Free Friday and Home Economics

Fridays are our down day for formal schoolwork. Usually the kids like free reading or writing. Morgan decided to make a book about her family today. This page is the last and lists her pets. Guinea Pigs are a tough word to spell.

Hmmm-now this page cracked me up. Next to my job she had nurse/brain problems. Does that mean I have brain problems? I'm pretty sure she's right. Later she went on to add the "treats brain problems." I'm a Neuro Nurse. Now if you look at the "Likes to drink" section, Daddy apparently likes beer. Morgan was kind to me and left wine of of my list. She did get the napping part right and I guess we both only like breakfast foods.


Patrick spent the whole day on the computer. I mean the whole day. He decided he wanted to write a book on Mythical Creatures. He has 9 pages done complete with research all on his own doing. This is the kid in public school who couldn't write one paragraph. His writing is amazing and eloquent and descriptive. He still struggles with grammar and punctuation but I help him with that. For all of you who think your kids will never write, give them a chance to explore what interests them then watch them blossom.

Today it was time to replenish our laundry soap supply. I've posted before about making our own laundry detergent. Much more economical and our clothes no longer stink from detergent residue not getting rinsed out. One container like the size below washes a whopping 96 loads.

Here is the recipe:

3 cups Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
3 cups of Borax
6 cups of grated Fels Naptha Soap

Each load of laundry only takes 2-3 tablespoons of detergent. This is a huge economical savings.

Morgan and Tae helped to grate the soap.



Morgan and Tae did some baking today. They did a chocolate chip mixture hoping to bake cookies but then decided to make cookie brownies. Now don't these eggs from my chickens look so much fresher and healthier than those toxic store bought eggs? Look how high and yellow the yolks are and the halo of albumin around them. No icky watery whites or pale flat yolks on these eggs.

Morgan using the mixer. She follows recipes all by herself. I just need to help her with the oven. Tae is even learning measuring. He can find the exact measuring cup or spoon we need.

Cool picture of my mixer whirling around.

The finished dough. Who doesn't love raw cookie dough? Yeah-yeah, every doctor will tell you don't eat the cookie dough because of the chance of salmonella in the eggs. Everybody eats cookie dough and the chance of salmonella in our fresh eggs are is pretty slim. It's a child hood pleasure. Let your kids eat dough.

Totally delicious chocolate chip brownies. Don't they look yummy?

We also made some pizza dough for dinner. I did half wheat, half white flour. It was only ok but I ran out flour yet again.

I spent the afternoon cleaning out my mom's sewing box. She passed away 2 1/2 years ago and it was of those things that I kept putting off because it just wasn't important. So today while resting, I went through everything and dumped a lot of stuff.

I fell in love with these. These are old needle books. I love the design on them. Why don't they make beautiful things like this anymore?

Do you remember these? These Tomato pin cushions that all of our Grandmothers had and passed down to our moms. It brought back such memories of my Grandmother.

See? The very clean sewing box. I actually have two. I couldn't bear to part with my moms and I had one of my own. Lots of room now and I can find everything. I really needed to sort these out as I found a lot more patterns for the felt food that I'm so addicted to. Last night I found a doughnut, strawberry, peas in a pod and bread loaf patterns online. I even found a sushi pattern to try. I can't wait to run to the craft store tomorrow to buy more felt and get started. I'll be selling some, so feel free to email and let me know what you want. They make great gifts for kids.

This is my sewing basket all organized.

Tomorrow Morgan has an early soccer game and I need to cook a nice meal for my husband's birthday that I missed while I was in the hospital. Should be a nice weekend with family.

DuraSoft 3 Litetint