add water here and there if it cooks off (evaporates) too much.   SAVE all that broth and pour it into a bowl through a sieve.  Then start with the onion and butter and continue as in this post.

Let me know what you think and/or if you have other ideas on your own version.  I will have the Chicken Pie recipe out as soon as I can.

Godspeed Ladies!

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You might like one of these posts too.

• Chicken Pie – Meal #3 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Roast Chicken – Meal #1 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Powder Laundry Detergent – Yes, Homemade :)
• Curried Chicken & Rice (leftovers)
• Sherried Tomato Soup

Hello Friends!   I am so excited to tell you about 3 really good meals IN A ROW that we have fairly often at our house.  ”IN A ROW” is key because when I start this process, I know I have dinner planned out for at least 3-5 days depending on leftovers.   I love these meals because:

• they all come from 1 chicken (lately I have purchased some really big chickens),
• they all taste great,
• the soup is just plain healing to the bones,
• AND you really can’t screw them up.

Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Pie.   And yes, it is easy too.

A little of this.  A little of that.

Now don’t start hyperventilating on me.  I know.  I am normally one that likes to have it all written down with the exact measurements.  When my husband starts saying “Oh just add some _____.”  My next questions is ALWAYS “How much?  Just tell me how much?”  But believe me when I say you will be just fine on these recipes.

So Easy

I did not figure out how to make these recipes until an embarrassing number of years of marriage went by (much less my 16 years of single adulthood.  I’m wondering what kinds of food I survived on back then.)  And because of that, I’m guessing there are others of you in the same boat.  I mean I can read any recipe and make it, but I’m talking about having that deep knowing about HOW to do these things.  The way Grandma knew.

Don’t be embarrassed

As I think of my expert cooking friends, I imagine they are thinking “What?  You are kidding me?  You are just now figuring this out?”  Well, a few years ago, but yes, it’s true.  Hey – I had other things on my radar screen.   Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One More Caveat

I have to say that these pictures are just not very pretty.  Actually the whole chicken thing can be kind of gross at times and so I feel I must warn you of impending images that you may not want to see.

Trilogy Of A Chicken

1.  Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots.

From these leftovers you will make:

2.  Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.

From these leftovers you will make:

3.  Homemade Chicken Pie (Yummmm!)

Do those sound good or what!

Here we go:

Roast Chicken With Potatoes and Carrots

We will talk in a moment about why this looks a little strange.

Life doesn’t get much easier than this.  Grab your roasting pan.  I got this cheap thing at Walmart for about $25 probably 8 years ago.  It works just fine.

Unwrap your whole chicken and toss it in the pan.

Frozen.  Yep.  Don’t even have to think about thawing it out.  You don’t need to put anything into the bottom of the pan.  The liquid from the frozen chicken will make broth on it’s own.  See, there it is.

Organic Chickens?

You have probably heard me say we are in serious budget mode these days.  Dave Ramsey style.   I anticipate that will continue after we have paid off our house because it just feels like the right thing to do in terms of being a good steward of the money we have been blessed with, BUT there are a few things that I do like to buy organic and whole chickens are one of them.

If I’m going to the trouble of cooking something that has healing attributes to it, then I want to make it worth my while.  Here is a link called Chicken Soup – Nature’s Best Cold and Flu Remedy? And I’m sure you have heard about the nasty places regular chickens are raised these days, soooooo,  let’s just not talk about that right now.  Ok? Moving on.

Add The Potatoes and Carrots

Rub butter on top of the chicken and salt and pepper it.   Then cut some potatoes in half and throw them in.  I used Yukon Gold here, but any will do.  Peel and cut some carrots in thirds and throw them in.  Put in as many as will fit in your pan.   I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture before it went into the oven, but don’t worry.  It will be ok.  That’s it guys!  Put the lid on.

Cooking Time

This time I put it in the oven at 325 degrees and it cooked about 4-5 hours.  But you could cook it longer at a lower temp or quicker at a higher temp.

I cut into this before I got a picture, but read below to see why it looks kind of weird.

Ok, This Really IS Embarrassing

I pulled the roasting pan out of the oven and as I’m starting to cut it, I’m thinking “Where the heck is the meat on this thing.  Good grief, this is an 8 lb chicken.”  And then as I dug around for a while I realized I put the chicken in upside down!  Now doesn’t that makes for a delightful picture of a beautifully cooked roast chicken for my blog.  Oh well, I’m shooting it anyway.

Matt said, “Yeah I think you did that last time too.”  I mutter “Yeah, I think you’re right.  I did.” as I try to figure out how I could’ve done that.  Twice.  It looked right when it was frozen.  Hmmm.  Very strange.  Oh well.   So I turned it over and it is not pretty.  In fact, not pretty at all.

Oh Well.  Onward and upward.  Start cuttin’ and servin’.

This might be my husband’s favorite meal.

The chicken is always very moist.  Everytime I use chicken breasts, they are always dry.  I’m sure there is some great recipe out there, but it hasn’t arrived into my “please make this dinner easy and good” repertoire.

And Now For Your After Dinner Duties To Prep For Meal #2

Chicken Noodle Soup

What you do during the cleanup of this dinner is important for your next meals.  You can throw everything in the fridge and do this tomorrow or you can do it now.

First debone the chicken.

This really grosses me out and I hate to do it.  So I have a great answer to this problem.  If you have children, find the one that loves to get dirty, play in the mud, fingerpaint, just basically make a mess with everything he or she does.

Yes all children are like that to a certain extent, but I know deep down you are thinking of one particular child, just like I am.  That would be my 2nd daughter Meg.  She is now our master deboner.

Ok, sweetie, let’s take your coat off so you can really get into it.

Put all the good pieces in one bowl and all the gross stuff in another bowl.

Really piece through that whole chicken and get all the meat.  Not the skin or fat.  Just the good stuff.  Don’t throw away the gross stuff though, because you are going to use it.  I know.  Just do what I say and you will be happy.  (Hmmm, I think I say that to my children a lot.)

Next, put a sieve over a bowl and pour the liquid gold, I mean the juice from the bottom of the roasting pan into it.

Dump that chicken stuff in the sieve into your “gross chicken parts” bowl.  Then pour the broth that is in the bowl into a glass jar with a lid and put it in the fridge.  You will use it for the next recipe – the soup.

That is a quart jar, so I got about a pint of broth.  The fat rises to the top very quickly.  When we make the soup we will spoon that off the top.

You might want to label this jar, because I just hate it when I look at unlabeled jars and wonder what the heck they are.  Permanent marker on the lid works for me.

Then, take the gross stuff in that bowl and dump it into a big pot.

Cover it with water.

Put the lid on and just let it sit on your stove overnight.  Tomorrow you will let it simmer for a few hours to use in the soup.  If you want to do that now though, go ahead.

After the simmering, before bed, just put your sieve over a bowl again, dump the mixture in your pot into the sieve.

Throw out that nasty stuff and bottle your new, homemade, healthy-as-all-get-out, FREE chicken broth.

Oh and as long as we are talking about gross chicken parts,

I went to great pains to take a picture of something really disgusting.  Want to see it?  Sorry.  I’m just kind of like that.  Check this out.  It’s almost enough to make me want to be a vegetarian, but not quite.  I guess it would be great for science class.  I mean what the heck is all that stuff.  Ok, I don’t want to know.

You are now ready to make tomorrow’s delicious Chicken Noodle Soup.  I highly recommend you also make this recipe for Homemade Soda Bread to go with it.  Very easy recipe.  Mix a very few ingredients together in a bowl with a spoon, dump it into the bread pan and bake for an hour.

God bless you all and let me know what you think!

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You might like one of these posts too.

• Chicken Pie – Meal #3 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Chicken Noodle Soup – Meal #2 of 3 from 1 Chicken

Oh my goodness.  I just made this soup tonight for the first time and it is delicious.

I got The Pioneer Woman cookbook as a gift last month and have been having a great time making some of her recipes.

Honestly, you could just go to her site and find this recipe, but since your are here, I’ll just tell ya about it.

I’m excited because it was so easy (and I’m all about easy, healthy and yummy) AND I just happened to have all the ingredients on hand.  Most of these things are pantry staples, with a few extras that you can change up, so this is really a breeze for anyone.

Ingredients:

1 medium white or yellow onion, diced

6 T butter (3/4 stick)

2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes (or 1 large)

1 46 oz bottle or can tomato juice

3-6 T sugar (I like sucanat – unrefined sugar)

1-2 T chicken base or 3 bouillon cubes

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup sherry (PW says its optional.  Of course she is right, but I’m telling you, this MAKES the dish!)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup chopped basil

These are PW’s ingredients.  I made some changes.

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large pot.

Dice the onion and cook until it is translucent.

Dump in the diced tomatoes and stir til combined.

Add the tomato juice and stir.

PW says she used organic because she wants people to think “she is cool because she uses organic.” She’s funny.

Add 3-6 T of sugar.  PW used 6 and I also used 6 and I say 6 is the perfect amount!  My tablespoons were even bordering on heaping.

Add 1-2 T chicken base.  PW said she used 3 once and it was too much.  So I used 2 and again, I think that was the perfect amount.

An aside here.  I really like a brand called “Better Than Bouillon.”  It is healthier, but sometimes, in fact a lot of the time, it is a financial issue.

I want this house paid off so we “owe no man anything” so we can be free from the bondage of debt.   So….I buy the cheap stuff.

And then I  think about the verse in the Bible that says believers “will drink poison and not be hurt.” (Mark 16:18)  And, hey, I’m good to go!

Ok, moving on.  Add lots of freshly ground black pepper.  No amount here.  Just guess.  I like alot.

Stir the soup to combine and then heat almost to a boil.  Then turn off the heat.

Add 1 cup of Sherry.  YUM!

And now, 1 1/2 cups heavy cream.  I only had 1/2 cup of cream, so I added a cup of whole raw milk to that.

Then I wanted it to be a little creamier, so I suctioned off the cream off the top of my raw milk and added it.  Maybe another 1/2 cup.  It would have been just fine without that last 1/2 cup of cream so don’t worry about that.

I did not have parsley, but I did have dried spinach from our garden last year that I’d been saving “for such a time as this.”

And my basil was also dried.  I still used her same measurements even though my herbs were dried.

Serve it up with some good homemade bread and you will be in heaven.  I sure was.

That reminds me, I have another good, easy bread recipe I will give you soon.

Happy Kitchens and God Bless You!

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You might like one of these posts too.

• Powder Laundry Detergent – Yes, Homemade :)
• Curried Chicken & Rice (leftovers)
• Chicken Pie – Meal #3 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Chicken Noodle Soup – Meal #2 of 3 from 1 Chicken
• Homemade Vanilla

Exterior of the Russian Courthouse

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks so much for the emails.

It is comforting to stay connected like this when on the other side of the world.

Sleep Is Quite Difficult

Last night we were all tired early.  No one took a nap.  Matt went to sleep about 7:30pm and Emma and I stayed up and watched some kind of NASA science show in Russian.   Science class :)  We went to sleep about 9pm.  I woke up about 11:30pm, then fell back asleep at about midnight.  Woke again at 2:30am and was awake till about 6am.  Ugh!  Then slept from about 6-8am.  Similar with Matt.  We are normally good sleepers, so this is all about the time change.  Again, Emma slept great.

Natalia

This morning Andrei picked us up at 9:30am, then we went to pick up the interpreter who is a wonderful lady name Natalia.  She is a professor at the local university, probably about 50-55 years old.  Speaks impeccable English.  Teaches English composition, literature and creative writing.  Very intelligent. She and Matt really hit it off talking of all sorts of things, mostly about some of the great American writers.

Court Started at 10am

It was very similar to yesterday’s pre-trial.  Extra people there were the DA, Minister of Education, Minister of Health and Director of the Orphanage.

The Orphanage Director

We were prepped again before the trial on additional things to do and say.  They wanted us to basically repeat the questions in our answers instead of just answering “yes or no” to certain things, so they could record that we truly understood what they were saying to us.

Also they wanted us to emphasize our concern for his medical condition (strabismus – crossed eye) to get him home quickly, and to integrate him into our family quickly, and that every day is significant in his developmental process, and that a 2 week delay is a big deal.  Whew!  It is a court full of women and they want to see feeling and emotion.  That shouldn’t be difficult!

So Nerve-Wracking!

Our interpreter and lawyer said we did a great job.  It was nerve-wracking though.  I went in the bathroom outside the courtroom, got on my knees in a stall and said major prayers before walking in there; to not be nervous, to say the right thing.

Our lawyer had a list of things she wanted us to include as we talked about our motivation for adoption.  We each had to discuss this issue.  So on the way to court we memorized acronyms to help us remember all that we wanted to say.

Also they mentioned Emma being here a number of times in the courtroom and how she interacted with Ilya and that she seemed to love him and play with him wonderfully.  I think this was significant in the whole process.   Three different people mentioned it.  They also said that since she had glasses, that was evidence that we understood about taking care of a child’s eyes.

Emma in the orphanage playroom.  The child in the playpen is not ours.  She enjoyed playing with all the babies.

After 1 1/2 hours, the judge left the room to decide.

She came back 10 minutes later and pronounced us Ilya’s parents and also that she would waive the 2-week waiting period.  Wow!  Mommy cried.  It was all so intense and the relief that it was over and the excitement that it was complete.  Really just like a new birth.

Afterward, we talked to the judge with our interpreter.  She was very sweet.  Our interpreter asked if we would like to talk to her and Matt joked that in the US we must say “May we approach the bench.” Our interpreter told the judge this and she laughed and said (in Russian) “You are not a lawyer here.  A parent.   And we and Ilya are all blessed and know you will be wonderful parents.  We can see that.”  What a day!  Wish we could have recorded the trial.

Ahhh….more paperwork….

So, now Andrei, our coordinator is hurrying around to get Ilya’s passport and new birth certificate and who knows what kind of paperwork.   Ilya will have dual citizenship until he is 18.  Tomorrow we will continue doing paperwork and probably take Ilya with us.  He will sleep with us one night here in Stavropol.  Then we will fly to Moscow early Thursday morning to be there one week for, you guessed it, more paperwork.

My Mama WAS going to come to Russia.

My mother was going to come over here when Matt went back to the U.S. next week so that he could get back to work and we could have, at least, one of us with our other 2 children.  She was going to help me here in Russia and we were really looking forward to that time together.  Now that the 2-week waiting period was waived and we are going home early, she will not get to come.  I am a little sad for that.

The Black Sea

Also, Matt really wanted to visit the Black Sea during our 2-week stay and now will not get to.  But with Meg and Henry waiting at home; a month away from Mom was not my favorite thing.  Deep down I did not want to stay that whole time and I didn’t really want to go to the Black Sea, but I didn’t say as much.

If we had to be here I guess we should travel about some, but I think I’ve seen too many Russian spy movies.  I mean, the country of Chechnya is right below us!  I just want to get all my little chicks home under one roof.  I guess that is nature taking over when we become mommies.

Engage!

Anyway I really did not know what to pray for on the whole 2 week thing, so I just said “God, you know the right thing for us to do.  Make it so.”  (As Jean LucPicard would say on Star trek:)  And He did.  We are all in agreement on that.  The Black Sea will be another day.  Maybe when Ilya is grown.  Ah, life is good and God is good!

A Giddy High

During the trial, Emma and Andrei went to the internet cafe and played on the computer.  Andrei was very impressed with Emma and her maturity.  She has been great to have here.  After the trial they were waiting outside the court for us, so we hugged Natalia goodbye and walked back to the internet cafe to wait for Andrei to do more paperwork.

I had 2 cappuccinos and was on a giddy high.  We were all very excited and it was hard to sit still.  Then Andrei took us to our hotel and dropped us off to do more PW (got that?)  We walked to a wonderful outdoor restaurant that we had been to  last time and had a celebration lunch.  Matt and I had Russian champagne and Emma had Fanta orange soda.  After lunch we had ice cream, which rivals the gelato in Italy.  Then we walked to a beautiful little park and Emma and I rode a mini-rollercoaster.

We are now waiting for Andrei to come meet us at 6pm tonight to sign more documents.

We love you all and will talk to you soon.  God Bless and thanks for all the prayers.

Allison

PS I apologize for the not-so-great writing.  I usually end up writing late afternoon and I think that is when my body thinks I should be going to sleep so I try to rush through it quickly so I can go chill out.

Here is the email I sent to my Mama that night.

Dear Mama,

I’m so sorry you will not be coming to Russia.  I totally expected that you would.  I kind of thought it would be like Grandfather and you going to Greece, this time it being you and me.  I was not sure what to pray for in terms of us staying the 2 weeks or not.  Matt wanted to go to the Black Sea and it was going to be neat to be here with you.  But Meg and Henry in Enid for a month is a long time.  So I just prayed to God to do the best and the right thing and so this must be it.  One of these days we will do a neat trip the way your father and you did.  Who knows, maybe it is to Scotland. (Our ancestral country)  I love you very much and so appreciate that you were willing to come all the way across the world.  We will see you very soon.

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The 3 books.  Textbook, Tests and Worksheets, Solutions Manual.

Hey there Mamas.  Wanna talk math?

Oh, well.  Let’s do it anyway : )  This will just take a minute.

Consistency?  Hmmm.  Not really.

As I have mentioned before, I have tried many, many different curriculum over the last 9 years.  And the only thing I have remained consistent on is the last 3 years of math we have used for our 12-year-old dear daughter.  (Of course, that could change next year:)

She is currently using Saxon Math 7/6.  After trying out K12.com, Alpha Omega Life Pacs, Singapore Math, Horizons, and bean-counting (we may have done 1/2 those books each year if we were doing well:), she started using Saxon 5/4 , then moved on to 6/5, and now is using 7/6.

Bor…..ing……(Yawn)

Why did we switch around so much during those first few years?  It was mostly me.  They bored me.  And I thought if they bored me, they probably bored her.  Also, I think it was the “workbook” thing.  Oh they were nice and colorful and got great reviews, but I suppose it was the “sitting-and-filling-out-workbooks” part.  Ugh.  Can’t we go outside or bake cookies or measure how tall we are or……I kept thinking “surely there is a better way.”

But back then…

…I was not as secure as I am now about how to do math with the younger ones.  I thought I had to buy a formal curriculum and have her fill in all the blanks.  And for some moms, this is great, but I am slowly moving into the idea that it is not necessary until they reach the 4th-5th grade arena. (Heck, maybe even later)   See my post here on the experiment I’m doing in math for my 8-year-old dear daughter who DOES NOT LIKE MATH. By the way, I think it is going well.

Now you may think Saxon looks boring, (Actually, I think it does) but now that Emma is older, it doesn’t seem to be an issue.  (And can I just say once more – that is for her.  For her particular personality.  For  her purpose in the world.

What do they really need at a young age?

Part of my personal math theory has evolved into the idea that a child could learn the basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), however you want to teach them – easily with no curriculum at all – And then, for instance, if you want to use Saxon, you would go into book 5/4.

5/4 means 4th or 5th grade.  6/5 means 5th or 6th grade.  7/6 means 6th or 7th grade and it goes on up.  Why do they say 5/4 instead of 4/5?  I’ve heard the reason and I really can’t explain it.  Something like “average 4th grader, or slower 5th grader.”  But that still doesn’t make sense to me.  Oh well.

Ok…..on to Saxon

I’m not going to explain how Saxon is written or what techniques they use.  You can read about that in many other places.  I just want to tell you why I like it, at this point in time.

I love Saxon FOR EMMA mostly because…

…she is very self-motivated AND she does it on her own fine without me.   She “gets” math.   If I had to have serious oversight, I’m not sure if I would like Saxon as well.

Here are the specifics:

For each daily assignment, there is a section for your child to read first.  Ok, that’s nice.  An explanation of what is to come.

Next, there are 25-30 questions to answer.

A spiral notebook for this is perfect and you can use the textbooks again for your next child if you want to, give them away, or sell them on Ebay.

I’m really not concerned about what her assignment pages look like.  Though I have tried to get her to circle her answers, so it is clear where her answer is.

If you think your child is doing great, you might be able to do every other problem.  I like for Emma to do them all.  It doesn’t seem to be a strain for her.

Now this next part is my favorite!

To the left of each problem, it shows the child exactly where a sample of that kind of problem was discussed in a previous chapter.   So if the child can’t remember how to do that problem, she/he simply looks back to that spot in the book for an example.  It is a WONDERFUL way to teach a child the ability to research and the fact that “Yes, you can find it on your own.  You don’t always have to ask me, though I am here if you still have a question.”

See the little number right below “the problem number?”

Here is my other favorite part!

I LOVE that I am not supposed to grade every lesson!  Ugh!  When I hear other moms talk about grading math lessons everyday, I just cringe and am thankful I don’t have to do that.  (I know, one of these days I might have to)  I only grade the tests which come every 5 lessons.  That is where we see if she is “getting it.”  Saxon designed it this way.

I probably should have put a picture in here where she got an A+/100.  She gets lots of them :)

Ok, you want my true confession right now?  The last time I graded her test, I had to grade about 5 tests in a row, because I hadn’t checked in that long.  (Heavy sigh – well, we had some other big “life issues” going on – it happens:)  But truthfully, I knew she was doing fine.  She would have told me, if she was not.

This little page here is the most important page for mom.

There are also lots of drill sheets.  More than enough.  We did alot of these in 5/4, but haven’t done so many since then.  She doesn’t seem to need them as much now.

Is Skipping Parts OK?

It turns out that 6/5 is mostly a review of 5/4, so I had her just do all the tests.  There were a few new concepts and when we came to those, she did the lessons, learned them, and moved on.  So she got through 6/5 quite quickly.

DVD Tutorials

In addition, you can buy DVD’s that give you a live person instructing your student for each and every lesson.  We bought one, looked at it a few times and have never used it again.  It just doesn’t work for her.  She prefers to read the book.  But for a student who likes that, it might be a good thing.

The Right Fit

I do not in any way anticipate that this will work for my other children.  It might, but I think that math is definitely an area that we have to really find the right fit for each child.  It’s not the same with other subjects.

And One More Thing

Can I remind everyone that if mama doesn’t like it – that goes for almost all curriculum a homeschool mama is going to teach – then it just ain’t gonna work.  You better love the look of it, if you are planning on buying it and teaching it.  And one more thing mom….We have all spent too much money on curriculum that we didn’t like and so we didn’t use.  Don’t be too hard on yourself when this happens, because it inevitably will.

Life of Fred

One last thing about a totally different math curriculum.  (See, it’s all about consistency :) I am intrigued by  Life of Fred.  I glanced at it at the last homeschool convention and I am thinking about buying it this May when we go again.  Your child would not start these books until they know their math facts – they say around 5th grade, depending on the child.  But it looks fascinating.  Check out that link and read about the author and his theories about math.

Ok, on to more important things.

Godspeed Ladies!

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After being heavy into the Dave Ramsey get-out-of-debt plan for the last year along with many people I know, it occurred to me that there are still people out there, many I’m sure, that don’t quite realize why it is critical to get out of debt.  This is for them.

Click here for a post on Dave Ramsey’s 6 Steps.

Click here for a post on the details of how we do our finances.

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We have been homeschooling for about 9 years.  What that means is when our first daughter (now 12) was 3, I was researching and buying curriculum.  Now today, I would just tell a mama that had a 3 year old to relax,  have fun and read about other homeschoolers in your spare time.  Don’t get spastic about it, though honestly, when anyone is pondering this route, the idea of homeschooling is so antithetical to our culture today, that it is hard not to obsess, in the beginning, about bucking the system.

One of my favorite pictures of our big 3 back in 2003.  They were 5, 2, and about 6 months.  This is about as early as my digital photos go, so I couldn’t easily find a 3 year old pic of Emma.  Technology.  Wow!

But take it from a research-driven, type-A, past-life (before babies) TV producer mama, that has been around the block:  The only thing you need to do in the beginning is read to them, train them to obey, and be a cheerful mama.

Ok, let’s get to the main point

I have looked at and used LOTS of curriculum.  I have tried new things out every year on each child.  The only thing we have remained consistent on is the Math we are using for Emma, our 12 year old.  (Which is pretty funny, because finding math that we all like seems to have been one of the most difficult things in the curriculum arena.)  She is currently using Saxon Math 7/6.  She started using Saxon 5/4, then 6/5.  I’ve got another post in the works about why I like that Math for her.

So We Made The Purchase

This year, encouraged by my good friend, Jennifer, we both bought Sonlight 3&4 Core.  This link goes directly to the specific package we bought.

Here is the screenshot from this part on their website.  I will discuss that price further down this post.

It was just something about “the schedule”

Jen and I have discussed curriculum over and over all of these 9 years.  A few times we have used similar things and other times we have not.  One year about 4-5 years ago she bought Sonlight and used it.  For just that one year.  I did not.  Since then, she has always reminisced about how that was her best year homeschooling.  She said it was just something about the “schedule” they gave you.  And as any experienced homeschool mom knows, IT IS ALL ABOUT THE SCHEDULE.  (Not just for school, but for your entire day!)

Finally I checked into it,

and this year…..it spoke to me.  It said, “Yes, this is what you want to buy.”  Actually, that would be God speaking to me.  Sorry about that Father.

And we have loved it!  Here are the 4 reason why:

1)  It covers History, Geography, Literature, Poetry, Music & Bible

It is literature-based, meaning you are not memorizing facts and dates, but reading good books and biographies to learn.  Learning that way sticks.  The other way, the way our schools usually do it, doesn’t.

2)  I can teach to all 3 of my big children at the same time.

12, 8, and 6.   They all love it and they are all learning.  The idea here is to teach to the level of your oldest child and the younger ones will pick up on things and be that much further ahead in their own process.  They say this particular package is for 9-12 year olds or 4-7th grades.  The 2 hours we spend on this in the afternoon while Luke, 3, is taking a nap, is one of my favorite parts of the day.   I’m telling you, this special daily time will be a great memory for these children as they grow up.

3)  The schedule.

It really is an awesome thing.

This is a 5-day weekly schedule.  They make a 4-day for certain packages, but you get more for your money if you buy the 5-day and then just write what day it is above at the top of the page.  As you can see, for whatever good reason :), we had some skipped days in there.

It’s all about checking things off the list.  Am I right?  Yes, I know I am!

So this schedule is pretty self-explanatory.  WE go in order of how it is written here.  Starting with the Bible reading.  The amount they give you to read is really the right amount for these aged children.  An entire chapter can be too much to digest.  This amount, usually one section which might be 1/3 or 1/2 of a chapter, gives you an opportunity to really delve into and talk about a subject.

That next part, the American Indian Prayer guide is like a paragraph or two of a little prayer you all say together regarding Native Americans coming to know Jesus.

Then you listen to one song on the CD that puts scripture to music.  It’s very well done.

Here is Emma putting the CD in for us to listen to.

Then you read some history (always facinating), listen to another song (patriotic, since we are studying American History), discuss what they read on their own, and then…..the best part:  the chapter book that you read to them.  Oh my, these are some good books and we all look forward to that last part the most.

One of my biggest memory of all 12 years of my schooling was in 5th and 6th grade.  Mrs. Shades was our teacher and after lunch she always read a great book to us.  The ones I remember most were the story of Eddie Rickenbacker and A Wrinkle In Time.

So back to the schedule, as you can see at the bottom of this top section of the schedule, there is room to add anything extra.  I added our science book that I read to them as time permits.

This is a great science book from Apologia.com that I just discovered through Gina, another good mama friend.  It discusses science from the God perspective.  It is easy and has some easy experiments.  Here is a link if you want to check that out more.  This one is astronomy which they recommend to do first as it is the easiest, but they have many other subjects for all ages.  This is for all ages in elementary school.

And the bottom section of the schedule looks like this.  There is just enough room to add other things your children are doing outside of Sonlight.  It can sort of serve as a journal.  You can see at the very bottom I noted they cut tons of apples for homemade applesauce and made homemade laundry detergent.  I like looking back at things like that.

4)  There is almost no preparation needed on your part.

I suppose you could get crazy about it and do other prep to add to what they give you, but why?  There is enough there and the rest of the day needs to be spent on other things like work, character training, family life, domestic skills, oh and the list goes on.

The Price

This package cost about $450.

You receive the binder which contains the weekly schedule and lots of supplemental teaching materials, questions to ask your children for every chapter of every book you read to them AND every book they read on their own,

and TONS of books.

Here are some of them.

Also this package could easily take us through 2 years if we wanted or 1 year if we go at breakneck speed with no “life” interruptions (which we all know is impossible.)  So if we use it for 2 years that means $225 / year for the core price (no extras). That’s  $75 per year/per child.  That’s a heck of a deal.  Even if you do it all in one year, for me, this is a good buy.  And honestly, even if I was only teaching 1 child, I like it so much, I’d get it.  It is still a good price for a good curriculum

Extras

The Bible section IS included on the schedule, but you must buy the extra 2 books and CD separately.  You COULD just do what they call for in the bible reading OR add these extras.  We added the extras.

Some other extras I recommend are the timeline book and the stickers that you cut out and stick in the book.  The idea is to have a timeline for each child for their entire schooling years.  Only our 12 year old has one at this point.  You probably wouldn’t need one until they reach that age.

This timeline book I actually bought several years ago.  For some reason I always sort of drool over timeline books and finally I have a child old enough to use one.  Sonlight’s looks a tad different.

And a markable map.  The world map is on the other side.

Additional Subjects

We have added our own math (very minimal for the 6 & 8 year old), the science book that I periodically read to all of them during the Sonlight time, English From The Roots Up for Emma (this is easy learning of Latin and Greek words), periodic writing for Emma (reports, stories, etc – usually a page or so), and handwriting books for all 3 that they write in while I read to them.

After they finish handwriting and/or copywork while I’m reading, they then usually move on to legos, knitting, or something they can do with their hands and still listen to me.

For this year, that is our academic plan.

Let me know if you have any questions OR tips about Sonlight.  One of the best things about this is I’M learning so much too.  In this day and time, learning about American History and how we got here is vitally important so I’m glad this is our current history topic.  Seems like we studied Ancient Egypt for eons :)

God Bless You and

Keep Sowing Into Those Beautiful Children God Gave You!

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